The east is going to be really fun this year. Can't wait to go to a heat/hornets game this year. The crowd will be amped for the name change!
Bobcats were dreadful for most of their existence, glad to see the old school Hornets name back, and still despise George Shinn
Cricket.....Cricket........ im sure its a tad ridiculous because I said it . Lol . I find it ridiculous that people actually believe the cavs will MAKE the finals next season let alone WIN them. People seem to forget about 2010 and the fact that cohesion doesnt just magically 'happen'. And that was with a better lineup than the cavs current one. Lebron will be in for a reality check. people will probably start realizing "oh right this is Cleveland we are talking about" by mid season. I dont see much past a first or second round exit, especially now with the east being wide open...and if you do, thats on you because its either cleveland homerism or agenda driven bias. Im not happy about how Lebron left, but the last thing i am is 'butthurt'. Im really looking forward to next season and seeing how hungry my team plays after all of this
Yes. You are the only one. It is actually a VERY GOOD BET that a Team that has ZERO playoff experience and a history of having their 2nd and 3rd best player being injured is not gonna be such a instant success. If they don't win the division, the best they can do is a #4 seed. The Division just got weaker for them now...so ...who knows. A Finals appearance for the Cavs next year? No chance, and I would bet a LOT of money on it. (Now, they get Kevin Love..then...time to evaluate again)
Stephenson signing with Charlotte is a big boost to the Heat and other East teams as well. It really weakens Indiana while not making Charlotte a true contender. Also, we knew this already, but the Heat organization is total class. Here's Spoelstra on You Know Who: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/miami-heat/fl-heat-spo-speaks-0716-20140715,0,3807894.story Oh, and You Know Who has also not found the time to grace Spoelastra with a phone call or text saying goodbye or perhaps thank you to the guy who helped him have his best years. But Spo has forgiven that too: I just don't understand the lack of basic courtesy from You Know Who. Him and Spo have spent what, 10,000 hours plus together over the last 4 years? And you can't take 5 minutes to call the guy and say goodbye? But regardless, it's a testament to this organization and Riley that we got off the mat the way we did. More Spo: It's clear they were blindsided by the move and haven't received a satisfactory answer for why they weren't informed sooner, but they'll never say that. You will hear nothing but praise. And that is important for 2016
I would not be surprised if the Cavs reach the finals. East is not difficult, even though I expect some teams to take steps forward. Their front court contribution needs to be hustle only. I know Thompson is not Bosh, but he's a better rebounder and he can score from outside. They have very good front court and wingers and shooters. They can play Miami game and reach the finals. Miami breezed through the East last playoffs with good D and Bron playing his game. So Cavs only issue will be the D. I am sure that will be the point of emphasis in the camp.
If the Pacers don't replace Lance I am not sure where they count on getting offense from. They have Paul George annnnndddddd, not much else for generating points.
Let's be honest, any team with Lebron is going to be pretty good. But I do agree this Cavs team is far less playoff ready than the Heat team he just left which got dismantled by the Spurs. The whole east is a giant ? Who is going to score for the Pacers How much can Chicago get out of D Rose How much will Miami get out of D Wade. How much can Lebron improve a roster that is young and injury prone? Hell Toronto and Washington are the teams with the least question marks to me
Let me preface this by saying Thompson is my favorite Cavalier; unless "outside" is 10-16 ft. then he can't score from outside, and even then he has to actually take the shot in order to make it (something he doesn't really do yet).
Washington downgraded going from Ariza to Pierce. Pierce is about finished. He was awful most of the playoffs.
