Boston, Cleveland, Orlando Pretty much locks to finish #1, 2, or 3. All three have made moves and improved this summer, and I look forward to watching these three battle it out next season. Should be fun. So how would you guys rank these three?
IMO all three are pretty close. #1 Boston - They took the Eastern Conference Champs, Orlando Magic, to 7 games, without their best player, Kevin Garnett. This year, they get him back healthy, added Rasheed Wallace, who will try to prove to his critics he can still play at a high level. Made a great move signing Marquis Daniels, who was a steal. And let Stephon Marbury walk. If Rondo and Perkins continue to develop, they will be even scarier. #2 Orlando - Defending Eastern Conference Champs. Lost to the Lakers in 5, but could have very well pushed the series to 7 if Lee didn't miss his layup in Game 2, and if they made a free throw down the stretch in Game 4. Was skeptical about the Vince Carter trade at first, but looking at their roster, Otis Smith has done a fine job preparing them for next season. They are probably the deepest team in the league. With the signing of Bass, and retaining FA Gortat, along with Ryan Anderson from the VC trade, they have a very deep and dangerous front court, coupled with Dwight Howard. With Nelson back healthy, they gain another allstar, and he will surely be a big upgrade over Alston. #3 Cleveland - I thought they were overrated last year, and obviously they proved me right. I like what they did this offseason, trading scraps for Shaquille O'Neal. Anthony Parker was a low key signing, but it was a smart move. They pretty much kept the entire team from last year together, and added Shaq and Parker. They obviously improved, anybody trying to spin the Shaq trade as a negative for the Cavs are just nit picking IMO. He will give Lebron help next year, as long as he stays healthy. I wouldn't be too surprised if CLE ended up with the best record in the league again, to be honest. But I don't see them beating Boston or Orlando in a 7 game series.
I'd put Cleveland ahead of Orlando. They acquired Shaq, the first legitamite post player LeBron has played with, for nothing, while Orlando pretty much stagnated. Vince is 32, and they acquired him at the expense of two starters (one directly, one indirectly). Bass is a decent player, but he's coming off the bench and won't make a critical difference. Meanwhile, Gortat manages to not embarrass himself in limited minutes in the playoffs, and is suddenly earning nicknames such as 'the Polish hammer'.
I'd like to see first if Boston can stay healthy, I'd switch Orlando and them around. I like Orlando's moves too they're deeper this year and a pretty solid group. Their main issue to me is whether Nelson can stay healthy, at least Dwight is durable though.
Gortat is a solid player. He can be a starter in the league. He plays well when given the minutes, just check his game log. Filled in great for Dwight when he was suspended against the Sixers.
1 Lebron- I would say the Cavs but lets face it they are the Cleveland Lebron's 2 Boston- Big Ticket and the Truth...freakin awsome 3 Detroit- Its a brand new Daye in the Motor City, lovin the off season.
Detroit won't even make the playoffs. I lol'ed for about 15 minutes straight when I heard they signed Ben Gordon and CV to those ridiculous deals. Gonzaga hasn't delivered anything to the NBA since John Stockton.
Ronny Turiaf says "Hi" Okay, it might just be me but I see the Wizards as the 2 or 3 seed if Arenas can comeback (behind Celtics and competing with Cavs) and be something similar to the top notch scoring threat he was a few years ago. All he needs to do now is to be a 20 ppg guy now that Caron has become a better offensive player and they added more talent like Mike Miller, Nick Young, Foye, McGuire, etc.
I totally disagree with the thought that Orlando improved in the offseason. In my opinion, they are worse now. With that being said, they are still top 3 with Cleveland and Boston. However, if Miami gets Odom and/or Boozer I'd rank them ahead of either Cleveland and possibly Orlando.
i think if healthy washingtons better than cleveland and possibly orlando...i also think atlanta has the potential to be very dangerous this year.
I think Boston will be #1. They pushed Orlando to 7 games without KG, which is more than what the Cavs can say. They added Rasheed Wallace, which could give them the best defensive FC in the East. They'll have depth with adding Marquis Daniels and likely moving Kendrick Perkins to the bench. They do need to resign Glen Davis though, he showed that he can absolutely play when given the chance this past playoffs. I also think Rajon Rondo will continue to the be the best PG in the East, and if he improves that jumper of his, he could be even more dangerous. I see Orlando being the #2 spot. I think they might have taken a slight step back by losing Hedo, but I like what they gained in getting VC. I think Carter alone adds that offensive dimension that they were missing. He's a guy that has the ability to take over a game when he's on. I also love the addition of Ryan Andersen. The kid can flat out shoot the rock and gives them nice depth at the 3/4 spot. Resigning Gortat also gives them a nice, though slightly unnecessary commodity coming off the bench. He's got starter ability in this league, and I imagine he'll see an increase in minutes this year. Brandon Bass was also a nice addition. And in 3rd comes Cleveland. I still don't know what to think of their Shaq move. On one hand, it gives LeBron some proven help, on the other hand, he occupies a lot of the space that LeBron likes to use. We'll see how that works. If he can be the same Shaq we saw last season, he could really help the Cavs. It also helps their bench depth, because they're able to move Big Z to the bench, which will be a nice piece there. I also like the addition of Anthony Parker. He's a dead eye shooter that can absolutely light it up. I think they could have done better this offseason - either gotten Ariza or Ron with their MLE - but they're at a crossroads of trying to improve while having their superstar not knowing his future there, which has likely hurt them this offseason.
