Oct. 14, 2008
by: Scott
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Detroit Pistons: 1st in Central Division, 1st in Eastern Conference
You might be sick of seeing the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference finals every season (they've made the final four in each of the last seasons) but that's just too bad because Pistons' GM Joe Dumars has this team so well-stocked that they're not likely to fade away anytime soon. Their steady starting lineup featuring Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince and Rasheed Wallace has received an injection of athletic youth with the installation of Amir Johnson at power forward. If he can reduce his fouling rate from last season's 6.6 fouls per 36 minutes to a more reasonable rate, then Johnson should add a formidable rebounding and shot-blocking presence in the starting unit. Combine this with Detroit's gritty and talented bench squad including Antonio McDyess, Jason Maxiell and Rodney Stuckey — then it's not hard to see why I'm picking them to finish with the best record in the East in 2008-09.
Fun note about the Pistons' official roster page: When I visited, a chat window appeared on the right side of my browser that said, "Hello, My name is Will Christy a live agent here at The Palace! If you have any questions please let me know. With the season just starting, we are doing quite a few deals on ticket packages. Were you looking into anything specific?" This is a very cool feature. Pay attention, MLSE!
Cleveland Cavaliers: 2nd in Central Division, 6th in Eastern Conference
The Cavs are in kind of an awkward spot right now. Sure, they have arguably the best player in the NBA in LeBron James — but even with the addition of sniper Mo Williams, the rest of their roster is extremely underwhelming. Zydrunas Ilgauskas is 33 and probably on the decline, and no other player on their roster had a PER over 15 (NBA average) last season. Unless young sniper Daniel Gibson becomes more than a one-dimensional shooter and rookie power forward J.J. Hickson makes a strong enough debut to supplant the rapidly aging Ben Wallace, I can't see this team becoming serious contenders during what could be the remaining two seasons LeBron is in Cleveland.
Chicago Bulls: 3rd in Central Division, 10th in Eastern Conference
Let's forget the fact that I picked this team to win the East last season, shall we? But! In spite of my much more pessimistic view of the Bulls in 2008-09, I can't say I'd be shocked if they proved to be the dark horse team in this conference. They have a new coach (and most likely a much less intense coaching philosophy) in new helmsman Vinny Del Negro and they have promising talent at all five positions with first overall pick Derrick Rose, sharpshooting Ben Gordon, versatile Luol Deng and a couple of hyper-intense, athletic frontmen in Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah. If we assume that this will be the likely starting lineup at same point late in the season, that group has an average age of 22.6. That's both promising for the future and potentially challenging for the present. Gordon could be the wild card here because he's playing for a big contract in 2009, which could mean either a career season or shot-chucking of legendary proportions. Either way, expect early-season growing pains to lead to a late-season surge as Del Negro and the youngsters learn how to win.
Indiana Pacers: 4th in Central Division, 12th in Eastern Conference
If there's a team I might be grossly underestimating in the East, it's most likely the Pacers. Jim O'Brien is an unorthodox coach but he gets decent results with a .517 career winning percentage. And I would be remiss if I didn't point out that new Pacers Rasho Nesterovic (10 NBA seasons) and T.J. Ford (four seasons) have never missed the playoffs during their NBA careers. On the other hand, Rasho's previous three teams were led by Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan and Chris Bosh, and only one of Ford's teams finished above .500 in the regular season. This is a rebuilding year for the Pacers, and while Danny Granger is a nice complementary player, he isn't nearly good enough to lead this team into the playoffs.
Milwaukee Bucks: 5th in Central Division, 13th in Eastern Conference
This should be another loooong season for Bucks fans. After abandoning the Yi Jianlian experiment by trading him with Bobby Simmons to New Jersey for Richard Jefferson and trading Mo Williams to Cleveland in a blatant salary dump, Milwaukee isn't likely to show much improvement over the next couple of seasons while they're still grossly overpaying one-dimensional shooter Michael Redd and waste of bench space Dan Gadzuric. Andrew Bogut has quietly developed into a top 10 center, Charlie Villanueva is good for a high-scoring game now and again, and rookie leaper Joe Alexander ought to be good for the occasional highlight reel dunk where people ask, "Wait, is that really a white dude?" But this team still won't be able to stop their opponents from scoring — so Milwaukee fans should start scouring the draft sites for prospects that can help this team matter again in the next decade.
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