Philadelphia is definitely going to be an improved, esp. with O'Brien.

The Knicks were .500 with Marbury, they've gotten healthy and added better players.

How you figure they'll be less than .500 is beyond me.

1 game under? thats not a big stretch the more i thought about our defense both on the perimeter and in the middle made me drop my number of 43 wins down to 40.


I have the Celtics at 42, but the number is still subject to drop. I didnt like the Mihm deal which made me drop their win total from 44 to 42 and I only kept them above .500 with payton coming and playing well for 25 minutes+Lafrentz as well.

If we look at
C- Blount 7-0 255
PF Jefferson 6-10 265
SF Pierce 6-6 240
SG Davis 6-7 200
PG Payton 6-4 200
C Lafrentz 6-11 250
PF Gugliotta 6-10 250
SF Welsch 6-7 210
SG Allen 6-4 215
PG Banks or West

that s a pretty good team with more defense rebounding and size than us.

quote:
Originally posted by BRIGGS:

1. Indiana
2. Philidelphia
3. Wizards
4. Detroit
5. Cleveland
6. Miami
7. Boston
8 Magic


LOL! The Knicks are out of the playoff picture Briggs?? Are you drinking hatorade from the same glass as Islefan?

LOL, wizards are pretty strong tho.

Posted by Bonn1997:

Posted by Silverfuel:

Most people on this thread ranked NYK in the top 4 but I dont think thats going to happen. I think we will be closer to a 6,7 or 8 seed.

We were 7th with Eisley starting at PG for a third of the season, Shandon Anderson as the starting SG for almost half the season, and Weatherspoon as the first frontcourt player off the bench for about a third of the season. We should be much better than last year just because We have Marbury, Crawford, and an improved Sweetney for a full season

Most other teams in the East improved as well and our lineup did improve but not dramatically enough to catapult us from number 7 to number 2,3,4. No arguing that our lineup is much better revolving around Stephon and Crawford instead of Eisley and Houston.

[Edited by - Silverfuel on 08/23/2004 19:43:47]

Posted by MaTT4281:

Posted by Silverfuel:

Posted by Bonn1997:

Posted by Silverfuel:

Most people on this thread ranked NYK in the top 4 but I dont think thats going to happen. I think we will be closer to a 6,7 or 8 seed.

We were 7th with Eisley starting at PG for a third of the season, Shandon Anderson as the starting SG for almost half the season, and Weatherspoon as the first frontcourt player off the bench for about a third of the season. We should be much better than last year just because We have Marbury, Crawford, and an improved Sweetney for a full season

Most other teams in the East improved as well and our lineup did improve but not dramatically enough to catapult us from number 7 to number 2,3,4. No arguing that our lineup is much better revolving around Stephon and Crawford instead of Eisley and Houston.

[Edited by - Silverfuel on 08/23/2004 19:43:47]

Well its not just that we got better, we also got put into a weaker division, while our main competition for the division grew significantly weaker. We don't need to be a top 3 or 4 team in the east, but just better than jersey, boston, philly, and toronto. We couldn't have asked for an easier division.

Yep, thats exactly what we need to do. We cannot be a Top 4 team but we can definately be 5,6,7 or 8 without a problem.

[Edited by - Silverfuel on 08/23/2004 20:19:12]

I know you like to consider the best for other teams and the worst for the Knicks, but one thing struck me as odd:

"PG Payton 6-4 200" showed up under the Celtics.

According to Payton, he will "quit" before he plays for Boston. They're PGs will be either West or Allen, two rookies, neither of whom played PG in college (West had Nelson; Allen had Lucas). That, in itself, is a problem.

Second, you are assuming Jefferson will put up the same numbers he put up in summer league. That's fine, I see him in the same mold as Amare. But if you're going to do that, why wouldn't Sweetney and Ariza play as well?

KT 6'9"
Sweetney 6'8"
TT 6'10"
Crawford 6'5"
Marbury 6'2"

Mohammed 6'10"
Baker 6'11"
Ariza 6'8"
Houston 6'6"
Penny 6'7"

I'm not going to write weights, I don't know them and don't find them relevant.

With Houston and TT injured and all the players' changing teams, they go .500. Now with player's healthy and an offseason and training camp together, they won't improve. I can't follow this logic at all.

The Wizards will be OK, but I'm not sure about the 3rd seed.

I don't see any team other than Phily in the Atlantic beating the Knicks:
Boston: Has no legitimate point guard without Payton, extremely young
Toronto: Fragile team with two young big men (Bosh was awful in SL) and Carter will cash it in in December.
Philadelphia: Great young squad they've assembled, with the most up front by far. Iverson's becoming a leader and Dalembert's a beast.
New Jersey: How this team get's thrown into the playoffs is unreal. UNREAL.

