[Vyse]

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Celtics Right now are probaby better than the pistons.

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Definitely not. They have 0 depth. "Right now" doesn't mean anything when virtually every NBA team suffers through injuries. And the Celts have a more injury-prone roster than the Pistons..

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One thing is sure, the Pistons have no shot at beating the spurs in a seven game series if Duncan is healthy.

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It's not as lucksack as baseball, but any short five- or seven-game series gives a chance to any team. Kind of like the Heat had "no chance" against the Mavs, or the Pistons having "no chance" against the Lakers. If you can make it to the Finals you are a contender.

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Have you seen the Cleveland team that beat them last year? They were truly horrible.

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Actually they weren't. They were an amazing reboundign and defensive team and combined with a top 3 player in the NBA they made the Finals. Star power means that much the way the NBA is constructed; if LeBron can steal half the games to win and the team can otherwise win two, then you're good to go. I have no idea why everyone loves to bash the Cavs.

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THey're gonna get 50+ wins in the east but aren't seriois contender. Unless contender means good enough to contend for the final in the East which is not saying much.

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What do you think any team in the East's worst chance to win vs the West in the Finals is? If you're saying worse than 20% you're not factoring in the random bounces and luck of any short series, regardless of sport.

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Suns were a great team for the past three years, have had a really title shot only last year

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Wtf is a title shot then? Making it to the conference finals and being competitive doesn't count? Wtf? What do you think their chance to win was vs the Mavs in 06 in the WCF?

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and if they trade marion

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That's not happening this year, so at least 4 years of contention. The Suns have too many movable parts to predict next year so we'll cross that bridge when it comes.

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are going to struggle to come out of the West. And they're making dubious decisions because of cap problems

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Yeah, like giving MArcus Banks $25 million? No, that's a [censored] decision. No one said give Boris Diaw 11 mil per year either for such a long time when you haven't even seen him play with your long-term franchise (Amare). These are bad decisions. They had the money. They made [censored] decisions. It's their fault.

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If their owner were willing to pay anyone and keeping draft picks,

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Or if they didn't squander the few chances they had to really improve their team. The Diaw and Banks thing gives them no bench whatsoever this year. That's their fault.

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I just don't believe the flexibility is a problem for the Bulls. If they believe that with their core they are competitive, then they should not be afraid to resign everyone.

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Don't know about you, but if I'm an owner, there's no way I'm going way over the cap because I think I might be able to compete, especially in the East. I better be the No. 1 team in the East with a bullet for the next three years, a Stone Cold (c) lock to do so. Otherwise I'm not going to get raped by the luxury.

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And if you think the Pistons are competitive, then the Bulls are probably set right now.

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If you don't think the Pistons aren't one of only four teams in the East who can even get to the Finals, you're smoking crack. The four teams are all pretty close right about now and in reality the Pistons and Bulls are likely the two best, most complete teams able to deal with the rigors of a full NBA season and still come out of the playoffs in the East. Even if you just cut it down to the Celts, Bulls, Pistons and Cavs as the ONLY four teams who will come out of the East this year (and if you ask me there is no other team that can), that gives each of them a 25% chance to be in the running for an NBA title. To me that counts as competitive. If they were in the West, no they wouldn't be, because four other teams would be clearly better than them, but in the East with four teams basically the same and with no other teams to challenge them they are all competitive.

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They are in an exceptionnal situation due to their youth. At one point they're gonna have to spend money to remain legit or they 'll decline

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No, they'll have to spend money to BE legit, most likely. Don't know if you noticed but the East improved a LOT over last year and should continue to keep improving, so status quo won't cut it.