Here is where you think about the future of your team and the NBA it self.

Pretty much this is Which Team will win the Championship Next Year?
I would say Heat if they get a big man.

This thread is implying there will be a 2011-2012 season.

zomgwtfbbqrofl wrote:
That is a very good point.

I think this thread is simply expectations for next year. So anything, right? Let's start with the draft coming up!

So my Pistons pick 8th. I still don't know who they're likely to choose. It seems like they'd pick Jonas Valanciunas if he's avaiable. But now, some mock drafts say he'll go fourth to the Cavs. So let's say he's gone. Another international prospect is Jan Vesely who is similar to a less dominant Blake Griffin as he can finish oops and has some moves. But I think the Wizards or the Kings may take him. Maybe even the Raptors if Irving, Knight and Walker are all gone. So I'd have to say, we may choose between Kawhi Leonard, whom seems good. He has a high motor and is all-around a good player. But I just am not sure... because some people say he shouldn't even be a mid first rounder. But I honestly think we'll take a dive and pick Bismack Biyombo. He's 6-9 with a 7-7 wingspan which is insane! He's a great defender but isn't that great offensively. Also has some questions regarding his age but I assume he is 18 and everything is being blown out of proportion on that front. I say the Pistons will pick him because he remniscent of Ben Wallace. People also compare him to Serge Ibaka. But the Pistons wouldn't want to pass up on another potential Ben Wallace (arguably the face of their franchise in the 2004 season when we won it all).

So where does anyone else stand on the draft?

As for the regular season (assuming the lockout is held off for now), I think the top two East teams will be the Heat and Bulls. Two top west teams will probably be the Thunder and (as I hate to say it) the Lakers. I believe the Heat will win the championship next season though.

My Pistons FINALLY fired Kuester! I'm soooo happy for that! We also finally got a new owner in Tom Gores whom seems to really like the Pistons franchise. There were a couple games near the end of last season where he was there dancing and fist pumping which was funny. I hope we can sign a good coach like Mike Woodson. Please, please, please, please, please don't sign another assisstant coach with no experience in the pros Joe! Bill Laimbeer is another coach the Pistons can consider. He was a successful WNBA coach and is currently the assisstant coach for the T'Wolves. He was a great player as well and could use some of what he learned through playing.

Big names in free agency, Dwight Howard can go one of two ways, he'll either resign, or go to a better team. People seems to mention him going to the Lakers, and I'm not too sure about the cap space and stuff, but if he does go there, that'll suck because the Lakers could easily be back in the Finals as well as have another young franchise player if he's still there when Kobe retires. But I'm more leaning toward Howard resigning.

Tayshaun Prince is one of my favorite players and I'd hate to see him go. But it'd make sense for the Pistons and the Clippers to have a sign and trade for Chris Kaman. That way, we get another big man and the Clips get a talented veteran forward to play alongside Earthquake Blake.

Sorry for the long post...

TL;DR
Pistons draft Bismack Biyombo.
Heat and Bulls, Lakers and Thunder top two teams in their conferences.
Heat win 2012 championship.
Pistons fire Kuester, hopefully sign Mike Woodson. Maybe even Laimbeer.
Dwight Howard may go to the Lakers but I think will resign.
Pistons may sign and trade Tayshaun for Kaman.

By Wednesday, the mania had grown to such an extreme that about 50 media people descended on the Jazz practice facility, about a 10-minute drive from downtown Salt Lake City, to witness the mega-event that was the Jimmer Fredette draft workout.
Which came after general manager Kevin O'Connor would get stopped around town and urged to take Fredette, as if by organized grass-roots effort, because that groundswell of support just doesn't happen.
Which came after months of seemingly endless comments to Fredette, on campus and around greater Provo, from people he knew and friends he didn't know he had, about how going from BYU to the Jazz would be the storybook outcome.


