Eastern Conference
1.
Miami Heat
Well this one is pretty simple, as long as Lebron James stays healthy
there is no way that the Heat don’t finish with the best record in the
East. Lebron is playing at a beyond
elite level right now and is playing at a level that has been only matched by a
handful of players in league history.
Considering that the only team with the regular season chops to hang
with them, the Bulls, have their best player recovering from an ACL tear. The Heat should waltz to the top seed in the
East, I don’t expect it to be close especially with the addition of perfect fit
for the team Ray Allen.
2.
Boston Celtics
Well the Celtics are a much improved team off last year’s outfit that
took the Heat to game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals and led that series
3-2. While they lost Ray Allen they were
able to get Jason Terry to replace him along with Courtney Lee, and have Jeff
Green coming back. Rookie Jared
Sullinger seems primed to make an impact this season and helps give the team
more depth. However while I think this
is a much deeper than normal Celtics team I still don’t see them competing with
the Heat for the best record. They are
going to rest their starters too much for the postseason for them to truly
compete, but I do think their depth will bring them the East’s 2nd
best record.
3.
Indiana Pacers
The Pacers made a huge progression last season as they climbed to the 3
seed in the East, advanced to the 2nd round in the playoffs and took
a lead in their series against the Heat.
However the question remaining is are they going to be able to progress
any further? In my opinion at least as
this year is concerned the answer is no.
They are bringing back almost the exact same team from last season and
only one, Paul George, really has the potential to improve substantially. This is a solid defense and offensive team
with one of the NBA’s most underrated starting fives. They are probably going to be in the 2nd
round of the playoffs but the question is going to be, are they going to be
able to advance any further.
4.
Atlanta Hawks
Yes I think the Hawks are going to be the 4th best team in
the East this season despite the loss of Joe Johnson. Last year they were basically the 4th
seed in the East and are replacing Joe Johnson, Marvin Williams, and some other
bench guys and are replacing them with Lou Williams, Devin Harris, Kyle Korver,
and Anthony Morrow among others. Overall
this seems like it would be a net downgrade in play, but there is one factor
not being considered. Al Horford missed the
vast majority of last season with injury and if he returns to his normal level
of play then this team should be just as good if not better than last year’s
unit. This Hawks team is being vastly
underrated right now and is going to survive the loss of Joe Johnson much more
easily than most people expect.
5.
Brooklyn Nets
Well the Nets are entering Brooklyn with a lot of attention and glamor
and the question is will they live up to it?
The answer in my mind is that yes this team is going to be substantially
better than last year’s but in no way is this team an Eastern Conference
contender. This season the team is going
to score a boatload of points but they probably aren’t going to be able to stop
anyone they play from doing the same.
They might have the worst defensive frontcourt in all of basketball and playing
in a conference where Lebron James is going to be attacking the rim prevents
you from being a title contender. While
adding Joe Johnson and a few other pieces to the mix improves the teams
substantially, especially offensively, Deron Williams isn’t enough of a
superstar to elevate this team into the title conversation.
6.
New York Knicks
Well there has been some good news for Knicks fans; right now Amare Stoudemire
is going to be missing time which means that Carmelo Anthony is going to be the
starting power forward. If Carmelo is
the starting power forward then paired with Tyson Chandler you can make a case
that they have the best frontcourt in the NBA.
Chandler is a dominant defensive player and an extremely effective
offensive player that is the Knicks best player. They had a bad offseason that saw them lose
all their young talent and replace them with old players. Once Amare comes back they are probably going
to be worse than they are the rest of the season unless they play him as the 6th
man.
7.
Chicago Bulls
If the Bulls sneak into the playoffs this season then without question
they are going to be an extremely dangerous team. However the Bulls lost more than just Rose
and that might be the main reason they fall off as much as they are going
to. Their 2nd unit, which
might have been the best in basketball that played absolutely shutdown defense,
has been seriously depleted. They lost Omar Asik, CJ Watson, Ronnie Brewer and
Kyle Korver and this without question depletes the team. I still see the Bulls making the playoffs but
I don’t see them being the wrecking crew of a team that has dominated the past
two seasons.
8.
