Celtics and Lakers... again?

PG: Rajon Rondo / Nate Robinson
SG: Ray Allen / Delonte West
SF: Paul Pierce / Marquis Daniels
PF: Kevin Garnett / Glenn Davis
C: Kendrick Perkins / Shaquille O'Neal
Extra: Jermain O'Neal, Von Wafer
Coach: Doc Rivers
Biggest Loss: Tom Thibodeau
Biggest Addition: O'Neal's

PG: Derek Fisher / Steve Blake
SG: Kobe Bryant / Shannon Brown
SF: Ron Artest / Matt Barnes
PF: Pau Gasol / Lamar Odom
C: Andrew Bynum / Theo Ratliff
Extra: Sasha Vujacic, Josh Powell
Coach: Phil Jackson
Biggest Loss: Jordan Farmar (?)
Biggest Addition: Matt Barnes

Is it just me, or do these two line-ups look so much more deadlier than Oklahoma City's, Orlando's, Miami's, and Chicago's?

Do you think it's possible for these two teams to meet up in the Finals again?

That's my bet. Or Orlando figures it out, but...I think their additions outweigh the inevitable drop-off we'll see from the mid-thirties trio of Allen/Pierce/KG. But then, LA has definitely strengthened the bench and maybe, just maybe, we could have a healthy Bynum this season.

I do believe it'd be one hell of a series.

I mean, it's gonna be crazy if these two meet again.

The hate, especially with guys like Barnes, Kobe, Artest, Gasol, Garnett, Pierce, O'Neal, O'Neal, West, Odom, Robinson, Allen, Rondo.

I could imagine at least two players fouling out each game.

AGAIN PLEASE!I will never get bored of these series, NEVER!

I hope Von Wafer adjusts, he's tons better than Tony offensively when healthy. And believe me, we need offense more than defense. Then i have big hopes on Avery, he looks a nice piece for the future along with Perkins and Rondo.

And don't forget Doc's last year, this would be like the epic battle. Both coaches last year in 7 games series. CRAZY

I completely forgot about Bradley, Ebanks, Caracter.

Nothing looks better than :lebron,wade,bosh.



you can deny but guess what? its true!

Chris wrote:

AGAIN PLEASE!I will never get bored of these series, NEVER!

I hope Von Wafer adjusts, he's tons better than Tony offensively when healthy. And believe me, we need offense more than defense. Then i have big hopes on Avery, he looks a nice piece for the future along with Perkins and Rondo.

And don't forget Doc's last year, this would be like the epic battle. Both coaches last year in 7 games series. CRAZY

Avery will be really good; he's already excellent defensively. Von Wafer...he's a headcase, but I think KG and crew can keep him in the line the same way Artest was normal (and hopefully Barnes too). And I think JO and Shaq will be a more than adequate replacement for Perkins...but I don't expect Perkins to perform particularly well since he's expected to come back, what, right before the playoffs? It'd be a freaking awesome series though.

ALI wrote:

Nothing looks better than :lebron,wade,bosh.



you can deny but guess what? its true!

It's not true because of a bunch of bench-level guys at PG and a collection of living statues at center. But hey, that's just me. Also, Wade and Bosh have their share of injury history.

ALI wrote:

Nothing looks better than :lebron,wade,bosh.



you can deny but guess what? its true!

Chalmers - Arroyo
Wade - Miller
James - Who? Butler?
Bosh - Haslem
Ilgauskas - Magloire

Bench is ugly compared to these two teams, and LA and BOS have just as much or more starpower in the their starting 5's.

110% wrote:

ALI wrote:

Nothing looks better than :lebron,wade,bosh.



you can deny but guess what? its true!

Chalmers - Arroyo
Wade - Miller
James - Who? Butler?
Bosh - Haslem
Ilgauskas - Magloire

Bench is ugly compared to these two teams, and LA and BOS have just as much or more starpower in the their starting 5's.

I dont think the bench really matters tbh.... when you have that much talent in 3 starters.

ALI wrote:

110% wrote:

ALI wrote:

Nothing looks better than :lebron,wade,bosh.



you can deny but guess what? its true!

Chalmers - Arroyo
Wade - Miller
James - Who? Butler?
Bosh - Haslem
Ilgauskas - Magloire

Bench is ugly compared to these two teams, and LA and BOS have just as much or more starpower in the their starting 5's.

I dont think the bench really matters tbh.... when you have that much talent in 3 starters.

Rondo/Allen/Pierce/Garnett/WhateverCenter
and
Bryant/Artest/Odom/Gasol/Bynum
have much more talent in the starting line-up than Miami does.

When i look at it close..when i say close...REALLY close. I realize that Boston and Lakers have as much of star power as Miami does.

