Predictable East and a Wild, Wild West

The Cleveland Cavaliers' LeBron James. Photo courtesy The Telegraph (UK).

The NBA Playoffs have gotten underway and the East is showing how weak the conference is while the West is an all-out slugfest. The Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics punched their tickets to the second round last night and the Orlando Magic did the same the night before. Of the four Eastern Conference series, only one has gone past five games (Milwaukee Bucks vs. Atlanta Hawks). The East has been very predictable and while most NBA pundits salivate over the thought of a Cavs-Celtics second round playoff series, the Magic get to sit back and rest up while Atlanta and Milwaukee duke it out. While I do think the Hawks will eventually pull it out, it won't be until game 7, then Orlando will blast them in the second round.

The Phoenix Suns' Jason Richardson and Portland's Brandon Roy. Photo courtesy Associated Press.

Then there's the Western Conference, where the 1 seed has been given a strong challenge, the 2 seed is almost eliminated, and the 5 seed is almost done knocking out the 4 seed. The LA Lakers have been given all they could handle with the Oklahoma City Thunder and it wasn't until Game 5 when they were in the friendly confines of Staples Center that they put on a dominating performance worthy of defending champions. I think the Lakers will advance, but it won't be until the final Game 7. The 2 seed Dallas Mavericks are on the verge of getting knocked out by their hated rivals, the 7 seed San Antonio Spurs. I think the Spurs will complete the upset tomorrow in Game 6 in San Antone. Considering the Mavs came into the playoffs hot, they'll be scrutinized by many in Dallas should they lose. The 3 seed Phoenix Suns are in a dogfight with 6 seed Portland Trail Blazers, who are banged up beyond belief and still giving PHX a run for their money. Portland star Brandon Roy has made a huge gamble in coming back early from surgery on a torn meniscus in his knee. Should he have complications from rushing back so soon, it could damage his career permanently. Finally, the 5 seed Utah Jazz are on the verge of beating the 4 seed Denver Nuggets, but this upset was widely predicted especially after Nuggets coach George Karl had to take a leave of absence to undergo cancer treatment. In essence, the Nuggets were going into this series down and without their rudder.

The Lakers' Kobe Bryant. Photo courtesy TheLakersNation.com.

So by the time the smoke clears in the West, I think it'll look like this:

Eastern Conference
1 Cleveland vs. 4 Boston (Cleveland beat Chicago in 5, Boston def. Miami in 5)
2 Orlando vs. 3 Atlanta (Orlando def. Charlotte in 4, ATL beats Milwaukee in 7)

Western Conference
1 LA Lakers vs. 5 Utah (Utah def. Denver in 6, Lakers beat OKC in 7)
3 Phoenix vs. 7 San Antonio (PHX beats Portland in 7, Spurs def. Dallas in 6)

NBA East: Quick Dropoff

Photo courtesy ESPN.

On Wednesday, I covered the NBA Western Conference playoff teams here. Today it's the Eastern Conference teams.

The unfortunate reality of the Eastern Conference the last few seasons has been the shallow pool of legitimate playoff contenders compared to the Western Conference. In the last few seasons, the sixth through eighth seeds of the East were .500 or below, meaning only half their games were won...or worse. By comparison, for a Western team to make the playoffs, a record over .600 is effectively required.

Photo courtesy the Orlando Sentinel.

The top dogs in the East continue to be the Cleveland Cavaliers, Orlando Magic, Atlanta Hawks, and the Boston Celtics. The Cavs have little room for error this postseason, given the pending contract expiration of superstar LeBron James, the overall expectations in Cleveland, and the level of talent around LeBron. Simply put, anything less than a championship for Cleveland is a disappointment. The Magic went to the Finals last year and may be even better this year. They've beaten some impressive teams recently, including Denver and Dallas. Ditto with the Hawks, who smashed the Lakers on Wednesday and beat Orlando last week. The Celtics have hobbled along recently, with critical losses to San Antonio, Utah, and Oklahoma City. The C's flat out look terrible right now, especially after getting booed off their home floor against the Spurs. The age of the Celtics, one of the oldest teams in the league, is catching up to them at the worst possible time.

But after these four teams, there's a significant dropoff in caliber of playoff teams. The Milwaukee Bucks are inconsistent, beating the likes of Boston, Utah, and Denver recently, but losing to Cleveland and squeaking out a win against Atlanta. Right behind the Bucks are the Miami Heat and Charlotte Bobcats, other inconsistent clubs. All of these teams play terribly on the road, which will be a huge factor come playoff time when they don't have home-court advantage. Of these clubs, expect the Heat to make a run for Milwaukee's hold on the fifth seed, since they have the easiest schedule remaining of the three and have the best road record of the three.

Photo courtesy the Toronto Star.

And then there's the Toronto Raptors, the very definition this season of mediocre. A .500 record, 5-5 in their last ten games, and a terrible road record to top it off. The scary part for the Raptors is that they have some tough games ahead and they have the Chicago Bulls hot on their heels. The same Bulls who in early March had a 10-game losing streak and have a losing record. An ugly sight at the bottom of the Eastern playoff picture.

