Chicago Bulls:
The Chicago Bulls are coming off a season in which they were without their star point guard Derrick Rose, who not only is the MVP of their team, but also a former MVP of the league. Despite Rose's absence, I felt that the Bulls were still a very dangerous team given their great defense and rebounding. Their style of basketball was too much for the Brooklyn Nets to handle in the first round of the playoffs last season, and it even gave the Miami Heat problems in the second round of the playoffs. Unfortunately for the Bulls, their health ended up costing them in the end, but nobody questioned their fighting spirit. This season, things look much better for these Bulls since they have Derrick Rose back. If Rose can return to his MVP caliber form, or something very close to it, then the Bulls are going to be a threat to win the entire NBA championship because they have every other piece of the puzzle to beat the Miami Heat. They have Joakim Noah and Carlos Boozer down low to get rebounds and provide a legitimate threat offensively in the paint; they have Luol Deng as a legitimate side kick to Derrick Rose on the wing; and they collectively play really good team defense. The way to beat the Miami Heat is to play great defense, rebound the basketball, and not turn the ball over. The Bulls are great at all of those things, which is why they are a threat to win the NBA championship. The bottom line for the Bulls is that if they can stay healthy, then they'll be a serious threat to win the NBA championship. If they aren't healthy, then they won't be much of a threat to win a championship. But regardless of even their health, you can rest assured that they will play hard every night and not be an easy win for any team including the Miami Heat. I know I'm going out on a limb picking them to beat out the Indiana Pacers for the division title, but I really think that if Derrick Rose is back to his old self, there is no team better than the Bulls in this division.
Indiana Pacers:
The Indiana Pacers took the Chicago Bulls' place as division champions last season and also took the place of the team out in the Eastern Conference that could legitimately scare the Miami Heat. Like the Bulls, the Pacers pride themselves on their defense and their rebounding. In addition, the Pacers have also found their own superstar in their young small forward Paul George, to whom they just gave a lucrative contract extension earlier this fall. George is coming off a season in which he averaged 17.4 points and 7.6 rebounds per game. The Pacers expect him to do even better this season and continue to show why he's going to be a superstar in the NBA. In addition to Paul George, the Pacers also have a great front line of David West and Roy Hibbert to control the paint and provide a sound offensive threat down low like the Bulls have with Boozer and Noah. Plus, they've also added Luis Scola to the mix, giving them even more versatility on the block, especially on the offensive end. The only real concern for the Pacers is going to be the health of small forward Danny Granger, who will be out for the first three weeks of the regular season due to a calf injury. Before Paul George emerged, Granger was their star, but now that it's Paul George, the Pacers need to figure out how to get Granger and George to co-exist. More importantly, how to integrate Granger in such a way that the chemistry developed last season doesn't get hurt by his presence. Their head coach Frank Vogel definitely has a difficult task on the Danny Granger front, but he won't have the difficult task of trying to coach a mediocre team to success. He has a great group of guys to work with who certainly have what it takes to get back to the Eastern Conference Finals, and maybe even reach the NBA Finals. If the Chicago Bulls are not at full strength, expect the Indiana Pacers to win the central division title. Regardless of where they finish in the division standings, I don't expect them to drop outside the top four of the Eastern Conference. They will be a team with home court advantage in the first round, and will also be a team that will once again be on the cusp of winning a championship. What of course remains to be seen is how much better they are as a result of the off-season moves they made along with the return of Danny Granger.
Detroit Pistons:
The Detroit Pistons have a whole new look this season thanks to the additions of Josh Smith and Brandon Jennings. The Pistons have overnight gone from being a team in the race to get the most ping-pong balls for the draft, to being a team in the race for a playoff spot. The transformation of this team is actually quite stunning given where they were last season. Brandon Jennings is one of the more undervalued point guards in the NBA, and Josh Smith is one of the more underrated stars in the NBA. Sure Jennings isn't Chris Paul or Stephen Curry, but unless you can have one of those top flight guys, Brandon Jennings is as good an option as you are going to find. The same goes for Josh Smith, who may not be of the likes of LeBron James, Kevin Durant, or Paul George, but still nonetheless is a legitimate player who can turn any team into a playoff caliber team. As for the rest of the team, the Pistons look pretty good. They have a solid front court featuring Andre Drummond and Greg Monroe, and a decent back court to go with Jennings with players like Chauncey Billups and rookie shooting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. The bottom line for the Pistons is that they should have what it takes to get the 6th or 7th seed in the Eastern Conference and make the playoffs, but nothing beyond that. They won't win a series or make any noise in the playoffs, but just being back in the playoffs will be a big enough of a deal this season. One thing that could maybe change their fortunes is what they end up doing with young center/power forward Greg Monroe. There are rumors that he could be on the trading block, and given his abilities, they could get a lot back for him should they want to trade him. Monitoring the status of Greg Monroe will be one of the more interesting things to watch for this season in addition to seeing how many crazy shots Brandon Jennings and Josh Smith attempt to make.
