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All good points, especially about the lost of Turkoglu. For Boston, their new additions are all reserve players. That's an important point I continue to make: The Celtics return with the same starting five. Continuity. Whereas, both Orlando and Cleveland tweaked their starting lineups.

The Orlando Magic reached the NBA Finals last year, but the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Boston Celtics will be the teams to beat in the Eastern Conference this upcoming season.

That's the conclusion that can be drawn from an Orlando Sentinel poll of 11 NBA experts asked to rank the conference's teams from top to bottom. With the flurry of free-agent signings mostly over, the time seemed right to take stock.

The Cavaliers finished first in the overall rankings, just ahead of the Celtics. Boston, however, received six first-place votes while Cleveland was ranked first on five ballots.

The Magic placed third overall. They were ranked as the conference's second-best team on four ballots.

So what happened? Aren't the Magic the defending Eastern Conference champions? Didn't they eliminate the Celtics and the Cavaliers during the playoffs?

The voters think Orlando will miss Hedo Turkoglu and will need time to adjust to a roster filled with new players.

"Continuity tends to win championships," said Steve Kyler, the editor and publisher of HOOPSWORLD, who ranked the Celtics first in the East. "There is little doubt Orlando improved the talent level of the team, but can the new guys fit in as effectively as last year's team did? Can you capture magic twice?"

"The Cleveland Cavaliers didn't lose anyone of significance off the team that won 66 games last season," said John Schuhmann, a writer for NBA.com who picked the Cavs as the East's best team. "They added Shaquille O'Neal and Anthony Parker, both of whom should help them match up better with Boston and Orlando, and they still have the best player in the world."

"In this world the rich get richer," said Hall of Famer Bill Walton, who is an analyst for ESPN. "The three legitimate contenders in the East all got significantly better, but Boston easily improved the most. The title will come down to who controls the paint. The Celtics — with superior talent, depth and versatility up front — have positioned themselves perfectly for a run at No. 18."

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/o ... 8589.story

The C's are ready for # 18......

C's when healthy are not only #1 in the East, but the whole league.

I'll say 68-14 this year.

I wouldnt be shocked if in the end Orlando has the best record in the league next season. I think Vince is an upgrade over Hedo and signing Bass,Barnes,and keeping Gortat adds some nice depth. I still think Boston matches up really nice with Orlando and I'd take Boston in a 7 games series if healthy.... but it seems like Orlando is getting alot of disrespect around realgm lately.

Losing Hedo will hurt Magic. They no longer have a creator in the team. VC is a different kind of player.

"In this world the rich get richer," said Hall of Famer Bill Walton, who is an analyst for ESPN. "The three legitimate contenders in the East all got significantly better, but Boston easily improved the most. The title will come down to who controls the paint. The Celtics — with superior talent, depth and versatility up front — have positioned themselves perfectly for a run at No. 18."

+1

If the majority of 'experts' polled (6 out of 11) say Boston's the top team in the East, then according to them Boston is the Eastern team to beat next year.

1 person picked the C's to beat the Lakers in the finals. Using ESPN for analysis in any sport is pretty dumb. Especially Hollinger AKA Lebron dick rider.

While I don't necessarily agree with the things said about Orlando (what can I say, I am a Magic fan)....I agree that the Celtics will be great this year if KG can stay healthy all season.

In my opinion it will be Magic v Celtics in the ECF this year since I believe both our teams are stronger then the Cavs. Where it goes from there...who knows? Hopefully be seeing you in late May.

D12J14 wrote:While I don't necessarily agree with the things said about Orlando (what can I say, I am a Magic fan)....I agree that the Celtics will be great this year if KG can stay healthy all season.

In my opinion it will be Magic v Celtics in the ECF this year since I believe both our teams are stronger then the Cavs. Where it goes from there...who knows? Hopefully be seeing you in late May.

Very much agree.

I still believe Orlando will miss Courtney Lee defensive potential. Whereas, Vince Carter provides you a proven scorer to go-to but is he among the top clutch players in the league? He has a tendency to pack it in whenever things aren't going well for himself and team. If his game goes south during the playoffs, then who on the Magic to you rely on for points? Nelson? Lewis?

Turkoglu's height, ball handling and shooting range makes him a mismatch at whichever position he's playing: Power forward, small forward or shooting guard. I mean a skilled big man, a versatile player is an asset to any team. You don't just replace that with a dissimilar player. And Carter's more of a finesse player, one who's apt to get injured at some point during the regular season.

I wouldn't want to rely on Carter to defend a team's best scoring threat like LeBron, Pierce, Iguodala, Granger, Wade, C. Butler and Turkoglu.

Is Carter a leader?

I think Orlando will definitely decline. They were greater than the sum of their parts last year; who knows if they will be able to overachieve the same way with Carter replacing Hedo.

All they really did last year was have a nice regular season and upset Cleveland. That may have been mainly due to weird matchups. They barely beat us when they should have destroyed us (and they still needed our crippled team to choke in order to do it).

So, I think they're a solid 3rd going into this season in the East. They'll be pretty good, but they'll be lucky to do as well as last year IMO.

Actually, as far as rankings are concerned, it's fair game. Either one of the Top 3 teams in the East has a strong case and they're pretty much interchangeable to me. I doubt there's a "right" or a "wrong" answer here.

My personal rank would be:

Boston
Orlando
Cleveland

Again, with each fairly interchangeable.

Bruiser wrote:Losing Hedo will hurt Magic. They no longer have a creator in the team. VC is a different kind of player.