Um... What? Here's last year's averages...[TABLE="class: wikitable sortable jquery-tablesorter"] [TR] [TD="align: left"]2014[/TD] [TD="align: left"]Brooklyn[/TD] [TD]12[/TD] [TD]12[/TD] [TD]30.7[/TD] [TD].465[/TD] [TD].358[/TD] [TD].781[/TD] [TD]4.5[/TD] [TD]2.0[/TD] [TD]1.2[/TD] [TD].3[/TD] [TD]13.7[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] Here are the last three boston years... [TABLE="class: wikitable sortable jquery-tablesorter"] [TR] [TD="align: left"]2011[/TD] [TD="align: left"]Boston[/TD] [TD]9[/TD] [TD]9[/TD] [TD]38.1[/TD] [TD].459[/TD] [TD].447[/TD] [TD].882[/TD] [TD]5.0[/TD] [TD]2.8[/TD] [TD]1.3[/TD] [TD].4[/TD] [TD]20.8[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="align: left"]2012[/TD] [TD="align: left"]Boston[/TD] [TD]20[/TD] [TD]20[/TD] [TD]38.9[/TD] [TD].386[/TD] [TD].310[/TD] [TD].894[/TD] [TD]6.1[/TD] [TD]3.1[/TD] [TD]1.5[/TD] [TD].9[/TD] [TD]18.9[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="align: left"]2013[/TD] [TD="align: left"]Boston[/TD] [TD]6[/TD] [TD]6[/TD] [TD]42.5[/TD] [TD].368[/TD] [TD].268[/TD] [TD].897[/TD] [TD]5.7[/TD] [TD]5.3[/TD] [TD].8[/TD] [TD].5[/TD] [TD]19.2[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] That's VERY similar production when you account for minutes. The man is still The Truth. He will decline, and probably soon, but the only thing that diminished about his play in the playoffs last year was the number of minutes.
Yes, I meant midrange. I don't expect him to be parked at the 3 like Bosh is at times. But let's remember Bosh did not have that game until recently.
Tristan Thompson has a 21.8% Def. Reb. Rate. Bosh has a 19.7% Def. Reb. Rate. TT has a 107 Def. rating. Bosh has a 100. That is before you get to their scoring which is rather lopsided in Bosh's favor. Thompson is not enough of a better rebounder to even begin to make up the difference between them.
Wizards, in addition to Pierce who will be the vet presence, also have two young stars at SF with Glenn Rice and Otto Porter. One of them should emerge. As far as Bosh/Thompson, Bosh was a no show in many wins for Miami. That position in the system was merely stretch position. So Thompson can cover that position as an athletic 4 adequately imo. We'll see. (I don't mean to imply as I said that Thompson is as good as Bosh, just that the system does not require more than what Thompson can provide for Cle to be successful.)
I watched him play. He's just about done. And he doesn't shoot the 3 nearly as well as Ariza, nor is he the defender anymore that Ariza is.
Stars? Otto Porter was about as big a bust as Anthony Bennett. Who knows with Rice, but star is not the word I would use
Tristan Thompson shot 39% from 16 to 23 feet on .2 makes and .6 att. He just doesn't shoot from the midrange at all. He averages 1 Att. from 10-15 feet. Bosh was #1 in the NBA from the midrange at 53% on 4.9 Att. per game.
Pierce was really inconsistent last year. He could still take over a game, but it happened less frequently than it used to. I do believe that they downgraded.
This year's end-of-season and off-season have seen some interesting shakeups, especially in the east. What would really cap things off is to ditch the conference system as far as playoff qualification is concerned and simply grant qualification to the 16 teams with the top records. Does anyone really see an Eastern Conference team winning a title next year? A conference final shouldn't consistently be the most competitive series of the playoffs.
I don't understand how you an shat on Wizards at SF spot. They have Pierce and two layers of talented youth. Ariza was not better than Pierce last year. I don't see how anyone can claim they got worse at SF when they got Pierce and Rice, and lost Ariza.
These posts basically reflect how I feel. I'd probably list Chicago as the most likely #1 seed, especially b/c of their tendency to play their starters 40+ minutes all year. I think Miami finishes as the #2. But as for who makes it to the finals, I think that's up in the air. I think any of the top 6 can realistically get there depending on injuries, hot teams, etc. I actually really like the Heat's chances of coming out of the ECF. I certainly don't have another East team as any more likely.
What exactly has Rice accomplished in the league to make you think he will be a star, let alone a good rotation player? And Ariza was better than Pierce by nearly every metric. And Pierce is also 36, meaning he could fall off the cliff at any moment.
The West is the better conference, but match-ups play a key role. I believe Miami would have beat any other Western conference team last year and even though SA was the best team they looked really vulnerable a times in the playoffs at times before the finals. I think it would take some luck in terms of which Western team they face, but sure I believe an Eastern team could win. I wouldn't say it's the most likely outcome, but an Eastern team winning would be far from the most surprising things that could happen.