The phenomenon of Jimmer is how team president Randy Rigby described it to the Salt Lake Tribune. The decorated college career. The extraordinary popularity in Utah. The name recognition everywhere, and needing only the first name at that. The flick of the wrist and the swish from 25 feet out, or from the locker room, or from the lobby of the team hotel.
The pressure.
It is intense, the local pressure on the Jazz to draft The Jimmer with the 12th choice on Thursday, after Utah spends the No. 3 selection acquired from the Nets in the Deron Williams deal. From a marketing standpoint, it is the no-brainer of the draft. It is also realistic, as the 12-spot is close to where many analysts have pegged his talent. It is not some reach in the name of community relations.
It all adds up to a lottery pick and important opportunity for a team in rebuilding mode ... and the potential headache of a lifetime if Fredette is still on the board, the Jazz pass, and he becomes something special in another city. That would only be thrown in their face for the next few thousand years.
"Sure," O'Connor said of the public push in Utah to get Fredette to the Jazz. "And that's good. It's a basketball-crazy state, and that's great. We just deal with it."
There are the certainties: O'Connor is an experienced and successful executive, he is grounded and will not be swayed by public opinion, and CEO Greg Miller has told him to make the right call, not the popular call. Crowd favorites may sell tickets, but so does winning. Ask people in Indiana how this storyline can turn out -- the Pacers wanted a guard in 1987 and passed on local legend Damon Bailey at No. 11 to the great disbelief of fans, who were instead stuck with some Californian named Reggie Miller.

Thanks to NBA.com check it out if haven't seen it yet

Already read it. I REALLY hope Jimmer proves doubters wrong. His range is just unreal. I've even been practicing some Jimmer shots. Made like 2 out of 40. Not bad?...

My Warriors will win it all.

Nah.. Uhm. I honestly think Heat will win next year.

Not much to say, since I'm not really paying attention to the draft and the season hasn't started.. But, the only player I'm paying attention to is Jimmer. lulz.

Well, My Cavs have the first pick, and hopefully will trade up for the 2nd also. This would be awesome. I must say I'm happy that they got two top five draft picks, but this class is pretty bad.

TheSuperDerek wrote:

I wonder if any other teams had the first two picks? But yeah, this class does look pretty poor. But maybe a couple of International guys will surprise us? Kanter might be a promising player. Hopefully Bismack can be the next Ben Wallace... maybe eve Mutumbo, or is that setting expectations too high? Valanciunas, meh. I liked him a while ago but he just seems like a bust. I can't see the name "Valanciunas" on any all-star ballots. Vesely, maybe. He seems a little more fit to the NBA game. Motiejunas is another one. He is promising to do good in the NBA but I'm not sure about him...

Heat will win. My 76ers and nuggets are coming up though! And btw hummer is complete trash, he plays in the like mountain west or whatever conference byu is in, put him in the big east and he's nothing and he also has to shoot 25-35 shots a game to get 30. Yeah he's real good. Anyone can jack up 30 shots and half of those being threes and get 30. He's nothing.

Unfortunately I think the Heat are going to win next year, I mean they mostly played awful this year and look how close they were, walking away with a loss is going to hurt, they are hungry now AND they know they need to put the effort in so yeah just my 2 cents...

Mavs for me, but that's obviously isn't really going to happen. Dirk ist der Beste

So here's my little mock draft. Just thought I'd make one because I'm extremely bored at the moment. I may switch Jan, Jonas and Kemba but I'll stick to my guns for now. Anyone else want to make one to compare?

Does anyone know what time the draft is on Thursday? (including preshow)

FrostingDog wrote:

NBA.com says it starts at 7pm Eastern. You live in the Pacific time zone so that's like three hours behind. So for you, it's 4pm. If I were you, I'd try and catch it around 2pm just in case though.

So I looked at Kemba's stats a wee bit more and I figure he would be more of the sure thing than Valanciunas or Vesely. Plus, Toronto seems to not have much scoring potential aside from Bargnani. DeMar is a nice blooming SG for them along with Barbosa. Although Bayless and Calderon don't seem like that good of PGs. Kemba can give them some great scoring as well as facilitate to DeRozan or Barg.

Jonas going to Wizards. I like the Wizards team: John Wall, Blatche, McGee, and Lewis now. I think Nick Young is a FA but if they resign him, then they'd have a really good starting five. Along with Booker and Crawford. But I think they could use a backup big in Valanciunas. If he stays in Europe this year, The Wizards could be in the Lottery again and have another good pick to go along with his return. Could help the team a lot there.