Health permitting, I think Boston's clearly the best team in the conference. I think they did an excellent job at shoring up their lineup with Sheed and Daniels, and I expect Rondo to continue to improve. I'd guess that Orlando comes second. However, I think people wrongly assume that Vince Carter can step in and improve upon Hedo's production. He's a better overall player than Turkoglu, but Hedo's passing and playmaking ability was especially valuable to the Magic. I'm not sure Carter'll be able to re-create that and I wonder how it'll affect them. Cleveland will probably place 3rd, and I guess I'm in the majority for not being very impressed with the Shaq trade. The Cavs have thrived by playing tough team defense and running the ball through Lebron on offense. Shaq detrimentally affects the former and might get in the way of the latter. After the Big 3, I think Atlanta, Toronto, and Washington will jostle for spots 4-6. And I think Chicago, Detroit, Charlotte, and Philadelphis (if they re-sign Andre Miller) fight for the last two spots.
Toronto? Really? I think Miami is going to be better than them. I don't know how big of a difference maker Hedo can be. We'll see I suppose.
The thing with Toronto is with Jack, they now have a capable Point Guard to back-up Jose. Raptors lost many games last year because of lack of point guard depth. Jack does more then help that case. And Toronto still has moves to make.
Orlando just has too good of a team not to finish first, signed vince carter, matt barnes, gortat, and they are still not done making moves. Boston theres no way anyone can compete with the team if healthy a team with Paul Pierce, eay allen, KG, and Sheed is just too damn strong (only problemm each will play limited minutes so they can compete in the playoffs) Toronto or Cavs call me crazy but raptors have a complete team that can compete this year, hedo jarret jack and carlos delfino are very underrated players in the nba. As far as cavs go I just hope shaq and LBJ can co-exist, Shaq is too old and is used to certain style of game with the suns it takes a major adjustment to go back to your regular style.
So you basically just accused Shaq of being a worse defender than Z and an uninspired Ben Wallace. lol How the hell does Shaq get in the way of the offense running through LeBron? LeBron is still the playmaker. Shaq only helps that, gives the team an actual low-post offensive threat; something they haven't had in the LeBron era. The only offense they've ever gotten from big men is mid-range jumpers from Z and Joe Smith. Plus, if Shaq was willing to take a secondary role when he went to Miami, when he was still in his prime, I think he'll be willing to take a back seat to LeBron, four years later. Ball movement won't be an issue. The offense as a whole will prosper. Really, how is Cleveland not better than Orlando? LeBron is the ultimate franchise player in the league today. Shaq and Mo Williams are as good a two-three combo as Carter and Nelson. The two designated defenders in each starting lineup (West and Pietrus) are pretty equal. The Magic only have an advantage in that Lewis is better than Varejao (although Lewis is really a SF and does nothing down low). Oh, and depth? Orlando's bench: A. Johnson/Barnes/Bass/Gortat (who is essentially trade bait and probably won't even be there by the new year). Cleveland? Gibson/Parker/Moon/Z. Z is by default the best backup center in the league. Gibson and Parker are outstanding outside shooters, which is all you need to surround LeBron with. Advantage Cavs, without a doubt. Factor in Orlando added Carter and three bench players at the expense of two starters (Lee and Turkoglu), and I don't see how Orlando is better, barring injury. No, just... no.
If they trade Gortat they might get an even better player. The guy is so overpaid and they don't even have significant bench minutes for him. Lee doesn't really get Starter minutes, the guy shared time with Pietrus who was probably better. I don't know why he is such a huge loss, the Magic just got Bass and Barnes who will have his impact easily. Carter vs Hedo is another tangent; but if Nelson stays healthy they are automatically better and they didn't need him to beat them this season. Z gets a bad rep, he is more of a jumpshooter now but he had more post moves before. He has the ability to hit jumpers, but he was also one of the best 5 centers in the game from about 2003 onwards with plenty of inside shots earlier on. I think the Cavs are deep but the Magic reloaded as well.
