Andre Gomes

Andre Gomes' Dallas Mavericks NBA Preview 2008

2008-10-10T18:10:00Z

The last three seasons were a nightmare for Mark Cuban, who saw his team failing when they weren't supposed to. In 2005/2006, they finished the regular season with a 60-22 record and went to the NBA finals, where they lost to Miami by 4-2, when they were up by 2-0. In 2006/2007 they had an even more amazing regular season record of 67-15, but they suffered the biggest upset ever on the first round of the Playoffs, when they lost to the Warriors by 4-2. They had the same fate last season, when they lost in the first round of the Playoffs against the Hornets.

The Kidd trade doesn't seem to have been beneficial for the team, who ended last season with a 16-13 record with Kidd on the roster. This trade was criticized for the fact it was a gamble on the present without thinking on the future, however how competitive can Dallas be right now?

Avery Johnson was fired by Mark Cuban, who later said that the players couldn't handle Avery as their coach anymore, confirming that there were problems on the locker room. To replace Avery, Mark Cuban hired Rick Carlisle, who comes from a sabbatical season. Carlisle isn't exactly a coach known for communicating with his players, but the truth is that he has been having tremendous success on his short career as a coach. On his first coaching experience, he led the Pistons to a 100-64 record in his two seasons in Detroit and won the coach of the year award in 2002. After that, he came to Indiana to lead the Pacers and on his first season in Indiana, the team had a 61-21 record, which was a franchise maximum. Carlisle was the first coach since Pat Riley to win at least 50 wins and division championships on his first three seasons as a coach. The main challenge for him this season will be to introduce Jason Kidd better on the team. On the 29 games Kidd played for the Mavs last season, he finished with less than 10 ppg for the first time since the 1996-97 season! Carlisle has already referred that Kidd will need to shoot more and that the team may use a faster pace this season:

"This team needs to be more of an up-tempo-type team," Carlisle said. "We have a great leader in Jason Kidd that I have to give the ball to and let him run the team, which I've done with some of the point guards I've had in the past."

Dirk Nowitzki will be the team's leader once again and the player who will get the ball on the last seconds of a close game. During his career, Dirk has been a player with numbers between 22-25 ppg, 8-9 rpg and 3-4 apg and I expect this to be maintained this season, even though the presence of Kidd on the team may raise his chances of having a better season offensively. He made an amazing effort on the final part of last season by playing through pain and that's even a bigger concern for this season, as Dirk didn't have holidays this Summer, as he was in Beijing playing for his national team in the Olympic Games. Fortunately for the Mavs, Germany was eliminated from the tournament on the first round.

Even though this may sound weird, the big key of Dallas for this season will be Josh Howard. He was the X factor of the Mavs in the past and he was one of the main reasons why Dallas was a true contender for the title, which even led him to an All-Star game appearance. However, in the past few months, Howard has been more involved in extra-basketball affairs than in what he plays on the field, which has been really poor lately. It will decisive for the team this season that Howard comes back with his mind cleared and be capable to fight for numbers close to 20 ppg and 8 rpg for Dallas have a shot to win the conference. Coach Rick Carlisle has already figured that:

"We need him to play big," Carlisle said simply. "He needs to get back to Western Conference All-Star-caliber level of play for 82 games, which he did a couple of years ago."

All the remaining roster is back for this season and this aspect will be positive, as they all know each other very well. Jason Terry isn't as quick as he was on the beginning of his career, but he can still have a good role on the team. Last season, Avery Johnson decided to use Terry as a 6th man to later change his opinion and put him back on the starting team. I don't know if Terry was affected by the constant changes, but playing on a faster pace this season and with Jason Kidd on his side on the backcourt may make his numbers increase.

The frontcourt will once again count with Diop, after being traded to the Nets in the middle of last season. Diop and Dampier will fight for the starting center position, which never had a dominating player on this position and with these two players, it won't be this season that Dallas will have a very strong player on the center position. Diop and Dampier are two players who will fight for some rebounds, but they lack talent to be good offensive players.

For the first time in several seasons, the Mavs aren't being considered as contenders to win the Western conference and that may even be favorable to them, having in account they have crawled under pressure in the last few seasons. Rick Carlisle has always had amazing starts on the teams he has coached and who knows if Dallas can't be the outsiders of this season? If Kidd starts fitting better on the team and in the system Carlisle will implement, then everything will be easier for them.

Andre Gomes' Memphis Grizzlies NBA Preview 2008

2008-10-09T23:40:00Z

Last season, just two persons in the world thought that trading Memphis' best player, Pau Gasol, to the Lakers for Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenton, Aaron McKie (who retired) and the draft rights of Marc Gasol would be a nice deal: Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace and the team's owner Michael Heisley. After this bizarre trade which made the Lakers so much stronger that made them go to the NBA finals, Memphis gave a clear sign that renovation is the team's goal right now and that it will take some time until the Grizzlies can actually be competitive once again.

Besides the problems the Grizzlies have as a team, they are part of the strongest division of the NBA: the Southwest division, together with San Antonio, Dallas, Houston and the Hornets, which have had 50 wins or more last season and had a combined total of 218-110, so even this factor won't help the young team of Memphis at all this season. I remember on the last two seasons the Grizzlies went 4-28 in divisional games, with 0-16 on games played on the road.

The expected starting team of the Grizzlies is surely the youngest on the league: Conley, Mayo, Gay, Warrick and Gasol, with the average being at 23 years old and Warrick being the oldest player with 26 years old. This will naturally mean the Grizzlies will be an inconsistent team, which may enter a serious losing streak if they start lacking confidence at a point of the season.

Marc Iavaroni may be the perfect coach for this team, as he is a former assistant coach of the Phoenix Suns and his favorite system is run and gun, which fits perfectly on the characteristics of the Grizzlies roster. The lack of power on the frontcourt will need to be compensated with an higher pace of game and the Grizzlies have players quick enough to adapt themselves to Iavaroni's system.

Obviously Iavaroni would love to have someone like Steve Nash to conduct his run and gun system, but the hopes of the team will be on Mike Conley Jr.'s hands, who isn't coming from a great rookie season. Conley was injured part of the season, playing just 53 games and averaging 9.5 ppg and 4.2 apg. It's weird that Conley while being a 4th choice on the draft didn't have opportunities at the beginning of last season. How was he supposed to improve if Iavaroni only put him on the field 7.1 minutes/game on the first 10 games of the season? Conley should have much more minutes this season, but his task won't be easy, as being the starting PG on a run and gun team requires a lot of effort and vision. Kyle Lowry will be his backup and he will be extremely useful for the team, as Lowry is a really quick player, something which will benefit the team. Lowry had 9.6 ppg and 3.6 apg last season.

O.J. Mayo was so desired by the Grizzlies that they gave away Mike Miller and Kevin Love just to have him. We are talking about a big contender for the rookie of the year award, not only due to his great ability, but especially for the huge number of minutes he will play this season and for a team with no expectations in terms of results.

Without Pau Gasol, it will be in theory Rudy Gay who will lead the team and this is going to be an huge challenge for him. Gay was the team's best scorer last season with 20.1 ppg and 6.2 rpg and his athleticism is amazing, however will he be capable of leading a NBA team with just 22 years old? His development was amazing last season and he was the team's "franchise player" since Gasol left for LA, which helped him in improving all his numbers from his rookie season: minutes, points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks and %FG!

The frontcourt of the team seems to be their weakest link just like last season. The team finished in 26th last season in terms of rebound margin with -2.89 reb/game and they lack powerful players in the paint, especially when they have opponents on their division like Tim Duncan, Yao Ming, Dirk Nowitzki and David West. However, the Grizzlies have a new player for the paint: Pau Gasol's younger brother, Marc. But I need to make one thing clear: Marc is no Pau, but he will be important for the team improve a little bit on the paint and gain a couple of more rebounds per game. Marc is physically more powerful than Pau, but he doesn't have Pau's scoring ability, even though he has improved a lot in this area recently. It seems likely that Marc will start for the Grizzlies already on the beginning of the season.

