What Are You Looking Forward To The Most For This Upcoming Season?

[Built Ford Tough]

Not only for your own team, but as a fan in general.

 

Lets say 3 things for your favourite team and 3 things for any other teams.

[SRV]

Heat

 

- Another ring

- Matchup with the Lakers

- Ray Allen's impact on the team

 

 

Other teams

- Brooklyn Nets performance

- The return of Rose possibly?

- Who is really the best team in the West

[kingfish]

Lakers

 

- Nash/Dwight pick and rolls

- Kobe off ball movement

- Having an actual bench

 

Other teams

 

- Bynum on the Sixers

- Roy on the TWolves

- KD

[Dr. Feelgood]

Blazers

1. Aldridge getting better.

2. Damien Lillard

3. Where we stand in the West

 

NBA

1. Brandon Roy's return

2. The Lakers new team (I'm very intrigued by them, to see if they can play together)

3. James Harden's beard

[Flash]

Heat:

- A new, more relaxed, free yet focused LeBron on a mission for his 2nd ring. I'm dying to see the improvements in his post game especially his face-up skills which could make him even more dominant.

 

- A healthy Wade and his improved jumper

 

- Norris Cole and Mario Chalmers' development as a duo. I think Rio made huge strides in the playoffs.

 

- Ray Allen

 

NBA:

 

- Brooklyn Nets for sure

 

- How all those new pieces fit in LA.

 

- How much better will the Clippers be

 

- The Brow

[Real Deal]

To answer the title only...just having a damn season, lol.

 

Following the lead...

 

Los Angeles Lakers

1) Having a PG that can actually pass the ball. We haven't had one since Gary Payton.

2) Having a defensive anchor that can defend pick and rolls. We haven't had one since...uh, forever ago.

3) The Princeton offense.

 

General NBA Season

1) Watching the rookies perform (notably T-Rob, MKG, Unibrow, and PJ3).

2) The new-look Dallas Mavericks and Brooklyn Nets.

3) The Western Conference battles for the top four seeds.

[JYD]

Knicks

- PG situation. Can Kidd/Felton be an upgrade over Lin and Co. from last season?

- Amar'e Stoudemire. Can he return to form of two years ago, running the PnR with Felton/Kidd. Or, like last season, will he be non-existent, an awful defender who can't score efficiently, either.

- Marcus Camby. Odd pick, I know, but he was my favorite player growing up in the late 90's with the Knicks. Can't wait to see him back in that Knicks uni! He should provide some energy off the bench if he can stay healthy.

 

Other NBA teams

- Lakers. all their new pieces..can't wait to see how they play together.

- Spurs. another weird choice, but i want to see if they can still be a serious contender in the West or are they finished

- Blake Griffin. The Clip go as far as Blake goes. If he can improve his shooting and FT shooting, as well as a consistent defensive effort, I think LAC could be really good this upcoming season

[Guru]

Nets

- Deron Williams. He finally has the pieces around him this year to lead this team into the playoffs.

- Joe Johnson. It will be interesting to see how Avery fits him into the Nets system.

- Brooklyn. New arena, new city, new swag, etc. Can't wait.

 

NBA:

Lebron. I think he's going to have an insane year after finally getting the monkey off of his back.

Lakers. New pieces, new offensive system, will Kobe bitch about not having the ball?

Thunder. I want to see how they rebound from the loss in the Finals.

[TheNotoriousBANG]

The Good

 

Wizards

John Wall Development

 

Blazers

the new Rookie Lillard

 

Clippers

More Blake Griffen Highlight plays

 

The Bad

 

Knicks

Season collapse and JKidd drunk driving

 

 

Lakers

Kobe vs. Nash Pau and Dwight...bound to happen

 

Bobcats

Weather MKG can lead them to 25-30 wins

Edited September 13, 2012 by TheNotoriousBANG

[Lemon]

Lakers:

1) Dwight Howard - Defense, defense, defense, putbacks, rebounds. It'll be fun to see such an athletic center in play.

2) Mike Brown - Now that he has an actual training camp and the strongest defensive tools he's had, I'm expecting a #1 defense. Anything less is a let down. I want to see what he can do.

3) A second unit!! I'm hoping they don't let down. They have a lot of potential.

 

NBA:

Andrew Bynum - He has something to prove.

Golden State - I like watching their progress, and hopefully Bogut pans out.

Expecting John Wall to break out.

Linsanity to Asik all day

A rise of a second contender in the East? East is almost looking boring again with the exception of MAYBE Boston or Chicago. The New York teams will be exciting, but I wouldn't say they're contenders.

[DunkinDerozan]

Raptors

 

 

1. Kyle Lowry running the point: Should be a big upgrade offensively and especially defensively over Calderon.

 

2. Seeing how the rookies will perform: With 3 new rookies, 2 being arguably top 10, it will be exciting to see how they do in their first years.

 

3. Demar Derozan's improvements: I think with improved range on his jumpshot and some better ball handles that Demar could really take a big step in his career. I think this is the year he really steps up.

 

4. Playoff possibility: For the first time since Bosh left, I feel like we have a team that could really challenge for a playoff spot in the East. It will be nice watching a team that I actually want to win as much as possible.

 

 

NBA

 

 

1. The Rookies: Especially Lillard. I'm excited to see how he does against NBA level competition. Also excited to see the obvious players like Davis, MKG, Drummond, etc.

