Pre-Season Ranking Eastern Conference

[Def Swami]

Thats probably the worst ranking job Ive ever seen. The Cavs have nothing besides Lebron. Big Ben isnt the defensive presence he used to be, and Wally is not reliable offense. The Celtics are worse than last year with the loss of Posey. After House and Big Baby, I cant name anyone else on their bench. Plus, the Big Three are another year older. The acquisition of JO by the Raps is being overrated. I know they got a quality players in Bosh, Jose, and Barngani, but their team is not even close to Orlando's.

The Bucks got scoring power with Redd, RJ, Bogut, and Mo, and they'll play D under Skiles, so I think they'll claim the 8 seed. Both MIA and IND are ranked too high because they got problems on the bench.

Dwight is coming back with a year's more experience, Turk and Lew are still going to shoot the lights out, Jameer should be more comfortable now that he's running an actual offense, and weve added depth with additions like Lee, AJ, MP, and Battie. Orlando has kept up with the rising East and I wouldnt be surprised to see them end up as one of the top two seeds, ahead of Boston. It's hard to believe that the Cavs, Raps, and Sixers are better teams than Orlando.

[richboy]

Well this shouldn't shock anyone. Last year despite our record most had us as the 4th best in the East. Some may not respect the Cavs but I'm not one of those some. The Cavs play defense as well as anyone not named Boston. They rebound like Crazy. They have a player that can get him or anyone a shot anytime he wants. They were not far removed from 50 wins last year and they didn't have Varejao and Daniel Gibson for a chunk of the year. Even Lebron missed 7 games that I'm not sure they won any of them. Not surprised the Cavs might be considered better than us.

For the most part I think teams 3-8 could all be extremely close. You'll see some people say 3 and some say 6 or 7. Really look on teams on paper and tell me who is much better than the other. Orlando, Washington, Cleveland, Toronto, Miami, Phili. IMO these teams talent wise are very even. Matter of fact I would say that if all those teams stayed healthy for 82 games they all likely be within 4 or 5 games of each other in the standings. Seriously you can't take even someone saying we are a bottom seed as a knock. Seriously if Toronto, Phili, Cleveland stayed healthy for a year they could win more games than us.

Just for note to the poster who said Brand missed 2 seasons. Brand played 80 games in 07. He has not missed 2 seasons. I believe he was injured in the offseason. Last time Brand was healthy they won 40 games in a tough West. Cuttino Mobley was the third best player.

Most people outside of Orlando are not huge Battie fans. I'm not really sure why some of you are such Battie backers. Last time we saw him most were saying he shouldn't be playing in front of Darko. Now we talk of him like he a savior for our depth up front. MP has been considered a bust by most for years. Most are not going to consider him a big upgrade. Lee is a rookie and first year players that are not drafted very high don't usually factor in preseason rankings. Every team thinks they drafted an allstar right now. Almost all the rookies look like studs in summer league. Then real games come around and most are sitting on the bench with most fans saying why isn't he playing remember the summer league.

[magicmamma]

As I remember, last year the question was would the Magic make the playoffs, because the Magic had improved little while other teams in the East improved a lot. We were generally predicted to be 8th or 9th. If it has gone up to 6th, we're sitting pretty.

[craig01]

As I remember, last year the question was would the Magic make the playoffs, because the Magic had improved little while other teams in the East improved a lot. We were generally predicted to be 8th or 9th. If it has gone up to 6th, we're sitting pretty.

LOL. That's a 25% improvement.

[eyriq]

About Battie Richboy, it's not that I think he is a savior or anything, but last year after Cook was injured we had NO ONE to sub in for Lewis. Garrity couldn't earn the PT nor could Augie, so it fell to Hedo and Lewis to man the 4 full time, and against the likes of Detroit that was a deal breaker. Even relying on Cook to be the primary backup meant that we could not go big, ever. It was always the same look on offense and defense, three point shooters surrounding Dwight in the middle. Battle will give us the option to go big, which will pay huge dividends. For instance, imagine a lineup of Hedo/MP/Lewis/Battie/Howard. That is big, explosive offensively, and very good defensively. I think that the flexibility that both MP and Battie gives SVG is where their true value lies, and is why I think the Magic will be so much the better next year.

