The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

Season kicks off tomorrow! How do you feel about your team/player?

I feel both my teams (Magic/Sixers) are in a race for the lottery. Its the price you pay for "rebuilding". Another season of Where Amazing Doesn't Happen.

Lifelong Phoenix Suns fan, so we're competing with you in the Wiggins Sweepstakes this season.

Honestly though, I'd be happy with either of the first two picks, because I think that Julius Randle will be just as studly at the NBA level as Wiggins will be. In addition to Phoenix' own first round pick, we have three other first rounders through trades, though all of them are protected to at least #12. Still, we'll have some ammunition to move up and grab a second lotto pick in "what appears to be" a massively loaded draft class.

As far as the NBA goes this year, I see the Heat still as the team to beat, though if Rose can stay healthy all season, I expect the Bulls to be as big a threat to Miami as Indiana is. I like what Dwight Howard could add to Houston's roster, and see them as serious players in the West. I still think OKC will be the cream of the West, even missing Westbrook for the first part of the season.

On the fantasy hoops landscape, a few players that I think are primed for breakout seasons: DeMarcus Cousins, Gordon Hayward, Eric Bledsoe, Derrick Favors and Bradley Beal.

Rookie of the Year: Victor "I'd have looked great in a Suns uniform" Oladipo

The Heat are the beasts of the East. A healthy Derrick Rose is their worst nightmare. Hoping it happens. I also like what D12 adds to Houston. As long as the game doesn't come down to free throws. I feel Vucevic is on the verge of a break out season. All he did was quietly collect double-doubles last season.

Don't fret, 'Stroke. Trading deadline is a long way off. Oladipo could still end up in a Suns uniform.

Orlando in a rebuilding mode...no chance they trade away their rookie of the year. It's a pleasant purple and orange pipe dream, but I don't see it happening in the waking world.

I like Vucevic...at least my fantasy squads liked him last year. Maybe as light on talent as Orlando is, they'll make him more of an offensive focus. Like a lot of big men though, he needs to work on those free throws.

I love the NBA season and with the Suns being so terrible I will probably get offers to see a ton of games live this year so that is always fun. As for my Lakers if they make the playoffs they will be an 8 seed at best. Kobe will probably still be out for awhile and Nash is not getting any younger. Pau should have a decent season but they are all getting up there in age so it will probably be awhile before the Lake show returns to glory!!!!!

The only thing that I am looking forward to is the fact that Orlando is going to be so bad I won't hear too much Laker bashing around town.

As a Celtics fan I'm curious as to what The Celtics will do this year, not to enthused at this point.  However, I'm looking forward to the arrogant Lakers being whooped by the Clippers.  Did I mention I hate Kobe??

The HEAT's worst nightmare is their own injury.  Other than that, they have no fears.  The Bulls can't even get to a 6th game, they have Boozer killing their roster -- not worried.  They aren't even the 2nd best team in the East.

the heat beat MVP derrick rose on a bulls team with a better bench than they have now in 5

still not worried

Filed under G, for "Go Figure"

The Philadelphia 76ers and the Phoenix Suns, the consensus picks for the worst teams in the Eastern and Western Conferences this season are both 2-0.
The Miami Heat are 1-2.

Yeah, go figure. Phoenix, Philadelphia, Charlotte, & Orlando all win on the same night.

Anybody else just find it so weird seeing both KG and Pierce in Brooklyn? For some reason that just blows my mind. -EK

Yeah, it does feel weird. I can understand Boston moving on but it still sucks. :/

It felt weird seeing KG out of a Minnesota uniform when he went to the Celtics...

Maybe it's because it was BOTH of them in Brooklyn. And because I spent 38 years watching the Nets play as the "New Jersey Nets." Too much change is freaking me out! -EK

QFT


^^ Especially this

Still a little mindboggled that the Suns have gotten out to a 5-2 start to the season. Hornacek (who I loved as a player) became the first coach in franchise history to win his first 4 home games. Eric Bledose has been playing like a monster, Markieff "The Good Twin" Morris has been playing lights out, and Miles Plumlee has turned into a solid force on the boards and for our interior defense.

