Wednesday Insider

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Pacers, Hawks sleepers

in the East

by Chad Ford

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Also Below: Where is Latrell Sprewell? | Will Wang Zhizhi put the heat on Olowokandi? | Grant's knee could mean more oes for the Heat | Turf Battles Update | Peep Show

Want some accurate regular-season predictions for the Eastern Conference? Try tea leaves, a star chart and 10 minutes with the Dali Lama.

Last October, everyone with a keyboard and a microphone (including Insider) had the Bucks and Raptors dueling it out for the Eastern Conference championship. What about the Nets, Pistons and Celtics? A few brave souls thought Jason Kidd would help the Nets squeak into the playoffs. The Pistons and Celtics? Conventional wisdom said buy lots of lottery tickets.

What does Insider know? We talk to the general managers, scouts and players and watch way too many preseason games on ESPN's satellite feed. But even Jerry West doesn't know if Vince Carter will slip in the shower one morning and miss 50 games. Bill Walton has no idea how long Allen Iverson can stay off Court TV. And even Michael Jordan isn't sure whether MJ has the legs to survive one last 82-game season.

If that disclaimer didn't scare you off and you still crave some unconventional wisdom, read on. But don't stare at the sun too long. Today we'll take a look at three Eastern Conference sleepers and two Eastern Conference teams that give us the jitters. Thursday we'll tackle the Western Conference.

Let's get the obvious out of the way. Only two teams in the East look like locks. Whether you like the Dikembe Mutombo trade or not, the Nets will cruise this year as long as Jason Kidd stays healthy. The Hornets, now that they have a real home court again, have one of the most physical teams in the East. Yes, injuries are already an issue in New Orleans, but the Hornets are one of the few teams out there that has the depth to survive the loss of a major star.

I think it's also safe to say that there are four teams in the East with little to no chance of making the playoffs this season. The Cavs are terrible, the Bulls are improving but are still a year or two away, and major injuries should keep the Heat and Knicks in the Eastern Conference cellar.

That leaves us with nine teams that look a little bubblish, and only six can make it if we're correct in what we predict above. If Grant Hill stays off crutches, the Magic should be able to survive their awful frontcourt. If Tim Thomas is as good as Ray Allen claims he is, the Bucks should rebound nicely, and it's tough to count out the Celtics as long as Paul Pierce and Antoine Walker are in rapid fire mode.

SLEEPERS

Indiana Pacers: Find a more talented team in the East. The Pacers have the perfect mixture of young talent and veteran savvy. Need to run? Jamaal Tinsley knows how to push it. Need to pound it inside? Jermaine O'Neal and Brad Miller can both average 20 and 10 a night. Need defense? Ron Artest and Al Harrington can stop just about anyone. Need a last-second shot? Paging Reggie Miller. So why aren't the Pacers getting more love?

Blame it on Isiah Thomas. This talented team has underperformed for the past two seasons. Thomas has deflected most of the criticism by playing the youth and injury cards. It can't and shouldn't happen anymore. Their young players have the experience they need and the East is pretty much wide open. On talent, the Pacers should finish third behind the Nets and the Hornets in the East. But given the team's track record, a fourth- or fifth-place finish is a more realistic goal.

Detroit Pistons: How can a team that won the Central Division last season fall under the category of sleeper? What a difference a year makes. Who would've shed a tear last summer had the Pistons shipped off Jerry Stackhouse for up-and-coming swingman Richard Hamilton? One year and 52 wins later, the Stackhouse bandwagon seems to be standing room only. Will losing Stack really push the Pistons back into the lottery? I don't buy it.

They made a major upgrade at point guard with Chauncey Billups, added talented big man Mehmet Okur and have seen significant development from Zeljko Rebraca and Chucky Atkins this summer. Losing Stack's defense and post-up skills hurt, but Hamilton isn't a slouch. He's got a better mid-range game (something the Pistons really lacked last season) and he's more versatile. What Joe Dumars has done is stress chemistry over star power. And while Rick Carlisle probably doesn't have a clue who will take the last shot in a close game, Dumars has given him plenty of weapons. The Pistons are the anti-Blazers. Since when is that a bad thing?

