Dr. J. Naismith

As much as I'd love to come in 2nd place in the conference, I think its still too premature to make such a bold prediction.

Source - Click here

jeffb

I love the Swirsk, and i agree with everything he said except being the number 2 seed behind Boston. I predict anywhere from 4-6.But if we do stay healthy we could surprise.

I'm also anxious to see Ukic play, and there are good days ahead in Toronto.

Benzo

I agree with Chuck this time...

Major

As always, Chuck is a class act. And you can't help but love his homerism for the Raps, even though he's now with Chicago.

He didn't even say Atlantic division...he said Eastern Conference!

Benzo

As soon as he is in Chicago though...he will say the same about the bulls.

jeffb

His homerism is great. In an age when most Americans thumb there noses at Toronto as a second rate city.This is a guy that loves the city and Canada as a whole and has always been a class act.If he was not like that most would say he left because he didn't want to be in Canada.Canadians seem to always worry about what people from other countries think of Canada and when a guy embraces A Canadian city and Canada and becomes a citizen and is (some times over the top) passionate about it,he's too much of a homer? He can't win either way.

I think that he will always have a soft spot for the Raptors and it's refreshing.

Major

Could you really blame him though? I mean they missed the playoffs by 4 wins and then they grab Rose in the draft. I mean I wouldn't be surprised if he makes a prediction like 4th place in the Conference or something.

MikeToronto

I hope he meant record-wise, since that'd give us no better than 4th seed anyway, no?

fancylad

HAHA. I was just thinking that. Actually, i bet he has the bulls ranked first in the East.

jeffb

He's projecting Boston as the number 1 seed.Then Toronto.I think that's a little bit of a reach IMO. If Philly re-signs Iggy,they may be ahead of us.Then you have Orlando,Cleveland,Detroit. That's difficult. Is it possible, sure. But we'd have to get at least 55 wins to grab second place, no?To me that's unrealistic unless we have no major injuries to the starting 5 especially Bosh/Oneal/Calderon.

Adequate Swag

I thought the division leaders were just guaranteed to be in the top 4 seeds and then the top 4 teams overall were sorted by record.

I could be totally wrong though...I always get confused about that.

MikeToronto

Swag, you appear to be right, at least according to this.

In essence, the division champs are guaranteed a seed no lower than #4, but that's it.

moremilk

so you're saying that #2 is out of the question for us? I don't know about that. We should be ahead of Orlando, Cavs and Whasington since we were pretty much tied with them and they didn't make any move of significance. The real question is Detroit - will the new rookie coach be able to do something with this team and keep Rasheed in check? I think there's more than a good chance that he won't.

From the teams behind us, only Philly has a real chance of catching up with us. But I don't see them being better. For one, they had a lot of success playing a run and gun style last season, and I don't know if Brand has what it takes to play that style successfully. Miller was the key for them, and he's quite old and might lose a step next season. And they have no 3pt shooters, which is a major weakness (we no longer have any major weaknesses, but we do have quite a few major strengths: 3pt shooting, low TO rate etc).

I think #2 is not at all out of our reach - I actually think that if everything falls into place (no injuries, the progress of Bargnani, Moon, Mitchell etc), we can even win the conference this season.

Superjudge

anyone who says Toronto cannot be #2, is basically saying, that Oneal isnt ever going to be healthy.

I guess they know better than Jermaine, or his Doctors.

Awesome.

Ugo Ferst

Or they arent overrating O'neal, and realizing our swingmen are bench warmers are most other teams, making it hard to really contend with high calibre swingmen (de ja vu from last year). I think getting 2nd in the conference is a dream season, but not very realistic.

We have yet to see how O'Neal will fit with this team, if he wants to take a bunch of mid range jumpers as he has in the past, it wont be as great as everyone thinks, he isnt a dominating post player, he prefers short and mid range jumpers, so we still dont have a real inside presence.

moremilk

sorry, but you are arguing the worst case scenario. Nobody is saying that we WILL be #2, only that we COULD be #2 (with a decent shot) if all things go well ...

jeffb

No i said if the main three stay healthy (Bosh/Oneal/Calderon) we could get second but it's going to be tight.I would personally be surprised but i agree it could happen,no doubt.With Philly getting better (especially if Iggy re-signs),Boston will be #1 unless KG or Pierce go down for a tone of games,then there is Detroit (who i think may take a step back),Orlando could be #3-4,and Cleveland will be in the mix. I think the seeds#2-#6 are going to be very close and you can flip a coin on who ends up where.

Apollo

I'll take Bosh and O'Neal any day of the week over Brand and Iguodala.

IggyPosterizes

^^^^how about Jose, Bosh, JO over Billups, Hamilton, Prince, Wallace?


I say we finish 2nd-4th only behind Boston, Detroit(maybe with inexperienced rookie coach), Magic.

moremilk

so then you should have predicted 2-6, not 4-6 like you did.
I for one think we'll finish anywhere between first and 4th, assuming a reasonable (average) amount on injuries.

You can't really predict injuries - even players with a chronic history of injuries like davis and camby are unpredictable, they played almost full seasons last year. Players like JO or Brand, who had really only one health problem, and don't necessarily play a style that puts them at greater risk, the chances are good they will be able to stay healthy for the most part of the season.