Cream of the Crop: Cleveland Cavaliers.  They are the back to back NLL Champions.  Any and all roads must go through them.  Lebron James anchors another great team.  This is one of the toughest lineups to play against in the league.  Drummond is finally coming into his own.  Between Dre D. and Ibaka, not many teams are going to out-rebound the Cavs.  The Cavs also did a great job addressing weaknesses in free agency by signing Oden, Livingston, Harris, and Udrih.  Now, Cleveland even has a decent bench.  That does not bode well for the rest of the division.

Sitting Pretty:  Indiana Pacers.  GM Sheed made some great moves in the offseason, finally getting that starting SG that EVERYONE felt they were lacking.  They also addressed a “too many people want the ball issue” by trading away Marc Gasol for a less scoring minded, but still very defensive big man in Marcin Gortat.  The only big concern in Indiana is WHY ISN’T LIN STARTING????  The Pacers GM has a man crush on Brandon Knight that really needs to just be nipped in the bud.  He’s a solid backup, but Lin is the better PG to start.  With the new sliders, it looks like Blake Griffin will finally be the monster he is.  The bench is unproven, but having a defensive stopper like Sefolosha will help.  Dorell Wright was a great addition, and Stiemsma adds depth to the front court.  Indiana has always underperformed, but we think this year GM Sheed will get them on all cylinders. (We said that last year too….)

Good, not great: Milwaukee Bucks.  The Bucks are dying to get a solid starting SF.  The NLL has always been a league of wing scorers. Milwaukee is playing the undersized Jrue at SG and the “scared to shoot” Harkless at the SF spots.  GM BadWolf has been dangling DMC and Jrue on the trade block for weeks, but doesn’t seem to be getting the nibbles he needs to pull the trigger on a trade.  Indiana just got too much better and aside from the draft, the Bucks didn’t really improve, so we expect them to be fighting for a 7 or 8 seed as the playoffs near.  This is the Evil Empire though, so we really can’t put anything past the Bucks, they could still overtake the Pacers and end up 2^nd in the division.  When it comes to Milwaukee, the only thing you can count on is that the Bucks will come to play every night.

Waiting in the tall grass: Chicago Bulls.  The Bulls seem to be looking to move into a win-now mode.  Dirk is a scoring monster, but with both him and Hibbert on the front line, there is no athleticism in the paint.  Maybe that’s why the Bulls are starting Aminu and bringing Barnes off the bench.  The Bulls have a glaring hole to fill at SG, since they traded away both their starting SG and their backup.  Delfino is out with an injury, so Willie Green is the only player that plays SG as his primary positon.  Lil Nate seems to be penciled in as the starting SG, so we are curious to see how a 5’9” SG fares in a league where most of the SG are over 6”.  Chicago has the talent to make a playoff push this year, but with the Cavs, Pacers, and Bucks in the divison, it’s gonna be hard to end up with a playoff bound team.  They are gonna miss Jimmy Butler’s versatility and it seems like they gave up on Alec Burks right when he was starting to show promise in the NBA.  It just makes us wonder if that last trade was the “one too many”? 

Welcome to Tanksville: Detroit Pistons.  GM Mavs4Life has already said he was tanking this year, and some of those recent transactions seem to only provide further proof to that fact.  Gone are Gasol, Gay, Fredette, and Budinger.  Hello Amare, Granger, Derrick Williams and John Jenkins.  Amare and Gasol are both injury prone nowadays, but replacing Gay with Granger seems ludicrous.  Granger has still not been able to get on the court.  Gay, on the other hand, was going to be a great 1-2 punch with Klay, but that was before the Pistons had their “OMG, I have to get under the luxury tax before the start of the season” panic.  It’s a shame because before that trade, we would have put them at least 3^rd in the division, if not higher.  Elton Brand and AJ Price are nice pickups, but with Amare’s injury track record, Brand may become a starter before long.

Division MVP: Lebron James.  King LBJ will continue to wear his crown as the best player in the NLL.  There may be a few players that can score more than him, but he’s the complete package.  Keep in mind there are only 3 other players that would even be considerable for MVP in the NLL, but none of them reside in the Central.  LBJ will continue to terrorize opposing SF and will easily lead the Cavs to another deep playoff run.

Division ROY: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.  He’s one of the best rookies in the division (Even though Anthony Bennett went higher in the draft, KCP is the better NLL player at the moment.)  Also, KCP is in a great situation to shine in Milwaukee.  GM BadWolf is still shopping Jrue Holiday and KCP will get lots of burn as he looks to be a solid scorer.  The Bucks were high on KCP even before the draft, so I think it would be a surprise if he’s anything less than a 10-12 PPG guy.

Projected finish:

1. Cleveland Cavaliers 62-20

2. Indiana Pacers 51-31

3. Milwaukee Bucks 48-34

4. Chicago Bulls 42-40

5. Detroit Pistons 34-48