Official Eastern Conference Prediction Thread

[Debit One]

Playoff Locks:

Boston
Cleveland
Detroit
Orlando


Playoff Probables:

Philadelphia
Toronto
Atlanta


Playoff Improbables: (1 of this group makes it, not because they are good, but because they are the best of the rest)

Milwaukee
Washington
Chicago
Indiana
Charlotte
Miami


Playoff Impossibles:

New York
New Jersey

[iveyfanclub]

1. Orlando
2. Boston
3. Detroit
4. Cleveland
5. Miami
6. Philadelphia
7. Chicago
8. Toronto


9. Atlanta
10. Milwaukee
11. Charlotte
12. Washington
13. Indiana
14. New Jersey
15. New York

[Nowak008]

My list maybe a bit controversial.

1)Detroit- I like all of their young players and I think think they retake the number one spot. The fact that they can get a guy like Stucky after all of their success is unfair.

2)Boston- They lost arguably their 3rd best player and no one seems to care. Losing Posey is going to matter. Also they are a year older and not as hungry to win a championship.

3)Cavs- Obviously a Mo homer so I think he is going to help tremendously. They aren't a team built to win a lot of games in the regular season, but I think they cruise through the east in the playoffs.

4)Orlando - Winner of the SE division. I can't say I like how they are building around Howard. Lewis contract makes Redd looks like a steal. I don't like Felton very much, but I think he'd be a good fit for them. All of his tricks trying to finish could be cleaned up by D12

5)Philly - The Brand deal is obviously a good coup and a talent upgrade. I'm worried though that this will change their identity of making defensive plays to generate their offense.

6) Indiana - I'm not a fan of TJ Ford, although that was a really good trade for them. Ford/Dunleavy/Granger>>>Ridnour/Redd/Jefferson.

7)Wizards - Everyone is writing them off and I'm not sure why. Gilbert will be back and were fine last year with out him. I like Blatch a lot for a break out year. The Wizards always find a way to make it into the playoffs.

8)Toronto - I think they struggle a bit because of Calderon's inability to play 40 mins and not really having much besides Bosh.

I think we are competitive for the playoffs this year and finish with 37 wins.



I know a lot of people are saying that the East is getting better, but I just don't see it. If anything it could get worse. Sure the bottom teams will be improved. They are still

[midranger]

1. Boston 57 - 25
2. Detroit 55 - 28
3. Cleveland 50 - 32
4. Philadelphia 47 - 35
5. Orlando 46 - 36
6. Miami 41 - 41
7. Toronto 41 -41
8. Atlanta 39 - 43

9. Indiana 39 - 43
10. Washington 38 - 44
11. Charlotte 33 - 49
12. Milwaukee 33 - 49
13. Chicago 32 - 50
14. New York 25 - 57
15. New Jersey 20 - 62

[Andrew34r]

And so far in the thrilling Milwaukee Bucks board battle of who will be the biggest piece of *$#& team in the NBA this year....its New York with 11 votes and the New Jersey Nets with 14 votes!

[WEFFPIM]

1. Boston
2. Cleveland
3. Detroit
4. Orlando
5. Toronto
6. Philadelphia
7. Atlanta
8. Miami
9. Charlotte
10. Chicago
11. Washington
12. Milwaukee (31-51)
13. Indiana
14. New Jersey
15. New York

[jeremyd236]

1. Boston
2. Cleveland
3. Detroit
4. Philadelphia
5. Orlando
6. Miami
7. Toronto
8. Milwaukee
9. Atlanta
10. Chicago
11. Washington
12. Charlotte
13. Indiana
14. New Jersey
15. New York

[ReasonablySober]

Those aren't really my predictions. I just went by what Vegas thought. They seem to like Chicago more than everyone here. I'd tend to agree. I think they're a playoff team.

[GrandAdmiralDan]

