Nba season started form Tuesday, here's my preseason ranking for each division:

Eastern Conference
Atlantic:
New York Knicks
Philadelphia 76ers
New Jersey Nets
Toronto Raptors
Boston Celtics

Central: :
Indiana Pacers
Detroit Pistons
Cleveland Cavaliers
Milwaukee Bucks
Chicago Bulls

Southeast: :
Orlando Magic
Miami Heat
Washington Wizards
Atlanta Hawks
Charlotte Bobcats

Western Conference
Southwest: :
San Antonio Spurs
Dallas Mavericks
Houston Rockets
Memphis Grizzlies
New Orleans Hornets

Northwest: :
Minnesota Timberwolves
Denver Nuggets
Utah Jazz
Portland Trailblazers
Seattle Supersonics

Pacific: :
Phoenix Suns
Sacramento Kings
Los Angeles Lakers
Los Angeles Clippers
Golden State Warriors

I am glad that AX started this thread. Now don't count your chicken before they are hatched... It just the beginning of season. Most of the teams are not different from last year, since there has been a lot of changes within. We still don't know how the players are gonna fit and play their role in the team. For instance, I can already see some problems with Houston Rockets. Like always I want to see my Knickerbocker on the top this year. They have been relatively better this year with the add of Crawford!

I used to be an avid fan of Celtics but since that Angie guy made changes, I pray for the Celtics to loose.

Yesterdays game with Philly was great...I mean the way the Celtics lost. If Pierce made that 3 pointer at the buzzer, would have been bad.

I have no teams to cheer for.

Another good note: LAKERS lost. He he

Here is my preseason ranking.

Western Conference
Twolves ( No brainer)
Kings
Spurs
Mavs
lakers
Jazz


Eastern Conf
Pacers
Pistons
Heat
Nets
Sixers
Knicks

Fellas interested in Fantasy Basketball ? With enuff interested ppl, we should be able to pull together a league.

good kh4mvp

I see no damn Celtics in Eastern conference.

Eastern Conference Final : Pacers vs Heat
Western Conference Final: Kings vs Spurs

NBA Final - Spurs vs Pacers

NBA champion - SPURS

Most Valuable Player ? Tim Duncan (runner up ? KG)
Defensive player of the year ? Ron Artest (runner up ? Wallace)
Rookie of the year ? Emeka Okafur (Ben Gordon)
Sixth man award ? Joe Johnson (Jason Terry)
Coach of the year award ? Johnny Davis (Mike D?Antoni)

here is my take on teams -

Knicks:

Pro: Knicks are better team than previous years. Last year, Knicks finally made to the playoffs after few years layoff. New GM Isiah Thomas has revamped the roster. There are only few players left (Huston, Sweetney, Kurt Thomas) from the previous Knicks regime. He added versatile guard Jamaal Crawford via trade. Knick are athletic team and are small in the middle. Marbury will have All star caliber season. Atlantic Division is not that deep so Knicks would finish on the top.

Con: team is loaded with Shooting guard and power forward, no big center, doesn?t rebound well, Houston is hurt and no date available for return

Starting lineup:
Stefan Marbury ? Point Guard
Allan Houston ? Shooting Guard
Tim Thomas ? Small Forawrd
Kurt Thomas ? Power Forward
Nazr Mohamed ? Center

Bench ? Jaamal Crawford, Mike Sweetney, Penny Hardaway, Jerome Williams, Vin Baker.

Knicks are still one trade away from being a good team in the east. They need a good center or power forward that can rebound and score consistently. Isiah had a bad hand dealt and he is making it worse. He was able to ship high paying contracts and in return he got players who have worse contract. If Knicks won?t finish 1st in this division, he will have hard time keeping the job.

KNOCK KNOCK ZEN MASTER............

Here comes the NBA season!!!! Here i have to say I kinda agree with AX. Knick are better than last year but i wished they had not traded Van Horn last year. Man, Only Marbury can't do everything.. He is a good player but not an exceptional one. And he always has his ups and downs.. And they really do lack a Good Center player... who can get some rebounds and do some good defence. Anyways, Lets see how they play... I thought Houston will be really good this year but this 2 loss has some negative effect on me about those two good players being in a same team... may be they need to play some more. Anyways, its just starting .. and i lost my ESPN so hope i'll get it back soon. I have a NBA2004 EA games. Really a nice game. I am getting FOOTBALL 2005 soon.. so hope that will be a nice one too. Only thing is I don't think Celtics will be at the last position of Atlantic conference. They still have Pierce who can have some exceptional games at times... where he single handedly will take over the game. I think they will atleast hang on for the last position for playoff.

here's the sporting news overpaid list, yeah you guessed it right, KNICKS topped the list :=)

Overpaid Players

1. The Knicks' wing men. It's impossible to choose the biggest cap killer from a group that includes Allan Houston ($17.5 million per year), Tim Thomas ($13 million), Penny Hardaway ($14.6 million), Shandon Anderson ($7.3 million) and Jamal Crawford ($5.6 million). That's $58 million, and Anderson is the only player among them who can defend his own lunchbox.

check following link to know more overpaid players

http://msn.foxsports.com/story/3059082?GT1=5713

76ers:

Pro: 76ers didn?t do major signing besides getting new coach Jim O?Brien. This team is still leads by a small guy name Allen Iverson. More athletic with the addition of Josh Howard, Corliss Williamson and healthy Marc Jackson. Big Dog should have better season than last year. Other worse team in this division makes them better :=)

Con: Eric Snow, the on/off court leader is traded; bench is not deep either. This team is depended on Allen Iverson. There are already few feud between Coach and Allen Iverson; Coach and Big Dog.

