Eastern Conference, continued

Today we tackle the central division.

Chicago Bulls – This is how you build a team. And not just any team but a team that has a good chance to be a contender for years to come. You draft well and develop the young guys, sign a couple of veterans to provide leadership and experience and if you can add a star player … someone like Pau Gasol, you got it made. Oh, they didn’t add the last piece? Oh well, the East is still weak. Joe Smith will do. But seriously, I think this is the year Tyrus Thomas steps up and makes a name for himself, so they won’t be lacking at PF.

So you let that mix stew for a few years and suddenly they’re sweeping Miami in the playoffs. This team is ready for big things.

Cleveland Cavaliers – You get LeBron for another three years. Enjoy it while you can Cleveland fans cause I promise you this kid is not staying in Cleveland longer than he has to. He’s been carrying a poorly assembled Cleveland team on his back for two years now. Now he gets to do that for another three seasons.
Oh, joy!
Z and Snow (don’t they sound like a rap tandem?) have contracts running through 2009 (just one year less than LBJ). Donyell Marshal and Damon Jones, too. And Larry Hughes is just killing them – both on and off the court with his poor play and hefty contract. Basically they’re paying a bunch of guys a lot of dinero to perform poorly and ruin LeBron’s will to live.

He can’t become a global icon in Cleveland anyway.

Detroit Pistons – This is a team in decline. They have no one to play center (McDyess and Muhamed? I don’t think so), they got Flip and Sheed, a bunch of no name guys off the bench, an aging, complacent roster that doesn’t play their trademark defense anymore and a head coach name Flip. It doesn’t get much better than that. 2nd round exit.

Indiana Pacers – Now, this roster is in shambles. Can we blame it all on Ron Artest? Or does the Basketball Jesus get some blame too? Just look at some of these guys (and their bloated contracts) :

Jermaine O'Neal - $19,710,000
Troy Murphy - $9,206,349
Mike Dunleavy - $8,219,008
Marquis Daniels - $6,370,000
Jamaal Tinsley - $6,300,000
Jeff Foster - $5,700,000

Except for J. O’Neal, Ike Diogu and Danny Granger there isn’t anyone on this roster with enough talent to play for Euroleage powerhouses Barcelona or CSKA, let alone an NBA team. I mean, who decided that it’d be a good idea to pay Marquis Daniels almost $ 7 mill per season? Are NBA GM’s on drugs? Or Mike Dunleavy averaging $ 9,5 mill over the next four years? Insane, I tell ya!

Indiana will challenge the Knicks and the 76ers for the coveted “worst team in the East and thereby in the NBA” award.

Milwaukee Bucks - The Bucks have a lot of potential if they somehow manage to stay healthy. Just look at the roster and tell me they’re not ready to do some damage in the East:

PG - Mo Williams, Charlie Bell (who can also play SG)
SG - Michael Redd,
SF - Bobby Simmons, Desmond Mason (can play some SG too)
PF - Charlie Villanueva, Yi Jianlian
C - Andrew Bogut, Dan Gadzuric

See? Told ya!