By David K.
1. Cleveland- Mo Williams was their big off-season acquisition, which doesn’t win me over for picking the Cavs to take the East. However, LeBron is still LeBron and there has to be a monster trade deadline move involving Wally Szczerbiak and Eric Snow’s expiring contract which add up to more than $20 million and should provide enough ammunition to acquire a big time player from a bad team looking to dump salary (a.k.a. Vince Carter.)  Â
2. Detroit- Every year I expect the Pistons to finally have a down year and every time I’m wrong. Maybe if I pick them to be one of the big dogs in the East again, they will finally fall off…
3. Boston- The defending champs lost some of it’s depth from last season which puts them in a very vulnerable position if one of the Big 3 or Rajon Rando goes down with injury. I wouldn’t be surprised if they win the East, but I’ll play the doubter role and say the hunger to win a title won’t drive this team like it did last year.
4. Orlando- Dwight Howard is a beast. If he didn’t have Shaq’s touch from the free throw line, he would be the best big man in the league. This team still lacks the bench to be a real contender.
5. Philadelphia- The Elton Brand signing was the biggest impact acquisition this off-season. Combining him with emerging star Andre Iguadola, an up-and-coming Thaddeus Young, and the always taken for granted Andre Miller thrusts the Sixers into the contending picture.Â
6. Toronto- The Raptors rolled the dice by trading for Jermaine O’Neal, who if he stays healthy, could provide a wingman for Chris Bosh up-front. The rest of the team didn’t get any better though which keeps them a notch below the top five.
7. Atlanta- The Hawks showed some signs of being a real NBA franchise when they made the playoffs and actually acted like they belonged by taking the Celtics to a seven-game series. Management didn’t do anything to improve the roster from last year and actually lost Josh Childress to Greece, but another year of growing up together should only make this team better.
8. Miami- We saw a flashback to the 2006 Finals during the Summer Olympics when a healthy Dwyane Wade was nearly unstoppable. He should single-handedly be able to land the Heat in the post-season even if Chris Quinn is their starting point guard.
9. Chicago- The Bulls failed to address their biggest off-season need, a scoring big man, and still have Ben Gordon who clearly doesn’t want to play for Chicago. Top pick Derrick Rose can’t be good enough in his rookie season to get this team into the playoffs, right?
10. Charlotte- Larry Brown will bring a new respectability to a young franchise that desperately needs to make a leap into a playoff contender. Remember Adam Morrison? He should be healthy this year. Still not thinking that would be the boost putting the Bobcats into the East’s top eight though.
11. Indiana- Dumping injury-prone Jermaine O’Neal’s bloated salary was a step in the right direction towards re-structuring your franchise.
12. Washington- Gilbert Arenas and Brendan Haywood will miss a good chunk of the season due to injury while Antwan Jamison was already banged up in the pre-season. As TSB.net’s Peter Christian told me, draft Caron Butler early in your fantasy leagues.
13. Milwaukee- Is it ever a good sales pitch when Luke Ridnour is one of the featured players on your TV advertisements trying to bring fans in and consume your product? I do like the Richard Jefferson trade and Scott Skiles hire though.
14. New York- A much needed roster blow-up didn’t happen, but hey, at least Isaiah Thomas isn’t running the show anymore.
15. New Jersey- In a three-month span, the Nets traded Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson in an attempt to get younger and shed salary for a potential 2010 run at then-free agent LeBron James. What I really don’t get is: on draft day, the Nets trade for second-year PF Yi Jianlian, then draft two more post players in Brook Lopez and Ryan Anderson when they already have young big men in Josh Boone and Sean Williams. They followed that up by signing another power forward in Eduardo Najera. It will be fun to watch the drama unfold when Vince Carter plays his way out of Jersey.
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