2005 All-NBA "Oops, the Bottom Fell Out" Team

[epicSocialism4tw]

1st team:

PG Stephon Marbury - A great fantasy player, but this guy came to New York with hope on his shoulders and delivered an excellent statistical season with a wonderful 12th place finish in the terrible east.

SG Kobe Bryant - Again, a solid scoring season. He ended up 2nd in the NBA and scoring and nearly equaled his fellow team member James in the 20, 7, and 7 category. He led his team to one of the worst finishes in NBA history by a previous Finals team.

SF Lebron James - This guy almost missed the team and still could if he ends up lucking into that 8 seed. He is inarguably the most talented and athletic young player in the NBA, but he had no answer when it came to pulling out crucial victories and led his team to a huge breakdown down the home stretch of the season.

PF Kevin Garnett - The big obsessive-compulsive produced some great statistics, but could not corral his troops to play to win at any point in the season. What a big letdown. The former MVP brings his last season into a more realistic perspective. Has this guy really ever done anything significant? Is he really a winner?

C Mehmet Okur - Before you laugh this guy off of the list, remember the preseason expectations for the Utah Jazz and how much of those expectations were based on Okur's acquisition. The Jazz lost Kirilenko and fell apart. Okur's numbers were up, but most prognosticators predicted a significant increase and contribution from the former World Champion.



2nd team:

PG Stevie "Franchise" Francis
SG Michael Redd
SF Latrell Sprewell
PF Lamar Odom
C Zydrunas Ilgauskas

[FADERPROOF]

Having LeBron James on their is sickening, hopefully it's just your own bias and not an actual sportswriter that watches games that wrote that.

[epicSocialism4tw]

Having LeBron James on their is sickening, hopefully it's just your own bias and not an actual sportswriter that watches games that wrote that.

Would you disagree that since the all-star break, the bottom has fallen out in Cleveland?

The responsability for that ultimately falls on James. I think that expectations on him are unfair because it is unreasonable to expect someone who is barely 20 years old to have the mental capacity to bring a bunch of adults together and galvanize them for a playoff run. James is a great specimen with a great future and left a big statistical footprint on this season, but he has a long way to go before he can impose his will on both his team and the opposition enough to get his team into the playoffs and win there.

[epicSocialism4tw]

Remember, the title of the thread has to do with the bottom falling out in the season, not with the player's ablility. Kobe Bryant and Garnett are on the list for goodness' sake.

[FADERPROOF]

Would you disagree that since the all-star break, the bottom has fallen out in Cleveland?

The responsability for that ultimately falls on James. I think that expectations on him are unfair because it is unreasonable to expect someone who is barely 20 years old to have the mental capacity to bring a bunch of adults together and galvanize them for a playoff run. James is a great specimen with a great future and left a big statistical footprint on this season, but he has a long way to go before he can impose his will on both his team and the opposition enough to get his team into the playoffs and win there.

Cleveland AS A TEAM, the bottom has fallen out.

But how could you explain scoring 56 points against Toronto and losing? 37 against NY and losing? 41 against the sixers and losing? The list goes on and on of him having to stay on the court and putting up over 30 points a game jsut for us to have a chance.

But that's cool if you think Cleveland's problems are because of him, at least we know that if it weren't for James we'd be looking at who to take first overall this year.

[FADERPROOF]

Remember, the title of the thread has to do with the bottom falling out in the season, not with the player's ablility. Kobe Bryant and Garnett are on the list for goodness' sake.

Actually, the thread title is "bottom fell out TEAM", so if it's a team, then why are you naming individual players?

[epicSocialism4tw]

Fadeproof (I feel goofy just typing that! :) )

I think that LeBron has an unlimited celing and is well on his way into the Hall of Fame. However, I don't think that he is mature enough to bring his teammates together and get the most out of his team. The Cavs seem to just stand around and watch and wait for offensive rebounds when James has the ball. When he gains experience, he will have those guys in the right spots waiting for his spectacular passes or clearing out space in the lane for him to barrel down and posterize whoever is under the basket. He will have his spot-up shooters hit those shots, or they wont play. He is going to have to impose his will on his own mates and I dont know if he will feel comfortable doing that for a couple of seasons. I expect them to make the playoffs next season, but that is a different conversation.

[FADERPROOF]

Fadeproof (I feel goofy just typing that! :) )

I think that LeBron has an unlimited celing and is well on his way into the Hall of Fame. However, I don't think that he is mature enough to bring his teammates together and get the most out of his team. The Cavs seem to just stand around and watch and wait for offensive rebounds when James has the ball. When he gains experience, he will have those guys in the right spots waiting for his spectacular passes or clearing out space in the lane for him to barrel down and posterize whoever is under the basket. He will have his spot-up shooters hit those shots, or they wont play. He is going to have to impose his will on his own mates and I dont know if he will feel comfortable doing that for a couple of seasons. I expect them to make the playoffs next season, but that is a different conversation.

Or we could dump the whole team and get guys that can play basketball, maybe keept Z and Gooden around, but I wouldnt mind that if we get good players and get to the playoffs.

