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There's been too much whining about the fact that there's nothing to talk about this off-season. Everyone knows the reason for that is because we are the defending champs and not much change has come about. posey, yeah. ok, but that's it. right??

How about all the EC teams that made upgrades. Cavs got "Mo better" ( I hate ESPN's corny headlines). Toronto got bosh and JO. not bad. Bucks should improve. Hawks?? not so much. Pistons got Kwame. kwame? are we talking about kwame? not too sure if that's a desperate move or if DET knows something everyone else does'nt. NJ is in rebuilding mode. Indiana got beefed up....for 2010.lol. Chicago is still a mess. Magic's stilll pretty much the same. Wizards might be the EC version of the suns but with a bit more toughness and who knows if agent zero will miss zero games. 6ers got EB. Bobcats got L brown if he stays long enough. ( remember when brown was rumored to be on the cees coaching staff?? thank god that never happened ) Heat should get in the playoffs. ( wade looks very threatening. see olympics vs. greece. he was ballin ) and the knicks got dantoni which should make for an interesting running knicks team??? huh? idk about that move either. The only one that can run on that team is crawford and little nate. everyone else will be lagging behind them, hence the "interesting" comment. I feel the heat will make the biggest improvement since they lost over 60 games last season.

So, what's not to talk about??

The Celts are still in a class by themselves with respect to the East, but Boston's #1 threat could be Philly. If Brand returns anywhere close to the incredible player he was before he got hurt they have a solid team.

There are 4 teams in the east who are a threat to us. In order

1. Detriot, if they are on and we are average they can beat us period; an ok offseason for them they should age more then us.

2. Cleavland, Mo williams fills a hole, but can he defend in the playoffs, still this team got better in the offseason and they took us to the limit last time they are a real threat.

3. Orlando, Plenty of firepower, DH is the man, if their parts are all clicking they could come up and surprise us. Lots of length lots of shooting a a real man in the post, PG is their weakness.

4. Toronto, if the old JO comes back and him and bosh can coexist they have a nice cast of supporting players who could give us headaches,unless its really the old JO they couldnt beat us in a 7 game series.

No one else in the east poses a real threat

Spin Move wrote:There are 4 teams in the east who are a threat to us. In order

1. Detriot, if they are on and we are average they can beat us period; an ok offseason for them they should age more then us.

2. Cleavland, Mo williams fills a hole, but can he defend in the playoffs, still this team got better in the offseason and they took us to the limit last time they are a real threat.

3. Orlando, Plenty of firepower, DH is the man, if their parts are all clicking they could come up and surprise us. Lots of length lots of shooting a a real man in the post, PG is their weakness.

4. Toronto, if the old JO comes back and him and bosh can coexist they have a nice cast of supporting players who could give us headaches,unless its really the old JO they couldnt beat us in a 7 game series.

No one else in the east poses a real threat

Orlando, in my opinion, is still not ready for primetime, and Toronto still sucks...I think Philly, by adding Brand, is better than them (which I know will hurt the feelings of all the Craptor fans who hoped to hang a "4th place-Atlantic Division" banner in their hallowed rafters )

I like Detroit, Philly and Cleveland in the East. I think Cleveland made a big upgrade with Mo. The first guy they have gotten in quite a while that's legitimately a "good" player to go with Lebron. EB of course is huge with Philly and knocks them up a ton.. Detroit should remain about the same..

Pete

Spin Move wrote:There are 4 teams in the east who are a threat to us. In order

1. Detriot, if they are on and we are average they can beat us period; an ok offseason for them they should age more then us.

2. Cleavland, Mo williams fills a hole, but can he defend in the playoffs, still this team got better in the offseason and they took us to the limit last time they are a real threat.

3. Orlando, Plenty of firepower, DH is the man, if their parts are all clicking they could come up and surprise us. Lots of length lots of shooting a a real man in the post, PG is their weakness.

4. Toronto, if the old JO comes back and him and bosh can coexist they have a nice cast of supporting players who could give us headaches,unless its really the old JO they couldnt beat us in a 7 game series.

No one else in the east poses a real threat

Where's MIA or am i da only 1 who thinks they will be a threat? bigger than oralndo and toronto. JO is on the slide but he might make a good 6th man.

The East actually has a bunch of kind of good teams now. Assuming Philly, Toronto and Cleveland are all better, the C's regular season record could take a hit.

Cleveland is always a threat. Detroit is finished. Philadelphia and Atlanta worry me. Orlando is never a good play-off team. Washington is still one player away. Chicago could bounce back with a new coach.

Cleveland is certainly a threat with another move or two. Other than them, there are only two EC teams that I think can potentially prevent a real threat - Philly and ourselves

Where's MIA or am i da only 1 who thinks they will be a threat? bigger than oralndo and toronto. JO is on the slide but he might make a good 6th man.[/quote]

Wade/Marion/Beasely is a nice trio but the rest of the team is a question mark imo. who starts at the point,wheres the outside shooting. Whos the starting center? Blount?! I'd think about starting a Marion/Beasley/Haslem frontcourt,heck they might have to.

Orlando seemed to give us matchup problems, perhaps because both forwards are outside shooters and hence KG is pulled out of the post -- and they have a real post scorer as well. So they're a little more of a threat than pure team quality would suggest.

Conversely, I think we're a tough matchup for Philly 2008. They'll outwork a lot of teams, but I don't foresee the Cs getting outworked consistently enough by ANYBODY to lose a whole series because of it.