2015 Eastern Conference Preview - Basketball Forum : Professional and College Basketball Forums

shmip · 07-03-2012, 05:51 AM

Atlantic

This could be the last year that we will see the 76ers with this roster.. Manu will be 38 and D-Wade isn't getting younger as well.. losing Chandler will heart them a lot but on the other hand it will bring back Scott Machado to the starting line up and this might help the Sixers cause their number of assists per game (only 15) was low as they didn't play with a Pure PG ...(Wade was their PG)
Best Case: Maybe with a trade or two winning it all.
Worst Case: After a slow start to the season - the rebuild starts now .. Manu and D-Wade are on the block.

The Heat allready led 3-0 against the Bobcats at the Eastern semi's last year but KD decided to show up and turn this series to win 4-3.. The Heat did lose Lou Williams who was one of the best 6h player last season but they did managed to nab Kevin Martin at a good price..
Because the Heat are over the cap my guess is that this is going to be their last run for the title , if they wont be able to do it this year they will blow it up!..
Best Case: Champions.
Worst Case: KD will get their ass kicked again.

The Huskies are young and very talented at each position on the court, Rondo/Curry/Williams/Lopez/Kanter are great and they have some nice subs as well.. the Huskies made it 3 years in a row to the playoffs and each time they were eliminated by the same team ... the 76ers.
After Matching both Williams and Kanter contracts (both were RFA) the huskies core is set for the next years also with Karasev and Troy Williams from the bench .. who knows maybe it will be their year.
Best Case: FRSL Finals.
Worst Case: 76ers.. again.

The Knicks finally made it to playoffs last season ,they have a lot of talent on this team with D-Rose , Gallo and Alex Poy and they can certaily outscored every team in the league ... the problem is that every other team can outscored the Knicks as their D is horrific .. they dont have even 1 player above 7 PD , their Reb and BLK aren't that good as well as they really need a better PF than Alex poy (better as a SF) , espcially after Boozer left them.
Best Case: Maybe Playoff spot if they will trade for a good big guy.
Worst Case: D-rose wont be willing to extend his contract and the Knicks will lose him for free...

The Celtics started working hard during the offseason , trading both Gay and Kyrie for LBJ , trading Bosh expiring contract for Hibbert and bringing 3 point specialist - John Jenkins , with Okafor , Budinder , Brewer and Collison Lebron has some nice pieces surrounding him.
This Celtics team will rise and fall on Lebron , its going to be interesting to see how the Celtics will look like and i wont be so surprised if they will finish at the top 4 at the East.
Best Case: Eastern finals.
Worst Case: going home after first round defeat.

The Bullets had the 7th and 16th picks at the last draft but they didn't managed to draft as well as they wanted , Hubert Sampson is very solid but he is a player that could have also get picked in the 20- 30 range .. Ron Timor is nice but they allready have Felton and they really needed to add some D .. a player like Defoe could have been great for them.. well at least they have their pick for the 2015 draft..
Best Case: Almost a playoff team .
Worst Case: The Lottery gods drop them from 1st pick to 4th.

The Nets have some nice pieces like Al Jefferson ,Zach Randolph and Alex Len ... other then that nothing special but they do have 4 first round picks for the 2015 draft .. and also they will have a nice amount of free money to spend in the next FA as their have TO on Ray Allen and Carl Landry .. im sure that after this season the nets will get better (by a lot).
Best Case: all 4 picks are lottery ones.
Worst Case: just 1 picks gets into the lottery.

Central

The Bobcats were the best team in last 2 years at the EAST with 2 straight FRSL finals and 1 championship (2 years ago) .
IMO they are still the team to beat , they traded for bogut and resigned Tyrus at FA and now they have 4 goo big guys with Biyombo and Blair as well so i wouldn't be surprised if one of them will be traded for a SG/SF type of player.
Best Case: Champions for the 2nd time in 3 years.
Worst Case: KD -> injury -> first round knock out.

