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1. Miami Heat - This is easy. 2 of the 3 best players in the league on one team? Add in another all-star and a few good complements and that's good enough help to be the beast of the east. 2. Chicago Bulls - Imagine if a team like the Jazz were in the East when Deron and Boozer were on that team. That's what it'll be like here. Rose and Boozer, along with Brewer, Noah, Korver, Thomas, and Deng each provide certain tangibles and intangibles. So many promised veterans/rising talent along with the two all-stars in Rose and Boozer allow for a team that can certainly challenge the Magic and Celtics in the regular season. 3. Orlando Magic - If Dwight can improve his free throw shooting and offensive game, they could move up to second. Also if JJ Redick gets more playing time and can capitalize on his promising performance from the 2010 ECF, the Magic should be able to maintain their dominance as a plus 50 win team. If Carter can get off to a better start unlike last season, the Magic should be able to get momentum to start the season. 4. Boston Celtics - They won't have as bad of a second half as last year provided the injuries don't come about, but this team is primed for the playoffs. As long as they win their division to get home court in the first round, which will give them their momentum, they should be fine. With Perkins out for the first few months, JO has to be productive. Rondo should be even better and possibly be first team all NBA point guard. 5. Atlanta Hawks - It's amazing how long the Hawks have stuck with this core without making any huge changes. The team still hasn't shown much improvement in the playoffs since the almost-first round upset against Boston in 2008. Bibby or Teague must provide some jump to the offense and make plays. They need a big man, as that Orlando series exposed a huge weakness. 6. Milwaukee Bucks - For a small market team, they probably had one of the best offseasons. Losing Kurt Thomas hurts, but adding Maggette, CDR, and Drew Gooden, along with a fully healthy Andrew Bogut to start the season, they look very promising. While I project them to be the 6 seed again, they will have a much better season and could get 50 wins if everything clicks. Stackhouse is an X-factor. 7. Charlotte Bobcats - Losing Felton allows Augustine to run the show at point. If he can become a play maker and hit clutch threes, that should help Captain Jack and Wallace while they run the show. Now they get a full offseason for Steven Jackson and Tyrus Thomas. Losing Chandler and Ratliff hurts. Gaining Dampier won't do too much. Charlotte could compete with Milwaukee and maybe even Atlanta for the 5 seed. After Charlotte, things will be very interesting in terms of who makes the playoffs. 8. Cleveland Cavaliers - Things have changed. I'm a Cavs fan so there's no way I'm going to project standings without placing them in the playoffs. Who's going to challenge them for the 8 seed? New York? Amare hasn't single-handedly lead a team to a playoff berth, so there's no reason to expect he can lead this team. The Wizards and 76ers will improve, but the other teams are just rehashed versions of last seasons. Now, why the Cavs are better: Acquiring Ryan Hollins fills in the hole at center. That means Anderson Verajao, who was 2nd team all defense last year, is coming off the bench. JJ Hickson showed promising signs in the summer league. Albeit the summer league, Hickson did also show during the regular season what he can do. Mo and Jamison will bring the offense with double digit scoring night in and night out. Only thing this team needs is a leader to emerge. A lot of people forget about Byron Scott too. This is a huge chance to gain back hope and belief from the city of Cleveland following a devastating postseason/offseason. This is their chance to capitalize on it and do something special. And it can only be special if this happens. 9. New York Knicks - They'll contend with the Cavs for the 8 seed, but I just don't see them being that great. Amare obviously is a huge addition. Adding Felton gives them a starting point guard finally. But who's center? For their acquisitions, Randolph has shown signs of success and so has Azuibuike, but both haven't been consistent and have had injury problems. Gaining Tony Parker or Chris Paul would obviously change the scenario. 10. Philadelphia 76ers - They should get 30-35 wins. Brand is an issue. Hopefully Holliday can improve and Turner can become a good starter alongside Iggy. This team is the one team that I don't know what to expect. They could be a 40 plus win team depending on how good Turner is. 11. Washington Wizards - Adding Hinrich and Wall gives them a top guard duo in the league if Wall can pan out successfully. Gilbert is the question, but the team obviously has grown this offseason. Blatche will have expectations this offseason as well. 12. New Jersey Nets - All season they talk about getting LeBron, Wade, Bosh, or some mega star. What do they end up with? Travis Outlaw. But that can't be all right? Well they also got Anthony Morrow. Obviously they had the number 3 pick in the draft and drafted Favors. But do those three additions take them from worst team in the league to possible 7/8 seed? I don't think so. 13. Indiana Pacers - This whole team's success depends on Danny Granger. If Hibbert can improve off last season's impressive showing, the Pacers might have a nice future tandem of stars with Granger and Hibbert. Hopefully Paul Davis isn't a bust. 14. Toronto Raptors - They could be better than New Jersey, Indy, and Washington. A lot of athleticism has been added. If DeRozan starts all year and can be more consistent unlike last year, that would help. This is Sonny Weems chance to prove he can be a solid player in the league long-term. Barbosa and Davis were great additions, and losing Hedo was even better. 15. Detroit Pistons - Monroe finally adds some length, but they still need to lose Prince or Hamilton and blow it up already. Bynum is great off the bench but the team lacks a player who can really spark the team. -------------------- Playoff Predictions: Heat over Cavs in 5 Bulls over Bobcats in 6 Magic over Bucks in 6 Celtics over Hawks in 6 --- Heat over Celtics in 7 Bulls over Magic in 7 --- Heat over Bulls in 6 -- Lakers over Heat in 6

