which team is going to improve the most next year?

by **magius** on Tue Aug 26, 2003 8:58 am

which team is going to improve the most in the standings next year?
(some teams wont fit into the poll....washington, knicks)

phoenix suns -- amare can only get better, shawn and starbury are still young, joe johnson might go up, penny is solid................

toronto raptors -- vince comes back healthy? but is antonio getting old..? and is mo pete a real starter? chris bosh = next amare ?

houston rockets -- new coach gets francis to make more unselfish decisions and mobley to either shoot less or come off bench, yao gets more touches, becomes less unselfish. maybe.

new jersey nets -- rjeff and kmart develop and improve after experience in tourny (ala steve nash), and, oh yeah, zo.

chicago -- ty chandler and eddy curry grow up, scottie becomes calm floor general young core needs and wips rose into line. could happen

detroit pistons -- not much room for improvement, but maybe larry brown could bring them to new heights, elden campbell gives them true centre size, maybe darko becomes pleasant surprise and starts and becomes franchise offensive go to player could be champion pistons lack...

la clippers -- mike dunleavy = stability? maybe loss of a few young ball hungry players makes the team more a team........

orlando magic -- can wanny howard or gooden play centre? does it matter in a legit-cetnre lacking league and conference? only time will tell, for now starters look legit on paper:
c juwan howard
pf drew gooden
sf pat garrity
sg trace mcgrady
pg tryone lue
hmmmmmm, maybe not so good..... can tmac play point to make room for giricek??? miracle occurence: grant hill comes back this season. if so, two thumbs up. too many ifs though.

minnesota twolves -- kg, spree, cass, wally, kandi-man hudson........ too many scorers? too many high profiles? or maybe they'll meld.... time will tell.

cleveland -- lebron's as good as lebron's supposed to be, boozer grows a few inches, dmiles gets his talent and turns it into ability, ricky davis becomes a good boy, dwag surprises. could happen.

memphis -- this team looks good on paper, maybe hubie brown can make them good on court.

washington--
C haywood
PF kwame
SF stack
SG hughes
PG arenas
looks good on paper, lots of questions on chemistry and development of two big men though.

miluwakee
C j smith
PF a mason
SF kukoc
SG d mason
PG ford
theres potential to be had

knicks
mcdyess......?

my vote goes to........... phoenix........ i think....... i'll make it official later......

by **TRUball** on Tue Aug 26, 2003 9:03 am

My vote would go to a team that isn't on there(Lakers). Whenever you can add 2 future hall of famers to your team for not much cost, you are going to be improved. Plus Kobe is gonna jump out of the pack to become the best player in the league, and Shaq after training with the marines(I hear) he will be more dominate that ever. Plus with the additions of Malone and GP in the starting line-up, that moves some players to the bench making the Lakers finally have depth. Plus I am feeling that Devean George is gonna have a break out season if he starts in place of Fox.

But out of the teams that you said, I would say TimberWolves...

by **Amphatoast** on Tue Aug 26, 2003 9:07 am

No doubt the Raptors out of those teams you listed. All those teams you listed will more than likely improve, but the Raptors have a very big ground to make up from what happen last season and they can do it mainly since they are in the east.

by **magius** on Tue Aug 26, 2003 9:07 am

oops, sorry, forgot lakers record wasnt so good last year..... i didnt include some of the 60 game winners cuz they can only improve 5 or so games give or take.

if you think its a team thats not on the poll list just go ahead and post it, i wont bite. i think. :wink:

by **TRUball** on Tue Aug 26, 2003 9:13 am

magius wrote:oops, sorry, forgot lakers record wasnt so good last year..... i didnt include some of the 60 game winners cuz they can only improve 5 or so games give or take.

if you think its a team thats not on the poll list just go ahead and post it, i wont bite. i think.

Yay, i edited my post, and what i think about the lakers so look above.

by **Jackal** on Tue Aug 26, 2003 9:16 am

LA hasnt improved that drastically, they were good, now they've gotten better...not much of a big deal, the teams he mentioned, I agree with those...Denver though was left out. No biggie
Most change I think will be in Minny. They will have much more depth than last year compared to the others...after that my vote goes to Phoenix. (Y)

( L e t s s e e h o w m u c h f l a k I g e t f o r t h e L A c o m m e n t . )

by **Full Surface** on Tue Aug 26, 2003 9:22 am

Sure the Lakers starting lineup looks good but I don't see them having decent bench support except for 3-4 people. They just signed more than 3 rookie free agents and also some minor league players.

by **magius** on Tue Aug 26, 2003 9:23 am

oh yeah!! denver! i knew i forgot something. melo, shistlivi, and hilario are a nice young core, dont know if they'll improve this season, but could happen if melo is super good. i'd say minny too, but i'm wary of the chemistry. you're prob'lly right though, but i still think phoenix, i like the way they're building 2 of their stars from within.

i dunno about kobe about becoming the best ever, but i'm fairly sure lakers record will improve from last year either way.

by **TRUball** on Tue Aug 26, 2003 9:24 am

magius wrote:i dunno about kobe about becoming the best ever, but i'm fairly sure lakers record will improve from last year either way.

