NBA Central Division Preview
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2007-2008 Cleveland Cavaliers
Eastern Conference: Central Division
Cleveland Cavaliers 62 W - 39 L, 54-44 ATS 06/07 season
The young upstarts from Cleveland grew up in a hurry, going from 42 wins, to 57 to the NBA Finals behind phenom LeBron James. The 22-year old 6-foot-8 star Lebron James had another brilliant season, averaging 27.3 points, 6.7 rebounds and 6.0 assists per game. But he needs more help! Guards Eric Snow and 28-year old Larry Hughes (14.9 ppg) are average, at best, and Hughes can't shoot (40% from the field). You may see more of young Daniel Gibson, who impressed at times in the playoffs.
This is still a relatively young team all-around. 7-foot-3 Zydrunas Ilgauskas (11.9 ppg, 7.7 rpg) mans the middle and has help up front with 25-year old 6-10 Drew Gooden (11.1 ppg, 8.5 rpg) and 6-9 Donyell Marshall. Fan favorite 6-10 Anderson Varejao is a high energy play who averaged 6 points and 6 rebounds in the postseason, an excellent role player on the boards. Damon Jones and rookie Shannon Brown provide backcourt depth.
Cleveland plays tough, choking defense for Mike James, who has been criticized for being too conservative with so many young legs. On the other hand, with brick-layers like Hughes, who wants to see him shoot twice as much? The strategy worked in the playoffs, as well, with the Cavs making it to their first NBA Finals. Getting swept by the more talented Spurs was no surprise and nothing to be ashamed of.
The Cavs allowed 92 ppg last season, fifth-best in the league and second best in the East. But the offense shot .447% from the field, seventh worst, and dead last from three-point land (32%). That's another reason they slow the pace down! The Cavs were also second to last in team free throw shooting at 69%, just ahead of Shaq and Miami.
This team didn't make many changes or have any draft picks, so they will look about the same. The Cavaliers signed guard Devin Brown to shore up the backcourt. Brown most recently played for New Orleans and averaged a career-high 11.6 points to go along with 4.3 rebounds and 2.6 assists in 58 games. "Devin is a versatile basketball player," Cavaliers general manager Danny Ferry said. They also add Cedric Simmons from New Orleans.
Second-year guard Daniel Gibson might be a key if he can add some consistent long range shooting. Like many young teams, the Cavs were dynamite at home (37-13 SU, 26-22 ATS) where the defense stepped up allowing 89 ppg. But on the road the defense allowed 94 ppg, where they were 25-26 SU, 28-22 ATS. Note that Cleveland was 28-19 and 26-23 under the total at home the last two years.
2007-2008 Chicago Bulls
Eastern Conference: Central Division
Chicago Bulls 55 W - 37 L, 45-45 ATS 06/07 season
Finally, the future is here in Chicago! Not since the days of Michael Jordan have the Bulls been a contender in the East, but that has changed after an impressive 55-win season, which included a first-round playoff sweep of the defending champion Heat. A 6-game playoff loss to the veteran Pistons was no fun, but there is a lot of young talent on this club. And the draft brings 6-10 Joakim Noah (Florida), 7-footer Aaron Gray (Pittsburgh) and guard JamesOn Curry.
This team has been stockpiling draft picks for years. It all begins with budding superstar Ben Gordon who accomplished an unprecedented rookie season in which he delivered double digit scoring efforts in the final frame an absurd 21 times (only LeBron, Kobe and Arenas did it more). Two years ago he led the Bulls with 16.9 ppg and last year led the team with 21.4 points per game.
Luol Deng (18.8 ppg, 7.1 rpg) and sparkplug guard Kirk Hinrich (16.6 ppg) team with Gordon to form a quick-strike offense. Hinrich led the Bulls with 6.3 assists per game and is a fine long-range shooter. So all they need is some rebounding muscle to take the next step, right? That's what management thought when they traded Eddy Curry and Tyson Chandler for draft picks while adding Ben Wallace.
The Bulls were able to work a draft day deal to get athletic 6-9 Tyrus Thomas (LSU). He came out of nowhere as a freshman and had an explosive season for the Tigers. He's a leaper who can block shots, rebound and score in the low post. He struggled as a rookie averaging 5.2 points and 3.7 boards, but had a better second half of the season. Center 6-9 Ben Wallace isn't a scorer, but this team doesn't need scorers. He's a monster rebounder, shot blocker and high-energy team player, the $60 million centerpiece of the team. Wallaced averaged 10.7 rebounds and over 2 blocks per game.
