Post by Braz on Jan 27, 2024 11:47:52 GMT -8
Preseason is here and I wanted to take a look at each team in both conferences. I figured I could look at the teams performance and highlight a player which stood out for this article. We will start with the East. This is brought to you by BrazGBT
Boston Celtics- Boston started off better than expected but that is kind of mute given that he has since traded Drob for Rashard Lewis. Next on the block is Rice. For Boston pre did not matter much other then player showcasing. For that purpose I will speak to DRob. He did his job and showed that he is still a machine capable of being a star level big with 22/12/4.5 stocks.
Player Highlight: David Robinson C 14 34.4 21.9 11.6 2.6 1.5 2.9 2.1 .509 .759 .000
Player Highlight: Stephen Jackson SF 16 36.3 22.1 4.7 3.9 1.3 0.1 2.3 .416 .897 .319
Brooklyn Nets- The Nets are playing this season with out their first after shipping those picks off for Isiah Rider and Cato. That deal is looking good considering Rider’s 27 PPG output in preseason. I knew Rider had it in him and he will be essential as greeme looks to compete again. For Greeme the most important player here is Big Ben Wallace who is now doing almost 5 stocks per game.
Player Highlight: Ben Wallace C 18 30.6 7.6 10.2 2.1 0.8 4.1 1.4 .446 .527 .000
New York Knicks- Knicks are happy with the recent draftee Corey Maggette. His ratings do not look super convincing with A- inside and the rest C’s but his sim was beautiful. Corey put up 20 ppg on 30 min with strong rebounding and low turnovers. Knicks are also happy with Baron Davis who showed promise as a young PG. He has great fg% but could use some work on those TOs.
Player Highlight: Corey Maggette SG 15 29.3 19.9 6.4 2.7 1.1 0.3 1.6 .471 .857 .273 & Baron Davis PG 15 35.7 18.1 4.1 9.7 1.6 0.3 3.4 .498 .784 .529
Orlando Magic- The Magic have one of the nicest young teams in the league and with out CY are in no rush to go anywhere. The Magic boast the last two top picks in Dirk and AK47. Pretty simple all eyes were on both of these guys. Dirk actually had a good pre showing he can score and board at least enough with very low TOs. AK seems raw. We can see the stocks but I wish the blocks were higher.
Player Highlight: Dirk Nowitzki PF 14 29.7 23.2 10.1 1.7 0.9 0.2 1.0 .490 .843 .469 & Andrei Kirilenko SF 14 32.8 9.7 7.4 3.7 1.5 1.2 1.3 .430 .688 .444
Philadelphia 76ers- Philly seems like they lack boards across the whole team and because of that I have eyes on the simmage of offseason acquisition Christian Laettner. He is not the name in the stars like Stephon Marbury or AI but Laettner is the only B+ rebounder on this team and will be relied on as the likely third scoring option as well. I think he looked solid per 36 but when he is in the stocks are down, when he is out they are on the board disadvantage. This team will need to fine tune those rotations.
Player Highlight: Christian Laettner PF 15 30.9 18.2 9.7 1.5 0.8 0.9 1.1 .448 .900 .435
Washington Wizards- Well this team’s pre went pretty awful. Low fg% across and a 3-8 record. We all know Jah will get the most out of this roster. Given how poor everything went in whatever weird Dc let’s just focus on Lamar Odom. Lamar had a decent TC and kept A pot but in the first sim we see he is already a turnover machine. However, his fg% is great. Volume a little low but I will take that if I am Jah. I would AC his handles inside and jumper for sure.
