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11 NBA experts rank the Eastern Conference
Ranking Team (First-place votes) Total Points
1 Cleveland (5) 17
2 Boston (6) 20
3 Orlando 30
4 Atlanta 52
5 Washington 68
6 Toronto 70
7 Chicago 72
8 Miami 80
9 Detroit 102
10 Philadelphia 106
11 Charlotte 127
12 Indiana 131
13 New York 143
14 Milwaukee 147
15 New Jersey 155

This is taken from the Wire Tap article from the Orlando paper. Very close votes between seeds 5 - 7, with Atlanta way ahead of the Wiz in votes for the 4th seed.

UPDATE from NBA.com

Pace: 89.7 (17), Off: 107.0 (26), Def: 115.3 (29)
With Gilbert Arenas looking spry in workouts and pro-am action and added depth with Randy Foye and Mike Miller, the Wizards should be the fourth best team in the East. But they're lacking beef on the frontline, which will really hurt them against the top three.
http://www.nba.com/2009/news/powerranki ... index.html

Wow, lots of love for Atlanta (although that just may be by default because of where they finished last year). I don't think the Hawks did enough in the offseason to keep up with the improvements throughout the East. They will lose some of the games they won last year and could find themselves fighting for the #8 spot.

At the moment the Wizards have too many question marks to be considered any higher. I feel the question marks consist of 1) Arenas' health, 2) adjustment to Flips system, 3) integrating new players, and 4) defensive improvement. However, if Arenas is really as good a Flip and Lebron say he is then I wouldn't be surprised if the Wiz end up as the 2nd or 3rd team in the conference.

I can live with that ranking. The homer in me says that the Wizards are hands down better than the Hawks, but I can understand why voters are skeptical about the Wizards improving by 30 or so games in one offseason. It's one thing to not be surprised when it happens. It's another thing to actually predict it.

no D in Hibachi wrote:At the moment the Wizards have too many question marks to be considered any higher. I feel the question marks consist of 1) Arenas' health, 2) adjustment to Flips system, 3) integrating new players, and 4) defensive improvement. However, if Arenas is really as good a Flip and Lebron say he is then I wouldn't be surprised if the Wiz end up as the 2nd or 3rd team in the conference.

Can't disagree with this assessment.

I agree that it's a fair assessment based on how Atlanta and Washington did last season.

But when looking at the two rosters and how each has fared this offseason, I think a case can certainly be made to put Washington at #4.

Little too much support for Atlanta, I think. I'm fine with them being fourth, but I don't see why they should be that far ahead of the tight 5-7th pack.

The more I think about Rashard Lewis missing the first 10 games and the Magic being without Turkoglu and Lee, the more I think Orlando even with Carter will tumble. Washington could win mid 50s and edge them out.

Cleveland with Shaq won't win nearly as many and they're going to be a trainwreck by playoffs.

I could see the Wizards being second to Boston by the playoffs. If Gil's back and you add the perimeter games and passing of Foye and Miller to improved young guys Blatche, Young, and McGee; this team's possibly the best in the east. Jamison and Butler had humiliating seasons and I bet both play better defense this season. They can score in their sleep. Haywood's in a contract year and I'm confident he'll play his best.

I just see Flip and Sam working miracles this season with this team.

Absolutely nothing would surprise me with this team. 44 wins to 56 wins, with 50 being a good guess where they finish. I think they'll be best around playoff time.

Anything's possible. I think no D in Hibachi could be right saying 2nd or 3rd.

The southeast division will be very good to say the least.

If you guys are healthy you can make some trouble in the east.

5th seems like a reasonable place. The Wizards got a LOT better and it's a pretty uninspiring group after the top 3, Atlanta is the only team that has actually demonstrated the ability to go over .500 in the bunch so they pretty much have to go 4th right now.

It's obviously possible for the Wizards to finish higher than 4th, but that really is a best-case scenario to finish even 3rd barring major injuries to the contenders. No D in Hibachi's pretty much got it... if Arenas is back to his old self then the sky's the limit depending on how the rest of the cast gels. If he's a couple steps slow or gets himself hurt again, then this team is looking at a first-round exit.

Joe Smith just signed with ATL for the minimum, ATL is decent, we shouldn't look past them.

If healthy I feel the Wizards are unquestionably better than the Hawks.