JWall needs to relax. Dood is a poor man's version of xx.

Forgot to mention, I also turn my swag on.

Honestly, if he's not going to post because of that, he shouldn't join any forum for that matter. Every new member gets treated differently, just depends on how they post. Is it fair? Probably not and I get what you're trying to tell us..but if he is how you're telling us, he would have been perfectly fine. We need more basketball-knowledgeable members here. Hopefully he reads this and proves me wrong or something.

leave the kid alone, damn. god forbid someone be active here.

First I open my eyes, check the time, pull off the covers and hop out of bed.

Too bad his O-line is trash. Felix >

On paper, sure, they look good. I never argued that, but I am very skeptical of the way they ended last season. The Mavs won something like 13 straight after they got Caron Butler and looked primed to be the Lakers' biggest challenge with a STACKED lineup. What happened? They lost to a Spurs team that got swept by the Suns. I am not saying the Bucks will have that same kind of follow-up this season, but to call them a better team than a Magic team that swept their first 2 series' last season, won 59 games and won the ECF the previous season? Not ready to say that as they still have a LOT to prove. Like can Bogut stay healthy? He played only 69 games last season, and only 33 the previous. Can Jennings shoot above 40%? If not the Bucks will be in trouble because there are going to be less shots to go around next season with everyone healthy and Maggette on the roster as well. Even if the pieces fit on paper, I see them struggling out of the gate which will hurt their standings. And quite frankly, I just don't think they will be a better team than the Heat, Celtics, Bulls or Magic. The beauty of the Magic is they take on responsibility by committe. They aren't solely reliant on any specific players. It's why last season they were 4th in offensive rating, and 3rd in defensive rating. Nelson's production won't go down at all. Lewis' should stay constant. Carter should actually play BETTER than most of last season, where he was a sub-40% scorer to kick off the year. And if his production tails off a bit, Reddick continues to improve and can be counted on to take some of VC's minutes. Anderson improved a bit last year. Gortat and Bass are great backups to Lewis if his production plummets. And above all else, if they have trouble scoring, Howard only took 10 FGA last season...that can always go up. And the moves they made in the offseason were lateral more than anything. Barnes isn't really any better than Q-Rich, and Richardson may actually be a better fit with his 3pt shooting. Duhon is a solid backup PG, not really a downgrade from Williams. I just don't get why you think some of the Magic's big guns will take such a plummet that the other players can't pick up the slack. They operate very much as a team and have the depth to pick up individual slack. 3 things- 1) As I said in my previous post, Perkins is going to be out for awhile. And when he does come back, he's likely not going to be 100% and will have to shake off rust. 2) On top of the Perkins loss, they also lost Wallace, Tony Allen and IMO their biggest loss was Tom Thibodeau. Thibodeau was the mastermind of their all-time defense, designing their schemes and defensive gameplans. Rivers is not the best at gameplanning, and I think the loss of Thibs' will definitely make an impact. But on the hardwood, the loss of those 3 players with only the addition of an old JO (who is not a great rebounder anymore) will only cause negative effects on the team. 3) Garnett and Pierce had their injury problems last year, and all of the Big 3 have been showing consistent signs of decline. Offensively that is going to really hurt this team. Yes, Rondo is a great player, but he is not the kind of scorer that will be able to take over games consistently. You could see that during the 2nd half of last season. He would show up with a big scoring effort one night and lead his team to victory, and the next night either be too passive or be forced into jumpers that he couldn't connect on. The Celtics are a team made for the playoffs. But in the regular season, with their age, injuries and off-season losses, I don't think they'll have the 2nd best record to the Heat.