Philadelphia 76ers
The 76ers made one great offseason move, getting Andrew Bynum, and the
rest of their moves were so bad that it probably offset that. To me that means that the end result will
probably be about the same, an 8th seed in the East. The team might even miss the playoffs if
Bynum isn’t healthy and seems to loaf around some. Well on the positive side at least they are
going to have Kwame Brown playing games when last year they had Elton Brand.
9.
Milwaukee Bucks
The Bucks are a fairly deep team that should be able to compete with
most teams but has too many weaknesses to get into the playoffs. They start two shoot first guards who while
they have the ability to score in bunches aren’t exactly efficient in the
process. The loss of Bogut seriously
hampers the team’s defensive abilities but its depth should help to make up for
that. If one of the above teams falters
then I could easily see the team making the playoffs and then getting swept in
the first round by the Heat.
10.
Toronto Raptors
Well the Raptors entered the offseason with one definite goal, acquire
Steve Nash… they failed to achieve it but still should turnout alright for
it. While they dramatically overpaid for
Landry Fields, they still got a decent rotation player out of the deal. They added extremely underrated point guard
Kyle Lowry and have Jonas Valanciunas coming over from Europe. With coach Dwayne Casey the team competes
hard on defense and these additions could definitely improve their offense. Still they are a flawed team that doesn’t rebound
well, and has some extreme weaknesses on the wing. The team could easily rise up and make the
playoffs but I just don’t think that is likely.
11.
Detroit Pistons
Well what team are the Pistons the team that started the year 4-20 and
seemed like one of the 2 worst teams in baskeball, or the team that went 21-21
over its last 42 games and was shockingly good, the answer probably somewhere in
between. The team has a star big in Greg
Monroe who is vastly underrated and deserves some attention for what he
does. However the other big Andre
Drummond while having all the potential in the world is still extremely raw and
is going to have a lot of hard times this season. The team is still pretty good at most
positions but only Monroe seems like a without question above average player
for this season and that will likely hold the team back from really making the
leap.
12.
Washington Wizards
Washington last season might have been the dumbest team in the history of
professional sports so in terms of basketball IQ this team has improved
dramatically. However will that
improvement mean more wins for them, I don’t think so. John Wall is currently hurt with the severity
of the injury being unknown in a season where a lot is expected of him. Last season after being one of the youngest
teams in the league they now have Nene, Trevor Ariza and Emeka Okafor all fine
players in their own right but they have no business being on a rebuilding
team. The team doesn’t really have much
depth and considering they only have two building blocks, John Wall and rookie
Brandon Beal I think the Wizards are in for a long season.
13.
Cleveland Cavaliers
I really want to pick the Cavs to be better considering they employ Kyrie
Irving and Anderson Varejao two great players but the rest of the team is so
bad I can’t make the case. There is a
chance that in his 2nd year as a pro that Irving is going to evolve
his game even further and turn into a superstar that can singlehandedly carry his
team to the postseason, but while I think he will improve, he won’t improve
dramatically enough. Really the problem
is outside of Irving and Varejao you can make there is not another above
average basketball player on the team.
Irving will stop them from being totally bottom of the barrel but I don’t
see the team going very far.
14.
Orlando Magic
The Magic just lost the best defensive player in the league, the best
rebounder in the league, and a dominant player in the low post, yes you could
say the team will miss Dwight. Also they
lost Ryan Anderson, the superefficient 3 point specialist who was a much bigger
component of the Magic’s offense then most people realize. This team is going to be competing for the
worst record in the league without question.
They do have some capable players in Aaron Afflalo, “Big Baby” Davis,
Jameer Nelson and Hungry Dog Blog favorite Andrew Nicholson. However the team is going
to be atrocious defensively without Howard cleaning up the rest of the team’s
mistakes and the offense will be quite bad as well without anyone who is really
that threatening a scorer. The Magic
wanted to bottom out after losing Howard and are following the plan totally to
script, even if it’s not the right one.
15.
Charlotte Bobcats
Well the Bobcats were the worst team in the history of the NBA last
season so really it can only improve from there. The problem is that the Bobcats were so bad
last season that even if they substantially improved from last year they would
still be awful. I do not believe however
that they improved that much from last year with their only real addition being
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. The team will be
better this season as some of their young guys should get better and Gilchrist
will help the team but they aren’t that skilled offensively or defensively.
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