Bookmakers have cavs winning 58 games

[bobcat22]

Wouldn't say East is better this year. If they are it will be minimal.

I disagree with this. The Cavs this year are better than last year's Heat. This year's Bulls are better than last year's Pacers. Wizards are young and will be better than last year, same with the Raptors. The Heat are still a Top 4 team in the East in my opinion. The Hawks will be very good in their second year under Budenholzer with a healthy Al Horford. The Nets get Brook Lopez back. The Hornets will be even better than last year with the addition of Stephenson. Melo's Knicks should be better with the triangle being implemented.

Yes the Heat and Pacers dropped off, but the depth and quality at the top is much better this year with so many guys back from injury.

 

[Cavsfan161]

I disagree with this. The Cavs this year are better than last year's Heat. This year's Bulls are better than last year's Pacers. Wizards are young and will be better than last year, same with the Raptors. The Heat are still a Top 4 team in the East in my opinion. The Hawks will be very good in their second year under Budenholzer with a healthy Al Horford. The Nets get Brook Lopez back. The Hornets will be even better than last year with the addition of Stephenson. Melo's Knicks should be better with the triangle being implemented.

Yes the Heat and Pacers dropped off, but the depth and quality at the top is much better this year with so many guys back from injury.

Yeah true in terms of the top of the east it's certainly better and Bobcats should be better with Stephenson. I think they could get a top 6 seed.

 

[Baseline Runner]

Is this what homerism looks like?

 

[LBJVirus]

I disagree with this. The Cavs this year are better than last year's Heat. This year's Bulls are better than last year's Pacers. Wizards are young and will be better than last year, same with the Raptors. The Heat are still a Top 4 team in the East in my opinion. The Hawks will be very good in their second year under Budenholzer with a healthy Al Horford. The Nets get Brook Lopez back. The Hornets will be even better than last year with the addition of Stephenson. Melo's Knicks should be better with the triangle being implemented.

Yes the Heat and Pacers dropped off, but the depth and quality at the top is much better this year with so many guys back from injury.

Gotta disagree. The Bulls aren't gonna be better than last years Pacers. I'm highly suspect of Rose being able to play a full year. He's had multiple knee surgeries on both knees. People also forget he was breaking down before he first tore his ACL in 2011. His body just seems to not be able to handle the full 82 plus playoffs. The Wizards are gonna be good but they lost Ariza for an old Pierce. Toronto is extremely overrated. They play in the same division as the Knicks, Nets, Celtics, and Sixers. So they had a real easy schedule. Then when you factor in that most they're main guys were in contract years it's easy to see them regressing a bit. The Heat I think will come out on fire then regress. I think it will be like when Lebron left us but to a bigger degree. A lot of people don't remember but we started out 5-5 then went 9-58. We wanted to prove we didn't need Lebron but when it became apparent that wasn't the case we imploded. Especially after Miami came in and the whole arena just cared more about booing Lebron then our own team and they destroyed us by 30 lol. I think the same will happen with Miami. They will start off hot then when Wade starts slowing down a little and everyone realizes "Crap were like a 4th or 5th seed at best. Were never gonna make it to the finals" they will fall off. Hornets, Hawks, and the Knicks will be better. But I can also see 2 of those 3 struggling as well. Hawks have that racist email thing and owner limbo thing hanging over their heads. Knicks could easily prove last year wasn't a fluke.

 

[Damien O'Connel]

Our starting lineup would compete with Team USA's FIBA starters. Hell, it might be better.

If we don't win 60 games (and we stay healthy. *knock *knock *knock) I will be absolutely amazed.

 

[Amherstcavsfan]

The Cavaliers are infinitely better than last year. We'll get to their win total in a minute.

The Bulls are going to be roughly the same team as last year, assuming Rose doesn't come out as prime Rose that none of us expect. They may get some added production from Gasol, and their defense as always will be stellar, but they are probably nothing more than a 50 win team.

The Wizards got worse in my opinion. People don't talk about it, but Ariza for Pierce is a pretty huge downgrade. Pierce couldn't even play SF anymore last year, and now he's expected to be the #1 SF for the Wizards. Sure, Wall and Beal are great, but are we going to assume that Nene and Gortat are going to continue to be their dominating self now that they are getting older? There is plenty of room for drop off there.

The Bobcats are significantly improved. If they get better shooting from guys like Gary Neal, Kemba and MKG, then they are going to win a lot of games. I think they'll be better than the Wizards, personally.

OTOH, the Pacers are significantly worse. Losing Stephenson, losing PG, and having to rely on guys like Hibbert and George Hill to carry the offense...yikes. Fringe playoff team in the decidedly weak east.

Nearly every other team in the East is either too fringy to discuss, or too bad to legitimately discuss. I do, personally, think that the Raptors could be somewhat of a factor, but that's going to have to be solely from individual improvement and that's going to be tough to predict.

As for the Cavaliers, their offense should be record breaking. Too many weapons, too many unselfish players, and too many great passers not to average a lot of points per game. Defensively, the Cavaliers have a few specialists but nothing too great. They're obviously going to have to outscore a lot of teams in the NBA while getting a stop every now and again. Again, should not be a problem, even if the Cavaliers end up with no rim protector. I don't think the Cavaliers will break the mythical 70 win plateau, but they probably should break 60.

 

[CardiacCavs]

It seems to me that this team, as built, will be a juggernaut during the regular season. I'm not sure if we will come out of the gate on fire like some of you think, but I do think we will start rolling after the first month or so of the season. I think 60-62 wins seems a likely outcome. I'm worried about how our style of play will translate to the type of basketball that is played in the post season. I do think it is unreasonable to assume it is championship or bust. More half of our meaningful contributors on this team have never even sniffed a playoff game, let alone won a series. That will be the real test. Luckily for us, the first couple of rounds in the playoffs should be warm up rounds, more or less. I imagine our first real test will be in the ECF (probably against Chicago).