Post by James on Feb 18, 2008 23:39:48 GMT -5
BBS Training Camp: Winners and Losers
Winners
Boston Celtics and Rod Strickland
Thirty-six year old point guard Rod Strickland somehow managed to increase his handles from A- to A. Whilst it wasn’t a big improvement, this increase will boost the scoring of team mates Kobe Bryant and Peja Stojakovic whilst giving the Celtics another season in the play-off race.
Miami Heat and Vince Carter
After being traded from Orlando to Miami last season, 25 year old shooting guard Vince Carter exploded during TC going up in 3 key categories. Entering training camp as a very good player with B+ B+ C B C B ratings, Vinsanity came out of it looking like a super-star with B+ A- C+ B+ C B ratings.
New Jerey Nets and Samuel Dalembert, Manu Ginobili and Baron Davis
All 3 of the aforementioned players went up during training camp. Whilst Ginobili’s inside game took a hit, he went up outside and defense. Dalembert lived up to the hype of becoming one of the leagues finest defensive bigs by increasing his defense as well as his inside game. Baron Davis was always going to become better after training camp; it was just a question of how much. Barons outside jumped two places whilst his handles and defense also went up.
New York Knicks and Dwyane Wade
Wade was always going to develop into a stud. So how did he come out of his first training camp? A- C+ C+ B- B A.
Orlando Magic and Earl Boykins, Michael Redd and Tim Hardaway
Boykins and Hardaway both had very impressive training camps and will give Orlando a lot of fire-power at the point guard spot this season. Michael Redd also underwent a stellar training camp and momentarily helped the Magic forget about Vince Carters improvement.
Atlanta Hawks and Jamal Tinsley
Tinsley jumped up on his inside game and also gained two places defensively this training camp.
New Orleans and Shawn Marion
The Matrix went up inside and also managed to boost his rebounding rating during TC. With Lewis’ decline, Marion will give the Hornets something promising to look forward to this upcoming season.
Chicago Bulls and Stromile Swift
Ummm, Stromile Swift had a disgustingly good TC. I don’t even want to talk about it, I feel sick and hate Play.
Detroit Pistons and Chauney Billups and Jerry Stackhouse
Stack is now an A- inside scorer, Detroit must be very pleased. Billups also pushed himself closer to becoming an elite PG by moving from B to A- in the handles category.
Indiana Pacers and Yao Ming and Jamario Moon
His inside game dropped however Yao Ming went from B to A- defensively and C+ to B rebounding. Outstanding. Moon also sky-rocketed moving upwards in 4 categories.
Milwaukee Bucks and Steve Francis
Steve “Turnover Whore” Francis exploded during TC. It seems as though the Bucks want him out of Milwaukee so him developing well can only do good things for his trade value.
Toronto Raptors and Tracy McGrady
Mac is a machine. He looks to be one of the leagues most dynamic scorers and will definitely rank in the leagues top 10 in PPG this upcoming season.
Losers
Miami Heat and Pau Gasol
Coming off a very impressive 18 and 10 rookie campaign, Pau Gasol’s inside game fell from a B to B- during training camp. It wasn’t a big drop however at 22 years of age and with A potential, hopes for a break-out season would have been high in Miami.
New Orleans and Rashard Lewis
After a promising season, Lewis outside shot declined. I think the Hornets were hoping for big things from him.
Cleveland Cavaliers/Utah Jazz and Larry Johnson
Larry Johnson’s defense and rebounding went up after TC. A request was put into the league to have the Cavaliers/Jazz trade reversed however the request was signified as being more humorous than serious. Cleveland should have waited until after TC, but who thinks a 33 year old small forwards going to explode during TC?
Indiana Pacers and Jason Richardson
While he didn’t get worse, Jason Richardson didn’t get better either. Indiana’s first draftee had a lot of hype surrounding him and disappointingly for Indiana, he failed to deliver.
RIP/Not Sure/Whatever
New Jersey Nets and Andrie Kirilenko (Not Sure)
Kirilenko became a lock-down defender during TC however managed to layer 6 more coats of butter onto his already greasy hands, becoming a small forward with D+ handles.
