2005-2006 Eastern Conference Preview, Part II


Secaucus Here We Come!

Boston, Chicago and Washington made the playoffs last year but each lost a key starting player via trade or free agency. The Celtics will miss Antoine Walker now just like they missed him the first time they got rid of him. Paul Pierce is a great scorer but not a great leader. The young and talented Al Jefferson will take over Walker's spot but he cannot replace the scoring, rebounding, passing and savvy that Walker provided. Chicago traded starting center Eddy Curry to the New York Knicks after Curry and the Bulls could not agree on how to deal with Curry's heart condition. Chicago seemed to overachieve a bit to get to 47 wins and I think that the Bulls will drop to the 38-40 win range this season. Washington lost Larry Hughes to the Cleveland Cavaliers, a devastating blow that weakens the Wizards while strengthening a team that finished behind them in the East in 2005. The battle for the last three playoff spots will be fierce and these three teams do figure to be in that mix.

Atlanta, Charlotte, Orlando and Toronto need help. In the immortal words of Jim Mora, "Playoffs??? I just hope we win a game." The 82 game schedule of the NBA versus the 16 game NFL schedule ensures that these teams will win some games in the course of the season, but the playoffs are a distant dream. Charlotte is a second year expansion team, while Atlanta plays like one. Toronto traded away franchise player Vince Carter for one Mourning (Alonzo, who ended up in Miami), two Williams (Aaron and Eric) and two first round draft picks. Maybe Toronto will return to the playoffs if/when those draft picks pan out. I know that a lot of people think that Orlando is some type of sleeper team, but I don't see it. Grant Hill is the team's best player and I think that he will play even better this year than he did in his first year back from injury. The problem is that Steve Francis thinks that he's the team's best player, although he is not sure if he is a shooting guard or a point guard. He is competing with Marbury to see who can dribble the most before taking an ill-advised shot; now that Larry Brown is in New York I think that Francis will "win" that battle. Dwight Howard looks

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