Luka’s Corner

Apparently, Cleveland is one of those teams that feels it is unnecessary to change up your team following a successful season. That successful season included an exciting upset over the Pistons in the Conference Finals and a trip to the NBA Finals (even though it was cut short).

The future of Cleveland was also established last season, with the team’s franchise player LeBron James finally reaching the Finals and the Cavs search for a pure point guard to lead the team finally came to an end when Daniel "Boobie" Gibson exploded against Detroit. It is still uncertain if the Cavs’ lack of offseason moves will negatively affect the team, but Cleveland fans should hope that the same thing that happened to Miami (no moves, first-round sweep) won’t happen to them. Last season was the first time LeBron has reached the Finals and even though it was not that impressive, he will only get better as he gains more experience in the league. Cleveland has finally built a solid team supporting James, with Larry Hughes, Sasha Pavlovic, and "Boobie" in the backcourt and Drew Gooden, Anderson Varejao, and Zydrunas Ilgauskas in the frontcourt. None of these players are stars, but on any given night one of them can play well and help James carry the team.

In the backcourt, Hughes has not had tremendous seasons since leaving Washington and joining the Cavs, but he is still very good on defense and can start fast breaks with his sneaky steals. Averaging 1.3 in 06 and 1.6 for his career, he is one of the reasons why his team has emerged as one of the best defensive units in the NBA. The Serbian Pavlovic is, in my opinion, the team’s second scorer behind LeBron (Big Z is very inconsistent) and the Cavs did have some games where LeBron was not playing well and needed to rely on Sasha to get the job done. He has a quick first step and can finish around the basket and he is a great shooter who can knock down the three with ease. In the 06 campaign, he had respectable stats, averaging 9 PPG during the season, and raising it to 10 in the Conference Semis against New Jersey. He showed great upside last season and I expect him to become a guy that will have over ten points a game with a couple of rebounds and assists. From Sasha, I expect around 11.8 PPG and 3.2 RPG in the 07-08 campaign, to go along with around 2.5 assists. Gibson emerged in the Conference Finals last season, averaging 13.5 PPG against a fabled Piston defense. He was also 46% from the field and 50% from three (doing all of this while coming off the bench). In my view, "Boobie" should assert himself and become the go-to-guard in the Cleveland roster. Hughes has been very inconsistent and plagued by injuries the past couple of seasons, not showing the form he had with the Wizards. Gibson is a very good outside shooter who is not afraid to go inside and finish. Although he needs to improve his passing and raise his assist numbers (only 1.2 last season), if he can maintain his scoring from the Playoffs, he will help LeBron greatly when it comes to carrying the offense. Cleveland needs another scorer and Gibson has shown that he can provide good scoring numbers. I expect him to start the majority of the games and to average 12.8 PPG, 3 APG, and 1.4 SPG (he averaged 1.5 in the Finals). The Cavs’ backcourt should improve this season, and will determine whether or not they reach the Finals once again.

As we all know, LeBron James is what we think of when we think of the Cleveland Cavaliers. He is their go-to-guy, their scorer, and their leader (among other things), and he will be expected to carry the load this season as well. He continued his impressive NBA career with a great season last year. He maintained his stats from the 05-06 campaign for the most part and led his team past the gritty Pistons in the 3rd round (witness the 48-point game in Detroit). His numbers were incredible (to say the least) in the 06 campaign, racking up 27.3 PPG, 6.7 RPG, and 6 APG. James also chipped in 1.6 SPG for the Cavs. The Cavs’ leader is arguably the best all-around basketball player on the planet and if he can keep it up (which he probably will), do not expect last year’s Finals appearance to be his last. If James is on the Cleveland roster day in and day out, expect the Cavs to remain a title contender. This season, I believe he will drop 26.8 PPG, 7.2 RPG, 6.2 APG, 1.8 SPG, and 1 BPG on a nightly basis.

The Cav frontcourt is very solid going into this year. They have kept all of their major pieces intact (keeping the free agent Varejao), so expect them to be the same force as last season. The year before, the backcourt unit was probably the best rebounding unit in all of basketball. It is because of this (along with LeBron being LeBron) that they got so far in the Playoffs. Big Z is one of the most gifted centers in the league, with a remarkably soft touch around the hoop and good rebounding skills. Z is also an underrated defender because he held Rasheed Wallace and Chris Webber to very low scoring numbers in their series. In 06, he averaged 11.9 PPG, 7.7 RPG, and 1.3 BPG. These are strong numbers that I think will stay around the same in the upcoming season as well. Cleveland has not added any more players, so he will have to carry about the same load.

Gooden is the anchor of the Cavalier frontcourt. A great rebounder and solid defender, Drew does all of the dirty work for Cleveland (although he will score here and there). Without Gooden, the frontcourt would have never grabbed so many offensive boards and been such a threat down low to opposing teams. Like Z, his numbers were solid and I do not expect much to change with him, either. Expect around 10.8 PPG and 8.9 RPG in 07-08. The heart of the frontcourt came off the bench for the Cavs, and he was the Brazilian Anderson Varejao. In my opinion, he is the best defender in the lineup and one of the strongest hustlers in the league. If there is a loose ball in the paint, you can bet that Varejao will get to it. His stats were not impressive, but he is one of the players where stats do not tell the story. He is brought onto the floor for defensive and rebounding purposes, and if you recall, he did not do a bad job on Duncan in the Finals last year. TD still got his 20 and 10 but Varejao made him work hard for it. It is him, along with Ilgauskas and Gooden, that form one of the scrappiest frontcourts in the league and it was these three guys that did the dirty work for the reigning Easter Conference champs in 06.