Atlanta Hawks: With the offseason acquisition of Glenn Robinson, the Hawks have the most lethal frontline in the NBA. Robinson and Shareef Abdur-Rahim will fire at will while a healthy (at least today) Theo Ratliff cleans the offensive boards. They problem area for the Hawks is their backcourt. Jason Terry can fill up a box score, but can he run a team? The Hawks are better off getting their offense from Rahim and Robinson. Terry's primary role this year will be to get the ball to him. The good news is, if Terry fails, rookie Dan Dickau is waiting in the wings. Two guard is more problematic, but the early indications are that coach Lon Kruger is leaning toward starting Ira Newble, a defensive stopper in the mode of Bruce Bowen.

The team has a fairly deep bench, especially up front and seems to have the right balance of offensive and defensive players to make it really roll. I know many consider the Hawks a long shot for the playoffs, but lately, more and more GM's mention the Hawks when they discuss the teams that will pose the most matchup problems for them. That's pretty good karma.

BAD JU-JU

Washington Wizards: If Kwame Brown keeps averaging 18 points and 12 rebounds a game in the regular season, burn this. But assuming that Kwame cools off a little, the Wizards have improved, but only slightly. Stackhouse is an upgrade over Hamilton, but he's also more difficult to integrate into a team concept. He sacrificed his stats for the good of the team in Detroit last season, but now that he's in a contract year, will he be willing to suck it up again this year? Every report out of Washington says that Jordan looks better than he did last year. That's great news, but his health is still a huge question mark (he has yet to play in the preseason) . Bryon Russell, Larry Hughes and Jared Jeffries are all nice additions, but does the sum of their talents add up to the playoffs?

Philadelphia 76ers: The angry e-mails from Sixers fans keep pouring in, but with less frequency of late. It's becoming tougher to ignore the fragility of their frontline. Derrick Coleman is out indefinitely and Todd MacCulloch won't win an iron man award anytime soon. How desperate are the Sixers for help in the middle? They signed Olden Polynice to a contract on Monday.

Granted, the Sixers' backcourt is as good as ever but Iverson, Eric Snow and Aaron McKie alone aren't enough to put the Sixers over the top. Instead, the team's future rests firmly on the shoulders of Keith Van Horn. Van Horn was Kenyon Martin's whipping boy in New Jersey last season and his confidence is at an all-time low. Will Larry Brown's hate-hate relationship with his small forwards continue or can Brown, widely considered one of the great teachers in the game, get Van Horn back on track? The Sixers' playoff future hangs in the balance.

It's time for Pacers to stop bluffing and win

Bob Kravitz / Indianapolis Star

Brown's battered new Sixers looking too much like old ones

Stephen A. Smith / Philadelphia Inquirer

Where is Latrell Sprewell?

The Antonio McDyess disaster gave us a few days respite from the sordid Latrell Sprewell affair, but you knew it was too good to last.

While McDyess prepared to undergo surgery on his left knee cap, Spree was back in the Knicks' craw Tuesday after he failed to show up at the team's practice facility to begin his rehab.

On Monday, team president Scott Layden said Sprewell would begin his conditioning program on Tuesday, but Spree didn't show up at the facility and calls from coach Don Chaney went unreturned.

"I think he was on his way to the training site to do some things," Chaney told Newsday earlier in the day. "I'll get in touch with him today for sure to see how he's doing."

According to Newsday, Spree hasn't returned Chaney's calls since Media Day

Where is he? According to the N.Y. Times, Spree apparently opted to stay home and work out in his exercise room. Sprewell and his agent, Bob Gist, maintain that the Knicks never extended an invitation for Spree to work out at the Knicks' practice facility.

Think it's time for the Knicks to hire a communications specialist?

