Miami sure has made a lot of "nervous" changes. You take a look at the players they added and say, "ooo that's talent......hmmm too much talent maybe". I for one don't ascribe to the conspiracy theorists who'd have me believe that Pat Riley gave Stan Van Gundy a big fat headache on a silver platter to take his job away when things sour up. This team is as talented a team as any in the NBA and I think Dwayne Wade is too much of a winner to let J Will and Walker spoil this teams birthright which is Easter Conference and Division champs.
Prediction: Division Champs, Conference Champs, Second best record to Denver
Seed: 1
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Washington let someone else take one of their guys, a real shame. It is this kind of move that will in my mind always relegate the bad teams to being bad. I must admit that they rebounded nicely by bringing in Caron Butler. The Centers aren't talented but at least they're big, they rebound, and they occasionally block shots more than you can say for a lot of team's Centers. Jamison and Arenas will continue to be masterful running-n-gunning while occasionally humoring Eddie Jordan by running one of his Princeton offense plays. I think this team makes the playoffs on talent alone.
Prediction: 2nd best
Seed: 7
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Atlanta, NO I don't like them because of Joe Johnson. I still think they got bent over and raped by Phoenix. I like them because of the Josh's. Josh Smith has matured right before our very eyes and it took less than a year. Josh Childress seems to make the right cut, get the steal, get the offensive rebound, all those little things that go along way to piling up some Ws in a long season. Harrington can score well enough and I think they can get just enough production out of their rooks to surprise by beating Charlotte and Orlando but still miss the playoffs by a good margin.
Prediction: 3rd best
Seed: miss playoffs
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People loved to dog Toronto for taking Villanueva, how about looking at the Orlando Magic if you want a crash course in "HOW NOT TO DRAFT". They get a big man by the moniker of "Fran" from Spain who doesn't himself believe he's good enough to play in the NBA. They get Travis Diener (a gym rat with a great work ethic mind you) looking up at Franchise and Nelson on the depth chart and then sign Dooling to really bury the poor kid's chances. They have Battie and Cato, don't like Battie, like Cato--he's injury prone. Don't get me started with Hill's laundry list of ailments. Howard can't shoulder the offensive load, yet, Franchise can shoulder the load but the team won't like their record afterward. To make matters worst, the guy whose looked best for them in the preseason is Deshawn Stevenson??! That's alarming!
Prediction: 4th best
Seed: miss playoffs
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Charlotte, lemme tell ya what, they're gonna put some butts in the seats, but that ain't gonna translate into wins. This team seems talent depleted. Okafor should improve after having worked with the "Dream". Brezec will be solid and Wallace is a gifted defender. Their backcourt remains an absolute wasteland. Knight will get assists and steals and thats it, but remains injury prone. Felton has looked good so far, May won't see the light of day. This team needs scoring and offensive creativity more than any other team in the NBA, and I just don't see the lottery additions helping too much in that category this year.
Prediction: The Caboose
Seed: miss playoffs
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