ESPN is a JOKE!

[GreenFaith1819]

Personally, I'd hoped that it was 100 for 100 betting against BOS.

Probably some of the same folks who didn't see BOS taking MIA to 7 games without AB, Green or Wilcox, either.

Bring on the doubters....I think BOS plays better as the underdog.

MIA is deserving of the believers, I suppose...all the way up until BOS beats them next May or early June 2013.

[kp4000]

Don't know what happened to ESPN it used to be a great network about 14 years ago. But when they partnered with professional sports league, then the network completely changed for the worst. It just seems most people on ESPN are clouded by star-struck or sensationalism.

Of course Miami should be the favorite, because they've been to the NBA Finals the past 2 seasons straight. I don't exactly agree with 96/4 fav, but I'm not surprise that ESPN's so called experts would favor in 96 votes. ESPN had doubted the Celtics since the 2007-2008 season and their views will not change.

Since the arrival of Garnett and Allen the Celtics have remained contenders, 5 straight seasons despite the core superstars aging. It's shows the lack of knowledge of ESPN's basketball experts and other media outlets outside of ESPN; young teams don't win, older teams win.

My advice would be not to go on ESPN's website or ESPN news. If you want NBA related info, then go to SI.com, SBNation.com, slamonline.com, dime.com, redsarmy.com, celticslife.com, realgm.com, or yahoo.com.



 

[Moranis]

Out West

Lakers - 56
Thunder - 42
Nuggets - 1
Spurs - 1


I see nothing wrong with either the East or the West (except for Denver and San An, those two guys are just odd). 

[Kane3387]

Out West

Lakers - 56
Thunder - 42
Nuggets - 1
Spurs - 1


I see nothing wrong with either the East or the West (except for Denver and San An, those two guys are just odd).

I can see SA. Not Denver though.

If someone can vote for Denver over LA and OKC I am a little surprised that same person can't vote for Brooklyn, NY, or Philly over Miami or Boston.

[nickagneta]

96% chance Heat repeat...I think that sounds about right.

[aporel#18]

ESPN is a joke... in other news, Stern and his kids did a great job last postseason against our Celtics. Btw, the sky is blue.

The Heat are the favorites, and the Celtics have a much better roster... on paper. We'll see what happens, but the ESPN so called experts are not very good at predicting who will win. Remember the 2008 Finals?

I hope Doc can manage the minutes for our veterans, and get to the playoffs with a quite healthy roster. In that case, the Cheatles can be the favorites, but the Celtics will crush them. Ray and Rashard will retire next summer, ringless with the Heat.

[mgent]

Nuggets will be nasty but not sure they're ahead of Memphis.

[alley oop]

When the Heat were healthy, the Celtics whipped their butts twice last season, and that’s not counting the last bench against bench game the C's won. If the Celtics are healthy and KG can still play at a high level, I like their chances. I haven’t seen Rashard Lewis do much since he tested positive for the PED.

[raynman]

Just out of curiosity, how exactly does picking the reigning champion (who also added 2 major pieces over the summer) make you a joke?

The Celtics do have a puncher's chance, but to say were any sort of favorite at this point is the real joke.

I'm not saying that the Celtics should be the favorites, but 96-4? Come on!
For me, 70-75% would be a realistic percentage.. But their landslide results is just absurd!
And I'm not saying this because I'm a Celtic fan, but as a (knowledgeable) basketball fan!

[nickagneta]

And just to make sure everyone is on the same page, this poll of 100 ESPN experts was for who would win the Eastern Conference. we are talking the 2 time defending Eastern Conference Champs with arguably the two best players in the whole Eastern Conference on the same team.

I mean Chris Bosh, Ray Allen, Rashard Lewis, Mike Miller, Shane Battier, Mario Chalmers, Norris Cole, Udonis Haslem, Joel Anthony and James Jones. That's a pretty good team.

Now add the best player in the world and arguably the 4th best player in the world and it becomes increasingly clear that its pretty easy to see that 96% of the people probably should pick them to win the EC. Heck they have done it for the last 2 years and healthy, should easily do it for 3.

[syfy9]

Just out of curiosity, how exactly does picking the reigning champion (who also added 2 major pieces over the summer) make you a joke?

The Celtics do have a puncher's chance, but to say were any sort of favorite at this point is the real joke.

I'm not saying that the Celtics should be the favorites, but 96-4? Come on!
For me, 70-75% would be a realistic percentage.. But their landslide results is just absurd!
And I'm not saying this because I'm a Celtic fan, but as a (knowledgeable) basketball fan!

I disagree. 70-75% would be if Bosh was injured or Ray/Lewis didn't go to the Heat.

In an unbiased perspective, would you seriously rather have the Heat roster right now or the Celtics roster?




I'm good with the Celtics having a 4% chance of beating the Heat. We got to the Finals in 2010 with even less than that.

[GreenEnvy]

Am I the only one that doesn't get why the Heat are overwhelming favorites?

