Great breakdown, 4m.
I could live with 36 wins. As a matter of fact, I've long held 35 to be my watermark for this season. My position is that anything less than 35 would be a disappointment.
If we can realistically get to 36, then I think that if everything breaks well that we can possibly get up into the low forties and make a run at the playoffs.
With most of the East getting better, and with the Celtics getting decidedly worse, I doubt that we'll finish with a better record than we had last year.
Not sure most East teams got, "better".
Nets definitely got better.
Heat got better IF Oden is healthy and returns to form and some of the old guys like Battier & Allen don't decline.
Cleveland looks better on paper, but Bynum and Varejao are notoriously fragile and if they go down (again), they look worse.
Milwaukee looks slightly better or slightly worse, depending on your view of the Jennings trade.
Sixers got (purposely) worse.
Most of the rest of the East teams look like status quo. Mostly modest moves that net out to treading water.
'Not saying that most of the east isn't looking 'better' than the Celtics.
But I don't really think most of the teams actually made much in the way of upgrades over last year.