If you had to say by looking at the teams today what would the playoffs look like? I say

1. OKC
2. LAL
3. SAS
4. Clips
5. Memphis
6. Dallas
7. Jazz
8. Houston

Our best player right now is Jeremy Lin. With our roster as of today, we might win 30 games next year. Unfortunately we are not a playoff team

The 8th spot is wide open this year. It will be between Houston Portland and possibly the T-Wolvs if they stay healthy. I have Houston because Lamb and White and Jones will go all Moses of Egypt and guide y'all to the promise land

I'm not sure I would call the 8th spot the "Promised Land" but I like your optimism.

And if my Bible knowledge is correct, I do believe that Moses never entered the Promised Land. But that's neither here nor there...

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I do believe that Moses never entered the Promised Land....

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Well then never mind. Y'all will not make it

OKC
LAL
Memphis
SA
Clippers
Dallas
Minnesota
Utah

LAL
OKC
SAS
MEM
LAC
UTA
DAL
DEN

And amazingly, every first round matchup from last year is repeated, just with a little difference in seeding.

LAL
OKC
SAS
DAL
MEM
DEN
MIN
UTA


[This message has been edited by awinlonghorn (edited 7/21/2012 8:52a).]

I think Denver is the team that could take the biggest step up, if they can stay healthy. I think the Clips are the team that is most likely to take a step back, only because I don't think they stay healthy next year.

Three tiers:

Top 3:

OKC
SAS
LAL


Next 3:
Mem
Den
LAC

Last In:
Dal
Portland

First out:
Minn
Utah


Houston has (at this point) taken steps back. If nothing else, the first part of their season will be rough with all the new blood.

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I think Denver is the team that could take the biggest step up, if they can stay healthy. I think the Clips are the team that is most likely to take a step back, only because I don't think they stay healthy next year.

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Agree re: Clippers. I think Minnesota is poised to take a big step forward if they can stay healthy. Love/Rubio are solid, and maybe someone else can step up [Derrick Williams? Wes Johnson? Pekovic? yeah....maybe not]

Slow down on Minnesota. Losing Randolph and Beasley won't help them any. Rubio and Love can only take them so far and there are no guarantees Rubio will stay healthy all year.

LAL
OKC
Clips
SAS
Memphis
Dallas
Denver
Utah

LAL and OKC are clearly the top dogs. I'm assuming the Clippers stay healthy and play to their potential. Big "if" I know. SAS, Memphis and Dallas are pretty much at the same level talent-wise. Spurs have Pop and have held their team intact. Denver always makes the playoffs with Karl. Utah is a good young team.

Portland, Houston, Minnesota could all make it in the 8th spot depending on how things pan out.

funny. duncan and manu are a year older, parker is partly blind with stupidity but yet SAS is top 3.

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funny. duncan and manu are a year older, parker is partly blind with stupidity but yet SAS is top 3.

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Funny, Dirk is a year older coming his worst season in the past 5 years after having 4 straight years of declining stats, 2/3's of your free agent additions (Kaman and Brand) plus Marion and Carter are all on the wrong side of 30, Kaman has played an average of 51 games or less the last 4 years WITH a shortened season last year, but yet DAL is a top 4?

I think GS could sneak in *if* they can stay healthy. Big if, I know, but I think they could sneak in as a 7 or 8. Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Richard Jefferson, and Harrison Barnes is an impressive group of shooters, and Andrew Bogut + David Lee is a nice combo down low.

OKC
LAL
SAS
LAC
MEM
DAL
HOU
DEN

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Funny, Dirk is a year older coming his worst season in the past 5 years after having 4 straight years of declining stats.

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I know what you are getting at but Dirk started historically slow for him last year but his post all star #'s where more on par with his career averages.

His Post all star break avg. of 23.6 compared to his pre all star break of 19.6.

Boards are still down but kind of expected.

[This message has been edited by t - cam (edited 7/23/2012 5:39p).]

1. LAL
2. OKC
3. CLIPS
4. SAS
5. MEM
6. DEN
7. DAL
8. PHO

How is no one even mentioning the Suns for the 8th seed? They had a solid offseason and were very close to the playoffs last year. As a die-hard rockets fan, Houston is definitely headed for the lottery this year.

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How is no one even mentioning the Suns for the 8th seed? They had a solid offseason and were very close to the playoffs last year.

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Ever heard of Steve Nash?

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I know what you are getting at but Dirk started historically slow for him last year but his post all star #'s where more on par with his career averages.

His Post all star break avg. of 23.6 compared to his pre all star break of 19.6.

Boards are still down but kind of expected.

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Agreed, but for the past 4 seasons his averages have been in decline. It's not just pre and post all-star game, it's his averages for the entire season that have been steadily slipping.

And yet he is still only 1 year removed from being the MVP in the championship. Add Marion being a candidate for Defensive player of the year and averaging 12 pts against OKC, Kaman being an All Star in '10, a young PG that can actually drive to the hoop and had 20 assts in one game, a guy that averaged 18 pts at the 2 as a starter, and Brand coming off the bench.

And, of course, the Mavs still have one of the tops coaches in the league.

If this team stays healthy, it can be very competitive next year. Only a fool would say otherwise.

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Ever heard of Steve Nash?

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An up-and-coming Goran Dragic is a very capable replacement for an old Steve Nash. Given the minutes, Dragic is gonna be a beast.

