2005-2006 featured teams with a grip on the league tightening that grip even more during the regular season. The Pistons played lights-out defense en route to winning 64 games. The Spurs played even better defense on their way to 63 wins. But it was the regular-season-runners-up, the Mavericks (60-22) and the Heat (52-30) who ended up meeting in the finals, and that’s where Dwyane Wade did his thing, carrying the Heat in six and bringing a title back to Miami.
While their teams made less noise in the playoffs, it was also a big year for MVP repeat-winner Steve Nash and Rookie of the Year Chris Paul. The Hornets, playing part of that season in Oklahoma City after Hurricane Katrina, won 38 but fell short of the playoffs, while the Suns D’Antoni’d their way to 54 wins.
For our re-simulation, let’s start in NO-OKC, where the Hornets (38-44) are adjusting to life without Chris Paul. If you’ll remember, they jumped up dramatically last year on the strength of young Manu Ginobili, Josh Childress and Jason Richardson, ultimately playing their way out of the CP3 sweepstakes. And in 2005-2006, they continue to thrive, even without CP3. Big gains came in the form of Childress (5.7) over J.R. Smith (1.2), Richardson (7.3) over the inactive Kirk Haston, Mike Miller (7.4) over Marcus Fizer (0.4), Nenad Krstic (5.4) over Bostjan Nachbar (0) and Reggie Evans (2.1) over Casey Jacobsen (0.0). They could have been even better, but lost David West (7.4) in favor of Matt Carroll (2.6) and Chris Paul (10.4), replaced by Lou Williams (-0.1), but still gained 14 wins and finished 52-30, fifth in the West. Manu followed Baron Davis out of town, which you’ll read more about later!
As it turns out, Chris Paul’s new team was nowhere near as good. The Jazz (41-41) actually got worse despite adding the Rookie of the Year (10.4) in place of Deron Williams (2.8) and playing Kevin Martin (5.5) instead of Kris Humphries (0.2). Big losses came from the absence of the unreplaced Mehmet Okur (9.3), playing Lee Nailon (0.5) in Andrei Kirlienko’s spot (7.9) and Juan Carlos Navarro (0.0) instead of Carlos Boozer (3.5). Utah dropped to 33-49, second-to-last in the West and in potential prime position for another lottery run.
No bigger gain in wins happened than the one in Oakland. The Warriors (34-48) lost Monta Ellis in the draft but didn’t feel the impact yet, thanks to adding Kirk Hinrich (7.6) over Mickael Pietrus (0.6), Luke Ridnour (4.4) in place of Zarko Cabarkapa (0.3), Gerald Wallace (6.4) over the inactive Rodney White, Andres Nocioni (6.7) over inactive Sean Lampley and DeSagana Diop (4.1) over inactive Brandon Armstrong. They got another boost by adding Manu Ginobili (8.8) in what was originally the Baron Davis (4.4) signing. All the wins were enough to overcome the loss of Troy Murphy (6.5), Andris Biedrins (2.9), Mike Dunleavy (4.2) and Jason Richardson (7.3), who were replaced by Jason Collins (2.0), Tony Allen (1.7), Carlos Boozer (3.5) and Joe Johnson (6.0), respectively. The Dubs went 56-26, second in the conference.
The other huge jump happened at Madison Square Garden, where the Knicks (23-59) went from duds to competitors out east. Their biggest net gains came courtesy of the former Eddy Curry (3.3) signing, which got them Tony Parker (9.6), and the Qyntel Woods (1.3) signing, which got them Udonis Haslem (7.0). Jeff Foster (5.7) continued to be a big piece in place of the inactive Frederic Weis, Charlie Bell (3.3) and Maurice Evans (3.2) added wins in place of inactive Michael Wright and Eric Chenoweth, and Andrew Bogut (5.5) proved a slightly more productive rookie than Channing Frye (3.5). New York did lose games replacing David Lee (2.7) with C.J. Miles (0.3) and Jamal Crawford (4.5) with Jamaal Magloire (2.0), but still ended up at 44-38 and sixth in the East.
The biggest losers of the year were the Bucks (40-42), who dropped into the lottery race by replacing Andrew Bogut (5.5) with David Lee (2.7), Dan Gadzuric (2.5) with Kareem Rush (-0.2), Mo Williams (2.5) with James Lang (0.0) and Michael Redd (10.8) with the retired Chris Porter. They haven’t even felt the impact from losing Ersan Ilyasova (inactive) and replacing him with Alan Anderson (0.4), and they still went 26-56, fourth-worst in the league.
The lottery was really dominated by the east, where the Hawks, Bobcats and Raptors fought it out for the most ping-pong balls.
Atlanta (26-56) was already bad and only dropped a game, making lateral moves like replacing Salim Stoudamire (1.2) with Joey Graham (1.3), swapping out Josh Childress (5.7) for Andre Iguodala (7.5) and adding Devin Harris (3.7) in place of Josh Smith (3.6). They actually gained some ground with Eddie House (1.6) and Devean George (2.6) taking over for Cal Bowdler and Jason Collier (both inactive), but lost it all with the unreplaced Zaza Pachulia (3.9) and free agent signing Joe Johnson (6.0) morphing into Sam Dalembert (3.6). The birds went 25-57, but still only finished in the third spot for the lottery.
