There will be Blood aka The Eastern Conference

[fairweatherfan06]

I have the Celtics and the Heat penciled in as the top two teams in the East (in an order yet to be determined but Miami is in an easier division more on that later) but after that it gets UGLY.

3) You got the Magic who until they trade Howard (the better unless they are stupid) are in the playoff race.

4)Pacers-same team same issues but they are a playoff team

5)Brooklyn (not even counting they may still get Howard at the deadline) has an interesting team.  I initially thought they'd be worse than the Knicks but even looking past their starting 5 their bench looks pretty serviceable.  They need a backup for Lopez (Millicic, Blatche?) but they have Evans (good energy guy who rebounds) Telotovic (stretch 4 that was a star in Europe). Their backup wings are Stackhouse, Marshon Brooks, CJ Watson and Bogans.  Not Bad

6)Knicks-should be better with a full season of their nucleus and Coach

7)76ers-same team plus Nick Young and two rookies that fit their system (Harkless and Moultrie)

8)Bulls-(Gonna struggle giving up their bench and with Rose injured but will get into the postseason somewhere)/ Pistons-Not strong in the backcourt but have some talent up front (Monroe, Jerebko, Drummond, Villuaneva Maggete)/ Bucks-Starting five of Dalembert, Ilyasova,Dunleavy,Ellis, Jennings with Udrih, Lamb, Henson Mbah,Gooden, Sanders in reserve definite sleeper team.
Wizards-John Wall plus new additions could be good could not

Seeds #3-8 could be ANYBODY (Except Cleveland, Toronto, Bobcats, or Atlanta they will suck)

My final guess for seeding is:

1)Heat-(in an easier division than the C's)
2)Celtics (Best we can probably do with improved Atlantic)
3)Pacers
4)Brooklyn
5)Bulls
6)Bucks
7)Knicks
8)Sixers

Guesses??

[Rondo_is_better]

Off the top of my head:

1. Heat (62-20)
2. Celtics (57-25)
3. Nets (50-32)
4. Pacers (48-34)
5. Knicks (46-36)
6. Bulls (44-38)
7. Philly (42-40)
8. Milwaukee (40-42)

The Wizards will be in the mix for the 7-8 seed. Pistons will fall a couple games short of the 8th seed. Let's pencil them in for 38-39 wins.

Atlanta is an interesting situation. Could go anywhere between 7th and 11th place in the standings.

Kyrie Irving will get injured again, or several times, and cumulatively miss 20+ games. This will keep Cleveland from winning more than 32 games.

So sayeth me.

[Lightskinsmurf]

I don't think we will get the 1st seed but man if we could find a way to get it i would be extremely confident come postseason. I honestly havent been this excited about our team since we got KG and RAY.

[God]

I must be missing something regarding why people are so high on the Nets this year.

Aren't 4 of the 5 guys still the same stiffs ( well most of them) from last years lineup that only won 33% of their games?

Does Joe Johnson and a couple of Euros really boost their stock to a top seed?

[dunisho]

heat will be 1... no doubt about it...but hey, does it matter?

celts be 2... unless doc does a popovich and sit the olds more frequently...

i would rank the knicks as high as 3 in the east... better point guards... acquired brewer to pair with jrsmith at the 2... still has novak, melo, amare and tyson... plus 2  reliable big men in camby and kurt thomas..

brooklyn will be 4th seed.. couple of closers in the team..their success depends on how d-will and joe gel...plus brook has to be healthy...

pacers... basically the same team... but teams will now know how to play them better.

sixers... turner will play more with the departure of lou... they'll do fine..

magic... they will feel the loss of ryan anderson.. he opens the floor for dwight inside... but then again, dwight probably wont be inside when they start the season...

last... bucks...they're bigger... and they'll be better...

bulls wont make it... probably by choice...

but still, its way too early to tell... when the trade deadline passes, a whole new ranking will need to be made...

[Rondooooooooo]

heat will be 1... no doubt about it...but hey, does it matter?

celts be 2... unless doc does a popovich and sit the olds more frequently...

i would rank the knicks as high as 3 in the east... better point guards... acquired brewer to pair with jrsmith at the 2... still has novak, melo, amare and tyson... plus 2  reliable big men in camby and kurt thomas..

brooklyn will be 4th seed.. couple of closers in the team..their success depends on how d-will and joe gel...plus brook has to be healthy...

pacers... basically the same team... but teams will now know how to play them better.

sixers... turner will play more with the departure of lou... they'll do fine..

magic... they will feel the loss of ryan anderson.. he opens the floor for dwight inside... but then again, dwight probably wont be inside when they start the season...

last... bucks...they're bigger... and they'll be better...

bulls wont make it... probably by choice...

but still, its way too early to tell... when the trade deadline passes, a whole new ranking will need to be made...

orr they could play better given another preseason and year playing together. could go either way

[CelticG1]

Sixers lost there leading scorer, think they'll take a step back

[irawan91]

I must be missing something regarding why people are so high on the Nets this year.

Aren't 4 of the 5 guys still the same stiffs ( well most of them) from last years lineup that only won 33% of their games?

Does Joe Johnson and a couple of Euros really boost their stock to a top seed?

the team was badly affected by heavy injuries. provided they're healthy (same assumption to the C's) they could compete. however, even if they succeed doing just that - I am still pessimistic about their chances in playoff. they just don't have the experience and grit like the Celtics showed in the last run, and that is critical.

[irawan91]

As of Bulls, I see them in reverse situation compared to Brooklyn. demolition of depth will really undermine their regular season. but as a whole, they look pretty competitive comes playoff.