NLL Insider - Atlantic Previewby vt, updated on Saturday, January 28 2012, 11:11 am EST BEST CENTRE – MarcGasol  From the always high flying Philadelphia 76ers, Marc Gasol is coming off a fantastic 2010/2011 campaign and the best season in his career to date. Playing all 82 regular season games last season, and playing on one of the best run teams the league has seen, Gasol’s playoff performance was nothing short of spectacular, averaging 15PPG and 11RPG, before being outdone by older brother Pau in the Eastern Conference Finals. These are the kind of lines that we all expect to see from Marc, and as he signed a 4 year extension with the 76ers in December 2011, his passion, aggression and determination towards his performances makes him the best center in the division. BEST POWER FORWARD – Chris Bosh  “OVER-RATED” Is what all Knicks fans were chanting when Bosh visited Madison Square Garden’s last season. Arriving in Toronto last season via a sign and trade deal with his former team Memphis, Bosh doesn’t need to put up 30PPG when you have players like Kevin Durant around you. But what he does on the basketball court is crash boards, score when the pressure is on, and never backs down from any kind of contest. Always hard at the ball, Bosh’s scoring was a little down in his first season with the Raptors, but still putting up Great numbers (20 and 10) and increasing his FT % from 85 to 89. He has a fantastic ability to force his way to the line night in and night out. The pressure for being the number one option doesn’t exist for Bosh in Toronto, and with that being said he is able to relax and play the hard aggressive games he has in him every single night. BEST SMALL FORWARD – Kevin Durant  Hands down Kevin Durant is the best small forward in the Atlantic Division, and some may argue he is one of, if not the best small forward in the game today. Durant will play along-side Chris Bosh for the second season running. He is the number one option on offense every single trip down the court for this side. Killer range, massive wing-span, and the height that gives trouble to every small forward in the league, that matches up against him. A dominating season last year with stats worthy of an MVP award, he took the Raptors to the 4th seed in the East before being eliminated by the mighty 76ers in the second round of the playoff’s 4-2. Once again he will lead the raptors, and with some new players arriving for the season he looks set to lead them all the way. BEST SHOOTING GUARD – Kobe Bryant  Dwyane Wade was very stiff not to get the nod ahead of Celtics leader Kobe Bryant, Both players are phenomenal on the court, but Bryant is just too good to over look in this position. Now, let’s not get too carried away too early, but the man is averaging 38PPG in 7 pre-season games so far, WOW! After being traded away from Nick and the Denver Nuggets, Kobe got straight down to business in his new Celts Uniform. He is the complete professional, nothing more, nothing less. Averaging 23 FG attempts per game for Boston, Kobe threw down 28PPG and got the Celts the 6th spot in the East. With his great start to the preseason, these are signs of things to come, If he can up his FG attempts this season, Bryant will easily average over 30points, it’s just a question if he can keep it up for the whole season? BEST POINT GUARD – Steve Nash  Steve Nash, in another position where it was too close to call, just edges out Philadelphia Guard Rajon Rondo. One particular reason why Nash takes the honours, is the simple fact that over his entire career Nash has been unbelievably consistent. At The ripe old age of 37, Nash may be nearing the end of his career, and his numbers may have been down a little last season, but this guy just knows how to play basketball. He knows how to score, he knows where to pass the ball, and most of the time he can pass it there with his eyes closed. A true leader on and off the court, he is a great mentor for any young point guards coming through the ranks. After several seasons in Boston, Nash finds himself in a Nets uniform, along-side one of the best 2 guards in the game. Nash will pick each and every defense apart this season, and if he is able to average 10+ assists a game, the scoring will take care of it-self. BEST TRADE (SO FAR)
Don’t get me wrong, Andrew Bynum is a great player, and the Raptors lose a lot of talent by trading him away. The Raptors though bring in a center who is nearly $8million cheaper, and although he has had some injury concern too, let’s face it, he plays and probably will play more than Bynum. Raps also get a starting two guard who will contribute enormously when required. This is a solid trade for both teams, however, Toronto get rid of Bynum’s huge contract, they get what they needed and the team is now more well rounded in each position. OTHER GOOD DEALS:
WORST TRADE (SO FAR)
A three way deal involving three teams in the same division of the NLL. To pick the “worst” deal to date was a hard task, because there actually haven’t been too many bad deals within this division. This trade sticks out a little more than the others though. This is a great deal for Philadelphia, and like-wise for the New Jersey Nets. Boston receive the services of Kidd, Hill, and Korver, so the problem doesn’t lie there, the problem is what they are giving up, and that is the Future. Jason Kidd and Grant Hill are almost nearing the end of their career, so to give up your 1st round pick and a young kid who is going to be great for the future just didn’t make too much sense. If Kidd and Hill are to stay healthy for the year, Boston will still look alright, but looking towards the future, this is a bad deal for Boston. OTHER BAD DEALS: (NOT TOO MANY)
*(This is only bad if Carter is to be injured for a period of time)
*(now that Smith is starting over Carl Landry in the NBA) BEST & WORST FREE AGENT SIGNING The Atlantic division in the NLL has not seen many big players in the Free Agent signing period this season. All five teams have been quite active on the trading end of things, and have not seen the need to be signing any big name free agents as most of their rosters are already set for the season. However, a few minor signings have been made, four to be precise, and we will run through them all with a few little thoughts on each.
