NBA Season 2014-2015

[Jay]

JAYMAN'S PRE-SEASON POWER RANKINGS

20. Brooklyn Nets

Last season's record: 44-38

Best player: Brook Lopez - 20.7 points @ 56%, 6.0 rebounds, 1.8 blocks, PER 25.4
I'll preface this preview by saying I really really like Brook Lopez, think he's the most offensively talented big man since 2011/2012 Andrew Bynum, so forgive me if there's bias here. And BroLo is one of the best nicknames going around.

Off-season moves:
IN: Jarrett Jack
OUT: Paul Pierce, Marcus Thornton, Shaun Livingston
Not pretty... Pierce and Livingston were key pieces for Brooklyn's 20-11 run after the all-star break last season and neither of them return. Thornton is a good heat check guy, someone that can give you 15 points in a quarter, granted he is very streaky but its still a loss. Jarrett Jack is a nice player, he was great 2 years ago in Golden State and should help to take some of the pressure off of D-Will and his dodgy ankles.

Projected Starting 5:
PG: Deron Williams
SG: Joe Johnson
SF: Andrei Kirilenko
PF: Kevin Garnett
C: Brook Lopez
6th man: Mason Plumlee

With the highest pay roll in the league, they better hope this lineup is good! The backcourt of D-Will and Joe is still a very good backcourt with both having some chance of being all-stars this year. Kirilenko provides solid wing defense which they desperately need. The only spot up in the air for Brooklyn is the PF spot, with Teletokic providing a "stretch 4" option or even playing Plumlee gives them twin towers. I'll still give the edge to KG though because, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wcz_kDCBTBk


What to watch for:
1. Can BroLo stay healthy? He's unstoppable in the low post offensively but staying on the court is the issue. Lopez only played 17 games last season following his impressive 74 game campaign in 2012/2013. In 2011/2012 it was a similar story playing only 5 games. Last season, the Nets were 5.8 points better per 100 possessions with Lopez on the court and a major part of this was his leap defensively. Although it is only a small sample size (17 games), Lopez was only scored on 6 times in the post - thats insane.

2. Lionel Hollins' coaching - I was really surprised when Memphis fired Lionel Hollins right after leading them to a spot in the western conference finals. The success of the big man combo of Z-bo and Gasol under Hollins was obvious and he could do the same for a Lopez/Plumlee frontcourt of the future. In my opinion, Hollins will be a better coach than Kidd was last year, which should prove to be a nice upgrade. Certainly think they will be better than the #20 ranked defense.

Strength: Forcing opposition turnovers - Brooklyn ranked 3rd in opposition turnover percentage which demonstrates the aggressive defensive scheme that the Nets forced last season. Do expect this to drop a little under Hollins as its unlikely he'll defend the pick and roll as aggressively as Kidd did and rather rely on their big man defense.

Weakness: Rim protecting - Nets ranked third last in blocks last season which would have partly been due to Lopez missing and KG being a fossil but they would hope that will improve this season. Plumlee is the X-Factor, having the most successful summer of any Net by making Team USA. He also produced this last year which was pretty huge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEtP6DJj8V0

Final thoughts: Nets were medicore last year ranking 14th in offensive rating and 20th in defensive rating, yet somehow made the conference semi's - shows how bad the east is! Unfortunately for Brooklyn, they got worse this off-season, their core players are getting older and the eastern conference has strengthened. It is not out of the question for the Nets to get the #8 seed in the east, if D-Will and BroLo stay healthy but that is a big if.

Predicted conference rank: 9th

[Mat0369]

Embiid's younger brother Arthur died in Africa

[j959]

Extract/redacted ...

2. The final moments of Steve Nash: What a career.. But unfortunately, he's finished. Two-time MVP and he's going to go out getting limited minutes on one of the worst teams in the league - its a shame really. He might still be an okay offensive guard and he'll be a great shooter until the day he does, but he stopped playing defense a few years ago now. Hopefully we still get to see some flashy no-look passes to remind us of the good days of him throwing lobs to Amare in Phoenix. Just quietly, Phoenix fleeced LA in that Nash trade.. First rounders in 2013, 2015 and second rounders in 2013 and 2014. And he's only played 65 games in two seasons with the Lakers

excuse me, Phoenix did not 'fleece' the Lakers in the Nash trade ... his marriage ended, his ex was moving to LA or nearby so he requested a trade so he could be close to his kids. Given the franchise player he was and his years of loyalty, Suns ownership and management facilitated the trade to a traditional rival ... you know how much Phoenix hate the Lakers? Almost as much as they hate the Spurs and almost as much as the Knicks vs Lakers rivalry!

