Welcome to the Annual BSH Team Stock watch. Here I will give opinions on teams stocks, and if i think they're rising and falling.
Atlantic Division AKA Cerberus
Named The Cerberus after the Greek mythology 3 headed dog in respects to this being a 3 team race and all 3 teams being very formidable.
Boston Celtics: Rising
Advice: Buy now then SELL SELL SELL in the next two years.
Ok, maybe i'm being dramatic with the sell sell sell because this proud franchise won't waste away into darkness, but I think this season is do or die for them. Plus if you look at their books now good stock holder wants to see books in the red like theirs plans to be in the next 3-5 years. This team HAS to be the favorites in the East now. With Webber and Shaq being able to bully ball to get through most the teams in the conference. Philly has the front court to match them as well as anyone. Also surprisingly, the Pistons have a ton of depth with 4 viable options in the frontcourt to foul foul and foul Shaq some more and could eventually surprise this team.
Miami Heat:: Falling
Advice: If you have this stock, sell it and don't look back. Was Andrew Bynum a good "get"? Absolutely. But this team won't be viable for years to come unless major changes are made.
New Jersey Nets: Holding steady
Advice: Hold on to this stock. He's not quite the savant like the New Mavericks owner but he's made a lot of solid moves to help make this team more balanced. I sometimes get the feeling he's putting a band-aid on the issue instead of making major changes, but we'll hold out judgement until we see how it plays out.
New York Knicks: Falling rapidly
Advice: I initially typed Ney York Knicks, Freudian slip you could say. SELL SELL SELL IS WHAT MY ADVICE is. This was a team, a season ago that had all the potential in the world.. But somevery intelligent moves turned into very questionable moves for the once considered strong GM. This G.M. failed to get anyone with his MLE and even fill out his roster through the first 5 weeks.
Orlando Magic: Steady decline
Advice: This could be a buy low sell high stock option. They certainly have the talent to make a run and make you prematurely… uhh fall in love with them; but I’ll never be an all in buyer of this stock because the ‘CEO’ constantly makes self-defeating moves.
Philadelphia 76ers: Holding steady.
Advice: Hard to move them any higher or lower on the list. Simply put, this GM knows what he’s doing. 1 Point and they were finals champs. Drake made a song about him.. started from the top now I’m here… Waaaait. Expect to see the 76ers in the thick of things as the Eastern Conference Finals approaches. This team always has hot starts to the season and makes everyone catch up to them. This leads to a very good debate about who will win the Atlantic. Will the mighty Celts take it, the always good 76ers or the Wizards who have the best big three outside of L.A.
Washington Wizards: Same
Advice: This could be a really great team or it could be really disappointing. My gut tells me this team will be will be in play in the Atlantic, AKA the Cerberus Division. It’s hard to believe after the success this GM has had over the years in the Finals and getting the ECFs that they’ll be down for too long. Hill Bryant and McDyess seems like the perfect marriage but needs time to marinate. It’s also hard to believe with their thin front court they’ll be able to really compete with the Celtics and 76ers.
Central Division AKA The Bee’s Nest:
Named the Bee's nest because this is the Hornets division until stated otherwise. Anyone trying to take the throne may get stung... a lot.
Atlanta Hawks: Falling
Advice: Wow, this is a tough one. In the complicated East, I could see this team making the playoffs. With that being said, this team has really painted themselves into a corner. This G.M. made a good move trading for Jay Williams then with a ton of cap space they gave a max deal to Rasheed Wallace, who’s on the wrong side of 30 and seems to drag his teams downwards. Then they inexplicably gave Lamar Odom a 5 year $42 Million Dollar contract. Lamar is a really good glue buy, but he’s not carrying you anywhere. I still think the team as a whole can play. If I had to describe tis team it’d label it, One Step Forward Two steps backwards.
New Orleans Hornets: Falling (but hear me out).
