NBA's Power Balance Tips Toward the East
Sean Deveney - SportingNews.com
Jun 26, 2009
NEW YORK -- Go on, have a look around the Eastern Conference. Seems like not long ago there wasn't much to the NBA teams on this side of the Mississippi. Safe to say that's changed. In the wake of a very busy NBA draft period, the East now has three new beasts (and, bear in mind, that's not counting the Celtics).
The Wizards started all of this. On Wednesday, Washington dealt away its No. 5 pick in the draft to Minnesota for guards Randy Foye and Mike Miller. Foye is a combo guard who had a breakthrough in the second half of last year, averaging 16.3 points. Miller is a nine-year veteran who has averaged 13.9 points and shot 40.1 percent on 3-pointers during his career.
Remember, these guys -- quality players both -- are likely to be coming off Washington's bench. Look at the Wizards, top to bottom, if they're healthy. The starting five is Gilbert Arenas, DeShawn Stevenson, Caron Butler, Antawn Jamison and Brendan Haywood with Miller and Foye (plus Nick Young, Andray Blatche and JaVale McGee) off the bench. You won't find a deeper team in the league.
Other teams around the East took notice of Washington's activity. And reacted. "I told Ernie [Grunfeld] that we must have done something right when we made the trade," said coach Flip Saunders. "We made the trade and Cleveland goes and makes a trade, and so does Orlando. We must have done something right."
Yes, Flip, you sure started something big. The Cavaliers followed up Washington's move by finally inducing the Suns to ship Shaquille O'Neal for the soon-to-be-retired Ben Wallace and swingman Sasha Pavlovic. That's a 15-time All-Star big man being teamed with LeBron James. O'Neal is 37, but he had an excellent season last year, playing 75 games and averaging 17.8 points on 60.9 percent shooting.
"I think, from our standpoint, we have a guy who we can really throw the ball down into the hole and create double-teams," general manager Danny Ferry said. "We have a good shooting team. It will create a lot of opportunities for everyone."
It was then Orlando's turn. The Magic pulled Vince Carter out of New Jersey (which, like Phoenix, was eager to dump payroll) with a slim package of Rafer Alston, Courtney Lee and Tony Battie. Orlando now has an All-Star at every position except small forward, where Hedo Turkoglu is fairly close to All-Star status. "Vince gives us a veteran, go-to scoring presence, especially at the end of games," said general manager Otis Smith. "Our goal remains the same -- to win a championship. Any time you can add an All-Star to help you reach your goals, you have to do it."
You have to do it, especially, when the other top teams in your conference are forcing you to do something.
Now, no question, the Spurs improved themselves in the West by trading for Richard Jefferson. The Lakers are the defending NBA champs and are a good bet to get back to the Finals. One of the league's most promising young teams is Portland. So the West has a few things going for it.
But the flurry of trades leading up to the draft has changed the landscape of the entire league. It's the East that has the powerhouse teams now.
Sean Deveney is a staff writer for Sporting News. E-mail him at sdeveney@sportingnews.com.
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