NBA Weekly

2008-2009 NBA Overview: Since things are pretty slow with the NBA right now, with the focus pretty much on the USA Olympic team, I thought I would take a minute to look over what has happened this offseason in the NBA by looking at some of the potential playoff contenders. This week I will look at the Eastern Conference:

Boston Celtics: The Celtics remain the favorites in the East in my mind, despite losing James Posey to the Hornets. They still have the best trio of players in the NBA with Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen. They didn't add much in the offseason but they are probably counting on Rajon Rondo and some of the other young players to continue improving.

Cleveland Caveliers: The Cavs could be the biggest threat to the Celtics in the East. The addition of Mo Williams gives the Cavs another scorer to help out Lebron. The one issue I have with them though is that they still don't have any low post scoring and traded away Joe Smith to get Williams. Their first round draft pick J.J. Hickson did have a solid summer league by averaging 19.4 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks on 53.4% shooting but I think it might be a little too much to be relying on a 19 year old rookie for low post scoring on a championship caliber team. The Cavs are an interesting team to me because I want to see if they have given Lebron enough help this season to get them back into the NBA Finals.

Detroit Pistons: This team will be solid again but I still don't think they have enough to get back to the NBA Finals. They didn't make any major moves this offseason and are pretty much relying on the improvement of Rodney Stuckey and Arron Afflalo. I wouldn't be surprised to see this team knocked out in the second round by someone like Orlando or Philadelphia, who I think have improved enough to beat the Pistons now.

Orlando Magic: The major move the Magic made in the offseason was drafting guard Courtney Lee. Lee was decent in Summer League play, averaging 20.2 points and shooting 47.1% on threes. I think he will help the Magic right away as a solid role player, since he won't be a featured player in the offense. I think the Magic could use another big man to help out Dwight Howard down low before I would consider them a legitimate title contender, but I would not be surprised if they advanced to the Eastern Finals this season. That might be a tough task this year though with the improvement of the 76ers and the new look of the Cavs.

Philadelphia 76ers: This is probably the most intriguing team in the East because nobody really knows just how good the addition of Elton Brand will make them. I think they will top out around the 50 win range, which is solid and definitely an improvement. I don't think they are a title contender but they will definitely be in the mix for the Eastern Finals. You know Elton Brand, Andre Miller, and Andre Igoudala will be solid, so if Thaddeus Young and Louis Williams continue to improve than this team could be really scary. Also, I was very impressed with the play of Mareese Speights in Summer League and I think he could help them out right away, especially since the 76ers lost Jason Smith for the season.

Atlanta Hawks: The Hawks return pretty much the same roster as last season, except they have replaced Josh Childress with Maurice Evans and Flip Murray. They will have Mike Bibby for a full season and Al Horford should be an absolute stud for them in his 2nd season. If they can get Acie Law to play solid minutes for them off the bench, then this team should be able to play ball at a better than .500 clip. They probably won't make it above 6th in the East but that would still be an improvement for this young team.

Washington Wizards: The Wizards are a team that is stuck in the middle of the Eastern Conference as a 4, 5, or 6 seed in the playoffs. I don't see this team being strong enough to make it past the second round and I wouldn't be surprised to see them lose in the first round. If everyone stays healthy then they are definitely a playoff team but they still have issues down low and I don't think the offensive capabilities of Antawn Jamison, Caron Butler, and Gilbert Arenas alone are enough to get them very far in the playoffs. Andray Blatche could be key for them this season but I'm not sure how much he brings to the table defensively.

Toronto Raptors: The Raptors major move this offseason was adding Jermaine O'Neal, who will help them but only if he can stay healthy. Adding O'Neal to go along with Chris Bosh and Jose Calderon should be enough to get Toronto back the playoffs but they don't have much margin for error with the improvements of some other teams in the East, like Miami and Indiana. I think this team is a Jermaine O'Neal injury away from being in the lottery next season.

Miami Heat: I think the Heat could be back in the playoffs this season if Dwayne Wade has a bounce back season. He looks great in the Olympics and he will be joined for a full season by Shawn Marion and Michael Beasley. Wade is good enough to lead his team into the playoffs as long as he has decent talent around him. The problem with this team might be the defense though. I see the Heat topping out as a 7 or 8 seed at best.

Out of the rest of the teams in the East, I think the Indiana Pacers, Milwaukee Bucks, and Charlotte Bobcats would be next in line for competing for the final playoff spot. I think the Chicago Bulls and New Jersey Nets could compete as well but there is also a possibility they will be horrible. I think the Knicks are still one of the worst teams out East and they don't have much chance to make the playoffs.

USA Olympic Team: Now that the USA has advanced to the semifinals, I decided to finally talk about their chances to win the gold medal. Joining the USA in the semifinals are Spain, Argentina, and Lithuania. The US will square off against Argentina and Spain will face Lithuania. Argentina is a veteran team led by Manu Ginobili, so it's possible that they could give the US problems, but I expect the US will pull this one out. The biggest challenge to me will be defeating Spain, assuming they advance against Lithuania. Spain has a few current and former NBA players in Pau Gasol, Jose Calderon, Jorge Garbajosa, and Juan Carlos Navarro, who are joined by the talented Rickey Rubio and Rudy Fernandez. However, by looking at this team, I would say that they are soft and the Americans should take it to them strong. I would let Dwayne Wade, Kobe Bryant, and Lebron James attack the rim at will against this team that is led down low by Pau Gasol. I think that Team USA can pull this one out if they play smart and play to their strengths. Dwight Howard should be able to some damage down low against Spain too. I expect USA to come home with the gold medal but Spain will prove to be their toughest test because they are a highly effecient offensive team.

Other NBA news:

- Milwaukee Bucks center Andrew Bogut injured his ankle playing in the Olympics and he thinks he tore a ligament. This could be bad news for the Bucks, who were counting on Bogut having a big season after signing him to a 5 year-$73 million dollar contract.

- Jannero Pargo signed a 1-year $3.5 million dollar contract to play in Russia. Pargo played for New Orleans last season and could have been useful for a team off the bench as instant offense.

- The Spurs will be re-signing veteran Guard Michael Finley. So much for a revamping of their
roster.

- I missed this last week but the Atlanta Hawks signed Othello Hunter, who is a favorite of mine who I think can be a productive bench player for the Hawks.

- Devean George re-signed with the Mavericks for a contract that was reportedly a 2 year-$4 million dollar deal

- The Miami Heat are looking for help down low and are interested in Jamaal Magloire. Magloire was unproductive last season and could be washed up.

- Gordon Giricek has joined the growing list of NBA players to head overseas by signing a 2 year deal to play in Turkey. Giricek finished last season with the Suns and it looks like they will replace him with Goran Dragic, who played in Spain last season.

- Much travelled big man Theo Ratliff is returning to the place where he had his most success, signing a 1-year deal with the 76ers.