Chris's Blog

The Denver Nuggets were one of the surprising teams of the NBA last season. Things started to finally mesh for them.

The most shocking reason for this all stems from the fact that the Nuggets had traded Allen Iverson, the team’s second highest scorer, to the Detroit Pistons. This panned out to be a great deal!

The Nuggets look to improve on this upcoming season and make it to the finals. They didn’t have any real changes during the off-season, but their core is all healthy and will continue to improve with time.

There is no doubt that the Nuggets can score with the best team in the league – averaging 104 points per game, 6th in the NBA. When teams are great scoring team they typically don’t defend well. This was the case some years back for Denver but last season their defense improved dramatically.

Billups is also a great on court leader who knows how to play in big games. In 77 games with Denver Billups averaged 17 points per game, 6 assists and 91% at the free throw line. At 32 years old at the time, Billups seemed to hit the prime of his career.

Carmelo Anthony emerged as a defensive player as well because of Billups. Anthony could possibly be the best pure scorer in the entire NBA – that includes Kobe Bryant and Lebron James. Everyone knew ‘Melo could score but his improvement on defense was most impressive.

The San Antonio Spurs have added Richard Jefferson, the Dallas Mavericks added Shawn Marion, and the Los Angeles Lakers added Ron Artest.

The Denver Nuggets do have NBA Finals potential. But if they expect to make it there it seems as if they will have to go through the Lakers once again, Denver should improve as a team overall in 09-10.

For more Nuggets talk, check out the Denver Nuggest forum at RootZoo Sports, the most exciting sport forum online.

The Cleveland Cavs had a terrible post season by their standards. Their standards meant winning it all!

It was great to make the finals, but they were swept by the Spurs that season, LeBron James was young and constantly improving his game. Standards are set really high in Cleveland and this isn’t acceptable anymore.

Shaguille O’Neal is suppose to be the player to fill the void the Cavs had last season in the playoffs, a scoring threat besides Lebron James. Shag can’t score 30 points per game anymore but if he gives the cavs 17-18 points per game and 8-9 rebounds, Cavs fans will take that.

The last few seasons the Cavs have been a great regular season team – 08-09′ 66-16 – winning the Central division by more the 25 games. The regular season gives teams the chance to build chemistry and acquire home court advantage – the Cavs seemed to have excellent chemistry during the regular season (taking fake photos during the pre-game introduction).

Shaq may not be the player he use to be but will add experience and a presence in the middle. Shaq also brings championship experience with 4 championships, 3 with the Lakers and 1 with the Miami Heat. Lebron is still looking for his first ring and Shaq wants to be the man to help him get it.

Winning a championship isn’t all about how well Lebron and Shaq play – the other players on the Cavs must raise their game also. The Cavs sat around watched King James put on a show without showing up themselves. The Cavs brought in Mo Williams to add some scoring to the team – Mo did little in the playoffs.

Lebron is entering his 7th season, he has a lot of success on and off the court, nothing will be as sweet as a championship ring.

With Lebron’s contract coming to an end, the time is now for Cleveland. If they have any hope, it’s only going to be while Lebron’s in town. There’s a chance he stays in Cleveland, but there are going to be some real hefty offers from some major market teams, which Cleveland may not be able to match.

Check out the Cleveland Cavaliers forums at RootZoo and stay up to date with the latest NBA fantasy basketball news.

Things took an interesting turn for the Detroit Pistons this past year. Gone are the days of the Eastern Conference supremacy, and gone are many of the familiar names we’ve been accustomed to seeing in a Pistons uniform over the years.

The Pistons were the bench mark in the Eastern Conference – in 04′ they upset the heavily favored Los Angeles Lakers. Many feel the Pistons could have one more championships but were living off their one championship win and didn’t have the desire or passion anymore – whether that’s true or not no one really knows. What we do know is the Pistons played well below their standards accumulating a 39-43 record – the Pistons going 4 games below .500 is unheard of.

The Allen Iverson trade was a disaster and the Pistons played disinterested at times. The Pistons would go on long scoring droughts which essentially ended their season at the all-star break. They were wishing they had Billups back!

For the Chicago Bulls Ben Gordon averaged 21 points per game and made many important shots against the Boston Celtics in the first round in the 09′ playoffs.

In 08′-09′ Charlie Villanueva averaged 16 points per game, the highest of his career and at 6-11, he gives the Pistons some size up front.

This is the year nobody really knows what they will see from the Detroit Pistons. When teams get new faces people automatically assume the team will improve, that doesn’t always happen. Yes, the Detroit Pistons are a playoff team but can they compete with Boston? Cleveland? Orlando? The Pistons hope Rodney Stuckey is their franchise point guard for years to come. The Pistons still have Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince who have many playoff game experience.

The release of Rasheed Wallace could be a blessing because Wallace wasn’t playing anywhere he could and was on the team physically, but mentally and emotionally, he already checked out.

