Eastern Conference Preview

Remember, top 8 are based on playoff seedings, not exactly best to worse.

1. Miami Heat: I was at TD Waterhouse working on a Magic story and the Heat had just finished their shootaround and the procession of players left the court, walked through the black curtains and headed to the lockerroom. Check who I saw: GP with his arm around Wade. James Posey. Antoine Walker nudging Udonis Haslem outta the way. Jason Williams. Zo and then Shaq.

That's a crazy eight. You hear a lot of talk about will they mesh...I don't know. But it hit me right then, this squad is nuts. I was sittin in a chair looking up at baller after baller waltz by and it hit me in a weird way how loaded they are.

and Shaq looks downright criminal. Yo, every day I curse his life for bein a fat slob those lastb couple years for my squad, but u gotta give dude props for how he looks this season. Cant even really describe what it feels like to stand to dude and realize that there may not be an ounce of fat on his 7-1, 330-pound fame.

With that said -- he's not Shaq anymore. Said that last year and he really didnt prove me wrong. This year itll be even more of a remarkable decline. I dont care how dielsel he is.

And, even though theyre loaded. I'm not really feelin that lineup. Williams doesnt scare me, neither does Walker, Posey, Zo or anyone else. Shaq barely scares. Only Wade, the smartest player in the league, really scares me. I say that because, I think they'll finish with the East's best record because theyre one of the top 3 teams and they play in the worse division and Indy and Det have to play each other and the Cavs four times.

But I'm not feelin this championship talk.

2. Indiana Pacers: I really love this squad. Starting five is basically hole-less, even if u dont get down with Mally. O'Neal, Artest, Jacosn, Tinsely and Foster is a well balnced, talented, inside-outside, defensive minded starting 5. Then u add Freddy Jones, Granger, a healthy Bender, that euro kat and some big white stiffs: Croshere and Pollard -- that's a squad. What dont they do well? They're athletic and strong. And these dudes also have that anxiety aspect too. Last year couldve been their hyear, so theyre chompin at the bit to show-n-prove.

I'm expectin the usual 20-10 from ONeal. 20-7-3-3 from Artest, plus lock down D. And dont sleep on Granger like I did predraft.

I'm pickin them to win it all. thats on some real ish. so chew on it.

3. NJ Nets: Man they were one Shareef-trade away from bein really dangerous. But they have the best threesome in the world. Only me, Eva Mendes and Beyonce gettin physical could top Vince-J-Jeff on the court. I'm not quite sold on Philly, yet, for reasons I'll explain and Boston is so young with Uncle Pauly possibly on his way out. I gotta think that Kidd-Carter-Jeff could take the Atlantic 3-on-5.

But they made nice pickups too. McInnis and Cliff Robinson are the type of vets (with nigga streaks) that can solidify that squad. I could see them snatchin a series away from one of the top 3 teams in May.

4. Cleveland Cavs: Yeah I said it. Theyre finishing higher than Detroit, though that doesnt neccesarily mean theyre better.

My lil brother Bron is doing 26-8-8 this year. My former fam on the Wizards side, Hughes, is gonna duplicate what he did in DC last year. Donyell Marshall was a bangin pickup. And please recognize how dope it was for Ferry to kop Damon Jones from Miami. Jones is gonna get kickouts left and right and drain them. And he's gonna wipe Bron after he shards and dab his lil pee-pee after Bron urinates. He'll be the same with Bron as he was with Shaq. I think its hilarious. But I wonder if other players look at the Jones sluts himself for the superstars approvals and start hatin on couz. I would. Because, although his antics are comical -- like accomopanying Shaq to buy xmas toys and hoppin around like some monkey in a Disney movie -- theyre a bit shameful for a grown man.

This Mike Brown dude...I'm sold on hi coaching my lil brother into the playoffs. his coaching pedigree aint even that ill. I'm aboslutely not willing to playoff basketball withoput Lebron. If it happens again this year, I'll be on some ol' assasination moves. The whole league is invested in this kid. we cant leave the reigns to a squad like this in the hnads of a rookie coach.

It feels bad to not be fully supporting one of my brothers, but this Bron situation too important.

5. Detroit Pistons: Last year Detroit coasted. This year, not only will they coast, they'll miss Brown. I've been a Flip Saunders supporter for some time now. I always though my boys were way too hard on the dude. We'll see what he's wrth this season.

