RealGM

I didnt see a topic on the board about this if there is just point me in that direction.....

Just wondering how other Bobcats fans see the East particulary us, ending up this year. I dont really have a good vibe about this team and alot of my family & friends in Fayetteville went to the preseason game last night and they all seem think the 'Cats are in for a long year.

My predictions:

1. Miami -- too much talent
2. Boston
3. Orlando
4. Chicago
5. Atlanta
6. New York
7. Milwaukee
8. Washington- my sleeper, they have alot of young talent & if they develop they're gonna be good
------------------------------
9 Toronto - no star but think they will play as a "team" & could go 12 deep, better than ppl think
10 Philadelphia
11 Indiana
12 Cleveland - no LBJ but the other guys on this team have playoff/final experience & thats valuable
13 Charlotte
14 Detroit
15 New Jersey

As of right now:

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

IMO, spots 6-11 will probably be a few wins apart each. We could make the playoffs, we could miss the playoffs, it all depends on our play in late-March and April.

Miami will be great in the regular season
Orlando too
Atlanta's good
Boston's tough but old
Milwaukee-excellent defensive club, added some role players that should help
Chicago- Will Boozer be mostly healthy?
Charlotte-Excellent defensive club, stubborn old bastard at the helm
New York-good D'Antoni team
Philly-lot of talent, better coach, don't think they quite make the cut
Cleveland-should be hard to beat
Washington-Shine on kid Raleigh
Detroit???
Toronto???
Indiana???
New Jersey

You're nuts if you think Toronto, Philly, and Cleveland are going to be above us.

I think the Pacers could make some noise this year.

SWEDD523 wrote:You're nuts if you think Toronto, Philly, and Cleveland are going to be above us.

Then call me nuts!!!.... And what are you basing your assesment off of?? Toronto is a team made up entirely of role players, they could go 12 deep every game, they might have 8 players all averaging between 10-15 ppg. Im not calling them a lock but if you line them up next to us we have the better key players(Jax & Crash), they have better depth & better prospects. I think Weems while have a breakout yr, Kleiza is a solid player...I think their team may be a case of addition by subtraction.

Cleveland has a team of vets and young guys like Hickson that should develop plus they have years of playoff experience including the Finals. People expect since LBJ is gone they are just gonna disappear...I dont, I think they have a chip on there shoulder

Philly i'll give you but I think they will be better than us....Iggy i think will improve after the World Champshps, Evan will have a decent rookie year and I like the rest of their pieces better than ours....


Like someone said spots 7-15 are a crap shot, I love Crash, I will tolerate Jax but after that all of our pieces are suspect & we look like we are having the same scoring issues that we had last year....

No for real man, you're a crazy person. We won more games than Toronto WHEN THEY HAD CHRIS BOSH. We won SEVENTEEN more games than Philly. Did they sign Dwight Howard when I wasn't looking?

Cleveland, admittedly, at least has some players on the roster... if LeBron is only worth, say, 20 games, they would be comparable to us.

Paydro70 wrote:No for real man, you're a crazy person. We won more games than Toronto WHEN THEY HAD CHRIS BOSH. We won SEVENTEEN more games than Philly. Did they sign Dwight Howard when I wasn't looking?

Cleveland, admittedly, at least has some players on the roster... if LeBron is only worth, say, 20 games, they would be comparable to us.

The only problem with Cleveland is that we don't know how many of those players they'll still have in February. If they lose early, I would expect a few of them (Jamison, Williams, possibly Varejao) to be traded.

I have a feeling that Toronto will do New Jersey numbers from last year while New Jersey will slightly improve on their record unless they manage to get Melo by the deadline.

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

Jesus Christ, Rich. I was thinking I was down on our chances for this season (relative to the board), but apparently not...

Am I the only one who thinks that New York will suck this year?

I don't think they will make the playoffs.

If they trade for Melo, then I don't see how they're going to be that good. It's this late in the off season so all of the good players have been picked up, and they're going to trade Chandler, Galinari, Randolph, and whatever other talent to get him so they're going to be screwed.

Not because of Ammo but I see Washington making the Playoffs. Gilbert got them there with Jamison, Butler, and Hughes and a lacking Front Court a couple years ago. Judging by his attitude during Media Day, he's more focused on Basketball as he was before he went down with the injury. But with Wall, Thorton, Yi, Blatche, Hinrich, and McGee, they seem to have more attack. Not a lot of attack with those players acting individually, but as a team attack they can do some good. Gilbert will lead them and Wall will be like Derick Rose and Tyrek Evans in their Rookie years. Difference with Wall is, he has a focused Gilbert Arenas on his side.