what I reckon it shows is how good the Phoenix medical staff really are ... Grant Hill and Nash always said it was a reason they were still relatively healthy as they reached the twilight of their respective careers ...

everyone including himself and LA knew that he was only going to play 1-2 seasons more max - LA went with him as they were trying to do the 'super-team' thing with Dwight and Kobe and we all know how that panned out ...  :P   ;)

none of this 'fleecing' business thanks J-man!  ;)

oh and to correct you on one other point ... he didn't stop playing defence a few years ago, he just never really played defence his whole career!  ;)
I mean c'mon, he's skinny white dude who maximised his limited athletic ability and natural physiology but paired with basketball IQ and some solid fundamental skills & elite passing, parlayed that into 2 MVP awards ... respect!  ;)

his is the only official NBA jersey I currently and likely ever will own ...  :D

[Jay]

What I was trying to say is that they got a ripper return for Nash.

Big winners in that trade.

[Jay]

JAYMAN'S PRE-SEASON POWER RANKINGS

19. New York Knicks

Last season's record: 37-45

Best player: Carmelo Anthony - 27.4 points @ 45%, 8.1 rebounds, 3.1 assists, PER 24.4
Arguably Melo's best ever season, but was overshadowed by the failure of everyone else around him. Melo's play contributed to 10.7 of the team's wins, which was second to only Kevin Love for players who's teams did not make the playoffs.

Off-season moves:
IN: Jose Calderon, Samuel Dalembert, Shane Larkin, Cleanthony Early, Greek Freak's Brother
OUT: Tyson Chandler, Raymond Felton
Very nicely done by Phil Jackson in his first off-season with the Knicks. Chandler went through a major decline last year and the Knicks got good value for him. Calderon is a good PG for 'The Triangle' with his shooting - a huge improvement on Felton. The Knicks went into the draft with no picks but the Chandler trade netted them two second rounders and they spent them wisely on Early and Thanasis Antetokoumpo who if his ceiling is even half as high as his brother's its a good pick. Early is one that I think should have gone first round based on talent.

Projected Starting 5:
PG: Jose Calderon
SG: Tim Hardaway Jr
SF: Iman Shumpert
PF: Carmelo Anthony
C: Samuel Dalembert
6th man: JR Smith

Not much confusion here, I think this is sure to be the lineup come opening out. I suppose JR Smith may start over T.H but he's proved he is better as a 6th man. This lineup looks pretty solid actually with shooting from the 1-4 positions and Dalembert is an underrated big man. Melo at PF I really like, he causes major mismatches offensively playing that position and is still strong enough to guard big men in the post on defense.


What to watch for:
1. Can Melo lead a team of scrubs to the playoffs - Melo very rarely misses the playoffs but its also very rare he gets passed the 2nd round, doing so only once in his career. He is by far the best player on this team and how far they go will depend on the play of Melo. His supporting cast is better than last year and he has a new coach, in Derek Fisher so there aren't any excuses this time. Melo still has a few prime years but he can't afford to miss the playoffs anymore, especially in the east, if he wants to be known as one of the greats of his era.

2. Derek Fisher as a rookie coach - Expectations must be pretty low coming off the terrible season the Knicks had but it is New York after all, they are always expected to be successful. It seemed like Woodson lost the respect of the players last season and things just went from bad to worse. I expect D-Fish to do well but there is always the chance of him being too inexperienced due to only finishing playing last season. I'm expecting him to be Phil Jackson's puppet on the sideline.

Strength: Three point shooting - The Knicks made 38.7% of their threes over their last 23 games, a mark which would have ranked 2nd best in the league. Smith, Hardaway, Melo are all quality 3pt shooters, each hitting over 150 threes last season. They added Calderon who is of the all-time elite 3pt shooters, going at a 41% clip over his career.

Weakness: Distributing - The Knicks ranked 3rd bottom in assists last season. Some may point to Melo's ball-stopping play as a reason for this and its probably fair enough but the whole team lacked distributing. Among guards who played at least 1800 minutes last year, Haradaway Jr was dead last in assist %. He'll need to improve that dramatically to keep his starting place the whole season.

Final thoughts: Good finish to the season last year winning 16 of their last 23 games and I think they'll partly carry that through to this year. New coach, a few fresh faces and a legit superstar in Carmelo Anthony should be enough to sneak into the playoffs.

