NBA Power Rankings, EAST.

[BobboFitos]

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If the Heat acquire Ricky Davis and Blount will they have home-court advantage in the playoffs? I think they probably would.

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Seriously? These acquisitions would barely help them.

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Disagree in the strongest possible terms. Ricky Davis is a legit 2nd scoring option and a guy who can help a team in a lot of ways. I know the "locker room cancer" rumors about him, but I've got to think a Shaq-led locker room could deal with that. Ricky Davis >>> Antoine Walker. Ricky is more dynamic on both ends of the floor. Blount is grossly overpaid and also has the "locker room cancer" label, but he's a solid big man who'd add depth to Miami. Neither Simien nor Doleac is relevant.

Picking up Ricky Davis and Blount adds 2-4 wins to Miami imo.

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irish, are you contentious on purpose? i said:
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These acquisitions would barely help them.

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implying that yes, they will net 1 or 2 more wins as a result. (but no more)

you respond with:
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Disagree in the strongest possible terms.

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Picking up Ricky Davis and Blount adds 2-4 wins to Miami imo.

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what gives? [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

[IrishHand]

Sorry - misinterpreted your reply then. I interpreted "would barely help them" to being "no real impact on their squad". Adding 2-4 wins is a significant impact imo - especially for a team that's a fringe playoff team.

[BobboFitos]

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Sorry - misinterpreted your reply then. I interpreted "would barely help them" to being "no real impact on their squad". Adding 2-4 wins is a significant impact imo - especially for a team that's a fringe playoff team.

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Yes, but the initial poster (rwesty) who posted said:
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If the Heat acquire Ricky Davis and Blount will they have home-court advantage in the playoffs? I think they probably would.

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Thats alot more then 2-4 wins. Thats 10 wins for this heat team. My point was this may solidify the heat team as a playoff team, and likely the 7th spot, but by no means does it catapult them to the top.

[tuq]

Bobbo,

I just googled "NBA Futures" and it led me to this site. I have no interest in shopping around for better lines as I don't plan to make any bets so didn't check any others.

Is it really that bad of a bet though? If this season is like past ones the WC will pummel the EC and there will be an imbalance of wins. That may serve to partially offset the advantage of playing weaker teams the rest of the season. Also, the best EC record last season was Detroit with 53; Cleveland was the only other team who won 50, and they got it on the number.

Finally, this is a VERY unqualified comment by me as I don't pay much attention to the EC and generally don't analyze to the depth as some of you nerds ([img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]), but does anyone else feel the Bulls are being overhyped? They have no veteran standout leader (I really don't count Ben Wallace here), they are a young team with a ton of potential, but those don't seem to go very far in the playoffs. They made no big offseason moves and are gonna get raped when they try to resign Deng.

I'm sure Clark and others will destroy that paragraph and analysis, but it's just the vibe I'm getting.

[BobboFitos]

tuq, you may be right and possibly why that's the line. i just am not really a gambler though for things i cannot control, so i prob will meek out and not make a bet, but it sure is enticing.

[IrishHand]

If anything, I think the Bulls are underrated. Nearly everyone on the team is a year better (esp. Deng, Tyrus...to a lesser extent Gordon, Hinrich and Nocioni). I can't see them getting less than 50 wins. They can just beat teams in too many ways and they're very good defensively. Playoff flameouts are consistent with young teams...until they learn, which I think the Bulls have the past couple of seasons.

[morello]

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Morrison's minutes ----> Richardson makes no sense. Richardson is playing 35+ regardless. The point is they have no depth at all. Losing May obviously hurt at least as much, but losing both for the entire season is brutal. I also think Morrison would have been a lot better than he was last year, but even if you don't you can't tell me they have anything close to a better sixth man. Matt Carroll, Derek Anderson are now 6 and 7.

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My comment was along the lines of "If everything last year was unchanged except Morrison's minutes given to Richardson".

Also, I don't know why you're down on Carroll. I've never actually seen him play, so maybe he is awful at defense, but his shooting numbers are pretty good, much better than Morrison's (.52 eFG% vs .42 eFG%, and Carroll draws more fouls).

The depth will be an issue, but Carroll and Walter Herrman as your first two options off the bench certainly isn't terrible.

[Green Kool Aid]

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If anything, I think the Bulls are underrated. Nearly everyone on the team is a year better (esp. Deng, Tyrus...to a lesser extent Gordon, Hinrich and Nocioni). I can't see them getting less than 50 wins. They can just beat teams in too many ways and they're very good defensively. Playoff flameouts are consistent with young teams...until they learn, which I think the Bulls have the past couple of seasons.

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The 2007-2008 Bulls: winning a championship one jumpshot at a time.

[tuq]

IrishHand,

We'll see. But if everyone is so sure then maybe those of you with gamb00l should take the over on that.

Also, WTF are they doing paying Hinrich >$11M? That's as much as two-time NBA MVP and future Finals MVP Steve Nash makes. Ridiculous.

[IrishHand]

Young, established PG who plays good defense and can run an offense? $10M is what he gets on the open market, silly or not. You can probably make a valid argument that he's more valuable than Rashard Lewis.