If D Wade is healthy and regains some of his old athleticism then the Heat are legit to maybe come out of the East Unfortunately I don't think the East has a prayer in winning the Finals next year.
Anything can happen once you get to the Finals. With the additions of Pau Gasol and Derrick Rose I would probably have to agree that the Bulls are the top seed in the East. Not trying to discount the Pacers but I think the Heat managed to break them before the Heat broke themselves.
Anything can happen - yes. Match-ups play a key role - yes. None of this is eliminated from the mix if the conference-based qualification is removed. Teams from the East and the West will be able to play other teams and advance as usual, featuring different match-ups etc. The only difference will be that it will be teams who performed the best over the course of 80 games that get a chance to compete rather weaker teams getting advanced just because they belong to what amounts to an arbitrarily assigned group. I just don't see any reason for keeping the present system apart from tradition. On the other hand there are plenty of reasons to opt for a performance-based system, and with all the off-season mix-ups going on, this is one more change I'd love to see.
The East should be very interesting this year. If Rose is healthy and comes back to close to the level he was at before, the Bulls are the clear favorites. I don't know how strong the chances are that Rose even comes back healthy, let alone at his previous level though. After that there are a lot of teams in the mix. The Cavs should be right there if they're relatively healthy. LeBron is LeBron, which means they should win a lot of games. The Wizards will definitely be a team to watch out for, especially if Wall and Beal take the next step and Pierce doesn't regress a whole lot. If Wade stays healthy, Deng bounces back, and Bosh becomes what we think he should with a bigger role, the Heat should still be very good and could easily push for a top seed. How much Ennis and/or Napier can give them this year could make a difference between being a good and very good team. I think the Pacers could take a big step back this year. They finished last regular season in a free-fall and losing Stephenson should really hurt them. Charlotte will be fun to watch, but I think the highest they finish is 5 unless Stephenson really gets his head on straight and takes off. I like Steve Clifford and they have some talent, but not enough to do any real damage IMO. The Nets will probably take a small step back as they are going to be a year older. If Lopez comes back healthy that will really help them though. Atlanta might get a little better, but I don't see any major improvements with them and they could maybe even get pushed out of the playoffs. My wildcard in the East is the Magic. They are a young team with some talent and should be a lot of fun to watch as they should be a very athletic team. That backcourt of Payton and Oladipo could be good for a long time, I like Aaron Gordon, and I think Channing Frye was an underrated addition that could fit well there. They could make a run at that 8th seed. My early Eastern Conference Standings: 1. Chicago 2. Cleveland 3. Miami 4. Washington 5. Indiana 6. Charlotte 7. New Jersey 8. Orlando (going out on a limb on this one)
Interesting number they just put up on Numbers never lie. Dwyane Wade had a 26 PER Without Lebron James last year. (He had a 22 PER with him) That was good enough to be #6 in the NBA. I think we better get ready to see something special.
Yeah I saw that too. I think the Heat are going to be better than people expect, at least in the regular season. More balanced team, less pressure on them, less of a target by opposing team, but perhaps now with increased hunger and increased drive. They are definitely not more likely to win a ring now without Lebron, but I do think they will be very good in the regular season.
There are a few teams in the West I still think we match up fine with. If its tge Spurs.....gane over.
I think it's game over for any team in the East if they come up against the Spurs. But I also think it's extremely unlikely that the Spurs make it to a 3rd straight finals out of that conference.
One positive is Granger and McBob signing. Should be a significant improvement over Battier and Haslem.
I trust he cleared physical before signing. I'm thinking he was stuck behind George in his return. Should be ready to contribute for us.
I feel really good about leaving the East now. I feel like the only thing that might impede us is a healthy back to form D-Rose. Also think maybe now the Cavs jump the Pacers minus Stephenson.
Ariza was better at FG%, 3 point %, minutes per game, assists per game, rebounds per game, points per game, steals per game, effective field goal %, plus/minus, value added, estimated wins added, turnover ratio, and much more on the defensive side i'm sure.