I don't see how the East could Reasonably be considered strong now. The Western Conference has been the power conference for several seasons now. Yes the East has won the last 2 'Ships, but the Western Conference is far stronger. The 7 & 8 seeds in the East are at .500 or worse regularly. If there was a realignment of teams to balance out the conferences, then we could consider the East strong, but just cuz a weakened Bulls team can get to the 2nd round in the East playoffs does not mean the conference is strong. I think the Thunder, Spurs, Clippers, Grizzlies, Rockets, Warriors are all solidly ahead of the second best Eastern conference team. Last season that was the Knicks who will struggle to break the top 10 overall rankings in the league this year. The Heat are the obvious #1 until proven otherwise, but a strong argument could be made that the #2 through #7 teams all reside in the Western Conference, with the Pacers in the mix to unseat any/all of those teams in the overall rankings if they can get a healthy Granger back in the rotation. If, and that is the ultimate IF, Rose can return to pre-ACL form, the Bulls could be added in the overall ranking discussion, but that is an unknown until he proves he is fully recovered and has regained his pre-injury confidence and fearlessness...
I don't think age will be that much of a problem with the Nets. KG and Pierce only need to play 20-25 minutes a game for the regular season. KG has Evans, Blatche and Teletovic to back him up while Pierce has AK or even Johnson if they want him out with Terry. This is a deeeep team. While I agree that the Pacers were impressive last year, Brooklyn and Chicago(with Rose) are just too good to be placed below them. I also think that the Celtics will be the 2nd worst team in the East (though that's pretty much the plan) with Rondo sitting out the full year to provide maximum suckage. Evan Turner has a chance for MIP this year. The days of the LEastern Conference are long gone.
[ESPN] Summer Forecast - East Standings 1. Miami Heat(60-22) 2. Chicago Bulls(55-27) 3. Indiana Pacers(54-28) 4. Brooklyn Nets(53-29) 5. New York Knicks(48-34) 6. Atlanta Hawks(40-42) 7. Washington Wizards(39-43) 8. Cleveland Cavaliers(39-43) 9. Detroit Pistons(38-44) 10. Toronto Raptors(33-49) 11. Milwaukee Bucks(31-51) 12. Boston Celtics(29-53) 13. Charlotte Bobcats(26-56) 14. Orlando Magic(24-58) 15. Philadelphia 76ers(20-62)
That really is sad. I don't view Turner as better than Parsons, for crying out loud, and Parsons couldn't lead a team to 20 wins as the #1 option.
I think the Nets are the biggest threat to the Heat in the Eastern Conference. My personal prediction assuming they're healthy-ish come playoff time.