The Magic added some more talent at the last draft with drafting Alex Paspalj and also signing Jason Kidd and Andris Biedrins at free agency .
With so much talent the Magic dont have many holes but maybe they will need to bring a better PF/C as Kyle Anderson isn't really a PF as his rebounding skills aren't so good (and no shotblocking ability at all) and Ibaka isn't the greatest rebounder as well.. This Magic team is young and has a lot of assets GM Vuchato biggest challenge will be to find the right set-up for his team to play better.
Best Case: GM Vuchato realize that he doesn't need 5 great wings (Barnes , Fournier, KCP , Gill and Anderson ) and trade one of them or 2 for a really good big guy..
Worst Case: He trades Ibaka for another wing.

The Bulls finally has a new GM . He started working by trading Bogut for Matthews and picks and he also resigned Bargnani and signed Kaman as a backup for Brags and Humphris.
Im pretty sure that the Bulls are trying/hoping to make sure that their pick will be as low as it can to maybe draft a high talent guy and finally bring the Windy City a great PG.
Best Case: 1-4 pick.
Worst Case: Bargnani , Matthew and White are playing the best basketball they can and almost bring the Bulls to the playoffs.

Also the pistons have a new GM and he decided to rebuild the team .. first he traded LBJ for kyrie + gay , then he traded Kyrie, Randle and his 15 first for Sullinger and Ellis .. and finally he traded Gay for Kemba Walker , Afflalo and the Pros 15 .. confused? so am I.
I don't know how the Pistons will perform but the luck of D and a pure PG will hurt them a lot.
Best Case: 8th seed at the East.
Worst Case: their pick is a top 3 pick .. the Suns fans are Happy , the Pistons less..

After the awful trade that send MKG + Noah for Ed davis + Iggy didn't turn to be as good as the Bucks gm thought it would be GM Kreutz did some nice moves at the offseason.
He started by trading Javale Mcgee big contract for the 3rd pick and some cap relief , drafting great prospects as Lucas "Bebe" Nogueira and Alex Abrines and also managed to resign Calderon on a smaller deal than he had , good job by GM Kreutz.
Best Case: 2nd round in the playoffs.
Worst Case: 9th seed overall .

The Hawks pick climbed from 9th to 3rd at the lottery , what Hawks really wanted is a big guy and they had their eyes on Oudry Kisamba but when GM BlakeJesus realized that the Clippers will take him he immediately traded the pick for Javale Mcgee.. very good move as the Hawks needed that big guy who can defend rebound and block as well.
The Hawks only hole may be at their PG position .. but who knows maybe Britt will be able to play as a legit 1st PG ..
Best Case: 2nd round in the playoffs.
Worst Case: same as Bucks 9th seed overall .

New Pacers GM Teacandoit had the 5th and 6th picks in the 2014 draft i really like the Steve Andrews pick .. he is a great offensive player and also a good rebounder , if his D will improve during the years he might be a great player .. about the 6th pick - Tommy Lister .. well he could have picked a better player..
anyway the Pacers team should be build around Russell Westbrook and that is what GM Teacandoit should do .. he allready has Waiters and Thornton on his wings and Andrews as his big guy.. a high draft pick is recommended.
Best Case: 1st pick in the 2015 frsl Draft.
Worst Case: Westbrook says no to extension..

**Porn Player** · 07-03-2012, 05:59 AM

Ha. 76ers indeed.

Chadtor · 07-03-2012, 06:55 AM

Very good read...I'm liking the Bobcats as the Eastern Confernce favorites after re-signing Tyrus & trading for Bogut. Celtics are definitely my dark horse team, if everything meshes well they could be a top seed in the East for sure.

**Porn Player** · 07-03-2012, 07:45 AM

Chadtor, respond to my PM.

**Dornado** · 07-03-2012, 07:46 AM

Great read, nice to familiarize myself with some of the other teams since I'm still relatively new. Looking forward to the Western Conference breakdown.

shmip · 07-03-2012, 07:50 AM

i'll do a Western Conference Preview as well probably on tomorrow

shmip · 07-03-2012, 09:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Porn Player

Ha. 76ers indeed.