The good news is that Gist claims that Spree is healing faster than expected and should be ready to play soon. That was music to Kurt Thomas's ears.

"We definitely need him now,"Thomas said. "We need him back as soon as possible. We need him healthy because it's going to be a long year without him."

Spree Stays Away, Again

Greg Logan / Newsday

McDyess to Have Surgery Today

Chris Broussard / New York Times

Knicks Won't Quit Trying To Upgrade

Marc Berman / New York Post

Will Wang Zhizhi put the heat on Olowokandi?

You never know for sure with Mark Cuban, but the consensus around the league right now is that the Mavs won't match the Clippers' three-year, $6.5 million offer sheet for restricted free agent Wang Zhizhi by the Thursday deadline.

"We will use the full time to decide," Cuban told the Dallas Morning News. "We want full flexibility in case someone gets injured."

The Mavs already have Dirk Nowitzki, Raef LaFrentz and Shawn Bradley playing well and don't really need another big 7-footer who likes to play on the perimeter. Further complicating the issue is the Mavs' relationship with the Chinese Basketball Association.

Wang's refusal to join the national team at the Asian Games created a rift that that the Mavs aren't sure they can bridge if they "reward" Wang with a contract. The Mavs also have luxury-tax considerations, but money isn't really the issue. A league source told Insider that Wang's contract is only guaranteed for the first year, with a team option on years two and three.

It may be jumping the gun a bit, but how will Wang fit in with the Clippers? Right now the team has two big centers, Michael Olowokandi and Sean Rooks, but neither has much of a face-the-basket game. Wang's ability to sink the perimeter shot should give the Clippers another valuable versatile big man to employ against teams that don't have a traditional center.

His signing will also put the heat on Olowokandi, who becomes an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. Olowokandi has had little competition on the team over the years and the Clippers' coaching staff thinks that adding Wang may push him to bring his "A" game more often.

Finally, a league source told Insider that owner Donald Sterling was intrigued by Yao Ming's drawing power among the Asian Amercian community. Sterling hopes that Wang will help the team reach out to Asian fans and ultimately sell more tickets.

Mavs probably won't match Wang offer

Dwain Price / Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Final decision on Wang will come Thursday

Eddie Sefko / Dallas Morning News

Grant's knee could mean more woes for the Heat

If Pat Riley didn't already have enough problems, here comes this report from the Sun Sentinel.

Brian Grant is experiencing constant pain in his right knee that may eventually require surgery. Grant vows that it won't be a problem this season, but given the Heat's fortunes of late, the signs look ominous.

"I've always had patella tendinitis," Grant, who sat out Friday's exhibition against the Timberwolves, told the Sun Sentinel. "It's just been something I've always dealt with. It's gotten, just like in any player, worse each and every year. I've found some new ways of helping it through stretching and different types of treatment. . . I tried some other things this summer that weren't successful."

Grant has been told surgery would sideline him about two months. That might have been an option after last season or before next, but not now.

"Maybe, just maybe, after the season," he said. "That's something to think about down the road. We haven't even started playing yet. That's a long way away."

Grant is the only legitimate big man left on the Heat this season and one of their few players with any trade value. Grant has been rumored to be on the trading block all summer, but his ongoing knee problems only sink his value.

Grant: Knee won't be a problem

Ira Winderman / South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Turf Battles Update

Kings: With Mike Bibby out six to eight weeks, Hidayet Turkoglu will get a look at point guard. Turkoglu's size will create mismatches that may warrant leaving Bobby Jackson on the bench. "It's really going to be hard for [the opposition] guarding me, and also Doug, Peja, C-Webb and Vlade," he told the Sacramento Bee. "We're going to be hard [to guard]."

Pistons: Coach Rick Carlisle said he wanted to give Zeljko Rebraca a "fair look" at trying to win the starting center spot and three sub-par outings haven't tested his patience. "We are going to stick with it for a while," Carlisle told the Detroit News. "I am not going to put a number of games on it. I saw some improvement the last four days in practice. I think they are getting more familiar with each other." . . . Chucky Atkins continues to sizzle. He scored his 16 points on 5 of 6 shooting. He has now hit 16 of 24 shots in the exhibition season.

