Atlantic Division ( teams are broken down in order of predicted finish)
Boston Celtics-Rasheed Wallace and Marquis Daniels are very nice additions to the Celtics, which they desperately need. Heck, they could add everybody's favorite psychotherapy patient Stephon Marbury and he would help backing up Rajon Rondo, but in the end its all noise. If Kevin Garnett does not return to his 2008-09 form, there's no way the Celtics compete for a title. Hear that creaking......its the Celtics window closing.
Toronto Raptors- Raptor general manager Bryan Colangelo had an aggressive bold offseason signing Handsome Hedo Turkoglu and Jarrett Jack to rich free agent contracts and extending former first overall pick Andrea Bargnani with an enormous deal. Colangelo starts the season with an eclectic group that's fun to watch, but will be short on rebounding and perimeter defense. I'm also not sure if he's got the right coach to make this team compete in Jay Triano. All of this spending was designed to show pending star free agent Chris Bosh that the organization is committing to winning. If it doesn't end up being enough to keep Bosh in Toronto, the Raptors are on the hook for a lot of money with a team that can't compete. The good news for Colangelo is that Jack is Bosh's college teammate and good friend and he's signed for 4 years, so you never know.
New Jersey Nets- This is going to be a team to watch this season for all of the right reasons. And they are certainly going to be better than people think. Very athletic with a very good point guard in Devin Harris and a very promising young big man in Brook Lopez. Lots of verys for a team only projected to win about 25 games. This team will be a very attractive option for one of the superstar free agents of the class of 2010, especially now that they have a billionaire Russian owner who is willing to spend a few bucks. Mark my words, the Nets are a more likely destination for LeBron James or Dwyane Wade than their higher profile crosstown rivals.
Philadelphia 76ers- As good a coach as Eddie Jordan is, he's going to have a tough time turning around this disaster. They did not have the financial willingness to re-sign point guard Andre Miller and their up tempo system does not run without the right point guard. They drafted UCLA frshman Jrue Holiday with their first round pick leaving Carolina point guard Ty Lawson on the board. Holiday wasn't even good enough to start in the Pac-10 last season. He's at least two years away from running the Sixers. In addition, their highest paid player, Elton Brand is a half court player who is ill-equipped to succeed in the Sixers' up tempo system. Get ready for lots of empty seats at the Wachovia Center.
New York Knicks- The Knicks look so bad, they make the Sixers look like the Lakers. They bring back most of the same group as last season. They added the Bust of Draft Past in Darko Milicic and the Bust of draft future in Jordan Hill. The only real building blocks they have are last year's #1 Danilo Galinari and Wilson Chandler, and Chandler had very little trade value when GM Donnie Walsh shopped him in the offseason. And on top of all of of this, their misguided off season pursuits of Grant Hill, Jason Kidd, Carlos Boozer, and Ramon Sessions wreak of a situation where the general manager and the coach are not on the same page. LeBron, do yourself a favor. Stay far far away.....unless you're folowing the Nets to Brooklyn.
Central Division (in predicted order of finish)
Cleveland Cavaliers- The Cavs little makeover reminds me of the town of Rock Ridge from the movie Blazing Saddles. Rock Ridge was the fake town that was built with just store fronts with nothing behind men to throw the sheriff's men off the trail. On the surface, the Cavs should look better from the addition of Shaquille O'Neal, Anthony Parker, and Jamario Moon. But O'Neal at this stage of his career is not all that different from Zydrunas Ilgauskas, except Shaq has a TV show and 5 championship rings. Bringing Shaq in was a nice gesture to try and keep LeBron in town this offseason, but its not going to translate into more playoff wins, which is what the Cavs need to be better than last year. The Cavs biggest problems in the playoffs was having enough athletes to match up with Orlando's big wing players. Parker is 34 years old, and not athletic enough to match up with Rashard Lewis or Vince Carter. And Moon is a good athlete, but couldn't hit the water if he threw a bag of garbage off a pier. In the end, it will probably mean the same fate as last season... a conference finals loss and a lot of nail biting over whether LeBron James is going to stay in town.
Chicago Bulls- This is the year the Bulls will make their move towards being an elite team in the East. They will benefit tremendously from the continued development of young star point guard Derrick Rose. Center Joakim Noah will show some offense to accompany his intense defense, rebounding and athleticism. Luol Deng should be back healthy and he adds to their athleticism. And they subtracted the biggest ball hog this side of Allen Iverson in Ben Gordon. I even think that head coach Vinny Del Negro took his lumps in last year's playoffs and learned plenty. The Bulls will challenge the Cavaliers for Central division supremacy and will be a clear pain in someone's rump come playoff time.
Indiana Pacers- They won't be great, but they'll be better than people think. Their big offseason additions were first round pick Tyler Hansbrough and free agent signee Dahntay Jones. Hansbrough should help marginally and Jones probably less. The big factors for the Pacers will be the continued development of 2nd year center Roy Hibbert, who has looked like a monster in preseason, and the return from a knee injury of swingman Mike Dunleavy. With an improved Hibbert and a healthy Dunleavy, underrated and under appreciated star Danny Granger should get enough help to make this team a 6, 7, or 8 seed in the East, which represents progress in Indiana these days.
