As of Thursday, every team in the league has been playing for at least one full week. The following is a look at how well each team in the Eastern Conference is doing in that first seven or eight days of work. Grades are assigned based not only a team's record, but also on the quality of their competition and how strong certain individual members of those teams have looked.
Atlanta Hawks
Record: 4-1
Opponents' Winning Percentage: 0.417
Grade: A-
Notes: The Hawks are 2-1 on their West Coast road trip so far, losing only to the defending champion L.A. Lakers, but beating the up-and-coming Portland Trail Blazers. Three of their next four are also on the road, including what should be a tough game in Boston and that lone home game against the undefeated Denver Nuggets. So far, they've beaten the teams they were supposed to beat, but the real test of where this team stands will come to light in the next week or two. For now, they've got the second-best record in the conference and are winning games with tons of offense. Only once have they failed to score 100 points so far.
Boston Celtics
Record: 6-0
Opponents' Winning Percentage: 0.445
Grade: A
Notes: While taunting Chris Paul probably isn't the smartest thing for Rajon Rondo to be doing, there's no question that his 9.7 assists per game (second in the league) is pretty impressive. As for the rest of the Celtics, things seem to be rolling on all cylinders for the 2008 champs. Rasheed Wallace already looks like a solid pickup, and Marquis Daniels and Shelden Williams have been pretty good off the bench, too. They're doing just about everything right, and there's little doubt that they'll be the villains in pretty much every game they play this year. And truth be told, they're probably fine with that.
Charlotte Bobcats
Record: 2-2
Opponents' Winning Percentage: 0.476
Grade: C-
Notes: While 2-2 is a solid record, it should be noted that the Bobcats' two victories have been over the Knicks and Nets (combined 1-9 record), while the two losses have been to the Cavaliers and Celtics (combined 9-2 record), and that includes the embarrassing 59-point opening night against Boston. So far this has not looked like a particularly promising team, especially with the Raja Bell playing with an injury. Record-wise this group is in the middle of the pack, but they certainly don't look like a playoff team so far.
{AUTHOR_BOX}Chicago Bulls
Record: 2-2
Opponents' Winning Percentage: 0.765
Grade: C+
Notes: After that opening night win over the San Antonio Spurs, the Bulls have looked pretty rough as a team. Their second win of the season was an extremely disappointing showing against the Redd-less Milwaukee Bucks, and they were manhandled by the Boston Celtics and overpowered in the fourth quarter by the Miami HEAT. Luol Deng has been nothing short of fantastic so far, averaging 17.8 points and 10.5 rebounds in his first four games, and Joakim Noah is just two-tenths of a rebound shy of averaging a double-double of his own, but Derrick Rose and Tyrus Thomas have come out of the gate rather slowly, and this is a group that's going to need everybody pulling their weight every night if they hope to hang with the league's bigwigs. So far, it doesn't look like they'll be able to do that consistently, even if some nights they look like one of the most promising young teams in the league.
Cleveland Cavaliers
Record: 3-2
Opponents' Winning Percentage: 0.542
Grade: C+
Notes: The 0-2 start was disconcerting, especially when one considers that the opponents were Toronto and Boston—two teams expected to be pretty formidable down the stretch this season. But a tasty smorgasbord of Minnesota, Charlotte, and Washington helped LeBron and Co. catch up a little, and we're guessing a little bit of confidence is exactly what the doctor ordered for the Cavs. New additions Shaquille O'Neal and Anthony Parker have been pretty solid these first few games, and they'll help in the long run. Cleveland fans need not worry. This group got off to a slow start, but still should end up with one of the best two or three records in the Eastern Conference.
Detroit Pistons
Record: 2-3
Opponents' Winning Percentage: 0.476
Grade: C-
Notes: On the bright side, Ben Gordon is tenth in the league in scoring, tied with LeBron James. Ben Wallace is rebounding the ball well again (10 per game over the first five contests), and the Pistons are the only team so far to have put Orlando into the loss column. On the not-so-bright side, Rip Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince have already missed a combined six games, and as a result they've lost to two beatable teams in Oklahoma City and Milwaukee. It's hard to figure out how good this team really is since they have yet to play as a cohesive unit for two consecutive games. There's some positivity here, but not enough health yet to go along with it.
