Tough to call this early. I think Miami will still be there barring injury. I don't know that Riley can coax another playoff run like that from his vets but we will see. You also have to wonder if Detroit is still hungry at this point....

Chicago will be there. Tough coach and good personel.

HQ....THe Wiz #2 seed, you can`t be serious????

Right now I'd go with the Cavs or Heat. Wade and LeBron are Wade and LeBron.

Cavs roster is still pretty awful though, so I guess whatever the refs feel like that week

Considering the new seeding rules, I imagine the pistons will be the 3rd seed.

Who can knock off the Heat?

Chicago? If they get a scorer, but it's hard to imagine them going from 1st-round losses to the finals in one year.

Us? As long as it's Flip vs. Riley and 5-on-8 Wadeball, I don't see a compelling reason at the moment to think we can beat them. Yes we'll be more motivated and them less, but they have Riley to compensate for that.

Cavs? LeBron's star treatment is offset by Wade's.

Indy? Harrington is a big addition, but that won't stop O'Neal from disappearing in the second half of playoff games, and Rick needs defense too.

In the end, I don't see anyone knocking off the current champs.

After close evaluation of the EC, The Cav`s may be dangerous. If Larry Hughes can remain injury free and Varejo continues to hustle and rebound and Lebron is allowed to take 5 steps to the hoop, they could be EC Champs!

Seriously, They are well coached and have the league`s star player on their team. After coming back against an imploding Piston team last year the confidence of this squad is probably soaring.

Injury free, and a liitle help for Lebron they could be the EC Champs..........

Without explanation this is what I predict:
1 Miami
2 Chicago
3 NJ
4 Cleveland
5 Washington
6 Detroit
7 Indiana
8 Orlando

I think this is the best case scenario for the Pistons. I think I am being a homer by slotting the Pistons at number 6. I would not be suprised if they don't make the playoffs. I pick Chicago to come out of the East because of the defense.

I am sure most will disagree, but this is what I think.. I also expect to see more injuries this year. Since we are not a championship team anymore I expect the players not to play through injuries they did in the past couple of seasons(except for Prince and Rip).. I also except to see Sheed become one of the most hated players on this forum by season end. I really think we all underestimate the importance Ben had on this team.

We might get a really good draft pick, too bad it won't be from Orlando.

Wow.

But, you could be right. Worst case scenario to us may very well end up being best case scenario for us after we see how these boys play. Let's hope that you're wrong. If so, this is going to be a long...long season.

We have had a really good team for quite a while and to think that we are going down the tubes because Ben is gone is asinine. We are going to have a good season.and if having a tough coach was the answer i guess the Knicks would have won it all this year.L B. certainly yelled at them enough. Ben was a distraction at the end of the season and did very little in the playoffs. We will beat them all.!!!!! 2007 CHAMPS

You are crazy. Ben is not Iverson, he is not Kobe, he is not KG, he is not Wade, he is not Shaq, he is not T-Mac, and he is not Duncan. Ben going to Chicago will not make us not go to the playoffs, and make Chiago champions.

I don't think teams fear the Pistons anymore (especially interior D)... but we could be very tough to outscore.
I think this year we'll see a major injury to Bron or Wade.. they take too much contact playing their style.
The Wizards are still the least disciplined team in the East.
The Bulls will discover that Ben's game is not much better than Chandler's... the local negativity could put them in a tailspin.
The Heat will have "Fat cat" syndrome
The Nets could be the team to beat
Cleveland still has too many defensive liabilities (which makes it sad how poorly we played on offense against them)
Point being that every team has some warts which keeps the Pistons in the mix for the top seed.
Best record prediction
1. Nets
2. Pistons
3. Miami
4. Cleveland
5. Indiana
6. Orlando
7. Milwaukee
8. Bulls

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