Maybe after losing chandler you will finally beat him

**BlakeJesus** · 07-03-2012, 10:11 AM

My lack of a starting PG, I was hoping, would be negated by Saric's incredible passing at the 3/4 spot. I was really gunning for a score first PG who played good defense, but Britt should be ready to play 32-35 minutes a night. Saric will be fantastic for my 2nd unit instead.

Sort of a quirky team though, so your projections sound about right. Could win a playoff series, could miss the playoffs entirely. Thankfully there's time in between now and then to figure things out.

shmip · 07-03-2012, 10:19 AM

yeah i can't project how teams will handle themself during the seasons with trades, also you can never know how the players will play with each other.. i thought the Bucks would have been a playoff team last year and they didn't , also i didn't think that the Heat will be that good .. and i was wrong on both occasions

JerryWest · 07-03-2012, 11:05 AM

I don't think Jennings should be starting for Bucks, he a better combo backup at pg and sg imo... If bucks play calderon/Abrines/iggy/davis/zeller they should between 5th-7th seed. Bucks need another big that blocks shots though... maybe if they can add Ronny Turiaf for vet min

Some of the new owners in East might be better off tanking though.

I see heat/magic/raptors/bobcats making playoffs for sure... Celtics/Bucks/Hawks form the group of likely group to make playoffs. Knicks or Pistons probably grab the 8th seed

omer51 · 07-03-2012, 11:18 AM

heat lost some major power with the losing of loo, also sixers with the lost of chandler but both are a top tier teams. magic need to find thier best setup, and find a good PF or C next to Ibaka (someone like al jefferson will be perfect for them).

**Vuchato** · 07-03-2012, 11:31 AM

Dieng could wind up starting at PF now. He came off the bench last year, but that was because Aaron Gray was the only other C eligible backup. Now the Paspalj and Biedrins can fill that role, he's got a much better chance at starting over Anderson. Even if it was fun having 3 starters who could get me a triple double any given night