I also like the Kings. They got Tyreke, Cousins, Casspi, Udrih, Thompson, Dalembert, Thornton. All good players there. Though they're all pretty young with Dalembert being the in the league the most. I think Jan will be a nice pickup for them. Donte Greene isn't the best, but he's devloping. Thompson is fairly good but could improve. Jan could play either Forward positions so they could have a nice three Forward rotation.

Suiside BombR wrote:

McGee was great last season, although that 'fake' triple double made me laugh. I'm sure he'll do great next season, especially with Wall as the 1.

The only player I'm looking forward to watching in the NBA is Jimmer. I mean.. his range....
Although, people are starting to compare him to JJ Redick, who was kind of a flop his first few years in the league. I hope Jimmer doesn't turn out this way.

Overall, I'll watch the draft this Thursday. But I have a bad feeling it'll get boring after the first 20 picks...

FrostingDog wrote:

There have been comparisons to Adam Morrison and Kyle Korver as well. People worry about it too much to be honest. I just can't wait to watch the first NBA team to get Jimmer'd.

I really would like to see my Cavs get the Jonas with the 4th pick, Sure Kanter would be nice, but we already have a really nice 4 forward in JJ Hickson. Jonas is the really only really true center in the draft. And if do get another lottery pick like to be rumored, maybe we get the 5th, we would get Canter.

TheSuperDerek wrote:

The thing about Jonas is that his buyout situation will likely have him in Europe for another season, possibly even two.

Welp, today's the big day. Many of the mock drafts out there are drastically changing whom they think the players will go to. I'm sticking to my little mock and see how I do. I just hope my Pistons get a good pick regardless of whether I'm right or wrong. Some people have Bismack, some Kawhi, some even have guys like Alec Burks. Whoever we draft, hopefully there good. Although there have been rumors of us trading down possibly to Houston which isn't that far. So maybe we can get something good from them.

Speaking of your Pistons, is T-Mac sill playing/in the league? He's one of my favorite players, but his injuries have really hindered him.

-Sigh- I remember his amazing 13 points in 33 seconds game where he single handedly won the game for the Rockets. Now, his injuries basically ruined his career.

Anyways... I'm not really paying attention to the top draft picks. But I do know that Kyrie Irving is the projected number 1 pick. Can anyone tell me more if this guy is a solid caliber point guard for the NBA? Or just another flop?

FrostingDog wrote:

I also love T-Mac. Liked him even before he was a Piston. We signed him to a one year deal last year so he's a free agent now. I'd like to resign him and hopefully our new coach (once we sign him) won't be an idiot and play him at PG for most of the season.

As for Kyrie, I think he will be a decent PG, but no superstar as some people predict him to be... I think Kemba will likely have a better career than Kyrie.

Wow, there were a lot of surprises this draft! Completely violated my mock!

1. Kyrie Irving
2. Derrick Williams
3. Enes Kanter
4. Tristan Thompson
5. Jonas Valanciunas
6. Jan Vesely
7. Bismack Biyombo
8. Brandon Knight
9. Kemba Walker
10. Jimmer Fredette
11. Klay Thompson
12. Alec Burks
13. Markieff Morris
14. Marcus Morris

The main thing I thought that jumbled it up was the Cavs selecting Tristan at 4. Completely insane move to do there with the talent that was avaiable. Not to mention Hickson is already at PF. No idea why they chose him over one of the international guys. Oh yeah, Jan Vesely's girl is a foxy mamma. Mmm... But my Pistons managed to get Knight who dropped from the projected #3. Crazy! I would've rather had Biyombo or Leonard but hopefully Knight will be a great PG. Plus, we can finally move Stuckey to the two. Hopefully trade Gordon or Hamilton so it's not so jumbled up at SG. Jimmer got drafted 10th and will be going to Sactown. I think I'll get his jersey because I'm a believer! JIMMER TIME! I like the Wizards picking Jan to give them another option at SF. Alec Burks was a nice pick up for the Jazz. I don't know why, but I hate Voldemort, I mean, Klay Thompson. Marcus and Markieff drafted alongside each other which is a nice little story there. Good for them!