Cavs GM pays Celtics respect

[Roy H.]

The NBA's general managers are expecting a third straight Golden State-Cleveland matchup in this season's NBA Finals, with the Warriors the pick to reclaim the title.

Such was the consensus from the annual poll of general managers by NBA.com. The Warriors and Cavaliers each got 97 percent of the votes cast by GMs when asked to pick the Western and Eastern conference champions -- meaning, if each team got one ballot, 29 of the 30 teams voted for a rematch.

And here's why it wouldn't have been unanimous: General managers were not allowed to vote for their own clubs. Boston got the other conference-title vote in the East, San Antonio got the other one in the West.

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/17827172/nba-gms-pick-golden-state-warriors-cleveland-cavaliers-season-finals

Wading through that, Cleveland couldn't vote for itself to make the Finals, so they chose the Celts. It doesn't mean a ton, but it's a sign of respect from the top dog in the conference.

[A Future of Stevens]

For a second Roy I thought this was going to be a link to Lebron saying nice things about us. 

TP for the interesting read. It is kinda cool that CLE views us as their competition. This team is pointing up thats for sure.

[Moranis]

Here is the actual survey

http://www.nba.com/gmsurvey/2016

While the Cavs may think Boston is the toughest competitor the rest of the conference thinks Toronto is the 2nd best team with 60% of the vote (Boston had 36.7% with 1 vote going to Indiana). 

Interesting that OKC was pretty heavily rated 4th out West. 

James pretty heavy favorite to win MVP.  Dunn pretty heavy favorite for rookie of year.

There are the Boston Ranks
Boston - 4th in Offseason moves
Horford - 2nd in biggest offseason addition
Boston - receiving votes for most improved team
Horford to Boston - receiving votes for most surprising move
Bradley - tied for 3rd best defender
Bradley - 2nd best perimeter defender
Boston - 2nd best defensive team
Stevens - 3rd best coach
Stevens - 3rd best in game adjustment coach
Stevens - receiving votes best offensive coach
Stevens - receiving votes best defensive schemes
Thomas - receiving votes toughest player in league