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2005-06 NBA Eastern Conference Preview
Sun, Oct 2, 2005 by JeffO
With the Spurs’ reclaiming the title and taking it back to the wild, wild, west, the whispers of the balance of power shifting slowly died down. But with the recent topsy-turvy happenings in the off-season lavished with trades, personnel changes, and experiments - don’t be surprised if the East starts making a strong bid for another title.
On the forefront of the major roster retooling are last year’s conference finalists and heavy favorites the Miami Heat. Many concede that the team could have given the Spurs a better challenge had their main guns remained healthy with their firepower and defense. Nevertheless, GM Pat Riley beefed up an already tough team even more as he completed a record-setting blockbuster deal involving an unprecedented thirteen teams that netted them a pair of Grizzlies in the form of James Posey and Jason Williams (in exchange for fizzling Eddie Jones) as well as adding Antoine Walker and Gary Payton. Isiah responded by swinging his own set of trades but this time to great results as he gave away some of his impish power forwards (Thomas and Sweetney) in separate deals that got him Quentin Richardson and Eddy Curry respectively.
In free agency, Cleveland stayed true to their vow of providing LeBron with a viable supporting cast – re-signing big man Zydrunas Ilgauskas and locking up Washington’s Larry Hughes and sweet shooters’ Donyell Marshall and Damon Jones. Willing to rebound from the loss of Eddy Curry, Chicago added Sacramento’s Darius Songaila and the Knicks’ Mike Sweetney to address low post scoring and fortify their already potent rebounding. In the meantime Indiana won the Sarunas sweepstakes, ending the long speculation of where the 6-4 Lithuanian playmaker would end up.
Even team personnel were not spared from the rampant rehauling as a number of teams underwent major head coaching changes in the East. At the top of the list are Larry Brown and Flip Saunders – the former being signed up by the Knicks after his previous club (Detroit) opted to save money on a less-expensive alternative in Saunders. The 76ers fired Jim O’Brien in favor of hometown (and AI) favorite Maurice Cheeks, hoping that the ex-Blazers coach would entice team leader Iverson to have a more positive outlook towards practice. Meanwhile, Orlando is trying to recoup their glory days by pegging Brian Hill, a centerpiece of the Shaq/Penny era that made several trips to the Finals from 1994-96. Milwaukee’s Terry Porter was also sacked after leading the Bucks to a playoff seed two seasons ago in his coaching debut in favor of Terry Stotts and is without a job at the moment.
The league avoided another threat of a lock-out reminiscent of 7-years ago as the player’s union and the NBA have agreed upon a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA). As per the new CBA, league suspensions that exceed 12 games are now subject to appeal - a rule inspired by the lengthy punishments handed during the aftermath of the Detroit-Indiana brawl which was widely petitioned by the player’s union. The CBA also provided team owners’ with the salary cap equivalent of a “Get Out Of Jail Free” card in the form of the Amnesty Clause – a rule that grants teams the chance to waive a certain player without paying the corresponding luxury tax penalty. A total of nine Eastern Conference teams made use of the rule although the main beneficiaries are from the West as Orlando’s Doug Christie and the Sixers’ Aaron McKie went to the Mavs and Lakers, respectively.
Sun, Oct 2, 2005 by JeffO
With the Spurs’ reclaiming the title and taking it back to the wild, wild, west, the whispers of the balance of power shifting slowly died down. But with the recent topsy-turvy happenings in the off-season lavished with trades, personnel changes, and experiments - don’t be surprised if the East starts making a strong bid for another title.On the forefront of the major roster retooling are last year’s conference finalists and heavy favorites the Miami Heat. Many concede that the team could have given the Spurs a better challenge had their main guns remained healthy with their firepower and defense. Nevertheless, GM Pat Riley beefed up an already tough team even more as he completed a record-setting blockbuster deal involving an unprecedented thirteen teams that netted them a pair of Grizzlies in the form of James Posey and Jason Williams (in exchange for fizzling Eddie Jones) as well as adding Antoine Walker and Gary Payton. Isiah responded by swinging his own set of trades but this time to great results as he gave away some of his impish power forwards (Thomas and Sweetney) in separate deals that got him Quentin Richardson and Eddy Curry respectively.
In free agency, Cleveland stayed true to their vow of providing LeBron with a viable supporting cast – re-signing big man Zydrunas Ilgauskas and locking up Washington’s Larry Hughes and sweet shooters’ Donyell Marshall and Damon Jones. Willing to rebound from the loss of Eddy Curry, Chicago added Sacramento’s Darius Songaila and the Knicks’ Mike Sweetney to address low post scoring and fortify their already potent rebounding. In the meantime Indiana won the Sarunas sweepstakes, ending the long speculation of where the 6-4 Lithuanian playmaker would end up.
Even team personnel were not spared from the rampant rehauling as a number of teams underwent major head coaching changes in the East. At the top of the list are Larry Brown and Flip Saunders – the former being signed up by the Knicks after his previous club (Detroit) opted to save money on a less-expensive alternative in Saunders. The 76ers fired Jim O’Brien in favor of hometown (and AI) favorite Maurice Cheeks, hoping that the ex-Blazers coach would entice team leader Iverson to have a more positive outlook towards practice. Meanwhile, Orlando is trying to recoup their glory days by pegging Brian Hill, a centerpiece of the Shaq/Penny era that made several trips to the Finals from 1994-96. Milwaukee’s Terry Porter was also sacked after leading the Bucks to a playoff seed two seasons ago in his coaching debut in favor of Terry Stotts and is without a job at the moment.
The league avoided another threat of a lock-out reminiscent of 7-years ago as the player’s union and the NBA have agreed upon a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA). As per the new CBA, league suspensions that exceed 12 games are now subject to appeal - a rule inspired by the lengthy punishments handed during the aftermath of the Detroit-Indiana brawl which was widely petitioned by the player’s union. The CBA also provided team owners’ with the salary cap equivalent of a “Get Out Of Jail Free” card in the form of the Amnesty Clause – a rule that grants teams the chance to waive a certain player without paying the corresponding luxury tax penalty. A total of nine Eastern Conference teams made use of the rule although the main beneficiaries are from the West as Orlando’s Doug Christie and the Sixers’ Aaron McKie went to the Mavs and Lakers, respectively.
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