With all the offseason moves made by teams in the Atlantic division, Can the Raptors still be number 1? So far every team has made big move besides for the 76ers.</p> Boston has got the Big 3 now. They have Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garrnet, that is a powerful big three, but they are lacking depth, which could be a reason why they don't do as good as expected. They have signed some FA's, but they are still lacking depth.</p> My Prediction:50-32</p> </p> New York has made some nice offseason moves aswell, they have aquired Zack Randolph and Fred Jones. Z-Bo was is a nice play to get, now NY has a power house frontcourt in Eddy Curry and Zach Randolph, they could do some damage. And they also got rid of Steve Francis and his contract. The only problem i can see the knicks having is sharing the ball, because many players on the Knicks like shoot and not pass. That might be their biggest problem. The Knicks also have some nice depth, they a nice young bench.</p> My Prediction:41-41</p> </p> New Jersey hasn't made many offseason moves so far, but they did aquire Jamaal Magloire. Now they have a decent front court in Nenad Krstic. They will also have a healty team this year, last year, Krstic was out for the entire season, and Richard Jefferson would out for half the season. With all of their injuries, NJ still pulled off a .500 record and made it to the second round. I think the Nets could get over 50 wins this season.</p> My Prediction: 52-30</p> </p> Philadelphia hasn't made many offseason moves so far, but they do have a nice PG and a young SG in Andre Iguodala. They have a nice young core of players, but they don't have enough talent or leadership yet to make the playoffs.</p> My Prediction:34-48</p> </p> Toronto has made a few moves, but no major ones. They have aquired Jason Kapono, Carlos Delfino, and Maceo Baston, and lost Morris Peterson. The Raptors have lots of depth, which will win games for them. And they have a nice young PF/C in Andrea Bargnani, which will have a even better season than they did last year. And they still have their PG combo in TJ Ford and Jose Calderon, they can both create space and are very good passers. They still have their leader, Chris Bosh.</p> My Prediction:48-34</p> </p> This is my prediction of the Atlantic Division:</p> New Jersey - 52-30</p> Boston - 50-32</p> Toronto - 48-34</p> New York - 41-41</p> Philadelphia - 34-48</p> </p> The Raptors will still make the playoffs, but not win the division. The Atlantic Division is no longer the Titanic Division, it is becoming one of the best.... </p>
One of my friends is a 76ers fan, and he told me that the 6ers will finish second to the Celtics. He said he's 100% sure they will finish ahead of NJ and 68% sure they will finish ahead of Toronto. I haven't stopped laughing yet.</p> </p> I think Toronto is being overlooked in a lot of places. They won last year & have improved with some nice moves. I don't see the Celtics getting more than 50 games of their triumvirate together, healthy. I just hope RJ & Nenad come back from injury strong for the Nets. The Knicks are the Knicks, and the 76ers might be the worst team in the East. </p>
Toronto definetly can win the division. They return basically their entire team plus Kapono, Delfino, and Baston who could fit perfectly in their system. Getting Bargnani back 100 percent healthy helps as well and Bosh is only going to get better.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Real)</div><div class='quotemain'>Toronto definetly can win the division. They return basically their entire team plus Kapono, Delfino, and Baston who could fit perfectly in their system. Getting Bargnani back 100 percent healthy helps as well and Bosh is only going to get better.</div></p> </p> Yes we have aquired Kapono, Delifino, and Baston but I can't see Baston getting much PT, he will probably just get some garbage minutes at the most. Kapono is a better shooter that Mo-Pete, but he doesn't play the defence live Mo did. Delifino will make up for Mo's defence tho. So we really only stayed the same. </p>
Toronto can most certainly win the division. I honestly don't see the Celts winning more than 45 games. New York and Philly have no shot. It's just basically NJ, but who knows how we'll be this year with injuries. If everyone can stay on the court, it could come down to the last game of the season to determine who wins the Atlantic.
