Atlantic Division

The Celtics did make as many moves as they did last year. Rick Pitino is in the midst of his overhaul and didn't see the need to unload more than half his roster as he did last year. He drafted Paul Pierce, who I think is a spectacular player, with great NBA skills, both inside and out, and will be a perfect fit in the Pitino running system. Pitino acknowledged he made a mistake, unloaded Travis Knight and his large contract for rookie bust, Tony Battie. It is ironic that Pitino gets Battie after he was courting him at the draft last year. Battie should step in at center, since his competition is the newly acquired Dwayne Schintzius and Eric Riley, and hold overs Pervis Ellison and Andrew DeClerq. Battie should add some athleticism at center and will be required only to play defense and rebound. This should reduce the pressure on him. With a starting lineup of dedicated Kenny Anderson, second year man and potential star Ron Mercer, the aforementioned Paul Pierce, super-star Antoine Walker and probably Tony Battie at center, the Boston Celtics, have one of the most athletic lineups in the NBA. Pitino will be able to run these boys into the ground. They have some decent depth with sharp shooting Dana Barros, Dontae' Jones (who never has shown anything yet in the NBA), Walter McCarty, Greg Minor and re-signed rebounder Popeye Jones. I like where they are going, but they still aren't at the top of the East yet. They will still struggle to make the playoffs with a shortened season.

Pat Riley must have felt like someone stepped on his chest when he found out that Latrell Spreewell wasn't coming to Miami and was instead, headed to his arch nemesis, the New York Knickerbockers. The Knicks stole Spree from under his nose and now, with his starting shooting guard Voshon Leonard, injured for at least half the season, he is without a true shooting guard to start. He lost Brent Barry when he moved to Chicago. He drafted Corey Brewer, but that's a stop gap. He signed Terry Porter. Another stop gap, but with some veteran leadership. He lost Eric Murdock, his backup point guard, but Porter can swing between 1 and 2. He still has Mourning, Mashburn, P.J. Brown, Tim Hardaway and Dan Marjele (although Thunder Dan is not up to chasing around shooting guards for 35 minutes a game anymore) as the starting 5. Pretty good. Riles is an expert motivator. He still can get people going. Duane Causwell, Terry Mills and Keith Atkins add to the bench depth. In a short season, defense wins. Riley's teams always play good D. Keep that in mind. I see Miami making a move to challenge for the Eastern Conference championship.

Oh, those New Jersey football Nets. What have they become? A good team, that's what. Although they didn't draft anyone this year, they traded last year's pick for Keith Van Horne, so consider that a good deal. They signed Eric Murdock as a backup point guard. He might be a step down from Sherman Douglas as a offensive point guard, but defensively he's better than any other guard the Nets have on their team. The Nets traded Michael Cage and Don MacLean to Seattle for Jim McIlvaine. This gives them a shot blocker center and a banger who will give up six hard fouls, which is especially useful when you play in the Atlantic Conference. They have a great starting five, Sam Cassell, Kerry Kittles, Keith Van Horne, Jayson Williams (re-signed for a long term deal which is great for New Jersey fans) and Rony Seikley. It looks like Kendall Gill will be the sixth-man and swing man between 2 and 3. Chris Gatling and Lucious Harris round out the bench. They may need some time to gel, but I think this team has talent and will make some noise. In a shortened season, anything can happen. A team gets hot, and you never know. The Nets could win the Atlantic division.

Has any team remade themselves over so drastically over the past two years, yet still retained it's competitiveness? The Knicks traded veteran tough guy Charles Oakley to the Raptors and a second round pick, Sean Marks, for Marcus Camby. I've seen Camby play before. He's got skills. I think he has Kevin Garnett skills, but he's so inconsistent that it's maddening. I think he'll either be a star or a Derrick Coleman type player, when he's healthy and wants to play, he's great, otherwise, he's stuck on the bench. Rumor is, Camby has been begging out of practices with a variety of injuries. He's not even in the 9 man rotation, beaten out by free-agent Kurt Thomas. Thomas is a decent player, but Camby should make the starting five with his talent. At best, he can make the Knicks a challenger to the NBA throne, at worst, he's a waste of a roster spot. Latrell Spreewell will make things happen. If we leave all the choking out of this, his game is great. He was a hog in his last 1.5 years at Golden State, but he should be a sold scorer on the Knicks. He used to play great defense, so if he so desires, he can again. The Knicks are known for defense, so he should fit right in. Where he and Houston play is a different thing. I guess one will play small forward and one 2 guard. Maybe Spree will play some point guard as well. Dennis Scott was also signed, which is another good pickup. He's a great shooter and will replace the departed John Starks and Chris Mills as the designated shooter with Allan Houston. The loss of Buck Williams hurts, especially with Oakley and Terry Cummings gone, but Ewing should keep most players in line. A starting five of Charlie Ward, Allan Houston, Latrell Spreewell, Larry Johnson and Patrick Ewing should frighten most teams. Having Marcus Camby, Kurt Thomas, Chris Childs and Chris Dudley as bench players, will put most teams on the losing end of the score sheet. Look for the Knicks to make some noise, if their internally doesn't.