Predicted lineup:

C-Zydrunas Ilgauskas, PF-Drew Gooden, SF-LeBron James, SG-Sasha Pavlovic, PG-Daniel Gibson

6th man-Anderson Varejao, 7th man-Larry Hughes, 8th man-Donyell Marshall

Predicted stat leaders:

Points-LeBron James (26.8 PPG)

Rebounds-Drew Gooden (8.9 RPG)

Assists-LeBron James (6.2 APG)

Blocks-Zydrunas Ilgauskas (1.1 BPG)

Steals-Daniel Gibson (1.4 SPG)

Final Prediction: Cleveland will make the Playoffs with a 53-29 regular season record.

The Bulls are one of the NBA teams that have unlimited potential, with a core of young players that showed great promise last season. Surprisingly, their three go-to-guys all went to an elite NCAA school, with Kirk Hinrich from Kansas, Ben Gordon from UConn, and Luol Deng from Duke. That is what makes them one of the rare teams with tremendous college experience.

On draft night, they added another college star with winning experience-Joakim Noah from Florida. He brings even more experience from college to the Bulls, since Florida has been the best in the NCAA these past two seasons. Noah is an explosive player, with the ability to run the open floor and finish on the other end. He is mostly known for bringing energy into a game with a strong dunk or highlight block. Perhaps one of Noah’s unique skills is on the defensive end. He is an excellent shot-blocker and one-on-one defender, which is one of the reasons why Florida won two championships when he played. I do not think that he will receive significant playing time this coming season, but look for him to potentially become a solid role player in the league who does all the dirty things on the floor. I project his stats to be around 4.8 PPG, 3.2 RPG, and 0.8 APG, with 0.5 BPG and 0.2 SPG. These stats are not that impressive, but it is because of the reduced playing time he will receive in the Windy City, sitting behind Ben Wallace, P.J. Brown, Tyrus Thomas, and Joe Smith. However, in years to come, I think that Noah and Thomas (if they stay in Chicago) will form a scary frontcourt, since they are both freak athletes and excel on the defensive end of the floor. The other player that the Bulls added is Joe Smith, a veteran forward who arrived from Philadelphia that brings even more experience to the Bull frontcourt. If there is a weakness to the Bull roster, it is that there is no down-low scoring threat. The Bulls are, however, attempting to make improvements by adding veteran forwards and centers. They are hoping that these players will help develop their younger counterparts, such as Noah and Thomas, into greater scorers.

The core for Chicago is centered around Hinrich, Gordon, and Deng, as well as their defensive stopper Ben Wallace. These three are their only consistent scorers (along with the often-injured Andres Nocioni), so Chicago is going in the direction where they are trying to develop these three into a potential elite trio (like Duncan-Parker-Ginobili or Stoudemire-Marion-Nash). Although Hinrich never really played at his potential in the 07 campaign, Gordon and Deng proved that they can carry the scoring load for the Bulls during the season as well as in the Playoffs. Throughout the Playoffs, Gordon put up 20.4 PPG, 3.8 RPG, and 3.8 APG and Deng put up 22.2 PPG and 8.7 RPG, and 2.4 APG. I project that Gordon’s stats in the 08 campaign will stay around 21.8 PPG, 3.2 RPG, and 4.2 APG. He will remain the Bulls’ one pure scorer and go-to-guy in clutch situations, so the stats will be around the same as last year. In my opinion, Deng will have stats around 18.4 PPG, 8.2 RPG, and 1.4 APG. He is the most versatile player on the Chicago roster and, like Gordon, his stats will stay around what he did in 07, with a few more rebounds and a few less points. Form Hinrich, on the other hand, I expect a slight drop in stats, since he did not have the best year last season and Gordon and Deng are on the top of their games and only improving. He should expect less touches and, therefore, less impressive stats. I expect 15.2 PPG, 3.3 RPG, and 5.6 APG. All in all, if this Chicago trio keeps on improving and developing, don’t be surprised that if you see the Windy City contending for a title.

Predicted lineup:

C-Ben Wallace, PF-P.J. Brown, SF-Luol Deng, SG-Ben Gordon, PG-Kirk Hinrich

6th man-Andres Nocioni, 7th man-Joe Smith, 8th man-Chris Duhon

Predicted stat leaders:

Points-Ben Gordon (21.8 PPG)

Rebounds-Ben Wallace (9.8 RPG)

Assists-Kirk Hinrich (5.6 APG)

Blocks-Ben Wallace (1.9 BPG)

Steals-Ben Wallace (1.4 SPG)

Final Prediction: Chicago will visit the postseason with a 50-32 record.