2014 - 2015 Eastern Conference

[Mr. Orange]

Now that a lot of dominos are falling into place, I thought I would start a thread to discuss the Eastern Conference. Still a lot of pieces to move (K. Love, Monroe, Lance, etc.) but I think we have enough to begin.

Cavs obviously have some more moves up their sleeve. Regardless of Love, should be a 1-3 seed. I am going to operate under the assumption we get the deal done.

Chicago will add Derrick Rose and Pau Gasol to a gritty team which won 48 games. They do lose Boozer and Deng. Probably a 1-4 seed in the East.

Indiana looks like they may lose Lance. Good frontcourt which would give the Cavs trouble.

Toronto keeps the team together. I saw these guys at the Q last year. Like the backcourt a lot. JV was a non-factor in the game I saw. I think they are a 4-5 seed.

Washington loses Ariza, replaces with Pierce. Seems like a lateral move. Destined for the 5-8 seed and a first round exit.

Brooklyn loses Livingston and Pierce, adds Jack, adds more miles on KG. Loses J-Kidd. I don't like this team.

Charlotte loses McBob, adds Vonleh. Were a tough team last year and I expect more of the same. Going back to the Hornets makes them cool again too.

Miami has scrambled and kept a reasonable core with Wade, Bosh, Deng. Unfortunately for them, the losses are big and that core is aging. McBob is a decent player but not enough. This smells like a 7-10 seed to me. If anything it helps our negotiations for Love as the draft pick becomes more valuable. But then again, the Finals team without Bron looked like a lottery team. If Wade only plays 55 games....could be a 30 win team.

1. Cleveland
2. Chicago
3. Toronto
4. Washington
5. Indiana (Edit: Thanks Mac)
6. Charlotte
7. Brooklyn
8. Miami

Or something like that. I may be overrating the heat due to an anchoring bias of the last few years.

 

[ice cream man]

Re: 2014 - 215 Eastern Conference

Chicago is definitely our biggest threat. They will find a way to improve their roster during the season as well. No one else even worries me. Maybe Toronto...Jonas is about to really break out IMO.

You forgot about Atlanta though. They will at least be better than Brooklyn and Miami.

 

[Mr. MacPhisto]

Re: 2014 - 215 Eastern Conference

Now that a lot of dominos are falling into place, I thought I would start a thread to discuss the Eastern Conference. Still a lot of pieces to move (K. Love, Monroe, Lance, etc.) but I think we have enough to begin.

Cavs obviously have some more moves up their sleeve. Regardless of Love, should be a 1-3 seed. I am going to operate under the assumption we get the deal done.

Chicago will add Derrick Rose and Pau Gasol to a gritty team which won 48 games. They do lose Boozer and Deng. Probably a 1-4 seed in the East.

Indiana looks like they may lose Lance. Good frontcourt which would give the Cavs trouble.

Toronto keeps the team together. I saw these guys at the Q last year. Like the backcourt a lot. JV was a non-factor in the game I saw. I think they are a 4-5 seed.

Washington loses Ariza, replaces with Pierce. Seems like a lateral move. Destined for the 5-8 seed and a first round exit.

Brooklyn loses Livingston and Pierce, adds Jack, adds more miles on KG. Loses J-Kidd. I don't like this team.

Charlotte loses McBob, adds McBuckets. Were a tough team last year and I expect more of the same. Going back to the Hornets makes them cool again too.

Miami has scrambled and kept a reasonable core with Wade, Bosh, Deng. Unfortunately for them, the losses are big and that core is aging. McBob is a decent player but not enough. This smells like a 7-10 seed to me. If anything it helps our negotiations for Love as the draft pick becomes more valuable. But then again, the Finals team without Bron looked like a lottery team. If Wade only plays 55 games....could be a 30 win team.

1. Cleveland
2. Chicago
3. Indiana
4. Toronto
5. Washington
6. Charlotte
7. Brooklyn
8. Miami

Or something like that. I may be overrating the heat due to an anchoring bias of the last few years.

The conclusion is impossible since the top three seeds are from the same division. Only the top wildcard team can leap frog division winners. That would make Indiana the 5th seed in this scenario.

I'd guess at this point that the Hawks will win the Southeast Division, assuming Horford can stay healthy. They are also likely to add another player or two to the mix.

 

[PIP]

Re: 2014 - 215 Eastern Conference

Definitely not a lateral move for Washington-- Ariza is a superior defender and meshed well with Wall.... Pierce will provide some punch and maybe some mentoring to Otto Porter-- but IMO, Pierce would have been more effective in San Antonio or LAC or CHI or OKC etc... Washington is still too young

 

[dirtywax]

Re: 2014 - 215 Eastern Conference

Really excited to see Blatt's Offense Vs. Thib's Defense.

 

[Mr. MacPhisto]

Re: 2014 - 215 Eastern Conference

Definitely not a lateral move for Washington-- Ariza is a superior defender and meshed well with Wall.... Pierce will provide some punch and maybe some mentoring to Otto Porter-- but IMO, Pierce would have been more effective in San Antonio or LAC or CHI or OKC etc... Washington is still too young

And Pierce is well past his prime.

