Name your top five Eastern conference teams

[action781]

1 Miami
2 Boston
3 Orlando
4 Chicago
5 Atlanta

+1 no need to read any further

[action781]

Main reason? Both have excellent point guards in Rose and Jennings. They'll make their teams explosive. I don't see Miami having that.

   

You don't think Miami is explosive?  Or you don't think they have an explosive point guard?

D-Wade and Lebron are both more explosive than Rose and Jennings.

It's the PG bias. The media has made the PG position the "sexy" and "in" position in the NBA. Only problem is no matter how "sexy" and "in" it is, it's still the least important position on the court in regards to having a championship quality team.

When was the last time an NBA champion had a top 3 PG in the league? Isiah or Magic?

When the Spurs won last Tony Parker was pretty darn decent.

When the Pistons won, Billups had to be in the discussion for top 3. At least that season.

They both may have been close to top 5 the years they won, but not top 3.

In 2007 there was Kidd, Nash, Paul, and  Williams. In 2004 there was Kidd, Nash, Davis and Iverson.

OK, so i did read further haha.

I think it's more happenstance, not irrelevance of the importance of the pg position.  You could argue that no championship team has had a great center since 2002 Lakers.  (I don't consider 2006 Shaq to be a "great" center.  Although it could be argued so; he did put up 18-10 over those playoffs.  But who really has Miami as '06 champions in their book anyways?  I have Mavs in mine.)  We've just been in a generation with many great wings and especially PFs.  All-time great we are talking about.  I don't think having a star at those positions is more of a championship "recipe" than having a star pg though, it's just the happenstance superior caliber of players at SG, SF, PF than PG and C over the last 8 seasons.  I'd actually say many recent PGs have been more related to a team's success than recent Cs (Perk, Nesterovic, Oberto, etc.).

I've never thought Iverson qualified as a pg either except in a few recent failed experiments.  I'm pretty sure Eric Snow was the point guard in Philly?  I do see that he did log 82 games as a 76er in 2004 at 30+ mpg.  I also see that Baron Davis only played

[Mike-Dub]

I'm gonna do six. 

Celtics
Miami
Orlando (slightly ahead of chicago and MIlawaukee)
Chicago
Milwaukee
Atlanta

This is my top five teams.  Not best records for the season.

For records...

Miami
Orlando
Boston
Chicago
Bucks
Hawks

[Mike-Dub]

1. Celtics
2. Celtics
3. Celtics
4. Celtics
5. Celtics

TP Bahku.

[celticsclay]

Celtics
Magic
Super Friends
Bulls
Hawks

I can see people putting those teams in different orders, but really see it hard to make an argument for anyone outside of them. I mean the hawks sleepwalked and played awful but still beat the bucks (even though it was 7) which are probably the 6th best team.

[ScoobyDoo]

Yeah Roy, I think that Miami is explosive. But I think teams who have scorers AND  a great point to dish have the opportunity to be more explosive overall.

That great point will make the lesser talents on the team that much more effective. Like Rondo does for the Celtics.

My two cents...

I like the Bucks or Bulls and our chances against Miami, mostly because of the points on those teams. Miami will beat Orlando.

[nickagneta]

Yeah Roy, I think that Miami is explosive. But I think teams who have scorers AND  a great point to dish have the opportunity to be more explosive overall.

That great point will make the lesser talents on the team that much more effective. Like Rondo does for the Celtics.

My two cents...

I like the Bucks or Bulls and our chances against Miami, mostly because of the points on those teams. Miami will beat Orlando.

How do you explain the two time world champions having the worst set of point guards in the league then?

[nba is the worst]

Yeah Roy, I think that Miami is explosive. But I think teams who have scorers AND  a great point to dish have the opportunity to be more explosive overall.

That great point will make the lesser talents on the team that much more effective. Like Rondo does for the Celtics.

My two cents...

I like the Bucks or Bulls and our chances against Miami, mostly because of the points on those teams. Miami will beat Orlando.

How do you explain the two time world champions having the worst set of point guards in the league then?

The refs???

[fairweatherfan]

Regular Season:

1. Orlando
2. Miami (expect at least one of the Big 3 - probably Wade - to miss some time.  Team will stumble without him)
3. Boston (be realistic guys - we're not gonna finish 1st in the regular season)
4. Chicago
5. Atlanta

Playoffs:

1. Boston
2. Orlando
3t. Miami
3t. Chicago

[slamtheking]

Record-wise.
Miami (66-16 -->they are going to steamroll the bulk of the games they play.  toss in they'll have both Wade and Bron getting superstar calls and it'll be a rare day when they lose)

Orlando (59-23 --> planning on a healthy Jameer and Vince having another year to get integrated.  they also want HCA)

Boston (52-30 --> they have a better team than last year but will they care as little about the regular season this time around.  I think they'll get out to a quick start, coast again and then try to pick it up when Perk comes back late in the season)

Milwaukee (51-31 They'll be good provided Bogut is healthy.  only reason they don't finish better than C's is time to integrate the new pieces and C's will play like they want the third seed to avoid Miami in the second round)

Chicago (48-34 --> they're better this year but still haven't got that A-list star.  Rose gets close to that level though)

Atlanta (46-36 --> they just don't get it together and start to fade to the middle of the pack.  The JJ contract starts looking like an albatross by the end of the year as they realize he won't get them to that next level and Smith will want the same payday very soon)

In the playoffs though, I like the C's coming out of the East.  Miami has the best wing rotation but Miami won't be able to deal with Rondo or the C's powerhouse front court

[Roy Hobbs]

Yeah Roy, I think that Miami is explosive. But I think teams who have scorers AND  a great point to dish have the opportunity to be more explosive overall.