Player Highlight: Lamar Odom SF 10 26.7 9.8 5.1 1.7 0.9 0.5 1.9 .463 .933 .476
Atlanta Hawks- This team made some big moves this offseason financially. They had to pay Divac, Kemp, walt and acquired Reggie. Thankfully for Chip he sees 6-3 with a +5 on the scoreboard. His stocks are pretty low but they won some games. Given the investment and the fact he is now option 1 in ATL all eyes were on 34 year old Reggie Miller who proved he is more of a player than Steve Smith. 26 ppg on great % with low TO and good steals! Hawks are locked in
Player Highlight: Reggie Miller SG 9 35.8 25.8 4.7 3.3 2.0 0.0 1.3 .478 .978 .326
Charlotte Hornets- Another year of tanking? For the 00 draft? Sargo my friend maybe its time to cash in the chips! Maybe not? Either way Sargo had tons of youth. Artest stole the ball, Ricky put the ball in the basket, Francis looked solid vs what I expected but it was JO who stole the show. JO shot over 44% with 3.5/1.5 stocks and good boards. JO is still only 21 and has B+ A- A- and A pot. The best is yet to come!
Player Highlight: Jermaine O'Neal C 13 33.2 15.2 11.3 2.7 1.1 2.4 1.5 .443 .754 .000
Chicago Bulls- This one was easy for me. Chicago is going to rebuild and Play is determined to captolize on his best asset, 25 year old Kerry Kittles. Kittles looks incredible and is fighting for the league’s top SG slot. In pre he proved he is worth a stud prospect by putting up 29/6.6 with 2.8 steals which likely is top 10 in the league. Kerry not only is young but he is also locked up for 7 years. This is a no risk high reward player.
Player Highlight: Kerry Kittles SG 17 38.2 28.6 6.6 5.3 2.8 0.4 2.1 .472 .901 .388
Clevland Cavs- For a min I thought Steve was going to rebuild but he decided to retool and bring in Nick Van Exel . Something must have been up with the DC because he did not play too well but I am sure that will get sorted. With that said I want to take a deeper look at SAR. His ratings are looking pretty good and he backed that up with solid play at the PF position. SAR takes quality shots and put up 20/10 on 46%. Fun player development.
Player Highlight: Shareef Abdur-Rahim PF 11 34.8 20.5 10.5 3.5 0.8 1.5 2.4 .464 .755 .478
Detroit Pistons- It seems Andrew is going through a busy streak to start the year. He mentioned time prioritization and the Pistons could use their share. With no CY It’s not a huge deal. He resigned his guys and added Shawn Marion this draft. Since he did not put in a DC we could not get any type of read off Marion other then that he will be a good rebounder. Low Key Mobley had a nice pre. He shot 52% and 14 ppg on per 36. A few camps and starting SG role maybe he would crack 20?
320 Cuttino Mobley SG 13 16.1 7.1 2.1 2.1 0.8 0.2 0.7 .522 .667 .526
Indiana Pacers- Royal has a plan here and he has now filled out his starting 5. Sadly he has no birds guys and lacks depth around the entire roster. Next year this team could be pretty nice. He does not have his first and I see him having the ability to at least reset here. A lot of nice things to look at. Damp in a few games did 9.5 boards and 3 blocks in 20 min. I mean wtf is that lasts! Dice played the part of a star big with 23/12/2.7 but I did not love the fg% but most importantly Paul Pierce is coming to form as a dominant Scorer with above average rebounding.
Player Highlight: Paul Pierce SF 9 35.2 21.1 7.8 3.9 1.3 0.9 2.9 .487 .867 .467
Milwaukee Bucks- It’s not Jason Kidd, It’s not Allan Houston… everyone in town is talking about the new guy James Posey. Posey has the build of a star in this league with C+ B+ scoring and A- defense with A pot. He simmed super well with 15 PPG, 6.5 boards and 2.3 steals on stellar percentages. Easily the steal of the draft.
Player Highlight: James Posey SF 12 34.7 15.3 6.5 1.7 2.3 0.1 2.0 .466 .844 .500
Toronto Raptors- Toronto is a good team but Dejan getting the max left a lot of Gms puzzled this past year. So far in pre I guess you can justify it even though he seems to be more of a shooting guard. 25 ppg on 52% is damn good but he turns it over a lot and rebounds poorly for the 3. If Matt could optimize his line up a bit and move Anthony parker for a 3 it could fare well for them.
Player Highlight: Dejan Bodiroga SF 12 35.7 25.2 5.3 4.2 1.0 0.3 2.9 .519 .767 .429
