NBA Eastern Conference Preview: LeBron to shine once more

Jay Asser 09:44 27/10/2015
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  • Beast of the east: LeBron James will aiming to bring home his third NBA title.

    Another NBA season, another year of the Eastern Conference running through LeBron James.

    After a herculean effort to drag the injury-riddled Cleveland Cavaliers within two wins of what would have been the franchise’s first title and his third, James remains firmly entrenched atop the shallow East.

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    The Cavaliers won 53 games last term despite a slow start and Kevin Love not appearing fully comfortable playing alongside James and Kyrie Irving until the playoffs.

    Just as Cleveland appeared to be finding their groove, Love suffered a dislocated shoulder to end his postseason, while Irving was later banged up and appeared in only the first game of the Finals.

    Love will begin the new campaign playing limited minutes, but Irving remains sidelined along with Iman Shumpert, who is recovering from wrist surgery.

    Another slow start for Cleveland is likely but James and Co are well aware that the season is marathon, not a sprint, and the Cavaliers have plenty of time to get to full speed.

    While the Cavaliers bide their time to get to full strength, the Chicago Bulls are poised to take advantage in the short term.

    Derrick Rose’s return has continuously been one of the top storylines, but Chicago has one of the more talented rosters in the conference and not at the mercy of their point guard’s health as much as they have been in the past.

    The bigger question surrounding the Bulls this season is how new incoming coach Fred Hoiberg will fare in his first season after making the jump from college. Chicago won at least 45 games and made the playoffs in each of former coach Tom Thibodeau’s five years, but reached the conference finals once and couldn’t advance further.

    Flying under the radar heading into the season are the Atlanta Hawks, who topped the East last year as one of just two teams in the NBA to win 60 games.

    The loss of key two-way forward DeMarre Carroll to the Toronto Raptors via free agency, coupled with a sweep at the hands of Cleveland in the conference finals last season, means Atlanta has plenty to prove again.

    After the Hawks, there is a large tier of middling teams in the East that will mostly battle for the second half of the playoff seeding.

    Toronto surged quickly out of the gates last year and appeared to be legitimate challengers to the Cavaliers, before slowing down towards and finally finishing fourth in the conference. A quick start will be a tougher prospect this season with the Raptors playing 12 of their first 19 games on the road.

    The Boston Celtics failed to add a star in the offseason despite a gluttony of assets, but still have the potential to surpass their 40-win total of last year.

    After they acquired Isaiah Thomas at the trade deadline, the Celtics had the East’s second-best mark at 20-11 the rest of the season.

    Washington, Milwaukee, Indiana, Miami, Charlotte, Detroit and the New York Knicks are all expected to fight for a playoff berth, while Brooklyn, Orlando and Philadelphia round out the bottom.

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