[Jason in LA]

The Lakers were on pace to win about 48 games. If they had improved after the midway point they could have won 50+. But Kobe gets hurt, then Rudy T quits, and the bottom fell out. Many people didn't care for Rudy T, but seeing what this team has done since he quit, I'd have to say he was doing a great job. They were 24-18 when he quit. That's a pretty good record. They are 10-29 since then.

Many people thought the Lakers wouldn't be able to score points with Kobe being a ball hog. That hasn't been the case. Kobe leads the team in assists, and they've averaged more points per game than last year (98.7 vs 98.2). The problem is they play zero defense. They are giving up 101.6 a game this year. They are horrible on that end of the court. No effort at all.

[epicSocialism4tw]

Or we could dump the whole team and get guys that can play basketball, maybe keept Z and Gooden around, but I wouldnt mind that if we get good players and get to the playoffs.

I think that for the Cavs to round their team out around James, that they need to have an athletic big who can react to LeBron in the post (coordinated enough to catch tough passes, and aggressive enough to clear space and move people around), a spot up 2 guard (Fred Hoiberg would be perfect) and a point guard who can get passes to James on dive cuts or hit the jumpshot. The rest of the team should consist of role players. leBron James and a quality center should be enough.

[Drek]

Faulting Garnett or James for how poorly their teams are doing now is moronic. Both are elite players, but when you have two cancerous starters (Garnett's case) or a general lack of NBA starter level talent through the rest of your roster (LeBron's case) you can't be blamed for the poor performance of your team.

Spreewell and Cassell should both be on your first team though, no question, they together have taken what would have been a western title contender out of the playoffs.

[epicSocialism4tw]

The Cavs should look at Wally Szszszszszszszszszszszszszszszerbiak

[epicSocialism4tw]

Faulting Garnett or James for how poorly their teams are doing now is moronic. Both are elite players, but when you have two cancerous starters (Garnett's case) or a general lack of NBA starter level talent through the rest of your roster (LeBron's case) you can't be blamed for the poor performance of your team.

Spreewell and Cassell should both be on your first team though, no question, they together have taken what would have been a western title contender out of the playoffs.

Cassell and Latrell are peripheral players. They contribute, but the purpose of this was to put a spotlight on the best players on the most dissapointing teams. Basically to identify the guys who "let the team fall apart". Cassell and Latrell helped when they played for contracts last season, but as goes Garnett, so goes that team. These team leaders were to some degree content with an early vacation and a lottery ball.

Indiana lost their top defender/2nd best scorer for the year, Jermaine oneal for over 20 games, and Jackson for 1/4 of the season and will still end up the 6 seed. San Antonio lost Duncan and still had an above-.500 record while he was out. Seattle did not completely fold with losses of Radmanovich and Rashard Lewis. Denver changed coaches in mid season and made the 7 seed without a real outside shooter. A banged up Kidd and a lazy/recently motivated Vince Carter are pushing the Cavs out. Dallas lost Stackhouse, Daniels and Dampier each for over 1/4 of the season, went through a coaching change, lost Howard and Finley for stretches, and also added a new significant player at the trade deadline.

There are no excuses.

[epicSocialism4tw]

It looks like James is an official member.

[FADERPROOF]

It looks like James is an official member.

Yes, because his triple double tonight in no way gave the Cavs a chance to make the playoffs.

[epicSocialism4tw]

Yes, because his triple double tonight in no way gave the Cavs a chance to make the playoffs.

He had a good game, but they lost control of their own destiny this season.

See my 'excuses' post above.

[FADERPROOF]

He had a good game, but they lost control of their own destiny this season.

See my 'excuses' post above.

Is it fun having no one agree with you?

[epicSocialism4tw]

Is it fun having no one agree with you?

Well, if you don't agree that's fine. Is it fun watching the Nets make the playoffs in front of the Cavs?

[FADERPROOF]

Well, if you don't agree that's fine. Is it fun watching the Nets make the playoffs in front of the Cavs?

Nope, why would it be?(Nice try at a bait BTW, not gonna work though.)

[epicSocialism4tw]

Nope, why would it be?(Nice try at a bait BTW, not gonna work though.)

If you notice, the list is full of players who did not make the playoffs. Many of the players are considered "superstars."

They rode the hype train all year long with no delivery.

[Nuggets4]

If you notice, the list is full of players who did not make the playoffs. Many of the players are considered "superstars."

They rode the hype train all year long with no delivery.

I'm seriously starting to question if you watch basketball.

[Rock Chalk]

Actually, the thread title is "bottom fell out TEAM", so if it's a team, then why are you naming individual players?
You name individual players for the "All NBA Bottom Fell Out Team". Players who are superstars and wont be playing in the playoffs.

I dont think he was intending to say that Lebron sucks, just that Cleveland sucks. Lebron is a freakin man-child but scoring 56 points by yourself because the rest of your team sucks balls isnt going to win games more often than not.

Kevin Garnett and Kobe Bryant are other great examples of tremendous players doing all they can but their team let them down. This is a list of the best players of the worst teams and hence the reason for naming individual players.

Cleveland does suck afterall.