That great point will make the lesser talents on the team that much more effective. Like Rondo does for the Celtics.

My two cents...

I like the Bucks or Bulls and our chances against Miami, mostly because of the points on those teams. Miami will beat Orlando.

For whatever it's worth, Lebron and Wade both averaged more assists per game (and per minute) than Jennings or Rose.  Lebron and Wade are both great scorers and distributors.

Of course, I hope you're right; I'm hopeful that Miami will fail, so that our window stays open.  Objectively, though, I think a lot of us are whistling past the graveyard when talking about the Heat.  They're dang good.

[ScoobyDoo]

I never said you couldn't win a title, or multiple titles without a great point guard, so the point should be clear Nick, that I am not speaking in absolutes here. You most certainly "can" win titles without a great point guard.

Also, I might hestiate labeling Derek Fisher as one of the worst point guards in the league, the guy has what, 5 rings playing at that position? We might not want to underestimate him...like Rondo did by leaving Fish wide open at the three point line in game seven with the score 64-61 to go and try and help one of the best all time post defenders in NBA history ( Garnett) on Pau Gasol. Just "slightly stupid" on Rondo's behalf. You don't leave Derek Fisher alone at the three, ever, and especially in a crucial game where he has a chance to make a "huge play". He will kill you.  It was a game changing play, the resulting Fisher three that tied it 64-64 and from my perspective sealed the champiionship for the Lakers, it was downhill to the title for them after Fisher's three pointer.

I wouldn't underestimate the guy.

Maybe a different way to make my point is.

The Heat will be very good as constituted. They'd be devastating with Rondo leading the break with Wade and LeBron on the wings.

The Bulls teams were great. How much better wouldn they have been with Chris Paul as well?

The 80's Celtics were great with DJ. How much better wouldn they ahve been with Steve Nash leading the break?

How much better would the current Lakers be with Rondo?

I would argue it isn't just the number of assists a guy gets but how he controls the pace of the game and how much better he makes everyone around him.
 

[nickagneta]

I never said you couldn't win a title, or multiple titles without a great point guard, so the point should be clear Nick, that I am not speaking in absolutes here. You most certainly "can" win titles without a great point guard.

Also, I might hestiate labeling Derek Fisher as one of the worst point guards in the league, the guy has what, 5 rings playing at that position? We might not want to underestimate him...like Rondo did by leaving Fish wide open at the three point line in game seven with the score 64-61 to go and try and help one of the best all time post defenders in NBA history ( Garnett) on Pau Gasol. Just "slightly stupid" on Rondo's behalf. You don't leave Derek Fisher alone at the three, ever, and especially in a crucial game where he has a chance to make a "huge play". He will kill you.  It was a game changing play, the resulting Fisher three that tied it 64-64 and from my perspective sealed the champiionship for the Lakers, it was downhill to the title for them after Fisher's three pointer.

I wouldn't underestimate the guy.

Maybe a different way to make my point is.

The Heat will be very good as constituted. They'd be devastating with Rondo leading the break with Wade and LeBron on the wings.

The Bulls teams were great. How much better wouldn they have been with Chris Paul as well?

The 80's Celtics were great with DJ. How much better wouldn they ahve been with Steve Nash leading the break?

How much better would the current Lakers be with Rondo?

I would argue it isn't just the number of assists a guy gets but how he controls the pace of the game and how much better he makes everyone around him.
 

And I'm not arguing in absolutes either but it was you who thought teams with good point guard like Chicago and Milwaukee would do so well because of their superior PGs and that a team like Miami would suffer because they didn't have one.

But the fact remains that only the Pistons of the Bad Boys Pistons and the Lakers of the Lake Show with Thomas and Magic are teams that won titles with top 3 PGs in the league. Looking back, a majority of the teams of the 30 years to win titles had PG as their 4th or 5th most important position on the floor. There is just no need, historically, for the PG position to be dominant in order to have a championship caliber team.

Miami, will be a dominant and explosive team this year. Much more so than Chicago and Milwaukee and Utah and New Orleans and Washington and most of the other places where the best PGs in the league reside. Why? Because of the quality of player they have at other positions and the fact that they are built to be successful without a great PG, much like Los Angeles is and the Bulls under MJ were and the Lakers with Shaq were.

With some players, like Kobe and MJ and Wade and LeBron, great PGs could be detrimental. They are transcendent talents that NEED to have the ball in the hands to make the rest of the team better and to now when to create things and when to take things into their own hands.

All I'm saying is there are exceptions to the rule of a great PG making a team better. I think Miami is one of those teams and I think you are underestimating them.

[pearljammer10]

I see it as:

1. Miami
2. Boston
3. Orlando
4. Bulls
5. Bucks

I think the bucks sneak in here as the sleeper team, I love the moves they made this offseason. Great starting 5 and some pretty decent role guys.

Rounding out the top 8...

6. Hawks
7. Knicks
8. Bobcats

[Slugger]

I think those ranking the Bulls so high are nuts.

i see it as;

1: Miami 67 wins - Reg season champs, playoff flops!!
2: Boston 59 wins - easily pencil in 15+wins v Atlantic
3: Orlando 57 wins - A real threat
4: Milwaukee 48 wins - consistant, make some noise in playoffs
5: Chicago 46 wins - solid
6: Washington 41 wins - big improvers
7: Indiana 39 wins - improved
8: Charlotte 37 wins - blah