Will the Eastern Conference be tougher than last year's?

[victorious2]

i think so. Toronto has improved by adding Turkoglu and i think they will be one of the top teams in the Eastern conference. Detroit, i think will be a lot better because of Ben Gordon playing with veterans like Hamilton and the other addition of Villanueva. The Wizards will be better. i just think those teams could be in the same category as the Celtics, Cavaliers and Orlando. I'm so excited and cant wait for next season to start.

[angryguy77]

Whoa I wouldn't put them in the same catagory as the top 3. Those teams will be a little better but its going to be between us and orl and clev. These other teams will act as the beaten step children for the rest of us

[lon3lytoaster]

What is it with the overrating of some of these teams? Toronto isn't going to be that good. I've been reading over at RealGM, and good lord you'd think some Toronto fans won the championship already. Turk isn't going to make them much better at all, im my opinion. I don't even know if they'll be much better than last year. I'd personally rather have Marion.

Orlando, in my opinion is going to be worse with the subtraction of Turkoglu, that may seem contradictory, but the difference is Dwight Howard versus Chris Bosh. Bosh doesn't scare anybody, and neither does Bargnani. Toronto doesn't have anybody in the post to take heat off of Turkoglu. Now, the Magic lost their certified Celtic killer and replaced him with someone who doesn't play defense and will get torched by Ray and Paul.

Washington, however I do expect to be competitive. They're probably getting a great player back in Arenas, they added Randy Foye and Mike Miller, I believe. Two nice players. They still have Caron Butler and Jamison. I expect them to be better than Toronto, and I think have an outside shot of being better than Orlando.

[victorious2]

What is it with the overrating of some of these teams? Toronto isn't going to be that good. I've been reading over at RealGM, and good lord you'd think some Toronto fans won the championship already. Turk isn't going to make them much better at all, im my opinion. I don't even know if they'll be much better than last year. I'd personally rather have Marion.

Orlando, in my opinion is going to be worse with the subtraction of Turkoglu, that may seem contradictory, but the difference is Dwight Howard versus Chris Bosh. Bosh doesn't scare anybody, and neither does Bargnani. Toronto doesn't have anybody in the post to take heat off of Turkoglu. Now, the Magic lost their certified Celtic killer and replaced him with someone who doesn't play defense and will get torched by Ray and Paul.

Washington, however I do expect to be competitive. They're probably getting a great player back in Arenas, they added Randy Foye and Mike Miller, I believe. Two nice players. They still have Caron Butler and Jamison. I expect them to be better than Toronto, and I think have an outside shot of being better than Orlando.

totally right

[Redz]

What is it with the overrating of some of these teams? Toronto isn't going to be that good. I've been reading over at RealGM, and good lord you'd think some Toronto fans won the championship already. Turk isn't going to make them much better at all, im my opinion. I don't even know if they'll be much better than last year. I'd personally rather have Marion.

Orlando, in my opinion is going to be worse with the subtraction of Turkoglu, that may seem contradictory, but the difference is Dwight Howard versus Chris Bosh. Bosh doesn't scare anybody, and neither does Bargnani. Toronto doesn't have anybody in the post to take heat off of Turkoglu. Now, the Magic lost their certified Celtic killer and replaced him with someone who doesn't play defense and will get torched by Ray and Paul.

Washington, however I do expect to be competitive. They're probably getting a great player back in Arenas, they added Randy Foye and Mike Miller, I believe. Two nice players. They still have Caron Butler and Jamison. I expect them to be better than Toronto, and I think have an outside shot of being better than Orlando.

totally right

I think you're underselling Bosh a bit, but I'll buy the rest

[lon3lytoaster]

I know Bosh is a good offensive player, but he lacks everywhere else, in my opinion. He is never going to be in the same league as KG or Howard on the other end. He gets most of his points off jumpshots, which would be ok if you didn't have a center taking shots even further out than your PF.

Good player, and someone to put a body on, but not really one that scares me like Dwight, or KG when he was with Minnesota playing against Boston.

[4THQTR]

I think Toronto and Washington will be competing with the hawks for the 4th spot in the east, but i expect a pretty big gap to the top three teams...
Not sold on detroit, don't think they have a very complete team... they should be a playoff team though...

[guava_wrench]

With the caliber of the moves made by Orlando and Cleveland and the level of disruption, there is a reasonable chance that things don't gel as well as they did last year. We have a better bench, but the age of the big 3 is always a game of Russian roulette.

I expect Atl to be worse, Was and Tor to be better. Ind, Det and Chi to be mediocre.

[RAcker]

I expect it to be a 3 team race much like last year.  The bottom to the middle of the pack may be more competitive, but teams like Toronto and Washington still aren't going to really compete with Boston, Cleveland and Orlando for the top 3 seeds.

I'm interested to see how Miami does if Wade can remain healthy.  Atlanta is just maintaining the staus quo.  Chicago may improve slightly, but as for the rest, do we really expect a whole lot of difference?

[wdleehi]

Not really.  It might be harder for the 4-8 teams to make the playoffs, but the top three are pretty much the same.



Now the West, that could be interesting.

LA
SA
Den
Portland (If Oden improves)
NO after the trade
Utah if they make a big Boozer trade.

[RAcker]

Not really.  It might be harder for the 4-8 teams to make the playoffs, but the top three are pretty much the same.



Now the West, that could be interesting.

LA
SA
Den
Portland (If Oden improves)
NO after the trade
Utah if they make a big Boozer trade.

Is everybody else pulling for SA as much as I am?

[wdleehi]

Not really.  It might be harder for the 4-8 teams to make the playoffs, but the top three are pretty much the same.



Now the West, that could be interesting.

LA
SA
Den
Portland (If Oden improves)
NO after the trade
Utah if they make a big Boozer trade.

Is everybody else pulling for SA as much as I am?

Honestly, I don't really care who the Celtics beat in finals.   

[RAcker]

Not really.  It might be harder for the 4-8 teams to make the playoffs, but the top three are pretty much the same.



Now the West, that could be interesting.

LA
SA
Den
Portland (If Oden improves)
NO after the trade
Utah if they make a big Boozer trade.

Is everybody else pulling for SA as much as I am?

Honestly, I don't really care who the Celtics beat in finals.   

Setup aaaaaand spike!

TP.

[wdleehi]

Not really.  It might be harder for the 4-8 teams to make the playoffs, but the top three are pretty much the same.



Now the West, that could be interesting.

LA
SA
Den
Portland (If Oden improves)
NO after the trade
Utah if they make a big Boozer trade.

Is everybody else pulling for SA as much as I am?

Honestly, I don't really care who the Celtics beat in finals.   

Setup aaaaaand spike!

TP.

2 for the assist.