Blogger NBA Season Previews 2008/09 : Atlantic Division

The NBA season is almost upon us and ...a stern warning is taking part in a Blogosphere-wide preview series on the league that is known as the best in the world. Look out later in the month for our Portland Trail Blazers preview, but in the meantime, follow the links as the Atlantic Division is analysed in fine detail.

Boston Celtics

Jeff Clark: CelticsBlog.com    

Jim Weeks: Green Bandwagon      

FLCeltsFan: LOY's Place

John Karalis: Red's Army

Dustin Chapman: Celtics 24/7

New Jersey Nets

Dennis Velasco: About Basketball

New York Knicks

Joey: Straight Bangin'

Seth Rosenthal: Posting and Toasting

Philadelphia 76ers

Dannie & Pete: Recliner GM

Jon Burkett: Passion and Pride

Toronto Raptors

Franchise: RaptorsHQ.com

Ryan McNeill: Hoops Addict

Cuzzy: Cuzoogle

Also see links to all the previews at CelticsBlog.com

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Toronto Raptors : Media Day Audio

Ryan McNeill at HoopsAddict has some great audio of interviews with the Toronto Raptors at Media Day. There are exciting times in T-Dot, with the arrival of Jermaine O'Neal raising expectations, along with the return of a healthy silver medalist José Calderón and gold medalist Chris Bosh. Whilst the news of Nathan Jawai's health scare is not good, things are upbeat north of the border. Click the links below for audio from each of the media scrums:

* Chris Bosh
* Jermaine O'Neal
* Andrea Bargnani
* José Calderón
* Bryan Colangelo
* Sam Mitchell
* Nathan Jawai

Bonus Retro Video

Check out this footage of Pete "Pistol" Maravich in an NBA retro special. "He tried to make his game look haphazard."












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Today's warnings : 21 July, 2008

Summer League action has provided a glimpse at some of the incoming rookies for 2008, Olympic teams are set and the last crumbs of free agency are still being devoured by the few with enough room in their bellies (salary caps) to fit them. Here's a round-up of your warnings for today:

• John Rillie has a great summary of the happenings in the world of Australian and Olympic basketball this week.
• Angola, the one-time punching bags of Charles Barkley (circa 1992), beat Serbia in an Olympic warmup match.
• Red's Army comes up with the worthwhile question: Did the '92 Dream Team ruin the NBA? Believe me, it's more than just a juicy headline and perhaps telling of the current and future state of international basketball.
• Once Were Sonics, now are Thunder...
• The Akron Police are going to be getting around on some King James bicycles!
• Bostjan Nachbar to play in Russia. "Already this summer, Tiago Splitter of Brazil, a first-round pick of the Spurs in 2007, and Goran Dragic of Slovenia, a second-round pick of the Spurs in 2008 whose rights were traded to the Suns, have opted for more lucrative deals in Europe than they'd be eligible for as rookies in the NBA.
  And four international players with NBA experience -- Carlos Delfino, Jorge Garbajosa, Pops Mensah-Bonsu and Juan Carlos Navarro -- have accepted offers from European teams that easily trumped the money NBA teams were willing to offer.
  "The NBA had better be careful," Nachbar said. "European teams are offering a lot of money. It's much more, considering there are no taxes, than what I could make signing for the mid-level exception."
• Josh Childress is seriously considering his European options (in Greece), unless someone throws a good contract his way quickly. Of course all of this talk of players going overseas must be of some concern, or at least thought-provoking, for my namesake Mr Stern. However, overall I think that this is nothing but good for world basketball. Sure, the NBA would like to retain as many top players as possible, but until the marquee players start heading overseas (say Dirk Nowitzki, Tony Parker or Pau Gasol for example), this is not a major problem for the NBA,
• Lakers fans will miss the intensity of Ronny Turiaf, but there simply isn't room in the rotation for him behind Odom, Gasol, Bynum, Radmanovic and Mihm -- at that price anyway.
• Get your feed of Raptors links from Cuzoogle.
• Final Summer League thoughts from the land of the Blazers. "Yes, Bayless tweaked his hand during that breathtaking, game-saving 36-point outburst against the Suns. But three team sources, including Bayless, insist he did not undergo any tests on his hand."
  
  
  
  
  

NBA : Today's warnings : 11 June 2008

• One of many fans outraged at the alleged "malleable" result of the 2002 Western Conference Finals has put together a nice little montage of one call in question. I wish more fans would come out with great substantive evidence like this, rather than usless ranting... hey, don't look at us!
• You really do have to feel sorry for Chris Webber though, if this whole thing is true as Donaghy claims...
• Spanish basketball fans may be happy to see the arrival of Rudy Fernandez to the Blazers, but it seems it's a one-in-one-out policy on Spaniards, with talk that the Raptors are about to buy out the injured Jorge Garbajosa. It will be disappointing for the big man, who has already been disallowed by the Raptors from playing in the Olympics over the Summer.
• Some Blazer fans really don't want local boy Kevin Love joining the team, it would seem.
• While the Lakers and Celtics play on, Grizzlies fans talk to Heat fans about who gets Michael Beasley. I can see how Pat Riley doesn't want a player like Beasley on his team, but I just don't envisage how the Grizzlies can give up something the Heat wants, whilst still being beneficial to their building project. Rudy Gay has to be retained. Does the Heat really want Mike Miller?
• Does everyone remember at the start of the season when the sudden breaking news that Kevin Garnett was traded to Boston took the heat off the Tim Donaghy scandal? Now it seems Donaghy is back, taking a bit of the shine off KG's big moment. If only the NBA could have done something to push that trial out a bit further.