Smath · 07-03-2012, 11:33 AM

great read! lets go heat ~_~

07-03-2012, 05:51 AM	#1 (permalink)
shmip Star Join Date: Dec 2010 Posts: 3,535 Rep Power: 298450	2015 Eastern Conference Preview Atlantic This could be the last year that we will see the 76ers with this roster.. Manu will be 38 and D-Wade isn't getting younger as well.. losing Chandler will heart them a lot but on the other hand it will bring back Scott Machado to the starting line up and this might help the Sixers cause their number of assists per game (only 15) was low as they didn't play with a Pure PG ...(Wade was their PG) Best Case: Maybe with a trade or two winning it all. Worst Case: After a slow start to the season - the rebuild starts now .. Manu and D-Wade are on the block. The Heat allready led 3-0 against the Bobcats at the Eastern semi's last year but KD decided to show up and turn this series to win 4-3.. The Heat did lose Lou Williams who was one of the best 6h player last season but they did managed to nab Kevin Martin at a good price.. Because the Heat are over the cap my guess is that this is going to be their last run for the title , if they wont be able to do it this year they will blow it up!.. Best Case: Champions. Worst Case: KD will get their ass kicked again. The Huskies are young and very talented at each position on the court, Rondo/Curry/Williams/Lopez/Kanter are great and they have some nice subs as well.. the Huskies made it 3 years in a row to the playoffs and each time they were eliminated by the same team ... the 76ers. After Matching both Williams and Kanter contracts (both were RFA) the huskies core is set for the next years also with Karasev and Troy Williams from the bench .. who knows maybe it will be their year. Best Case: FRSL Finals. Worst Case: 76ers.. again. The Knicks finally made it to playoffs last season ,they have a lot of talent on this team with D-Rose , Gallo and Alex Poy and they can certaily outscored every team in the league ... the problem is that every other team can outscored the Knicks as their D is horrific .. they dont have even 1 player above 7 PD , their Reb and BLK aren't that good as well as they really need a better PF than Alex poy (better as a SF) , espcially after Boozer left them. Best Case: Maybe Playoff spot if they will trade for a good big guy. Worst Case: D-rose wont be willing to extend his contract and the Knicks will lose him for free... The Celtics started working hard during the offseason , trading both Gay and Kyrie for LBJ , trading Bosh expiring contract for Hibbert and bringing 3 point specialist - John Jenkins , with Okafor , Budinder , Brewer and Collison Lebron has some nice pieces surrounding him. This Celtics team will rise and fall on Lebron , its going to be interesting to see how the Celtics will look like and i wont be so surprised if they will finish at the top 4 at the East. Best Case: Eastern finals. Worst Case: going home after first round defeat. The Bullets had the 7th and 16th picks at the last draft but they didn't managed to draft as well as they wanted , Hubert Sampson is very solid but he is a player that could have also get picked in the 20- 30 range .. Ron Timor is nice but they allready have Felton and they really needed to add some D .. a player like Defoe could have been great for them.. well at least they have their pick for the 2015 draft.. Best Case: Almost a playoff team . Worst Case: The Lottery gods drop them from 1st pick to 4th. The Nets have some nice pieces like Al Jefferson ,Zach Randolph and Alex Len ... other then that nothing special but they do have 4 first round picks for the 2015 draft .. and also they will have a nice amount of free money to spend in the next FA as their have TO on Ray Allen and Carl Landry .. im sure that after this season the nets will get better (by a lot). Best Case: all 4 picks are lottery ones. Worst Case: just 1 picks gets into the lottery. Central The Bobcats were the best team in last 2 years at the EAST with 2 straight FRSL finals and 1 championship (2 years ago) . IMO they are still the team to beat , they traded for bogut and resigned Tyrus at FA and now they have 4 goo big guys with Biyombo and Blair as well so i wouldn't be surprised if one of them will be traded for a SG/SF type of player. Best Case: Champions for the 2nd time in 3 years. Worst Case: KD -> injury -> first round knock out. The Magic added some more talent at the last draft with drafting Alex Paspalj and also signing Jason Kidd and Andris Biedrins at free agency . With so much talent the Magic dont have many holes but maybe they will need to bring a better PF/C as Kyle Anderson isn't really a PF as his rebounding skills aren't so good (and no shotblocking ability at all) and Ibaka isn't the greatest rebounder as well.. This Magic team is young and has a lot of assets GM Vuchato biggest challenge will be to find the right set-up for his team to play better. Best Case: GM Vuchato realize that he doesn't need 5 great wings (Barnes , Fournier, KCP , Gill and Anderson ) and trade one of them or 2 for a really good big guy.. Worst Case: He trades Ibaka for another wing. The Bulls finally has a new GM . He started working by trading Bogut for Matthews and picks and he also resigned Bargnani and signed Kaman as a backup for Brags and Humphris. Im pretty sure that the Bulls are trying/hoping to make sure that their pick will be as low as it can to maybe draft a high talent guy and finally bring the Windy City a great PG. Best Case: 1-4 pick. Worst Case: Bargnani , Matthew and White are playing the best basketball they can and almost bring the Bulls to the playoffs. Also the pistons have a new GM and he decided to rebuild the team .. first he traded LBJ for kyrie + gay , then he traded Kyrie, Randle and his 15 first for Sullinger and Ellis .. and finally he traded Gay for Kemba Walker , Afflalo and the Pros 15 .. confused? so am I. I don't know how the Pistons will perform but the luck of D and a pure PG will hurt them a lot. Best Case: 8th seed at the East. Worst Case: their pick is a top 3 pick .. the Suns fans are Happy , the Pistons less.. After the awful trade that send MKG + Noah for Ed davis + Iggy didn't turn to be as good as the Bucks gm thought it would be GM Kreutz did some nice moves at the offseason. He started by trading Javale Mcgee big contract for the 3rd pick and some cap relief , drafting great prospects as Lucas "Bebe" Nogueira and Alex Abrines and also managed to resign Calderon on a smaller deal than he had , good job by GM Kreutz. Best Case: 2nd round in the playoffs. Worst Case: 9th seed overall . The Hawks pick climbed from 9th to 3rd at the lottery , what Hawks really wanted is a big guy and they had their eyes on Oudry Kisamba but when GM BlakeJesus realized that the Clippers will take him he immediately traded the pick for Javale Mcgee.. very good move as the Hawks needed that big guy who can defend rebound and block as well. The Hawks only hole may be at their PG position .. but who knows maybe Britt will be able to play as a legit 1st PG .. Best Case: 2nd round in the playoffs. Worst Case: same as Bucks 9th seed overall . New Pacers GM Teacandoit had the 5th and 6th picks in the 2014 draft i really like the Steve Andrews pick .. he is a great offensive player and also a good rebounder , if his D will improve during the years he might be a great player .. about the 6th pick - Tommy Lister .. well he could have picked a better player.. anyway the Pacers team should be build around Russell Westbrook and that is what GM Teacandoit should do .. he allready has Waiters and Thornton on his wings and Andrews as his big guy.. a high draft pick is recommended. Best Case: 1st pick in the 2015 frsl Draft. Worst Case: Westbrook says no to extension.. __________________ FRSL Commissioner,Detroit "Bad Boys" Pistons GM Last edited by shmip; 07-04-2012 at 04:42 AM.

