Golden State Warriors 2012-2013 preview

The Golden State Warriors are not a team that attracts much interest, and yet they have one of the best fan bases in the entire league. The Warriors finished last season in their usual spot in the bottom depths of the western conference. They finished 23-43 and lost 9 out of their last 10 games. Let's look at their roster:
F Harrison Barnes, G Kent Bazemore, C Andris Biedrins, C Andrew Bogut, G Stephen Curry, C Festus Ezeli, F Draymond Green, G Jarrett Jack, F Richard Jefferson, G Charles Jenkins, C Ognjen Kuzmic, F Carl Landry, F-C David Lee, F-G Brandon Rush, G Klay Thompson, C Jeremy Tyler

This roster, at first sight looks pretty talented, just look at their bigs, andrew Bogut, Andris Biedrins, David Lee, and Carl Landry are all starters in a handful of teams. Second year coach Mark Jackson will have a full training camp this year, which will definitely help them out. However, it all starts and ends with their best player, Stephen Curry. Curry's promising career has been derailed by a handful of ankle injuries, and at this point every time he's on the floor the fans are just holding their collective breath. Curry is one of the best shooters in the league and by trading away Monta Ellis, management have handed over the keys to Curry.
They have a great front court in Andrew Bogut and David Lee (who should be their starters), backed up by a productive Landry and Biedrins. Yet, it comes to our attention that this team does not really have a star. There is not one player on this roster that you can without questionable doubt mark as the "go to guy", yes David Lee averaged 20 PPG, but would you rather have the ball in his hands or Curry's?. They are a horrible defensive team, (and that should change this year with the addition of Bogut) they were third in the league in opponents PPG at an abysmal 101.2.
Ultimately, this team will not make the playoffs, but now must allow their young players to develop. Harrison Barnes is an intriguing prospect, he all the tools to be a star but critics say he lacks the motor to achieve his greatness. Klay Thompson is also a player who is deemed as invaluable, couple these two with a healthy Curry and that nice front court and the Warriors could be dangerous. Will they make the playoffs? Of course not but at least 30 wins is not out of the question. They have great veteran players in Jarrett Jack and Richard Jefferson, and we all know how much Coach Jackson loves Brandon Rush. Ultimately though, this team wont be very good, but they will be very fun as is always the case when it comes to the Golden State Warriors.

Washington Wizards 2012-2013 prediction

The Wizards are coming off a terrible season, but positioned themselves to be optimistic about their future. They finished the regular season 20-46 and that was not dead last in the conference thanks to the Bobcats Abysmal season. Yet, they got rid of some of the remaining pieces that were holding them back, first they FINALLY got rid of Javale Mcgee in a three team trade that landed them Nene and sent Nick Young to the Clippers, then they got rid of under-performing PF Andray Blatche using the amnesty clause. That was followed up by a great trade that sent Rashard Lewis to the Hornets, and landed them Trevor Ariza and Emeka Okafor. To top it all, they got Bradley Beal with the third overall pick in the 2012 NBA draft, so now lets look at their roster:
F Trevor Ariza, G Bradley Beal, F Trevor Bookker, G Jordan Crawford, G Shelvin Mack, F Cartier Martin, F-C Nene, C Emeka Okafor, G A.J. Price, C Kevin Seraphin, F Chris Singleton, F Jan vesely, G John Wall
Two names jump out at us from this list, the first is Bradley Beal, the reward for the Wizard's horrendous season, and of course John Wall. It is a young roster, with a veteran frontcourt. Yet, this will all depend on John Wall, now going into year 3 he must separate himself from the pack of "potential to be a star", and actually become one. If he does, then this team will be scary, Wall's numbers dropped during his sophomore season yet not by any significant margin. The wizards have a very good backcourt in Bradley Beal and Wall, Beal will make an immediate impact and has constantly been compared to Ray Allen, he scan stroke it from beyond the arc like nothing, but he can also handle the ball and take it to the rim. He also has potential to be a very good defender. Defensively, they will be better than last year just on the presence of Trevor Ariza alone.
On paper this team looks very good, they will have a post presence in Nene, and Okafor is a guy who will average a double for double for them. Will they make the playoffs? Of course not, the only way we could see the Wizards winning more than 35 games is if Wall has an All-Star season, other than that look to the future for this team. They have size, youth, speed on the perimeter, and definitely plenty of potential. We see this lot winning between 30 to 35 games and not making the playoffs, but we also expect a very great year by John Wall, who we hope has not spent the majority of his summer playing in these summer leagues.http://6fouls.blogspot.com/2012/08/charlotte-bobcats-2012-2013-prediction.html

Anthony Davis overall #1 in 2012 Draft, but which team came out winning?

photo from Houstonpress.com

As everybody expected, The Hornets selected Anthony Davis with the #1 overall selection. The hornets now have perhaps the only player in the draft with Superstar potential so no surprise there. But they also got Austin Rivers at the #10 spot who has all star potential. Rivers is a VERY competitive player who will work hard and wants to be the best player on the floor. The Hornets top priority now is to sign Eric Gordon but they certainly utilized their draft picks to the max and should be very happy with their selections (they also got Darius Miller in the second round)
The Charlotte Bobcats had the second pick and had at least 5 offers for the pick from other teams. Nevertheless they stayed with the pick and selected Michael-Kid Gilchrist. The bobcats need help at basically every position and Gilchrist is arguably the best player behind Davis and certainly has the best motor, he will be a lock down defender for them and will help them in a number of ways, regardless of whether they had chosen Gilchrist or Beal or Robinson, they weren't going to go wrong with their pick and most certainly still need TONS of help for the Jordan-Owned team.
The Wizards had the third overall pick and selected Bradley Beal, who many considered to be the best player in the draft after Davis. Beal is constantly compared to Ray Allen, and was a very sought out player (The thunder supposedly offered the Bobcats James Harden for the second pick so that they could draft Beal). This pick is a great pick for Washington who need a guard who can space the floor for Wall. The Wizards have slowly been getting rid of players who have been a disturbance (to say the least) in the locker room. They traded for Trevor Ariza and Emeka Okafor and now have a solid starting 5 with a Lethal backcourt. All that remains to be seen is if Wall will have a breakout year.
The Cleveland Cavaliers had two picks in the first round and they sure put them to good use. With Rookie of the Year Kyrie Irving at point guard, they went ahead and drafted Dion Waiters, a legit scorer who has drawn comparisons to Dwyane Wade, and Tyler Zeller the 7 footer from UNC. Now the cavaliers have very good talent at the 1,2,4 and 5 position. They will be a very fun team to watch and they get a A- from this one man committee.
The kings added even more talent with Thomas Robinson who will now play along talented center Demarcus Cousins, and should compete for a starting spot immediately. The phoenix suns however seem to be getting ready to deal with their post Nash era by drafting the purest PG in the draft available in Kendall Marshall. There were concerns about his ability to shoot the ball coming out of UNC, but at the end of the season he helped his stock a lot with some big shooting performances for his team. In addition he will play for Alvin Gentry who plays a fast tempo offense and wants to run the score high, so Kendall Marshall has definitely landed in the right place.
Overall there werent any big surprises in this draft but it should come as a big surprise that Perry Jones who has All Star potential, fell to the end of the first round because of concerns of a knee injury. This man will definitely be the steal of the draft and look who lands him... The Oklahoma City Thunder, Jones is a 6-10 prospect and should the Thunder not sign Ibaka, who is a free Agent then they now have insurance.