I'm still not sure if schmidt is the best or worst character on TV
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He's great. When I first watched New Girl I had that same kind of feeling about the whole show - wasn't sure if it was awesome or just really dumb. But I really enjoy it.
trololol
In terms of rebound % JV is ranked 6th in the league and biyombo is ranked 11th. Sullinger for the record was ranked 20th and will probably play at least 40% of his minutes at C beside patterson or Carroll. Sullinger has a chance to breakout here in a contract year (lets not forget he was likely going #1 or 2 overall in the 2012 draft before a back injury) and has a ton more potential offensively then biyombo ever will. So no I'm not too worried about losing biyombo and replacing some of his minutes with bebe/poeltl and sullinger. Not pretending either one of those guys can make up for what biyombo brought as a 6th man, but I'm pretty confident a combination of those 3 at backup C while JV gets more minutes will be as good or better then biyombo.
I'm the complete opposite of you when it comes to the magic. Fournier is at best a solid starter, I don't think Ibaka is as good defensively as people give him credit and they lack shooting at a lot of positions. I think the magic will likely be better then they were last year, but I just don't see the fit for ibaka as much as you do especially beside biyombo. There are some nice lineups on that squad with good spacing, but the coach will have to be super creative. And they don't have a viable backup or starting pg really. Payton is ok, but he's got a long way to go before he's a good starter. Can't wait to see what lineups like this: Payton - Fournier - Hezonja - Gordon - Biyombo/vucevic/ibaka can do (small ball all day). Ibaka at PF is probably gonna be a net negative at the end of the day for the magic if they don't upgrade PG or SF with a perimeter scorer. Projecting: I expect the orlando magic to play this lineup: Payton - Fournier - Gordon - Ibaka - Vucevic the most and I don't think that lineup will mesh well offensively or defensively. Fournier is the only real perimeter threat in that lineup offensively and it will cause issues for payton and vucevic down low because most teams will sag off payton and the SFs. Defensively, Ibaka won't be able to cover up vucevic's flaws, gordon isn't really a SF, Fournier is a terrible defensive player and payton isn't big enough to guard the best wing players. Don't see the magic making the playoffs with this squad :/ which is upsetting because I had them pegged as an underrated team with oladipo, ilyasova and harris..
The bulls are probably even worse then the magic in terms of spacing and the loss of pau pau is gonna be massive. I think the bulls have a semi decent chance of making the playoffs, but they have a shit ton of peices that will not play well together. Rondo and wade is a nightmare backcourt combination in terms of perimeter shooting unless wade continues to shoot 50% from three like he did in the playoffs. Butler is a monster 2 way player, and I love the fact that he's gonna play more off the ball this year (rondo and wade should take up most of the ball handling) but if he's you're only perimeter threat in the starting 5 Im worried. With Dunleavy gone, the only real shooters on this team are mirotic and mcbuckets and I don't see either guy getting enough minutes to balance out some lineups. If the starting 5 is Rondo - Wade - Butler - Mirotic - Lopez, wade stays healthy, and butler ups his 3 pt %, this should be a good team, but I don't know if any of those things are very likely other then the 3pt % thing. Expect to see a ton of minutes for portis and taj at PF taking away minutes from mirotic because he's inconsistent and those lineups will fail in today's NBA and Rondo/Wade backcourt.
The knicks are pretty much bang or bust. Rose needs to be rose from 2013, Noah needs to be noah from 2014 and melo needs to be a SF/PF (he won't be because they'll want porzingis to develop). I think this team has real potential to be very good in comparison to the magic and bulls but I just don't see it happening. Rose and noah are too big of wild cards at this point imo.
The wizards are a little scary, couple bounceback seasons from kieff, beal and continued growth from porter and this team has a lot of nice options. That being said, for some reason it doesn't look like they're doing anything in free agency to help this team and they need some help. Beal + Wall is easily the best backcourt in the east when beal is healthy and not retarded. The wizards have probably the most potential to be great then any team in the east, but they're punks with bad habits.
Love what the bucks are doing, but I think they're at least another year away from being a threat to the raptors. I think each of the young players on that team has a real chance to be solid 2 way guys, but the freak and carter williams are lacking an outside shot and Parker is lacking... a lot of things lol. If all three of those guys can take a step forward and the bucks decide to play monroe 100% at C, I can see the bucks being really good next year. They just need a ton of internal growth moving forward, but they have a shit ton of potential on this team.
Pistons: very interested to see what these guys can do. They've added some real bench depth to go along with a very solid starting 5. Harris needs more minutes at PF and Stanley Johnson needs to breakout, but I think those are two likely things. Definitely agree that the pistons are close to the raps after analyzing the roster.
Indiana: George is a legit top 10 player in the league, but I don't know if this team has enough depth to win 50+ games. The bench other then young/turner/jefferson (don't know how they'll disperse those minutes) seems terrible. I'd be pretty scared of this team in the playoffs, but I think they need to do some stuff. Also this: Monta Ellis' best role is as a bench scorer or high volume shooter (similar to derozan in some ways). I don't like him starting on this team at SG and I think Hill covered up a lot of his defensive flaws in that system. He could be even worse then he was last year because Teague can't guard a lot of the players Hill did and teague/george are going to be the primary ball carriers. Ellis can't play off the ball to save his life :/. If they can get better production from SG this year they'll be a really good team.
Heat: With bosh they'll be a fringe contender again. Lots of nice young players on this team and whiteside is only getting better.
Charlotte: Step back I think. I still like them as a playoff team over the knicks, bulls, bucks and magic, but I think indiana surpassed them. Unless Kidd-Gilchrist adds a 3 to his game this team's not that special.
My preditction for the standings (as of today)
Cavs
Raps
Celtics
Pistons
Hawks
Pacers
Bobcats
Heat(if healthy bosh)
Wizards
Knicks
Bulls
Magic
Bucks
6ers
Nets
I'd go
1 Cavs
2 Pacers
3 Raps
4 Hawks
5 Celtics
6 Wizards
7 Knicks
8 Bulls
Pistons
Hornets
Bucks
Magic
Heat
Sixers
Nets
Philly could be okay if all of their players are healthy. They might not be that bad.
This is a very solid write-up. And the clip of Karl Towns swatting a little kid is funny.
https://theringer.com/brotherhood-of...89e#.j6vn65eb3
Loved his jab at Sam Mitchell. Terrible coach. Minnesota should be a playoff team if healthy with Thibs. Things break right, they should be a contender in 2-3 years. Wouldn't surprise me if this year, again health permitting. Only thing that worries me about Thibs.
I think Thibs will get a lot more out of the players in terms of effort, especially defensively, and especially from Wiggins. I watched a lot of their games last season, and often times they would just coast on the defensive side of the ball. Thibs will bench players who are lazy defensively.
Watching this summer league game, the only player I want to shoot the ball for Minnesota is Tyus Jones. Despite the fact that nobody is high on him, and despite the fact that he played for Duke, I like Tyus Jones a lot. I think he's a poor man's Chris Paul. I don't care if they suck this season, Minnesota should trade Rubio and play Dunn and Jones, because I think both will be better in the long run.