For the center position, the Grizzlies have Darko Milicic and the Iranian Hamed Haddadi. Milicic is involved some trade talks, but he is a player who can still be useful to the Grizzlies, especially on the defense. He had last season on 23.8 min/game, 7.2 ppg and 6.1 rpg and he may offer some quality minutes to the team. On the other side, the Iranian Haddadi was the only player to average a double double on the Olympics (16.6 ppg and 11.2 rpg) and his height (7-2′) will make some damage in the future, however his lack of experience on a big league like the NBA will prevent him from having a lot of minutes this season.

Memphis won't have a lot of expectations for this season, even though they have potential to do better than the 22-60 record they had last season. The lack of experience of the Grizzlies will be crucial for them in some ball games, but they will surely be one of the most exciting teams to watch this season.

Andre Gomes' Detroit Pistons NBA Preview 2008

2008-10-08T23:50:00Z

The Pistons have created some kind of a dynasty on the East, without however having great results. The team reached last season the Conference final for the 6th season in a row, but they have just won the NBA title once and another final in that span. After the Game 6 against the Celtics last season, where they lost at home, team president Joe Dumars promised a revolution, which started with a coaching change. Flip Saunders got fired and Michael Curry became the head coach. Besides that, Dumars also wanted to change the roster and this is what he said a couple of months ago:

�Pistons president Joe Dumars is annoyed by all the talk that he isn�t doing anything to improve the Pistons. His problem is people are not privy to all the early-morning and late-night phone calls he has had with about a dozen NBA general managers.

�Here is what I can tell you,� Dumars said in a measured tone. �I am continuing to do everything I can to improve this team.�

He believes there is a 50-50 chance something will happen before training camp. Dumars is not allowed to talk about players on other teams. But he reconfirmed that all players on his team are up for grabs, but he refuses to give them away in a fire sale.�

Even though all the trade talks, the Pistons didn�t change their roster at all, so the structure for this season will be basically the same from the previous seasons and so, the challenge of the team will be to regain the mentality which lead them to the NBA title and which has been missing on some key games in the previous seasons.

Michael Curry will make his debut as an head coach this season, but he isn�t new on the team organization. Curry spent a total of six seasons as a Pistons player and lately he was working as an assistant coach in Detroit and naturally he knows the mentality of the locker room had and will need to have once again, in order for this debut season for Curry to be successful.

So, the analysis of this team is the easiest to do of all teams, as the structure continues to be the same, not only from last season, but also from a couple of previous seasons. Sheed, Prince, Hamilton and Billups are surely the four players who have started more games together in the whole league on the last few seasons and this will continue this season. Last season, the Pistons used just 9 different starting lineups during the season, which shows how consistent these four players are.

I think we already know how good these players are, so there is no need for me to comment on what they will be capable to do this season. Just a quick note that Billups and Hamilton had injuries last season and for Billups, his injury was at a terrible time, as it was right on the Playoffs.

Rodney Stuckey showed that he was an excellent choice in the draft last season, where he played in 57 games and had 7.6 ppg, 2.3 rpg and 2.8 apg. However, it was in the Playoffs that Stuckey showed how good he is, mainly due to Billups� injury, which gave him the chance to show that he can handle pressure very well. Billups and Hamilton will continue to be the two guards on the starting lineup and that won�t allow Stuckey to play a lot of minutes this season, but the Pistons have now with him a very decent backup and an unexpected offensive weapon.

The major changes on the Pistons this season have happened in the frontcourt. McDyess will start from the bench this season and Amir Johnson will have the great opportunity to be the starting PF of the team. Johnson has just played 73 games on the three seasons he has been with Detroit, but last season he had much more opportunities than on the previous two seasons combined. The main question for him will be how useful can he be on the starting lineup. Jason Maxiell will also have his minutes and with this being his last year on his rookie contract, we should expect him to make an extra effort this season, in order to get a nice contract on the next Summer. His numbers have been increasing season after season and very few people doubt that he is useful to the Pistons, due to his aggressiveness that he brings to the field.

For the center position, Dumars had a questionable decision in hiring Kwame Brown. He has been one of the biggest flops ever, as don�t forget we are talking about a former #1 draft pick. His career numbers are terrible (7.5 ppg and 5.7 rpg) and he is coming from half a season in Memphis, where he was even worse than his career average, with just 4.8 ppg on a lowly team! Can he turn around his career in Detroit? One thing looks to be certain: he is now playing on the team which has the most aggressive frontcourt on the league and he may learn a thing or two with Rasheed Wallace. I remember the Pistons were the best defensive team on the league last season with just 90.07 ppg allowed.

I don�t have any doubt that the Pistons will once again go deep on the Playoffs, because they continue with the same structure which made them be the most competitive team on the Eastern conference. Even though the Celtics have become a major force once again last season, the Pistons will continue to start every season with the goal of winning the title, which is a fair expectation in my opinion.

Andre Gomes' Cleveland Cavaliers NBA Preview 2008

2008-10-08T17:06:00Z

Lebron James' contract is one season closer to the end and the Cavs GM Danny Ferry has been doing everything to improve the team and keep it as most competitive as possible, the same is to say "keep Lebron happy". The trade the Cavs made in the middle of last season by bringing Ben Wallace, Wally Szczerbiak and Delonte West to the team didn't have the expected results and the Cavs ended the regular season with a 45-37 record, finishing the season by losing to the eventual champions Boston Celtics in the Game 7 of the conference semi finals.

For this season, the Cavs will try to comeback to the NBA Finals, as any team which has Lebron James on their roster has to have that goal. Lebron had a MVP caliber season with 30.0 ppg, 7.9 rpg and 7.2 apg with 48.4% FG. Certainly we all know how weak are the Cavs without Lebron and the biggest evidence of that last season was that Cleveland went 0-7 on the 7 games they played without Lebron.

One of the weakest points of the team last season was the PG position. This position on the Cavs doesn't require a playmaker, but a good shooter, as naturally the opponents are defensively focused on double teaming Lebron. Maybe thinking about that, Danny Ferry hired Mo Williams from the Bucks to the PG position and Williams has the perfect profile for the PG role on the Cavs system. Williams is a scorer and the proof of that is that he had 17.2 ppg for 48% FG last season and his presence on the field will always be a threat for the opponents, who won't be able to exclusively focus on Lebron.

The backcourt is completed with players from last season: Gibson, West and Szczerbiak. Gibson, after being essential in the conference finals against the Pistons on his rookie season, didn't have a great last season, when people were expecting him to confirm what he had done in the Playoffs of the previous season. Injuries didn't help him, but he should had taken advantage better of the opportunities he had. The same can be said about Szczerbiak, who had just 35.7% FG and 8.2 ppg on his 25 games he played for the Cavs last season. His career has been prejudiced by injuries, but as a starter of a top team like the Cavs, he needs to take advantage of the opportunities that Lebron creates or he will be quickly out of the picture.

The frontcourt of the Cavs is basically the same from the end of last season and it's very powerful physically. I remember the Cavs were the best team last season in terms of rebound margin (+4,27) and this edge on the rebounds should remain for this season. Ben Wallace and Anderson Varejao are two very aggressive players, who are capable of creating a lot of problems on the defense to any center. Wallace isn't the Big Ben, who was the league's top defender 4 times in a row anymore, but he is still a good defender. Last season he just played 22 games for the Cavs in the regular season and it will be curious to check his consistence during the season. On the other side, Varejao had an injury last season which has only allowed him to play 48 games. However, Andy had 8.3 rpg, which was a career high for him, a number which is even better, considering he has just played 27.5 min/game! Varejao has been improving season after season and this season he may get close to average 10 rebounds per game.