Philadelphia 76ers and Gerald Wallace (Whatever)
Oh how Sixers management weeped when they saw Gerald Wallace decline in his inside game during TC. Arenas improved his handles and defense but I don’t think it was enough to off-sit this minor blow in Philly’s post-Shaq rebuilding plans.
Washington Wizards and Horace Grant (RIP)
His time is just about over, dropping his inside game and defense whilst slowing moving closer to retirement.
Atlanta Hawks and Vlade Divac (RIP) and Antoine Walker (Whatever)
The big Yugoslavian practically died, going down in his inside and outside game as well as dropping points in the handles category, one for which he has excelled in throughout his career. Antoine Walker remained the same coming out of TC. It doesn’t seem like a big deal but he is kind of Atlanta’s franchise player which is a little worrying. Whatever though, it’s Toine.
New Orleans Hornets and Hakeem Olajuwon (RIP) and Jon Stockton (RIP)
Both of these guys DIED. Olajuwon will basically be a walking corpse this year and Stockton has F potential.
Cleveland Cavaliers and Zydrunas Ilgauskas (Not Sure)
Z dropped his inside however went up defensively and his rebounding also went up. This could be described as a solid TC however any rating trade off brings a ‘meh’ from the respective players GM.
Detroit Pistons and Michael Olowokandi (Whatever) and Rasheed Wallace (Not Sure)
Went up defensively and also went up in handles…from F+ to F. Not sure that you can be neither happy nor sad with that increase. Sheed remained the same. I think the Pistons were hoping for a good TC from him because if he did increase in any area, the Pistons would move closer to becoming a top 3 team in the East.
Milwaukee Bucks and Paul Pierce (Not Sure)
PP traded off scoring wise. He went ferom a B+ B+ scorer to a B A- scorer. Nothing to get angry about however an interesting trade-off at that.
Toronto Raptors and Tony Parker (Not Sure)
Parker had a very interesting TC and probably the weirdest in the Eastern Conference. He went from B C+ B+ B- D+ A to B C+ B A- C- A. Post-TC Parker is a lot better, but the former #1 pick could have done a more consistent job for his Raptors.
Winners
Boston Celtics and Rod Strickland
Thirty-six year old point guard Rod Strickland somehow managed to increase his handles from A- to A. Whilst it wasn’t a big improvement, this increase will boost the scoring of team mates Kobe Bryant and Peja Stojakovic whilst giving the Celtics another season in the play-off race.
Miami Heat and Vince Carter
After being traded from Orlando to Miami last season, 25 year old shooting guard Vince Carter exploded during TC going up in 3 key categories. Entering training camp as a very good player with B+ B+ C B C B ratings, Vinsanity came out of it looking like a super-star with B+ A- C+ B+ C B ratings.
New Jerey Nets and Samuel Dalembert, Manu Ginobili and Baron Davis
All 3 of the aforementioned players went up during training camp. Whilst Ginobili’s inside game took a hit, he went up outside and defense. Dalembert lived up to the hype of becoming one of the leagues finest defensive bigs by increasing his defense as well as his inside game. Baron Davis was always going to become better after training camp; it was just a question of how much. Barons outside jumped two places whilst his handles and defense also went up.
New York Knicks and Dwyane Wade
Wade was always going to develop into a stud. So how did he come out of his first training camp? A- C+ C+ B- B A.
Orlando Magic and Earl Boykins, Michael Redd and Tim Hardaway
Boykins and Hardaway both had very impressive training camps and will give Orlando a lot of fire-power at the point guard spot this season. Michael Redd also underwent a stellar training camp and momentarily helped the Magic forget about Vince Carters improvement.
Atlanta Hawks and Jamal Tinsley
Tinsley jumped up on his inside game and also gained two places defensively this training camp.
New Orleans and Shawn Marion
The Matrix went up inside and also managed to boost his rebounding rating during TC. With Lewis’ decline, Marion will give the Hornets something promising to look forward to this upcoming season.
Chicago Bulls and Stromile Swift
Ummm, Stromile Swift had a disgustingly good TC. I don’t even want to talk about it, I feel sick and hate Play.