I think it would be extremely hard for the Nets to win 52 games, after the moves they made this summer and JKidd playing ball this summer.</p> -Petey</p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (JCB)</div><div class='quotemain'>Toronto can most certainly win the division. I honestly don't see the Celts winning more than 45 games. New York and Philly have no shot. It's just basically NJ, but who knows how we'll be this year with injuries. If everyone can stay on the court, it could come down to the last game of the season to determine who wins the Atlantic.</div></p> </p> Yeah, i can only see the Celtics only winning 45-50 games. The Atlantic will be a race, there are 3 teams that could win it, Raptors,Celtics,New Jersey (Not saying New York CAN"T win it, but it's not likely)</p> It really has to do with injuries and depth. Any team could get hit with the injury bug, nobody knows...but depth is key when injuries happen. When The Raps had all their injuries, there depth helped them out alot to keep winning, and not go on a loseing streak. But if New Jersey or Boston has injuries, they don't have much depth, especially Boston, all they have is a starting 5, no bench at all. New Jersey has some bench as in Marcus Williams, Sean Williams, Josh Boone, Bostjan Nachbar, and Antoine Wright.</p> </p> There is so many things that could affect the outcome of the Atlantic division, it's almost just a flip of a coin...</p>
Raptors effectively traded Mo Pete for Jason Kapono. Tread water? All improvement must come from internal growth. Bargnani stepping it up would do wonders.</p> Knicks are struggling to get traction, but I think they're going to improve at least a little bit.</p> Nets seem like a team already declined (to 41 wins) and playing on borrowed time (Kidd has a career year at age 73).</p> Philly is in a world of hurt and has a lot more rebuilding to do. I'm not sure they improve their record.</p> Boston makes the big jump. If the guys beyond the big three just play solid ball, the could jump 30 wins. At who's expense?</p> My take is that if the Raptors get through the first 2/3 of the season in first place, they'll be beating up on teams who've lost their heart the rest of the way, and they could end up with 50 wins.</p> </p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Denny Crane)</div><div class='quotemain'> Raptors effectively traded Mo Pete for Jason Kapono. Tread water? All improvement must come from internal growth. Bargnani stepping it up would do wonders.</p> Knicks are struggling to get traction, but I think they're going to improve at least a little bit.</p> Nets seem like a team already declined (to 41 wins) and playing on borrowed time (Kidd has a career year at age 73).</p> Philly is in a world of hurt and has a lot more rebuilding to do. I'm not sure they improve their record.</p> Boston makes the big jump. If the guys beyond the big three just play solid ball, the could jump 30 wins. At who's expense?</p> My take is that if the Raptors get through the first 2/3 of the season in first place, they'll be beating up on teams who've lost their heart the rest of the way, and they could end up with 50 wins.</p> </p> </div></p> </p> Yes that is true, our schedule isn't that hard, we probably will beat up on the weak teams, but facing the better teams will be a challange, plus very exciting to watch, I expect many close games this season against tuff teams. We have the offence to keep up with the good teams, but do we have the defence to keep up with them. In the end, if we beat up on the weak teams, and fight against the big teams like the Suns,Mavs,Cavs,Spurs etc. We could get 50+ wins.</p>
They need Bosh to be a full strength before they can think about overtaking Boston. But I'm looking forward to a fantastic division race this year.
