Celtics up one slot, Bulls down two [moan, cry], Pacers up one, Bucks down like 50 [really 5, but still … they’re not good.], and one other team up. It’s really a crapshoot. I don’t see the Bulls getting into the playoffs this year, though they’ll be close because of the suckitude of the East.

I would just flip flop the Heat and the Bucks. If D Wade stays healthy, that team will win a lot more games than people think and the Bucks will get better but not this year…

1. Celtics. Won’t win 66, might push for 58-60 though, will be one damn tough out in the playoffs presuming the big 3 stay healthy.

2. Pistons. Every year I want to right them off, and every year they disappoint in that I can’t. This year they are younger (Stuckey and Johnson coming on) and deeper (Maxiel and the very talented and forgotten Argentine Walter Hermann getting bigger roles). They’ll be solid.

3. Magic. One of the toughest big 3 in the league. Pietris might help, and actually they might start playing some Hedo at the Pt forward spot….which would be interesting. If Howard improved a bit more, he could become the best player in the entire Eastern Conference…..and yet this team might still struggle until they get a real PG. I like my Hinrich for Hedo trade (and Hedo’s expiring deal). We use him as our SG….

4. Raptors. I would put them higher, but I don’t think Mitchell’s much of a coach. I unlike Matt I guess, still think the O’Neal, Bosh, Calderon trio will be tough to stop, but like he said, they have to stay healthy and that’s always a bit iffy thing with O’Neal. Parker, Bargnani and the rest should fill in the blanks rather nicely…..but ultimately it’s on that big 3, and if they play to their abilities, there is no doubt that that big 3 lead by the young KG (Bosh) wouldn’t be as dominant as the aging Celtics big 3.

5. 76ers. Brand and co have a good solid base of young, athletic players. It’s on Brand, and I don’t know. I think I’m rating them high here, but so be it.

6. Cavs. I like the Mo Williams signing, I really do, especially next year after they rid themselves of Wally and can get some more PF/C depth. My concerns now are that they have 3 real post players (Varejao, Big Z, and I guess Ben Wallace)…..They want to play James at times as a PF, which would be awesome if they had a Ben Gordon, etc. Mo Williams isn’t a Gordon, Redd, Carter, etc….he’ll give them some offense, solid offense, but will lessen their D…..James’s offense might suffer a bit more with him having to play the more physical PF’s, even though James is a beast. If they had a big time scorer SG who will command double teams, then James should move to the PF spot to overpower the other teams defense…..but I just don’t think they have it. James’ll make them compete, and look out next year if they can add maybe an Odom, or make a splashy trade this trade deadline. THey most definately are 1 piece away (either a decent 30 MPG PF/C or a star SG)…..both are very attainable after thsi year, or quite possibly in the deadline (though I think that’s a bit less likely). RIght now they can’t play 2 of their PF/C’s together (Wallace and Varejao on the court is an offensive nightmare)….shouldn’t play Wallace more than 15 MPG, though they’ll have to play him closer to 25-30 at least given their lack of depth…..and Big Z’s age and former injury histories have to creep up eventually or be a risk. I picked them here thanks to James, but I think they are vulnerable enough to not make the playoffs, though they could go straight up to the top woh-yeah (added a bit of Tom Waitsian jazz)….

7. Bulls. Why the hell not, we are one of the most talented teams out there, just quite a bit misfitted. I like Rose’s energy and leadership right away. I liked Noah on the floor last year (but not so much yet in the preseason)….Tyrus looks to have made a leap in the offseason that I hope will continue in the regular season….our gluttony of guards makes it hard to get minutes to everybody, but if it does pan out we’ve got the deepest 48 minute guard rotation in the league to work with with 5 starting caliber guards….but that there lies in the problems too. Noc and Deng are solid SF’s too for 48 minutes and likely to amongst the better duos at one spot in the league. If they can avoid the seemingly bad (especially after last year) internal problems, this will be low…..but I can see them dropping to 11th-12th, just as quick as I see them rising to 5th. Still I’m betting their in as they are as talented as any in this conference for all 5 positions (even C and PF we have talent, just untapped potential talent).

8. Hawks. So maybe Woodson and Smith can’t coexist to take this team to the level they should be playing at. If Acie Law can make Bibby expendable, they can get another piece and really surprise. The talent is there, but these guys seem to be even more immature than the Bulls. I expect a breakout season from Marvin Williams that’ll more htan make up the loss of Josh Childress. They are another wildcard (the East seems more full of htem than many). They’ll sneak in the last week of the playoffs and finish dare I say it with a .500 record in the 8th spot in the East. The East won’t eb the Least…

9. Heat….thanks to Wade, unthanks to everyone else. Beasley will be solid. Marion won’t fit, Haslem at C shows why they can’t be a playoff team without a trade, and everyone else are D leaguers. D. Wade deserves much much better, and the East is too tough.

10. Bucks. I don’t think they are a solid fit team yet. I think Redd is likely traded this year as he’ll be more Gordonized than Gordon with Skiles, and he’s a better player still than BG….their D is pretty awful still and will be until late Jan/Feb at least….then it’ll be avg. But they will play with Skiles’s trademark heart, and that’ll make them look better in the regular season win columns than they really are going to be.

11. Bobcats. They have talent, they really do, they need a trade more though….

12. Wizards…I wonder if we’ll ever see the old agent zero again….I’m starting to think otherwise which is why they are down here. They looked absolutely awful against the Cavs on tv last week. I know it’s preaseaon but these guys looked disinterested and were totally going through the motions, which is a tough thing this early…..rumour has it too that Hughes might be headed back there for maybe Etan Thomas and Darius Songalia if he (cross your fingers) recovers quickly from that injury….what a shame that that injury happened….if that trade happened, that can’t make them better.

13. Knicks. They’ll run, they’ll steal some games, they’ll look good when Duhon has his 3 pt shot falling (every 6th game), but then they’ll regret having Duh as their major minutes PG as he’ll cost htem many winnable games with uncharacteristically questionable decisions when the game is on the line (uncharacteristic in that he doesn’t do that at all in the other 44 minutes of his games, but more often than not plays awful int he end of games).

14. Pacers. They overperformed last year. Granger’s good, TJ Ford’s quick, Murphy’s a joke, Dunleavy’s so far a one season wonder and even in that season he gave up probably pretty close to as many points as he scored, so Pacer fans overrate him. They have shooters though and speed so they could be better int eh win column than I have here if they’re hot, but they won’t be as dangerous really as the more talented teams above.

15. Nets. I’m so sick of all the Devin Harris crap. THe guy sucked on the Mavs and yet the Jersey press has infiltrated ESPN and forced them to say he’s the next Michael Jordan on a bad team (not quite to that extent but still). The guy’s a bust…..he was a high draft pick, not some 2nd round surprise, folks have to realize this and start calling him by his real game. He got beat off the street by a guy I believe in England for chrissakes….Vince’ll be traded and they’ll be in complete rebuild mold.