 

2. New look Lakers: should be great to see how good they really are.

 

3. Having something to watch while the NHL lockout is on: Usually the Leafs come before the Raptors when they are both playing at the same time. With there most likely being an NHL lockout, I'll be watching a lot more of the Raptors. I'll be watching a lot more of the rest of the NBA too.

[Check my Stats]

Raptors:

 

1. Jonas... know he's gonna struggle, but some glimpses alone would be awesome.

 

2. Lowry. Best player on the team (sadly). Hope he continues to make strides this year as a floor general.

 

3. Derozan. For what seems like the 3rd year in a row I hope he makes a leap. Not holding my breath this year (sorry Demar, you made me look retarded last year), but I do still think he is a talent in this league.

 

NBA:

 

1. Best player in the league hopefully continuing to carve out his legacy as top 5 all-time.

 

2. LA-Miami finals. going to be awesome if we are so blessed.

 

3. Everyone trying to ignorantly rationalize KD or Deron for MVP over LBJ in the spring.

[The Regime]

Lakers:

1) How much will Kobe's numbers dropoff? Can he still contend for a scoring title?

2) How much more fluid will the offense by with a legitimate pg and the implementation of the Princeton offense.

3) Will the Lakers be as dominant as they are on paper?

 

NBA:

1) Can OJ Mayo revive his career in Dallas?

2) Do the Celtics still have one more run left in them?

3) Does Derrick Rose get back to pre-injury level?

4) Is Iguodala the missing piece for the Nuggets? How much does the team improve from last season?

[Built Ford Tough]

For Toronto:

 

1. Seeing what kind of improvements the Raptors make offensively. Casey talked about how last year the entire focus was on defense and how he wanted to establish a defensive philosophy with the team. He has also mentioned how he would use this years training camp to implement some more zone schemes, but the primary focus would be on the offensive end of the ball. With the new personnel in place, it should be interesting to see what kind of offense he looks to run.

 

2. How will Calderon do off of the bench? I loved him as a reserve when he was backing up TJ Ford and Jarrett Jack and think that he is a much, much better player when he is coming off of the bench and playing between 18-24 minutes a night. With guys like Amir Johnson, Jonas Valanciunas and Ed Davis, he will have plenty of pick and roll options, and he will also have shooters like Ross and Kleiza to spread the floor. I really like the potential of the Raptors 2nd unit assuming Calderon buys into his new role and doesn't pout or anything.

 

3. Was Andrea Bargnani's start to last season him breaking through or a simple hot streak? With the calf injury severely limiting him last season after those 13 games Raptor fans never really got to come to a conclusion on whether or not this was a "new Bargnani" or just a hot streak. If he ends up playing like that for an entire season I'd say there is a very good chance that Toronto will make the playoffs, but I also think the chances of him playing like that for an entire season is very slim.

 

For the NBA:

 

1. Will Harrison Barnes be a better pro than college player? I'm sure it is just my UNC and Barnes homerism speaking but I really think that he will be better in the NBA due to the floor being more open and the lane being less congested. He probably won't be much more than a spot up shooter in Golden State as Curry, Thompson, Lee and Bogut will likely all be ahead of him on the offensive pecking order, but I'm just looking to see if he shows glimpses of being a potential number one offensive option.

 

2. Who'll grab the final two playoff spots in the West? I think the top 6 is set in stone (barring a serious injury) with LAL, LAC, SAS, MEM, OKC and DEN all being locks. That should make the race for the final two spots very interesting considering there are 4 teams that should be very close. I'm definitely thinking that the battle between Dallas, Minny, Golden State and Utah will be very tight.

 

3. Austin Rivers playing the point. I'm just waiting to see how long it takes before Eric Gordon, Anthony Davis or Ryan Anderson blow up at him during a game when he shots 2-12 and has more turnovers than assists. It will be a beautiful disaster.

[Sħãlïq™]

Clipset:

 

- For how long will the flopping machine (Griffin) manage to stay healthy

- Matchup with the Lakers

- Bledsoe's improvement

 

Other teams:

- Brooklyn Nets performance

- KD

- Corey Maggette

[Smitty]

Sixers:

 

Andrew Bynum

 

Having more shooters

 

the development of Evan Turner now that Iguodala is gone

 

Rest of league:

 

Really want to see how the Nuggets do. They got a real nice team especially with the addition of Iggy.

 

Will Anthony Davis be worth the hype, or will he fizzle out quickly?

 

Dwight, Nash, Kobe trio has the West looking even scarier. The dynasty continues.

[AJFromTheDMV]

Wizards:

1. Will John Wall take the leap into becoming an NBA All Star? His jumper really needs to improve.

2. Is Bradley Beal worthy of the #3 pick? He does everything pretty well on the court, but he doesn't have one great attribute.

3. Will Nene stay heathy long enough for the Wizards to make a run at the 8th seed? No Nene, no playoffs imo. He should have skipped the Olympics.

 

Rest of NBA:

1. Nash/Howard effect ok Lakers.

2. Who is the best team in NY? D-Will/Joe Johnson will be hard to stop.

3. NBA Rookies: Is D. Lillard the next great pg? Is Anthony Davis as good as the 'experts' say?

[Sportsguy9695]

Im looking forward to see how Lebron does comming off of a championship. Im looking forward to see how the Nets do in brooklyn. Really currious how the Lakers will do with all those big names they got. and i hope my knicks improve