I think it has to be Toronto. Although losing Carter hasnt helped. Miami we knew would be bad once Zo was lost for the season. NY we knew would be bad once McDyess was lost for the season. Cleveland we knew would be bad, well, because they are Cleveland. I kinda figured Memphis would get off to a slow start but they have turned the corner and won 6 out of their last 9. Id say a team that belongs on the top of that list is Atlanta followed closely by Milwaukee and the LA Clippers. How about suprise teams? Id say Detroit wins this by far followed by Indiana and Phoenix.
I think Toronto's record is shocking...of course that's just due to injuries. But I doubt Wilkens will be their coach next year. I also thought the Wizards and Hawks would be a lot better. The Wiz have tons of talent and I'm surprised they aren't among the upper-echelon teams in the East. As far as surprising winning records, I am surprised that Indy is doing this good this soon...I thought it would take awhile before they put all the pieces together. I'm also surprised that phoenix and Utah still have respectable records.
Another surprise winning record is Portland. With all the crap going on down there, I'd expect them to be plunging like the Lakers. Instead their half a game ahead of us.
I expected my Raps to be bad, but I thought we'd make at least 8th seed. Seems that we don't have enough depth or talent to really compete. Plus, Lenny is an overrated coach. He's only about 30 losses away from becoming the losingest coach of all time. That would make him the winningest AND losingest coach of all time. Injuries are a factor, but the Raptors really haven't been good since Carter bricked that last second shot in Game 7 of the EC semi-finals 2 years ago, I would say that I thought the Wizards are surprisingly lackluster this season. They seemed to have gotten some talent during the summer, but obviously they're not jelling or the depth is overrated.