Walt Cronkite wrote:Miami will be great in the regular season
Orlando too
Atlanta's good
Boston's tough but old
Milwaukee-excellent defensive club, added some role players that should help
Chicago- Will Boozer be mostly healthy?
Charlotte-Excellent defensive club, stubborn old bastard at the helm
New York-good D'Antoni team
Philly-lot of talent, better coach, don't think they quite make the cut
Cleveland-should be hard to beat
Washington-Shine on kid Raleigh
Detroit???
Toronto???
Indiana???
New Jersey

Atlanta cant be top 4, top 4 is restricted for winners of the divisions ie Miami Boston Milwaukee and then the best second place which would be orlando, Atlanta would be third and the best spot possible is 5th, even if atl had a better record the winners of the divisions get the top 4

misterglover wrote:Then call me nuts!!!.... And what are you basing your assesment off of?? Toronto is a team made up entirely of role players, they could go 12 deep every game, they might have 8 players all averaging between 10-15 ppg. Im not calling them a lock but if you line them up next to us we have the better key players(Jax & Crash), they have better depth & better prospects. I think Weems while have a breakout yr, Kleiza is a solid player...I think their team may be a case of addition by subtraction.

Cleveland has a team of vets and young guys like Hickson that should develop plus they have years of playoff experience including the Finals. People expect since LBJ is gone they are just gonna disappear...I dont, I think they have a chip on there shoulder

Philly i'll give you but I think they will be better than us....Iggy i think will improve after the World Champshps, Evan will have a decent rookie year and I like the rest of their pieces better than ours....

Like someone said spots 7-15 are a crap shot, I love Crash, I will tolerate Jax but after that all of our pieces are suspect & we look like we are having the same scoring issues that we had last year....

I see your point but I think you're giving Toronto & Cleveland too much credit. Talent assessment is correct but you've added a little bit of hype to Cleveland and Toronto. They're in rebuilding form right now and our Playoff spot is still ours. We didn't really start over like those teams but it could go either way. If Toronto pulls it together and Cleveland proves people wrong and gets more wins than us, I wouldn't be shocked. But we also have the opportunity to outshine them and I say that because of our Coaching. Not to take anything away from Bryon Scott, but he doesn't have a Jason Kidd or Chris Paul this time around. I also see Cleveland being better than Toronto. Swap those two and I agree with your list.

1. miami - 65
2. orlando - 57
3. boston - 52
4. chicago - 51
5. milwaukee - 46
6. atlanta - 45
7. washington - 42
8. detroit - 41
9. charlotte - 39
10. new york - 38
11. cleveland - 36
12. philadelphia - 33
13. indiana - 30
14. toronto - 27
15. new jersey - 24

i think detroit is a serious wild card team. if they start out ok early they could make a serious push for the playoffs. that team still has lots of talent and proven, experienced guys. however, if they start out slow i could see them blowing that team apart at the all-star break and finishing at the bottom. for now, i'm predicting them to hang together one more year and finish around 41 wins.

washington, detroit, charlotte, new york and cleveland will all finish within a few games of each other and have an intense april as they all fight for the last 2 spots.

i dont think the wheels will fall of the cavs as fast as everyone is predicting. they will still be a 35 win team w/out lebron (at least next year).

i think atlanta will regress a little this year. i just dont believe in joe johnson as an alpha dog. plus that team has seemingly been super lucky in terms of avoiding injuries they past few years. they have very little depth and rely heavily on their top 7 players.

boston will cruise through the regular season again and then turn it up a few notches for the playoffs.

1. Miami
2. Orlando
3. Boston
4. Chicago
5. Atlanta
6. Milwaukee
7. New York

Barring injuries, I think these teams are locks. That leaves the 8th spot up for grabs between

Charlotte, Indiana and Toronto.

And I honestly like the Pacers roster more than I do ours. They've added a young stud in Collison at the point. Hibbert has dropped weight and looked dominant during the pre-season and Granger looks to finally be healthy.

And I agree with whoever was extolling Toronto's depth. Klieza is one of the most under-rated SF's in the league. And now that he's finally got an opportunity to play significant minutes, he's going to show everyone why.

I think people have been huffing the Milwaukee pipe a little too hard. I personally think they come back down to Earth with a thud this season.

Agreed with dmutombo321 though - the Pacers are becoming a VERY likebale team. If Paul George pans out then they will be a Tyrus Thomas type PF away from being a very cool team IMO.

my questions for milwaukee

1) can they hold it together until bogut returns?
2) will bogut be close to 100% anytime during the season?
3) how much will maggette/redd negatively impact their win/loss totals (thats right negatively)
4) how much will losing ridnour effect team chemisty?

that being said, i still like them as a team this year. jennings will be better and salmons should continue where he left off. gooden gives them a post game. they have lots of shooters off the bench. and defensively they will still be one of the best.

I have my doubts about Jennings getting better next season.