"The Good and the Bad, of the 3 Bests of the East" Article by Chris Bernucca

[Rick Astley]

Parker is starting? I hope not.

I predict the magic make it to the second round then get the boot. Calling it.

I swear every time I take a short glimpse of your avatar, I thought you're a Lakers fan. can you at least change your colors to red? :chuckles:

 

[Spencer Hawes]

If I was Rondo, I would be ticked. I mean, he's the future of that franchise yet all everyone is talking about is Garnett, Allen and Pierce. :chuckles:

 

[Kiddo]

If I was Rondo, I would be ticked. I mean, he's the future of that franchise yet all everyone is talking about is Garnett, Allen and Pierce. :chuckles:

Not only that, he should also be pissed about hearing his name in trade rumors this offseason.

 

[Cavatt]

I think Parker will be given a shot at starting, but I doubt he will. His size will help in matchups, but it isn't necessary 9 out of 1 times. The team and coaching staffs familiarity with Delonte will help him keep that spot. Their production is very similar, I imagine Delonte's D is better.

 

[JRam027]

well, our best guy is better than their best guy (and that gap will grow this year, IMO), they are older than dirt and KG and 'sheed are the kind of personalities that can hinder a team more than help it a lot of the time. oh, and rondo is a prima donna who might not want the share the spotlight anymore and has clashed with his coach and their bench is BY FAR the weakest of the 3 top teams in the east. good enough reasons?

your best guy is better then EVERYBODYS best guy

 

[jvpertz]

What if Vince Carter just sucks next season? Im talking 39 percent shooting kind of sucky and continued atrophy of his once prominent athletic prowess.

Then what do we make the of the Orlando Magic? Me personally, I always thought the beauty of the Magic attack against us was the whole being much greater than the sum of the parts. I thought they were able to execute a floor game against us that was truly phenomenal.

Why they felt that adding VC was necessarily an improvement over what they were already doing to us I dont know. Maybe the Magic only made the move with Lakers in mind. I dont know.

 

[Blue Magic]

What if Vince Carter just sucks next season? Im talking 39 percent shooting kind of sucky and continued atrophy of his once prominent athletic prowess.

Then what do we make the of the Orlando Magic? Me personally, I always thought the beauty of the Magic attack against us was the whole being much greater than the sum of the parts. I thought they were able to execute a floor game against us that was truly phenomenal.

Why they felt that adding VC was necessarily an improvement over what they were already doing to us I dont know. Maybe the Magic only made the move with Lakers in mind. I dont know.

I think people were just sleeping on the Magic honestly. We were good the year prior to this season as well... A 3 seed two yrs in a row... It's not like we just came out of nowhere and started beating people(at least not IMO), it was a natural progression and we were just learning & growing w/ experience. Detroit always gave as matchup problems across the board, and we could never get through them.... Once they blew it up, the door was open for us to step in. Our run wasn't a fluke just because ESPN and all the so called experts didnt want to see us. We've been a good team.

As for Vince shooting 39%, I dont see why he would fall off so hard when things should be easier for him.... Even if he did tho, 39% is only 2% worse than Hedo's 41% from last season.... People dont realize how inconsistent Hedo was, but they say how we will be worse w/o him... I just dont understand it why people assume Vince's impact will be negative? There's a possibility it can be negative, but why would you assume it will be negative?? Vince is a great player, dare I even say, he's a legend. We aren't even asking him to carry the team, he will only have to be the 2nd or 3rd scoring option and our closer in the 4th Qtr(which he's been a closer his entire career).

Chemistry is a legit concern, but I think you could ask that same questions about the other 2 contenders in the east and even LA. All 3 of those teams brought in more explosive personalities than Orlando.... Vince isnt that explosive of a personality(Not when compared to Artest, Sheed, & Shaq), so I dont understand why people think he cant or wont fit in w/ Orlando....

 

[jvpertz]

I think people were just sleeping on the Magic honestly. We were good the year prior to this season as well... A 3 seed two yrs in a row... It's not like we just came out of nowhere and started beating people(at least not IMO), it was a natural progression and we were just learning & growing w/ experience. Detroit always gave as matchup problems across the board, and we could never get through them.... Once they blew it up, the door was open for us to step in. Our run wasn't a fluke just because ESPN and all the so called experts didnt want to see us. We've been a good team.

