Eastern Conference Finals

I think Miami or Washington should add thad young or somebody idk where they are going to get bench scoring from.

pacers are non factor this year and the bulls can only pray rose stays healthy.

I think Miami or Washington should add thad young or somebody idk where they are going to get bench scoring from.

pacers are non factor this year and the bulls can only pray rose stays healthy.

 I agree the Bulls and Heat seem to be the two best teams right now, the only two teams I can see even coming close are the Wizards or Raptors. 

For the Wizards I think adding Pierce was huge. Though he might not be able to play very much and they will miss Ariza’s shooting I think Pierce will bring a great attitude to Washington’s young players as well as provide a proven clutch time performer. Wall and Beal would need to take the next step and perhaps them being cut from team USA will give them an edge heading into the season. Also, Otto Porter will need to step up and firm up a shaky bench. He looked very good in summer league (along with Glen Rice) and hopefully will provide scoring and defense off the bench. Finally Nene will need to be healthy going into the playoffs to give them a solid frontcourt.

I think the Wizards have a much better matchup against the Cavs than the Bulls. Against Lebron they have an old but proven defender in Pierce. Otto Porter will also have to step up here as they are going to need someone else to guard Lebron at some point. Also with their starting lineup the Cavs would have nowhere to hide weak defenders. Pierce, Wall, and Beal have the capability to exploit the poor defense of some of the Cavs wings and guards (Irving, Miller, Waiters). Additionaly they can rotate nene, Gortat, and Humphries on K-Love or go small with Pierce at the 4 and exploit that matchup. 

Concerns with the Cavs would be their ability to defend the pick and roll (Irving and James run it very well and K-Love and T-Thompson are good screeners) with their bigs. Another concern would be lack of depth and injury concerns with Pierce and Nene. Also Pierce’s age and the bigs defense on K-Love could let Lebron and Kevin simply dominate (this is the biggest concern obviously)

Against the Bulls I think the Wizards find it hard to score. I think Thibodeau’s system negates John Wall especially, plus Gibson and Noah can both guard Nene or Gortat 1 on 1. Also I think Mirotic and Gasol feast on any Wizards backup bigs. Besides this Rose will be able to attack the pick and roll with lots of shooters surrounding him. Overall I think the defense is just too much for the Wizards in this matchup.

The Raptors are going to need Demar Derozan to become a top 5 SG, Kyle Lowry to stay healthy, Terrence Ross to be consistent (and probably shoot over 40% from 3), and Jonas to have become more skilled offensively and dominate the interior. 

Against the Cavs I think Jonas could be huge. I don’t know if the Cavs have a big that can really guard a skilled 7 footer besides Anderson Varejao. So when Varejao is out of the game (or if he is injured) I can see Jonas having his way inside. The Lebron matchup is the one I would be most worried about as both Ross and Derozan are a little small to guard him effectively. 

I could see them matching up better against the Bulls. They are deep in the frontcourt with a banger (Psycho T) and some stretch options (Amir Johnson, Patrick Patterson). Any upset the Raptors could pull off would rely heavily on improvments from Jonas and Derozan.

Overall I see the Wizards as more of a threat to the top two teams but I think the top 4 in the East are relatively established with the possible exception of Charlotte sneaking up.

 I agree the Bulls and Heat seem to be the two best teams right now, the only two teams I can see even coming close are the Wizards or Raptors. 

For the Wizards I think adding Pierce was huge. Though he might not be able to play very much and they will miss Ariza’s shooting I think Pierce will bring a great attitude to Washington’s young players as well as provide a proven clutch time performer. Wall and Beal would need to take the next step and perhaps them being cut from team USA will give them an edge heading into the season. Also, Otto Porter will need to step up and firm up a shaky bench. He looked very good in summer league (along with Glen Rice) and hopefully will provide scoring and defense off the bench. Finally Nene will need to be healthy going into the playoffs to give them a solid frontcourt.

I think the Wizards have a much better matchup against the Cavs than the Bulls. Against Lebron they have an old but proven defender in Pierce. Otto Porter will also have to step up here as they are going to need someone else to guard Lebron at some point. Also with their starting lineup the Cavs would have nowhere to hide weak defenders. Pierce, Wall, and Beal have the capability to exploit the poor defense of some of the Cavs wings and guards (Irving, Miller, Waiters). Additionaly they can rotate nene, Gortat, and Humphries on K-Love or go small with Pierce at the 4 and exploit that matchup. 

Concerns with the Cavs would be their ability to defend the pick and roll (Irving and James run it very well and K-Love and T-Thompson are good screeners) with their bigs. Another concern would be lack of depth and injury concerns with Pierce and Nene. Also Pierce’s age and the bigs defense on K-Love could let Lebron and Kevin simply dominate (this is the biggest concern obviously)

Against the Bulls I think the Wizards find it hard to score. I think Thibodeau’s system negates John Wall especially, plus Gibson and Noah can both guard Nene or Gortat 1 on 1. Also I think Mirotic and Gasol feast on any Wizards backup bigs. Besides this Rose will be able to attack the pick and roll with lots of shooters surrounding him. Overall I think the defense is just too much for the Wizards in this matchup.

The Raptors are going to need Demar Derozan to become a top 5 SG, Kyle Lowry to stay healthy, Terrence Ross to be consistent (and probably shoot over 40% from 3), and Jonas to have become more skilled offensively and dominate the interior. 

Against the Cavs I think Jonas could be huge. I don’t know if the Cavs have a big that can really guard a skilled 7 footer besides Anderson Varejao. So when Varejao is out of the game (or if he is injured) I can see Jonas having his way inside. The Lebron matchup is the one I would be most worried about as both Ross and Derozan are a little small to guard him effectively. 

I could see them matching up better against the Bulls. They are deep in the frontcourt with a banger (Psycho T) and some stretch options (Amir Johnson, Patrick Patterson). Any upset the Raptors could pull off would rely heavily on improvments from Jonas and Derozan.

Overall I see the Wizards as more of a threat to the top two teams but I think the top 4 in the East are relatively established with the possible exception of Charlotte sneaking up.

 Everyone expects a Chicago/Cleveland eastern conference finals.  I think either Washington, Toronto or Miami might crash the party.

 Everyone expects a Chicago/Cleveland eastern conference finals.  I think either Washington, Toronto or Miami might crash the party.