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THE EAST
Weeks before the Mad Men season premiere this summer, the Cleveland Cavaliers and Orlando Magic engaged in an arms race that recalled the 1960s, when every spring Bill Russell’s Boston Celtics battled Jerry West’s Los Angeles Lakers for the title, and every summer each team vied furiously for additional talent.
The Cavs traded for Shaquille O’Neal. The Magic traded for Vince Carter, signed Brandon Bass and re-signed Marcin Gortat. The Cavaliers added Anthony Parker and Jamario Moon. The Magic signed Matt Barnes. While most NBA teams were trying to find a competent sixth or seventh man, the Cavs and Magic had built teams so deep that their second units are probably better than some starting fives.
It would be thrilling enough if these two teams were engaged in a two-team race for the NBA title, but they have company. The Magic and Cavs are merely battling for Eastern Conference supremacy and the Boston Celtics, if Kevin Garnett is healthy, are almost as good as either of them. And for all of their huffing and puffing, there’s no guarantee that any of these teams are better than the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers.
The Magic, Cavaliers and Celtics are all so much better than all other Eastern Conference teams that all three could win 60 games. For the other 12 teams, the ceiling is being able to reach the second round of the playoffs and getting swept by one of the big three.
Which of the big three is best? Last season, the Cavaliers broke out of the gate fast. They featured a diversified offense and a suffocating defense. But sometime after the all-star break, their balanced attack disintegrated into LeBron James and the Seven Dwarves. Even though they won 66 games in the regular season, they were an easy mark for the Magic who eliminated them in six in the Eastern Conference finals. Even at this late stage of his career, no one will confuse Shaq for a dwarf; he’s coming off of a very productive (17.8 points and 8.4 rebounds per game) and surprisingly healthy (75 games at 30 minutes per contest) season for a Phoenix Suns team that missed the playoffs. I don’t like to pretend that I can read minds, but it doesn’t take a lot of imagination to believe O’Neal has dreams of reaching the finals and defeating Kobe Bryant’s Lakers.
First, the Cavs will have to beat the Magic, a team that is deeper and better rounded. The Magic’s summer acquisitions make them a much better team than last year’s squad. Carter is an upgrade over Hedo Turkoglu, the additions on the frontline and the bench, and the fact that Dwight Howard is likely to improve. Yes, he’s already the defensive player of the year, but he’s only 23 and has much to hone on offense. If Jameer Nelson returns fully healed from his shoulder injury (in the finals, he was a shadow of his early-season self) then I think the Magic are the best team in the Eastern Conference during the regular season. The Magic and Cavs are so close, though, that either team could win a seven-game series.
This is how stratified things are in the Eastern Conference: The Boston Celtics won 62 games last season (and 66 the year before) and improved themselves in the offseason with the signing of Rasheed Wallace, yet they are likely to decline a bit in the standings. Age will do that to a team. Paul Pierce is 32, Garnett is 33, Ray Allen is 34, and Wallace is 35. You can count the number of NBA players whose skills didn’t decline in their mid-30s on two hands. Some of the decline will be offset by the improvement of guard Rajon Rondo and forward Glen Davis, but overall the Celts are best off securing their playoff seed then resting their vets and hoping their savvy will yield a playoff upset or three.
Meanwhile, several tiers down in the rest of the Eastern Conference, the Atlanta Hawks should hold off the Miami Heat, Washington Wizards and Chicago Bulls for the team with the longest, though least relevant, winning season. All other teams will either pretend that they are planning for the addition of a big name free agent in the summer of 2010 (as if superstars are just chomping at the bit to join 27-55 teams when they could be chasing a title), or they will try to sell their fan bases on the idea that fiscal restraint makes for fun basketball. It will when one of the conference’s big three come to town; otherwise there will be some empty arenas on cold nights in Milwaukee, New Jersey and Indianapolis.
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How about some info on the Knicks? After decades of pain, when will Knick fans be able to see the open man and play D again? By the way, AgentZero in DC is the real deal. SuperStar. If he can stay healthy.
Shaq will help the Cavs and make them not a oneman show in the playoffs but in the end Shaq will choke at the free throw line where any good coach will put his big black azz. Brick city babeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!
The puppets are called MVP Puppets, so yes Shaq can get in the conversation, but not Ron, Shaq doesn't have a contract with Nike, so you can scratch that. What we should be looking forward to is how the Kobe Puppet can now talk trash to the labron puppet, because I am very sure that Finals MVP is superio to regular season MVP. KB24 for life
By the way, if we do get a Lakers v. Cavs finals (which I sincerely hope we do, for the same reasons AfricanMan gave), what are the chances a Shaq puppet will be created and move-in with Kobe and LeBron puppets??? Maybe they'll add a Ron Artest puppet to even out the roommate situation??
It'll be Shaq and Kobe puppets flashing all the hardware to encourage their teammates.
LOL, okay, too early to talk puppets.
The East is a monster of talented teams this year.
But out West, it's really the Lakers to lose it. And the way the Lakers could lose it is 1. complacency, 2. Kobe is seriously injured, or 3. Ron Artest goes off the deep end. If they can hold these three pieces together, or at least two of these pieces, than the Lakers win the west and probably the finals.
Out East, not only do the Magic, Celtics and Cavs have to not lose it for themselves they have to battle each other. So who stands the chances of losing it for themselves.... Cleveland. Besides Lebron and Shaq, who else on this team would even be named for making the eastern conference finals. Shaq would have to stay healthy, Lebron uninjured, and hopefully these two can mesh well. Good luck with that.
The Celtics (if Big Baby pulls his act together) have the defeat age, before anything else. And the Magic... well I just hope Dwight added more to his game than what he showed last year.
Lakers v. Spurs/Nuggets - West Conf.
Lakers - West
Cavs v. Celtics - East Conf. (a huge toin coss here)
Cleveland/Boston - East
Lakes - 2010 Finals Champs