reflections
October 11th, 2007 Central Division Preview

 Well, the Pacers won last night, but I really won’t get into that. It’s preseason, and as we all know, it really doesn’t mean anything. It was nice to see the Pacers get their first win in about 7 months however. But for today, I am going to do a preview of the Central Division, the toughest division in my opinion. To make it easy, I will start with the team that I feel with finish 5th, and work my way up. Easy enough?

5.) Milwaukee Bucks - In order for this team to do well, Michael Redd has to play in all 82 games, something he failed to do last year. And to add to that, he needs to keep improving. Maurice Williams had a solid season last year, and he needs to repeat that. Bogut still has room for improvement, and Charlie V. needs to prove he’s not injury prone. All Yi has to do is work on not getting dunked on anymore. It also wouldn’t hurt him to put on some weight, he’s actually skinnier than Prince and Garnett.

4.) Indiana Pacers - To me, it’s important for the Pacers to finish no worse than 4th in the division. But in order for that to happen, Jermaine needs to have another career year, Tinsley needs to have a breakout year, Murph and Dunleavy need to step up, and Granger needs to keep improving. Basically, a lot needs to happen.

3.) Cleveland Cavaliers - I think the Cavs are going to drop from where they were last year, they will not be a 50 win team. And for several reasons. The Cavs did nothing to improve their point guard situation. Gibson has yet to prove he can compete at a consistent level, and Snow might be the worst PG in the NBA. To add to that, Larry Hughes has missed a big amount of games in his two years in Cleveland, Big Z is getting older, and Anderson V. has yet to resign. King James can’t carry this team to the ECF again.

2.) Detroit Pistons - It is hard to put them at number two, because they always seem to be in the title picture. But soon enough, age will start to catch up to this team. Chris Webber, Rasheed Wallace, Chauncey Billups, Antonio McDyess, these aren’t young guns anymore. They did very well in the draft however, so it is hard to pinpoint this team. They have a solid mixture of youth and veterans, which I feel is key.

1.) That leaves the Baby Bulls, who will eventually lose the nickname. They still have all their gems from last year, Hinrich, Gordon and Deng, Tyrus will keep improving, Wallace will still rebound, and they added another solid draft pick to their team. Noah will not put up huge numbers, nor will be be on anyone’s fantasy team, but this is a kid who knows a little something about winning Championships. Yeah, there is a big difference from winning an NCAA Championship and an NBA Championship, but this is yet another hustle player added to a young hustle team. The only question is their 4 spot. I think they could have done a little better than Joe Smith.

 So there you have it. Bulls take the division, the Pistons finally have to settle for second, the Cavs falter, the Pacers don’t come in last, and the Bucks, well, it won’t be a great year for them.

D.S.

 You know how to reach me.

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