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Posted by: Sanitarium Aug 2 2010, 09:56 AM

atlantic:
boston
new york
philly
new jersey
toronto

central:
chicago
milwaukee
detroit
indiana
cleveland

southeast:
miami
orlando
atlanta
washington
charlotte

playoff seeds:
1. miami
2. orlando
3. boston
4. chicago
5. atlanta
6. milwaukee
7. new york
8. washington or philly

Posted by: Balta1701-B Aug 2 2010, 12:26 PM

I can't find anything huge to quarrel with on your divisions. An injury or a surprise or two will probably mix things up, but not hugely.

I think Boston falls out of the top 5 in the playoff seeding (going strictly off of record). We saw plenty of that this year...they're not going to give 100% until they have to. They'll win their division, but Atlanta and Chicago should have better records than them.

Posted by: rockren Aug 2 2010, 01:15 PM

Agreed. Don't forget Boston was a #4 last year and I don't see them having as good of a regular season. I look for them to be a 5 or a 6 and feel they've been fortunate to have been as healthy as they've been outside of KG. I believe the three seed is up for grabs between our Bullies, Bucks and Hawks. However, I wouldn't argue if you threw the Celts in the mix and you really could predict Bulls, Celts, Bucks and Hawks 3-6 in any order IMO. I do feel our Bulls are the 3rd best team in the East going in.

Posted by: Sanitarium Aug 2 2010, 02:00 PM

i think if/when KG or Pierce get injured that could shake things up depending on how long they are out, but i think with the level of competition increasing in the east theyll take less nights off. i'm not confident enough in the bulls yet to put them as a 3 seed, hopefully that changes after watching them play

i'm not sure how atlanta will do this year with a new coach and mike bibby getting more and more worthless

the only surprise candidate i see this year is the wiz. a backcourt of gilbert, kirk, and john wall is pretty good and i like andray blatche

Posted by: ZoomSlowik Aug 3 2010, 04:30 PM

I believe Boston has to be a top-4 seed if/when they win the Atlantic division regardless of record...

My only gripe with your rankings is I don't see Washington being anywhere near the playoffs. Their frontcourt is pretty awful (McGee and Blatche are athletic but clueless), and Arenas is going to be a problem whether he plays or not. Wall can only do so much for them, especially since he might average 4 or 5 turnovers a game.

Then again, the whole league is pretty bad after the top-6, there isn't much that would surprise me in the 7/8 hole.

Posted by: Balta1701-B Aug 4 2010, 06:42 AM

If DR1 can almost single-handedly play the Bulls into a playoff spot in 08/09, with VDN as the Bulls coach, then John Wall can play the Wizards into the 8th spot. With the stuff they've been handed this offseason they at least have some non-awful pieces around him...although controlling those attitudes is going to be a challenge.

Posted by: Chicago Bulls Franchise Aug 4 2010, 09:23 AM

1. Miami
2. Orlando
3. Chicago
4. Boston
5. Milwaukee
6. Hawks
7. Wizards
8. 6er's

Posted by: Sanitarium Aug 4 2010, 12:17 PM

the 7 and 8 seeds may be so bad this year that we have to forfeit them to the west lol

i mean detroit, philly, indy are gonna be god awful but could all have a shot if they stay anywhere near .500

Posted by: ZoomSlowik Aug 4 2010, 01:19 PM

The Bulls were in WAY better shape as a roster in Rose's rookie year. I would take the Bulls' player at every single position. Gordon is a better shooter and less of a ball-hogging head case than Arenas, Deng/Salmons is better than the highly mediocre Al Thornton, Tyrus and McGee are at best a wash and that assumes McGee stays out of foul trouble enough to get more minutes, and Noah is better than Blatche (Andray scores more but Noah actually defends and rebounds). Kirk is obviously a wash, and the Bulls had better depth between whatever combination of Hughes/Gooden/Thabo/Nocioni was on the roster vs the awful Yi Jian-lian and Josh Howard.

I'll put it this way, they won 26 games last year even with half a season of Butler and Jamison. Wall is a star in the making, but he's going to make a lot of bad decisions on the floor this year and that supporting cast stinks.

Posted by: Sanitarium Aug 4 2010, 01:35 PM

i know josh howard is a headcase but i'd take him over nocioni 10 times out of 10

Posted by: ZoomSlowik Aug 4 2010, 01:44 PM

The Josh Howard that we saw 2 years ago yes, I don't know that he still exists though.

Howard was pretty bad last year, and he's coming off a major knee injury now. He's not even going to be ready to play at the start of the season. That line he put up last year looks an awful lot like Nocioni without the threat of the 3-pointer.

Posted by: Balta1701-B Aug 4 2010, 01:44 PM

Is there some reason why people think Charlotte will fall out of the playoffs next year?

Posted by: rockren Aug 4 2010, 01:50 PM

I think people are in the wrong to compare Wall to Rose. I believe Wall is going to play more like an Iverson with Hinrich handling the point.

You could take anyone to fill out the 7 and 8 spots for the playoffs...I'll take Charlotte and New Jersey.

Posted by: ZoomSlowik Aug 4 2010, 01:53 PM

I think they'll still be right there, but I would imagine there are two reasons:

1) They lost their starting PG in Felton.

2) They don't exactly look sexy on paper with a likely lineup of Augustin/Henderson/Jackson/Wallace/Dampier with Tyrus and Diaw as their top-2 off the bench. Can a team that has Jackson and Wallace as their top two players really make it two years in a row, especially if Wallace gets hurt again or doesn't match his career year?


That just shows how weak the east is. At least to me, it looks like two of Charlotte, New York, Philly, Detroit, Indiana and Cleveland (yes, Cleveland, no star power but Williams/Jamison/Varejao is a more credible trio than several of these teams have) will be in the playoffs. 35 wins might be enough to get in, and when the threshold is that low it's hard to predict.

Posted by: Balta1701-B Aug 4 2010, 02:19 PM

And why did I bring up Charlotte? Because Larry Brown is worth what, 5 wins to a team? Charlotte's got a built-in advantage there.