Who will win NBA Championship 2011?

bobo the clown

Will miami win the NBA championship this year. Obviously they now have 3 great players but will they gel well together. Are Miller and Iglauskias ?sp good additions to help. Or are the Lakers on top of their game or do you see a surprise team like the bulls who are putting a decent roster together.

Rushden

Surely you mean the 2011 Championship. If the Heat gel i cant see past them, they just have too much power on offence. If not, can only see the Lakers again unless something happens Kobe or Gasol come playoff time

Lafortezza

Unless Miami get decimated by some long term injuries I can't see anyone but them coming out of the Eastern Conference. Orlando/Chicago/Boston are the only others who could really test them but none of those teams are stacked enough to compete realistically with Miami's talent.
Mike Miller was a great addition for MIA because he's a really good open 3pt shooter, and he will get open looks when teams have to double one or more of the big 3. He's not totally awful on D either.

The Lakers will be the top team in the West again imo, they are just too deep, especially with Gasol/Bynum/Odom. Of all the teams in the league they match up well with MIA, Kobe/Wade, Artest/LeBron, Gasol or Odom/Bosh.

If I had to pick one team I'd give the edge slightly to the Lakers. Miami lead on pure talent, Lakers have the edge on experience, team chemistry and being reigning champs.

bobo the clown

Rushden wrote: »

Surely you mean the 2011 Championship. If the Heat gel i cant see past them, they just have too much power on offence. If not, can only see the Lakers again unless something happens Kobe or Gasol come playoff time

ya i do. Dont know how to change it though

#15

Rushden wrote: »

Surely you mean the 2011 Championship. If the Heat gel i cant see past them, they just have too much power on offence. If not, can only see the Lakers again unless something happens Kobe or Gasol come playoff time

The problem with the Heat could be the other end of the floor.

Carcharodon

It's kind of hard to tell when the season hasn't started yet and even with that the start of the playoffs will only show us who the real contenders are.

Going to be the usual suspects, a lot of good teams in the West but Lakers still look pretty strong.

East will be interesting, Miami, Orlando, Boston and Bulls all look good with the advantage obviously going to Miami.

Miami will no doubt have a very good regular season but the real test will come when the real basketball starts come playoffs and when defense becomes a big factor.

I think Rivers will get the most out of Boston, would like to see them do well.
Will be interesting to see how the Bulls perform.

Lafortezza

Rumours today that Chris Paul wants to be traded from New Orleans to a different team, Bulls/NYC/Magic have been mentioned. So as Carcharodon said, the season is far away and teams are still recovering from all the free agent moves, we might see more big trades before the summer is finished.

Carcharodon

lafortezza wrote: »

Rumours today that Chris Paul wants to be traded from New Orleans to a different team, Bulls/NYC/Magic have been mentioned. So as Carcharodon said, the season is far away and teams are still recovering from all the free agent moves, we might see more big trades before the summer is finished.

Yea apparently he has met with those plus Portland also, I think NYC is the obvious choice, not sure what they could offer in a trade though.

lkasprzak

Utah Jazz hopefully

Carcharodon

lkasprzak wrote: »

Utah Jazz hopefully

That would be an interesting backcourt of Paul and Williams

I wonder is Paul just trying to put as much pressure as he can on the owners to meet his championship desires. He still has two years left on his contract so he doesn't really have too much leverage.

In saying that, it would probably be more worth their while to get as much as they can for him now if he is dead set on going.
Knicks would have to do some serious wheeling and dealing to pull it off.
Orlando seem to be the best option according to reports and it makes sense for all parties if he is to be traded.

Sea Devils

I think the Knicks would give the Hornets the much better deal, but they'd have to gut the hell out of their team to do it.

Okafor and CP3 for Eddy Curry's expiring, Randolph, Galinari, Turiaf and maybe a future 1st.

PG: CP3, Raymond Felton, Tony Douglas
SG: Kelenna Azubuike
SF: Wilson Chandler
PF: Amare Stoudemire
C: Emeka Okafor, Mozgov

Carcharodon

A lot of ifs and buts regarding CP3, I could really see the Knicks going for it but not sure if it would all pan out.

