1. Detroit - Added depth, they will be fine and win tons of games yet again. 2. Cleveland - The group is together another year, it can only get better. 3. Chicago - Scoring is a problem, still too young in my opinion to suddenly go to #1. 4. Milwaukee - Bogut will impress and Mo Williams is going to rock our worlds (if hes healthy). 5. Indiana - I'm just not liking the situation. Injuries...no stable PG...issues issues issues.
I say that is in perfect order. People act like the Bulls are automatically going to win the division, but we haven't seen them play together etc. The Pistons will be one of the best teams in the league yet again.
Chicago Bulls-Most of the team has been together and I don't see players like Ben Wallace or PJ Brown as a problem really. Sefolosha won't get too many minutes and they'll learn to throw Tyrus Thomas alley-oops after week 1.Detroit Pistons-Still good but losing Ben Wallace drops them a little.Cleveland Cavaliers-It's mostly just LeBron running the show but if they keep Gooden and the supporting cast is more consistent they will be competing for the top spot.Milwaukee Bucks-I like the Bogut-Villanueva combo. They may take the #8 seed again, but I think they'll just miss out.Indiana Pacers-They really didn't do anything to help themselves
Cleveland will definitely be worse if Drew Gooden leaves, I think he's Carlos Boozer II. They will get killed on the glass offensively and wont have any post scoring besides Big Z. Jones and Marshall are just going to chuck up 3s again..Murray is gone..LBJ will do whatever he can but they wont win. I'm picking Chicago over them. All this youth stuff and them not being able to be dominant because of their youth is nonsense. They have good veterans in PJ Brown and Ben Wallace. Add that with a strict coach in Skiles and they'd turn out to be damn good.
1. Bulls-They will have one of the best defenses in the League, and an efficient offense as well with guys like Hinrich, Gordon, Deng, Nocioni who are maturing but can all score 15+ on any given night. I dont think they will have many problems on offense. They have a great defense and great depth anyway. The Pistons and Spurs obviously did fine without one of the most top notch offenses.2. Pistons-Okay, they lose Ben Wallace, but they gain a more offensive type center in Nazr Mohammed. They still have one of the best defenses in the League, and they also added Flip Murray, who will be a spark off the bench.3. Cavaliers-They have one of the best players in the League on their roster, but their team is plagued with problems. They haver an on and off guard in Larry Hughes, old pg who cant do crap on offense in Eric Snow, and to top it off they are one of the worst shooting teams in the League, and the Drew Gooden situation doesnt look good either.4. Indiana-They still have Jermaine O'Neal, and now they have Al Harrington who is a good rebounder, athletic, shooter type Forward. I think he will make a big difference. They also have Marquis Daniels around, and guys like Stephen Jackson, Sarunas, Tinsley. Guys that are capable of creating offense. I think they will do fine, and wont slip off far from last year.5. Now they have a Bogut/CV combo, but they also lost ther pg and floor leader. They have Michael Redd too, and Bobby Simmons, but the Bucks are too inconsistent, and they are an on-off team. I think they will be in the playoff race, but I think I would have to put them at #5 in the tough Central division.
Sarunas might be going back to Europe next year and Jamaal Tinsley is injured constantly, just thought i'd post that tidbit.
I think the battle for #1 is between Detroit and Cleveland. Detroit' 4 players play so well together that i just dont see them losing THAT much ground by losing Ben Wallace. He is awful offensivley and somewhat of a drawback. For the Cavs, if you have Lebron, you always have a shot at being #1. I just dont think that Larry Hughes is that good of a 2nd option anymore. He struggled in the playoffs for them IMO. Big Z is a solid center but I dont think he will be enough to help them get over Detroit.Chicage is still too young. They dont have a first option on offense. You could say Ben Gordon but he is still too young and you cant depend on him to score for you everytime down the court like alot of teams can on certain players. Ben Wallace will help but not a whole lot. IMO, he is just a better version of Tyson Chandler. When Chandler got good PT, he got ALOT of boards and a good number of shot blocks as well. The Bucks are young and getting better. I honestly dont think they lose that much at the PG spot considering Mo Williams is still a good player. They gain a young and very good CV who can do almost anything on the court. Bogut has another year under his belt and Michael Redd isnt going to go anywhere but up for the next couple seasons.The Pacers only player right now is JO. They dont have anything else behind Stephen Jackson who is inconsistent. The rest of their team is made up of unproven guys or players who get injured all the time. I think this could be a very bad season for the Pacers.1. Detroit2. Cavaliers3. Bulls4. Bucks5. Pacers
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BCB @ Aug 6 2006, 04:06 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>1. Detroit - Added depth, they will be fine and win tons of games yet again. 2. Cleveland - The group is together another year, it can only get better. 3. Chicago - Scoring is a problem, still too young in my opinion to suddenly go to #1. 4. Milwaukee - Bogut will impress and Mo Williams is going to rock our worlds (if hes healthy). 5. Indiana - I'm just not liking the situation. Injuries...no stable PG...issues issues issues.</div>I agree with that list perfectly. I don't see why people are thinking Big Ben will autmoatically make Chicago the best in the Central and make Detroit barely a winning team anymore. I mean C'mon we haven't even seen him play in a Bulls uni yet.
