Playoffs to Lottery: The Three Teams
Thu, Sep 3, 2009 by Patrick Mauro
16 teams go to the NBA Playoffs each year. The other 14 go into the lottery hoping to get lucky with the ping pong balls.
Last year, the Heat, the Bulls, and the Blazers replaced the Raptors, the Nets, and the Warriors in the playoffs from the previous season.
This year, three 2008-09 playoffs teams will return to the lottery in hopes of nabbing John Wall, or Ed Davis, or whoever ends up as the top pick in next year’s draft, while three lottery teams elevate their games to a post-season level:
OUT: Detroit Pistons
Stuckey better tie those laces tight. (Credit: picapp.com)
A projected front line of Kwame Brown and Charlie Villanueva is laughable.
It was a great run for the Pistons and included an NBA Championship, but the playoff streak ends this season.
Trading Billups for Iverson was a disaster, but what’s done is done and the rebuilding has begun. But just because you spend large amounts of cash, doesn’t mean you improved your team.
The Ben Gordon and Villanueva signings will eventually be ridiculed and all the good things Joe Dumars did in Detroit may become irrelevant.
OUT: Philadelphia 76ers
Elton, is this jersey the same colorway as the Clips? (Credit: picapp.com)
Fans in Philly may believe that a healthy Elton Brand means the squad builds on their success from last year when they took Orlando, the eventual Eastern Conference champs, to seven games in the first round.
Not so fast though. No Andre Miller running the show dooms the Sixers season. Eddie Jordan is a good coach, but unless rookie Jrue Holiday emerges quickly, the lack of experience/competence at point guard spells huge trouble and a return to the lottery.
I’d still like to see them bring Allen Iverson back to town.
OUT: Houston Rockets
I can't "put my foot down" this year. (Credit: picapp.com)
If Yao Ming misses the entire season because of his broken left foot, the Rockets (winners of 53 games last year) will be lucky to win 40 in the ultra-competitive Western Conference.
Aaron Brooks and Carl Landry will be fun to watch, but without Ron Artest’s toughness and underrated offense, the decline of Tracy McGrady, plus no Yao, the Rockets will find themselves bound for the lottery.
TOMORROW: The three lottery teams from this past draft that will replace Detroit, Philadelphia, and Houston in next season’s playoffs.
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- 2009 Free Agency Recap and Potential Signings
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[...] and nearly knocked-off the defending champion Celtics in the first round.Yesterday I told you the Pistons, 76ers, and Rockets would go from the playoffs to the lottery. This, of course, creates three openings and these three teams will seize the opportunity:IN: [...]