[otownflava21]

lol ummm....that writer is WRONG. if we win our division(as she predicts), doesnt that automatically make us a top 4 seed?!?!

[goodluckchuck]

i honestly can't believe that the cavs, sixers and raptors got ranked ahead of us...

they dont realize that cleveland has done NOTHING! this summer, so let's see we were better than them last year and we will be better than them this year. sixers? they'll be good, but not better than us. i say they win 48-52 games and finish 4th, while we win anywhere between 55 and 60 games and finish 2nd or 3rd. raptors??? they have 3 players....enough said. JO is injured half the time, and when he's healthy they have bosh who plays exactly the same. they should be called the toronto caldenealoshes, because that's all they have. as we saw in the playoffs, bargnani blows, now they dont have a back up pg so jose will have to play a lot more and will be tired, kapono sucks. boston will be boston, although i do expect them to fall off a little bit due to the losses of posey, brown and cassell. detroit will be detroit although theyre getting old. the top 5 teams will be pretty close. my prediction is this:

1. boston, 61-21
2. orlando, 57-25
3. detroit, 56-26
4. philly, 51-31
5. cleveland, 49-33
6. toronto, 48-34
7. washington, 45-37
8. new jersey, 42-40

while i mostly agree on what you said, saying kapono sucks is just being dumb. Yes, kapono had a horrible season with TOR, but he broke out in the playoffs against you guys... so i have no idea why you would say that.

[drsd]

2. Cleveland Cavaliers: There is only one thing that makes the Cavaliers the second-best team in the East: LeBron James. Simply put, Bron Bron is one of the top-5 players in the NBA.

So, having a top five player increase a team rank. Ok. If so then Orlando with the best Center in the NBA must also be a #2 team???

I agree that Orlando could compete with Detroit for the #2 slot. And if any of Boston's big-three gets injured, Orlando might win the East out-right. Certainly the Magic will win the South East which means Orlando can be ranked no worse than #4. Period.

[lapassione]

it is really not easy to make a prediction on east this season.
last season; boston and detroit were much better than the rest. orlando was a bit better than the next four. hawks was no:8. it was a clear picture right from the start.

this season; on paper;
boston and detroit will be a little worse than last year. boston now has the ring, they will be less hungry to fight, plus they lost some bench power, also, they will be older.
detroit will be a year older, plus they have this question over their heads about keeping their core or breaking it.
orlando will be a little better. d12 will be better this year. hedo/jameer/lewis will be more used to and comfortable with SVG offense and defense. MP and battie will provide a defensive presense which we lacked last year.
Wizards will find out how they fare with their big three (if) healthy. toronto will find out JO is a good fit or not. Philly will adapt Brand. Also, Cavaliers will find out how their blockbuster trade will get them. This probably is their last chance with Bron.
I think there is a good chance this 7 team will be close to each other. I dont expect any team to walk away from the rest as Boston and Detroit did last year. It is likely 2 of the 4 teams experimenting new guys will be unsuccessful (cavs, wiz, philly, toronto) and fill the 6-7 spots.
I predict; top 5 will be close to each other with the following teams:
Boston-Detroit-Orlando + 2 of (cavs, wiz, philly, toronto). Any one of these teams can make a case (a good case scenario) about how they can win east.
So can we.

[trebone]

we played better last season when no one expected us to do anything i dont mind this a bit let the team polay with a chip on their shoulder, this ranking could single handidly give us another 3-4 wins this season!

[magickingdom]

If anyone remembers during some of the PreOlympics basketball games. The announcers talked about Dwight being the best center in the NBA and also how with their (the magic) additions, they felt the Magic would be in the top 3 of the East.
And as far as MP not doing anything. From what I undersstand, He can lock down defend. And last year we lost a lot of game because no one could stop all those no name shooting guards. It was not the bigs that beat us, but the gaurds of the league.
I like this teams with Battie because it gives us the opportunity to play big when we need to or go small. And no drop off on offense.
Having Gortat get better does not hurt either. Remember, we never saw Him play till the Olympics.
Yea, we got better.

[SS_MagicMark]

Did I see someone call Bargnani a quality player?

Personally, I don't think our record this year will be much different than it was last year. The team is better, but IMO they played over their heads last season (hey, it beats underachieving). This year, they'll be a legit 50+ win team.