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An up-and-coming Goran Dragic is a very capable replacement for an old Steve Nash. Given the minutes, Dragic is gonna be a beast.

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Dragic is not Steve Nash. Not even close. The Suns are what the Rockets have been: A bunch of decent players with no star. They will miss the playoffs. If they couldn't make the playoffs with Nash, they definitely won't without him.

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Agreed, but for the past 4 seasons his averages have been in decline. It's not just pre and post all-star game, it's his averages for the entire season that have been steadily slipping.

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So what? Tim Duncan's last two seasons have been significantly worse than his career averages. Even Manu had his worst season since 2003 last year. Age is a *****.

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And yet he is still only 1 year removed from being the MVP in the championship. Add Marion being a candidate for Defensive player of the year and averaging 12 pts against OKC, Kaman being an All Star in '10, a young PG that can actually drive to the hoop and had 20 assts in one game, a guy that averaged 18 pts at the 2 as a starter, and Brand coming off the bench.

And, of course, the Mavs still have one of the tops coaches in the league.

If this team stays healthy, it can be very competitive next year. Only a fool would say otherwise

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To your first point, you have to get to the championship game first...where was his MVP performance this year? He took significant step back in all areas and got sweep out of the first round.

Marion is also on his last legs at 34...and 12ppg? You may want to check the stats, but Marion averaged 10.6 ppg last season, a significant drop off from his 16.4 ppg career average. In fact, like Dirk, Marion has seen his ppg decrease each of the last 4 seasons.

Kaman? Again, really? First of all he only averages 11.9 ppg (isn't that what mavs fans always tout on? His offensive game?) Now his 8.3 boards per game would be nice if he played more than 56 games in a year, which he's only done once in the past 5 seasons.

then there's collison, your consolation prize in the D-Williams shark tank sweepstakes...a 12.1 ppg 5.2 assists per game PG; and last season a 10.3 ppg and 4.8 assists per game. I didn't look, but I'd bet any amount of money that would've put him in the bottom third of all NBA starting PG's, and he's coming from a far better team in Indiana than he's going to in Dallas.

And one of the top coaches in the league is irrelevant when you have nothing to work with...Carlisle proved that last year.

So, even if this team stays healthy, you have a decline Dirk, Marion, Carter, joined by a 11.0 ppg center, and a bottom 1/3 pg...and you think that'll make you competitive?

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So what? Tim Duncan's last two seasons have been significantly worse than his career averages. Even Manu had his worst season since 2003 last year. Age is a *****.

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Indeed they have been, the difference is last season the spurs had the best record in the West and didn't get sweep in the first round of the playoffs. Just saying...

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An up-and-coming Goran Dragic is a very capable replacement for an old Steve Nash. Given the minutes, Dragic is gonna be a beast.

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Dragic has potential. We'll see how he develops. There will be a drop off though. Hard to say how much with Nash aging and Dragic maturing.

I think they have a better shot at getting that 8th spot than GS though.

prepy, the Mavs upgraded at the point, the 2 and front line. Everyone knows this. Yes, the Mavs lost Terry's production coming off the bench. However, they now have 7 or 8 guys that average in double figures.

The #7 seed got better. Deal with it.

[This message has been edited by AgBeliever (edited 7/24/2012 12:06p).]

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I think they have a better shot at getting that 8th spot than GS though.

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Really? Going off the rosters on ESPN:

PG: Stephen Curry, Jarrett Jack
SG: Klay Thompson
SF: Richard Jefferson, Harrison Barnes
PF: David Lee (Carl Landry most likely to be added soon)
C: Andrew Bogut, Andreis Biedrins

vs

PG: Goran Dragic, Kendall Marshall
SG: ???
SF: Jared Dudley, Michael Beasley
PF: Luis Scola, Markeiff Morris, Hakim Warrick
C: Marcin Gortat, Channing Frye

To me, assuming GS stays healthy, they have a much better team than Phoenix.

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prepy, the Mavs upgraded at the point, the 2 and front line. Everyone knows this. Yes, the Mavs lost Terry's production coming off the bench. However, they now have 7 or 8 guys that average in double figures.

The #7 seed got better. Deal with it.

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The only place that the mavs got better was at the 5, which wasn't too difficult. Mayo and Terry are a Wash, Brand will sit the bench so not much of an improvement, Collison gives you 6 more ppg, but you lost rebounding, leadership, and assists.

you can keep touting the mavs all you want, but for the 1 step forward you think you took by signing retreads and injury cases you took 2 steps back in losing Williams from the mavs own back yard.

Unless you meant you got better in terms of "financial flexibiliy"? Than in that case you're right.

I never really gave either of these teams much thought. But if I had to say with what the rosters are right now, I would go with GS.

You honestly think Brand will sit the bench. That shows how little you know. Brand will be dirks backup an will play some center also. And according to you, that's an important position when Dirk sits out for a week. So no, Brand will not sit the bench.

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You honestly think Brand will sit the bench. That shows how little you know. Brand will be dirks backup an will play some center also. And according to you, that's an important position when Dirk sits out for a week. So no, Brand will not sit the bench

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How little I know? You do know you're getting 33 year old, 11 ppg (down significantly from his career average) brand right? And you do know that production has declined over the past 5 years right?

He's going to be a rotation player, he's not going to be asked to go in And score 20 points. He's going to come off the bench and give 8-10 points. To say he's a bench warmer is foolish