Tom Ziller has an entertaining look at the Atlantic Division over on Ballhype.com. Here's his arguement back and forth with himself about the Celtics. Enjoy:
Ziller #1: Teams don't get to the Finals with terrible point guards, and Rajon Rondo might be below average for a back-up point guard. Boston made a huge mistake by not going after Brevin Knight. But hey, maybe Doc Rivers can run out there for a few minutes a night. Couldn't hurt the team worse than he will from the sidelines.
Ziller #2: Two words -- Cleveland Cavaliers. Rondo can't be worse then Eric Snow. (Doc Rivers can't be worse than Eric Snow. Red Auerbach's corpse can't be worse than Eric Snow.) Boston will be fine -- Rondo has two hands and two legs, he has three all-pros around him. Derek Fisher helped win the Lakers three titles. Rondo's weakness is shooting, and he won't need to shoot at all with Pierce, Allen and Garnett. Plus, Tony Allen played great last year when he was alive. He looks alive right now, and he might start at point in November. Boston's a lock for the top half of the playoffs, and a favorite for the Finals.
Ziller #1: Yeah, Boston's a favorite over Cleveland, Detroit, Miami and Chicago... and Mike Sweetney celebrates Ramadan. In case you haven't noticed, most of the rest of the East got better over the summer. Even Cleveland -- having LeBron a year closer to his prime after he's made the NBA Finals... does that spell regression to you? Boston got better, certainly. But the 6th seed isn't worth the luxury tax for the next 17 years.
Ziller #2: Cleveland had a cakewalk through the playoffs until the ECF. There's no way that team is better than Boston, especially until they settle their point guard issue.
Ziller #1: Point guard issue?
Ziller #2: Shut up.
Ziller #1: Seriously, how is this team different from the Hakeem-Barkley-Drexler Rockets?
Ziller #2: Boston's Three are still in their primes, while Houston's were as close to 'dead men walking' as you get. And that Houston team still got to the conference finals in a stacked West.
Ziller #1: But Houston had a superior supporting cast (Mario Elie, Kevin Willis) and a coach 10 times better than Doc. Take away Elie and Rudy Tomjanovich and that team doesn't get past Seattle.
Ziller #2: Even Doc can't screw this up. The Wizards were on top of the East for a while last year, and Boston's trio is a very solid degree better than Washington's. And Washington doesn't exactly have a bunch of stars on the bench. (Apologies, Spencer Haywood.)