Predicted conference rank: 8th

[RiOtChEsS]

Melo is primarily playing SF this season (espn) so i rekn Bargnani will start at the 4 which will bump Shumpert to the bench

[Jay]

JAYMAN'S PRE-SEASON POWER RANKINGS

18. Charlotte Hornets

Last season's record: 43-39
Best player: Al Jefferson - 21.8 points @ 51%, 10.8 rebounds, PER 22.7
Enjoyed the best season of his career last year, being the no.1 option on a playoff team. If he had been healthy the Hornets may have been able to push Miami to 5 or 6 games in the first round. Jefferson accounted for 22% of his team's points which is a remarkable number.

Off-season moves:
IN: Lance Stephenson, Marvin Williams, Noah Vonleh, PJ Hairston
OUT: Josh McRoberts, Ben Gordon, Anthony Tolliver, Luke Ridnour
Had a high quality off-season, adding Lance Stephenson for a bargain deal. Marvin Williams is a solid role player and will fill a need of a big guy that can stretch the floor. Vonleh at pick 9 is my steal of the draft, and the guy I was hoping Boston selected with 6.

Projected Starting 5:
PG: Kemba Walker
SG: Lance Stephenson
SF: Michael Kidd-Gilchrist
PF: Cody Zeller
C: Al Jefferson
6th man: Gerald Henderson

Pretty nice starting 5 on paper and will be even better once Noah Vonleh starts getting game time and takes over the PF spot from Zeller who I just see as a short-term fix. Not much competition for spots here apart from possibly sliding Lance to the SF and starting Henderson.


What to watch for:
1. Lance outside of Indiana - Lance has done some weird shower in his career e.g. showing the choke sign to Lebron and 2 years later, blowing in his ear.. But he has always had Larry Bird there to real him in when he goes astray. Now he's off in a completely new environment and if he starts to go crazy, it could just go awfully wrong.

2. Will Kidd-Gilchrist boom or bust? - the #2 pick of the 2012 draft was a surprise when he got taken before Bradley Beal and is yet to prove that he is worth of such high selection. MKG has always been very good defensively and he's carried this through to the NBA, last season his team was 3.5 points better per 48 minutes when he was on the court, and also held opposition SFs to a PER of 11.1, well below the league average of 15. However a large amount of his quality defensive work has been offset by his lack of any effectiveness offensively. From 15-19 feet, MKG's career shooting percentage is 34.7% which is just awful. Apparently he has gone under a complete jumper reconstruction but only time will tell if he is improved.

Strength: Defense - Charlotte were the 5th stingiest defense in the league last season. This was largely due to them limiting opposing offenses to 1 shot per possession by pulling down 77.6% of available defensive rebounds. The addition of Lance should improve this defense even more.

Weakness: Perimeter shooting - Charlotte had the 6th worst effective FG% (accounts for threes being worth more than twos) in the league last season and launched up the 4th least threes and had the 8th worst percentage on those shots. Kemba launched up a team high 327 threes and made only 33% of them. Gerald Henderson was not much better shooting 115 threes and making only 35%.

Final thoughts: They're kinda stuck in the middle of the road at the moment and will need one of Kemba, Lance and MKG to take that next leap in order for Charlotte to be legitimate conference finals threats. They do have a nice young core though and MJ seems to be settling in as the owner. Think this team will be fun to watch and if everything goes right, could make some noise in the playoffs.

Predicted conference rank: 7th

[kingkingston]

JAYMAN'S PRE-SEASON POWER RANKINGS

20. Brooklyn Nets

Last season's record: 44-38

Best player: Brook Lopez - 20.7 points @ 56%, 6.0 rebounds, 1.8 blocks, PER 25.4
I'll preface this preview by saying I really really like Brook Lopez, think he's the most offensively talented big man since 2011/2012 Andrew Bynum, so forgive me if there's bias here. And BroLo is one of the best nicknames going around.

Off-season moves:
IN: Jarrett Jack
OUT: Paul Pierce, Marcus Thornton, Shaun Livingston
Not pretty... Pierce and Livingston were key pieces for Brooklyn's 20-11 run after the all-star break last season and neither of them return. Thornton is a good heat check guy, someone that can give you 15 points in a quarter, granted he is very streaky but its still a loss. Jarrett Jack is a nice player, he was great 2 years ago in Golden State and should help to take some of the pressure off of D-Will and his dodgy ankles.

Projected Starting 5:
PG: Deron Williams
SG: Joe Johnson
SF: Andrei Kirilenko
PF: Kevin Garnett
C: Brook Lopez
6th man: Mason Plumlee

With the highest pay roll in the league, they better hope this lineup is good! The backcourt of D-Will and Joe is still a very good backcourt with both having some chance of being all-stars this year. Kirilenko provides solid wing defense which they desperately need. The only spot up in the air for Brooklyn is the PF spot, with Teletokic providing a "stretch 4" option or even playing Plumlee gives them twin towers. I'll still give the edge to KG though because, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wcz_kDCBTBk


What to watch for:
1. Can BroLo stay healthy? He's unstoppable in the low post offensively but staying on the court is the issue. Lopez only played 17 games last season following his impressive 74 game campaign in 2012/2013. In 2011/2012 it was a similar story playing only 5 games. Last season, the Nets were 5.8 points better per 100 possessions with Lopez on the court and a major part of this was his leap defensively. Although it is only a small sample size (17 games), Lopez was only scored on 6 times in the post - thats insane.

