Predict the Eastern Conference Standings 2013/14

[hands11]

how are your rankings looking.

Still looking like Wiz vs CHI. Just a matter of who gets home court of which we have them 2-0 so we get it.

Just one lose behind them and 1 1/2 total.

Wizards might actually get the 4th seed and home court against CHI.

I think we might fair better against CHI then meeting BRK in the playoffs. They have to many seasoned vets. Come playoff time, I don't think you want to be matched up against them.

[nate33]

Playoff locks:
1. Miami - Still the best team
2. Chicago - Assuming Rose is healthy, they'll be great in the regular season because of Thibs' defense
3. Indiana - I give them the edge over Brooklyn in the regular season because they will play more consistent defense
4. Brooklyn - I don't think Garnett can hold up for 82 games, and when he is out, their defense will suffer.

Likely to make playoffs:
5. Washington - I'm expecting good things. I think Nene will be healthier with the time off and Wall will continue to improve. I'm not expecting much improvement out of Beal though because of his offseason injury.
6. Atlanta - Their interior defense is a concern. They have no height with Horford as the starting center and Brand as the backup. And they no longer have Josh Smith as a weakside shot blocker.
7. New York - Melo and Chandler are good, Smith and Felton are okay. Everyone else stinks. Nevertheless, Melo and Chandler should be enough to get them to the playoffs.

On the bubble:
8. Toronto - They have an expensive roster that should be good enough to get them near .500
9. Detroit - They'll be a nightmare to play against because of their D, but they'll struggle to score.
10. Cleveland - If Bynum and Varejao can combine to form one healthy center for most of the regular season, they could be in the mix for the playoffs. I have serious doubts about both of them though.
11. Milwaukee - They always seem to be near .500. They probably will be again.

Bottom feeders:
12. Orlando
13. Boston
14. Charlotte
15. Philadelphia

Hmm. Got most of it right - except Charlotte and Milwaukee. Blew it on them.

Toronto outperformed my expectations a bit, but I probably would have predicted a higher finish if I new they would trade Gay. Everything else was pretty much exactly as expected, with injuries explaining why they're a bit out of order.

[MikeTheKid]

Were still only 4.5 games out of 8th place. While I don't think we'll collapse, were still not that far from playing Indiana/Miami

[hands11]

Were still only 4.5 games out of 8th place. While I don't think we'll collapse, were still not that far from playing Indiana/Miami

But they aren't trending that way. I think its more likely they catch fire then fall apart.

So if you want to play the averages, I would guess just above average vs below it.

Big game tonight. A win against SAC is important to start a strong West coast swing. I will be playing close attention to see what Randy does with the line ups. That last BRK game he went same ball in the 4th to take advantage of our miss matches against them being to big for us. Lets see if he understands when to try that vs it becoming another set play. That was the TA at S4 line up we have wanted to see but we had Gooden at S5 which is interesting.

Whats most important to me is seeing him learn when to call time outs and when to tweak the roster when his standard rotations are working. That's what you need come playoff time. It's important he learns to do that and he is running out of time to prove he knows how.

[dobrojim]

all the teams we are jostling with for position have pretty easy schedules down the stretch.
Any move we make will probably have to be by beating CHI and CHA when we play them
as well as the obvious point of us and the other teams winning the games they 'should' win.

[dckingsfan]

Were still only 4.5 games out of 8th place. While I don't think we'll collapse, were still not that far from playing Indiana/Miami

I think the win over Atlanta notched that right? No 8th for the Wizards. And I would think that a split would do the same with Charlotte given that we are three up in the loss column?

[Jay81]

i think pacers are the best matchup for us. We suck at defense and they can have a hard time scoring. THey are not that good offensively.

[dckingsfan]

Knicks win and pull within a game of Atlanta - could get ugly.

[mohammed10]

i think pacers are the best matchup for us. We suck at defense and they can have a hard time scoring. THey are not that good offensively.

Ji - I don't think we want to go 'poke the tiger' at this point. I'd rather take my chances with Toronto or Chicago (not that either of them are push overs either).

[MikeTheKid]

I think were comfortable at the 6th seed now, 1.5 games behind BKN and 3 games ahead of CHA, its gonna be us and Toronto

[Hypnotizer]

1. MIA
2. BKN
3. CHI
4. IND
5. NYK
6. CLE
7. ATL
8. TOR

NYK and CLE were close to playoffs but didn't make it.

1. MIA (-1)
2. BKN (-4)
3. CHI (-1)
4. IND (+2)
5. NYK (-4)
6. CLE (-4)
7. ATL (-1)
8. TOR (+5)

My biggest surprise is Toronto. Even I knew they can make playoffs with DeRozan and Lowry, they are #3. Wow.

[mohammed10]

1. MIA
2. BKN
3. CHI
4. IND
5. NYK
6. CLE
7. ATL
8. TOR

NYK and CLE were close to playoffs but didn't make it.

1. MIA (-1)
2. BKN (-4)
3. CHI (-1)
4. IND (+2)
5. NYK (-4)
6. CLE (-4)
7. ATL (-1)
8. TOR (+5)

My biggest surprise is Toronto. Even I knew they can make playoffs with DeRozan and Lowry, they are #3. Wow.

Don't you mean Washington? You did have them in your original rankings and they made it as a 5th seed.

[Hypnotizer]

Don't you mean Washington? You did have them in your original rankings and they made it as a 5th seed.

Wizards team shocked me little bit (positively) but not as much as Raptors did. Honestly I expected more injuries in DC, more Nene's absence. Secondly I didn't jinx playoffs expectations.

PS. Zards' spot is really good, but the real power (very weak EC, coaching staff) of WAS is mediocre. We are 5th in the EC, but merely number 14 overall. Problem #1 is Randy, imo.

[mohammed10]

Wizards team shocked me little bit (positively) but not as much as Raptors did. Honestly I expected more injuries in DC, more Nene's absence. Secondly I didn't jinx playoffs expectations.

PS. Zards' spot is really good, but the real power (very weak EC, coaching staff) of WAS is mediocre. We are 5th in the EC, but merely number 14 overall. Problem #1 is Randy, imo.

My point is that you at least had Toronto in the playoff mix. Wizards? not so much. To me, based off your seedings alone, Washington would be the bigger (and more pleasant) surprise.

[Hypnotizer]

My point is that you at least had Toronto in the playoff mix. Wizards? not so much. To me, based off your seedings alone, Washington would be the bigger (and more pleasant) surprise.

Playoff or not, who cares? We're not serious contender yet. One loss more and we would be 7th and facing defending champions, just one loss...

I hope we still can beat Bulls, but we need really good perimeter shooting. CHI defense will stop Wall's drives and p&r, or at least most of them. Are you ready for long jumpers?