the Magic and the Raptors and it’s good.

No, really, Celtics, but you know, we’re on a bulls blog, I had to vote for ’em. Good luck and so forth.

Not based on records per se.

I might just do the East or at least will start with the East….

EAST
1) Celtics—one damn tough out, even after Posey. KG-Allen-Pierce were better than even expected in yr1. Powe might improve too, he looked great in stretches. Rondo proved a better PG than folks thought, and is a crafty defender. I still hate Doc Rivers, and likely will still ahte him, but this is one solid team that should have 1 more solid year. I do think the Lakers nab the championship though…..and predict the Celtics as the 3rd best team come the start of the playoffs (Lakers-Hornets-Celtics).

2) Raptors. I think Jermaine O’Neal if healthy couldn’t have gone to a better team, pairing him with Bosh makes them the best frontcourt in the league (as long as O’Neal’s healthy as they say at at least 85-90% of his former self). Having Calderon and all the softy shooters, seems a perfect mix. Chris Bosh is an MVP candidate, if this works. I’m taking a risk putting them this high, but all I see is a perfect fit for O’Neal’s defense paired with Bosh’s all around game.

3) Pistons. Yeah I know, I’m tired of them, but they’ll still be one tough out, and with Stuckey and Maxiel coming along, they might have enough to be the best in the Central yet again. I don’t think they’ll get past the ECF though.

4) Magic. If Dwight Howard improves just a shade, they’ll be great….Hedo might have had a fluke year, but then again if he doesn’t do it this year, Lewis likely will fill in that gap and have a better yr next yr. If Nelson or Van Gundy can figure out a PG strength, they will be underrated at the 4 I have them at…..Howard’s a stat beast, I predict next year he turns that into a top 5-6 player beast with his all around game.

5) 76ers. Philly adds Brand to the mix of Iggy-Miller-Dalembert. They are motivated to do well, young, and have several guys to get pts if they need to, and an almost Chandleresque C to clean up the glass…..we’ll see.

6) Bulls. Yes I said it, I predict Tyrus will come along, and our depth everywhere will be tough. We’re young, we’re gritty, we’re probably a bit away from upper tier, but we should be a playoff contending team. If we trade Hinrich for a solid C, or if Noah surprises, I have us low. All the Bulls have to do is play with a spriit or pulse as a team and we’ll be good again.

7) Wizards. I know Arenas is hurt, but he’ll be back, I presume. I know they are soft, but Butler is underrated (presuming this year he plays 75+ games), Jamison is solid, and they seemed to care a bit more on D than in year’s past. If they get Arenas back to his former self, they’ll be the same team they were in 2006-2007 and 2005-2006….good enough to threaten any team when they’re hot, but not good enough to make a finals run.

8) Cavs. They get here on the strength of Lebron, who is the best player in the league. I would have them higher, as I do think Mo Williams ain’t a bad pickup, if they weren’t so damned light in the frontcourt. They have 3 players folks: Big Z, Varejao, and the sourpus. Big Z’s been healthy for 2-3 years now, but is like 7 4 and has a bad history of leg injuries (two combos that don’t go well) and he’s going to be 33. They’ll need him to play 35 MPG at least, because of the lack of depth,a nd that’s a lot to ask. Then they’ve got the sourpus, who can’t score at all as we know, demands minutes, can’t jump like he used to, and is unfortunately 1 of the 3 qualified biggies they got…..Finally they got Varejao, a guy who likely should take the Sourpus’s starting spot, but won’t, and a guy who while not anything as good as Ben Wallace was at his peak, is almost as bad offensively as Wallace. I don’t think they can play Ben and Andy together at all. Cleveland fans say they can play James at PF….whcih might prove true given his body, but I think that will really be a detriment to the rest of their team….and what’s worse with Mo in tow, they will be worse defensively at the guard spots, adn with a thin frontcourt, they won’t be as solid this year as last yr. Though perhaps post Wally World next year they could actually get a solid player and be a true title threat.

Just out:
9) Heat—Marion and the revamped Wade will be tough. Beasley will find a nice home here playing with D. Wade….they could trade Marion at the deadline and be pretty decently built for the future by next year, but right now they really only have 4 capable players (Haslem being the 4th) and really 3 of them play the same position. 2 all leaguers, 1 upcoming star potentially, and 1 solid role player….a playoff team in the past few years out East perhaps, but with the movements etc this offseason I don’t think so.

10) Hawks—Josh Smith, Joe Johnson, Al Horford, Marvin Williams and Mike Bibby, these guys should be better, except that I always thought and still do think that Bibby’s overrated…..still they have good young players that need to be more consistent. Maybe Marvin Williams can put something together this year, if he does they’ll surprise. A lot of high draft picks on here, but I don’t know if they’ll be better than a 36-40 win team.

11) Bobcats—Larry Brown and this crew could surprise…..Okafor is a better player than he’s shown, I just know he is. They haven’t been too smart on the GM side, having 2 similarly skilled athletic wing players in Wallace and Richardson, was like the Cavs having Hughes and James except that James is in a different stratosphere than anyone else and Wallace and Richardson are about equally skilled as psuedo near all stars if everything happens correctly…..They are weak at the PG and C spots (if Okafor’s a PF again that is)….and too young for Brown. I don’t know what to think. Talent ain’t bad, but there are holes, and I don’t think they’ll cover them up. Okafor needs to step up in a big way.

12) Knicks. God I am so glad Duhon is gone, but he might not be awful for this team. They are still mismatched. I think Crawford will erupt a bit this year though under D’Antoni’s system….but Duhon, while decent in stretches won’t help them for major minutes, and it seems Starbury’s a distraction that they should have disappear. Randolph and Curry, while 2 decently talented bigs can’t play together, and I don’t know if Lee’s hustle and gritt will mean as much in a D’Antoni based system that wants to feature pure athleticism that I don’t know if he has…..it’s year 1 though and I think they’ll show a bit of progress by just not being a laughing stock.

13) Bucks. I actually hope I’m wrong, but it seems Skiles wants to give big minutes to his guys: Allen and Griffin, and that’s not too good. Bogut’s overrated with his bad contract, Redd might be in Skiles’s Gordog house earlier. Richard Jefferson though will be the solid Luol Deng of the team, but I don’t think this team can revamp quickly under Scott.

14) Pacers. Folks want to like this team because they rid themselves of O’Neal, which was smart, they needed to move on. They surprised last year with Dunleavy actually looking like a solid SG/SF and almost worth his money for a while…but they are so soft. TJ Ford, is lightening quick, could make them somewhat exciting at times, but he can’t play defense, nor can dunleavy, nor can Murphy, and Murphy’s role needs to increase, which won’t be good. He’s a better on paper guy than he is a player. They will struggle.

15) Nets. Hopefully this will end all of the Devin Harris is really quite fabulous banter that oddly seems to follow him everywhere despite the fact that he was like a #4 pick, makes gobs of money, and has never lived up to his hype…..Vince Carter went from everybody’s top 5 favorite player 2 years ago to now a big piece of crap, which isn’t correct, he’s still probably a 40’s-50’s player and at his best was probably no higher than top 20’s, but he’s still solid….they just don’t have much around them. I dont’ think they can do what the 76ers did last year. I think they are definite cave dwellers in the East.

29 % think they will win the title…