07-03-2012, 05:59 AM	#2 (permalink)
Porn Player Moderator Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Jolly Ingerland.. Age: 25 Posts: 26,022 Rep Power: 21474873	Re: 2015 Eastern Conference Preview Ha. 76ers indeed. __________________

07-03-2012, 06:55 AM	#3 (permalink)
Chadtor Benchwarmer Join Date: May 2012 Posts: 108 Rep Power: 218918	Re: 2015 Eastern Conference Preview Very good read...I'm liking the Bobcats as the Eastern Confernce favorites after re-signing Tyrus & trading for Bogut. Celtics are definitely my dark horse team, if everything meshes well they could be a top seed in the East for sure. __________________ FRSL MEMPHIS PROS

07-03-2012, 07:45 AM	#4 (permalink)
Porn Player Moderator Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Jolly Ingerland.. Age: 25 Posts: 26,022 Rep Power: 21474873	Re: 2015 Eastern Conference Preview Chadtor, respond to my PM. __________________

07-03-2012, 07:46 AM	#5 (permalink)
Dornado Community Moderator Join Date: May 2003 Location: WI Posts: 10,315 Rep Power: 10609190	Re: 2015 Eastern Conference Preview Great read, nice to familiarize myself with some of the other teams since I'm still relatively new. Looking forward to the Western Conference breakdown. __________________

07-03-2012, 07:50 AM	#6 (permalink)
shmip Star Join Date: Dec 2010 Posts: 3,535 Rep Power: 298450	Re: 2015 Eastern Conference Preview i'll do a Western Conference Preview as well probably on tomorrow __________________ FRSL Commissioner,Detroit "Bad Boys" Pistons GM

07-03-2012, 10:11 AM	#8 (permalink)
BlakeJesus Community Moderator Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Wisconsin Age: 23 Posts: 16,800 Rep Power: 12803037	Re: 2015 Eastern Conference Preview My lack of a starting PG, I was hoping, would be negated by Saric's incredible passing at the 3/4 spot. I was really gunning for a score first PG who played good defense, but Britt should be ready to play 32-35 minutes a night. Saric will be fantastic for my 2nd unit instead. Sort of a quirky team though, so your projections sound about right. Could win a playoff series, could miss the playoffs entirely. Thankfully there's time in between now and then to figure things out. __________________ Jalen Rose - "Positions were created so the novice could follow the game. You ARE your skillset." 2024 KVBL Champions: Atlanta Hawks 2026 KVBL Champions: Atlanta Hawks 2027 KVBL Champions: Atlanta Hawks