Seems like McGrady could go to the Bulls, that would be pretty cool to have McGrady coming off the bench.

eagle eye

I think Oklahoma will win the whole thing in 2011 barring some major injury.

Carcharodon

eagle eye wrote: »

I think Oklahoma will win the whole thing in 2011 barring some major injury.

I think they will improve again but to improve that much would be unrealistic in my opinion considering the wealth of talent some teams have.

eagle eye

Carcharodon wrote: »

I think they will improve again but to improve that much would be unrealistic in my opinion considering the wealth of talent some teams have.

Well they were very close to taking it to game 7 against the Lakers, and three of the four games they lost was by only one score.

The Lakers swept the Jazz and beat the Suns 4-2 but against the Suns they won 3 games very comfortably. Based on this I think the Thunder showed themselves as the second best team in the Western Conference in the playoffs and it was really just a lack of experience that cost them.

Add another year of experience to this bunch and a belief that they are good enough to beat the Lakers in a series and they can go all the way. They brought in four big guys in the draft and they just need one to be decent for it to add hugely to their arsenal. They also add an outside threat in Royal Ivey to the bench.

Carcharodon

eagle eye wrote: »

Well they were very close to taking it to game 7 against the Lakers, and three of the four games they lost was by only one score.

The Lakers swept the Jazz and beat the Suns 4-2 but against the Suns they won 3 games very comfortably. Based on this I think the Thunder showed themselves as the second best team in the Western Conference in the playoffs and it was really just a lack of experience that cost them.

Add another year of experience to this bunch and a belief that they are good enough to beat the Lakers in a series and they can go all the way. They brought in four big guys in the draft and they just need one to be decent for it to add hugely to their arsenal. They also add an outside threat in Royal Ivey to the bench.

Yea, I can understand your reasoning but would still have to disagree, they were the eight seed at the end of the day and lost in the first round so it is kind of inconsequential as to what would of happened if they won. They would of still had to beat a Utah team that would be a lot more confident playing the Thunder than Lakers and then a very spirited Suns team that could of went to a game seven also.
I could see them taking over a lot of teams in the West since I feel they are have always been improving while most of the other teams have been rather stale. Would still be a big ask to beat Lakers but not impossible but still a big ask since the Lakers have now added Matt Barnes who I think will fit in perfectly with that team.

That is just the West, In the East you still have the Heat, Orlando, Celtics and Bulls as possible finalists, a hell of a lot of experience and hunger in those teams.

I would love to see them win it but not this year in my opinion, I have been saying it for the last couple of years that the Thunder will be a force to be reckoned with, great drafts and trades with a very good coach.

If your a betting man they are 16/1 on Paddy Power, would possibly get better odds elsewhere.

#15

eagle eye wrote: »

I think Oklahoma will win the whole thing in 2011 barring some major injury.

Too young IMO.

Nearly all the teams that win the championship are veteran-laden teams. Hard to see OKC breaking that trend when they will likely have to beat the Lakers and one of Boston/Miami/Orlando. A big ask IMO.

Da GOAT

if boston cant do it, i wud like to see OKC take it down. Would be a great story.

ButtersSuki

The more I think about it, the less likely I think the Heat will do it. I saw one of the Van Gundy's predictions last week that they'll go better than Chicago's 72-10 season and also beat the Lakers 33 game win streak but I don't think they'll do either of those or a couple of reasons:

First, and most importantly, I don't think Chris Bosh is as good as he's made out to be. He's nowhere near the other two yet the media in particular seem to like the idea of having a trio. At least he shaved the Jheri-curl though.... I think LeBron and Dwayne Wade (despite the height difference) are too similar in many facets of their play There's always the chance one of the main two could get injured It didn't work when Atlanta brought in Moses Malone and Reggie Theus to partner Dominique Wilkins and a young and skinny Doc Rivers and I don't think it's going to work here

Don't get me wrong, they will put "the hurt" on some teams, will hand out some real beatings and will be very exciting and entertaining to watch but I just don't think they will get out of the East, let alone win it all.

Damn you boards and your bullet points!

scooby2791

Lakers. Without a shadow of a doubt.

salthillman

Celtics, Lakers or Heat. No one else has a chance.

ClutchIt

The Heat. Thread should have poll!