Advice: Don’t sell your stock. I know, I know I said your stock was falling, but these are volatile times and they just lost 2 starters in FA, but this owner always seems to find the diamonds in the rough. Since he’s taken over, he’s found and lost Stephen Jackson who’s the best player on the Pistons, Okur who’s a top 3 player on the Cavs and Mo Pete who I hear the Raptors loved. No team has been hit harder by FA and retained their spot atop the throne like the Hornets. What's the most interesting point? He's lost ALL of hisbig name FA to DIVISION RIVALS. That being said, the East is (somehow) stronger all around, and they were HISTORICALLY good last year. This is a case of nowhere to go but down.
Chicago Bulls: Falling
Advice: I would never sell this team with the most rawly (not a word?) talented player since Jordan in LeBron. So why am I saying it’s falling? NO DIRECTION. No teeny boppers, not one direction (Don’t ask how I Know that). Fun question though, which eastern conference is harder. The Cerberus or the Bee’s Nest? Seriously, say KG gets injured or somehow the Hornets come back down to Earth a bit. Who do ya have? Any team outside of Indiana can win it (Sorry). I’ll say Bee’s nest is more unpredictable and Cerberus is hardest.
Cleveland Cavaliers: Cautiously Rising
Advice: Buy, but buy it as a stock that will take 3 more seasons to fully mature. Call me a homer. Call me someone who’s trying to justify the Duncan trade, that’s fine, but before you do; look at this roster before which had no shot at winning the championship and look at it now and tell me which is better. Okur, Gasol, Howard Williams and Snow. They are a little thin in general, but they’re formidable for who just traded the MVP.
Detroit Pistons: Skyrocketing
Advice: Buy before it gets too high. Just when it looked like the Bucks would be the main challengers to the Hornets division here come the Pistons. If the hornets are Microsoft, the Pistons are Apple stock. Let’s look at the Pistons Roster then and now:
Then
PG Eisley
SG Martin
SF Jackson
PF Gooden
C Wilcox
Now
PG Nash
SG Jackson
SF Wallace
PF Wilcox
C Kaman
Seriously, they upgraded 3 of 5 positions and are DEEP (That’s what she said). Sneaky team. I think they’ll end up being a ceiling 5 seed this year. Which is saying a lot considered they shared the worst record last year.
Indiana Pacers: Slowly rising
Advice: 401k or IRA stock. Going to take a bit to develop, but I think this GM has figured out that you can’t take short cuts (Shaq) not play Defense (Dirk) or give away your draft picks to rebuild. Hear me: RON ARTEST WILL WIN MIP. Baron Davis is just the type of player and floor general they need to jump this stalled Pace car.
Milwakee Bucks:Holding Steady
Advice: Not many teams can lose their unquestioned second best player and hold steady. I imagine after losing Wallace, the Wall(ace)s seems to be closing in on him. Did he probably panic? Yeah. Did he probably sit in fetal position for a couple of days rocking himself and asking what he did wrong? No doubt. Did he give up? Nope. He acquired Tyson Chandler who’s looking more and more like a defensive anchor (Why did he get traded again?). They signed Mike Miller and drafted Channing Frye. This team’s here to stay. The East is so tough I could see them being a 3 seed or an 8 seed.
Toronto Raptors: Skyrocketing
Advice: Do I have to give you advice? We see a lot of GMs in this league hand out bad contracts, say they’ll learn then hand out more bad contracts (Cuh Caw- That’s a Hawk call). Every once in awhile you see a GM screw up, take his lumps, learn and GET BETTER. The scary thing? He was already a top 5 GM. This rebuild went from Gloomy to feeling like you were in the Sun, but only after you bought her dinner, because you’re a gentleman. I’d have to give them the slight edge over the Pistons in best offseason, only because the Pistons had a blank canvas to paint their masterpiece, while the Raptors were painting theirs on a graffiti ridden bridge; albeit they were the ones who painted the graffiti initially.