Key role players are 6-7 Andres Nocioni (14.1 ppg, 5.7 rpg) and Chris Duhon. Nocioni impressed with 13.0 points and 6.1 rebounds per game, while the versatile Duhon started 38 games, played in 74 and averaged 5 assists. Chris Duhon provides more that adequate support off the bench as an undersized point guard who nevertheless gets the ball where it's supposed to go. Chicago shot .388% from three-point land, second best in the NBA.
Throw in forward P.J. Brown, 7-2 Martynas Andriuskevicius, Viktor Khryapa, who came to the Bulls with Thomas via a draft-day trade with the Portland Trail Blazers last year, and 6-7 Malik Allen, and coach Scott Skiles has the stars and potential role players to be very good again. "We're a pretty deep team. We may play 10, 11, 12 guys most of the season," says Skiles. Chicago was 34-12 SU, 26-19 ATS at home. The Bulls are fully manned and should be a dominant force in the Central Division.
2007-2008 Detroit Pistons
Eastern Conference: Central Division
Detroit Pistons 63 W - 35 L, 48-47 ATS 06/07 season
Last stand for a bunch of old warriors? Or are they in a downward spiral that so often happens with championship teams? They won it all in 2004 under Larry Brown, then won 74 and 63 games the last two season under Flip Saunders. Yet, they have flamed out in the playoffs, losing each time to the young Cavaliers. It has been a terribly disappointing ending the last two years to what had been great seasons.
The offense has gotten out and run under coach Flip Saunders, but the team was slow on adjustments in the playoffs and not as strong defensively, all of which has cost them. Not only was Saunders taking heat from fans and media, he was also taking heat from some of his players. Ben Wallace took public potshots at Saunders after the Pistons were knocked out of the playoffs by Miami in 2006. Last season, Rasheed Wallace challenged Saunders during the pivotal loss in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals against Cleveland. He exhorted his teammates to disregard the coach's instructions late in the game, which led to disastrous defensive breakdowns and a key loss.
Saunders has, for the second straight season, revamped his coaching staff. After last season, Pistons president Joe Dumars did not renew the contracts of assistants Ron Harper and Kevin Wilson. He replaced those two by hiring former Pistons forward Michael Curry. A talented offensive team returns. The backcourt still leads the way behind the tandem of Richard Hamilton (19.8 ppg) and Chauncey Billups (17 ppg),who led the Pistons in scoring. Billups is a sparkplug, while the tall Hamilton can score from anywhere and creates mismatches posting up on shorter guards.
7-foot Rasheed Wallace (12 ppg, 7.2 rpg) can score, defend and block shots, as can former super-sub 6-7 Tayshaun Prince (14 ppg). Nazr Mohammed can start or come off the bench and fight for rebounds along with 6-10 veteran sixth man Antonio McDyess (8 ppg, 6 rpg). The plan for this season is to get McDyess into the starting lineup alongside Wallace. McDyess, 33, hasn't started since the 2001-02 season. The Pistons hope Nazr Mohammed, the lone true center on the roster, can bolster the low-post defense against the bigger centers.
The plan also includes increased roles for young players like Third-year forward Jason Maxiell and Amir Johnson, as well as for rookies Rodney Stuckey and Arron Afflalo. There is plenty of youth with the backups in Stuckey (21) at point guard, Arron Afflalo (22) at shooting guard, Johnson (20) and Maxiell (24) at the power positions and Jarvis Hayes (26) at small forward, an average of 22.6 years. Only Hayes among them has ever been a rotation regular.
Detroit was just 32-17 SU, 17-30 ATS at home, but 31-18 SU, 31-17 ATS on the road. After giving up 89 ppg in Larry Brown's last seaseon, they've allowed just 90 and 91 per game under Saunders (and were better offensively). They were 27-21 over the total at home, but 30-19 under the total on the road! The Pistons have great talent and balance, but age has to be a concern with many of their veteran cogs.
2007-2008 Milwaukee Bucks
Eastern Conference: Central Division
Milwaukee Bucks 28 W - 54 L, 36-43 ATS 06/07 season
Head coach Terry Stotts likes a running, uptempo team, but that has come at a cost of defense. Milwaukee was one of the laziest defensive teams in the NBA, getting killed on the glass often. They allowed 104 ppg, fourth worst in the league. So into this mix they draft...a skinny, 7-foot, 230-lb F Yi Jianlian, another offensive player. He has a nice jump-shot with excellent ball-handling skills, but lacks bulk, a skinny, finesse player in the low post. Defensive and rebounding is a concern with this team, something Jianlian won't help them with.
Bucks general manager Larry Harris expected his first-round draft pick to have a major role in the team's rotation. "We're a team that we feel is going to be a playoff team. And we believe this guy is going to play." But who is going to play defense? It's not going to be 6-11 Charlie Villanueva (11.8 ppg, 5.8 rpg) who came over from Toronto last year in an offseason trade for T.J. Ford. Nor will it be 7-footer Andruw Bogut, the No. 1 overall pick three years ago. Bogut has progressed slowly, averaging 12.3 points and leading the Bucks in rebounds with 8.8 per game. This is one big frontcourt, with excellent scoring options and too much youth.