Detroit Pistons and Chauney Billups and Jerry Stackhouse
Stack is now an A- inside scorer, Detroit must be very pleased. Billups also pushed himself closer to becoming an elite PG by moving from B to A- in the handles category.
Indiana Pacers and Yao Ming and Jamario Moon
His inside game dropped however Yao Ming went from B to A- defensively and C+ to B rebounding. Outstanding. Moon also sky-rocketed moving upwards in 4 categories.
Milwaukee Bucks and Steve Francis
Steve “Turnover Whore” Francis exploded during TC. It seems as though the Bucks want him out of Milwaukee so him developing well can only do good things for his trade value.
Toronto Raptors and Tracy McGrady
Mac is a machine. He looks to be one of the leagues most dynamic scorers and will definitely rank in the leagues top 10 in PPG this upcoming season.
Losers
Miami Heat and Pau Gasol
Coming off a very impressive 18 and 10 rookie campaign, Pau Gasol’s inside game fell from a B to B- during training camp. It wasn’t a big drop however at 22 years of age and with A potential, hopes for a break-out season would have been high in Miami.
New Orleans and Rashard Lewis
After a promising season, Lewis outside shot declined. I think the Hornets were hoping for big things from him.
Cleveland Cavaliers/Utah Jazz and Larry Johnson
Larry Johnson’s defense and rebounding went up after TC. A request was put into the league to have the Cavaliers/Jazz trade reversed however the request was signified as being more humorous than serious. Cleveland should have waited until after TC, but who thinks a 33 year old small forwards going to explode during TC?
Indiana Pacers and Jason Richardson
While he didn’t get worse, Jason Richardson didn’t get better either. Indiana’s first draftee had a lot of hype surrounding him and disappointingly for Indiana, he failed to deliver.
RIP/Not Sure/Whatever
New Jersey Nets and Andrie Kirilenko (Not Sure)
Kirilenko became a lock-down defender during TC however managed to layer 6 more coats of butter onto his already greasy hands, becoming a small forward with D+ handles.
Philadelphia 76ers and Gerald Wallace (Whatever)
Oh how Sixers management weeped when they saw Gerald Wallace decline in his inside game during TC. Arenas improved his handles and defense but I don’t think it was enough to off-sit this minor blow in Philly’s post-Shaq rebuilding plans.
Washington Wizards and Horace Grant (RIP)
His time is just about over, dropping his inside game and defense whilst slowing moving closer to retirement.
Atlanta Hawks and Vlade Divac (RIP) and Antoine Walker (Whatever)
The big Yugoslavian practically died, going down in his inside and outside game as well as dropping points in the handles category, one for which he has excelled in throughout his career. Antoine Walker remained the same coming out of TC. It doesn’t seem like a big deal but he is kind of Atlanta’s franchise player which is a little worrying. Whatever though, it’s Toine.
New Orleans Hornets and Hakeem Olajuwon (RIP) and Jon Stockton (RIP)
Both of these guys DIED. Olajuwon will basically be a walking corpse this year and Stockton has F potential.
Cleveland Cavaliers and Zydrunas Ilgauskas (Not Sure)
Z dropped his inside however went up defensively and his rebounding also went up. This could be described as a solid TC however any rating trade off brings a ‘meh’ from the respective players GM.
Detroit Pistons and Michael Olowokandi (Whatever) and Rasheed Wallace (Not Sure)
Went up defensively and also went up in handles…from F+ to F. Not sure that you can be neither happy nor sad with that increase. Sheed remained the same. I think the Pistons were hoping for a good TC from him because if he did increase in any area, the Pistons would move closer to becoming a top 3 team in the East.
Milwaukee Bucks and Paul Pierce (Not Sure)
PP traded off scoring wise. He went ferom a B+ B+ scorer to a B A- scorer. Nothing to get angry about however an interesting trade-off at that.
Toronto Raptors and Tony Parker (Not Sure)
Parker had a very interesting TC and probably the weirdest in the Eastern Conference. He went from B C+ B+ B- D+ A to B C+ B A- C- A. Post-TC Parker is a lot better, but the former #1 pick could have done a more consistent job for his Raptors.