Meet the new Detroit Pistons. There’s certainly some talent to go around here. Perhaps they’ll surprise us all.

For more on the Detroit Pistons, head on over to the Pistons forumss at RootZoo Sports. Enjoy free basketball trivia and much more.

The Boston Celtics can’t be happy. Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce can’t be happy. Without Kevin Garnett, the Celtics simply weren’t the same team during the 2009 playoffs and greatly suffered without him, ultimately losing a seven game series to the Orlando Magic.

To be honest, the fact that Boston took Orlando to 7 games is pretty impressive in and of itself when you consider the ease with which the Magic buried the Cavs in the Eastern Conference finals.

The Boston Celtics hope that everyone on the roster can stay healthy – especially for another championship run this season. The Boston Celtics finished the season with a 62-20 record despite Kevin Garnett missing 25 games – that shows how good the Celtics are.

Rajon Rondo – while a contributor in the 08′ championship – turned his game up a notch and became one of the best point guards in the NBA.

Rasheed Wallace joins the Celtics after a disappointing season with the Detroit Pistons. This might also be one of the last seasons Rasheed Wallace has a chance to win a NBA title – he is 35 years old and in NBA years that’s much older.

If Boston hopes to win their 2nd championship in 3 years they will have to defeat the Orlando Magic or Cleveland Cavaliers in the playoffs. There are new faces on both teams, the Cavaliers acquiring Shaquille O’Neal and the Magic acquiring Vince Carter. The Celtics also have new personnel in F Rasheed Wallace.

Glen “Big Baby” Davis has his best season in 09′ making a game winning shot against the Orlando Magic in the second round. Davis will have to continue to improve his game if the Celtics expect to make another serious playoff push.

The Boston Celtics might not be the predominant favorite coming out of the Eastern Conference – they surely will be a contender all season and will give any team a challenge once playoff time comes around.

For more hoops talk, check out the Celtics forums at RootZoo Sports. Make sure to play their free NBA pick ‘em game.

The Charlotte Bobcats went 35-47 in the 08′-09′ season – the Bobcats best season since their inception since 2004. The Bobcats really have improved every season they been in the NBA – if this trend continues hopefully the Bobcats will make the playoffs for the first time in 2010.

While this is by no means a record to celebrate about, they just missed the playoffs by four games. The Charlotte Bobcats also played some of their best basketball toward the end of the season, and this left many NBA fans wondering whether the team might be able to continue moving into the direction of a competitive basketball team.

Head Coach Larry Brown is an all-time great coach who has turned around teams before and made them playoff worthy – this could be Brown’s toughest challenge to date.

What gives the Bobcats some advantage is that they play in the Eastern Conference. The lower quality teams in the East are not as good as the lower quality teams in the West – therefore, the Bobcats are fortunate they play in the East.

With newly acquired center Tyson Chandler, the Charlotte Bobcats have a big presence in the middle, capable of pulling down boards. Hopefully for the Bobcats sake, Chandler can get over the fact he didn’t want to be in Charlotte. One bad attitude never helps!

The loss of Emeka Okafor may hurt the Bobcats in rebounding in the long term – Okafor was 10th in the NBA in rebounding averaging 10.1 per game.

F Gerald Wallace averaged nearly 17 points per game last season and will need to continue to do so this season.

Keep an eye on the Bobcats this year. A young team that’s only getting better, they can definitely make some noise.

Lets hear your thoughts on the Charlotte Bobcats forums at RootZoo Sports, the most active NBA forum online.

The Chicago Bulls are a very young team. Just a couple of seasons ago, they were one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference.

The Bulls were a very good home team, 28-13, but a terrible road team,–28. This will have to improve if the Bulls want home court advantage in the playoffs come the spring time.

Point guard and rookie sensation Derrick Rose had a fantastic rookie season. Rose averaged 6 assists per game, 16 points per game and started 81 games. Rose is a very explosive player and has all-star written on him.

The loss of Ben Gordon will hurt the Bulls offense – during the 09′ season Gordon averaged 21 points per game and had a sensational first round playoff. Where the Bulls will make up for the points lost during the season will be interesting to see.

John Salmons has his best season to date scoring’ points per game for the Bulls last season, the Bulls will need all the points they can get from him.

It’s been over 10 years since the Bulls last won a championship – but the Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Phil Jackson era is still fresh in many of the Bulls fans minds.

And then there’s Luol Deng, still only 24 years of age. He’s had some bad luck with injuries, but if Deng can stay healthy, he will add a great value to this team.

With Vinny Del Negro coming aboard, things could change this year. He knows the game extremely well, but has little experience as a coach. Time will tell, is it their year?

Head on over to RootZoo Sports for the most active Bulls forumss online. Enjoy your own custom NBA polls and more, all at RootZoo.