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4. Toronto Raptors – In terms of net rating (pace-adjusted point differential), only two teams in the East last season outperformed Toronto: Miami and Indiana. Neither will be as formidable as they were last season, setting up the Raptors to fill the void as one of the better teams in the conference. It wouldn't come as much of a surprise for Toronto to finish third to Cleveland and Chicago, particularly with DeMar DeRozan, Jonas Valanciunas and Terrence Ross all still developing. The Raptors aren't threatening to unseat the best teams in the conference yet, but rare are the two-way teams with legitimate upward mobility.

Bankai wrote:I like how they say we are 3rd but then rank us at 4 just because.

3. Washington Wizards – Frankly, Washington underperformed for much of the 2013-14 season. Too often the Wiz played down to the level of their competition, which resulted in 44 wins and the No. 5 seed (out of a tiebreaker with the No. 6 Nets) for a team that should have been in the running for third. Another year of progress for John Wall and Bradley Beal should help, as will the keynote acquisition of Pierce. With the latter, Washington adds a needed creator to get its offense out of all-too-familiar jams, all while maintaining defensive competence. That on its own would be valuable, but to bring in Pierce while also retaining Marcin Gortat and fleshing out the frontcourt reserves (with Kris Humphries and DeJuan Blair) positions the Wizards for a fascinating run.

UnderdogRaptors wrote:if we beat the washed up bulls would we be getting all this praise lmao?

Raps Maniac wrote:

UnderdogRaptors wrote:if we beat the washed up bulls would we be getting all this praise lmao?

Are you asking us if you laughed your ass off?

dacrusha wrote:Is there something I'm missing about the Bulls?

They were mediocre last year, switched Boozer for Gasol, and everyone seems to be giving the Bulls a big boost for MVP-form Rose coming back... even though it's pretty clear that Rose will never regain that form again.

UnderdogRaptors wrote:if we beat the washed up bulls would we be getting all this praise lmao?

BlackIce wrote:

dacrusha wrote:Is there something I'm missing about the Bulls?

They were mediocre last year, switched Boozer for Gasol, and everyone seems to be giving the Bulls a big boost for MVP-form Rose coming back... even though it's pretty clear that Rose will never regain that form again.

By all accounts Rose is back healthy, he doesn't have to be MVP level to be a huge upgrade over who was playing PG last year. They added one of the best player's in Europe too in Mirotić, he's a nice compliment to Rose/Gibson/Noah/Gasol and can play pick and pop basketball which should help space the floor.

By your logic we made no major moves outside of resigning our core and adding Lou so we likely won't improve either by a big margin. Of course internal growth is a factor for us and continued quality play by Lowry. Likewise, a healthy Rose for CHI and adding a legit post presence offensively in Gasol. McDermott should help space as well. That said I'll be cheering for the Raptors but your approach is simplistic imo.