Sure, they could, but I'm not ready to jump on the Toronto bandwagon yet.</p> They had a great year in 2006, it was a good story. But who's to say they improve? Is that such a forgone conclusion? Is it ridiculous to think Toronto might not do as well in 2007? I dunno. I want to see them repeat last year's success before I place them as one of the top four teams in the East as they were last year. </p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ATLien)</div><div class='quotemain'> Sure, they could, but I'm not ready to jump on the Toronto bandwagon yet.</p> They had a great year in 2006, it was a good story. But who's to say they improve? Is that such a forgone conclusion? Is it ridiculous to think Toronto might not do as well in 2007? I dunno. I want to see them repeat last year's success before I place them as one of the top four teams in the East as they were last year. </p> </div></p> </p> Yeah, it is hard to tell if they improved. We could win more games this year, or we could win less. It could go either way. But I really wanna see them get 50+ wins and take the Atlantic for the second straight year, but who knows...</p> I'll wait till the season starts before I jump on any bandwagon...lol </p>
There is no doubt in my mind that the Raptors can take the Atlantic divison again this season if they continue to play the same style of basketball they were playing last season from Decemeber and on. Look at the record from the beginning of January I beleive it was top 5 in the entire NBA, they were just tearing through teams one at a time night in night out. Now add the development of all our young players like Bargnani with a year of experiance under his belt, Bosh continuing to grow his game, Calderon, Ford, Delfino, Kapono. People over look the Raptors this season because we didnt add any huge FAs to our roster or we didnt make any blockbuster deals but why should we break up an equation to a winning team??I predict the Atlantic will look a little like this:Raptors: 52-30New Jersey: 44-38Boston: 40-42Philadelphia: 30-52New York: 30-52
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (MosDefinitely)</div><div class='quotemain'>There is no doubt in my mind that the Raptors can take the Atlantic divison again this season if they continue to play the same style of basketball they were playing last season from Decemeber and on. Look at the record from the beginning of January I beleive it was top 5 in the entire NBA, they were just tearing through teams one at a time night in night out. Now add the development of all our young players like Bargnani with a year of experiance under his belt, Bosh continuing to grow his game, Calderon, Ford, Delfino, Kapono. People over look the Raptors this season because we didnt add any huge FAs to our roster or we didnt make any blockbuster deals but why should we break up an equation to a winning team?? I predict the Atlantic will look a little like this: Raptors: 52-30 New Jersey: 44-38 Boston: 40-42 Philadelphia: 30-52 New York: 30-52</div></p> Woah there, The Atlantic is looking pretty weak there. Boston will get more that 40 wins, they will get at least 45-50. </p> NJ, well, that could be right. But it could go either way.</p> NY will do better than 30 wins, that got more than 30 wins last year and they didn't have as good of a team, I expect them to get 35-40 wins.</p> Phila, that seems about right...</p> </p>
The raptors play an unselfish ball moving style of game that works well over an 82 game season since whilst Bosh is the star, he doesnt have to carry the team ala LeBron. Barring Injury to TJ (their most important player, really gets CB4 the ball consistantly well) they are in the drivers seat. It is entirely dependant on 3 main factors though, none of which TDot can controll:</p> 1. Bostons supporting cast looking better on court than on paper.</p> 2. Magloire and Kristic giving the Jersey post some swagger and muscle</p> 3. The knicks getting nate, starbury and whoever else to pass the damn ball.</p> its looking like Raptors at the moment and its theirs to lose.</p>
Bargnani is the biggest factor I think. There were times during last season where he played more like a veteran than a rookie. If he can bring that more often this season he can help the Raptors maintain their place atop the Atlantic.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (speeds)</div><div class='quotemain'>Bargnani is the biggest factor I think. There were times during last season where he played more like a veteran than a rookie. If he can bring that more often this season he can help the Raptors maintain their place atop the Atlantic.</div></p> </p> Bargnani Needs to develop a post move. He is nice and tall, and he is bulking up, so it would be really nice to see him develop a post move.</p> And he needs to stop traveling too, he travels like 2-3 times a game, that has to stop...</p>
//</p> rookie calls. Dirk travlled almost as much but Bargs doesn't have the refs in his pocket yet.</p> I don't think Boston will come close to 50 wins this year.</p>
I think the Raptors will take the atlantic again (exculding injuries).</p> </p> The Nets, as one other said already, are playing on borrowed time and Kidd isnt guaranteed to play the way he did last season. They got better but they are not a better regular season team than the Raptors imo.</p> </p> The Celtics are built for the playoffs, not the regular season imo. All their stars have never played a full season though that could change since each of them wont feel that they have to carry the team. </p> </p> The Knicks are still a question mark. They got better much but by how much-who freaking knows at this point.</p> </p> Sixers suck! </p> </p> Prediction:</p> Raptors: 51-31</p> Nets: 45-37</p> Celtics: 47-35 </p> Knicks: 39-45</p> Sixers: 31-51 </p>
