Online friends, welcome to another addition of Weekly Roundtable. We are pleased to bring you this on the King's birthday. The regular season is wrapping up quickly as we hit the home stretch with many playoff spots still up for grabs. While others are firmly in the field and positioning for a better seed. At any rate this is an exciting time of year in the calendar. You all know who is joining me on the roundtable once again this week. I'm pleased to be with Ante and Hrvoje as we tackle the topics for another week.
The trio fields questions from the fans following the roundtable 1. What are your thoughts on the job Vince has done as the commish this season?Ante: I think that he has done a terrific job, he still has too much work to do, but it's a bit easier job than last time because people know what they're are dealing with and they complain less about CPU and dumb contracts, so people aren't frustrated as before and do not leave the table. So we're not losing members which is great and Vince is monitoring it well. A new member or two would be nice to have. Vince do your thing.
Hrvoje: Vince did a good job. He did everything right other than the fantasy trade debacle, which wasn't directly his fault as no one noticed it until it was too late. Lets hope we tweak the trade rules a bit for next season. Other than that Vince gave opportunities to people, new and old players and has my respect for kicking out the inactive ones after a fair amount of time. Overall I would give him a B+. Keep up the good work.
Bryan: I agree with my panel on this. Vince has done a really good job. It's not as easy as it looks but for the most part things have gone rather smooth. The trade thing needs to be addressed going into year 2 of the OA but otherwise things are going well. We could use 1-2 more members since we've had some flame outs lately but I'm hopeful Kellz will join. Our core of coaches continues to be really strong.
2. Who gets the 8th spot in the East? Cleveland, Milwaukee, Toronto all clumped together fighting for it.Bryan: These playoff standings literally change by the hour. The reality is this likely won't be decided until the final game or two of the season. If someone can get hot and win 8-9 of their last 15 or so that will be enough. It seems like we're all treading water at this point. Milwaukee is my choice to get it but I know Cleveland and Toronto will continue to fight hard for it. Big win for the Bucks on Sunday over the Cavs.
Ante: I can't tell it right now because Vince is good with Cleveland, but he traded Gasol away which is wrong to me, Milwaukee is good but I think they end up 9th because of a tough schedule, so the really logical pick would be Toronto because they have the best team out of these three and they have Steve Nash, I think Bryan should use his abilities to shoot early and often, to penetrate and dish also, so I think Toronto gets it, easy schedule + Bargnani, Jax and Nash gets is done.
Hrvoje: I say Toronto. They have the best core in Nash, Jax and Bargs and a solid rotation with decent players. Only real weak spot would be the Center position. Cavs lost a lot with trading Gasol away as they now have a lot of small guards, but not a lot quality under the basket. My Bucks still lack any offensive stability and consistency. I would also mention Orlando who seems lost in the shuffle after a decent start. 8th spot was reserved for a .500 team, while now is held by a .440 team, I say it might get even worse and at the end of season a .400 team could make the playoffs.
3. What has been your best and worst moments from this season? Ante: Well since Jennings came it's been sunshine and rainbows in New Orleans. Reminds me of the old days in New Orleans, 3 game winners, bailing us out in Golden State, Golden State playing their best ball at that time, then against a hot Utah team at home. He hit a tough mid range jumper, then probably the best moments were against the Raptors, triple OT, although we had the lead the whole game and then BJ answered and JJ Reddick with a three at the buzzer, spectacular. I can't forget the win vs CPU Thunder, where Jennings again hit two clutch free throws to seal the game. #playoffs #youngmoney4real .
Hrvoje: Best moment was the win over Wolves after being down by 12 and the Luke Ridnour airball. Then a Win over Vince, first since NBA 2K10 Preseason. Also I would mention catching up the 14 point Thunder lead before it became one of worst moments as the server went dowm, game was simmed and I lost. And the moment when I accepted the Stephen Jackson trade.
Bryan: I've had a lot of good moments. Sweeping the Lakers was a big deal for me. Beating a legendary coach like Paul twice in the same season is monumental for a scrub like me. Just being more competitive in the user games this time around has been fun. I struggled so bad with Denver last time so to win some user games and lose two others in OT is good progress. The worst moment was probably against Ante yesterday when Redick hit that stupid 3 in the corner to send the game to another OT. I figured I was doomed at that point. I've had a couple bad losses to the CPU too, particularly Dallas and Minnesota.
4. Fact or Fiction: New Orleans will win a playoff series if they get into the playoffsHrvoje: Fiction. If they make it to playoffs they probably wont be above 7th place which would bring them a series with Thunder, Clippers or Lakers. Ante struggles greatly vs CPU teams, and if they get Lakers, Paul will go all out to crush Hornets as hard as he can.
Bryan: If they play a CPU team in the first round, fiction. If they draw the Lakers, I'm concerned about a potential upset. I've stuck by the Lakers as my championship favorite all year but this would be a nightmare matchup for Paul. Try-hard mode is officially engaged in NOLA and they will be a tough out against human coaches. I'll say fiction but I'm reluctant.
Ante: well, fact....
5. Fact or Fiction: The Eastern conference will produce the NBA champion this seasonAnte: Fiction. Look at the West. You got Thunder, Clippers with Pau Gasol, Lakers balling, but I don't think they can compete with the size of the Thunder and Clippers and possible sleeper Nuggets. On East we got Miami and Chicago and Boston and possible sleeper Knicks, I think the West would dominate all of these four teams, especially the Clippers and Thunder.
Bryan: I'll say fiction. The Lakers are proven against CPU teams so they should be OK getting to the Finals. Assuming Dr. Try Hard doesn't get in his way. The East is deeper with more potential title contenders IMO. The Knicks can easily win it all. They have the size down low to control a majority of CPU BS. When you look for contenders you have to take the CPU in mind and the Knicks match up just fine with humans and CPU. Boston certainly has the talent. Not sure about the desire. The Bulls are certainly capable as a CPU team.
Hrvoje: Fiction. I said in my recap that I could see the ECF champion as NBA champion, but I must admit I changed my opinion and have the Lakers as team with biggest chances to win.
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Thanks for the contributions from my panel this week. The next time we get together we'll be talking about the playoffs. I can't wait to see how it all shakes out and to examine the playoff bracket for next time. Until then, thanks for reading and thanks for making this a fun season so far on the court.
Subject: Weekly Roundtable-January 16th 
Mon Jan 16, 2012 12:34 pm
