East Up West Down...

With off season trades involving Elton Brand to the Sixers and Kevin Garnett to the Celtics a year ago the East has risen.  With A.I. going to Detroit yesterday the Pistons may as well have handed Denver a playoff spot.  I have never seen a team go 3-0 and then trade their starting point-guard and a solid veteran power forward.

After talks of the Nuggets not even making the playoffs this year on national sports shows it appears that noise has been tossed out the window.  This will, however, slow Denver's offense down a little with the aging Billups.  A half court offense will prove to be a plus for Anthony who has been struggling this year so far.  Billups is not a selfish guard like Iverson can appear to be at times.

This will, in turn, open up more shots for Anthony and other forward/guards.  Look for Linas Kleiza to get a lot more playing time and for his numbers to rise in the coming weeks.

Now that Denver has a low playoff seed secured.  What about the East?  The East is overflowing with talented teams this season and looks to be the better conference as the West has three teams yet to win a game.  The West also features ten teams that are .500 or below already.

Detroit will still be a solid team.  They will be more of an up and down team which may hurt them seeing as Rasheed Wallace is not getting any younger.  They will more than likely be seen trying to get a five to seven seed going into the playoffs. 

Playoff Seeding prediction:

East

1. Boston

2. Toronto

3. Philadelphia

4. Orlando

5. Cleveland

6. Atlanta

7. Detroit

8. New York

West

1. Los Angeles

2. New Orleans

3. Utah

4. Denver

5. Houston

6. Phoenix

7. Dallas

8. Portland