[happypedro12]

I just think its funny that they have a team that we stomped in the playoffs ranked higher than us. This ranking should be more like what teams made the best moves in the off season rather than the order they will finish.

lol just standard Magic hatred I can't believe ppl aren't expecting this by now.

[richboy]

Dwight is a great player but we have to calm down with we have Dwight so that is equal to Lebron. Lebron is comparable to the best players ever at his position. Dwight or Yao are the best centers in the league right now but that isn't saying too much. He right now is not comparable to the top centers to play the game. We need Dwight to improve. We need his post game to improve. We need his free throws to improve. We need his passing to improve. We need to see his jump shot to improve. Really I'm not sure what to expect from Dwight next year. He did not improve during the year last season. I think perhaps that is the first time I felt that. His free throw shooting looks worse during these Olympic pregames. I know he was injured but I thought he would at least be able to get some work done on his form at the line. Plus we need Dwight to get out of these if he doesn't get the ball he looses energy. If he gets a couple quick fouls he struggles to ever get going in the game. If we are going to take it to the next level we are going to have Dwight take his game to the next level.

[grayson11]

"And now back to the 2011 NBA Finals brought to you by ESPN:

Mike Tirico: 'The Orlando Magic have just swept the Los Angeles Lakers to win the Larry O'Brien Trophy! How will the NBA Champs led by Finals MVP Dwight Howard fare next season, Stephen A.?'

S.A.S.: 'Quite frankly, 6th in the East...'

[magicmamma]

"And now back to the 2011 NBA Finals brought to you by ESPN:

Mike Tirico: 'The Orlando Magic have just swept the Los Angeles Lakers to win the Larry O'Brien Trophy! How will the NBA Champs led by Finals MVP Dwight Howard fare next season, Stephen A.?'

S.A.S.: 'Quite frankly, 6th in the East...'

That totally broke me up.

[sChOlaRlY_Magi]

IDK... Maybe it's homerish, but if MP's defense can outweigh is mental lapses and free throw issues; plus the gel factor as well as the Van Guny-ness factor... I think we could be marginally better than last year actually.

I really think that Lee will be a factor also...

*Edit* We still need to get that point guard and if possible another banger PF/C

[Bucs80]

honestly...

I believe our range is 3-6, Philadelphia Washington, Cleveland, Orlando, all as good as each other when healthy. Depending on injuries, we could end up anywhere into the 3rd through 6th slot.

The thing is, can Hedo repeat what he did last year. If he dosen't repeat or become better, and ends up like that roll player he was scoring 11-12 points a game a few years ago. Without anybody else stepping up to that allstar level he played last year. I think we will be a 500. team, Rashard Lewis isn't that type of player.

But I think Hedo will be alright. So it's still on

[Bucs80]

Dwight is a great player but we have to calm down with we have Dwight so that is equal to Lebron. Lebron is comparable to the best players ever at his position. Dwight or Yao are the best centers in the league right now but that isn't saying too much. He right now is not comparable to the top centers to play the game. We need Dwight to improve. We need his post game to improve. We need his free throws to improve. We need his passing to improve. We need to see his jump shot to improve. Really I'm not sure what to expect from Dwight next year. He did not improve during the year last season. I think perhaps that is the first time I felt that. His free throw shooting looks worse during these Olympic pregames. I know he was injured but I thought he would at least be able to get some work done on his form at the line. Plus we need Dwight to get out of these if he doesn't get the ball he looses energy. If he gets a couple quick fouls he struggles to ever get going in the game. If we are going to take it to the next level we are going to have Dwight take his game to the next level.

I agree with you with Dwight Howard. I think Dwight is a top 10 player in the league, but the way he plays, and and how his performances were in big games against great teams in the playoffs (Detroit). It just showed how limited his offensive ability is and how he how he isn't effective in the offensive end unless he is getting offensive rebounds or dunking it close to the basket. Lebron James, who is arguably the best player in the NBA, He plays large when he needs to and takes over games. Dwight can't do that. That's what seperates Lebron James and Dwight Howard, ability to play huge in big games playoffs.

[tjm384]

I have a better chance of getting the preseason rankings right by putting the teams randomly on a dart board and throwing the darts blindfolded...nice job crackerjack staff of hoopsworld