PG: Kidd (coming off knee surgery), Planinic (this guy stunk last year, plain and simple)
SG: Eric Williams (decent, not better than Houston or Crawford)
SF: Jefferson (very overrated), Ron Mercer (past his prime when he was with the Bulls)
PF: Aaron Williams (this guy is a bum, KT's better)
C: Nenad Kristic (has been horrible at the Olympics)

How does anybody think this squad will do well??? HOW?? Kidd is coming off KNEE SURGERY, him coming back at 100% is enough to bump them out of the top 8. If he is at 100%, who's he passing it to???? You cannot tell me this is a beter team than the Knicks, you just can't.

Detroit and Indiana are easily the top two. Miami or Washington out of the Southeast or whatever it is. NY and Philly clear-cut talent-wise above everybody else in the Atlatnic (can't wait for the Starbury/Answer battles that will mean something). That is 6 teams. I'd throw Cleveland in there, they've made some nice additions and LeBron is the man.

The 8th team could be anyone. If Milwaukee plays well (though no real PG until Ford gets back), they could be alright, I don't see what everyone else sees in Orlando (basically Francis, Mobley, Turkoglu with zero up front and if you're banking on Grant Hill then you're saying Houston's going to score 20 a game b/c Hill's coming back from an injury much worse than Houston's bone bruise. His ankle has been reconstructed like 5 times). Boston could be a good team if the rookies play well.

So that's my reasoning, can I get the reasoning from everyone else on the rankings?:
1: Detroit
2: NY/Philly
3: Washington/Miami
4: Indiana
5: NY/Philly
6: Washington/Miami
7: Cleveland
8: Boston, Milwaukee, possibly Orlando, possibly Toronto if all are healthy

West is such a crapshoot, who knows?

Minnesota, San Antonio are definitely the top two.

After that, it'll be between Sacramento, Houston, Denver, Utah, LA, Phoenix, Dallas, Memphis, and Portland. My god...

Posted by Silverfuel:

Posted by Bonn1997:

Posted by Silverfuel:

Most people on this thread ranked NYK in the top 4 but I dont think thats going to happen. I think we will be closer to a 6,7 or 8 seed.

We were 7th with Eisley starting at PG for a third of the season, Shandon Anderson as the starting SG for almost half the season, and Weatherspoon as the first frontcourt player off the bench for about a third of the season. We should be much better than last year just because We have Marbury, Crawford, and an improved Sweetney for a full season

Most other teams in the East improved as well and our lineup did improve but not dramatically enough to catapult us from number 7 to number 2,3,4. No arguing that our lineup is much better revolving around Stephon and Crawford instead of Eisley and Houston.

[Edited by - Silverfuel on 08/23/2004 19:43:47]

What teams improved a lot other than the Heat?

Posted by simrud:

Whatever man ... If you go below that you are just being anal.

rofl

haha, I did not even mean it be that funny lol.

Once again BRIGGS, Wizardsa are a HORRIBLE shooting team that will turn the ball over a lot. Arenas, Hughes, Jamison, Kwame, Etan, not a single decent outside shooter. Play zone and pack it in, grab the clankers and run them to death as they are also slow if you play Jamison at the 3 and Kwame AND Etan upfront. Not to mention the fact that Hughes is a headcase ala Ricky Davis, and that Arenas is not even a real PG. Oh, and don't forget Jamison being what he is, a guy who puts up good numbers but does not make an impact. He a super Juwan Howard as far as I see.

Boston is horrible w/out Payton. Who is going to run the offense, Doc will come back and be playe/coach? Outside of Pearce what do they have? Ricky Davis is a problem in itself, not a solutoin to anything. Blount is no better then Mohammed, mabye a better defender. You are counting on LaFrentz to come back and take Walker place on the team in throwing up useless treys? Cause thats all he did in Dallas the last time he actually played.

Sixers also can't shoot. Iverson is the only guy you need to worry about making a jumper on that team. Iguadola can't shoot, he is just a dunker right now. You gonna put it all on Green and Salmons to turn Philly into a powerhouse? Big Dog is not even done, he is overdone. Think Glen Rice year after we traded for him. Kenny Thomas is there PF? The dude is like 6 7 and is not all he is crakced up to be. Delambert is a good shotblocker/rebounder. Thats it. He is very raw. Kinda like a poor man's Camby, but not even close. It is still just AI and a bunch of role players. Williamson if you saw him play recently is also close to the end of the road. Ollie is garbage. They lost Snow who was rock solid for them. Who is gonna do the dirty work for AI in the backcourt now? Snow guarded all the 2's before you know.

Once again BRIGGS, Wizardsa are a HORRIBLE shooting team that will turn the ball over a lot. Arenas, Hughes, Jamison, Kwame, Etan, not a single decent outside shooter.

they are not a horrible shooting team, arenas, hughes and jamison can shoot from the outside. Its just arenas and hughes take a lot of bad shots. They have peeler coming off the bench, who is a great shooter, i think they have a chance at the 5 spot.

I see a lot of if's here being presented by briggs, and all the positive if's are not in the knicks favor of course, but if briggs is counting on Igudola contributing for the wizards then why can't the knicks count on Ariza, I mean ariza shut this kid down in college when UClA played Arizona.... Sweetney has shown what he can do on this level and crawford is a huge upgrade for the knicks off the bench and a great addition if he starts....