Here's the ESPN mid season round up... One of the questions was this...

9. Which will happen first -- the Knicks will win 50 games in a season, the Celtics will win 50 games in a season or the Lakers will win an NBA title?


Anthony: Lakers will win an NBA title. I haven't seen one single, solitary reason why we should expect two of the most storied franchises in professional sports history to be vastly improved in the next two or three years -- ugh!


Broussard: Lakers will win a title. Kobe and the Bryantaires are beginning to figure things out, Andrew Bynum is going to be fantastic and Phil Jackson's the greatest coach in NBA history. That claim will become official after he wins his 10th ring.


Bucher: The Lakers win an NBA title. Because they're not that far away now and their young players look more promising than anything in Boston or New York.


Hollinger: Looking into my crystal ball ... the Celtics will win 50 games in a season before either of the other two events happens because the front line of Paul Pierce, Kevin Durant and Al Jefferson will be among the best in basketball.


Sheridan: Gotta go with the Lakers here, 'cause they're in the mix for the title this year. At full strength in a seven-game series, they can play with anybody in the West.


Stein: Common sense says Lakers, Lakers, Lakers. Then you remember that winning 50 games in today's East is a heck of a lot easier than getting out of the West and into the Finals. So I'll go with the Celtics, based on the premise they hit a home run in the draft or trade for Pau Gasol to partner with Paul Pierce.

I disagree with all of them. I can't see the Lakers winning a championship within the next 3 years with the squad they have, I just don't think they'll have the firepower. I can't see them developing into a championship caliber squad. Obviously 3 years is very long in the NBA, but I'm still guessing the dumb Knicks ownership / general management will smarten up and acquire a Franchise player, and please don't start bringing up the "Oh, we already have one in Eddy Curry" folks. I'm talking about a FRANCHISE player, you know, the kind of guy that does 2 or more things EVERY night (this singles out Eddy already), plays his heart out for the betterment of the team, has the right attitude, and is the clear cut go to guy in crunch time.

As far as the Celtics, Hollinger may be right. If they get lucky through the draft they have a better chance than us to get 50 wins with a duo of Pierce and the newbie.

God, will we ever be good again ?

It's not hate, it's the truth. You really expect the media to praise a terribe team like this one? This team is 18-27 and will never reach 50 wins with Isiah Thomas.

The Lakers this year have beat the mavs, suns, and the spurs, Kobe is probably the best player in the league, odom when he is healthy is a monster and like they said bynum is going to be terrific and is becoming a defensive force, walton has been a great roll player and they have a few nice pieces that fit well with what they are doing.......

The celtics will get a high pick and pierce is one of the better players in the league and their young talent like greene and jefferson will come along....

The knicks have curry who can't stop anyone and god forpid he gets into foul trouble we don't have consistent outside shooters and our guards are breaking down slowly with the exception of crawford, i think it was a fair assement....

You know ESPN has been pretty right on

Simmons predicted a titantic disaster which has happend and they always trashed the jefferies and james signings, said there was no possible way the steve francis deal would work and predicted the knicks would stink.......all of which is true

I still think the Knicks or Celtics have a better chance to get 50 wins before the Lakers get another ring. I don't even think its close.

Before next season begins, we're going to have the usual homers saying the Knicks will win 45 - 48 games. I'll say we'll get around 40 and make the playoffs next year. And I guarantee the Lakers don't win it all next year. So you're telling me the Lakers will win the championship before the Knicks start getting closer to 50 wins if they get 40+ next season ??

Really ???

Posted by nyk4ever:

What is wrong with what they said? I guarentee that the Lakers win a championship before the Knicks win 50 games again. Theres absolutely nothing wrong with what any of them said.

Agreed. I'd lean more towards the Celtics winning 50 happening first, although it's not inconceivable that the Lakers win a title a few years down the line.

On the other hand, there's no way I see us getting to 50 wins in the next five years with the "foundation" we've laid down.

[Edited by - Solace on Jan 26 2007 4:45 PM]

Posted by Solace:

Posted by nyk4ever:

What is wrong with what they said? I guarentee that the Lakers win a championship before the Knicks win 50 games again. Theres absolutely nothing wrong with what any of them said.

Agreed. I'd lean more towards the Celtics winning 50 happening first, although it's not inconceivable that the Lakers win a title a few years down the line.

On the other hand, there's no way I see us getting to 50 wins in the next five years with the "foundation" we've laid down.

[Edited by - Solace on Jan 26 2007 4:45 PM]

I just think we'll get a franchise player in the next 2 years who will help us to get 50 before the Lakers win it.

Posted by JrZyHuStLa:

I just think we'll get a franchise player in the next 2 years who will help us to get 50 before the Lakers win it.

Hmmm....... how????

Broussard: Lakers will win a title. Kobe and the Bryantaires are beginning to figure things out, Andrew Bynum is going to be fantastic and Phil Jackson's the greatest coach in NBA history. That claim will become official after he wins his 10th ring.

i wonder if Broussard might have said the exact same thing about LB before last season if he were coaching a different team than the Knicks.

Bucher: The Lakers win an NBA title. Because they're not that far away now and their young players look more promising than anything in Boston or New York.

wow... i guess Andrew Bynum is so much more promising than Eddy Curry... Maurice Evans & Ronny Turiaf are so much better than David Lee & Channing Frye... Renaldo who? Hey, the Lakers got Kwame Brown son! he's the truth!

*barf*

Posted by Solace:

Posted by TMS:

Bucher: The Lakers win an NBA title. Because they're not that far away now and their young players look more promising than anything in Boston or New York.

wow... i guess Andrew Bynum is so much more promising than Eddy Curry... Maurice Evans & Ronny Turiaf are so much better than David Lee & Channing Frye... Renaldo who? Hey, the Lakers got Kwame Brown son! he's the truth!

*barf*

Bynum *IS* more promising than Eddy Curry. He plays on both sides of the ball. The Lakers ALSO have Odom and Kobe. Kwame's not a bad defender either, although he is a bust for the #1 pick. Give the Lakers some credit. They're pretty good and improving quickly. I have kept in touch with them a bit since my gf is a Lakers fan.

I think the Lakers will win a championship before the Knicks win 50. Bynum's definitely more promising than Curry. Curry does NOTHING on the court besides low-post scoring. Bynum's already ahead of him in all other phases of the game. They obviously have Kobe and 1st rd picks too. The Celtics have a nice young core and a potential two-way star in Jefferson. So I'm not sure about the Celtics to 50 vs. Lakers to championship part.

Posted by TMS:

i'm not debating that the Lakers have a better team... that's pretty obvious to anyone cuz they have Kobe... but to say the Lakers' young guys are more promising than anything the Knicks have is just inaccurate... i don't count Kobe or Odom as among that group of "youth" that you would consider in this conversation... those guys are established vets in this league.

Outside of Lee, Balkman and Curry, I think the rest of our youth is nothing special. Bynum is better than Curry. Luke Walton is a starter. Right now he's better than Balkman, so I have to give the Lakers the nod with that one too. Obviously Lee over Kwame. Turiaf, Evans, etc.. over Nate, Collins, Frye is a don't care for me. I don't think any of those players are all that great. They also have Jordan Farmar, Sasha Vujacic and Shammond Williams, so I might give them a slight edge. I do think the Lakers have the best young player of the bunch in Bynum, but I do agree that it's not clear that the Lakers have better young players overall.