| | Prediction: The champion will come out of the Atlantic Division this season.
OK, so it will only be the NBA's scoring champion.
|  | | John Wallace, here surrounded by a few Cavs, needs to step up for the Knicks. |
With the new rules giving carte blanche to any guard who can get his own shot, coupled with the fact that Phil Jackson wants Shaquille O'Neal to score less and pass more, the Sixers' Allen Iverson should have no problems defending his scoring crown. Iverson, who averaged 26.8 points a game last season, was among only five players in the entire league to get to the line at least 400 times last season. He was the only backcourt player to average at least eight free throw attempts per game.
"It was hard enough trying to guard him with the old rules," said Penny Hardaway. "Now, I don't know how anybody will stop him."
Stopping the teams in the Atlantic should be a much easier challenge. Miami again looks like the cream of a bad crop, and the Heat are certainly talking that way.
"This is our year," Alonzo Mourning said. "We really believe it is. We've been together for four years and we've gone through some adverse situations. I think we'll be a dangerous team."
They always are in the regular season. But not lately in the post-season. The Heat have won 61, 55 and 33 games (out of 50) in the last three seasons. In each of the last two playoffs, however, they've been KO'd by New York in Round One. The Heat suffered a key loss when they refused to give Terry Porter, a valuable piece last year, the $2 million exception. He's gone to San Antonio. They hope the addition of veteran Otis Thorpe adds depth on the front line behind Mourning and P.J. Brown. Thorpe could miss the first month of the season with a fractured thumb.
The Heat's archrivals, the Knicks, used their first-round win as a springboard to the Finals. Getting back there again is anything but a lock for Jeff Van Gundy's team. Patrick Ewing, still ailing from last season's Achilles injury, might not start playing until January.
Without Ewing, the Knicks don't have a proven low-post scoring threat among Marcus Camby, Larry Johnson or newly-added John Wallace. The chemistry will be uncertain as ever, with the return of Latrell Sprewell, who failed to show for training camp, triggering all kinds of trade talk. Spree's standing, Van Gundy's coaching, Ewing's status, and the lack of strong internal leadership are bound to keep things lively in the Garden again this season.
In Philly, Larry Brown will be going to Iverson a lot as the Sixers continue to build. Not to say he has any other choice. After their surprising showing last season, including knocking out the favored Magic in the first round, the Sixers needed more scoring help to aid Iverson, who figures to be the constant target of traps as teams look to get the ball out of his hands. But they added only free agent Billy Owens to the mix. At the outset, they're hurting up front, as injuries claimed Matt Geiger, Theo Ratliff and Tyrone Hill in the preseason. As long as Brown and Iverson can co-exist, the Sixers should be a top-three team in the division.
The Nets have one of the biggest payrolls in the division, but that isn't guaranteeing them anything. Not as long as their heart and soul, Jayson Williams, remains sidelined after a career-threatening leg injury. Earliest projections for the rebounding specialist to return are January. In the meantime, the Nets will have to try to outscore foes to stay in contention, via Stephon Marbury, Keith Van Horn, Kerry Kittles and Kendall Gill. Where this team will fall short for new head coach Don Casey is on the inside and at the defensive end. They just don't have enough big, quality bodies.
On paper, the Wizards have the talent to challenge for a playoff berth in the lowly East. But new coach Gar Heard will have to develop good chemistry with Rod Strickland, Mitch Richmond, Juwan Howard and Isaac Austin for Washington to avoid a repeat of last season's 18-32 debacle.
The Celtics, who failed to make the playoffs last season for the fifth time in the last six campaigns, figure to be headed for the lottery again. No one is sure if Rick Pitino has a blue-print going into third season as Celtic boss. But trading Ron Mercer to Denver before waiting to pull the trigger at the trading deadline could haunt the franchise for years to come. Antoine Walker and Paul Pierce should keep the Celtics in games.
Doc Rivers takes his plunge into the coaching world in Orlando, which traded four of its five starters off last year's 33-17 team and begins rebuilding from the bottom floor. Most Improved and sixth man winner Darrell Armstrong and Duke sensation Corey Maggette, only 20, have to hope that reinforcements come this summer in the forms of free-agents-to-be Tim Duncan or Grant Hill. But at the outset, the Magic should have problems scoring.
"Initially, it will be a struggle for us," Rivers said.
In the Atlantic? Naturally.
Mitch Lawrence, who covers the NBA for the New York Daily News, writes a regular NBA column for ESPN.com. | |
ALSO SEE
NBA Preview 99
Preview '99: Welcome back to the NBA
Preview '99: NBA from A to Z
Central Division: Improved Hornets take over
Midwest Division: Only voters can stop Spurs, Duncan
Pacific Division: Pippen, Portland ready to rule
ESPN experts' picks for 1999-2000
 |
