The Moonball Blog

Thursday, November 02, 2006

Last Year's Crystal (Moon)Balls

Oh yeah . . . predictions. Well, not a moment too soon, here’s a recap of LAST year’s preseason predictions. (I’m not listing all playoff teams, only the finalists.)

CHAMPION
Knick33: Indiana
Shooters: Miami*
Rabbis: Indiana
Weed: Indiana
JLev: Miami*
MeWolves: Dallas
Flash: Detroit
HP: Houston
ACTUAL: Miami

EASTERN CONFERENCE CHAMP
Knick33: Indiana
Shooters: Miami*
Rabbis: Indiana
Weed: Indiana
JLev: Miami*
MeWolves: Indiana
Flash: Detroit
HP: Philadelphia
ACTUAL: Miami

WESTERN CONFERENCE CHAMP
Knick33: San Antonio
Shooters: San Antonio
Rabbis: San Antonio
Weed: Houston
JLev: San Antonio
MeWolves: Dallas*
Flash: San Antonio
HP: Houston
ACTUAL: Dallas

MVP
Knick33: LeBron
Shooters: KG
Rabbis: LeBron
Weed: Jermaine
JLev: LeBron
MeWolves: LeBron
Flash: LeBron
HP: Iverson
ACTUAL: Nash

RoY
Knick33: Chris Paul*
Shooters: Rashad McCants
Rabbis: Deron Williams
Weed: Charlie Villanueva
JLev: Chris Paul*
MeWolves: Chris Paul*
Flash: Chris Paul*
HP:
ACTUAL: Chris Paul

DEFENSIVE PoY
Knick33: Ron Artest
Shooters: Ron Artest
Rabbis: Ron Artest
Weed: Ron Artest
JLev: Andrei Kirilenko
MeWolves: Andrei Kirilenko
Flash: Ron Artest
HP: Ben Wallace*
ACTUAL: Ben Wallace

6TH MAN
Knick33: Michael Finley
Shooters: Marquis Daniels
Rabbis: Donyell Marshall
Weed: Caron Butler
JLev: Michael Finley
MeWolves:
Flash: Antonio McDyess
HP: Gary Payton
ACTUAL: Mike Miller

MIP
Knick33: Josh Howard
Shooters: Dwight Howard
Rabbis: Stromile Swift
Weed: James Jones
JLev: Eddie Griffin
MeWolves: Tyson Chandler
Flash: Sebastian Telfair
HP:
ACTUAL: Boris Diaw

COACH
Knick33: Rick Carlisle
Shooters: Mike Krzyzewski (Team USA)
Rabbis: Rick Carlisle
Weed: Stan Van Gundy
JLev: Stan Van Gundy
MeWolves: Rick Carlisle
Flash: Flip Saunders
HP: Scott Skiles
ACTUAL: Avery Johnson

MOONBALL BUST
Knick33: Jamal Crawford
Shooters: Steve Nash
Rabbis: Eddy Curry
Weed: Jason Williams
JLev: Carlos Boozer
MeWolves: Jermaine O’Neal
Flash: Eddy Curry
HP:
ACTUAL: Depends on how you decide this, but Amare Stoudemire was the 37th pick in the draft, and he ranked 143rd among the 144 drafted players in total MoonBall production. Nene’s -2.5 total MoonBall points for the year was kind of a bust, too.

Among players who appeared in at least 70 games last year (that is, ignoring failure due to injury), Eddy Curry had the biggest drop from draft position to MoonBall rank: drafted 49th, ranked 109th. The other vote getters: Jermaine was drafted 9th and ranked 72nd; Boozer drafted 50th, ranked 126th; Crawford drafted 85th, ranked 74th; JWilliams drafted 105th, ranked 110th. Steve Nash was the league MVP and the ninth-best MoonBall producer; he was the 22nd selection in the 2005 draft.

And just to show we don’t focus completely on failure: Boris Diaw was the 142nd pick in last year’s draft, and he was the 22nd-most productive MoonBaller in the league. Probably the biggest leap (+120) in MooBall history.

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