TEAM ON THE RISE  The Toronto Raptors have had a lot of recent success in the NLL. The team has come from 2nd last in the conference 5 seasons ago, to slowly work their way up to finish 4th seed, 2nd seed, and 4th seed in the last three seasons respectively, and winning the champion ship in the 2008/2009 season. You may ask, with all their recent success, how are they going to be on the rise? Well it is simple. Juvenile has done a fantastic job managing this team and getting them to where they are today. But this team has far from seen the back of their winning days. This off-season Juvenile has done some good things with the team, but nothing better than sending the often injured Andrew Bynum and his large contract away. In come the services of Kendrick Perkins and Jason Richardson. Perkins out- put may not be as big as Bynum’s but they may be able to keep Perkins on the court all season, and adding Richardson’s fire power to the starting lineup was a great move. This team is once again set for an attack on the power house of the Eastern Conference in Philadelphia and Milwaukee, being led by superstar Kevin Durant, no one will be surprised if these guys achieve what they are capable of. TEAM ON THE DECLINE  The Boston Celtics are not a bad team at all. Take one look at their starting five and you would think that they are capable of great things this season. Bargnani, Landry, Hill, Bryant, and Kidd. Not too shabby at all if you ask me. Their bench though, it’s not that great. Ricky Rubio will be a brilliant point guard, and he will learn a lot from Jason Kidd who is nearing the end of his career. Kyle Korver will add some fire power to the side off the bench, but honestly that’s how deep it gets. They have some good young guys with potential in Parsons and Stiemsma but these guys will take some time to develop into good NLL players. The Celtics have some positive signs, but the one that over shadows all of this is their age. They are old. Jason Kidd and Grant Hill will retire sooner rather than later, and that will leave a big hole in their starting five. Can Kobe Bryant still hold up the team? The more he has to do it the more stress will be on his aging body. The Celts are not a bad team, but if they can’t get it done this season, expect to see the team slide down the standings, unless things can be fixed through trades and the draft in the years to come. POTENTIAL BREAK-OUTS Ty Lawson  Ty Lawson of the Toronto Raptors is ready to set the NLL on fire. With two seasons now under his belt, Ty will slip into the starting point guard position ahead of Jose Calderon (who is on the chopping block according to Juvenile) and will thrive on feeding the ball to the likes of Durant, and Bosh. Lawson is a great passer of the ball, is lightning quick, and can shoot the ball. He is a well rounded guard who also has great leadership ability for a guy of his age. Ronny Turiaf  Although Turiaf is 29 years of age, and has had plenty of time to break out into the NLL scene, he hasn’t produced much during his time in the league. This season could be different, Turiaf should get the starting job for the New Jersey Nets, and this could be the boost in confidence he needs to show the league what he can do. During his 6 years in the league to date, Turiaf has averaged 4 points and 5 rebounds, but keep an eye on this guy for the season to see if he can get out there and produce some great numbers in his new role for the Nets. ROOKIES TO WATCH The New Jersey Nets are the only team in the Atlantic division without a rookie to keep an eye on. Boston, Philadelphia, New York, and Toronto have arguably four of the best prospect for the upcoming season. The four rookies that we are about to talk about are four young guys that these teams will not want to let go of any time in the near future. You never know what rookies are going to give you in their first season in the NLL, but make sure to keep an eye on these four guys within the division, and most of all within the league.
GM’s TO WATCH This group of gm’s have been around the league for years, with the exception of Boston gm Mavs4life. These guys are active, and do all they can to get their teams as far as possible during each and every season. With the combined years of experience these guys add to the league things can get pretty interesting within the Atlantic division. In a different approach to this write up, I had a brief conversation with each GM and here is what these guys had to say about the up-coming season for their respective teams and their division. Boston GM Mavs4life: “I think this is gonna be a great year for our team. We've got the players, the talent, and the potential. All we need is to put are new pieces together and Boston should see long Playoff life” New Jersey GM Proid: “My team is rather weak in the rebounding department so the guards will have to pick up the slack on the offensive and defensive glass.” New York GM Tim: “knicks' management is still baffled by craig's decision to come east and join the toughest division in the league. we had 4 playoff teams last year and the nets were on the outside looking in. if wade is healthy, they should make it, but all 5 making it is highly unlikely... but it would be something. Philadelphia GM VT: "Manu's injury certainly hurts us, but we have a group of young and talented players that will help out until he returns. I am most happy with Kawhi Leonard and it is likely he will earn the starting SF slot. Our biggest hope is that Vince Carter and Jose Barea get healthy and back on the court soon!" Toronto GM Juvenile: The Toronto Raptors GM was not available for comment. Rumour has it that he was too busy planning how to win the championship! SEASON PREDICTIONS 1. Philadelphia 76ers 2. Toronto Raptors 3. New York Knicks 4. New Jersey Nets 5. Boston Celtics This is going to be a tightly contested division this season again. With each team capable of winning the majority of their games it is a very hard division to pick who will come out on top. Every team bar the Nets made the playoffs last year. That’s how good this division is. • The 76ers have always been a formidable outfit, and nothing much has changed. VT is always trying to make his team better, and with the lux tax creeping in this season he made some very smart moves and look for these guys to be great again. • With the roster that the Raptors have, they should be extremely close to winning the division this season, and don’t be surprised if they take over from the 76ers in that number 1 spot. • The New York Knicks are always a team who challenges through-out the season. The team has a tremendous amount of talent, but is always tough being in a division as great as this one. Don’t be surprised if these guys get a better record expected. • The Nets could be a surprise package this year. With a great roster last season, but not competing too well without a GM, Proid hopes to get these guys back to the playoffs. They are in a very tough division and this makes it hard for these guys as they are on the older side of things also. They may finish above the knicks but it’s just one of them things that will play out through the season. • As previously said, the Celtics are not a bad team, but with not much depth on the bench, these guys will be relying too heavily on Kobe and co to take control night in and night out, and this will take its toll on the team. These guys aren’t getting any younger, and any injury to the starting lineup is going to hurt. |
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