Iglauskas will be the starting center of the team and he is coming from a good season, where he averaged 14.1 ppg and 9.4 rpg. Big Z is one of the players which is more helped from the double team Lebron suffers and he was the team's second best scorer last season. However, let's not forget that Iglauskas is 33 years old and Mike Brown will need to manage his effort better, so Big Z can be at 100% in the postseason. The Cavs have selected J.J. Hickson from North Carolina as their first round draft pick and it's hard to predict the impact he may have on his first season, as the Cavs are very strong on the frontcourt. Hickson averaged 14.8 ppg and 8.5 apg on his only college season and probably he will need time to start gaining the trust of Mike Brown.

Cleveland has the necessary weapons to once again fight for the 1st place on the East and for that, it will be necessary that Lebron's team mates help him more than last season. 50 wins on the regular season seems to be a reachable goal and James will be more motivated than ever, after leading Team USA to goal in Beijing last Summer.

Andre Gomes' Indiana Pacers NBA Preview 2008

2008-10-07T21:11:00Z

The Pacers began last season a reformulation with Jim O�Brien in front of the team and it was concluded with the trade of Jermaine O�Neal to Toronto. We are in front of a team which will begin this season a new cycle. With O�Brien, the Pacers are no longer the defensive team, which was their identity on the past few seasons and I remember that in the 2003-2004 season, the Pacers had just allowed 85.6 ppg during the regular season! This team doesn�t exist anymore and the team is currently using a run and gun style, which O�Brien has implemented last season.

The Pacers were the second team on the East with most points per game last season (104.0 ppg), just behind the Magic, but they were also the worst defense of the Eastern conference, with 105.4 ppg allowed. Jermaine O�Neal was traded to Toronto, in exchange for T.J. Ford and Rasho Nesterovic. T.J. Ford will play for his 3rd team in just 4 seasons, but the system of the Pacers is perfect for him. He is surely one of the quickest guards on the league and he feels at home on a run and gun style. Jamaal Tinsley won�t be part of the team, but on the moment I�m writing this preview, nobody still knows where he is going to play next season and what the Pacers will receive in exchange.

On the four seasons Ford has already played on the NBA, he is yet to play a whole season and his history of injuries is well known. So, the Pacers took a very wise decision of adding the former Blazer Jarrett Jack to their roster, on a trade which also sent Brandon Rush and Josh McRoberts to Indiana and Jarryd Bayless and Ike Diogu to Portland. With Jack on the roster, the Pacers have solved the main problem they had last season.

With O�Neal leaving the team, Danny Granger will be the franchise player of the Pacers and his development has been impressive: from 7.5 ppg on his rookie season to 19.6 ppg last season, while also improving on the other relevant categories: rebounds, assists and steals. The 20 points per game should once again be a reality for him this season and if Granger continues to improve at this rhythm, he will be a contender for a spot on the All Star Game. Brandon Rush will be his backup and he will be very useful to the team. He was a NCAA champion for Kansas last season and he helped the team with 13.3 ppg. His athleticism and defensive ability will make him an interesting player.

Mike Dunleavy is coming from a career season and he has becoming such an offensive weapon that not even the Pacers thought he could be so important to the team. Dunleavy is a perfect player for the run and gun system, due to his great outside shooting ability (42.4% 3pts last season). For the first time, he has all regular season games while being at Indiana and he finished the season, with career records in scoring (19.1 ppg), assists (3.5 apg) and 3pts shots per game (2). With an even better organized system this season, Dunleavy will have the chance to continue what he has began last season.

The frontcourt of the team presents various solutions and some new faces. Troy Murphy is a center which fits very well on the system of the team due to his outside shooting ability, but he will need to be more consistent than he was last season, where he just averaged 28 mpg. Nesterovic will be the starting center of the team and he is coming from a good season with the Raptors and he will need to take this opportunity the better he can. Even though he has just averaged 20.9 min/game, Nesterovic had 7.8 ppg for 55% FG and 4.8 rpg, but Jeff Foster will also fight for the starting center position and even though he doesn�t have the scoring touch that Nesterovic has, Foster is a very strong player on defense, who does the dirty job in the paint very well, something which will be extremely important, in order to stop the centers of their opponents. The major doubt on the frontcourt will be what rookie Roy Hibbert will be capable to do this season. We are talking about a 7′2 center with 275 lbs, who will play for a team which uses run and gun as their style. So, how will he be useful for the team? Last season in Georgetown, Hibbert averaged 13.4 ppg, 6.4 rpg and 2.2 bpg, but his lack of mobility will make him struggle to get some opportunities on the Pacers this season.

Indiana will try to comeback to the Playoffs this season. The team has a better adapted roster to the run and gun style that O�Brien has implemented, but they will need to have their run and gun game well tuned right at the beginning of the season. The Tinsley story should be solved soon and the Pacers should get at least one new player. Also the schedule will help them, as 7 of their first 10 games this season will be played at home.

Andre Gomes' Chicago Bulls NBA Preview 2008

2008-10-07T18:54:00Z

The Bulls after some consecutive seasons where they managed to have a solid team and advance to the playoff have gone backwards last season, but luck was on their side and their bad season gave them the #1 draft pick this season. The team was coming from a season where they had a 49-33 record and for the first time since the Jordan Era, they were able to win a playoff series by sweeping the defending champions Miami Heat, just to lose against the Pistons in the conference semi-finals. Normally after that season, the expectations were huge for the Bulls and the 2007/2008 season was supposed to be the season where they would try to win once again the Eastern conference. However, everything went wrong and not even a coaching change and a mega trade in mid-season made the team improve.

The biggest reason for the bad season of the Bulls was some problems outside the field. Everything began with the renewals of Luol Deng and Ben Gordon and later the possible trade of these two players to LA, in exchange for... Kobe Bryant! The crowd of Chicago chanted Kobe's name in a lot of home games and this clearly affected the team. Curiously, while Kobe was able to focus himself on basketball and take his team to the NBA finals and winning the MVP award, Gordon and Deng had poor seasons, much worse than what they had done in the previous season.

For this season, the Bulls have a new coach: Vinny Del Negro. Vinny will have his first opportunity as a head coach, so there are doubts about which style of play the team will use this season. As a player, Del Negro played most of his career in San Antonio and Phoenix and it's easy to associate him to the defense of the Spurs and the offense of the Suns. In an interview, he states that he wants to use both styles:

"You have to have a productive and efficient offense, but I think it has to start with a defensive and rebounding mentality," Del Negro said. "We want to get out and make the game fun and use our strengths offensively. So I'm hoping we can be creative defensively and use the versatility we have at a few positions to create havoc, create turnovers and convert."

He doesn't have a lot of experience as a coach, but he was always known as a general as a player and he will be assisted by very experienced assistants, like Del Harris. One of the big challengers of Del Negro this season will be to fit his #1 draft pick Derrick Rose on the team. Unlike the rest of the top picks on this season's draft, Rose doesn't have a guaranteed place on the starting team and he won't have the same minutes players like Mayo and Beasley will have. He is a very talented player and possesses a big number of offensive weapons, capable to turn around a game on his own, however the Bulls aren't a team in renovation and they will have the pressure of having the goal of reaching the playoffs this season. Besides that, the Bulls have for the PG position Kirk Hinrich and Larry Hughes who are good players.

During the offseason, there were talks that both Hinrich and Hughes could be traded, but that didn?t happen. So, Del Negro will have 3 good players for just one position, unless Del Negro uses Hughes in the SG position. Hinrich had a disastrous season and saw his numbers decreasing in almost every stat: minutes, points, assists and rebounds. This season won?t be easy for him, as he will need to play much better, but at the same time he knows his margin of error is getting shorter with the time. Larry Hughes didn?t have better numbers in the 28 games he played for the Bulls last season than the ones he had in the 40 games he played for the Cavs. Hughes, who will turn 30 in January, is coming from 3 consecutive seasons where his numbers have decreased and I wouldn?t be surprised, if he ends up being just the 3rd choice of Del Negro for the PG position at a certain time of the season.

The rest of the roster is basically the same from last season, so the big task of Del Negro will be to create chemistry between the players, which lacked big time last season and to implement a style of play that we still don?t know how it will be.