The Bobcats (26-56) have made two improved decisions adding Dwight Howard (8.6) over Emeka Okafor (1.0) and Deron Williams (2.8) over Ray Felton (2.6), but still aren’t ready to take a big step forward. In fact, Charlotte missed out on big years from a few guys they added via the expansion draft, most notably Primoz Brezec (4.6), replaced by DerMarr Johnson (1.3), Melvin Ely (2.0) replaced by Bostjan Nachbar (0.1) and Gerald Wallace (6.4), replaced by Jason Collins (3.9). They acquired Jumaine Jones (3.0) via trade originally, but he’s replaced by inactive Evan Eschmeyer. A positive came via Fred Jones (2.6), who replaced free agent acquisition Kareem Rush (-0.2). The Bobs dropped three games, finishing 23-59 and second-to-last in the league.
That leaves the Raptors (27-55) to position themselves atop the lottery. The bad Raps got even worse thanks largely to the losses of Charlie Villanueva (3.9), replaced by Amir Johnson (0.2); Chris Bosh (9.8), replaced by David West (7.4); and Matt Bonner (4.1), replaced by inactive Brandon Hunter. Amir Johnson will get better, and Toronto’s got at least one other optimistic piece in Channing Frye (3.5), in place of Joey Graham (1.3), but none of that helped them this year, and they put up only 22 wins.
Out west, the regular season champion Spurs (63-19) once again dropped like a rock, but not as far as they have in previous years. San Antonio struggled replacing Tony Parker (9.6) with Loren Woods (0.4), with no replacement at all for Manu (8.8). But they got some wins back with Ben Gordon (4.4) having a good year in place of Beno Udrih (1.3), and have a reason to be optimistic with Monta Ellis (0.5) in place over Ian Mahinmi (0.0). Overall, the Spurs went 49-33, seventh in the conference.
The Mavs also ended up dropping out of the top tier, thanks primarily to the losses of Josh Howard (6.7) and Devin Harris (3.7), who were replaced by James Singleton (2.3) and Trevor Ariza (0.9), respectively. Shane Battier (9.1) replaced DeSagana Diop (4.1), but his impact was more than canceled out when Corey Maggette (3.0) replaced Jason Terry (9.6). Dallas ended up 53-29 and in the fourth spot.
All that movement set up the Grizzlies (49-33) to be our Western Conference champions. Memphis built on what was originally a good-not-great season by adding Michael Redd (10.8) in Mike Miller’s (7.1) place, then added Pau Gasol (12.0) in place of Shane Battier (9.1). If you remember, Memphis also actually had Pau on their roster, but he’s replaced by Mehmet Okur (9.3), who had a very good season. Four more wins came via Rasual Butler and Steven Hunter, who replaced Ryan Humphrey and Raul Lopez, respectively. Memphis finished 58-24.
The Heat (52-30) actually got a little better, mostly through playing LeBron (16.3) over D-Wade (14.4) and Luther Head (3.5) over Wayne Simien (0.8). Andris Biedrins (2.9) also proved a great upgrade over Dorell Wright (0.2) and Luke Walton added two wins in place of inactive Jerome Beasley, but Miami lost 6.2 wins without Shaq. The Heat went 54-28 but because of our rules, will not still get back to the Finals.
That honor instead falls to the Pistons (64-18), this year’s superteam. Detroit didn’t make many moves overall, only adding Ryan Gomes (3.1) and Wayne Simien (0.8) over Jason Maxiell (-0.2) and Amir Johnson (0.2) in the draft. The guys in place simply did better. No better example there than Carmelo (9.4), who played in place of Darko (0.0). Andrei Kirilenko (7.9) outplayed Richard Hamilton (7.6) just barely, and all the gains offset the loss of Tayshaun Prince (7.0), who was replaced by Jannero Pargo (-0.1).
Detroit cruised to a 74-8 record, our third consecutive year with a 70-win team. Memphis sends out a Pau-Redd-Okur-Eddie Jones-Lorenzen Wright team to face Detroit’s Billups-Ben Wallace-Rasheed Wallace-Carmelo-AK47 unit, and the Pistons make pretty quick work of the Grizz in the finals.
They end up protecting young Carmelo and exposing Chauncey Billups, Andrei Kirilenko and the rest of their roster. Will that come back to bite them? We’ll see!
STANDINGS
West
1. Grizzlies 58-24
2. Warriors 56-26
3. Clippers 54-28
4. Mavs 53-29
5. Hornets 52-30
6. Nuggets 51-31
7. Spurs 49-33
8. Lakers 46-36
9. Suns 46-36
10. Rockets 40-42
11. Sonics 38-44
12. Wolves 37-45
13. Kings 36-46
14. Jazz 33-49
15. Blazers 30-52
East
1. Pistons 74-8
2. Nets 57-25
3. Heat 54-28
4. Pacers 46-36
5. Celtics 45-37
6. Knicks 44-38
7. Sixers 42-40
8. Cavs 42-40
9. Magic 37-45
10. Wizards 36-46
11. Bulls 33-49
12. Bucks 26-56
13. Hawks 25-57
14. Bobcats 23-59
15. Raptors 22-60
NBA Finals:
Pistons over Grizzlies
Pistons protect Carmelo Anthony
Best player available: Chauncey Billups
Random thoughts from Adam Rae Voge 