Lakers - 2 players who are arguably best at their positions, best 6th man in the game.
Celtics - 3 players who are arguably top5 at their positions, best 3pt shooter in history Ray Ray.
Miami - 2 players who are arguably best at their postion and a top 5 PF.

110% wrote:

ALI wrote:

110% wrote:

ALI wrote:

Nothing looks better than :lebron,wade,bosh.



you can deny but guess what? its true!

Chalmers - Arroyo
Wade - Miller
James - Who? Butler?
Bosh - Haslem
Ilgauskas - Magloire

Bench is ugly compared to these two teams, and LA and BOS have just as much or more starpower in the their starting 5's.

I dont think the bench really matters tbh.... when you have that much talent in 3 starters.

Rondo/Allen/Pierce/Garnett/WhateverCenter
and
Bryant/Artest/Odom/Gasol/Bynum
have much more talent in the starting line-up than Miami does.

:upset:

Problem is, the Lakers and Celtics match up exceedingly well with those stars.

Los Angeles:
-Healthy/rested Kobe with healthy/rested Wade is basically a wash (I'd of course take Kobe, but then I'm biased).
-LeBron is certainly better than Artest, but Artest is one of the few SFs in the league that can really go toe-to-toe with LBJ offensively; plus, Artest is counted on to do much offensively, so he can save his energy for D.
-Gasol is better than Bosh.
-Fisher (or maybe Blake?) and Bynum are significantly better than Chalmers and Ilgauskas.
-LA's bench is far superior to Miami's.
-Phil is much superior to Spoelstra
-Lakers have more motivation (Phil's last season, championship window closing, etc.)

Boston:
-Rondo absolutely annihilates Chalmers
-Allen is old, but he can still give a good accounting of himself against Wade
-Pierce is old, but he proved last season that he can be very, very effective against LeBron, and that he can also score well against LeBron at the same time
-KG is old, but I think he can show up Bosh
-JO is better than Big Z at this point
-Boston's bench is vastly superior to Miami's (and maybe better than LA's)
-I'll take Doc Rivers in his last season over Spoelstra any day, but it'll be interesting to see how losing Thibodeau affects them

Also, Riley is notorious for being a practice Nazi; the Heat's trio will have to have played big minutes up to now, and will be undoubtedly worn down by the time they play Boston, much less the Lakers.

Chris wrote:

When i look at it close..when i say close...REALLY close. I realize that Boston and Lakers have as much of star power as Miami does.

Lakers - 2 players who are arguably best at their positions, best 6th man in the game.
Celtics - 3 players who are arguably top5 at their positions, best 3pt shooter in history Ray Ray.
Miami - 2 players who are arguably best at their postion and a top 5 PF.

Miami has two players who are arguably top at the position, with a Top 5 at his position. Two solid bench players.

Boston has the best general in the game, and 3 guys who are arguably Top 5 at the position. With a Top 3 Center in the conference, and good back-ups at each spot.

Los Angeles has two players who are arguably top at the position, with the best perimeter defender, an All-Star worthy center, the best sixth man in the game, who is also one of the most All-Around players, with better PG's (than MIA).

Derek Fisher - Old and sucks for the whole game except last 2 mins
Steve Blake - Eh
Kobe Bryant - BEAST
Shannon Brown - Sucks at everything besides dunking and defense
Ron Artest - Beast perimeter defender
Matt Barnes - Good perimeter defender
Pau Gasol - BEAST
Lamar Odom - Very versatile and can do about everything. Inconsistently.
Andrew Bynum - Good with lots of potential
Theo Ratliff - HE'S STILL ALIVE?!?!
Sasha - Sucks
Powell - Sucks

Rajon Rondo - Can't shoot but is a beast...maybe not so much when he's the first offensive option but we'll see
Nate Robinson - Inconsistent instant offense
Ray Allen - Old but lights out
Delonte West -
Paul Pierce - Old but a very complete offensive player
Marquis Daniels - Sucks
Kevin Garnett - About to drop dead any moment, but still good defensively with a lot of offensive options to use
Glen Davis - Fat.
Kendrick Perkins - Injured? Limited offense but amazing defense
Shaq - Old but still able to contribute
Jermaine - Still pretty good
Wafer - Good at dunking and shooting threes

Right now the Celtics are looking better to me, but I feel like injuries will be a big factor and they'll slip a few spots.

110% wrote:

Chris wrote:

When i look at it close..when i say close...REALLY close. I realize that Boston and Lakers have as much of star power as Miami does.

Lakers - 2 players who are arguably best at their positions, best 6th man in the game.
Celtics - 3 players who are arguably top5 at their positions, best 3pt shooter in history Ray Ray.
Miami - 2 players who are arguably best at their postion and a top 5 PF.