Starting Lineup:
Allen Iverson - Point Guard
Aaron Mckie - Shooting Guard
Glen Robinson - Small Forward
Kenny Thomas - Power Forward
Center - Marc Jackson

Bench: Josh Howard, Ollie, Corliss Williamson, Brian Skinner ? bench is not that deep

I see few trades in this team. This team needs better shooters. As most of the Eastern Conference teams, this team also needs a size in Center. Marc Jackson could be better playing PF position. Mckies should come off the bench and they need to get pure shooter either for PG/SG position.

Here comes 04-05 season.

Concerns for respective teams:

LA Lakers: Kobe scored 38 points and the team still lost by more than 20 points in their second game of the season. Umm something tells me that this team will end up being like Orlando Magic of 2004.Ok, its too early to predict but I don't see how Lakers are going to be competetive in a such a tough conference. I hope this won't be the season where Kobe breaks 35 pt avg barrier and still fail to win more than 40 games.
Verdict: Not enought STRONG players, if you look at the roster after kobe there isn't much.You can talk about Odom but he has had only one good season in his career.

Kings: No longer the same time after a loss of Divac( good role player) and continious feud of Webber with is teammates.Kings should have traded Webber last year when they were doing so well without him.I mean you can get two quality players for Webber and free up some money as well. Los Angeles..want some Webber???

Rockets: Yao Ming isn't as dominant as we want him to be. He is 7'6( he grew an inch in summer) and still gets dunked over by players 10 inches shorter than him.:( Its not that he is super weak like Bradley..I just dont think he is agreesive..He needs watch Shaq and try to play like him..I mean Yao has great skills for a big man but he cant just ride on that..He needs to be dominant.As far as McGrady is concerned..I thought he would be great combo with Yao..but we will have to wait and see..


Knicks: Oh my!! Where are they goin??? Drop your roster and have some Lincoln high ballers play ball for you. There are some interesting players on the team but they arent winning anything...free up some money and dont pounce on every meat thats ont hte market( hate what Isiah is doing)..

Nets: Need I sa y more...Next Highlight reel...RJ is gonna be dunking on alley hoop pass from Zoran Plannic..Kidd is gone..maybe to LA.

Boston: They look much better than last year.Ainge disintegrated the team for nothing..but they should make the playoffs.

Feel good story so far:

Grant Hills good performance in the first game of the season...I hope he makes it through..cuz Leage need quality players like him.

Rookies to watch:
Dwight and emeka both played well...good job.

Allan Houston- sharp shooter PG in the team - should now be considered for the trade to rebuild totally new knickerbocker team that can spark in the East. Yes, like AX said, what they need is a soild PF or a solid center at this time. They will certainly do better this year with the aid of Houston, but I can't say they will go to the East Final. Too many biggies overly paid and getting nothing in return... I am pretty sure Isiah Thomas is still adding some more players in the team in near future.

AX, you have become very good sports analyst at Sajha; now you got promotion, so go to write in espn news.. :P

Anyways, at this time, I can say that this years MVP again is KG... I know people still love Tim Duncan over KG at any given time, but I think KG has developed his skills over the period.. now he knows what it takes to elevate his team, how to score, how to take rebounds, and how to assist team members. He's past compare Tim Duncan since last season, and I hope he will do better job as his maturity.

Casey00 bro, welcome to the thread ;) I agree everything what you said about the above teams. Can we hear more about Raptors??? I hope people will talk more about their hometeam more so we get to know more about other teams :=)

Rusty got ESPN connection??? LOL

Not dissing KG, but TD is the best PF in the league. I am a big TD fan. I like the guy, he is super cool on/off the court. You never hear any tantrum about the guy. He just goes to the court and does his job and never complains.

Wolves has 3 superstars along side with KG so their Win tally may be higher than Spurs. With out KG, Wolves would be still able to make the playoffs with the trio of Cassel - Wally - Sprewell. If you take TD out of Spurs roster, Spurs will be fiting with Golden State for the last place. Let them proof, which of us is right :=)

KG4MVP, count me in regarding fantasy teams.

Yooo, KNICKS FAN out there...no playoff this year...However, you guys can DAY DREAM and talk on this sajha forum...

Overpaid players

1. The Knicks' wing men. It's impossible to choose the biggest cap killer from a group that includes Allan Houston ($17.5 million per year), Tim Thomas ($13 million), Penny Hardaway ($14.6 million), Shandon Anderson ($7.3 million) and Jamal Crawford ($5.6 million). That's $58 million, and Anderson is the only player among them who can defend his own lunchbox.

Tonights Celtics and Pacers game prediction:

Celtics 78: Pacers 95

Ok, so far we have AX and myself for the fantasy NBA.

wow! good to see NBA Thread.......well....My concern is La Lakers..my team :-( looks sad.....Spurs gonna crush them tonite .....sad thing for lakers fan.....but they will bounce back in few years .......Great owner makes a great team !

GO LAKERS!!!! :-(

yo aakash u aakashjhyaap from VA? this is kick ass...holla back homie if u r who i think u be

for all ya knicks fan...i was at the twolves season opener againt the knicks and that crawford dude just as good as advertise...you guys have a reason to be excited abt ur knicks this year...but then again with marbury and houston in the backcourt you guys aren't going anywhere....look for blockbuster trade before the trading deadline.

it should be a fun season....i think the jazz are gonna surprise a lot of people this year n the celtics are gonna be a major disappointment of '04-05 season...lets see wat happens.