Guard Charlie Bell's dream to join Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O'Neal on South Beach ended when the Bucks matched the Miami Heat's five-year, $18 million offer to the versatile guard, even though Bell made it clear he did not want to return to Milwaukee. Bell, a 28-year-old guard, was the only Bucks player to appear in all 82 games last season. He made 64 starts while averaging a career-best 13.5 points and nearly 35 minutes per game.
Now the Bucks' backcourt appears set with Mo Williams (17.3 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 6.1 apg) and dynamic scorer Michael Redd (26.7 ppg) as starters, and Bell, Royal Ivey, Lynn Greer and rookie Ramon Sessions in reserve. Desmond Mason, returning to the team after two years with New Orleans, can play both at second guard and small forward. The frontcourt has 6-6 Bobby Simmons and center Dan Gadzuric. Gadzuric is another nice player who Milwaukee insisted on overpaying.
The Bucks continued to aggressively reshape their roster by getting younger with former North Carolina player David Noel. Milwaukee's run-and-gun style found them averaging 100 ppg. They were 18-23 SU, 16-23 ATS at home, but 10-31 on the road. The Bucks might be better than they were last season, and they most certainly are younger. But this deep team with young legs that can score doesn't have much defense.
2007-2008 Indiana Pacers
Eastern Conference: Central Division
Indiana Pacers: 35 W - 47 L, 37-43 ATS 06/07 season
The worst shooting team in the NBA? These Pacers, shooting .438% from the field. Rebuild, retool, or start from scratch? The Pacers have been snakebitten the last three years, it seems, from the fight in Detroit that resulted in the suspension and later trade of Ron Artest, to an embarrassing offseason incident with Stephen Jackson. They traded Artest for Peja Stojakovic, then watched Peja leave as a free agent. This past offseason, Team president Larry Bird suspended Shawne Williams for the first three games after the forward was arrested when police said they found a gun and marijuana in the player's vehicle.
Coach Jim O'Brien has some new pieces to work with, but at least they still have 6-11 star Jermaine O'Neal in the frontcourt. O'Neal played in 69 games and averaged 19.4 points and 9.6 boards, though he shot just .436% from the field. He is surrounded by a lot of role players up front in 6-10 Ike Diogu, 6-11 Jeff Foster (8.10 rpg) and young 6-9 F Danny Granger (4.6 rpg), who was a workhorse in college.
They traded 6-9 Al Harrington then watched in horror as Harrington played great for Golden State. The guys they got back in the trade, forward Troy Murphy (10.3 ppg, 6.10 rpg) and Mike Dunleavy (12.8 ppg, 5.30 rpg) are still young with upside, but need work on their games. And speaking of youth, the frontcourt has former Memphis Tiger forward Shawne Williams, the No. 17 overall pick in 2006, an athletic player who got in offcourt trouble.
The backcourt has a gem in Jamaal Tinsley, who dished out 6.9 assists while chipping in 12.8 points per game. 6-6 Marquis Daniels help out in the backcourt, while Kareem Rush and Orien Greene provide backcourt depth. They signed Travis Diener, a free agent point guard from Marquette who spent his first two NBA seasons in Orlando. Diener joins shooting guard Kareem Rush, swingman Stephen Graham and guard Andre Owens as players with NBA experience added to the Indiana roster. Diener and Rush are proven long-range shooters, Graham is an athletic, physical defender, while Owens is a combo guard who excelled in summer-league play.
The 6-1, 175-pound Diener, who teamed with Dwyane Wade to lead Marquette to the NCAA Final Four in 2003, averaged 10.9 minutes, 3.8 points and 1.0 assists in two seasons with the Magic, shooting 40.2 percent from the 3-point line. GM Larry Bird has had his eye on Diener for awhile, even trying to acquire him from the Magic last season. He's convinced he has the right skill set to step right in as Jamaal Tinsley's backup. Bird said, "I know Coach O'Brien likes what we've done. We've surrounded him with some players that can shoot the basketball and make plays for him. Travis is the type of individual that can run pick-and-rolls, move the ball up the court, keep the ball moving. We're going to have that style of play that our fans like to watch."
O'Brien brings a calm demeanor to the bench, a bit different from fiery Rick Carlisle. O'Brien knows how to teach defense and his players have generally played hard for him. Indiana was just 13-28 SU, 19-21 ATS on the road and 7-30 SU, 15-21 ATS as a dog. After three seasons of turmoil and change, the Pacers hope to have a resurgence and be once again a force to be reckoned with in the East.
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