I say that because, Detroit was always a squad that was solid, but I think Brown meant more to them than any other coach. By the end of the season, Big Ben seemed like he was disinterested. I can only imagine how he'll get down w/ Flip. And Sheed is another story. I've never subscribed to the "Sheed is a cancer" stories, but I think his respect for Brown went along way. Even Chaunc...is he really gonna accord Flip enough respect when Flip tries to tell him to cool out on his shot selection. Chaunc might, at least, have a slight tendency to look at him and say "We been to finals two years in a row and we won one of em. So take your lil bird-lips and blue-gray Men's Warehouse suit and kick rocks dude."

Plus, there's this franchise wide mandate to get Darko some time. Could be disastrous. I saw some of his moves and he looks like he has the requisite skill to be a player. I saw him make a couple nice moves around the basket. But i think he's a perfect D-League candidate...only they cant send him down there anymore since he's been in the league for more than 2 years. I don't think the vets on that squad have enough pateince for him yet.

I could see Dteroit not even winning 50 games...seriously.

6 - 8..It gets real dicey here. Philly, Boston, NYK, Wash, Orlando and even Milwaukee could grab these spots.

Philly: I watched them yesterday and even though they lost, i was diggin that squad. They're young and athletic with two of the greatest players of the Platinum Age anchorin the squad.

Props to my nigga Chuck on callin Dre Iguodala. I was so hard on that young boy. But he's a figgin murderer on the court. he's mean and i like it. he's big and strong too. He'always on the boards and, maybe in a year or two, might be as good defensively as Artest. MATTA FACT, thats it, Dre is like a more sane Artest. Philly caught a gem with him.

I also saw Salmons getting more time that Korver, which I don't mind, because it'd be a lineup of like AI, Dre, Salmons, Webb and Dalembert (when he gets back from that quad injury). Thats danger right there. Especially if Mo does a good job coaching.

Webb had over 30 and looked better than last year, when he had absolutely no mobitlity..but he's not the old Webb. There was a moment last night where I started thinkin about Webbs career and my stomach dropped because he's such a shell of himself. He can still drop 30 and still, probably, the best passer in the Post...but i miss that explosiveness. Him and LJ. They almsot make me teary.

Byt: Did anyone see that outfit AI rocked to the game. Was he rockin timbs with his dressy-get up. He really needs to grow. Stay tuned for a cornrows-novel-blog.

WASH: Allow me to talk my brothers in DC for moment.

After last night's game, what do yall think? I see everybody going on and on about how the Wiz improved so much. and, although I tend to agree, I think people are missing the point. Here's the thing...the Huges move was gangsta. Grunfield didn't give Hughes the big dough and then, managed to spin Kwame into Caron and Atkins and then sign Daniels for cheap. So our perimiter is lookin def. Griity, got some defenders, more bodies, vets, couple shooters. We even got Jarvis back, which we can't lightly. I love his game. he wastes little motion, his stroke is dumb-sweet, he's even kinda smart. I mean, look at our perimiter: Gil, Jarv, Daniels, Atkins, Caron, Twain. Who's goin 6-deep like that? no one.

But we have to get better right? everyone else did. but goin 6-deep on the perimiter didnt actually make us better. u can have Twain as a soft, unathletic 4 if your center is Shaq or Ben Wallace. You can have an uncoordinated, no-game dork like Brendan be yoru center if Amare is your power forward. But they cant both start...ESPECIALLY if ur only comin off the bench with Etan and Ruffin.

I'm just not sold on us right now. I see us in the playoffs, but i think Grunfield needs to make a move with some of our perimiter guys and get us a big body. nothing special...just somebody tough. i'll take Tony Battie.

And did u see Caron on that break? Why isn't he starting? I have no patience for Jared Jeffries...what's he good for?

Boston: I kinda like this squad a lot. But theyre still really young. Dont discount the impact GP had on the squad last year and then the jolt Toine gave them. subtract those two and i don't know if their gettin at 45 wins this year. When I look at their lineup, i love it...but in a basketball fan way, not necessarily a basketball analyst way. For instance:

You know Uncle Pauly is my nigga. Has been since he entered the league. I've said multiple times that his game may be (outisde of Kobe's) the most complete. And I can recall an evening at the Post where everyone ridiculed me for saying that Paul was one of the three most clutch dudes in the league before i had to go basketballreference.com on their azzes and show his fourth quarter production and the amount of game winning shots he's made. But I kinda think he needs a change of scenery.