Warriors: Gilbert Arenas is taking full advantage of Bob Sura's calf injury in his quest to reclaim the starting point guard position this preseason. Arenas has shot 48 percent from the field and recorded 33 assists and 11 turnovers in four starts. "Gilbert has done a fantastic job," coach Eric Musselman told the San Francisco Chronicle. "He's grown tremendously as far as trying to do what we want him to do." Still, indications are that Sura will be the opening night starter. "I still think it's going to be Bobby starting," Arenas said. "I guess they're going to go with a veteran point guard. There is nothing I can do about it. . . . I guess [the coaches] had their mind set up as soon as they got here."

Hawks: Dion Glover and Ira Newble are still battling for the starting two position. With Newble nursing an infected big toe, Glover has started the first three games of the exhibition season and has been the Hawks' second-leading scorer with 11.7 points per game. Glover is also tied with power forward Alan Henderson for second in rebounds with 16. "There is an opportunity to step forward, and Dion is taking advantage of it," coach Lon Kruger told the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

Clippers: Free-agent forward Mike Batiste is making a serious push for the Clippers' last roster spot. Batiste has averaged 20.1 points on 30 of 61 shooting (49.2 percent) in the first four exhibitions."He's played well, obviously," coach Alvin Gentry told the L.A. Times. "We've stuck him out there and he's come through. He wouldn't be playing as much as he has if we didn't have the injuries. The one thing he's done is step up, but it doesn't matter what the situation is, he's had a heck of a camp. You can't have too many good shooters. There are four more games to play and a lot of practices before we have to line up and play for real."

A new point man for Kings

Martin McNeal / Sacramento Bee

Carlisle preaches patience

Chris McCosky / Detroit News

Arenas taking full advantage

Brad Weinstein / San Francisco Chronicle

Shooting for two

Michael Lee / Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Free-Agent Forward Is a Man on Mission

Elliott Teaford / Los Angeles Times

Peep Show

Lakers: Five weeks after surgery to ease pain and restore flexibility in his right big toe, Shaquille O'Neal said Tuesday that he was experiencing discomfort in the toe. "It's killing me," Shaq told the L.A. Times. Coach Phil Jackson said he was "not nervous at all" about O'Neal, though he then suggested O'Neal hadn't followed the instructions of his rehabilitation to the letter. "He's been out here doing some things kind of interesting," Jackson said. "But there's nothing he can hurt.... If he quits fooling around with it, he'll be fine."

Cavs: Rookie guard Dajuan Wagner did not travel with the team and was checked out at the Cleveland Clinic Monday night because of abdominal pains, which kept him from playing in the first two preseason games. "They just checked him for precautionary measures because he's still having some pain," Cavs general manager Jim Paxson told the Akron Beacon Journal. Wagner practiced with the team on Monday and afterward said he was ready to play. But he started experiencing pain once again.

T-Wolves: Coach Flip Saunders said this week that it's "very doubtful" Joe Smith would be ready for the opener. "I'm way behind," Smith told the Pioneer Press. "I've already admitted that. I'm going to have to get my wind back first. That's something that's unfortunate because before the injury I was coming along real well. The rehab is going good and I'm feeling better. I just can't get over that hump, though, where I'm able to get out there and go full speed."

Rockets: Backup point guard Moochie Norris will be out for an estimated three weeks after suffering a dislocated right pinkie finger that was so severe it required surgery. "He dislocated it, and I could not reduce it [pop it back into place]," Rockets trainer Keith Jones told the Houston Chronicle. "Sometimes you can do it with normal pulling. I tried to reduce it on the court. The doctor tried to reduce it in the locker room. We sent him to a hand specialist, and he tried to reduce it. We had to go with an open reduction [surgery]."