Cleveland Cavaliers:
The Cleveland Cavaliers are going to be a very interesting team this season, and also might end up being the team that takes the biggest leap in terms of improvement from last season. They have a lot of very promising players on their team in addition to their young 3rd year all-star point guard Kyrie Irving, who averaged 22.5 points and 5.9 assists last season. Those additional players are shooting guard Dion Waiters, who is entering his second season in the NBA, power forward Tristan Thompson, who like Irving is coming off his sophomore season in the league, and the current #1 overall pick Anthony Bennett, a talented power forward out of UNLV. These young players along with Kyrie Irving make the Cavaliers a team with a very bright future, but not a team that will even sniff a playoff spot. However, there is one player that they have that could make them a playoff team this season, and perhaps even a championship caliber team. That player is Andrew Bynum, who is coming off an utterly embarrassing season in with the Philadelphia 76ers. Bynum didn't play one minute of basketball for the 76ers last season, and in the process completely destroyed the franchise. Fortunately for the Cavaliers, they aren't putting their whole future on the shoulders on Andrew Bynum, since their whole future is on the shoulders of Kyrie Irving. But with that being said, they could end up being a really dangerous team should Bynum return to being the type of dominant center he was with the Lakers. Especially since they also have another really good big man in Anderson Varejao. Dominant big men are hard to come by in the NBA, and when healthy Andrew Bynum is arguably the best center in the entire NBA. That's why they are a contending team. If you have the best center in the game and a top five point guard, you by default have to be considered a contending team. Now you might be wondering why I still have the Cavaliers finishing fourth in this division and not second or third. The reason is because there are too many unknowns surrounding Andrew Bynum. Will he play? Will he not play? If he does, how much will he play and what type of impact will he make? It's hard to predict, which is why I have to temporarily place the Cavaliers at the spot where they are at. I'm fully aware that I could be wrong about where they finish up, but for now I need to take the conservative position and say that they'll finish fourth in the division and be one of the teams fighting for the 8th spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Milwaukee Bucks:
The Milwaukee Bucks are clearly going to be the worst team in this division. Brandon Jennings is now on the Pistons and Monta Ellis is now on the Mavericks, which means that the building blocks for their franchise are almost gone except for their young center Larry Sanders, who they just gave a very lucrative contract extension to earlier this fall. The Bucks do have a promising young point guard in Brandon Knight, whom they got from the Pistons, and also a promising young forward in John Henson to go with some solid veterans along the wing such as OJ Mayo, Ersan Illyasova, and Caron Butler. But when looking at the rest of the teams in the division, it is clear that the Bucks are going to stack up a lot of losses. I know it sounds like a really bad thing to be in this type of situation, but actually the Bucks are in a much better situation than they were last season for a number of reasons. One of those reasons is that they weren't going anywhere with Monta Ellis and Brandon Jennings as their one-two punch, so they might as well move on and start a new chapter in their history. Plus, they have some interesting young players to develop such as Brandon Knight, John Henson, and rookie small forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (who I actually drafted in fantasy basketball this season). Last but not least, the 2014 NBA draft is supposed to be filled with a ton of all-star talent which every team is going to want to get their hands on. By being bad, the Bucks are setting themselves up for success in terms of getting a high draft pick. Bucks fans certainly won't have much to cheer for this season, but they definitely should take comfort in knowing that where they are this season is actually a lot better place than last season in terms of building for the future. It may not feel like it at times, but believe me, the Bucks are closer to being a contending team by rebuilding than they are by sticking it out with Jennings and Ellis.
---Ben Parker: follow me on twitter @nba_lord
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