Ben Gordon will need to prove on the field that he is worth the big contract he is wanting so badly and Luol Deng will need to prove he deserves the contract he has just signed. These two players were the main responsabiles for the struggles of the Bulls last season and it?s their responsibility to comeback to their real level that they?ve showed a couple of seasons ago.

The frontcourt of the Bulls has suffered dramatic changes in the past few seasons and it looks like the team will adopt a very young frontcourt. Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah are the future of the team, but I wonder if they are ready to be the present of the team too, especially with their conference rivals getting stronger on the paint. Drew Gooden will be the veteran in the Bulls frontcourt and the truth is that on the 18 games he has played for the team last season, he had 14.0 ppg and 8.6 rpg, which are very interesting numbers.

The Bulls have a very tough challenge this season on the PG position and how Derrick Rose will fit on the offensive scheme of the team. Del Negro will need to succeed on this task, just like on the task of implementing a new style of play, which will adapt to the characteristics of the players. Rose, Gordon, Deng, Thomas and Noah are all 25 years old or younger and I think the team may have an interesting season if they play with a faster pace than the one Scott Skiles implemented on the last few seasons, but it?s up to Del Negro to solve this enigma.

Andre Gomes' Milwaukee Bucks NBA Preview 2008

2008-10-05T14:06:00Z

The Bucks were one of the teams which most changed their roster during the offseason and even though this isn't a guarantee that they will have better results this season, they really needed to do something, after a 26-56 season (just the Heat and the Knicks did worse on the East), the 3rd worst on franchise history.

The changes began on the coaching department and Scott Skiles is the new coach of the team. Skiles has been having an interesting career as a coach with the Suns and more recently with the Bulls, in a total of 281 wins and 251 losses (0.528), but he won't have an easy task in Milwaukee with a team which struggled a lot last season. The way Skiles puts defense in front of everything will make the Bucks be a different team this season, as we are talking about a team which allowed 103.9 ppg last season and were second last in FG% allowed with 47.9% FG.

The key of the team this season will be how their star Michael Redd will adapt to this new phase of the Bucks. Redd has been highly criticized in the past for being selfish, even by the Bucks supporters and he will need to have a great season or this will be his last season as a member of the team. However, I think there is a misinterpretation from what Redd can offer the team and especially from what he can't offer the team. Redd will never be a playmaker, capable of commanding the offense of the team and he has been criticized for that, however we need to see that he had 3.4 apg last season, which isn't nothing amazing, but this was a career high in assists for him!

The problem was that last season the starting PG of the team was Mo Williams, who isn't exactly a guard who can command well the team. It's actually the opposite, as he is a guard who is mostly a shooter, very similar to Redd! So, the team didn't have a guard capable of organizing well the team and it's only enough to say that Williams averaged 2.7 Turnovers/game last season - the 6th guard with most TO/game on the league!

Coincidently or not, this problem was totally corrected during the offseason, as Williams was sent to Cleveland and the team hired Luke Ridnour to replace him. Ridnour may not be the inidividual talent that Mo Williams is, but he is a player who thinks first on the team and then just in shooting, the opposite of Williams. This PG change will benefit the team. Ridnour comes from a bad season with the Sonics, where he was the starter PG in just 5 games and his numbers decreased last season, even though he has also played less minutes per game.

Ridnour should be the starting PG at the beginning of the season, but the Bucks have a player who will be their starting PG in the future and a future star on the NBA: Ramon Sessions. He has just played 17 games on the last part of the season, taking advantage of the team being already out from the playoffs contention and he had a tremendous impact. With just 26.5 min/game, he ended the season with 7.5 apg! Actually on the last 5 games of the season, he had 15 apg, including a franchise record of 24 assists on a single game! He will obviously have more opportunities this season and he will need to show his value, at least Sessions has been working hard and the proof of that is that he was the player with most assists on the Summer League.

But the major change of the Bucks during this offseason was the trade which brought SF Richard Jefferson to the team. RJ is a tremendous player and for the first time last season since his rookie season (03-04), RJ managed to play the 82 games of the season! Jefferson is coming from a career season is terms of points (22.6 ppg) and his physical power will give a lot of problems to his opponents. If Scott Skiles manages to create chemistry between Jefferson and Redd, we may be in presence of one of the best duos on the league.

The frontcourt of the Bucks is pretty young, but with huge potential. Andrew Bogut didn't have the expected impact for a #1 draft pick, but he has been improving season after season and he managed to finish last season almost averaging a double-double: 14.3 ppg and 9.8 rpg and I expect him to keep improving this season. Bogut is becoming more aggressive and even though this has given him some injuries, that has been one of the keys for this improvement and this is the way he needs to follow, in order to become a dominant center.

Bogut will have on his side Charlie Villanueva, who has been also showing a lot of potential. Charlie began last season as a backup of Yi Jianlian, but when he got the chance of starting, his number skyrocketed. After the All Star Break, he averaged 15.1 ppg, 7.7 rpg and 1.3 apg, good numbers which make me think this season may be a statement season for him.

The Bucks had the 6th draft pick and they chose Joe Alexander, who is a versatile player and who is capable to play in both PF and SF positions. Alexander had 16.9 ppg and 6.4 rpg in West Virginia last season and he will surely have more playing time in the PF position this season, as Richard Jefferson will surely play a lot of minutes this season. As he won't have a very important role on the team this season, he won't feel pressured and this will help a lot his development.

This team of the Bucks has everything to enter April fighting for a playoff place. They had a good offseason with correct decisions, however Scott Skiles will need to build a basketball team in a short period of time and his success or not in doing that will be the key factor for the team. The Bucks will need to play good basketball right on the beginning of the league, as their schedule isn't easy: they will have just 10 home games in their first 28 games of the season.

Andre Gomes' Orlando Magic NBA Preview 2008

2008-10-04T01:00:00Z

Very few players had the spotlight Dwight Howard had last season. Howard had an amazing regular season with 20.7 ppg, 14.2 rpg and 2.1 bpg and in the All Star weekend, he dress like Superman to win the dunk contest. He was clearly the most dominant center in the regular season and he started the playoffs in great fashion, with 3 games against Toronto where he had more than 20 points and 20 boards. However, everything was different with the Pistons. All that power disappeared and Howard was intimidated in the matchup against Rasheed Wallace and that�s the key question for the future of the Magic. If the team wants to win a title, they will need Howard to play his best against centers like Wallace, Garnett or Brand and last season this simply didn�t happen.

A lot of the merit from the team�s good campaign last season goes to their coach Stan Van Gundy, who managed to build a team around Howard, the same thing he had done when he coached Miami and had Shaq on his team. The success of this formula is built around taking advantage of the double teams the opponents put on Howard, so the Magic can find open spaces on the perimeter, where the team has very good shooters. So, it�s no surprise that Orlando was 2nd on the league last season in most 3pts shots attempted (just behind the Warriors), with 25.3 3pts attempts per game.

One of the reasons for the success of this formula was Rashard Lewis, who played a big part of last season in the PF position. Lewis was coming from a big season in Seattle and on his first year of his big contract with the Magic, he wasn�t brilliant: 18.2 ppg, 5.4 rpg and 2.4 apg. However, the role of Lewis on Orlando isn�t the same he had in Seattle, as he has to share the protagonism of the team with Howard and Turkoglu.

Hedo Turkoglu was the key player of the team last season, completing the big three of the team with Howard and Lewis. His development has been awesome and that�s why he received last season the award for Most Improved Player. His numbers were amazing: 19.5 ppg (13.3 in 2007), 5.7 rpg (4.0 in 2007) and 5.0 apg (3.2 in 2007). Besides that, he was the player who had the ball on the clutch moments, which shows how important is his role on the team. He will need to prove this season that last season was no fluke and a lot of the success of the team will depend from his consistence this season.

