They will be anywhere between 3rd or 5th seed in the East, and if Orlando doesn't play like they did last year, Cavs can sneak the 2nd spot.
So you don't think Detroit will be the 2nd seed then? Interesting. I don't think Mo Williams is that great of a player to be honest. I think they will be as good as they were last year. Ben Wallace is still gonna be horrible, Big Z is gonna be older, Wally's knees can't be any better than last year. If they make a trade towards the deadline that brings in a great talent, then it's a whole nother ballgame and I could see Lebron surge to the NBA finals.
I don't think they will be any better than finishing in the 4th spot. Boston, Detroit, Philly, Toronto, and Orlando are all better.
I don't see them any better then 4th. The Celtics, Pistons and Magic will all be better. I'll also venture to say I think the 76ers could be better. They have the talent, I just want to see how they mesh on court.
It depends what they acquire for Wally. Right now they're probably the 4th or 5th best team in the East behind Boston, Detroit, Orlando, & Philly
Well in my predictions article (Still working on both, having trouble gauging how long it should be), I have the Cavs at 4th best behind Boston, Orlando, and Detroit. But the East is so fickle that I can see any team besides the Celtics, like Orlando, Detroit, Philly, Cleveland, or Toronto to fight for each others spots.
I believe (and hope) that the Raptors will also be better than Cavs. But Celts, Pistons and Orlando should be able to get a better spot than Cavs.
come on people. at worst, the cavs are the 3rd best team in the east. the raptors, magic, and sixers are simply not as good as cleveland.
The Raptors season hinges on health. If Bosh and JO can actually stay healthy for a change, they have the ability to be a top 4 team in the league. Of course this also assumes that JO looks like the JO of old instead of an old JO.
What leads you to think this? The Cavs still have no proven commodities aside from LeBron. Mo Williams is good, but he's inconsistent. Big Ben is trash...Wally sucks...Big Z is becoming more and more of an offensive liability - he's not basically a face up shooting big man - Boobie Gibson is inconsistent...you get the hunch. Unless Mo Williams learns consistency this year and they get some type of offensive contributions elsewhere, I don't see how they're going to be better than the 76ers, who will only be BETTER this year with Brand, the Magic, and maybe even the Raptors. All three of those teams have a lot more talent than Cleveland and their talent is a lot more consistent too.
really? no proven commodities aside from lebron? what makes you believe that? last year the cavs were 4th in the east. everyone on their roster missed time. lebron missed 7 games(all losses). gibson, pavlovic, varejao all missed significant time. z missed the most games he has in years. they aren't going to have all those injuries(and holdouts) this season. the cavs have the best player in the league. they also have a good 3 guard rotation(mo, west, gibson), a group of decent wing players(wally, pavlovic, kinsey), and a very solid inside rotation that brings great defense(z, varejao, wallace). that right there is enough to put them in at least the 3rd spot in the east. and depending on the development of hickson and what kind of trades they may make with their expiring contracts, and you could be looking at a title. the sixers are way overrated with the addition of brand. the magic are pretty much exactly the same team as last year and i guess we'll see if they can duplicate their success. and adding jermaine oneal at the expense of tj ford doesn't move the raptors ahead of the cavs.
I don't put Raps over Cavs but if Raps are healthy it could happen. Magic and Cavs are interchangeable IMO for 3rd and 4th in the East. They are just too different to be compared. In terms of season success win-lose stats... it's hard to say, I think they will be close.
I have them 6th. They did not improve during the offseason*, and the East is becoming steadily more top-heavy. *I realize they traded for Maurice Williams, and it was pointless. They already had two good guards who could do exactly what Williams does.
So he's a little better than the other two. The fact is, both West and Gibson did just fine and the Cavs didn't have a need for another point guard. Williams is not a star, not close to a star, and won't help Cleveland nearly as much as people think.
