Post by donatello2424 on Jan 1, 2009 8:32:41 GMT -5
In the west it has been the same old teams up near the top for a couple seasons now. The Warriors, Kings, Lakers, Clippers, and Jazz are mainstays in the playoff picture. However, there has been some new faces peeking their head through and showing that they too are becoming the new powerhouses in the west.
The first of these teams has to the Memphis Grizzlies. Ever since Ducky took over the team, they have become a solid contender in the Midwest. Led by the Duo of Dorian Dawkins and Miles Davis, they provide solid scoring all around. Dawkins, who has turned into a tremendous player, has to be one of the best steals ever. Taken with the 2nd pick of the 2nd round, Dawkins has shown a great all-around game. The biggest thing that holds him back is his turnovers, but that is easily fixed by moving him to the 2 where he can make up for his lack of height by his quickness. The Grizzlies have a solid rebounding and shot blocking big man core. The Grizzlies are now the dominate team in the Midwest like the past Jazz. They need their 1-2-3 players to continue to be great. If one goes down for a while they could slip out of the picture.
Davis is having a career year
Portland is 3rd in the pacific? Looking at Portland’s team, one has to wonder how they are that great. They don’t blow you out of the water stat wise (starting point guard Thomas Marshall is averaging 4.1 turnovers) or rating wise (starting shooting guard has a C+ defensive rating). Despise all of their flaws, they are winning. Krill is a deadly shooter who is having a great junior season. Per Gunther adds a new dimension to this team by being able to rebound out of the small forward position. The team MVP has to Reginald Dillard. Taken with the 5th pick in the 2021 UOSL2 draft, Dillard has played his whole career with the Trailblazers. While he isn’t a great shot blocker, he gets the job done. He has turned into a great rebounding and scoring machine, averaging 21 and 12 this season. He will need to continue to have a great season, while Krill need to keep on scoring for Portland to have any hope in making the playoffs.
I couldn’t find a picture of Kirill or Reginald, and this was the only reasonably sized one of Per
Minnesota is a team on the rise and it is mainly due to their balance of vets and youth. I won’t begin to say what positions people play because it is all mixed up. Stephenson is the main man for this offseason. Playing the point, he is putting up a respectable 7.5 to 2.6 assist-to-turnover ratio. They have several wings who all get around 25 mpg. Dailey is the inside threat, Louves the outside threat, and Brown is the defender and rebounder for this trio. Maybe if they could smash them all together they would have a stud. Their big man rotation is lead by 23 year old Jalon Jones. He is a very good young big man for this team. He has a solid balanced of shot blocking and rebounding with some scoring thrown in. This team is playing very well, but age is a concern in the long term outlook for this team. They don’t have a franchise piece to build around (no one is averaging over 20 ppg) and one of their main pieces (Stephenson) is 36 and likely to retire soon.
An oldie but a goody. Did you know that Stephenson has his own website?
This next team isn’t quite in the playoffs yet, but is a young team on the rise. The Denver Nuggets took and famous tank until you get stars approach to building a young team. It is no surprise who they are lead by. Fabulous Freshman Rahmir Jefferson is putting up a monstrous season, averaging 23 ppg. He is their franchise piece and will probably be staying in Denver…atleast until his rookie contract runs out. They also have last season first overall selection in Cameron Cornelius. Cornelius is an outside shooting big man. As a result, it shows in some of his stats. He isn’t a great shot blocker but solid and his rebounding numbers mostly come from the defensive glass. Their point is William Ferguson, of 76ers fame. Good passer and solid handles with a lack of great defense makes this guard. Outside of that they need other players to step it up. Teal needs to become a better all-around player, and they need to start hunting for a future point guard and center (current one, Richard Peters, is a great man-to-man defender, but he lacks rebounding and shot blocking). However that might be hard to find without trading their 3 main pieces.
Peters is on the back row, first from the left. He is/was 6’6” in 7th grade. And he looks pissed in this picture.