The backcourt is the weakest point of the Magic or at least isn�t at the same level of the frontcourt. Jameer Nelson had a resonable last season with 10.9 ppg and 5.6 apg, but due to his short height, he was constantely dominated by more powerful guards than him, however he has also improved his game with Van Gundy and he will be the starting PG of the team once again. His backups last season were Arroyo and Dooling, but both have left the team. To replace them, the Magic have hired the veteran guard Anthony Johnson, who was a good choice, having in account all his experience.

The team will have a lot of changes on the SG position. Keith Bogans was the starter most of last season, but then lost his place on the starting team to Mo Evans. However the team didn�t trust on their current options for the position, so they hired Mickael Pietrus who came from the Warriors. Pietrus is a good defender and that�s one of the things which made the Magic hire him. Also for this position, the team has as options the rookie Courtney Lee, who is a talented player and who had a great Summer League.

Even with some additions, Van Gundy will have some problems with the team�s backcourt. However, I think the Magic will have even more problems if they start struggling with injuries, as the roster isn�t deep at all. If Howard gets injured or gets into foul trouble early on a game, can a player like Adonal Foyle be a reasonable backup?

Orlando should stand up this season and be a serious contender to win the Eastern Conference, after all the team was just beaten by Boston and Detroit last season and they maintain the same team structure. Howard will once again be the team�s superstar and it would be great for him if he could improve his FT %, which is curiously lower than his FG%! The roster seems to be lacking depth, the team is young, so the chances of they get plagued by injuries is lower, but if that happens, this may be an huge problem for the team.

Andre Gomes' Washington Wizards NBA Preview 2008

2008-10-02T16:31:00Z

Normally when a team has aspirations to win the title, they need to have a trio of players, who are capable of playing well on a consistent way during the whole season. That's why Boston won with Garnett, Pierce and Allen, or for example the Spurs have been the most consistent team of the last decade, with consistent performances of Duncan, Parker and Ginobili. The Wizards have their own Big Three, with Arenas, Jamison and Butler, but their big problem has been injuries. In the last 3 seasons, these three players have missed a combined of 144 games! A concerning number and which turned Washington into a team which fights for a playoff spot and nothing more. The news for this season continue to not be good, as Arenas is once again injured and he will be out at least until early December, with the additional problem of nobody being sure that his knee will ever be healed.

With all these problems, we need to give credit to coach Eddie Jordan. The franchise has recognized that and renewed his contract for 3 more seasons. I remember Jordan is the coach in the Eastern conference with more time in coaching their current team and he has taken the Wizards to the playoffs in the last four seasons, even with all the injury problems, he was always able to find solutions for the team's problems.

Without Arenas, the starting PG will be the veteran Antonio Daniels, who has been doing a consistent work with the Wizards. He had 8.4 ppg and 4.8 apg last season, but not even him was capable of escaping the injuries, missing 11 games on the regular season. Having in account the problems that the team may have with this position, the Wizards hired in this offseason veteran guard Juan Dixon, who will add depth to a position, where Arenas will be the starter, when he gets back from his injury layoff.

DeShawn Stevenson gained some spotlight in the Playoffs last season not for what he has played, but for the trash talking about Lebron. As we've seen later, he better had keep his mouth closed, as Lebron and his team mates eliminated the Wizards in the postseason for the third season in a row. Still Stevenson had a positive season with 11.2 ppg and 3.1 apg, being especially important on the defense, where the Wizards improved a lot their performance. I remember they were the 3rd worst defense in the 2006/2007 season with 104.9 ppg allowed, but last season they have "only" allowed 99.2 points per game to their opponents.

The frontcourt of the Wizards will be their strongest part until Arenas comes back. Butler and Jamison are All Star players and they will be the players who will command the team in the early season. Jamison is one of the most underrated players on the league, as he has averaged more than 20 ppg on the four seasons he has already played for the Wizards. He had also 10.2 rpg, being the 4th player on the Eastern conference with most rebounds in the regular season. There aren't many 20-10 players on the league and Jamison is one of the few who can do it on a regular basis. Caron Butler has been playing less games per season as the seasons go by, due to injuries. He is a powerful Small Forward, who has been improving season after season and last season he averaged for the first time 20 ppg in a season (20.3). However he is much more than a scorer, as the numbers prove it: 6.7 rpg, 4.9 apg and 2.2 stl. We have also seen Butler stepping it up in clutch moments, showing that without Arenas, someone needed to take responsibilities and Butler was perfect in that role.

Andray Blatche was the 6th man of the team last season and he had an excellent season with 7.5 ppg and 5.3 rpg in just 20 minutes per game. He doubled his numbers in every category and it is expected that he will continue improving this season, as I remember he had just averaged 6 minutes per game on his rookie season!

The key position of the team will be the center position, as it seems to be the weakest part of the team. What Etan Thomas will be capable to do this season is unpredictable as nobody knows how his heart problems are solved or not. With Thomas struggling with his health, Brendon Haywood is now the starter and he had a good season. He had his best season ever last season (5th season), improving in every stat: 10.6 ppg, 7.2 rpg and 1.7 bpg, while shooting 53% FG, impressive numbers when he has just averaged 27.9 minutes per game. This season will be his confirmation year and he seems to have his starting position secured, as Darius Songaila even though he had a good season isn't a true center and he will help the team by coming from the bench.

The Wizards will once again fight for a spot in the Playoffs and even though the Eastern conference will be stronger this season, the team will surely enter April on a position that will allow them to fight for the playoffs. Gilbert Arenas may make the Wizards have better expectations than "just" reach the playoffs, but the Wizards have been so plagued with injuries that nothing is never guaranteed for them.

Andre Gomes' Atlanta Hawks NBA Preview 2008

2008-10-01T18:49:00Z

The Hawks were just one game away last season from being the "Cinderella Team", when they took the future champions Celtics to a 7th game in the first round of the playoffs, something amazing, as the Hawks finished the regular season with almost less 30 wins than the Celtics and they had been swept by Boston in the season series. So naturally it is expected that Atlanta can be more competitive this season and all the unexpected spotlight they had in the playoffs make their expectations to be a place in the playoffs once again and not being just a team with potential but no pressure, like they were last season.

The offseason was a busy one in Atlanta, with Josh Smith taking a lot of time to re-sign and Josh Childress leaving the team for a more profitable contract in Europe. The starting five of the team this season will be the one from last season's playoffs and the Hawks will need to improve even more this season, as they won't make the playoffs this season if they repeat the 37-45 record they had last season.

Joe Johnson is the leader of the team and he is the player who gets the ball in the clutch moments. He had 21.7 ppg, 4.5 rpg and 5.8 apg last season and he will need to continue at the same level this season if the Hawks want to be competitive. With the arrival of Mike Bibby, Joe Johnson could finally be a true SG without having to command the offense of the team. Bibby, on the 33 games he played last season for the Hawks, had 6.5 apg and he was the weapon on the perimeter the team was lacking before his arrival. With Bibby commanding the offense of the team, Acie Law won't have the pressure he had sometimes last season, when he was a starter in some games. He didn't have a good rookie season, but now he can learn with Bibby and improve his game this season.

The Johnson-Bibby duo will be complemented by one of the youngest frontcourts of the league: Josh Smith, Marvin Williams and Al Horford. All of them are coming from better than expected seasons. Josh Smith has confirmed himself as one of the best all-around players on the league with 17.2 ppg, 8.2 rpg, 3.4 apg, 1.5 stl and 2.8 bpg! Many of last season's highlights included Smith's blocks and the truth is that Smith managed to progress from a young talented player to a super star. The same can be said from Marvin Williams. I remember he was the 2nd choice on the draft in front of... Chris Paul and Deron Williams! However, after a poor rookie season, he has improved and achieved career records on points per game, %FG and rebounds per game. I expect Marvin to continue improving, as talent is something he doesn't lack at all. The case of Al Horford is much different, as we are talking about a rookie who had an immediate impact in the league. Even though, Kevin Durant had all the credits last season, the truth is that Horford was the most consistent rookie during the whole season. He almost averaged a double double (10.1 ppg and 9.7 rpg) and shot 49.9% FG. The Hawks have now a player for the next decade, who will guarantee double doubles to the team on an easy way and together with Smith and Williams (the oldest of these three players is just 23 years old) gives Atlanta a frontcourt with unlimited potential.