I didn't mean best ever, I meant jump ahead of everyone to be teh best in the league currently. Like jump ahead of T-mac, Duncan, Garnett, etc.

by **magius** on Tue Aug 26, 2003 9:26 am

oh

heh, i still disagree, personally i dont think he'll be the best in the league, but hey, stranger things have happened.... i think..... :wink:

by **Jackal** on Tue Aug 26, 2003 9:52 am

Ok ok shht bout the kobe stuff...no more kobe!! plzzzzzzzzzz :cry:

I think the Bulls will do well too, Chandler and Curry shud develop...Pip will be a plus...Crawford played well last season...Rose needs to get it into his head, that he's not the Superstar he thinks he is.

by **emadhn15** on Tue Aug 26, 2003 10:41 am

I have to say LA Lakers!!

by **TRUball** on Tue Aug 26, 2003 10:50 am

houston rockets -- new coach gets francis to make more unselfish decisions and mobley to either shoot less or come off bench, yao gets more touches, becomes less unselfish. maybe.

You sure about that? Rockets never really added anyone. Francis will get better, same with Yao, but i don't see them making playoffs...maybe since utah is out of playoffs for sure, they might take there spot, but I am not sure....

by **DipSetVC** on Tue Aug 26, 2003 11:19 am

magius wrote: chris bosh = next amare ?

LOL!!!!!!!!!! That's got to be the funniest thing I've ever heard! LOL, Amare can't shoot a lick, no handle at all, trust me Bosh has the shot and the defensive presense. Chris Bosh will be a solid double double guy in 4 to 5 years.

by **Jackal** on Tue Aug 26, 2003 11:46 am

kobes_4real wrote:You sure about that? Rockets never really added anyone. Francis will get better, same with Yao, but i don't see them making playoffs...maybe since utah is out of playoffs for sure, they might take there spot, but I am not sure....

They have solid players who will develop, they dont need to make changes....to improve...they did make a change...which was bringing in Jeff Van Gundy...that already was a good move (Y)

. I agree that JVG will will try and make Franchise pass more then score...his scoring was needed before but now with Yao, he can have sum help!

by **magius** on Tue Aug 26, 2003 12:38 pm

DipSetVC wrote:
magius wrote: chris bosh = next amare ?

LOL!!!!!!!!!! That's got to be the funniest thing I've ever heard! LOL, Amare can't shoot a lick, no handle at all, trust me Bosh has the shot and the defensive presense. Chris Bosh will be a solid double double guy in 4 to 5 years.

i didnt mean talent-wise and game-wise, i meant amare came out of highschool and wasnt really expected to do as much as he did his first year, but rather to develop along the years. he exceeded expectations upon how ready he was for the nba. maybe chris bosh will do that as well.

about the rockets, it all really depends on yao, if he improves in leaps and bounds the rockets will improve no matter what. couch rudy was more of an inspirer and energy-boost coach, van gundy is a bit more strategic minded and maybe some of his strategy will leak into an already enthusiastic houston team. probably the best coach for yao would've been popovich or some other low-key, intelligent, authorative figure who has coached great bigs, but pops taken so van gundy's probably the next best thing available. i still love rudy though, hope he gets better and comes back as assistant.

by **air gordon** on Tue Aug 26, 2003 3:05 pm

i think the nets "improved" the most. kidd was thought to be as good as gone this offseason but stayed and got Zo aboard. while ZO remains a question mark, the core remains intact and ready for another run at the title. a healthy Zo, kmart, jefferson combo would probably be the best defensive frontcourt in the entire league and a treat to watch. if jefferson can consistently hit them perimeter shots, lookout...

another team that didn't make any 'changes' but should get honorable mention is houston. this time around Yao won't be spotting the league a few months while he gets used to the game speed, teammates, etc. i'm confident JVG will utilize having the league's 2nd most dominant force and have Houston run an actual nba offense around him.

(if you can read this, you don't need eyeglasses)(Y)

by **DipSetVC** on Tue Aug 26, 2003 11:53 pm

I think Steve Francis will have a hard time letting go of being the "Guy" for the Rockets, we all know that in 2 or 3 years when Yao's game starts to come around everything will run through him.

by **malice_05** on Thu Aug 28, 2003 8:17 am

Yo man Cleveland will improve next year, but they won't reach like 40+ wins or anything. Damn. Lebron James is way too anticipated. No way one man can turn a whole team around. Yes they have Ricky Davis and Ilgauskis but if you ask me Denver will be a better team than Cleveland. Lebron James is no Michael Jordan. He hasn't even played one official NBA game yet. See how he does in the NBA season and then judge.