2. Lionel Hollins' coaching - I was really surprised when Memphis fired Lionel Hollins right after leading them to a spot in the western conference finals. The success of the big man combo of Z-bo and Gasol under Hollins was obvious and he could do the same for a Lopez/Plumlee frontcourt of the future. In my opinion, Hollins will be a better coach than Kidd was last year, which should prove to be a nice upgrade. Certainly think they will be better than the #20 ranked defense.

Strength: Forcing opposition turnovers - Brooklyn ranked 3rd in opposition turnover percentage which demonstrates the aggressive defensive scheme that the Nets forced last season. Do expect this to drop a little under Hollins as its unlikely he'll defend the pick and roll as aggressively as Kidd did and rather rely on their big man defense.

Weakness: Rim protecting - Nets ranked third last in blocks last season which would have partly been due to Lopez missing and KG being a fossil but they would hope that will improve this season. Plumlee is the X-Factor, having the most successful summer of any Net by making Team USA. He also produced this last year which was pretty huge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEtP6DJj8V0

Final thoughts: Nets were medicore last year ranking 14th in offensive rating and 20th in defensive rating, yet somehow made the conference semi's - shows how bad the east is! Unfortunately for Brooklyn, they got worse this off-season, their core players are getting older and the eastern conference has strengthened. It is not out of the question for the Nets to get the #8 seed in the east, if D-Will and BroLo stay healthy but that is a big if.

Predicted conference rank: 9th

Brooklyn will get the 4th or 5th seed

[kingkingston]

JAYMAN'S PRE-SEASON POWER RANKINGS

19. New York Knicks

Last season's record: 37-45

Best player: Carmelo Anthony - 27.4 points @ 45%, 8.1 rebounds, 3.1 assists, PER 24.4
Arguably Melo's best ever season, but was overshadowed by the failure of everyone else around him. Melo's play contributed to 10.7 of the team's wins, which was second to only Kevin Love for players who's teams did not make the playoffs.

Off-season moves:
IN: Jose Calderon, Samuel Dalembert, Shane Larkin, Cleanthony Early, Greek Freak's Brother
OUT: Tyson Chandler, Raymond Felton
Very nicely done by Phil Jackson in his first off-season with the Knicks. Chandler went through a major decline last year and the Knicks got good value for him. Calderon is a good PG for 'The Triangle' with his shooting - a huge improvement on Felton. The Knicks went into the draft with no picks but the Chandler trade netted them two second rounders and they spent them wisely on Early and Thanasis Antetokoumpo who if his ceiling is even half as high as his brother's its a good pick. Early is one that I think should have gone first round based on talent.

Projected Starting 5:
PG: Jose Calderon
SG: Tim Hardaway Jr
SF: Iman Shumpert
PF: Carmelo Anthony
C: Samuel Dalembert
6th man: JR Smith

Not much confusion here, I think this is sure to be the lineup come opening out. I suppose JR Smith may start over T.H but he's proved he is better as a 6th man. This lineup looks pretty solid actually with shooting from the 1-4 positions and Dalembert is an underrated big man. Melo at PF I really like, he causes major mismatches offensively playing that position and is still strong enough to guard big men in the post on defense.


What to watch for:
1. Can Melo lead a team of scrubs to the playoffs - Melo very rarely misses the playoffs but its also very rare he gets passed the 2nd round, doing so only once in his career. He is by far the best player on this team and how far they go will depend on the play of Melo. His supporting cast is better than last year and he has a new coach, in Derek Fisher so there aren't any excuses this time. Melo still has a few prime years but he can't afford to miss the playoffs anymore, especially in the east, if he wants to be known as one of the greats of his era.

2. Derek Fisher as a rookie coach - Expectations must be pretty low coming off the terrible season the Knicks had but it is New York after all, they are always expected to be successful. It seemed like Woodson lost the respect of the players last season and things just went from bad to worse. I expect D-Fish to do well but there is always the chance of him being too inexperienced due to only finishing playing last season. I'm expecting him to be Phil Jackson's puppet on the sideline.