This starting five has conditions to make a good job, but it will be necessary for the team to have a good bench, in order to be competitive. Even though they lost Childress in this offseason, the truth is that GM Rick Sund made an excellent work and added to the roster some experienced players, who will also be very useful for this season. To replace Childress as the team's 6th man, the Hawks got Mo Evans from the Magic, who is coming from his best season as a Magic, with 8.9 ppg and 48.1% FG. His physical presence and shooting ability from the perimeter makes him an interesting player. The guard Flip Murray has also joined the team from Indiana, where he was a starter at the end of last season. He is an experienced player and besides being useful to rest Johnson and Bibby, he will also be an extra offensive threat (averaged 9.4 ppg last season).

The team maintains almost the same structure from last season. Mike Woodson has all the conditions to continue the growing of the Hawks, who won just 13 games four seasons ago. The Hawks solved the Childress problem very well by hiring some veteran player, who add depth to the team, knowing that they need to improve this season if they want to reach the playoffs once again. Even though it will be hard, the Hawks have chances to reach that goal once again.

Andre Gomes' Miami Heat NBA Preview 2008

2008-09-30T21:22:00Z

Miami is one of the teams that even with a NBA title couldn't build a legacy like the Lakers and the Spurs managed in the last few years, as the opposite has exactly happen! With the arrival of Shaq in 2004/2005, the Heat had a 59-23 record and they were champions on the following year, with a 52-30 regular season record. Last season the Heat had a 15-67 record, which means that they had a decrease of 44 wins in just 4 seasons!

For this season, the goal is to fight for a playoff spot, be competitive and do not repeat the 15 games losing streak they had last season. The news start on the bench, as the team has a new coach: Erik Spoelstra. The franchise president Pat Riley knows this was a risky choice and "risk" is really the correct word for this choice. We are talking about the youngest coach of the league, with just 37 years old, who began his career in 1995 on the... video room of the Heat! His biggest coaching job until now was in the Summer League, so we will need to wait to know what Spoelstra will be capable to do and if this choice was a brilliant one or a total disaster.

The team has some new players this season and that was a natural decision, as after what happened last season, something really needed to change. Luck was on their side, as the Heat was the 2nd position in the draft and they selected Michael Beasley. The expectations of what Beasley will be capable to do already this season are huge and they are normal, as he is the best player of the 2008 draft in terms of scoring touch and while playing for Kansas State, he had 26.2 ppg and 12.4 rpg. Naturally if he plays in the PF position, Beasley will face some tougher and stronger opponents than him, but with his agility and technique, he should have no problems with that. In my opinion, there is a factor which will help Beasley's development on the NBA. Unlike for example Kevin Durant, he won't be the #1 offensive choice of the team. Dwayne Wade is the franchise player of the Heat and so, Beasley won't feel the pressure, which will help him on his development.

For everybody who has watched Team USA on the Olympics, surely noticed that the "old" Wade is back to his best condition and that's amazing news for the Heat. If Wade manages to stay healthy the whole season, we are in front of one of the best and exciting players in the whole league, with an amazing dribbling ability and capable to "steal" a lot of fouls to their opponents. If that doesn't happen and Wade struggles physically again, then the Heat will struggle to fight for a spot on the playoffs.

The biggest concern of Spoelstra is surely on the PG position. The team has 3 options right now: rookie Mario Chalmers, Chris Quinn and Marcus Banks. Until now nobody seems certain in this position and a big proof of that are the rumors that Miami is trying to hire free agent Shaun Livingston. Mario Chalmers will be in theory Spoelstra's pick for the PG position, but his NBA career hasn't started very well with that incident with his former team mate Darrell Arthur. Chalmers is however a good player, he had 12.8 ppg, 4.3 apg, 3.1 rpg and 2.5 spg for the Kansas Jayhawks and it's especially on his defensive abilities that he beats his team mates in the fight for the PG position. Marcus Banks is just useful in the offense and Quinn even though he took advantage very well of some injuries on the team last season doesn't seem that he is going to have many minutes this season.

Shawn Marion may be the key of this team, he will need to play well if he wants a good contract next season and the best way to do it is to play his best. Marion will finally have the chance to play on his favorite position: small forward. His ability to win rebounds will be a precious help for Beasley when he faces dominant Power Forwards.

The center position is just like the PG position, a problem for the Heat. According to Spoelstra, Udonis Haslem has chances to become the team's starting center, which may become a big problem, as Haslem is a power forward and not a center by any means! Haslem has been on his career a regular 10 ppg - 9 rpg player, but we are talking about a conference who has very tall and powerful centers and we'll have to wonder until which point will the Heat be competitive on this area. It's also important to say the other options for center aren't great: Mark Blount and Jamaal Magloire will have their minutes, but they won't bring a lot of quality to the team.

Miami has conditions to become once again a contender for a playoff spot, but there are still many doubts about this team, including on the bench. Dwayne Wade seems to be at 100%, which is great news for Miami and together with Beasley, they may become one of the best duos on the league and what the Heat may do this season will depend from how dynamic can these two players be together.

Andre Gomes' Charlotte Bobcats NBA Preview 2008

2008-09-29T20:34:00Z

The Bobcats will start from scratch for the third season in a row, as they have another new coach for this season. After Bernie Bickerstaff in 2006 and Sam Vincent in 2007, it's time for the experienced coach Larry Brown to take over in Charlotte.

Sam Vincent won't surely be missed, as he took the team when the Bobcats were coming from their best season ever (33 wins) and spent some money in the offseason by bringing Jason Richardson to the team, but still the team couldn't do better than 32 wins last seasons and with some options that were at least very weird, like putting Raymond Felton in the SG position.

With Larry Brown, we know the team will improve on defense, at least that will surely be Larry Brown's main target in the training camp. Even though he had an excellent career as a coach, he needs to prove to the NBA fans that his disastrous time as a Knicks coach was just a case of "being on the wrong place in the wrong time". I use to say that when a team doesn't have stars like their opponents, the way to success is put players helping each other and a great team spirit on defense. This was exactly what happened with Larry Brown and the Pistons when they defeated the Lakers in 2004 to win the NBA Championship.

Raymond Felton has enough ability to lead the team. If you remember, he was chosen as the 5th pick in the 2005 draft, in the same year Deron Williams and Chris Paul were also part of the draft (3rd and 4th) and even though he doesn't have the spotlight of these two players, the truth is that Felton is also a good player and he has been poorly used on Charlotte. He finished last season with 14.4 ppg and 7.4 apg, finishing the season with the 7th place of the league in terms of assists per game and he has conditions to do even better this season, as long as Larry Brown can take advantage of his talent. So, it's actually weird that the Bobcats drafted PG D.J. Augustin as their 9th selection. I don't question the talent of Augustin, who is a future superstar. He was a team mate of Kevin Durant two years ago and he finished last season with 19.2 ppg and 5.8 apg. Already this season on the Summer league, Augustin ended the league with 20 ppg, so it's not his quality that I put in question, but how he will co-exist with Felton and someone will need to sit on the bench. This "problem" will need to be solved by Larry Brown, in order to be have the best basketball of these two players at his disposal.

The backcourt of the Bobcats is the strongest part of the team, as it counts with starters Jason Richardson and Gerald Wallace, who are capable of giving some wins to the team. Jason Richardson had a great debut season in Charlotte, with 21.8 ppg, 5.4 rpg and 3.1 apg, with 44.1% FG. He has also converted 243 3pts shots last season, a franchise record for the team. On the other side, Gerald Wallace is one of the most underrated players on the league. His numbers probably would be more highlighted if he was on a bigger team: 19.4 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 3.5 apg and 2.1 spg. Besides that, we are talking about a versatile player and capable of executing several tasks on the field. However, Wallace is an injury-prone player and he has missed 69 games on the last 4 seasons! The backups for these two players are good options and they make the roster deeper. Matt Carrol is a dangerous player in the perimeter, finishing right at the top of this stat last season with 43.6%. However, Carrol has regressed from what he had done in 2006/2007, when he had 12.1 ppg, but J-Rich joining the team explains that.

