82 Things to Watch For This NBA Season (Pt. 5)

Also see: Pt. 1 | Pt. 2 | Pt. 3 | Pt. 4

It's finally here. One day to go before the Celtics become "last year's champs" and 30 NBA teams start on a journey that 29 of them will not complete to become the 2009 NBA champions.

And, forgive me for saying it, but if you're not caught up on what to watch for this NBA season by now, you never will be. Over the last four weeks, we've given you over 10,000 words to keep you up to date on everything from superstars to rookies, individual postseason predictions to projected conference champs, and everything in between.

Today, in my fifth and final edition of the 82 things to watch for this NBA season, I conclude my countdown with a look at how the Eastern Conference stacks up in reverse order of projected finish:

Lottery Teams

15. New Jersey Nets

If it wasn't for the fact that Jay-Z owns 1.4% of the Nets I wouldn't like anything about this team. What's to like?

There are only two players on this team that could even remotely contribute on a quality NBA team: Vince Carter and Devin Harris, and neither is even in their prime (Vince's ended a few years ago, Harris' is yet to come).

When you have to count on guys like Josh Boone, Brook Lopez, Yi Jianlian, Eduardo Najera, Bobby Simmons, and Sean Williams to give to at least 20 minutes per game, the word "rebuilding" doesn't even do justice to what's happening in New Jersey.

I don't care if they have a partial owner that calls himself "Hova" or not, not even he can produce the miracle that it would take to reach 20 wins with this group.

Projected record: 19-63

14. New York Knicks

I guess you can throw the whole "East Coast bias" out the window here with the Knicks and Nets projected to finish dead-last in the East.

For the record, I don't like the "seven seconds or less" style of play, never have and never will, but at least it has a track record of accumulating regular season wins.

And while Mike D'Antoni still has plenty of work to do in tweaking his roster to fit his system, at least he has some talent to play with in the meanwhile. Still, the Knicks have big issues: they are going to have to deal with the inevitable Stephon Marbury soap opera sooner rather than later, and their frontcourt of Zach Randolph and Eddy Curry is a terrible fit for this style of play, just to name a few.

As much as I hate to admit it though, D'Antoni coached teams are fully capable of putting up 120 points on any given night.

That alone should be enough for 20 wins.

Projected record: 24-58

13. Charlotte Bobcats

Michael Jordan may as well have hired Harvey Two Face to coach this team because everything that surrounds Larry Brown is a coin flip at this point.

Heads: This team is awestruck by Brown's impressive tales of success in his dozen or so stops previous to this one and they buy into "playing the right way" immediately.

Tails: All the players have either seen firsthand or heard about from colleagues all the crap that comes along with playing for Larry Brown and they never give him a chance.

Heads: Larry Brown adds Ray Felton and his to the long list of point guards that Brown has developed into NBA stars during his career.

Tails: Brown spends every minute of every practice and every game breaking Felton down to his core, then bolts after one season before ever attempting to build him back up.

Heads: Brown takes a young team with lots of potential, a la his 76ers teams earlier this decade, and coaches them up into the surprise of the '09 season and sneaks into the playoffs, easily surpassing everyone's expectations.

Tails: He takes over and makes no progress whatsoever, a la his Knick teams of a few years back, goes through a messy divorce with the team in which he somehow still weasels a fat severance package out of the deal, and leaves the team worse off than when he got there.

As any good "call it in the air" kinda guy will tell you, tails never fails.

Projected record: 27-55

12. Milwaukee Bucks

Quickly, name the only two teams in the league that have two top-10 scorers from last year on their team.

Okay, you got Denver (Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony), that was easy. However, if we weren't in the Milwaukee section of the preview, I'm pretty sure most of you wouldn't have guessed the Bucks.

Nonetheless, the Bucks bring into the '08-09 season the eighth and ninth top scorers per game in the league in Michael Redd (22.7) and Richard Jefferson (22.6), respectively.

One big problem, though, the Bucks gave up the second most points in the conference last season. While the Bucks will definitely focus their attention more on defense than they have in recent years under new head coach Scott Skiles, they simply don't have the players to compete at a high enough level defensively, putting them at least a year away from being competitive again.

Projected record: 34-48

11. Indiana Pacers

The Pacers took baby steps towards getting better this offseason. They traded Jermaine O'Neal (whose time had certainly run its course in Indy) and added T.J. Ford (a perfect fit to run the show in their up tempo offense), Jarret Jack (a serviceable backup guard), Rasho Nesterovic (a serviceable big guy), and rookie Roy Hibbert.

