Throwdowns > Closed

Somebody of Note said 02/07, 12:45 PM
Good to see you again, Hyped. Nice of you to bring some rust with you. Calling Tyson Chandler an All-Star calibre player? He's never made the game. Calling Mike D'Antoni a good coach? Knicks fans definitely disagree. He's been sub .500 half of his seasons.

I have to go with a team that is also currently sitting on the outside of the playoffs. The difference is that, very much unlike New York, they won the title last season. Yes, I'm picking the Dallas Mavericks.

With New York, you had to expect failure. For starters, they had a losing record after acquiring Carmelo (14-18), and Melo and Amare have shown that they're incompatible on the court. Both play horrendous defense, both need the ball in their hands (they were both in the top 7 in shot attempts last season), and both are known for selfishness. Anthony will never fit in D'Antoni's system, and the backcourt is awful (so bad that Jeremy Lin now gets starter minutes).

Dallas, meanwhile, has a team that's proven to work, yet they just haven't won. Dirk's PPG is down by 6 points! Dirk, who was such a beast in the playoffs! To go from champs to chumps is far more disappointing than living up to predictions.

Somebody of Note said 02/08, 08:27 AM
You do realize that your statement that the majority of analysts were predicting Dallas to be far worse is a lie, eh? Over half of SI's analysts predicted that Dallas would make the Western finals in an article published 12 whole days after Chandler left. It's also interesting that you say I forgot to mention Nowitzki's injuries (he's only missed four games). Aren't those disappointing too?

And your 8th seed-Finals arguments is irrelevant. The topic you put forth is the most disappointing team so far this season.

You spent curiously little time defending the Knicks, so let me help you inform the voters about them. The team revolves around two (and only two) superstarish players. Last season in the playoffs, they showed the world how out of sorts they were. With Melo hogging the ball, Amare shot an astronomical 38.2%, and they got swept by Boston. Adding Chandler, an overrated player who doesn't fit the system, didn't help.

Meanwhile, only 3 defending champs have missed the playoffs since 1950...and those teams lost Bill Russell, Jordan and Shaq. Tyson Chandler IS NOT one of the greatest players of all time. Dallas being in serious danger is a colossal failure.

Somebody of Note said 02/08, 09:51 AM
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/basketball/nba/12/22/crystal.ball/index.h tml

Of the seven writers listed here, four of them selected Dallas to make the Western finals. I didn't realize that one writer made a majority. But if we want to play the "one writer makes a majority" thing, Britt Robson of Sports Illustrated had Dallas third in his preseason power rankings. That's above, oh, almost everyone.

You can chase my red herrings. I'll bring up the key points.

The Knicks are undeniably a worse team than Dallas. That has always been the case. Last season, the Knicks were a grand total of one game over .500. After acquiring Carmelo Anthony, they were a sub .500 basketball team. And this season, guess what? They've been under .500. If it's the worse team who is more disappointing, we'd have picked Charlotte.

If you want to talk about injuries, Dirk dominated the 2011 Finals with a torn tendon in his finger and a 101 fever. Now? He's got less PPG than Nick Young, and his team has lost by 10+ six times. They've lost 3 straight. That's what I would call disappointing.

An elite team struggling to stay in the playoffs is worse than a mediocre team playing mediocre.