From the desk of Swordsman Yen With the All-Star break this weekend upon us, I figured this would be a good time and thread for diehard fans to evaluate their team's performance. So we're gonna do a little survey here. Just answer the questions in the format provided below:
1. Who's your favorite team?
2. How would you rate their performance at this point in the season (letter grade)?
3. Who would you consider the team MVP this year?
4. What goals should your team be setting for the rest of the regular season?
5. What changes (if any) should your team make to be successful this year?
"I don't care what people think. People are stupid." -- Charles Barkley
A: Hornets. B: B-... they should be better than one game over .500, but they should also have Baron playing and injury-free. C: Uhm... Mashburn? He's the only one I can think of offhand. D: Rest up, get a nice seed for the playoffs, and whup some ass there. E: Getting and staying healthy... they should be fine.
2. C. They should be doing better but when Coleman is on the team you can't expect much. If they do trade Coleman by the deadline the grade goes to an F. He leaves at the end of the year so that frees up a lot of salary cap room. Under the current conditions that is a good thing.
3. Iverson.
4. Just try to make the playoffs.
5. Keep Coleman for the reason above. Try to trade Van Horn or Todd M. for Ratliff. Anything to free up a little bit of cap room. The bench is pretty solid but the front court is weak. We need a starting PF and C. If Van Horn was consistant I think we could fighting with the Nets for first place.
2. B. Struggled early but have been playing well as of late, particularly on their current 9 game road trip. Have to deduct a grade since they tend to lose to teams that they should beat.
3. Duncan. The reigning MVP makes it all happen.
4. Have a healthy Admiral going into the playoffs and hang on to that #3 seed. Catching the Mavs and Kings would be a longshot right now since neither team is likely to collapse towards the end of the season.
5. If Duncan continues to be aggressive during crunch time, Parker stays consistent as a #2 option, Admiral is healthy, and Stephen Jackson continues having a good season, no changes should be needed. Steve Smith is trade-bait for a solid backup PG, but the return of Speedy Claxton makes it unnecessary.
"I don't care what people think. People are stupid." -- Charles Barkley
1. Pacers 2. A-. We lead the Eastern Conference, but still lose to teams that we should beat decisively. 3. Jermaine O'Neal. He's Mr. Consistency. 4. Keep Ron Artest's temper under control, so he won't miss any more games-- the team suffers without him on the court. Continue building on the first half of the season, winning the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference. We've had tons of experience winning close games, so I think we can take it all the way this year-- that's right, even to the championship-- if we keep everybody on the court. We sure as hell would've beaten the Lakers a couple days ago if we'd had Artest and Coach Thomas. 5. We need to keep our intensity level up throughout the game-- there have been games when we've been up by 20, let the other team come back, and struggled to pull out a win. Once we've got teams where we want them, we need to start squeezing them to death-- don't allow a team the opportunity to come back on you, because everyone's got pride. As I mentioned, we need to let cooler heads prevail in altercations, lest we lose important players at bad times. But at the same time, we shouldn't let motherfuckers push us around, either.
“I'm not telling you anything you don't already know.” --Sean O'Haire
Two-Time, Two-Time Randomly Selected Wiener of the Day, 5/27/02 and 7/3/02
Certified RFMC Member-- Ask To See My Credentials!
1) Nets 2) A - Considering the injuries that they've faced, I'm amazed they have a better record than this time last season. 3) Kidd - That's a no brainer 4) Stay healthy and win home court advantage through the Eastern Conference Finals 5) None really, except don't expect Mutombo to be that much of a difference maker when he comes back.
1) Heat 2) C/C- 3) Caron Butler - been consistent all year long, and has so much upside to his rookie self. 4) Take out the stupid refs. (I'd say win, but we really have no hopes for the playoffs - might as well get a good draft pick!) 5) Get rid of cant-make-a-basket-if-the-hoop-was-as-big-as-a-barn-door Anthony Carter and keep playing the younguns to get them experience so we'll be a contender next year.
Yo, it's me, it's me, it's (points to self) P-A-B!