Felix 'The Cat-like Reflexes' Jones http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/0bJP0jObOTfPo/340x.jpg

I don't really see how shuffling backups makes the Magic go from 60 wins to potentially 50 or less at the 5 seed on your list. Celtics second is suspect, put the Bulls there for me. Milwaukee will be fighting for a playoff spot all year I think, they won't be a home court team. Atlanta won't be below Milwaukee. Basically I think you can expect the standings to look very similar with the Heat replacing the Cavs, and the Knicks taking that final playoff spot with Cleveland in the gutter, but here is my seedings for now at least, it is hard to say with CP3 still on the block apparently. 1. Miami for obvious reasons 2. Orlando Magic for obvious reasons, same core they will win 55+ games again 3. Chicago Bulls have a talented roster and should win 50-52 games 4. Boston Celtics, this could easily be swapped for Chicago because I think they will fight for the 3rd best record, all depends on health. 5. Atlanta Hawks for obvious reasons 6. Charlotte Bobcats, I don't know why exactly but I am expecting 45 wins out of this team next year 7. Milwaukee Bucks will win 42-45 games next year, everyone will realize Maggette puts up hollow stats. 8. New York Knicks, was hesitant here but adding Amare should add 10+ wins to their team for the final playoff spot, 37-40 wins should do it. 9. Washington Wizards, if Arenas gets them 22 and 6 a night they will win 35 games or so and fight for that final last [expletive]ty spot 10. New Jersey Nets, I know they didn't make a big splash but they hit the tank hard last year, Brook is a year older and they added some role players 11. Philadelphia 76ers not seeing it with this team, not a threat for the playoffs yet unless turner is a major stud 12. Detroit Pistons, enough competent NBA players to win as many games as last year 13. Cleveland Cavaliers, they will find a way to push for 30 wins 14. Toronto Raptors, last would be nice, but last never wins the lotto 15. Indiana Pacers, this is the year they tank!

Game 7 was pretty awesome, it was officiated as well as I could have ever asked, it was just a really good game, where at the end you felt like the truly better team won.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9hf__54nTQ

Perkins fits the nickname of this team, hehe.

The Rockets took the Lakers to 7 games, where was our love? People said we would be last in West. I think OKC will be good but I dont think they'll be 2nd seed.

So evidently I turned my ex-gf into a dyke and she's rubbing it in my face and being a major [expletive]. It's getting on my last nerve. I swear here's my plan- I'm gonna kidnap her, tie her up, viciously anally rape her, cut out her tounge, cut out her ovaries and make her EAT IT, put out a cigarette on her [expletive]ing clit, carve "WHORE" in her chest, rip off all her finger and toe nails, blow a few OxyContin's and just watch her lay there all disfigured and in horrific pain and laugh my [expletive] off as she's screaming, "Alex WHY?!? OMG why? Why would you do this?!? I'm in so much pain!!!!" And I'm gonna just watch and watch and watch and eventually leave. Ideally I hope she lives so she has to live life in constant pain and fear as a horrific sight for all to see. If she dies, I wouldn't be phased though.

David Stern FreeAgent NoLookShot notnowimintheZONE RipCity The Garbage Man I Changed My Name Kirby lol

Here we go again... Should I say it? I think I'll pass this time. Edit- Oh what the heck: It shouldn't be a crime to say what's on your mind.