Commentary

Who's tops in East? Too early to tell

By the time the shock wears off and the summer winds down, the Miami Heat will come up with their post-Big Three marketing theme. An early suggestion: "Every Game Matters."

Because every one will, enough that Dwyane Wade won't be able to cherry-pick his playing schedule, enough that the Heat won't be able to say, "It's only Sacramento" or "It's just Utah."

No, it's not quite like trying to pick the perfect NCAA bracket (sorry, forgot Dan Gilbert was involved in that one), but the odds of anyone, at least at this point, being able to delineate a clear playoff hierarchy in the Eastern Conference have to be staggering.

Yes, the Chicago Bulls added Pau Gasol, but that was at the cost of the stats Carlos Boozer added to the mix, and there always will be uncertainty about the stability of Derrick Rose's knees.

Then there are LeBron James' Cleveland Cavaliers (that still will take some time, won't it?), where he is flanked by a point guard who has never appeared in an NBA playoff game, and it still isn't quite clear who will be the third-best player on his team (something he mostly didn't have to concern himself with in Miami; although Kevin Love would be a heck of an eventual answer).

Seemingly on the upswing were the Washington Wizards, with the way John Wall, Bradley Beal and Marcin Gortat came around last season. But the free-agency loss of Trevor Ariza to the Houston Rockets hurts, especially the wing defense. Paul Pierce will help the offense, but the chemistry won't quite be the same as what got them past the Bulls in last season's first round, even with the additions of Kris Humphries and DeJuan Blair.

As for the Toronto Raptors, it mostly is more of the same, going as far as Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan can take them, a team still with a tangible ceiling.

And with the Indiana Pacers having been on the cusp for years, Lance Stephenson's free-agency departure creates significant pause, as does Roy Hibbert's showing in the playoffs. And George Hill still is the point guard.

With Stephenson and Marvin Williams, the Charlotte Hornets grow intriguing, but only as a team ready to take perhaps one more step and actually win a playoff game, let alone a series.

With the Atlanta Hawks it's about a return to health for Al Horford, a chance to play a full season with Paul Millsap and Jeff Teague, albeit with a limited supporting cast and no tangible offseason gains.

The Brooklyn Nets are expected to get Brook Lopez back (at least until the next calamity), but Shaun Livingston left, Kevin Garnett is a year older and Pierce is gone, after having emerged as the fulcrum of so much of the Nets' late-season success. (We'd mention the loss of Jason Kidd, but with Lionel Hollins in place, that actually comes off like an upgrade.)

The Knicks? Still Carmelo Anthony with flotsam on one side and jetsam on the other. A playoff team? Debatable.

Back in the Heat's pre-LeBron days, the preseason math was about identifying the seven teams that wouldn't make the playoffs in the East, as the best way to identify the eight that would. Already you can essentially eliminate the Philadelphia 76ers, Orlando Magic and Milwaukee Bucks, probably could put the Boston Celtics and Detroit Pistons in that group for the moment. And the Knicks appear to be looking past the season, as well.

But the Cavaliers are back in the party, and the permutations of how the eight playoff seeds might shake out are copious.

So every game will matter for the Heat. Erik Spoelstra won't have nearly the same latitude to fiddle with his lineup card "until closer to game time." Continuity and cohesion will be essential, even after so much remodeling.

The pressure isn't off in the wake of James' departure, it's just a different type of pressure, the pressure of a regular-season where tangible rewards can be sown.

The best remain in the West, but the East arguably has never been more competitive.

Sports on 07/20/2014

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