Pierce is a shooter not a slasher. Boston is pretty perimeter heavy given that Pierce and Allen are such great scorers there and KG is good but not great on the post. KG's offensive game (besides passing) seems pretty similar to Bosh's to me, and like Toronto Boston is primarily going to be a jump shooting team. But they literally have two of the best in Pierce and Allen so it will work. They definitely pack the most scoring punch in the Atlantic. We're sort of the inverse of them with two great post scorers complemented by a weaker perimeter attack. Will be interesting to see the matchups this season.

[Edited by - tomverve on 07-31-2007 10:47 PM]

all of you talking offense, offense ,offense.. it's the defensive end that gets you to the Finals. who looks to be one of the best defensive unit in the east.

last yr, cleveland was top 3 in defense in the east. #1 rebounding team in the east. who cares about offense.

Posted by djsunyc:

boston - have a post presence in kg, slasher in pierce, and shooter in ray...easily the most balanced.

ny - two post up players in zach and eddy, but not a good perimeter team.

nj - 3 perimeter players that can score but no real post presence.

toronto - post presence in bosh but primarily a jump shooting team.

philly - ???

philly - best defense of all mentioned teams
However for all of them the defense is suspect with Knicks the worst




[Edited by - arkrud on 07-31-2007 11:20 PM]

Posted by JohnWallace44:

Posted by arkrud:

Posted by djsunyc:

boston - have a post presence in kg, slasher in pierce, and shooter in ray...easily the most balanced.

ny - two post up players in zach and eddy, but not a good perimeter team.

nj - 3 perimeter players that can score but no real post presence.

toronto - post presence in bosh but primarily a jump shooting team.

philly - ???

philly - best defense of all mentioned teams
However for all of them the defense is suspect with Knicks the worst




[Edited by - arkrud on 07-31-2007 11:20 PM]

If the starting lineup is Steph, Q, Balkman, Zach, Curry is that the worst D in the division? Worse than the Nets with the intimidating VC? Worse than Toronto with the human pillar Bargnani?

The starting lineup will be Steph, Craw, JJ, ZBO, and Curry, 4 terrible defenders and one solid defensive player in steph. Yeah I say well have the worse defensive team in the atlantic.

Posted by nixluva:
With a healthy Q, Steph and Jamal, I think we'll be good enough on the perimeter.

Good enough at what?

We are the 4th best team in our division

i don't know. it seems once the boston trade went down, everyone is downing the knicks. i know that we look at any hope as false but i feel that if we are healthy this is a good team. this is my analysis of the division teams:

boston: clearly the best in our division and maybe the east and one of the premier teams in the nba. true that their bench will suffer but i think that danny would fill the spots with solid and cheap veterans who won't mind playing their roles. it could be another houston and portland scenerio where there is too much talent but they are definately winning this division.

toronto: defending atlantic champs are a solid team with a superstar in bosh and very good player in barganni ( sp?) and tj ford. they are balanced now with some outside shooting. their biggest weakness is obviuosly youth and inexperienced. i also wonder if they could still do well the next year when there have been a history of suprise teams that fail the following year ( clippers, bucks, seattle, etc.). the pressure is on against them with the division clearly better than last year. they won't win the division and i can't see them even iin second place. they can easily fall to 4th place and lottery or compete for a playoff berth and second place. they are the enigma of the division.

nets: the second most experienced team in this division and on paper the second most talented. however, a rash of injuries last year stalled them and they are one of if not the oldest team in the division. still, carter, kidd and jefferson are one of the best trios in the league and you add a healthy kristic, who is at least a formidable center and magloire, only a few years removed from his all-star days and still fairly young, this team is tough. also for the first time in years, size is not a problem since they have a decent amount of bodies on the bench to throw at anybody. i expect this team to finish second.

philly: this team is definately a puzzle. i live in the philly area so i see this team play more than any other and they are the scrappiest group of all of the teams. this is a team with no superstars or even stars but a bunch of role players that play their roles well. the off season so far hasn't been great but they are just buying time for most of their contracts to come off the books next year for massive cap room. i have to give cheeks credit for doing the best with the team they got and playing an almost helter skelter style of ball in which it is hard for opponents to prepare for. however, their talent is clearly the worse of the division and even though they give every team fits they will be bottom dwellers but that isn't that bad. they could luck out with a decent pick and sign a great player outright to get right back in the race.

knicks: another team like toronto that could finish anywhere from 2nd to 4th place. on paper, talent-wise, they are on par with all the teams except boston. however, it is the culture of losing that they must overcome. the frontcourt is potent and maybe the best in the division but the backcourt is questionable. their bench is the deepest of the division also which is an advantage if we are healthy. our biggest weakness is defense which is the worst in the division. however, we have one of the best offense in the league when healthy and we are one of the best rebounding teams in the league. that will help us win a decent amount of games. if curry continues to develop, zbo puts up the same numbers and marbury continues to just distrubute and run the offense instead of taking over, then they will be in the thick of the race well into april and maybe may.

damn it johnwallace...why did you have to make me post this...