So what makes the Eastern Conference so much weaker than the West? For starters, marquee teams like the New York Knicks, Detroit Pistons, and the Philadelphia 76ers are all having down years. (Or in NY's case, a down decade). Second, much of the player movement has been within the East (teams feeding off each other) or moved out West. Many of the Eastern teams have young talent, but are missing a few pieces to be legitimate title contenders. This summer's free agent class is unusually strong and a lot of the rumors involve East superstars swapping teams, so it could lead to more of the same. For example, should Dwyane Wade leave Miami for Chicago or some other East city, it'll help the Bulls or whoever gets Wade while hurting the Heat, effectively swapping fortunes.

Weekend Roundup

Courtesy of Reuters.

This weekend was busy on the NFL and NBA fronts. Here were the major headlines:

The Los Angeles Lakers went 0-3 on their recent road trip to Miami, Charlotte, and Orlando. All three teams are playoff contenders in the Eastern Conference and the worry in LA has intensified, especially after the 96-94 loss to Orlando. To make matters worse, they seemed more concerned about opposing players' style of play than their own, according to the LA Times. Also, Laker forward Ron Artest debuted a ridiculous hairstyle that has Dennis Rodman laughing somewhere. Think bleach blonde hair with purple letters spelling defense in multiple languages carved into the hair and you get the general idea. Needless to say, the Lakers haven't playing to their level, leaving fans wondering when they'll flick the switch and dominate like last year.


In the NFL, free agency began on Friday. Here were some of the marquee moves:

Courtesy of SportsIllustrated.

The Chicago Bears went on a shopping spree. They signed defensive end Julius Peppers, shown above right, (formerly of the Carolina Panthers), to a 6-year, $91.5 million deal and added running back Chester Taylor (previously of the rival Minnesota Vikings), and tight end Brandon Manumaleuna, who was with the San Diego Chargers last year. Unfortunately for Bears fans, these signings do not help with one of Chicago's glaring weaknesses: wide receiver.

In an attempt to not be outdone by their division rival, the Detroit Lions also went on a spending spree. The Lions put their checkbook to work, signing defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch, Nate Burleson, and trading for defensive tackle Corey Williams. Despite these moves, Detroit will likely be in the NFC North cellar again, given their division rivals (Minnesota, Chicago, and Green Bay).

Courtesy of the Daily Mail.

Karlos Dansby, pictured above right, signed a 5-year, $43 million deal with the Miami Dolphins. Dansby was previously with the Arizona Cardinals. Speaking of the Cardinals, they traded Anquan Boldin to the Baltimore Ravens for a 3rd and 4th round draft pick. The Cards also released safety Antrel Rolle (who signed with the NY Giants) and traded for NY Jets safety Kerry Rhodes. Coupled with the retirement of Kurt Warner, the Arizona Cardinals' recent run of success may very well have ended this weekend.

The New England Patriots resigned defensive tackle Vince Wilfork to a 5-year, $40 million deal, after a tumultuous couple of seasons between Wilfork and the Patriots over his contract. Wilfork had had the franchise label, effectively banning him from free agency, the past two years, which Wilfork publicly made known his displeasure about. Apparently, it's all water under the bridge now though, as Wilfork will continue to suit up for New England.

Courtesy of Vikings fan blog VikingsGab.com

And finally, longtime Green Bay Packer defensive end Aaron Kampman, shown above left, moved from Green Bay to Jacksonville. Terms of the deal were undisclosed, but many sources say Kampman left Green Bay because he was a poor fit in the new defensive coordinator's schemes. Personally, I think playing in the warm Florida sun in January sounds better than being on the frozen Wisconsin tundra, but that's just me.

For an extended look at the NFL Free Agency, go here. For the complete Free Agent Tracker, monitoring all player movement, go here.

Donovan Contract Close to Voided

Image courtest of the AP via CNN/Sports Illustrated.

According to various media outlets, Billy Donovan and the Orlando Magic are close to voiding the contract he signed with the team on Friday. Some have spoken out against Donovan due to the impact that voiding this deal has on the Magic. In Luke Winn's SI.com article, a source told Winn, '"What [Donovan] did was not taken lightly around the league. It was publicly embarrassing, and for the Magic, it was personal. If he had done this at Memphis [to the Grizzlies], it would have been forgotten more easily. But he did it in Florida, on his home turf. He gave them a ton of momentum for a new arena, for turning around the franchise, and then killed it. There are a lot of GMs that would be hesitant to offer him a job. They took it to mean he was backing away from the challenge, and that he was insecure about coaching in the NBA."' While some of their charges are legitimate, we the general population do not know the complete details from Donovan's perspective, since he has been mum for the duration of this dispute. We need to consider that he has been at Florida for 11 years and just won two national titles there. Also, Gainesville is 1 hour and 44 minutes away from Orlando, so his family wouldn't be living in the same home or town that they had been in for the past 11 years. This clearly was not a money issue (U of Florida was offering 3.5 million, the Magic offered 5.5 million a year, according to Winn). Yes, the Magic will be embarassed by this and they'll have to refund the season ticket holder who bought tickets based on Donovan's hiring, but would you want a coach who doesn't have his heart in it? It's unfortunate that he figured out where his heart was after he signed the Magic contract, but until he publicly says what happened, all we can do is speculate as to why he changed his mind.