Ahead of next Wednesday's start to the 2015/16 NBA season, Kevin Jeffers (Eastern Conference) and Jonathan Raymond (Western Conference) will preview each team in the league. Here, a look at the Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons, Indiana Pacers and Milwaukee Bucks in the Central Division.
Chicago Bulls
What's Good: This is the best collection of talent in the East not residing in Ohio. Jimmy Butler is one of the best two-way guards in the league, Pau Gasol has found new life in the Eastern Conference, Nikola Mirotic was found poetry and will only get better, and Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah are proven winners.
Butler, especially, is the star that drives this team now that injuries have derailed Rose’s once-MVP-worthy career. If both are on the court and healthy come play-off time, there’s enough depth up front to let them compete with any team in the league. That frontcourt depth is vital given Gasol’s age (35) and Noah’s regression last year. But if it all clicks, this team could be special. A top seed in the East is Step No 1 to finally reaching the Finals with this group of players.
What's Bad: Perhaps no starting point guard needs a solid backup more than Derrick Rose, and that's the one area of an otherwise deep bench that has concerns. They can address that need at any point between now and the play-offs and be set, but for now it's a potentially big issue.
This is a team that has to win now. A few years ago, the thought of a two-guard of Butler’s calibre would have made Bulls fans drool. Pairing former Rose with a legitimate second scoring option seemed like the platonic ideal of a true title contender. But Rose’s injury woes and management’s inability to add a star free agent (except for Gasol, who is great but old) have made this a frustrating case of “what if?”
There are also a lot of disconcerting chemistry issues between Rose and Butler, and it’s yet to be seen how the team perform under new coach Fred Hoiberg, who comes from Iowa State. The team jettisoned coach Tom Thibodeau, a master defensive mind, in hopes of injecting some offensive life into what could be a stagnant collection of players. If that risk pays off, this is a great team. But it is a risk.
Best-case scenario: Everything has to fall in place, but this is a team with enough talent to win it all.
Worst-case scenario: They'll have to get past LeBron James at some point, and that hasn't happened yet. If they fall short again, big changes could be on the horizon next off-season.
Cleveland Cavaliers
What's Good: LeBron James, Kevin Love, Kyrie Irving. Run it back. There's no better trio of stars in the league, especially when Irving is scoring in bunches.
And there’s so much depth here: enigmatic shot-maker JR Smith, centres Timofey Mozgov and Anderson Varejao, solid defensive guard Iman Shumpert, the return of backup point guard Mo Williams. They can afford to coast in the play-offs the way they did last year, as the sweep of the 60-win Hawks in the conference finals proved. The Cavs coming out of the East is as sure a thing as there is in sports.
What's Bad: The team's inability to sign Tristan Thompson (as of this writing) isn't a good look. It's hard to blame Cleveland, because Thompson — who shined in extended minutes in the play-offs replacing the injured Love — is a luxury signing given Love's presence and the sheer amount of depth. But it's foolish to think they don't need him.
Thompson proved vital in giving Cleveland, without Love or Irving, at least a puncher’s chance in the Finals. Other teams would kill for his type of pedigree off the bench, and he’d be a starter on most teams. But that type of depth is what it takes to be a title-calibre team. Expect Thompson to sign at any time, but at what cost could determine the next few years of the franchise.
Injuries to Love and Irving (who missed most of the play-offs and still isn’t participating in team activities with a knee injury) are serious concerns. Also, LeBron might be a cyborg, but he turns 31 this season and has made deep play-off runs for most of his career. That mileage has to take a toll at some point. Don’t be shocked if this team start off slow and cruise to a No 2 or even 3 seed in an improving Eastern Conference. But as James himself has said, play-off seeding doesn’t matter in April or May, especially when you have the best player in the world when it counts most.
Best-case scenario: It's championship or bust.
Worst-case scenario: Every year James fails to bring a title to his hometown team adds to the pressure. And as big favourites as they are to win the East, the Finals are guaranteed to be against a juggernaut from the West.
Detroit Pistons
What's Good: The front office is finally rid of Joe Dumars and his propensity to overpay for bad players, they have a fantastic coach in Stan Van Gundy (also the team president who has jettisoned the last vestiges of Dumars's reign), and most teams would kill for a young centre like Andre Drummond. They're rebuilding, but there's a shot at making the play-offs with Drummond, even if the roster past him is pretty bad.
