I don't know, Thomas and Nocioni aren't exactly chopped liver. Both of those guys play hard bball. Also, they give you help at 2 different positions.

To me, it looks like one of those rare trades that is a win-win.

I don't fear it, because I think the loss of depth and energy would hurt the Bulls against us.

Kidd wants to play with James in Cleveland - NBA - Yahoo! Sports

If this ever happens, let it be in the 08-09 season

Kidd will be 35 before the season ends. Him going to Cleveland next year is non-factor.

Lebron is a point forward. He operates a lot better when he has the ball in his hands then when he plays with an old point guard who needs to control the ball to be effective, because he can't shoot worth sheet.

didn't see this posted anywhere else on the forum, but it was kind of interesting. especially striking to me was that in this "predictor" Boston, Orlando, and Detroit are given better odds of winning the title than any team in the Western Conference. Perhaps some of the more statistically minded forumites can debunk this (or not).

ESPN - John Hollinger's Playoff Odds

The odds of "any team from the West" winning should be more than 28.7%, which is what that prediction says.

In his explanation section, he explains why this is flawed. It is so early in the season, that each team has not played enough other teams for the model to have enough information. Not enough regression can be done here with the data set.

He basically says that if the results so far this year are truly representative, then these would be odds. Some teams are hot, some are coasting, some have injuries, etc. etc.

I wonder if this takes into account the difficulty of the schedule to date. For example Orlando and us have played on the West Coast. Boston hasn't played west of the the Hudson River. (LOL)

How about adjusting the odds for difficulty of opponents modified by whether the game was home or away.

I don't think that his odds do that.

For example Boston is still winless on the road against winning teams

whereas we are 3 - 1 on the road against teams with winning records

I'm pretty sure they do take those things into account.

That is why he predicts that the odds of Boston going 72-10 or better is 1%.

That Hollinger playoff odds page says that they're based on his power rankings. If you click through the links for his power rankings, he explains how those are calculated as well, and they do take strength of schedule into account.

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