RealGM

Cleveland
PG: Mo Williams/Daniel Gibson
SG: Delonte West/Anthony Parker
SF: LeBron James/Jamario Moon
PF: Anderson Varejao/J.J Hickson/Joe Smith (if re-signs)
C: Shaquille O'Neal/Zydrunas Ilgauskas



Orlando
PG - Jameer Nelson/Anthony Johnson
SG - Vince Carter/Michael Pietrus, JJ Redick
SF - Rashard Lewis/Matt Barnes
PF - Brandon Bass/Ryan Anderson
C - Dwight Howard/Marcin Gortat

Orlando. All we have to do is run the pick and roll with Rondo/Perk and there's nothing Shaq can do to stop R^2 getting to the rim or him dishing to a wide open Pierce/Allen/KG

CLE. Like I said before. We matchup perfectly with ORL. We put Perk (or Wallace) on Howard and call it a day. If they move Lewis to PF we have KG defending him and not Davis or Scal...

Orlando by a sifnificant margin. Perk neutralizes Dwight, but their supporting cast is much more talented overall than Cleveland's outside LeConfiscate.

Cleveland.

Orlando has the better Talent but Lebron gets to bring his own referees to every game.

lojowo wrote:Cleveland.

Orlando has the better Talent but Lebron gets to bring his own referees to every game.

This is the correct answer.

While I think the Magic are the deeper team, Cleveland scares me more. I guess you could say they're more unpredictable.

I still think Orlando is tougher, Cleveland even with James is one piece short IMO.

Defense wins, and unless you could find a way to stop Lebron then it is cleveland.

Daniels won't help us there, PP need a backup defender ala Posey to take a few defense trips from him.

aboubata wrote:Defense wins, and unless you could find a way to stop Lebron then it is cleveland.

Daniels won't help us there, PP need a backup defender ala Posey to take a few defense trips from him.

Pierce shut him down pretty good in 2008.

Orlando.

They add a healthy Nelson, plus Bass, Carter, Anderson, and Barnes. Not bad starting 5 right there, if that's all they had. Plus Dwight, Peitrus, Lewis, Gortat, and Johnson. The team is at least ten deep.

Lose Turk (expensive and overated, although he was underated before he became overated-- go figure) and Rafer (headcase, sketchy D). What a great offseason.

Losing Lee was tough, but they had to give up something.

Signing Bass is bigger news than reported so far. This guy is going to be open under the hoop. A lot. Right at the basket. He's now the underated guy, but that will change this year. He's a beast.

Anderson is a player, too, not just a throw-in in the trade. He plays tough, smart, and can hit the three.

And they got Gortat back. Not a bad backup C at all.

Prediction: Celtics beat Magic in game 7 ECF, in Orlando! Then beat Spurs in 6, at home!

Kevin Garnett can make Rashard Lewis a non-factor. However we could be in trouble if Orlando goes big more often (which they more than likely will do) and uses Rashard Lewis @ SF as we still do not have a back-up SF/PF capable of guarding guys like him. Marquis Daniels can help with VC (but might hurt us offensively). On the plus side, a front court of Rashard Lewis (Edited - I meant Rasheed Wallace - that was my bad) & KG can potentially draw Dwight Howard out of the paint. Orlando matches up with us better now than ever.

Cleveland meanwhile has always given us fits from time to time, and has had an awesome offseason (at least a good offseason) despite losing Ben Wallace who clearly helped them when he was in their starting lineup. On a per minute basis last season - Z. Ilgauskas L. James M. Williams D. West A. Varejao was every bit as good as our starting lineup (and will have better chemistry next season - source: http://www.nba.com/statistics/plusminus ... it=9&team=). Shaq might be old, but can still contribute. And then you add Jamario Moon and Anthony Parker who are very underrated pickups for a team like the Cavs that lacked depth last season. These guys are two of the leagues best role players - both defend really well, both can shoot, both are very unselfish - and they are both versatile enough to cover two positions. They cement the Cavs' depth without requiring Mike Brown to bother with any sort of complicated rotation.

I will still have to go with Cleveland. They were the best last season and have had a great offseason. Varejao's the type of guy that can likely defend Rasheed Wallace, Z/Shaq can put a presence on KG on the inside, and PP will have to exert energy guarding Lebron as we still do not have a backup SF (Daniels won't help a ton versus Lebron, or I will be surprised if he does).

Absolutely, positively Cleveland.

We haven't been able to beat the Cavs in Cleveland in years. They have always given us problems. Have always played us tough. Meanwhile Orlando took 7 games to get by us without KG (!) and Powe. We are flat out better than them - not a tough out. VC never scared me and the loss of Hedo is a biggy. KG makes Rashard look like a confused college freshman. Cleveland will be much tougher.

For the sake of clarity, I will post Cleveland's ACTUAL roster.

PG Mo Williams/Daniel Gibson
SG Delonte West/Anthony Parker/Danny Green/Tarence Kinsey
SF LeBron James/Jamario Moon/Jawad Williams
PF Anderson Varejao/(Leon Powe?)/JJ Hickson/Darnell Jackson
C Shaqalier/Big Z

umn, that's the exact same roster as the OP's. Maybe the OP edited?

And even if CLE signs Leon Powe, he won't be in your rotation. But god help him to be ready by next year.


ORL-CLE comes down to defense.

We can guard Vince Carter, D-12, and Rashard when healthy. Although we'll have trouble with all of them on one team.

We can't guard LeBron.

And the Pierce shut down LeBron comment... that wasn't a Celtic fan. In 2008, Pierce was able to match LeBron offensively in a game 7, help mitigate his effect so the quality of the rest of the Celtics can lead to victory. Pierce however in spans did shut down Kobe and neutralized him with his ability to get to the basket at will on the offensive end.

Cleveland will not be any better than they were last year, but they were pretty damn good.

Orlando's roster is absolutely stacked. On paper, they look a helluva lot better than last year's team.

We will be much improved with Sheed/Daniels*, another year of growth for Rondo/Perk and a full year of good health for GAP (and hopefully Perk doesn't screw up his shoulder half a dozen times). We'll still have the best starting 5 in the league for the third straight year, that cannot be underestimated.

Right now, on paper? I'm gonna say C's in 6/7 over either team If I had to choose a team I'd rather face, I'd go with Cleveland. Then again, I'd rather face Cleveland, Orlando and LA and beat all three, but Cleveland, to me, just lacks the versatility to win a title or beat a contending team in a series.

PS -at least one of these three teams are gonna get by the injury bug this year, so who knows.

* - ?

It's very difficult to say before we see them all in action.

Just based on past experience, it's got to be Cleveland. They completely destroyed our offense in 2008. Pierce shot 40% and Ray averaged 9ppg on 33% shooting! We're a much more dangerous offensive team with Sheed and Daniels off the bench and Rondo and Perk improved, but if Cleveland's D is anything like it has been, we'll be in for a serious dogfight. Hopefully the Shaq-Big Ben swap will open up some cracks in that D.

Orlando doesn't scare me as much. They can cause us problems, but not enough to favor them in a best of 7. With KG and Perk/Wallace, we really match-up well with their unorthodox frontline. They'll struggle matching up with Paul Pierce.

I vote Cavs. Orlando as good as they are are still a gimmic. If we were healthy we would have beat them easy. The same can not be said for the cavs. LBS is better than the orlando magic.

celticfan42487 wrote:umn, that's the exact same roster as the OP's. Maybe the OP edited?

He missed guys that will undeniably get playing time (Danny Green, Darnell Jackson), the rest our situational fill ins.....

Powe is projected to come back in Feb so if all goes well he'll see PT in the playoffs