team analysis: Atlantic Division

(this was written as part of a giant size season preview, but season's already started so it's not exactly preview anymore. i'm breaking this down by division so it's a little easier to read.)



Atlantic division, the butt joke of the NBA last year, is significantly better this year. nets is getting kristic back, raptors matured a lot last year with their first division title, knicks added the talent but troubled zach randolph, but the biggest improvement is the celtics.



celtics:


garnett is alone no more. the superstar who can do everything well except being an dominant scorer now has not only one but TWO bonafide superstar scorer to compliment his game. kg is the ultimate complimentry player in that whoever he plays with will benefit from his game tremendously. ray allen will have a field day camping in the 3 point territory with garnett drawing defense in, and paul pierce will have plenty of layups and dunks from garnett's high post passes.


just imagine having KG and pierce on pick and roll with allen sitting on the corner pocket. i mean, who do you play on this? unless they have wooden dolls as teammates, they are gonna be hard to stop. their bench is a concern, everyone's really green (ha! no pun intended. seriously), but i believe they have a decent core. worth noting is Cal alumni, pac10 player of the year Leon Powe is now backing up KG. should be fun.


this team is going to be monstrous in the regular season. kg is going at 100% in mid season form from the start for sure, he won't let the team take any plays off. pierce won't be as injury prone but we'll see about allen. i still think seattle just shelved him to tank game last year to get oden. well, durant may turn out to be the better choice for now huh? back to the Cs, i believe they are going to win at least the division and probably getting the number 1 seed. sure fire for 2nd round, in fact the only teams that can beat them are heat and pistons in a 7 game series. if they don't make it to the finals, it's because of the coaching. yeah wusup Doc?


knicks:


i can talk shit about the whole sexual harrassment fiasco with the knicks, but let's just focus on basketball here. the knicks have a great collection of individual talents. talents to create drama, especially. "knicks have a great collection of characters" is probably a more appropriate statement. there's the self proclaimed best point guard who heroically brought his family out of the hood but finally has gone crazy, the 7 foot center who cannot rebound if his life depends on it, another productive center who enjoys eating on his courtside seat, the 5'3" knucklehead who is a gangsta wannabe with no real basketball skills besides being obnoxious, a power forward who only knows how to score in the low post and does not know how to pass out of a double team just like center #1, a previously-retired sharp shooter who robbed the knicks with a monstrous contract last time in time (but finally wised up and stay retired). all these under a head coach who order his scrub to start fight with other team, the same GM who doesn't care about team chemistry and has a track record of running things into the ground, and an owner who doesn't care what he's paying for.


any way you see this, it's a reality show worthy drama going on all year round. one of them may just lose it during one of the games. good times. recrod wise... who cares? if by some miracle they decided to play as a team, they can sneak into the playoff, but seriously? to quote dr evil, riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.



nets:



this is the team that i root for in the east, with the simple reason of them being my old home team and kidd being my favorite player (well him and KG are 1 and 1a for me). him being a Cal alum obviously doesn't hurt either. anyway, dude is now 34 but is probably still the best point in the east. that alone should count for something. however, his body is starting to break down and his production is going to start to drop, though the biggest factor of nets making the playoff is the owner of a brand new contract named vince carter.



once the most electrifying player in the L, vince has now turn into derrick coleman of this generation: still better than 90% of the league but nowhere near his potential. if he brings it at least twice a week, the nets should have no problem making the playoffs. kristic is back and if he can play effectively, giving nets some low post presence, then they'll be in for sure. unlike last year in the weakest division of all time, they are just not going to win the division this time around, so they are gonna have to work hard for a spot.



raptors:



quietly made a lot of noise last year with the newly resembled heavily euro team and bosh as a bonafide franchise player, which also boost the coach of the year and executive of the year. this team definitely has the right mix of players to make even more noise this season. i really haven't watched them enough to comment on how well they will play. the players are all veterans players from overseas so i trust in them. it's the coaching that i will need to watch this season. sounds like fun. raptors/celtics anyone?



i anticipate raptors and celtics are going to battle for division champ. as for playoff, the raptors should have a very good chance of advancing to 2nd round. they are going to be a tough out for whoever they play against, but i reserve the right to say that if everything clicked and there's no injury, this team CAN get to eastern finals. like i said, it's the coaching that i don't believe in, yeah, even with that coach of the year on your bench.



76ers:



andre iguodala is gonna be really entertaining to watch. otherwise this team is shooting for the #1 draft pick. 20 wins would be an accomplishment for them. who's coaching this team again? maurice cheeks? he needs to run a super fast offense to try to get as many alley oops from andre miller to igudrodala. this is the only team in the east that has absolutely NO CHANCE of making the playoff.