Starters
Arenas>>>Bibby
Miller<<<Johnson
Butler>>Williams
Jamison>>Smith
Haywood=<Horford (Although Haywood is the better defender)

Bench
Foye = Crawford
Nick Young >> Jeff Teague
DMac/Healthy Stevenson =< Evens
Blatche >> Smith
Combo of Oberto/McGee > Zaza (If McGee has any improvement I'd say >>) Remember last year against the Hawks McGee had a 18/11 game and a 14/9 game.

Paydro70 wrote:5th seems like a reasonable place. The Wizards got a LOT better and it's a pretty uninspiring group after the top 3, Atlanta is the only team that has actually demonstrated the ability to go over .500 in the bunch so they pretty much have to go 4th right now.

I agree that 5th seems reasonable, and I think Atlanta will probably be as good or better this year. Personally, I find Haywood's play inspiring (assuming he wasn't included in the top 3), am happy with the veteran presence of Miller and Oberto, and the potential of Foye, Blatche, McGee, Young and McGuire. How inspiring are most teams after the top three, or in Cleveland's case, after the top one?

I largely agree with no D in Hibachi's WAS-ATL comaprisions above. To me, of all the teams in the league, the Wizards are the biggest question mark and reasonably have the potential to make a huge and historic leap forward. For now, 5th is fine with me.

Orlando has a cake schedule the first ten games for the most part, so the Lewis suspension shouldn't hurt them too much. They can win a lot of games just with Howard, Carter, and Nelson on the court. Not to mention, they have a deep bench now that should be able to help.

closg00 wrote:Joe Smith just signed with ATL for the minimum, ATL is decent, we shouldn't look past them.

I dunno. It just doesn't seem real that they've turned the corner into a perrenial playoff team (ironically, many probably feel the same way about the Wiz). I keep waiting for them to regress.

You're right that they aren't pushovers. But do you really see them winning 47 games again? I don't. And in the new East, dropping just a few games (say from 47 to 41) could bump them out of the playoffs.

montestewart wrote:I agree that 5th seems reasonable, and I think Atlanta will probably be as good or better this year. Personally, I find Haywood's play inspiring (assuming he wasn't included in the top 3), am happy with the veteran presence of Miller and Oberto, and the potential of Foye, Blatche, McGee, Young and McGuire. How inspiring are most teams after the top three, or in Cleveland's case, after the top one?

I largely agree with no D in Hibachi's WAS-ATL comaprisions above. To me, of all the teams in the league, the Wizards are the biggest question mark and reasonably have the potential to make a huge and historic leap forward. For now, 5th is fine with me.

By "uninspiring after the top 3" I meant "after the top 3 teams in the East." So after Orlando/Cleveland/Boston, I don't think it's clear at all which team is going to turn out to be good, and the Wizards could easily shoot all the way to 4th if everything goes right.

I absolutely agree that the Wiz have plenty of talent at this point, the question simply is whether it will stay healthy and mesh properly.

Paydro70 wrote:By "uninspiring after the top 3" I meant "after the top 3 teams in the East."

Whoops. Ha ha, got it now.

I think a ranking of 5th in East is pretty reasonable. I think the Wizards will be better than the Hawks at the end of the season. However the Hawks are bringing back basically the same team. The Wizards will probably have a slow start as they take some time to gel.

Chocolate City Jordanaire wrote:The more I think about Rashard Lewis missing the first 10 games and the Magic being without Turkoglu and Lee, the more I think Orlando even with Carter will tumble. Washington could win mid 50s and edge them out.

Cleveland with Shaq won't win nearly as many and they're going to be a trainwreck by playoffs.

I could see the Wizards being second to Boston by the playoffs. If Gil's back and you add the perimeter games and passing of Foye and Miller to improved young guys Blatche, Young, and McGee; this team's possibly the best in the east. Jamison and Butler had humiliating seasons and I bet both play better defense this season. They can score in their sleep. Haywood's in a contract year and I'm confident he'll play his best.

I just see Flip and Sam working miracles this season with this team.

Absolutely nothing would surprise me with this team. 44 wins to 56 wins, with 50 being a good guess where they finish. I think they'll be best around playoff time.

Anything's possible. I think no D in Hibachi could be right saying 2nd or 3rd.

that is total bogus.. no way is the placing of wizard that high realistic. there is no proof that arena can push his team that far into the rank past 76ers. all these hype about arena getting into shape is optimistic but shouldnt the orlando sentinal or who ever created this list wait for injury post arena to prove himself?