You know Delonte West is like my lil brother. When i first moved to DC i keep hearing about this Bastion that was headed for UMass. So I went to a Northwestern game in College Park to check him out, only to notice this ethiopian-frail, albino kid with what looked to be a huge cold-sore on his mouth. And he was dumbin out. Doin all the smart things on the court that "ball-players" do, not just running and jumping around like an athlete with his head cut off. I called it that day. I saidm "This lil albino nigga Delonte is gonna make noise.'' He's proving me right.

I slept on Big Al. Saw him workout for the Hawks before the 2004 Draft and he was unimpressive. Brandon Bass even backed him down below the basket and dunked on him with two hands -- from a stand still. But dude's got game, much like Zack and Brand.

And they got that high school dude, too. Gerald Green looks like he's got mounds of game...but no more than JR Smith has or had and its still takin him time...I dont tyhink Green will contribute much to a PLAYOFF team.

And Boston also has one of my favs -- Gangsta Rick. White people hate him. Dudes like me love him. He does everything with a swagger and I brush my teeth with swagger. If it werent for basketball, he'd end up bein a 60-year-old wino, which I love. Matta fact, he may still end up a 60-year-old wino, which i love even more. And his game is nasty. If Sam Cassell were an athletic 2-guard, he'd be Gangsta Rick.

With all that said...what's gonna give them an edge over the rest of the glut. You might say, "They have the best player", which isn't true...since there's no denying that AI is the best player on any of these teams. And I'm takin Gil after that. Boston's also very young. Gangsta Rick can't be your second vet...that's just not poppin off.

Milwaukee: How the EFF did they get Jamaal Magloire and nothing was said about it. I saw him playin Tuesday and had no idea he got traded. That was a crazy pick up. Desmond Mason, like Ruben Patterson, sometime Q, sometime jAson Richardson and couple others...these dudes don't necessarily no how to play ball well. So givin up Mason is not that a big of a deal, especially when u got a 6-8 brute like Bobby Simmons, who knows how to play, in free agency. add magloire, sweet-strokin Redd and u got a squad. now add a healthy TJ Ford and all of sudden u gotta start thinkin playoffs.

Ford is a stright up point guard. a distributor. a play maker. he was toastin Iverson in the season opener. so u got a legit point, a legit center and two wing players -- one might be the best shooter in the league and the other is muscular swiss army knife. thats an actual team, not just a collection of athletes.

I'm not mentioning Bogut on purpose, because until he does something worth mentioning I'm blackballing him out of dislike for white people.

Knicks: You dont know how hard it is to grow up with Knicks fans. They used to root for those gawd-awful squads of the 90s that played the ugliest ball known to man. they rooted for the 99 team that went to the Final and was, by far, the worse Finals squad ever. and theyve spent the last 5-8 years making up reasons why coprnball squads were gonna make noise.

but i think they may be onto somethin this year. for the first year in forever, the Knicks have size -- not 6-7 power forwards and 6-8 centers. Jerome James, Curry and Davis are all legit big men. And Frye may pan out. They also have an athletic perimiter w Steph, Crawford, Q and Nate. But I'm still not feelin this squad.

I mean, Brown has never taken a cast of characters like this and done anything. People forget that the Philly squad didnt feature any incorribles. Iverson really wasnt a bad seed. The media made him seem that way. But he was coachable in Gtown and didnt have many blowups his first few years in the league. and look at the rest of that finals squad: Lynch, Hill, Dikembe, Snow, McKie -- these are all model citizens. Browns gig in Detroit was not exactly a miracle. They had won 52 games the year before. And Sheed isnt what the media makes him out to be either.

This NY squad. is it a team? Isaiah keeps stockpiling talent and athletes...but Bob Bass doesnt stock pile talent and athletes as much as he stockpiles parts and then championships. Buss used to do that in LA and he won championships...then he started stockpiling talent and athletes in Memphis and he's seen abunch of 45-55 win seasons but never a sniff at contention.

I think Zeke needs to change his philosophy.

But with that said, if Brown works some mysterious magic and takes the ingredients Zeke has given him and creates an actually edible dish, NYK could be dangerous.

Orlando: I'm keepin an eye on this team. They have some pieces. I like Hedo, I like Stevenson, I even still like Stevie. And, of course, I brush my teeth with lil Dwight. But I can;t see them beatin out these other teams (the way things stand now) for a playoff spot. Unless Dwight just goes bizerk, which he's capable of doing.

Here's the makeshift preview i put together on them for the Times. A feature on Dwight. And some corny lineup capsules.

West tomorrow.