For the SF position, Adam Morrison is back this season, after missing the whole season in 2007. On his rookie season, Morrison wasn't impressive and ended the season with 11.8 ppg and having almost as many turnovers as assists and just shooting 37.6% FG. He is a terrible defender and that doesn't help him at all to get minutes on a team coached by Larry Brown, so he will need to work a lot this season to convince his coach to give him a chance.

The frontcourt seems to be the weakest part of the game of the Bobcats. Okafor and Mohammed are good defenders, but neither can be a real offensive threat. They are two very similar players and Okafor managed to get last season 13.8 ppg and 10.7 rpg, but he isn't a player who can create opportunities in the offense in individual plays. Still as Larry Brown likes players with the profile of Okafor, this may be his breakout season.

Nazr Mohammed joined the Bobcats in the middle of the season and he had interesting numbers: 7.8 ppg and 6.0 rpg. He is the type of center the team needs, as the East has a lot of very powerful centers. The team drafted Alexis Ajinca and even though he is a naturally gifted player, with 7-0� and 220 pounds, the truth is that he has just averaged 5 ppg on a French team last season. He hasn't also impressed during the Summer league, by going scoreless in 3 of the games. He doesn't seem to be ready to make an impact on the NBA at least this season.

Come to this and in an Eastern conference which is getting stronger, it will be very hard for the Bobcats to manage this season what they have never reached during the franchise history: the playoffs! Larry Brown has a big challenge in front of him and anything better than last season's record will have to be considered as a positive season.

Andre Gomes' Utah Jazz NBA Preview 2008

2008-09-28T02:53:00Z

Utah has barely changed anything on their structure for this season, which makes sense as the Jazz reached the conference final two years ago and last season, they were eliminated by the Lakers in the conference semi finals, so the main question for the team this season is to know if they are good enough to be a contender for the title.

If we look to the Western conference, we see that the starting five of the Jazz is one of the youngest, with Okur being the oldest with 29 years old. So, this group of players has still a lot of years in front of them and a lot to give to the league. The same can't be said about the Spurs, Mavs or Suns, which look to be on the downfall, due to the advanced age of some of their main stars. However, I think the Jazz are still missing something and eventually the solution would be acquiring some veterans which could make the roster be deeper and help with their experience in the postseason. For some reason, the Celtics acquired Sam Cassell and PJ Brown last season.

The team's current roster is equilibrated and the Jazz should easily reach the 55 wins mark at least in the regular season. The whole team is based on their PG Deron Williams, who even though isn't as mediatic as his "draft rival" Chris Paul, had a fantastic season with 18.8 ppg, 3.0 rpg and 10.5 apg, with 50.7% FG. It seems almost unbelievable, but Deron wasn't selected to the All-Star game last season! For this season, I expect him to have another great season. The system is the same, his team mates are also the same, so it wouldn't be a surprise if he ends this season averaging 20-10 (pts-ast). The team made a trade in the guards position, sending Jason Hart to the Clippers and receiving Brevin Knight, who will be useful on the team, much more than Hart was last season. Knight is a veteran who will understand his role in the team and he will be a good backup for Deron Williams, something the Jazz lack since Fisher went to the Lakers.

For the SG position, the Jazz have a good duo with Brewer and Korver, who give different solutions to the team. Korver came last season from the Sixers and gave the team a bigger dimension in the exterior game, where the team had only Deron and Okur as solutions. Also his FT % is extremely important to the team at the end of the games, as he is coming from back to back seasons with more than 90% FT. Brewer was a nice surprise last season, as he went from 4.6 ppg on his rookie season from 12.0 ppg last season. His athletic ability makes him a very good player on counter attacks and with Deron coordinating the offense, Brewer will always have good opportunities on the offensive game of the season. However, both Brewer and Korver aren't good defenders and it will be for this position than the Jazz would have interest in hiring a veteran SG, who could defend the SG of their opponents. Remember Kobe Bryant scored 33.2 ppg on the Jazz vs Lakers series last season!

The frontcourt of the team continues to be one of the most powerful and athletic of the league. The Jazz were 3rd in the league last season in terms of rebound margin (+3,05) and the key of the team will be Andrei Kirilenko. I would even say that AK47 will be difference of the Jazz being a strong team or being a strong contender for the title. If Jerry Sloan can motivate him and AK has a season at the same level that he had in 2005-2006, with 15.3 ppg. 8.0 rpg, 4.3 apg and 3.2 bpg, then the Jazz will be ready to give the jump they need to win the title. He is the most versatile player of the team and the best defender too, so his importance on the team is much bigger than most people think.

Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur complete the frontcourt of the Jazz and naturally everybody expects them to have another good year this season. Boozer comes from a great season with 21.1 ppg and 10.4 rpg - second season in a row with 20-10 (pts-reb) numbers and together with Deron Williams they make the hardest pick n' roll to be stopped this season. On the other side, Okur adds a lot of quality to the team, thanks to his great exterior shooting ability, even though he wasn't as good last season as he was in 2006/2007. The backups of Okur and Boozer are a concern. Millsap is an explosive player and averaged 8.1 ppg and 5.6 rpg, but his height (6'8'') is an handicap for the Jazz, if he has to face powerful PF's. For the center position, the problems are even bigger. Kosta Koufas is a talented rookie, but we are yet to know how much time will he need to adapt to the league and Jarron Colins is a non-factor on the team. It would also be good if the Jazz could add a veteran center to the roster, especially one who is a good defender.

Utah is once again this season one of the strongest teams in the league and they just need to play a little bit better on the road this season. The solution for this problem of playing on the road could be solved with getting the best record on the league, as that would guarantee them home court advantage during the whole postseason, where they were almost unbeatable on last season's regular season with a 37-4 record. I expect Utah to hire a couple of players in mid season, in order to try to finally win the title this season.

Andre Gomes' Denver Nuggets NBA Preview 2008

2008-09-26T23:02:00Z

Last season, Denver managed to have an excellent end of the regular season, by winning 10 of their last 14 games and reclaiming the 8th and last spot for the postseason in the Western conference, where they ended up being swept by the Lakers. In that series, Denver scored 101.5 ppg, but we all know which was the problem of the Nuggets: No Defense! How can a team fight for the title, if they allow 115 points per game in a playoff series?

For this season, George Karl returns with the expectative of winning a playoff series, something he hasn't managed to do since he joined the Nuggets in the 2004-2005 season. With the accusations of having no defense, what did the staff do? They traded their best defender Marcus Camby to the Clippers (a conference rival) for a future draft pick. And if that wasn't enough, they didn't hire a replacement for the center position! Don't forget we are talking about a player who had last season 9.1 ppg, 13.1 rpg and 3.6 blocks per game!

Right now, the Nuggets have Nene Hilario and Steven Hunter for the center position. Nene has already shown that he is a good player and capable of adding a lot of aggressiveness and explosion in the paint, but let's not forget that he had a very delicate surgery last season due to cancer and expecting him to play a lot of minutes per game this season may be an huge gamble, especially as the team doesn't have a capable backup for this position.

The offense will once again dependent from the duo Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony can do. AI and Melo were 3rd and 4th in the league in terms of points per game with 26.4 and 25.7 respectively and once again this will be the most probable scenario for the team this season.

Carmelo Anthony is yet to be a real leader in the field, as he is a player with a lot of potential, but who seems to be lacking some mental toughness, something that other stars like Lebron and Wade have reached, but Melo is still lacking something to be a true leader in the field. Will it be this season?