As for Vince shooting 39%, I dont see why he would fall off so hard when things should be easier for him.... Even if he did tho, 39% is only 2% worse than Hedo's 41% from last season.... People dont realize how inconsistent Hedo was, but they say how we will be worse w/o him... I just dont understand it why people assume Vince's impact will be negative? There's a possibility it can be negative, but why would you assume it will be negative?? Vince is a great player, dare I even say, he's a legend. We aren't even asking him to carry the team, he will only have to be the 2nd or 3rd scoring option and our closer in the 4th Qtr(which he's been a closer his entire career).

Chemistry is a legit concern, but I think you could ask that same questions about the other 2 contenders in the east and even LA. All 3 of those teams brought in more explosive personalities than Orlando.... Vince isnt that explosive of a personality(Not when compared to Artest, Sheed, & Shaq), so I dont understand why people think he cant or wont fit in w/ Orlando....

The bottom line is this. The East will go through Cleveland once again and Hedo Turkuglu was absolutely brilliant against us. He averaged almost 7 assists per game for the series.

Whether or not Hedo is inconsistent doesnt matter because in the end it all comes down to how you stack up against us.

You guys played your very best basketball against us last season. I dont see how subbing Hedo, who gives us absolute fits, for VC ,who is pretty decent against us, makes you a better team. Now Barnes, Bass, and Anderson in place of Rafer, Lee, and Battie may make you a better team overall but this all remains to be seen.

I dontt see the point in replacing Hedo for an aging Vince Carter. The Magic run a brilliant offense where nobody dominates the ball. That is the beauty of the Magic's system. Why they felt the need to add a one on one player to their team is beyond me. Maybe they felt it was the only way they could get by LA.

I think its very possible that the Magic are a better matchup now against the Lakers and it is also very possible that by adding Vince Carter in place of Turk, it helps the Cavs.


If you re watch the Cavs Magic series you will see Hedo opening up a ton of good offense for the Magic. He does it in the half court through the high low screen and rolls and he also excels in the open court setting up quality looks off the rebound. We saw him hurt the Cavs in a number of ways.

I think Vince is a easier matchup for us. He has certainly never dominated the Cavs like Hedo has. Now, whether or not Hedo is a worse player against other teams isnt my issue. I only care about how the Cavs and Magic stack up.

 

[Lee]

Orlando is a good team. They will be a tough series in the playoffs. Injuries will play a huge part. Home court will be a huge advantage...yes i know we had home court last time. I think the biggest upgrade is a healthy Jameer Nelson, not vinve carter. That right there scares me. I thought hedo was over rated, he had one good series against us and suddenly he is the turkish jesus of basketball. Vince is a damn good player, even if he doesnt have heart. I also think rashard is over rated, but Dwight makes up for alot of his defensive deficiencies with his ability to guard the rim.

We will see, it will be a fun year. Overall I think Orlando did get better, but I think the cavs made bigger improvements. An X factor in all of this is if Orlando uses that huge trade exception at the deadline it could put them over the top. Would be an expenisve aquisition though, not sure how Olrando's owner feel's about paying 20 million in luxury tax.

 

[Blue Magic]

The bottom line is this. The East will go through Cleveland once again and Hedo Turkuglu was absolutely brilliant against us. He averaged almost 7 assists per game for the series.

Whether or not Hedo is inconsistent doesnt matter because in the end it all comes down to how you stack up against us.

You guys played your very best basketball against us last season. I dont see how subbing Hedo, who gives us absolute fits, for VC ,who is pretty decent against us, makes you a better team. Now Barnes, Bass, and Anderson in place of Rafer, Lee, and Battie may make you a better team overall but this all remains to be seen.

I dontt see the point in replacing Hedo for an aging Vince Carter. The Magic run a brilliant offense where nobody dominates the ball. That is the beauty of the Magic's system. Why they felt the need to add a one on one player to their team is beyond me. Maybe they felt it was the only way they could get by LA.

I think its very possible that the Magic are a better matchup now against the Lakers and it is also very possible that by adding Vince Carter in place of Turk, it helps the Cavs.


If you re watch the Cavs Magic series you will see Hedo opening up a ton of good offense for the Magic. He does it in the half court through the high low screen and rolls and he also excels in the open court setting up quality looks off the rebound. We saw him hurt the Cavs in a number of ways.

I think Vince is a easier matchup for us. He has certainly never dominated the Cavs like Hedo has. Now, whether or not Hedo is a worse player against other teams isnt my issue. I only care about how the Cavs and Magic stack up.

Hedo is aging too... He had one great year in 07-08 and his production already started to fall off abit last season... I think the though process was, Hedo only has 2, maybe 3 good years left in him to be a go-to-guy type player and so does Vince... So instead of investing 5yrs into Hedo, we'll bring on another guy for a 2-3yr deal and go all-in for the next 2 or 3yrs, before we revamp... With Hedo, we'd be locked in for 5yrs/50mil for a guys who's only had 1 great yr and already showing signs of decline. Declining VC for 2yrs > declining Hedo for 5yrs was I think what it came down to....