Sure, they won the title last year. Did they get better? We'll see how much Ray really helps them. LeBron can't get much better than how he played in the playoffs this past year. He had a lot of time off with the lockout, therefore he was fresher than usual. Add in a full season and his Olympic play, he will be more worn down.


The C's played them tough. We got better. Take that for what it's worth. We got help for DWade (AB and Lee) and LeBron (Green). They got another 3pt specialist, which they have plenty of. We could have beat them in June, and we closed the gap IMO. Not far fetched to see us beating them.

I believe the Thunder simply choked. Another crack at them and I think the results are different (maybe not enough but closer series).

As much as I hate them, I don't see the Lakers losing to Miami. If MWP can do even a decent job on LeBron, and Kobe comes close to matching Wade, what do the Heat do against Nash and Dwight?


I'm fine with them being the favorites. But to consider them overwhelming is foolish. It's not like they dominate the regular season, winning 65+ games a year. The theory of teams getting better in time, building chemistry, is rarely true.


That said, I can't see any team in the East, other than Boston, beating them. 96-4? Typical ESPN. They were a 45/15 epic performance away from getting bounced in 6 by us. Don't talk about injuries to Wade or Bosh. Pierce was hurt, as was Ray, and we were missing several key players.

[syfy9]

Am I the only one that doesn't get why the Heat are overwhelming favorites?

Sure, they won the title last year. Did they get better? We'll see how much Ray really helps them. LeBron can't get much better than how he played in the playoffs this past year. He had a lot of time off with the lockout, therefore he was fresher than usual. Add in a full season and his Olympic play, he will be more worn down.


The C's played them tough. We got better. Take that for what it's worth. We got help for DWade (AB and Lee) and LeBron (Green). They got another 3pt specialist, which they have plenty of. We could have beat them in June, and we closed the gap IMO. Not far fetched to see us beating them.

I believe the Thunder simply choked. Another crack at them and I think the results are different (maybe not enough but closer series).

As much as I hate them, I don't see the Lakers losing to Miami. If MWP can do even a decent job on LeBron, and Kobe comes close to matching Wade, what do the Heat do against Nash and Dwight?


I'm fine with them being the favorites. But to consider them overwhelming is foolish. It's not like they dominate the regular season, winning 65+ games a year. The theory of teams getting better in time, building chemistry, is rarely true.


That said, I can't see any team in the East, other than Boston, beating them. 96-4? Typical ESPN. They were a 45/15 epic performance away from getting bounced in 6 by us. Don't talk about injuries to Wade or Bosh. Pierce was hurt, as was Ray, and we were missing several key players.

While I admit 96-4 might be too much, asking for anything more than 90-10 is too generous.


I predict that the Heat this year will be better than the Heat from last year. Ray Allen will make all those open 3s Battier/Miller/Chalmers miss. You can't really find a better compliment than Ray for the Heat, who was a 15 PPG scorer in the beginning of the season.

But honestly. Would you rather have the the Heat roster or the Celtics roster at this point? I'm hoping you'd rather have LBJ in green than Rondo in green. For what it's worth, I don't think ESPN is THAT biased. The experts simply picked who they thought was the best team in the East (get this - They weren't Celtics fans!). 

[Tai]

Yea, I'm kinda disappointed with the premise of this thread, to be honest. Telling me ESPN's a joke is one thing. Telling me ESPN's a joke because the majority of their experts picked the defending champions to at the bare minimum win the Eastern Conference is kinda pushing it, to put it lightly. To be truly honest, if I was a Heat fan and was reading this, I'd probably be laughing my butt off, and assuming I had the personality of the consensus Heat fan, maybe link the thread on whatever Heat site I visited.

I mean, the Heat essentially have the same core that won the championship last season, got Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis, Lebron may have finally grown a sack or two, and ESPN's biggest crime here is that 99% of their experts may or may not be willing to play devil's advocate?

I mean, dang, the guys who didn't pick the Heat picked the CELTICS. Are we just jumping down throats for jumping's sake or what?

[Moranis]

Just out of curiosity, how exactly does picking the reigning champion (who also added 2 major pieces over the summer) make you a joke?

The Celtics do have a puncher's chance, but to say were any sort of favorite at this point is the real joke.

I'm not saying that the Celtics should be the favorites, but 96-4? Come on!
For me, 70-75% would be a realistic percentage.. But their landslide results is just absurd!
And I'm not saying this because I'm a Celtic fan, but as a (knowledgeable) basketball fan!

There is a difference between a realistic percentage and a flat out winner.  Maybe all 96 of the people that selected the Heat only slightly favor them and give the Celtics a great shot at winning, but when you have to pick a winner, you are going to pick the team you think has the best chance.  So it isn't that that the Heat have a 96% chance at winning, it is just that 96% of the people think they have the best chance, and frankly I don't think that is unreasonable given what happened last season and this off season.