Southeast Division Preview

1. Orlando Magic: What is there not to like about this team? When you have Flight Howard on your roster, excitement is guaranteed, and some wins too. The Magic finished at the top of their division last season, but with the emergence of the Hawks you have to wonder if they’re able to do it again. They didn’t have any big off-season acquisitions, although Michael Pietrus is nice player to have on the wing. 2007/2008 proved to be the best season for Hedo Turkoglu so far, and add Rashard Lewis to this line-up; it’s safe to say the scoring department is pretty much covered. With these three stars Orlando will have a shot to be the division champs, but I’m not too impressed with the supporting cast. Jameer Nelson is a decent point guard, but it was nice to have Keyon Dooling backing him up, being a very good on-ball defender. Now that’s he’s gone, Orlando signed veteran Anthony Johnson as a back-up, but what about the rest of the bench? Will J.J. Redick ever see the court? Is Howard the only good big man they have? The Southeast Division will be a lot more competitive than last year, no doubt about it.

2. Atlanta Hawks: In the pre-season Acie Law has showed flashes of brilliance, so with him and Mike Bibby manning the point is a luxury to have. Makes me wonder though, if Law keeps up this level of play, will that make Bibby expendable? It wouldn’t surprise me if he’s dealt during the season for a center to play next to young big man Al Horford, who probably will be the starting center on opening night. The Hawks managed to keep stat-stuffer Josh Smith, and Joe Johnson is still there to lead all of these young guys. The pushed the Celtics to seven games back in May, so the quality is there. The question is: how much can they get better with pretty much the same roster as last season?

3. Washington Wizards: I don’t know what to say or think about the Washington Wizards anymore. I’m giving them the benefit of doubt by placing them in the third spot. The “Big Three”, Arenas, Butler and Jamison are good enough to compete with any “Big Three” in the League. Sadly enough, they can’t stay healthy at the same time. And this year it’s no different, with Gilbert out ‘til December. Last season, center Etan Thomas was out all year due to heart surgery, he’s back though, and that’s a good thing, because starting center Brendan Haywood will probably miss six months with a wrist injury. Let’s hope that by the end of 2008, we at least have a chance to see how good Gil, Jamison and Butler can be together. If they can remain healthy from then on, they will end up higher in this division.

4. Miami Heat: Did I rank them too low? Depends. If I was Eric Spoelstra (who is the first coach in the NBA that actually looks younger than me, which is frustrating) I would go with a small line-up. I’m not sure who their starting point guard will be, it might be Chris Quinn, but I really like what I’ve seen from Marcus Banks so far this pre-season. The other guard is of course Wade, then you have forwards Marion and Beasley, and at center Udonis Haslem. They will probably get annihilated by teams like the Spurs and Lakers, but the Heat doesn’t have a lot of options anyway. They drafted gifted point guard Mario Chalmers, who will see a lot of action in his first year (unless Shaun Livingston returns to pre-injury form), but when I look at the rest of the team, I’m wondering: who will provide that scoring punch off the bench?

5. Charlotte Bobcats: I really dislike the hiring of coach Larry Brown. If you look at his résumé, it’s safe to say that he will leave the Bobcats as soon as they have a winning record, or if some players frustrate him, he’ll leave anyway. Right? Right. Luckily, the relatively young roster of the Bobcats has some bright spots which should win them some games. For instance, a guy like Gerald Wallace fills more holes than Ron Jeremy. He can play multiple positions, scores, rebounds, blocks shots and gets some steals too. He has one problem: his health. Another shot blocker and rebounder is Emeka Okafor, but he still isn’t the franchise player everybody envisioned him to be. Raymond Felton is a good point guard with a questionable shot selection, so the lone star on this team is Jason Richardson, who probably still is wondering if he’ll ever get a taste of the playoffs again. During the summer Charlotte hasn’t made a lot of improvements, so one can only wonder: is another year experience combined with the knowledge of Larry Brown enough to get back at .500?