Not Many Teams Totally Out Of It

George O'Brien · January 30th, 2005, 08:49 PM

The trading deadline is often a time when teams that are out of contention dump guys with expiring contracts. Contenders pick up "rent a players" for cash and second round picks.

The problem is that there aren't that many teams that are impossibly out of contention. The list absolute basket cases are:

Hornets 8-35
Hawks 8-34
Bobcats 9-32
Warriors 12-32
Bucks 15-30

Nearly buried

Blazers 17-25 (6 games from 8th place)
Nuggets 19-25 (5 games from 8th place)
Clippers 21-23 (3 games out)

The team in the West with the best chance of slipping into the playoffs is the Rockets who are 24-21 and just a half game behind the Wolves for the final slot.

The East has a lot of teams with bad records who remain in contention. The Celtics are 21-23 but are on top in the Atlantic. Even after losing today, the Raptors are only 3 1/2 games out of first in the Atlantic in spite of an 18-27 record. With the Pacers at 20-22 and the Celtics, the East has two teams with losing records currently set to make the playoffs.

The fact that so many teams have at least some hope of making the playoffs reduces the likelyhood of the Suns picking up a useful "rent-a-player". There are still a few weeks yet, but it is not encouraging.

asudevil83 · January 30th, 2005, 10:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by George O'Brien

The trading deadline is often a time when teams that are out of contention dump guys with expiring contracts. Contenders pick up "rent a players" for cash and second round picks.

The problem is that there aren't that many teams that are impossibly out of contention. The list absolute basket cases are:

Hornets 8-35
Hawks 8-34
Bobcats 9-32
Warriors 12-32
Bucks 15-30

Nearly buried

Blazers 17-25 (6 games from 8th place)
Nuggets 19-25 (5 games from 8th place)
Clippers 21-23 (3 games out)

The team in the West with the best chance of slipping into the playoffs is the Rockets who are 24-21 and just a half game behind the Wolves for the final slot.

The East has a lot of teams with bad records who remain in contention. The Celtics are 21-23 but are on top in the Atlantic. Even after losing today, the Raptors are only 3 1/2 games out of first in the Atlantic in spite of an 18-27 record. With the Pacers at 20-22 and the Celtics, the East has two teams with losing records currently set to make the playoffs.

The fact that so many teams have at least some hope of making the playoffs reduces the likelyhood of the Suns picking up a useful "rent-a-player". There are still a few weeks yet, but it is not encouraging.

and i STILL dont understand how people can say that the east is catching up with the west in terms of talent dominance. when the leader of a division is well below .500 and the 8th team in the west could be the 5th seed in the east (record-wise). when i've got time tomorrow, i'm going to see what each playoff team in the east's record is against the west and vice versa....and i dont think its going to be pretty.

Draftnik00 · January 30th, 2005, 10:23 PM

How about some other 6'8-6'9 SF/PF's to add to rumor list - David West and Josh Smith

Smith could probably even play SG for Suns, C in a pinch

- I did like Smith going into Draft but he wasn't rated too high on the Suns Draftboard though, West was at least...