I know it can't last, but I am pleasantly surprised with McDonough (our GM) and Hornacek have been able to put together so far this season.

For those of you interested in following the upcoming wunder-class of NBA prospects, you should set aside 4 hours tonight to watch two basketball games on ESPN (starting at 7:30), because between the four teams playing, you may very well have close to half of the players selected in the first round of next year's NBA draft (13 of 30 according to most recent CBS Sportsline mock).

Game 1: #1 Kentucky vs #2 Michigan State
Potential first rounders: Julius Randle (top-3), Aaron Harrison (lottery), Andrew Harrison (lottery), Willie Cauly-Stein (lottery), Alex Polythress (top 20), Gary Harris (top 20), Adreian Payne, James Young

Game 2: #4 Duke vs #5 Kansas
Potential first rounders: Andrew Wiggins (top-3), Jabari Parker (top-3), Joel Embiid (lottery), Wayne Selden (lottery), Rasheed Sulaimon

I have beer, I have chips and the fixings for nachos. I am not going to leave my house or answer the phone unless someone calls during halftime. If you are a true fan of the game of basketball, tonight is about as sweet as it gets...

Did it live up to your expectations?

^^^ Yeah man, it really did. Two excellent games between four teams that I fully expect will go deep in this year's tournament. The big-3, Wiggins, Parker & Randle, all played like they're ready to make the jump to the NBA. A few guys who really impressed me outside of the big-3 were Keith Appling, Adreian Payne, James Young and Wayne Selden.

The nachos were pretty darned tasty as well...

I was flicking back and forth watching those games. College basketball had a lot of good games on last night. Other ranked teams included UVA and VCU with two ranked teams in a nailbighter and UF & UW in another fairly close one. Calipari has lost all respect from me. Not only do I think he is dirty but the guy sounded like a little crybaby saying it wasn't fair for his team to play MSU so early.

Yeah, there really was a lot of good college hoops going on last night. Monday night was light, other than my beloved #6 AZ Wildcats (and their super-freshman, Aaron Gordon) chomping on the cupcake Long Beach State.

Talk about mind boggling, Sixers are in 1st place. And at 4-5, the Magic are not in last place. We all know that its a long way to 82 games.  But maybe this should be a new strategy. Give the impression of tanking, only to blow the doors off the competition.

^^^ Yeah, I'm pulling for a Suns-Sixers Finals. Fuck the experts, right in the ear hole...

^^^^^ Yes! Anarchy! Anarchy! Anarchy!

Just so I can here the Colin Cowherds of the world complain about how awful The Finals are.

Suns-Sixers Finals, with Stephen A. Smith and Jalen Rose doing the broadcast.

...as it was foretold in the Book of Revelations.

So it is written. So it shall be done.

In your face, Stern!

Fast forward to the 3:00 mark for my opinion on Commissioner/Captain Stern

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHgMsvpFm08 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHgMsvpFm08)

Any day that I can break out a Heavy Metal clip is a good day... ;D

LOL! Yes sir. Any time you can break out a Heavy Metal clip, its a good day.

That one's worthy of a little avatar time...I'll give Cpt Sternn a couple of weeks.. After all, he's got an angle.

As a Suns fan, I have to say that I was excited to see the possibility of Eric Bledsoe getting full-time starters minutes, because he looked pretty damned impressive as Chris Paul's backup in LA the last couple of seasons. He's been every bit as good as I'd hoped, averaging 21 pts, 4.3 rebs, 7.1 assists, 1.8 steals and a FG/FT% of .514/.821. 

Bledsoe, Markieff Morris and Plumlee have Phoenix not looking anything like a "Tank for Wiggins" type of club. As much as I'd love to see one of the big-3 rookies for next season (Wiggins-Parker-Randle) in a Suns uniform, a young core of Bledsoe-Plumlee-Morris-Len and 4 first round picks outside of the lottery this coming season has to be a decent place to be sitting, especially with a good talent guy like McDonough as the GM. Maybe the lean years for Phoenix won't be as lean, or last as many years, as I'd feared.

Thanks for killing the dream last night 'Stroke. I was hoping after the Magic made a valiant effort against the Heat. That maybe they'd be able to rebound against Phoenix. Oh well.