Linas Kleiza will be his backup and I wouldn't be surprised if Kleiza ends up being also used as a PF, due to his huge versatility, something George Karl has already done last season. This versatility will allow the Nuggets to fix a little bit their frontcourt, making it faster, but lacking physical power at the same time. Kenyon Martin played 71 games last season, which is something to be referred, as he had just played 2 the previous season, due to a knee injury. He comes from a season, where he had 12.4 ppg, 6.5 rpg and a career high of 53.8% FG! Without Camby on the team, a lot more will be required to Martin, especially in the defense. Renaldo Balkman has joined the team and he may give some aggressiveness to the team, something they really need and surely he will play more minutes than he played in New York.

Denver's backcourt has Allen Iverson and J.R. Smith. Iverson has been frequently accused of thinking first on the basket and then just on his team mates, but the truth is that he finished the season with 7.1 apg, being the 9th player in the league in assists, so that accusation is a little bit unfair. The problem is that Iverson can't be in two places at the same time and something it gets confusing which is his role in the field. Even though he has already past his prime, Iverson is still one of the best players in the league and one of the very few, who can solve a game on his own.

J.R. Smith comes from a good season and probably he would have won the Sixth Player of the Season award, if it wasn't for Ginobili. He had 12.3 ppg and managed to shoot 40% in 3pts shots, which is always a good sign. His main problem is his inconsistence and the fact he will be a starter this season will be a big test if he is ready to play well in large periods of time or he will always be a player who comes from the bench and play well for 10/15 minutes.

Denver doesn't have a deep roster at all and they have basically no solutions on the frontcourt. If the problems the team had last season aren't solved, it will be almost a miracle if they manage to repeat last season's regular season record. If injuries start to appear, the team has no solutions capable of guaranteeing competitiveness at long term. With Iverson and Carmelo in the same team, we can never underrate the potential of this team, but the team's roster is too short, having in account a regular season in 82 games long and not 40.

Andre Gomes' Portland Trail Blazers NBA Preview 2008

2008-09-25T22:15:00Z

Portland's off season last season was lived with euphoria: after all, the team had the rookie of year, Brandon Roy, and the number one choice in the draft: Greg Oden. All of a sudden, all that euphoria disappeared when Oden got injured and missed the whole season and very few expected that the team without him would still reach a .500 record, in a conference where the Warriors with a 48-34 record couldn't reach a postseason spot.

The Trail Blazers had one of the best winning streaks last season, with 13 wins in a row in December (12-1 ATS) and they had the right to have their own spotlight. The main reason for that was the duo Nate McMillan and Kevin Pritchard, who built a young team with a lot of character and which promises to be a championship contender in the future. Pritchard took the risk of trading their "best" player Zach Randolph to the Knicks and one year later, we can say this was an excellent choice and probably if the Celtics hadn't won the title, Pritchard would have won the "Manager of the Year" award.

Nate McMillan is one of the most underrated coaches on the league and very few remember he was the coach of Seattle in the 2004-2005 season, where the team finished the season with a 52-30 record and coincidence or not, this was the last season the Sonics had a positive record and reached the playoffs. McMillan went 212-183 in Seattle and maybe if he continued with the Sonics, the team wouldn't have moved to Oklahoma. After leaving the Sonics, McMillan moved to Portland and this will be his 4th season with the team, where the Blazers have been improving season after season with him: 21, 32 and last season 41 wins. It's pretty obvious his work at Portland has been very good and also McMillan was part of the staff of Team USA in the Olympics, which showed a lot of chemistry.

After this presentation, there is just one obstacle, which may prevent this team from improving even more: injuries! If the team doesn't get massacred by injuries, the Trail Blazers will be one of the youngest, most athletic and complete of the whole league and they will certainly fight for a playoff spot. The problem is that Oden has never played a single game on the league, we don't know how the recovery of Brandon Roy has been lately and most recently PF Channing Frye had surgery and he will be out for 8 to 10 weeks.

Before I start analyzing the roster of the Blazers, I have to say again that they have one of the deepest roster in the league. If McMillan pretends to play on a faster pace with a run and gun style in one game and then on the following game, he wants the team to play on a typical half court game, Portland has enough solutions on the roster to do it.

In the point guard position, the starter will be Steve Blake, who was another great deal Pritchard made last season. More than his numbers (8.5 ppg and 5.1 apg), Blake was a leader on the field, helping Roy in controlling the game. He is also an excellent defender and the fact he is a very useful player on the roster will never be in doubt this season. Jerryd Bayless will be Blake's backup and he is a player for the future, as Pritchard sent Brandon Rush, Jarrett Jack and Josh McRoberts to Indiana, in order to get him (the Blazers also got Ike Diogu). Bayless showed in college that he is a player with several offensive solutions, as he finished last season with 19.7 ppg and 4apg, while playing for the Arizona Wildcats. His dribbling abilities and quickness will make him a very serious offense threat and he is a good complement for Blake, as Portland has good solutions with these two in the PG position for any type of game.

Brandon Roy will be the SG of the team and naturally the leader of the Blazers. His great performances last season gave him a ticket to the All-Star game, as he finished the season with 19.1 ppg, 4.7 rpg and 5.8 apg, excellent numbers, but which don't show the real importance of Roy on this team. He is an all-around player, who is capable of doing well any task in the field and if he is physically at 100%, then there is no motives why he shouldn't have another great season.

Rudy Fernandez will join the Blazers this season and this is fantastic news for them. Maybe a couple of months ago, very few people in the United States knew that Rudy even existed, but in the Olympics final between Spain and the US, Rudy scored 22 points in 18 minutes and had an amazing dunk on Howard's face. He finished his last season in Spain with 21.2 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 4.1 apg and 2.2 steals per game, while winning one national and one international trophy for his team. He was also considered the best player playing in Europe last season.

With Rudy, the team gains another dimension, fortunately for the team, McMillan knows very well the abilities of Rudy, at least he has already said that being on the bench in the Olympics final helped him in evaluating his new player. Rudy abdicated of many millions of euros that he was receiving in Spain, in order to follow his dream of playing on the NBA, even if this means he will be receiving much less in Portland. His versatility and athleticism make him a player who can adapt to any kind of system.

Travis Outlaw will be the team's 6th player and last season he was the responsible for many miraculous recoveries of the Blazers and a decisive player in the 4th quarter. He had 13.3 ppg and 4.6 rpg last season and his role promises to be once again a contender for the Sixth Man of the Year. The starter at SF will be Martell Webster, who comes from a career year last season, with 10.7 ppg, 3.9 rpg and 1.2 apg - all of them career highs. Webster is an hard-working player and he will be very useful to the team, being a good complement to Outlaw, making this team very interesting at the SF position.

The frontcourt of the team will depend a lot from the impact Oden can have, but don't think the team's frontcourt is weak without Oden, as that's not true at all! LaMarcus Aldridge was an huge surprise last season, while being one of the players who most improved since his rookie season. Aldridge went from 9.0 ppg to 17.8 ppg, almost the double! Besides that, he had 7.6 rpg (5.0 rpg as a rookie) and he is a player with a good mid range shot, capable of creating problems to any defense. As Fyre will be out at the beginning of the season, it will be Ike Diogu who will have the role of being Aldridge's backup in the team. I think Diogu is the kind of player who was misused in the teams where he played and who has potential to be useful in every team.

When we talk about Portland was capable of doing last season, nobody refers the center Joel Przybilla, who is extremely unfair to him, as Przybilla was the team's best defender, finishing the season with 4.8 ppg and 8.4 rpg. He finished the season in 4th in the whole league in terms of rebounds per 48 minutes with 12.0, which shows how dominant he can be in the paint. Hardly we can find another player who averaged 8.4 rpg with just 23.6 minutes per game!

This team has everything to be a contender for a playoff place and just the injuries look to be an obstacle for them this season. However, the team will need to enter in great style on the season, as they will play 10 of their first 15 games on the road, with 12 of those games being against other teams of the Western conference.