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With the season just underway, it’s the perfect time to get insight and analysis on which teams did the best job over the offseason, and how the new season will shake out. To do so I’ve asked a panel of NBA scribes, Andrew Ungvari, Robert Kleeman, Harrison Moore, and Allen Levin their take on a number of pressing NBA topics.
Keep in mind some answers were completed before the regular season started and some weren’t. Therefore, some answers will reflect early season performances, while others won’t. Enjoy.
1) Orlando, Boston, and Cleveland are the last three Eastern Conference teams to make it to the NBA Finals, and are far and away the best teams the East has to offer. Which Eastern Conference behemoth is the favorite to make it to this season’s Finals?
Erick: I like Boston to capture the East this season, but with a caveat. They have the smallest margin for error because of their age and an injury to one of their Big Three—particularly Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce—really throws their balance out of loop. However, if Boston remains healthy, they can play power offense, they shoot the three very well, their shooting frontcourt creates mismatches, and their defense is exceptional. Plus, their length and bench is greatly improved with the additions of Rasheed Wallace and Marquise Daniels to the team. Boston will suffocate opponents on the defensive end.
Ultimately, Cleveland’s offense will devolve into LeBron James isolating at the top of the key, and the Cavs still can’t cover power forwards who can shoot the three. If Orlando has to rely on Vince Carter as their primary playmaker, they won’t repeat, especially if Dwight Howard’s post offense is as rudimentary as it was last season.
Andrew: I like the Magic to finish with the conference’s best record, but I like the Celtics to make it back to the Finals because they’re probably the least afraid of the other two. I can much better picture the Celtics going into Cleveland or Orlando and stealing a win in the playoffs than I can the Cavs or the Magic [going into Boston]. I know that Orlando was able to win in Boston during last season’s playoffs, but that was without a healthy KG. If both teams are healthy, I like Boston to come out on top.
Robert: Choosing between Boston and Orlando to win the East is like trying to pick one Beatles track as the all-time best. There is no objective way to do it.
I was skeptical of the Shaquille O’Neal trade from the get-go, and the Cavaliers opening week struggles have confirmed my suspicions.
The Magic murdered the Cavs in May with a steady diet of pick-and-roll. The front office’s solution: bring in the late-30s version of one of the worst pick-and-roll defenders in league history.
Shaq could not stop a pick-and-roll when he was 23. What makes anyone in the Cavs organization think he can do it now? At least he will fit in with the rest of the flatfooted big men.
When I watched the Cavaliers lose to the Celtics at the Q on opening night, the same problems from five years ago surfaced again.
LeBron James’ jumpshot is too streaky and unreliable to carry Cleveland in the conference finals. In games against contenders, most fourth quarters begin and end with James initiating everything from the top of the key.
He was forced to go one-on-five in 2004, and against the Celtics or Magic, he still has to do that.
Shaq will sell a few more tickets, and he will afford the Cavs some inflated confidence when they face the reigning conference champs.
Dwight Howard will still eat them alive—and burp after they’re dead.
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