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Not saying much, though :( . Still no team out there capable of beating a healthy Cavs in Best of 7 series; but the slight improvement in the conf might prevent them from hitting the high 60s regular season wins and home court throughout vis-a-vis the Western opponent...
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CK7lTMPUEAERgwI.png
Atlanta remains the sole credible threat to unseating the Cavs as default East champions. Even with all that player movement, I don't see any other East teams competing in the ECF.
edit: to your final point, though, yes - it could make things slightly harder on Cleveland trying to guarantee HCA in the Finals over a Western opponent, but considering the firepower of my picks for the West Top 4: Golden State, LA, SA, and Houston, they'd probably have a hard time getting there regardless.
How much eastern teams would make the playoff if they were in the west??? ok, so shut up!
Not really. East is still a joke. Cleveland vs hawks again in the eastern finals. Toronto, bulls, wizards all cute records but nothing substantial. West is brutal. 3 Texas teams, annoying clippers and warriors, Memphis and okc, new Orleans as well
Yeah I think the East continues to get weaker. The Pelicans could be better. Durant could be back. Harden and Dwight are in the WC. Blake Griffin is still getting better possibly. Golden State just won and they are mainly a young team. Memphis still has some key pieces and could make a run. Even Phoenix has potential to compete for a playoff spot. I don't see where the prime contenders have weakened, there's just more strength.
In the East, some teams made moves, but still don't have any contenders. You have to consider that when looking at Lebron's streak of Final appearances. Who did he beat to get there?
Cory Joseph and Aron Baynes at the top of the list?
Who calculates these statistics?
And where is Lance Stephenson (East to West) who will likely have a greater impact than almost any of these guys.
I hardly think Nicholas Batum and Robin Lopez are going to change the balance of power between the conferences, especially since they both went to teams that aren't remotely serious contenders. It would be different if Marc Gasol and LeMarcus Aldridge had gone to Washington or Toronto, but that didn't happen.
The Heat starting 5 look good after this summer assuming Bosh comes back from injury. The Bulls look better with a healthy rose and new coach.
The Hawks got weaker losing their main wing guy, but should be in the top 3. Raptors and Wiz, meh.
My sleeper are the Bucks. They are a year away, but they look very interesting.
I feel like the Heat should always be mentioned in these discussions this year. Anyone who fails to mention them are blind or something haha. But I really believe they have the best chance of beating the Cavs in the East.Quote:
Originally Posted by CGD
I definitely agree with you about the Bucks. They are an interesting team and will be tough to beat for a lot of teams in the East.
Heat lineup looks pretty good to me too.Quote:
Originally Posted by CGD
Whiteside/Stoudamire
Bosh/McRoberts
Deng/Winslow
Wade/Green
Dragic/Chalmers
Its crazy how one player (lebron) can rule an entire conference. As long as hes there with a good healthy team, no one will have much of a chance. West on the other hand is still up in the air even with how stacked the spurs are.
This shows the danger of using ONE advanced stat. Win shares are flawed if that's all you use. Cory and the Big Banger probably had more than good players on crap teams. That's what happens if you're on a winning team, no matter how small your role is.
Yup. And for the next four seasons at minimum too.Quote:
Originally Posted by bic50
John Wall 2nd best player :lol
That roster doesn't have a fucking chance in hell of taking more than a game from the Cavs.Quote:
Originally Posted by myhc
Spursfan trying to suck Heat dick every week, whereas if the Heat were in western conference, they wouldn't consider them a threat to the Spurs in the least :downspin:
And they are still not a threat, they basically got swept by just Lebron James and role players. Atlanta is not that good IMO, way inflated record for being in the conference they are and caught everyone off guard. Second half of the year they came back down to Earth.Quote:
Originally Posted by Horry Hipcheck
^^^ This.Quote:
Originally Posted by bic50
Indeed, I expect the Utah Jazz to deal a few stunners to teams this season as well. They could possibly sneak in the playoffs if Mavericks fall off. Blazers will be out of the playoffs as well. This year the Utah Jazz will ascend. The last two games against them last season the Spurs could not score against them and the Jazz went on a roll. I think in the East they for sure make the playoffs.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kikoluna
The Hawks got better by bringing in Splitter and the Heat really underperformed last year IMO, Spoelstra just isn't a great coach. Neither is capable of unseating the Cavs though.
Expect Washington, Toronto and Indiana to get a bit of hype and maybe home court in the first round, but they're also-rans. Bulls will make another run to the Conference Semis only to get beaten handily again, that Rose injury really crippled the franchise.
Still a joke but less of one.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kikoluna
See 1990's : Jordan, MichaelQuote:
Originally Posted by bic50
They certainly got many more players than the West did.
Wasn't even aware that Jeremy Lin got shipped off to the East again.
I wouldn't say they got better. Alot of those players the east got played on winners in the west, so obviously they will have higher win shares. Most of their win shares will drop this year, while players joining western teams will more than likely go up.
Yup.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sean Cagney
Pretty amazing how the West managed to get even stronger...
Teams that will either be as good as they were last season or better: GS, SA, OKC, LAC, Memphis, Houston, New Orleans, Utah, Phoenix, LAL, Minnesota
Teams that got worse: Portland, Dallas, Sacramento, Denver
So 6 of the 8 playoff teams last year have a good chance of improving, and then there's OKC as well. Injuries will likely end up knocking 1 or 2 teams out, but still, the West is shaping up to be one of the toughest conferences in history.
Other than Cleveland, the East is still the crappy East. Saying the Eastern conference got better is like saying a dwarf got a little bit taller.
ATL just lost it's premier SF. I don't see Sefolosha and Bazemore being enough for upsetting CLE. And Millsap playing the three just isn't viable in the long run.Quote:
Originally Posted by Richie
Spo is still overshadowed by LBJ's presence. Last season gave inconclusive results to properly evaluate him as a coach in the no-LBJ era.
I agree with the rest.
1. Cavs 2. Heat 3. Bulls 4. Hawks 5. Bucks 6. Pacers 7. Wizards 8. Celtics
Atlanta's lack of a finisher at the end of games was glaring.Quote:
Originally Posted by Horry Hipcheck
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spurtacular
It speaks volumes about the East that Atlanta is the biggest threat to Cleveland, save for maybe Chicago, and neither of those teams is in the same level of the atmosphere as the Cavs.
Dang it; closer I meant.Quote:
Originally Posted by Spurtacular