They still have Danny Granger and Mike Dunleavy, Jr., both coming off career years, to be their top playmakers offensively.

However, the Pacers still lack that one "go-to" guy that most great teams possess. They don't have a single all-star on their roster, making it very hard to compete in crunch time night in and night out.

Taking baby steps towards getting better is a good start, but when every team in your division is also taking baby steps, it becomes pretty hard to improve without bringing in superstar.

Projected record: 36-46

10. Chicago Bulls

I project the Bulls to be a lottery team, at least for now. That could all change, however, if they can somehow manage to move one of the 45 guards that they seem to have on their roster. Derrick Rose looks like he might be the real deal, but the only way to find out is to play him.

With guys like Ben Gordon, Kirk Hinrich, Larry Hughes, Thabo Sefolosha, and even Loul Deng commanding backcourt minutes, the Bulls are faced the difficult task of trying trade at least one, ideally more like two or three, of these guys for some toughness and size inside.

The problem is that there isn't exactly an abundance of size and toughness going around the NBA right now, so teams are not very likely to give up their bigs, at least not for the players I just listed.

Still, if the Bulls can find a way to clear up that logjam in the backcourt before the trade deadline, they might just be able to right the ship in time to make a playoff push.

Projected record: 37-45

9. Washington Wizards

In part one of this preview, I compared Gilbert Arenas to a young Grant Hill. In the most recent edition of ESPN The Magazine, they compared him to a young Penny Hardaway. Either way, it's not a good sign when people feel obligated to compare you to great players who got hurt and were never the same.

That basically sums up the Washington Wizards: They can be great but the keep getting hurt. Arenas is out until at least the middle of December, probably longer. Antawn Jamison already hurt his knee once this preseason, expect that to happen at least once more before it's all said and done. You can pencil Caron Butler in for some sort of injury come February (it could very easily be the third straight season he gets named to the all-star team, but cannot play due to injury).

Still, for the brief periods of time in which the Wizards will be able to have all three of those guys on the floor at the same time, they will be very tough to beat.

Unfortunately, as has been the problem too often with the group, their version of "the big three" simply won't get enough healthy games together to make a big enough impact.

Projected record: 39-43

Playoff Teams

8. Miami Heat

The Heat are coming off of a worst-case-scenario type '08 season in which everything that could go wrong did go wrong. How bad did it get? Their Hall of Fame head coach stopped coaching for about a month in the middle of the season to attend the NCAA tournament to scout players for the upcoming draft. Ouch.

Now, with Dwyane Wade back (and dare I say better than ever after his showing in the Olympics?), Shawn Marion playing in his first full season with the team, and the best player in the draft, Michael Beasley, primed for superstardom, Miami looks to prove that last season was a fluke.

The big problem? They are softer than a roll of paper towels inside. Sure, they may have made out like bandits twice in trades that involve Shaq, but the Heat find themselves with absolutely no inside presence at all right now.

Their options at starting center are either Mark Blount or Udonis Haslem. Ouch again.

While Wade, Marion, and Beasley will most definitely help improve on the Heat's league-worst 91.4 points per game from a season ago, they can't do anything about the fact that they have no one to protect the rim.

Projected record: 41-41

7. Atlanta Hawks

It may be a distant memory now, but the Hawks took the Celtics to seven games in the first round of the playoffs last year. Sure, they only won 37 games last season, but any team that is good enough to push the eventual NBA champs to the brink has to have a lot of confidence coming into this season.

Though the Hawks stayed pretty quiet this offseason, I still expect them to improve significantly based solely on the experience they gained from that series with Boston. Throw in the fact that Al Horford will only get better in his second season and they will get an entire training camp with Mike Bibby and the Hawks could once again be relevant in Atlanta.

Projected record: 42-40

6. Philadelphia 76ers

Philly seems to be the sexy pick to be some sort of "sleeper" team in the East, based solely on the fact that they signed Elton Brand this offseason.

Let me start by saying this: I like Elton Brand. I think he's a really good player. But what about Elton Brand has these people convinced that he is going to be some sort of savior in Philly?

Here are some fun facts about Elton Brand: he's made the playoffs one time in nine NBA seasons. He's played in two all-star games. He's been on one All-NBA team (second team in '06). His best finish in the MVP voting is seventh. He's coming off major surgery that limited him to a whopping eight games last season and he turns 30 in March.