07-03-2012, 10:19 AM	#9 (permalink)
shmip Star Join Date: Dec 2010 Posts: 3,535 Rep Power: 298450	Re: 2015 Eastern Conference Preview yeah i can't project how teams will handle themself during the seasons with trades, also you can never know how the players will play with each other.. i thought the Bucks would have been a playoff team last year and they didn't , also i didn't think that the Heat will be that good .. and i was wrong on both occasions __________________ FRSL Commissioner,Detroit "Bad Boys" Pistons GM

07-03-2012, 11:05 AM	#10 (permalink)
JerryWest All-Star Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 8,387 Rep Power: 2185328	Re: 2015 Eastern Conference Preview I don't think Jennings should be starting for Bucks, he a better combo backup at pg and sg imo... If bucks play calderon/Abrines/iggy/davis/zeller they should between 5th-7th seed. Bucks need another big that blocks shots though... maybe if they can add Ronny Turiaf for vet min Some of the new owners in East might be better off tanking though. I see heat/magic/raptors/bobcats making playoffs for sure... Celtics/Bucks/Hawks form the group of likely group to make playoffs. Knicks or Pistons probably grab the 8th seed __________________ KVBL Basketball Sim, Los Angeles Lakers FRSL, Los Angeles Lakers Season 2 Champs (64-18), Season 4 Champs (66-16), Season 5 Champs (72-10)

07-03-2012, 11:18 AM	#11 (permalink)
omer51 All-Star Join Date: Jan 2011 Posts: 6,201 Rep Power: 1391452	Re: 2015 Eastern Conference Preview heat lost some major power with the losing of loo, also sixers with the lost of chandler but both are a top tier teams. magic need to find thier best setup, and find a good PF or C next to Ibaka (someone like al jefferson will be perfect for them). __________________ FRSL commissioner Sonics

07-03-2012, 11:31 AM	#12 (permalink)
Vuchato Moderator Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: MA Posts: 6,054 Rep Power: 6652520	Re: 2015 Eastern Conference Preview Dieng could wind up starting at PF now. He came off the bench last year, but that was because Aaron Gray was the only other C eligible backup. Now the Paspalj and Biedrins can fill that role, he's got a much better chance at starting over Anderson. Even if it was fun having 3 starters who could get me a triple double any given night __________________ KVBL Las Vegas Timberwolves Kenny Fugere/CJ Sampson/Walter Pelfrey Hollis Davies/Vytautas Jokubaitas Tayerone Blackman/Charlie Fineman/Willy Grant/Scott Diamond Mac Moore/Kobe Danielson/Kong Randolph Rafa Salvadores/Sam Sagan/Mick Scragg

07-03-2012, 11:33 AM	#13 (permalink)
Smath All-Star Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Tel-Aviv Israel Posts: 5,052 Rep Power: 344832	Re: 2015 Eastern Conference Preview great read! lets go heat ~_~ __________________ KVBL/FRSL - Miami Heat GM 2029 KVBL Champions: Miami Heat (Smath) Lineup - PG Sergio Jose Salvadores \| SG Chris Love \| SF Malcolm Xavier \| PF Skyler McClean \| C Dwight Howard \| 6th man SG Edd Timmons Finals MVP: Malcolm Xavier 2025 KVBL Champions: Miami Heat (Smath) Lineup - PG Chris Love \| SG Gerrod Clifton \| SF Malcolm Xavier \| PF Skyler McClean \| C Jeremy James \| 6th man SG Edd Timmons Finals MVP: Skyler McClean 2016-2017 FRSL Champions PG: Jrue Holiday /// SG: Monta Ellis /// SF: Josh Smith /// PF: Tim Duncan /// C: Andrew Bynum /// 6th player: Devin Ebanks /// Playoffs MVP: Andew Bynum

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