09/10 Season Preview Part 3
09/10 Season Preview Part 3
@Samid and @Stobzilla on the San Antonio Spurs (52-30, 2nd Round)
The Spurs actually did quite well last season. Their regular season record was very good, and they made it to the 2nd round of the playoffs. The summer has not been nice to them, though. Every single player in the starting 5 has declined, including the 21 year old Stobzilla II. I wouldn't be too worried if I were him, though, since 60 at 21 probably means he's going to be pushing 70 at least. Samid doesn't have that long, though. He's still only 28, mind, so there's no need to panic quite yet. He's also one of those players were his rating hides the fact that he's absolutely going to score a lot of points no matter what.
@The Cat on the Phoenix Suns (43-39, 1st Round)
The Cat is another Cafite who saw a decline over the summer. In his case it might actually be countered by several other Suns players getting better, but they're still not likely to be particularly good. Then again they weren't supposed to be laset season either, and they made the playoffs (as The Cat is wont to do). Who knows, maybe they could do it again?
@oneniltothearsenal and the Sacramento Kings (34-48)
oneniltothearsenal also saw quite the decline, after staying remarkably stable even as he got into his early 30s. Mind you, 69 makes him still a very good player, and he'll still probably be a Triple-Double machine. His biggest challenge is probably just the fact that his team is incredibly poorly balanced. It's not a fantastic sign when you've got 39-rated Delonte West starting.
@Dan is on the Denver Nuggets (37-45)
It's an epidemic. When not even solid, dependable Dan is immune from the march of time, who is safe? Most of the decline is purely physical, which makes sense for a 32-year old. It remains to be seen what effect that will have, but what seems certain is that his Nuggets aren't going to be very good this season.
@P-Nut and the Memphis Grizzlies (2nd Round)
Finally! After all those declining oldeads, we get a young(ish) lad just approaching his prime. P-Nut had a fine run in the playoffs last season, and he's got every reason to hope for a repeat of that this year. His improvements were matched by several of his Grizzlies teammates. Despite that, however, he's not at all happy in Memphis. It's mainly got to do with the small market and mean spending, so they'd have to have a really good season to convince him to re-sign after his contract expires at the end of the season.
@altodevil and the Los Angeles Lakers (67-15, NBA Champions)
altodevil keeps declining physically, marginally, but he also keeps making up for it by getting technically better. It doesn't mean much at this point, but if he starts seeing the 20s in some of those technical skills he might actually start taking more than two shots per game. Still, his dominance is very much reliant on his physique, so it will be interesting to see how this affects the Lakers. They did get marginally worse overall, but it's still a very, very deep team.
@Dr. Dwayne and the Utah Jazz (36-46)
I'm not sure Dr. Dwayne is going to be happy to see his chance at re-signing with the Utah Jazz as high as 7%. The Jazz are in the same spot as a few other teams at this point: not very bad, but probably not good either. A starting 5 all between 58 and 65 rating probably isn't going to cut it. Luckily for Dr. Dwayne he's only got another couple of seasons on his contract, so his championship dreams aren't over quite yet. If he stays in the 60s as he gets older he's still got every chance of ending up on a cheap contract on a very good team.
@Samid and @Stobzilla on the San Antonio Spurs (52-30, 2nd Round)
The Spurs actually did quite well last season. Their regular season record was very good, and they made it to the 2nd round of the playoffs. The summer has not been nice to them, though. Every single player in the starting 5 has declined, including the 21 year old Stobzilla II. I wouldn't be too worried if I were him, though, since 60 at 21 probably means he's going to be pushing 70 at least. Samid doesn't have that long, though. He's still only 28, mind, so there's no need to panic quite yet. He's also one of those players were his rating hides the fact that he's absolutely going to score a lot of points no matter what.
@The Cat on the Phoenix Suns (43-39, 1st Round)
The Cat is another Cafite who saw a decline over the summer. In his case it might actually be countered by several other Suns players getting better, but they're still not likely to be particularly good. Then again they weren't supposed to be laset season either, and they made the playoffs (as The Cat is wont to do). Who knows, maybe they could do it again?
@oneniltothearsenal and the Sacramento Kings (34-48)
oneniltothearsenal also saw quite the decline, after staying remarkably stable even as he got into his early 30s. Mind you, 69 makes him still a very good player, and he'll still probably be a Triple-Double machine. His biggest challenge is probably just the fact that his team is incredibly poorly balanced. It's not a fantastic sign when you've got 39-rated Delonte West starting.
@Dan is on the Denver Nuggets (37-45)
It's an epidemic. When not even solid, dependable Dan is immune from the march of time, who is safe? Most of the decline is purely physical, which makes sense for a 32-year old. It remains to be seen what effect that will have, but what seems certain is that his Nuggets aren't going to be very good this season.
@P-Nut and the Memphis Grizzlies (2nd Round)
Finally! After all those declining oldeads, we get a young(ish) lad just approaching his prime. P-Nut had a fine run in the playoffs last season, and he's got every reason to hope for a repeat of that this year. His improvements were matched by several of his Grizzlies teammates. Despite that, however, he's not at all happy in Memphis. It's mainly got to do with the small market and mean spending, so they'd have to have a really good season to convince him to re-sign after his contract expires at the end of the season.
@altodevil and the Los Angeles Lakers (67-15, NBA Champions)
altodevil keeps declining physically, marginally, but he also keeps making up for it by getting technically better. It doesn't mean much at this point, but if he starts seeing the 20s in some of those technical skills he might actually start taking more than two shots per game. Still, his dominance is very much reliant on his physique, so it will be interesting to see how this affects the Lakers. They did get marginally worse overall, but it's still a very, very deep team.
@Dr. Dwayne and the Utah Jazz (36-46)
I'm not sure Dr. Dwayne is going to be happy to see his chance at re-signing with the Utah Jazz as high as 7%. The Jazz are in the same spot as a few other teams at this point: not very bad, but probably not good either. A starting 5 all between 58 and 65 rating probably isn't going to cut it. Luckily for Dr. Dwayne he's only got another couple of seasons on his contract, so his championship dreams aren't over quite yet. If he stays in the 60s as he gets older he's still got every chance of ending up on a cheap contract on a very good team.
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