The Atlantic Division looks atrocious, even worse than last year. Analysts hype up Toronto, a team that isn't bad, but they get a lot of games against the worst division in the NBA. The Southeast will be much rougher with Miami still having a shell of their former glory, especially if Deng goes down there and can be reasonably healthy. The Heat will be okay. They won't be spectacular.

My hope is for the younger teams in the EC to get better. The Cavs should go from 33 wins to 50+ next year. Atlanta should recover. That means that next season, all EC playoff teams should have winning records and one team with a winning record could get left out in the cold. I hope it's Miami for completely selfish reasons. Last year the team in the EC that just missed the playoff ended up with the #11 pick. So the Heat could miss it bad enough that they go lottery and we get the possibility of a really high pick in two years or we get a strong pick in next year's draft.

In our own division, I'm not really sold on the Bulls beyond Thibodeau being their coach. He's fantastic, but there was evidence last season that Rose is not what he was. He could get much better in the offseason, but I have a feeling he'll be a shell of what he was. I expect the Bulls to be good, but I'm not sure they'll be able to get over Indiana's relentless D and the Cavs won much more with a worse roster and a LeBron that wasn't as mature and experienced as he is now. From a mere talent standpoint, the Cavs are loaded. The major question is how quickly that talent can grow, learn, and adapt. Kyrie is a great player whose next step, if he can maintain it, is HOF quality - he's not there yet, but he can get there - especially if he can D it up. Add in some wily vets and frontcourt help and 60 wins doesn't look out of the realm of possibility.

 

[CardiacCavs]

Re: 2014 - 215 Eastern Conference

I think you may be underrating Miami. Wade-Bosh-Deng is pretty good. I expect them to be right in the mix for the top 4 seeds.

 

[Tornicade]

Re: 2014 - 215 Eastern Conference

I think its premature with all the free agents out there some can make an impact other are quality fillers. Also this is about the eastern conference .. how they rate to the western is rather irrelavent in regards to who does what in the EC

 

[CalBuckeyeRob]

Re: 2014 - 215 Eastern Conference

I think you may be underrating Miami. Wade-Bosh-Deng is pretty good. I expect them to be right in the mix for the top 4 seeds.

Though Miami will have almost the same cap issues as they were facing after the season and, without LeBron, the ring chasing vets are not going to go to Miami to finish their careers. It will basically be close to the Toronto phase of Bosh's career which is around .500. In the East that will get them in the playoffs but hard to imagine they will win more than 45 games.

 

[Mr. Orange]

Re: 2014 - 215 Eastern Conference

I think you may be underrating Miami. Wade-Bosh-Deng is pretty good. I expect them to be right in the mix for the top 4 seeds.

Just think about them in the finals. Think about teams not having to worry about James and just stopping Wade or Bosh. Think of Wade not playing back to backs. Think of their bench. Think how Deng looked on the Cavs. They may be terrible.

 

[dark2332]

2014 - 215 Eastern Conference

I think you may be underrating Miami. Wade-Bosh-Deng is pretty good. I expect them to be right in the mix for the top 4 seeds.

I agree. I see the Heat still in that 3-4 seed zone. I think the Bulls, Pacers, Cavs, and Heat are the top four teams in the East. If the Bulls stay healthy, they have to be up there with the young Cavs as the favorites. People sleep on how good Bosh and Wade are--even if Wade is a shell of his former self.

 

[CanadaEh]

Re: 2014 - 215 Eastern Conference

I think the experience of the Bulls, pending a healthy Rose, will get the #1 seed. A frontcourt of Noah, Gasol and Gibson is the best frontcourt in the EC, maybe in the league. It all hinges on how Rose plays. What is awesome though is ALL the worst teams from last year should get better while the top teams have gotten a little worse, creating some balance in the conference since 2010. It will be very interesting to see how the Cavs matchup with the Pacers/Bulls because IMO they are the only two real contenders for the EC. Miami will be good but not great, same with Toronto, Atlanta and Washington. Should be a fun season!

 

[deadddilly]

Re: 2014 - 215 Eastern Conference

Charlotte loses McBob, adds McBuckets. Were a tough team last year and I expect more of the same. Going back to the Hornets makes them cool again too.

I thought McBuckets was on the bulls?

 

[Mr. Orange]

Re: 2014 - 215 Eastern Conference

I thought McBuckets was on the bulls?

You are correct. I think 6 weeks of mock drafts of McBuckets to Charlotte made me forget what actually happened.

 

[Tornicade]

Re: 2014 - 215 Eastern Conference

Just think about them in the finals. Think about teams not having to worry about James and just stopping Wade or Bosh. Think of Wade not playing back to backs. Think of their bench. Think how Deng looked on the Cavs. They may be terrible.

Both Bosh and Wade had to make adustments to their game to make best use of Lebron. Neither will have to do so as Bosh and wades game compliments each other.

The heats problem replacing lebron will be on the defensive side and this is where deng comes to play.

Both Bosh and Wade can hit utters and thats what Deng thrives at.

Miami will field a competitive team and Bosh will be a better number 1 option than people are giving him credit for..

Whereas I dont see another finals appearence for the heat . They still have a strong team