Actually, that's a myth many have been under since watching the Playoffs/Finals. Hedo is no better a creator than Vince Carter. Not by any stretch. Anyone who has watched a great deal of Magic basketball would know that.

Hedo was a matchup nightmare. VC, not so much. Talentwise maybe Vince is a shade better, but the Magic beat the Cavs with funky matchups. That wouldn't happen so much this year. imo DH12 has to take the next step for the Magic to be in the same class as Boston and Cleveland. he has to become a dominant force in the paint on the offensive end, a go-to post guy. if that happens, watch out. but it's about as likely as Rondo turning into a triple double machine ala Oscar Robertson.

ParticleMan wrote:Hedo was a matchup nightmare. VC, not so much. Talentwise maybe Vince is a shade better, but the Magic beat the Cavs with funky matchups. That wouldn't happen so much this year. imo DH12 has to take the next step for the Magic to be in the same class as Boston and Cleveland. he has to become a dominant force in the paint on the offensive end, a go-to post guy. if that happens, watch out. but it's about as likely as Rondo turning into a triple double machine ala Oscar Robertson.

I think the only difference this time around is that we have a SG that will make Ray work on defense (something he really didn't have to do with Courtney Lee) and is just another match-up problem with the Cavs since Vince is a lot bigger then Delonte and better. Like I said before it's probably going to be Celtics-Magic in a dogfight for the East that makes the Celtics-Bulls series look like any old playoff series between Magic-Pistons.

If the Magic and Celtics avoid the injury bug they will be the 'teams' to beat imo. You guys really didn't lose that since you lost KG for a lot of last year and were extremely dominant the year before....and I think that Vince is going to add a dimension to the Magic we haven't had since T-Mac. Will be interesting to see to say the least.

ParticleMan wrote:Hedo was a matchup nightmare. VC, not so much. Talentwise maybe Vince is a shade better, but the Magic beat the Cavs with funky matchups. That wouldn't happen so much this year. imo DH12 has to take the next step for the Magic to be in the same class as Boston and Cleveland. he has to become a dominant force in the paint on the offensive end, a go-to post guy. if that happens, watch out. but it's about as likely as Rondo turning into a triple double machine ala Oscar Robertson.

Actually, the Magic beat the Cavaliers because Rashard was knocking shot after shot in Varejao's face, Pietrus outscored the entire Cleveland bench during the series, and the Cavaliers simply couldn't defend a pick and roll. Thing is, Hedo isn't even the team's best Pick and Roll player, and he played a pretty erratic series if anything.

The height difference is rather immaterial in my opinion, especially considering that it doesn't seem to give Hedo any distinct advantage over Carter anyway. He is not a better passer or rebounder than Vince, he is a much less efficient scorer, and he turns the ball over more. That more or less nullifies a 3-inch difference in stature and if you consider the fact that Vince Carter is a double-team waiting to happen, the issue of the Magic losing their edge in matching up is non-existent as well. He can do virtually anything Hedo can.

some people here need to check Vince Carter stat when he play clevland specialy against Delonte West .

The likely top three teams in the eastern conference aren't interchangeable, in my opinion. Because each of those teams have different starting fives, and different strengths and weaknesses. The way I view this: Which of these three teams are capable of clinching home court advantage throughout their conference playoffs? I think of only Cleveland and Boston. Orlando still must prove that there exist at least one player that the team can rely on when it's tight, the score's close. I would think Lewis has to become that player next season. He's the best option Orlando has in terms of a player like Turkoglu who could use his height and shooting range to create mismatches and creating his own shot. Let's not forget that Lewis is certainly being paid as if he's "the man" on Orlando. His contract is larger than D. Howard's.

bonsaiflipflops wrote:I still believe Orlando will miss Courtney Lee defensive potential. Whereas, Vince Carter provides you a proven scorer to go-to but is he among the top clutch players in the league? He has a tendency to pack it in whenever things aren't going well for himself and team. If his game goes south during the playoffs, then who on the Magic to you rely on for points? Nelson? Lewis?

Yes they will. The Magic will rely on Nelson and Lewis and Howard because that's the way it's been even before Carter arrived. I hope you are aware that Hedo Turkoglu was the 4th banana on this team during the regular season, and even he deferred to Jameer Nelson. Even in the Playoffs he was far from the top-dog on offense.

Oh and yes, Vince Carter is widely considered as a clutch player. The Magic are not losing out on anything in that regard

Turkoglu's height, ball handling and shooting range makes him a mismatch at whichever position he's playing: Power forward, small forward or shooting guard. I mean a skilled big man, a versatile player is an asset to any team. You don't just replace that with a dissimilar player. And Carter's more of a finesse player, one who's apt to get injured at some point during the regular season.

History doesn't seem to agree, considering Vince Carter has barely missed any games in his last several seasons.

Hedo is a valuable player to have on your team, and his skills for his size are one of his defining qualities. Yet, I don't see anything that makes him overly unique or irreplaceable for what he does. He has 3-inches on Vince Carter, but it doesn't seem to make him a better rebounder, passer, ball-handler, scorer, or a more efficient player overall. The advantage that supposedly comes with size just isn't there, and to me, that makes the 'height' argument a wash.

I wouldn't want to rely on Carter to defend a team's best scoring threat like LeBron, Pierce, Iguodala, Granger, Wade, C. Butler and Turkoglu.

Carter isn't a lockdown defender, but neither was Turkoglu. I'm not any more worried about Carter defending those guys than when it was Hedo on the job. It's not as if the Magic lost a defensive specialist.