The Orlando Magic is a team in flux. The Penny Hardaway debacle is over. At least for now. He's healthy and itching to get back on the court to show the NBA that he's worthy of $100 million. When healthy, he's as good as any player in the NBA. When he's not, he's a real liability. The Magic stockpiled picks this year and then unloaded a couple of youngsters when they landed their first real center since Shaquille O'Neal. The Magic drafted Michael Doleac, Matt Harpring and Miles Simon. Doleac is a smart, strong and surprisingly athletic player who learned the post from Rick Majerus at Utah. Doleac can play. He's going to be a good backup center and power forward. Matt Harpring is like Doleac, smart, and surprisingly athletic. I think Harpring will be a great asset as a small forward and possibly shooting guard. Both have good range. Both are good rebounders. Miles Simon is best known as Mike Bibby's backcourt mate at Arizona. The Magic did sign Isaac Austin and that's good news for Orlando fans. He only signed for $5 million a year, which is quite shocking, since he was rumored to be asking $60 million over 7 years before the lockout. I guess Karl Malone's friendship wasn't enough to get him back to Utah. The Magic renounced 10 players, I find amazing, since only twelve players are actually on a team and traded rookie Keon Clark and second year man Johnny Taylor to Denver. Their starting five of Penny, Nick Anderson, Horace Grant, Isaac Austin and Charles Outlaw is pretty good. Darnell Armstrong and Derek Strong leads a pretty weak bench. They don't have a shooter. To win in this league, you need one. Look for them to struggle to break .500, even with Penny back at full strength.

The Sixers change players more often than Madonna changes her look. This year on the 76ers roster, look for Larry Hughes from Saint Louis to make an impact, otherwise, most of their changes were a waste. I didn't mean that. Matt Geiger is a decent player. A good banger and a decent defender. But he was signed for $50-60 million over 7 years. That's nuts. He's barely a double-double waiting to happen on his best day, yet they sign him and let Derrick Coleman walk. I'm not saying Coleman isn't a handful, but if you're going to spend your money unwisely, do it on a player who will score and rebound. But I digress. They did resign Theo Ratliff. I like this guy. All he does is play defense, block shots and get those dirty points. You've got to love this guy's hustle. Nazr Mohammed was acquired in a trade with Utah. He's pretty useless. He should have stayed in school. Fell from a Top 10 prospect to 30th overall. He's behind Geiger and Ratliff on the depth chart, so he'll be sitting a lot. Harvey Grant and George Lynch add some veteran leadership and hustle, without a demand for the ball, on a team with ball hogs. They lost Joe Smith, or should I say, they let him go. Rightly so. They still have a good core of young talent. A starting lineup of Allan Iverson, Larry Hughes, Tim Thomas, Theo Ratliff and Matt Geiger is a good one. But with Iverson at point guard, there never seems to be great chemistry. At least the 76ers signed Benoit Benjamin. It's good to know he's still in the league. There's always a place for a seven foot, two hundred and ninety pound chump. There's not a lot of depth here, but they have a lot of players, Scott Williams, Eric Snow, Anthony Parker, and the aforementioned Lynch and Grant. Another year of hardship for the Sixers fans.

The Wizards didn't make too many moves, they just made some really good ones. They traded perennial pain the ass, Chris Webber to Sacramento for Mitch Richmond and Otis Thorpe. This trade allows Calbert Chaney to move to his natural small forward position. It allows Juwan Howard to play his natural power forward position and earn that $105 million paycheck. Mitch Richmond moves in at shooting guard and takes his brand of professionalism to the nation's capital. He is one the NBA's good guys and I hope the Wizards actually sign Rod Strickland so the two can play together and hopefully Rock and lead this team into the playoffs. Otis Thorpe should bring some toughness to the center position. The Wizards had to the good sense to let freak Gheorge Muresean walk away, albeit very slowly. A starting lineup of "point guard" (either Strickland or Chris Whitney is Strickland isn't signed), Richmond, Chaney, Howard and Thorpe is a pretty good one. Not much depth here. Tracy Murray is a good shooter. Lorenzo Williams is a good defensive forward/center. He block shots. As can Ben Davis. Otherwise, the cupboard is bare. If they make it to the playoffs, call it divine intervention.

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