Milwaukee Bucks- The Bucks are a team that may got a little bit better. It probably won't be enough for a playoff berth, but they should make some progress. They traded Richard Jefferson for cap relief, which will end up being addition by subtraction for two reasons. Jefferson's shot selection has gotten progressively worse as time has gone on. And his departure opens up playing time for last year's first round pick Joe Alexander, who is a good athlete that can shoot but needs live action to develop his game. The Bucks also chose not to re-sign restricted free agent point guard Ramon Sessions and drafted point guard Brandon Jennings in the first round. Jennings is a dynamic athlete with potential to turn into an electric point guard, so there's upside there. The Bucks also brought in a couple of good athletes for good prices in Hakim Warrick and Carlos Delfino. The big danger for the Bucks is that head coach Scott Skiles doesn't lose patience with some of these young players and kill their confidence before they ever have it.
Detroit Pistons- So, if you're Joe Dumars, and you make an awful trade last season, shipping out a seasoned championship point guard in Chauncey Billups and bringing in the world's biggest chucker (Allen Iverson), essentially torpedoing the Pistons' entire season?? If I'm Joe D, I trade Prince and Hamilton for cap relief and draft picks, blow the whole thing up and start from scratch. Unfortunately, for Pistons fans, I'm not Joe D. Dumars attempted to remake this thing on the fly and threw ridiculous amounts of money on the world's second biggest chucker, Ben Gordon, and a three point shooting power forward who doesn't defend or rebound in Charlie Villanueva. And to top it off, Joe D hires a career assistant who's last head coaching job 20 years ago resulted in the worst season in Division 1 college history as HIS new head coach. We will spend the season gawking at them as if they were a car accident, sort of the NBA's version of a rubber necking delay.
Southeast Division ( in order of predicted finish)
Orlando Magic- No one would have blamed Magic GM Otis Smith if he had decided to bring back the same team from last season. that made a surprise run to th NBA finals All he really HAD to do was re-sign Handsome Hedo, and they could run it back with Dwight Howard being a year better. But Smith saw an opportunity to improve this team, and with ownership's blessing (financial commitment), he made them a force. He let the Raptors overpay Turkoglu. He brought in Vince Carter and Ryan Anderson for Courtney Lee and some expiring contracts. Carter is a huge upgrade over Handsome Hedo and Anderson is the kind of stretch "4" that Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy loves. Smith also signed free agent undersized power forward Brandon Bass from Dallas, who makes an excellent front court mate for Howard and Rashard Lewis and gives the Magic a power presence, which will allow Van Gundy to go big or small. Smith also recognized the value of backup center Marcin Gortat and matched Dallas' offer sheet to keep him in Orlando. And for Otis' last trick, he signed Jason Williams to backup Jameer Nelson at point guard. Williams spent a year out of basketball, but was an extremely functional point guard for the Miami Heat 2006 title team. All in all, a stellar offseason for my man Otis. Ladies and Gentlemen, your 2009-2010 Eastern Conference champions.
Atlanta Hawks- The Hawks made attempts to improve in the offseason, unfortunately I'm not sure they worked. They brought Jamal Crawford in from Golden State. Crawford is a chucker in the Iverson/Ben Gordon mold, which won't exactly help team chemistry. Joe Johnson has one foot out the door in the last year of his contract. And if he doesn't come back, it turns quickly into a disaster. They've got big financial decisions to coming up on Marvin Williams and Al Horford. And considering that they're already paying Josh Smith and Mike Bibby for awhile, this thing goes in reverse quickly without Johnson. The East is too tough for them to advance anywhere. It will be a first round playoff loss and lean times on the horizon once again in Atlanta.
Miami Heat- I hate to say it, but things don't look all that good here either. Yes, they've got Dwyane Wade in his prime. And with Wade being a free agent after the season, he may have one foot out the door as well. The Heat's best chance to keep Wade may have come and gone with their failed offseason pursuit of Lamar Odom and Carlos Boozer. Now their best chance is to hope for significant improvement from Michael Beasley, Mario Chalmers, and Daequan Cook. In other words, Wade's probably good as gone. The good news for Miami is that with the shot Jermaine O'Neal in the last year of his ridiuclously bloated contract, they have virtually no money committed beyond this year.
Washington Wizards- The notion that the Wizards somehow made themselves a playoff team by moving the #5 pick in the draft for Mike Miller and Randy Foye and getting all-world chucker Gilbert Arenas back from injury is faulty at best and utterly absurd at worst. I'm a big fan of Ernie Grunfeld, but he's got it wrong here. He could have started to rebuild this thing around Ricky Rubio. Instead, he's grasping at straws with a selfish veteran team. The only thing the Miller/Foye trade did was get them closer to making the playoffs, which will mean less balls in the lottery jar, utlimately setting the organization back. The good news is that another lottery pick will be pending.
Charlotte Bobcats- Don't look now, but Larry Brown took the wrong job again. Ownership has very little financial commitment to winning considering that owner Bob Johnson is dying to sell the team. General manager Rod Higgins has not done well on a shoestring budget. President Michael Jordan is too busy playing golf and giving unique and entertaining Hall of Fame induction speeches. The bottom line is that outside of Jason Richardson (chucker) and some young point guard depth, the Bobcats have nothing. They can talk up the Tyson Chandler-Emeka Okafor deal all they want basketball-wise, getting Chandler was all about saving money considering that Chandler cannot stay healthy enough to stay on the court. If Larry doesn't want this to be his last job, he better jump ship quick, because this team this season is not going to be his lead item on the old resume.
Predicted Playoff Seedings
1) Cleveland
2) Orlando
3) Boston
4) Chicago
5) Toronto
6) Indiana
7) Atlanta
8) Miami
Final Four
Chicago over Cleveland
Orlando over Boston
Conference Finals
Orlando over Chicago.
Western conference preview will be up before next Friday. Y'all be cool. Giddyap.
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