Miami has two players who are arguably top at the position, with a Top 5 at his position. Two solid bench players.

Boston has the best general in the game, and 3 guys who are arguably Top 5 at the position. With a Top 3 Center in the conference, and good back-ups at each spot.

Los Angeles has two players who are arguably top at the position, with the best perimeter defender, an All-Star worthy center, the best sixth man in the game, who is also one of the most All-Around players, with better PG's (than MIA).

Exactly. The star power of Wade/LBJ/Bosh isn't that much further from the star power of Allen/Pierce/KG or Kobe/Gasol, and their advantages at point guard, center, and on the bench (both with reserve players and coaching) easily (okay, maybe not EASILY, but still) puts them over the top.

CAguyofftoUNC wrote:

110% wrote:

Chris wrote:

When i look at it close..when i say close...REALLY close. I realize that Boston and Lakers have as much of star power as Miami does.

Lakers - 2 players who are arguably best at their positions, best 6th man in the game.
Celtics - 3 players who are arguably top5 at their positions, best 3pt shooter in history Ray Ray.
Miami - 2 players who are arguably best at their postion and a top 5 PF.

Miami has two players who are arguably top at the position, with a Top 5 at his position. Two solid bench players.

Boston has the best general in the game, and 3 guys who are arguably Top 5 at the position. With a Top 3 Center in the conference, and good back-ups at each spot.

Los Angeles has two players who are arguably top at the position, with the best perimeter defender, an All-Star worthy center, the best sixth man in the game, who is also one of the most All-Around players, with better PG's (than MIA).

Exactly. The star power of Wade/LBJ/Bosh isn't that much further from the star power of Allen/Pierce/KG or Kobe/Gasol, and their advantages at point guard, center, and on the bench (both with reserve players and coaching) easily (okay, maybe not EASILY, but still) puts them over the top.

For example, against LA, LeBron is slowed down a lot by Artest, Kobe is better than Wade (JUST MY OPINION), and Gasol is better than Bosh. If you don't think that's enough, then you put in Odom, Bynum, Fisher, Coach Jackson, Barnes and think about Chalmers, Ilgauskas, Coach Spoelstra, Haslem.

Best general in the game = Rondo?

Basically what I'm saying is, I think Rondo is the best PG.

Don't kill me for saying that. D:

Mario chalmers has loads of potential. big z will get more minutes which will probably make him the version of old...ummean..this is pointless becuz the bench is bad..i admit. but you cant gaurd wade,lebron and bosh..sorry. you cant.

Let's not get too excited about Miami, now.

Pierce before Ray/KG - 25 PPG
Allen before Boston - 26 PPG
Garnett before Boston - 22 PPG 13 RPG
73 PPG, and a BEAST post defender who will shut you down, block shots, and grab rebounds
Notable others - Rajon Rondo, Kendrick Perkins
Notable Bench - James Posey, Tony Allen, Leon Powe, Eddie House


Wade - 27 PPG
Lebron - 30 PPG
Bosh - 24 PPG 11 RPG
81 PPG, and a big man who can't really defend the post, but will get you rebounds.
Notable others: Mike Miller
Notable bench - Mike Miller, Udonis Haslem, Eddie House

Rajon Rondo + Kendrick Perkins > Mike Miller/Udonis Haslem
Eddie House of Boston > Eddie House of now
Then you still have Tony Allen, a good defensive guy
And you still have James Posey, a good three point shooter and defensive guy.

Don't believe the hype just yet.

110% wrote:

Basically what I'm saying is, I think Rondo is the best PG.

Don't kill me for saying that. D:

ALI wrote:

Mario chalmers has loads of potential. big z will get more minutes which will probably make him the version of old...ummean..this is pointless becuz the bench is bad..i admit. but you cant gaurd wade,lebron and bosh..sorry. you cant.

Now tell me how Wade and Bosh are supposed to cover Bryant and Gasol.

Gasol could take Bosh. Bryant could take Wade. Artest could slow down LeBron, LeBron obviously is better though.

110% wrote:

ALI wrote:

Mario chalmers has loads of potential. big z will get more minutes which will probably make him the version of old...ummean..this is pointless becuz the bench is bad..i admit. but you cant gaurd wade,lebron and bosh..sorry. you cant.

Now tell me how Wade and Bosh are supposed to cover Bryant and Gasol.

Gasol could take Bosh. Bryant could take Wade. Artest could slow down LeBron, LeBron obviously is better though.

And the bench isn't bad.
It's TERRIBLE compared to the likes of Bynum, Odom, Barnes, and Fisher.


Chalmers potential? No. He did terrible this season. You can't just say he has potential because he's young. He's not even improving. He's gotten worse actually.