It's not every day that I get to watch a basketball. But what a night to watch last night. My two favorites going head to head. Magic vs. Sixers. Olidapo vs. Carter-Williams. Both registering their first triple-double. Afflalo & Davis scoring career highs. A double OT game that could've gone to triple OT. Sixers hold on to a 126-125 win. What a game!

I thought this was a "tank" year for the Suns....

Someone forgot to CC the Suns on that memo... They've really played well so far this season, even handing the Trailblazers half of their four total losses on the year. Bledsoe and Dragic look like an amazing two-PG backcourt, and Channing Frye and Markieff Morris seem to not realize that they are mediocre talents. If the Coach of the Year award was handed out today, I have a hard time imagining someone beating out Hornacek for the honors...he's been exactly what the team needed.

Those red-hot Suns just keep on winning. We just went into the division-leading Clippers arena and kicked their asses by 19 points. Hornacek has this team playing outstanding up-tempo ball, but with a little more attention to transition defense than we had with our old run and gun squads under D'Antoni.

Phoenix, at 19-11. is sitting at the #5 spot in the Western Conference currently, and our front office is already talking about dealing one or more of our four first round picks in next year's draft to get another impact player for this season. Who would have thought we'd be in this position just a few short months ago?

GO SUNS!!

Not Phoenix. Seeing as how I do have an East Coast Bias, what type of players would the Suns try to get with the potential trade of draft picks?

Their #1 target would be a forward, either a 3 or a 4, that can score and stretch the floor. A player like Kevin Love, who isn't a free agent until 2015, would be perfect. We definitely need a forward who can shoot from range, because so much of the Suns' system in the halfcourt revolves around our two-headed PG monster, Dragic-Bledsoe, running the pick and roll.

I am not an impatient person though. Phoenix has one of the youngest rosters in the league (5th youngest), and they've already stated that they will go all-out to re-sign Bledsoe after this season. If we need to keep those first rounders and grab 3 or 4 quality forwards from this draft class, I'd be down with that as well.

Have you considered Ryan Anderson? Cheaper trade value. Not a franchise corner piece. A trade partner in New Orleans that seems to not be going anywhere & would love more picks.

Ryan Anderson could be a good fit as well, though I like Love's rebounding a lot more than Ryan's. Anderson has two years left on his current deal, averaging roughly $8.4 million per season.

If I were making a short list of players I'd like to see Phoenix take a look at, it would be:

1) Kevin Love
2) Nicolas Batum (threes, awesome defense, boards, steals and blocks. Under contract for 2 years after this season, averaging $11.5 million)
3) Trevor Ariza (threes, good defense, boards and steals. In final year of contract for Washington)
4) Ryan Anderson

Re-sign Bledsoe, sign-and-trade deal with Minny for Kevin Love, sign Ariza as a free agent this offseason, and Phoenix could be pretty damned tough next season.

Sounds like someone is auditioning for the Sun's GM job. Not bad ideas at all.

Seriously in that conference, Phoenix is doing a bang up job this season. At least someone has something to cheer for besides a lottery position.

I'm pretty happy with the job McDonough is doing as our GM...I'll stick to being a fan. ;)

Games like tonight make me proud as Hell of my scrappy Phoenix Suns. Playing on the road at Minnesota, down by 6 points with 1:30 left in the game. The Suns use two Markieff Morris steals and a last second game winning jumper from Gerald Green to finish on a 7-0 run and squeak out a 104-103 victory, improving our record to 21-13 on the season.

It was a valiant season for your Suns, 'Stroke.

^^^ Yeah, I'll give credit to the Horned Toad for an A+ coaching job.

Time to start thinking about this massively deep draft class. The Suns have the following 1st round picks

#14 (from Minnesota, top-13 protected)
#16 (from Washington, top-12 protected)
#18 (Phoenix)
#27 (from Indiana, top-14 protected)

My earliest wish list would be:

SG Nik Stauskas, Michigan
PF Adreian Payne, Mich St.
SF Jerami Grant, Syracuse
SG P.J. Hairston, NBADL