Also, your right, Vince's iso skills are also a reason we wanted him. We didn't really have a wing player capable of dropping 30-40pts on any given night just because he feels like it. We had abunch of very good/above average wings, but i think VC gives us a 'great' wing on another tier... Whether you guys think you should be worried about him or not, i guess that's on you guys to decide. From Orlando's perspective, I think he definitely makes us better no question.

Granted, he's gonna be on the decline and he's not LBJ/Kobe/Wade/Melo status but I think he's on that next level still capable of Joe Johnson/Pierce/Butler/Iggy type production. I think he can fit in w/in Orlando's system and SVG will give him his spots to do his thing. I trust VC will know his role and I trust SVG will figure out how to maximize what we have like he usually does. But I'm biased, so I can respect your opinion.... we just have to agree to disagree.

 

[Adam]

I think the magics biggest challenge will be adjust their style to suit their new team. SVG could get some coach of the year attention if he adjusts the system to suite both the starters and the bench frontcourt.

FYI i repped the original poster for their great use of colour, cheers.

 

[jvpertz]

Hedo is aging too... He had one great year in 07-08 and his production already started to fall off abit last season... I think the though process was, Hedo only has 2, maybe 3 good years left in him to be a go-to-guy type player and so does Vince... So instead of investing 5yrs into Hedo, we'll bring on another guy for a 2-3yr deal and go all-in for the next 2 or 3yrs, before we revamp... With Hedo, we'd be locked in for 5yrs/50mil for a guys who's only had 1 great yr and already showing signs of decline. Declining VC for 2yrs > declining Hedo for 5yrs was I think what it came down to....

Also, your right, Vince's iso skills are also a reason we wanted him. We didn't really have a wing player capable of dropping 30-40pts on any given night just because he feels like it. We had abunch of very good/above average wings, but i think VC gives us a 'great' wing on another tier... Whether you guys think you should be worried about him or not, i guess that's on you guys to decide. From Orlando's perspective, I think he definitely makes us better no question.

Granted, he's gonna be on the decline and he's not LBJ/Kobe/Wade/Melo status but I think he's on that next level still capable of Joe Johnson/Pierce/Butler/Iggy type production. I think he can fit in w/in Orlando's system and SVG will give him his spots to do his thing. I trust VC will know his role and I trust SVG will figure out how to maximize what we have like he usually does. But I'm biased, so I can respect your opinion.... we just have to agree to disagree.

And while the Magic are technically a more talented team on paper against us with VC and a healthy Jameer, at the end of the day we dont have to do deal with Turk and the match up problems he gives us.

The Cavs do very very well in half court defensive sets. It takes an offense operating at peak efficiency to beat our defense. Orlando put together a brilliant performance against us. The ball movement was selfless and constant. The ball simply never got stuck. Guys were in sink with one another and every part fit within the whole.

Vince has never played a floor game similar to that. Even with J Kidd running the Nets, Vince was still an ISO guy getting his on his own.

That is Vince's game. And to me that makes the Cavs match up a million times better against the Magic now.

Say what you want about Hedo but against us he was fantastic. You can look at the numbers and film and think anything different.

The last time Vince played meaningful basketball for us he shot .37 percent for the series and was largely handled by Pavlovic. Vince as 31 at the time.

 

[Mr2400]

The guy has no clue about the cavs or their players. Parker doesn't make us any worse defensively. He's almost as good as West at that end, and the fact that he has size over West makes him essentially just as good. We won all those games because of our defense, sure. But who spear-headed the cavs defense? Who made it so no fast break was a given lay up, and no opposing wing was going to have an easy night? LeBron's greatness at that end is what led to the defense which led to the wins. Shaq's defense in the post is even better than Z's, though neither of them can guard the pick and roll worth a damn. Varejao has logged starter's minutes before without being in constant foul trouble, so I don't see that as a problem. He says Gibson is out of the lineup and Kinsey is the new backup point? Is that a joke? Boobie isn't the greatest backup point, and he had an off year last year. He's still this team's backup point, unless West moves to the bench. Kinsey is completely irrelevant when it comes to this team's success next year.

 

[Cavatt]

Can Jameer huard Mo as effectively as Alston did? I know that Alston gave Mo problems in Houston and in Orlando. He seemed to do better against Jameer if I remember correctly.

 

[The Memo Man]

FYI i repped the original poster for their great use of colour, cheers.

thanks lol