There is an entire decade's worth of proof that says if he is the best player on the team, said team has little to no chance of having any success. Yet for some reason adding Elton Brand to the 76ers has some experts giddy about Philly's chances in the East.

If someone, anyone can explain that to me, I'm all ears.

Projected record: 45-37

5. Toronto Raptors

I might be in the minority here, but I think the addition of Jermaine O'Neal will pay big dividends for the Raptors. Even if he only plays in 50 or so games this year, he's healthy now.

The Raptors can tally wins early, playing eight of their first 12 games against teams that had losing records last season with O'Neal in the lineup, then count on their stellar front office, led by Bryan Colangelo, to make any necessary adjustments should O'Neal get injured down the road.

If O'Neal doesn't get injured, the Raptors play the entire season with one of, if not the best, center-power forward combination in the East.

Projected record: 48-34

4. Cleveland Cavaliers

As I said when I predicted LeBron James to win the MVP: it's LeBron's time.

This quote from James sums up exactly why I think he's ready:

"If you can go out and lead guys who are already established, guys who won NBA championships, scoring titles, MVPs and Rookies of the Year, then I should be able to lead Daniel Gibson."

LeBron has all the physical tools he'll ever need to succeed at the highest of NBA levels; next comes the leadership. If James can unleash his freakish abilities while still getting the role players on this team involved, the sky is the limit.

While there will surely be a feeling out process between James and new point guard Mo Williams, this team should have enough experience come April to be a real threat come playoff time.

Cleveland won 45 games last season and appears to be no less than a 50-win team this year. The real test to see whether the Cavs have gotten any better will come in the playoffs, where LeBron will have an opportunity to put his game where his mouth is and lead this team back to the NBA finals.

Projected record: 51-31

3. Orlando Magic

The Orlando Magic didn't make any huge moves this offseason. They didn't have to.

Center Dwight Howard, 22, is coming of a First-Team All-NBA season. He won a gold medal with Team USA in Beijing. Did I mention he's only 22?

When Orlando worked out the sign-and-trade with Rashard Lewis at six-years, $118 million, I'd say they made a pretty big commitment making it work.

So instead of being drastic, the Magic wisely kept the core of their Southeast Champion and 52-win team together and added versatile free agent swing man Mickael Pietrus. With the return of Tony Battie (back after missing all of last season with a shoulder injury) and the surprisingly effective play of J.J. Reddick this preseason, the Magic look deeper and deadlier than they did a year ago.

Add that to the improvements that Dwight Howard vows to make this year (he says his goal is to win Defensive player of the Year, who am I to argue with Superman?), and suddenly, the Magic begin to look like a real powerhouse in the East.

Projected record: 56-26

2. Detroit Pistons

You know the old cliché, "if you're not getting better, you're getting worse?" Joe Dumars doesn't believe that.

Sure, the Pistons haven't been to the NBA Finals since 2005, but they aren't exactly getting worse. They have been to a remarkable six straight conference finals, and show very little signs of bucking that trend this year.

Dumars made it known this offseason that none of his players were off-limits, and reportedly flirted with the idea of trading for impact players like Carmelo Anthony and Tracy McGrady before eventually pulling everyone off the trading block before training camp opened because he didn't feel like the Pistons were getting good enough offers.

So Detroit returns with the ever-so-familiar core of players, hoping that a few new-but-familiar faces (Rodney Stuckey, Amir Johnson) can keep this team playing at the level that has made them a 50-win team for each of the last seven seasons (tied with Dallas for the second longest active streak by any team, behind only the Spurs).

If the opportunity to make a deal strikes in the middle of the season, Dumars won't hesitate to bring in a big-name player midseason to set this team back towards championship contention, as he did in '04 with Rasheed Wallace. If not, the Pistons are stacked enough as is to still be a real test for any team trying to come out of the East.

Projected record: 58-24

1. Boston Celtics

Hey, I said earlier they won't be last season's champs till Tuesday. Congratulations one last time to the Boston Celtics on being the 2008 NBA champions. The repeat bid stars now.

We know what this team is capable of. Will they be able to dig deep enough to get back there? The regular season isn't the time to answer that question. We'll revisit that issue much later.

Projected record: 61-21

Thus concludes the countdown of the "82 Things to Watch For This NBA Season." Be sure to check back at Sports Central every Monday for Scott Shepherd's weekly take on what's going on around the NBA.