1. Celtics - Losing Posey will hurt. If I wasn't unsure about Curry being an inexperienced coach, I would probably move the Pistons up to #1. Maybe.
2. Pistons - While I'm concerned about Curry, this is probably one of the teams most equipped to overcome an inexperienced and/or poor coach (not saying Curry will be good or bad, I just don't know) with as many good veterans. Their younger pieces such as Maxiell and Stuckey will be huge. Not sure about Amir Johnson though.
3. Cavs - LeBron is simply an absurdly good player and he is one of two players (the other being Wade) that I believe Mo can play well next to.
4. Magic - I actually predict they'll be 8th in the East record wise, but winning their division means they have to be one of the top four seeds. Dwight Howard is a beast. I do think Hedo will have a similarly successful season, but I'm not so optimistic about Rashard Lewis. Jameer Nelson at PG is still a problem for them, IMO.
5. Bucks - Among significant changes is not being such a dysfunctional organization from the top down (at least temporarily). Skiles is most significant addition. Richard Jefferson of course is key, but perhaps more key is the replacement of Mo Williams with a playmaking PG like Ridnour who is a defensive upgrade. In order to finish this high, Sessions will need to get his act together, or if not, Lue or Bell will need to step up and provide quality minutes at PG behind Ridnour.
6. Pacers - TJ Ford is perfect for what Coach O'Brien likes to do, and that will bode well especially for Dunleavy and Granger. Murphy will be productive as well in O'Brien's system with Ford running the show, and Foster will be key with providing second chances with offensive rebounds as well as starting the fast break by outlet passing to Ford after defensive rebounds. I'm skeptical of Jarret Jack, so I think Diener might have to be the guy behind Ford.
7. Sixers - Brand addition is HUGE, but the key to this team is still Andre Miller.
8. Raptors - If Jermaine remains healthy, that is huge for them defensively. Calderon at PG eases the loss of Ford somewhat, but Ukic is going to have to exceed my expectations at backup PG. A key to the Raptors success the past two seasons was being able to provide so many minutes of quality PG play. When both Ford and Calderon were healthy, they could provide 48 minutes of top quality PG play. If one was hurt, the other could step up and play more minutes.
9. Bulls - I'm not at all sold on Vinny Del Negro as coach, particularly on a team like this, and a team that expects much from their rookie PG. Rose will indeed be a big time addition. Hinrich will bounce back after having a fluke bad year (though they might choose to trade him at some point). Deng will have a good year without having the contract distraction hanging around. Not sure about Ben Gordon though. His contract dispute last season really hampered the start of his and the team's season. The contractual issues were less shocking in many respects this season, but they still exist.
than people think.
10. Heat - Wade looked great on Team USA, and his health is key as always. Will Shawn Marion have a good year in a contract year? Probably. Beasely will score quite a bit for a rookie. But aside from that, and quality role player Udonis Haslem, the Heat really don't have anything else on their roster... at all. I expect Spoelstra to end up being a good coach in this league, but I suppose there might be a slight learning curve.
11. Hawks - Even if Joe Johnson does most of the running of the offense, I still don't know about Mike Bibby at PG for this team. Maybe. But losing Josh Childress will hurt more than some would expect. And Woodson is still a terrible coach.
12. Wizards - Every year for the last 3 or 4 years I seem to rank them significantly lower than they finish. So perhaps that happens again. But I think this is the year I finally peg them correctly. I think Caron Butler will have a very good year, but the time missed from Gilbert Arenas and Brendan Haywood will be costly
13. Bobcats - I think their roster is terrible, and I would rank them lower if not for the fact they have a good coach now.
14. Knicks - I think their roster is terrible, and I would rank them lower if not for the fact they have a good coach now.
15. Nets - Really, really bad next season. Yi still hasn't had any real time off so he will likely either start the season in "rookie wall" mode or get back to that unfortunate point fairly soon. The Nets time is in years to come (perhaps), not now. I do think Yi will pan out still, but it will not be in his second year. It will be in year 3 and/or year 4. Devin Harris is a nice young piece as well, but that won't do them much good this season.



The most consistent opinion seems to be that the worst and second worst teams in the East (in whichever order) will be New York and New Jersey.

I still would like to see the prediction threads from last season. MD I thought had bookmarked it and was going to bring it back at the end of the season (if he did, I do not recall)

[Max Green]

1. Celtics
2. Cavs
3. Philly
4. Pistons
5. Bucks
6. Magic
7. Wiz
8. Heat

I can see the Bucks finishing anywhere from 4th-6th. It really depends on how much Sheed' and Billups have regressed during the offseason because of there age. Alot of teams in the East either stayed the same or got worst do to personal moves. Only the Bucks, Heat, Cavs and Philly actually improved their roster during the offseason.

[Joana]

And so far in the thrilling Milwaukee Bucks board battle of who will be the biggest piece of *$#& team in the NBA this year....its New York with 11 votes and the New Jersey Nets with 14 votes!

Where's the WC prediction thread? I believe the worst team in the NBA next season will belong to that conference.

---

GAD, just a side-note: I expect Solomon to be Toronto's backup PG, not Ukic.

[AussieBuck]

Celtics
Pistons
Cavs
Sixers
Magic

The above teams are locks IMO

Toronto
Miami (Wade is that good)
Bucks (Biased)

Hawks
Pacers
Bulls
Wizards
Bobcats
Knicks
Nets

[Nowak008]

GAD is the biggest homer of all time. On facebook he predicted that the Brewers would win the world series.

[bandini]

1. Boston
2. Detroit
3. Orlando
4. Cleveland
5. Philly
6. Toronto
7. Washington
8. Atlanta
9. Milwaukee
10. Miami
11. Chicago
12. Indiana
13. New York
14. New Jersey
15. Charlotte

[ReasonablySober]

I think six or seven of us predicted Charlotte to have a better season than Milwaukee. Some here have them as one of the two or three worst teams in the East. Head to head they really seem comparable with the Bucks.

[DutchManDanFan]

1. Boston
2. Cleveland
3. Philadelphia
4. Orlando
5. Detroit
6. Toronto
7. Miami
8. Atlanta
9. Chicago
10. Washington
11. Indiana
12. New York
13. Charlotte
14. Milwaukee
15. New Jersey

[jerrod]

I think six or seven of us predicted Charlotte to have a better season than Milwaukee. Some here have them as one of the two or three worst teams in the East. Head to head they really seem comparable with the Bucks.

yeah, but they always look like that. they might be more underachieving than we are

[ReasonablySober]

They just went out and got an even more accomplished, more respected coach than we did. If we're counting on Skiles to right the ship, shouldn't they expect the same with LB?

[jerrod]

They just went out and got an even more accomplished, more respected coach than we did. If we're counting on Skiles to right the ship, shouldn't they expect the same with LB?

he's more accomplished overall but his recent track record has been awful. combine that with the greatest player of all time/ worst gm of all time and it sounds pretty combustible to me

[ReasonablySober]

Rod Higgins is the worst GM of all time?