What's Bad: The roster past Drummond is pretty bad. Reggie Jackson has shown flashes, but you don't build around point guards that are merely pretty good. Getting Stanley Johnson with the No 8 in the draft could prove fortuitous, and the team traded for the lesser Morris brother (Marcus) to add athleticism. But there's just not enough here to compete this year. You can never count out SVG, though. He'll forego draft position to fight for the play-off seeds other franchises would rather avoid.
Best-case scenario: Depends on your preference between bringing play-off basketball back to Detroit or stacking assets and tanking. The lottery is more likely, but the Pistons will at least try to contend, which is refreshing.
Worst-case scenario: Drummond regresses and Jackson proves to be a bust, proving this team is further away than they thought.
Indiana Pacers
What's Good: The plodding Roy Hibbert era is over, finally clearing the lane for prodigious slashing scorers Paul George and George Hill. Frank Vogel is one of the sharper coaches in the league, and the team hope that George — hopefully fully recovered from a gruesome knee injury that cost him almost all of last year — is a big enough star to give them at least a chance. They added scoring machine Monta Ellis, so it's a totally different-looking Pacers team from the one who only two years ago was the top seed in the East. There's no tanking here, just reconfiguring.
What's Bad: They didn't replace Hibbert's size, but they did get Lakers power forward Jordan Hill to play the 5. That likely means George is going to have to play power forward. That's ... not ideal. They're hinging things on small ball at the expense of putting their franchise player, coming off a career-threatening injury, in harm's way, banging boards and defending players usually bigger than him. George is one of the elite two-way forwards in the league when healthy, but it remains to be seen if he can maintain that status at a totally new and potentially more demanding position.
Ellis is probably past his prime, too, and was never a good defender to begin with. And they embarrassingly lost veteran leader David West, who took next to nothing from San Antonio over much more money to stay in Indiana. George is the present and the future of the franchise, but it doesn’t appear they’ve given him much to work with here. They’d be wise to keep their star happy.
Best-case scenario: It would take an MVP-like performance from George and probably an acquisition or two, but there are scenarios where they could be a dangerous play-off team.
Worst-case scenario: George is a disaster at the 4, the team can't shoot well enough to justify their small-ball stature, Vogel is blamed and fired and the team start from scratch next year.
Milwaukee Bucks
What's Good: So much intriguing talent here. The Bucks were one of last season's biggest surprises, going from the by far league's worst record to a No 6 seed in the East. And they did so without the services of their top draft pick, former Duke star Jabari Parker. Parker is back and should give them much-needed scoring, as will free agent centre Greg Monroe.
Monroe’s signing from Detroit was a coup on many levels. It’s not often that one of the league’s top free agents picks Milwaukee, a market long devoid of star power. He’ll fill the roster’s biggest hole, but it remains to be seen how his defence fits in with head coach Jason Kidd’s system that finished as one of the NBA’s best units last season. Monroe’s post-up scoring will be nothing but welcome, though.
PLUS ... the Greek Freek, Giannis Antetokounmpo. He’s your favourite player even if you didn’t know it. Depending on who you ask, the third-year forward is either the next Kevin Durant or the next Tayshaun Prince. Either way, he’s still becoming whatever he will be and it’s exciting to think about the possibilities. His combination of length (he’s listed at 6ft 11in (2.11m) with an absurd 7ft 3in wingspan) and speed (seriously, he’s something to behold on fast breaks) makes him one of the league’s rarest gifts, and the Bucks are lucky to have him.
Also, their new uniforms are fantastic. These things matter. FEAR THE DEER!
What's Bad: Right now, Michael Carter-Williams is slated to be their starting point guard. As a facilitator and shot creator, MCW has never looked the part. He is, however, a solid defender and a potential match-up advantage against smaller guards, which might be essential next to Parker, who was a bad defender in college and is ostensibly still a rookie. Don't be surprised if Carter-Williams gives up a starting slot at some point to Greivis Vasquez, who the Bucks acquired in an off-season trade from Toronto and is a more traditional playmaker.
There’s a lot of buzz around this team, and that could turn into too much pressure for a young, still-evolving set of players.
Best-case scenario: Monroe slides right in and becomes an All-NBA-calibre centre, Parker becomes a star ahead of schedule and the Bucks challenge the Bulls and Hawks for the No 2 seed.
Worst-case scenario: Monroe is a bad fit, Parker's defence isn't up to NBA speed and Antentokounmpo doesn't improve, leaving Milwaukee again middling as play-off also-rans.