Strength: Three point shooting - The Knicks made 38.7% of their threes over their last 23 games, a mark which would have ranked 2nd best in the league. Smith, Hardaway, Melo are all quality 3pt shooters, each hitting over 150 threes last season. They added Calderon who is of the all-time elite 3pt shooters, going at a 41% clip over his career.

Weakness: Distributing - The Knicks ranked 3rd bottom in assists last season. Some may point to Melo's ball-stopping play as a reason for this and its probably fair enough but the whole team lacked distributing. Among guards who played at least 1800 minutes last year, Haradaway Jr was dead last in assist %. He'll need to improve that dramatically to keep his starting place the whole season.

Final thoughts: Good finish to the season last year winning 16 of their last 23 games and I think they'll partly carry that through to this year. New coach, a few fresh faces and a legit superstar in Carmelo Anthony should be enough to sneak into the playoffs.

Predicted conference rank: 8th

that's why they have Calderon, he will average 8apg or better

[valkorum]

that's why they have Calderon, he will average 8apg or better

He hasnt averaged 8+ apg since 2011.  6 apg would be more appropriate

[Jay]

JAYMAN'S PRE-SEASON POWER RANKINGS

17. Atlanta Hawks

Last season's record: 38-44
Best player: Al Horford - 18.6 points @ 57%, 8.4 rebounds, 1.5 blocks, PER 22
Was having his best ever season until his injury, just a dominant big man that always goes underrated.

Off-season moves:
IN: Thabo Sefalosha, Adrien Payne, Kent Bazemore
OUT: Lou Williams, John Salmons
Not a big off-season but they made some nice changes. Thabo and Bazemore were cheap free agent signings that should help the perimeter defense. I really like Adrien Payne as a draft choice and at pick #15 was one of the best picks of the draft. In his final year of college, he averaged 16.4 points @ 50%, 7.3 rebounds, 42% 3pt shooting and PER 25.1. In case Millsap ends up leaving in free agency, they already have a ready made replacement.

Projected Starting 5:
PG: Jeff Teague
SG: Kyle Korver
SF: DeMarre Carroll
PF: Paul Millsap
C: Al Horford
6th man: Thabo Sefalosha
Thabo and Bazemore could both end up starting instead of Carroll in some games but other than that, I expect the lineup to stay the same.

What to watch for:
1. The return of Al Horford - The Hawks are so much better when Horford plays as shown by them going from the #3 seed to the #8 seed because of the injury. Last season the Hawks were 5.3 points better with Horford on the court, improving them both offensively and defensively. Torn pectorial muscles however are serious injuries and how he has recovered will significantly affect their playoff chances.

2. Is Sefalosha good? - Thabo had a fairly easy role in OKC, play defense and hit an open three. Something I don't think he even did that well. He held opposing SGs to a PER of 15 which is right on the league average and only made their defense 0.5 points better when he was on the court. As for his shooting, Thabo went just 32% on threes a really low number for a "shooting guard".

Strength: Have the blueprint to a successful offense - Two very important factors to a successful NBA offense is passing the ball and shooting threes. The Hawks ranked 2nd in assists, and 2nd in attempted threes and although they only had the 13th highest percentage on 3pt shots, just the threat of the three ball is enough to stretch the defense and allow for easy driving lanes. The champion, San Antonio Spurs ranked first in assists and first in three point percentage and following Popovich's system is always a good way to go.

Weakness: Offensive rebounding and rim protecting - Atlanta had the 3rd worst offensive rebounding percentage in the league and the 5th least blocks. Horford's return should bolster both of these categories and lead to a much improved team.

Final thoughts: May have them a little high here but I really like their team, they are always underrated. They were the 3rd best team in the east before Horford went down and although I don't think they can reach those heights again with the other improvements in the eastern conference I do think they can be a solid playoff team. They pushed the eventual conference finalists to 7 games in the first round last season without Horford!

Predicted conference rank: 6th

[j959]

JAYMAN'S PRE-SEASON POWER RANKINGS

20. Brooklyn Nets

The only spot up in the air for Brooklyn is the PF spot, with Teletokic providing a "stretch 4" option or even playing Plumlee gives them twin towers

[kingkingston]

that's why they have Calderon, he will average 8apg or better

He hasnt averaged 8+ apg since 2011.  6 apg would be more appropriate

in the Knicks system he will thrive, will feed Anthony all game long

[Jay]

that's why they have Calderon, he will average 8apg or better

He hasnt averaged 8+ apg since 2011.  6 apg would be more appropriate

in the Knicks system he will thrive, will feed Anthony all game long

Melo normally holds the ball too long for his PGs to rack up assists.

[Mat0369]

Nash is done for the year. No surprise. Injured his back carrying bags