Blazers: Ruben Patterson, who suffered a sprained right ankle in Monday's loss, is expected to miss the remaining three exhibition games but hopes to be ready for the Oct. 30 season opener the Oregonian reported.

Spurs: Emmanuel Ginobili made his debut Tuesday. Ginobili totaled 6 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals in 17 minutes, showing flashes of why the Spurs have high hopes for him while trying to get a feel for his new teammates. "We told him he didn't have to amaze the Western world by going out there and doing incredible things," coach Gregg Popovich told the San Antonio Express News. "We just want him to get a feel for the game."

Mavs: Former Sixers guard Raja Bell looks like he's made the team. "We feel you can never have enough good players on your team," Donnie Nelson, the Mavericks' president of basketball operations, told the Star Telegram. "That being said, we feel like Raja Bell has really stepped up and given us more comfort with having that backup defensive energy punch that we were looking for. If we did not have Raja Bell, we would lack depth at that position, and it would probably be enough of a concern that we would have to go out there and look for someone. But with Raja in the fold, I think it made [acquiring Michael] Redd more of a luxury than anything else."

Bulls, Suns: Tyson Chandler and Amare Stoudemire are quickly developing a rivalry. The duel started, as far as Stoudemire is concerned, two years ago at an AAU game when he embarrassed Chandler. "It gives you something to look forward to," Chandler told the Chicago Sun Times. "There are 82 games in a season, and you have to look forward to something night in and night out." Stoudemire was more diplomatic. "I don't know why there's animosity between me and him, but that's him. There's such hype about these high schoolers, I guess he wants to be the best high schooler to come out. He wanted to seem like the champ by staring me down and making a scene, but I didn't care about that."

Toe Healing Process Painful for O'Neal

Tim Brown / Los Angeles Times

Abdominal pains prevent Wagner from making trip

David Lee Morgan Jr. / Akron Beacon Journal

Smith healing slowly

Mike Wells / St. Paul Pioneer Press

Dislocated finger sidelines Norris

Jonathan Feigen / Houston Chronicle

McCaskill pines for a shot with Blazers

Jim Beseda / The Oregonian

Manu finds his way

Johnny Ludden / San Antonio Express-News

Bell impresses Mavs

Dwain Price / Fort Worth Star-Telegram

[hds428]

A grain of respect for the Hawks AND for JT....In that odd, backhanded, Chad Ford kind of way. What he said about JT is closer to accurate than anything he's said to date.. That "Jason Terry can fill up a box score, but can he run a team? The Hawks are better off getting their offense from Rahim and Robinson. Terry's primary role this year will be to get the ball to him (them??)." depends alot on Lon playing him there all season (where he averaged about 7 assists p/g) and the health of our 2 guards. I donno where he gets these lofty expectations for Dickau, IMO, he's not ready (how does a guy who's 'waiting-in-the-wings' get schooled by the likes of Omar Cook?), not even close really. But the tables are starting to turn, my friends, GMs league wide have noticed the happenings in ATL, the press will be on the bandwagon soon enough....

[Guest]

Why do they act as if Reef needs 20 shots to

be happy?I know about Big Dog wanting to

shoot,but I fail to understand their feelings

that Reef expects 20 something shots.It's never

seemed to be the case to me.

" "Jason Terry can fill up a box score, but can he

run a team? The Hawks are better off getting

their offense from Rahim and Robinson. Terry's

primary role this year will be to get the ball to

him (them??)."

The master of the obvious are we??We all expect

JT to stop shooting some and realize that he is

is a 3rd scorer but he is still the best player on

the floor because he will do what Reef and Big

Dog have been unable to do their careers....Step

up when the game is on the line.

It seems to me JT is adjusting his game alittle bit

more this preseason.I expect alot of his shots to

be more timely and in the flow of the game.

It's gunna be Millers objective to get the ball to

Brand/Q/Kandi....Nashes job to get the ball to

Finley and Dirk.Great wisdom guys.

The GM's seem to know something that ESPN

doesn't know...Gee I wonder what it is?