Just look at this comment for example:"It will be difficult for the Cavs to match last season's win total, but they've added Shaq and Anthony Parker without losing anybody of significance"
Yeah sure Ben Wallace, Sasha Pavlocic, Wally Sczerbiak, Joe Smith all lost. Doesn't sound like anyone of significance does it? 3 of them, Ben,Wally & Joe comprised of 75% of the big trade that the Cavs made barely 1 1/2 years ago, and Pavlocic was a starter on the 2007 team that made the Finals. And it wasn't anybody of signficance. Only 4 of their best 10 players. Sounds significant to me.
This is just like the offseason rankings list where the Lakers "didn't lose anybody". Like Trevor Ariza doesn't count or something.
Now if someone can find a published article that says the Celtics "didn't lose anybody" I will show up at your doorstep with a billion dollars in cash exactly 1 second after you find the article.
Lebron, Mo Williams, Varejao, Delonte West, and Ilgauskas were their top 5. Their problem was that their bench didn't give them any help. So I don't think it's incorrect to classify the bench guys they lost as insignificant. Pavlovic didn't give them much last year. Wallace was hurt most of the time and a shell in the playoffs. Joe Smith was a disappointment for them. Wally was much better in 08 than in 09.
Maybe it would be more accurate to say they significantly upgraded their depth (Ben Wallace and Joe Smith to Shaq and Powe; Wally and Pavlovic to Parker and Moon) but I have no problem with the way it is phrased. None of those guys are significant. That's why Wallace went off to Detroit to retire (minimum?), Smith took the minimum in Atlanta, Pavlovic is in limbo till he gets waived early in the season and Wally doesn't have a new team yet.
They went from a lineup of Mo-Delonte-Lebron-Varejao-Z with Gibson, Wally, Pavlovic, Smith, Wallace and Hickson off the bench to Mo-Parker-Lebron-Varejao-Shaq with Gibson, Delonte, Moon, Hickson, Z and Powe off the bench. That's 2 upgrades in the starting lineup, and 4 upgrades on the bench. (Compare that with us from the playoffs - 1 huge upgrade in the starting lineup, 3 upgrades off the bench.)
I don't care where we're ranked, I'm happy to be flying under the radar at 5th, and since we haven't seen Garnett, caution is a good approach. I have few problems with the rest of the top of the rankings. Washington is a bit too high for me, but I understand the idea that with the return of a few injured players and some additional backcourt help in Miller and Foye, they look like a pretty good team. I'd still put Utah and New Orleans ahead of them, but I don't have much of a problem with where they are. The entire 4 through 10 in the East (Wash, Chi, Mia, Atl, Tor, Char, Phil) is a crapshoot. And with the West's depth falling, I don't have gripes.
Especially since the season is still another two and a half months away.
