The way the East stacks up for the playoff seeds

[Blunt91]

Here is my breakdown of the East

1.New Jersey Nets. They didn't make any drastic changes other than resign Kidd and sign Alonzo Mourning.Either way because they have the best pure pointguard in the league they will represent the east in the finals.

2.Detroit Pistons: New coach Larry Brown is a plus but Larry should have brought in Eric Snow with him to Detroit to run the offense. IF the Pistons had a top tier pointguard ala Stephon Marbury or a SteveNash they would come out of the East but they have Billups & Atkins who are solid backups but not going to lead you to a championship.

3.Indiana Pacers: Rick Carlisle will make them better but still not enought to out coach Larry Brown in Detroit or get pass kidd's slick passing in NewJersey.

4.Philadelphia 76ers: toss up between Philly and Celtics but Iverson can will his team to a top seed in the east. Big Dog will probably have more of an impact in Philly because they play good team defense which the Hawks didn't. Dog won't look as bad here as with us.

5. Boston Celtics: Peirce will have another good year but they won't go far without good defense or a pointguard./

6.Charlotte Hornets: Even though TIm Floyd doesn't have much of a clue with the NBA he still has enought solid talent to make the playoffs.

7.Milwuakee Bucks: The Bucks will play more uptempo basketball and will surprise folks. TJ Ford will help them out alot.

8.Atlanta hawks: This could be wishful thinking but then again I don't see why this team can't win 5 or 6 more games than last year especially when they didn't make much changes this off season and everyone is healthy currently. Diaw is the Key if he can come on strong and produce the Hawks could move up a notch to the 7th seed.If this team fails to make the playoffs this year say bye bye to Shareef and Maybe Theo as well.

[dj_me]

I disagree with two of your teams: Milwaukee and New Orleans (NOTICE: they are no longer in Charlotte). In replace of those two teams, I'll put Miami and Orlando (how can you not put McGrady in the playoffs).

1. New Jersey - Kidd/Kittles/Jefferson/Martin/Mourning, now that's a team.

2. Detriot - Larry Brown will make this even MORE of a solid team.

3. Orlando - Break-out year for Gooden. McGrady alone makes this a playoff team.

4. Indiana - Just a solid team.

5. Philadelphia - I think Glenn will be back in form. Him and Iverson is going to be quite a tandem.

6. Boston - I have a funny feeling about Baker.

7. Atlanta - It is time for our chemistry to develop. We have the parts, they just need to blow up.

8. Miami - Odom will be huge.

[Blunt91]

My bad I don't know why said the Charlotte Hornets instead of New Orleans. Yeah how could I forget about Tmac. Since that's the case we will have to battle Milwaukee for that last playoff spot.

[beav]

1.Indiana Pacers: They are going to go from an undisciplined poorly coached team to an excellent coach. True, they have had a talent dropoff particularly losing Miller, but I have them here based on the underachievement of the last few years.

2.Detroit Pistons: Coaching and nothing more here. Detroit's talent level would barely have them scratching an 8th seed the last few years, but they have actually hired a slightly better coach than Carlisle.

3.New Jersey: I am dropping the Nets solely on the fact of Mourning getting injured. I just assume that it will happen every year. And although I like Scott a good deal, he is nowhere in the league of the two top coaches.

4.Orlando : Orlando looked much better after the Miller trade last year and have added Juwan Howard. This is a team with multiple options and Mcgrady is probably the best player in the East.

5. Boston Celtics: A huge dropoff to this point. At least they got more athletic and rumors say that Baker might give some decent minutes.

6.Charlotte Hornets: A good deal of talent is still there. Even though people are down on Floyd maybe he learned some things from his first tour of duty in handling players. At least he won't be obliged to give marcus fizer minutes anymore.

7.Chicago Bulls: I like Cartwright and if Pippen can stay healthy (a big if I know) they certainly have the talent to finish here.

8.Atlanta hawks: What the [censored]. I don't really like any of the rest of the craparama teams left so I'll throw a bone to the Hawks.

[cyman3]

1. Nets

2. Pistons

3. 76ers (tie)

3. Pacers (tie)

5. Celtics

6. Heat (wade + odom effect)

7. Magic

8. Hornets

9. Hawks

but hey, i hope they prove me wrong

[beav]

Everyone seems to like the Sixers much more than I do. I see them going through a big plunge. Their frontcourt is awful, and their backcourt is one injury away from being a lower lottery team in my opinion.

[Weez]

NO is already having injury problems, Alexander's out for the season...I'm just not sure about them. They could go far, but could falter in a lot of close games due to coaching. This team will go only as far as Baron has truly matured as a pg and Mash can stay healthy....

[beav]

I didn't know about Alexander. Mashburn needs to stay healthy for them.