Indiana Pacers
Record: 1-3
Opponents' Winning Percentage: 0.700
Grade: D+
Notes: Indiana has won only a single game so far this young season, and see if you can guess which of their four opponents rolled over for them: Was it the 4-1 Hawks or the 4-1 HEAT? Perhaps the Western Conference's lone undefeated team in the Denver Nuggets? Or, most recently, was it the 1-4 New York Knicks? If you guessed New York, you nailed it. Indy got off to a rough 0-3 start against some very good teams, but losing to very good teams means that you are not a very good team. There's no other way around it. There are bright spots—like Dahntay Jones's 15.5ppg and Roy Hibbert's emergence as a double-double guy and dominant shot-blocker—but for the most part it's been a rough start, with too much emphasis on Danny Granger. He's averaging only 23 points per night on 40% shooting from the field.
Miami HEAT
Record: 4-1
Opponents' Winning Percentage: 0.435
Grade: B+
Notes: The competition hasn't been particularly stiff for the HEAT just yet, as the four teams they've defeated thus far have been a combined 6-12. The one loss came from their one true challenge, the Phoenix Suns, who came with just too much Steve Nash on that particular evening. But Dwyane Wade looks good, as always, averaging just under 30 points a night, and they've got four other guys scoring in double figures (Quentin Richardson, Michael Beasley, Jermaine O'Neal, and Udonis Haslem). This team looks pretty decent, and as long as D-Wade is involved this team will be competitive. They haven't beaten any truly great teams yet, but they've won some close ones and handled the teams they were expected to handle.
Milwaukee Bucks
Record: 1-2
Opponents' Winning Percentage: 0.462
Grade: D
Notes: Rookie Brandon Jennings is currently leading the team in points (22ppg), assists (5.3apg), and minutes (34.7mpg), which in some ways is encouraging considering young players don't usually make such solid impacts so quickly. On the other hand, they're 1-2 and blew a significant lead in their most recent loss to the Chicago Bulls. Without Michael Redd, who's hurt yet again, it's likely to be another slow start in Milwaukee. Anytime a rookie with 4 games under his belt is far and away the best player on the team, you've got some issues.
New Jersey Nets
Record: 0-5
Opponents' Winning Percentage: 0.583
Grade: F
Notes: What do you expect without Devin Harris? Sure, Brook Lopez is one of the Eastern Conference's best centers, and young guns like Courtney Lee, Chris Douglas-Roberts, and Terrence Williams certainly have promise, but there simply isn't enough talent on this team to win without Harris. They can barely win with him. As the only team in the NBA still without a win, it's hard to give them a passing grade. When they win one we can come back and talk about this again.
New York Knicks
Record: 1-4
Opponents' Winning Percentage: 0.500
Grade: D
Notes: Despite the fact that there have been some bright spots—Al Harrington's scoring, Danilo Gallinari's emergence, David Lee's everything—this still is an organization without anything resembling a star player. They're hoping to remedy that this summer, but in the meantime have sort of put themselves in a boring and relatively frustrating situation. If the Knicks are already losing games to Indiana and Charlotte, it doesn't bode well for when they play the tougher teams later this season.
Orlando Magic
Record: 4-1
Opponents' Winning Percentage: 0.417
Grade: A
Notes: If Dwight Howard hadn't gotten into foul trouble in Orlando's one loss to the Detroit Pistons, there's a very strong possibility that the Magic could be sitting at 5-0 right now. They've beaten a couple of solid teams in Toronto and Phoenix and are doing it without being at full strength. Vince Carter and Mickael Pietrus have each only played in three of Orlando's five games and All-Star Rashard Lewis is serving a ten-game suspension. Once everyone's healthy, the Magic are as good as anyone in the conference.
Philadelphia 76ers
Record: 2-2
Opponents' Winning Percentage: 0.632
Grade: C
Notes: The Sixers are truly a middle-of-the-pack Eastern Conference team, proven by losses to Orlando and Boston, and wins over Milwaukee and New York. So far they've beaten the teams you'd expect and lost to the teams you'd expect. Louis Williams and Marreese Speights are both off to hot starts, but Elton Brand has been a little disappointing and Jrue Holiday has yet to really jump off. He's barely even seeing the floor right now. In time he'll be a big part of that Philly backcourt, but in the meantime this is just a mediocre group that should hover somewhere around .500 for most of the season.
Toronto Raptors
Record: 2-2
Opponents' Winning Percentage: 0.500
Grade: C
Notes: The Raptors had Cleveland fans shaking in their boots after their road win on opening night, but since then they've really only been so-so. A loss to Orlando is understandable considering the way the Magic have been playing, but a loss to the Grizzlies is considerably less okay. Andrea Bargnani has responded to his mammoth contract extension by playing formidably, and Chris Bosh has simply been a monster in his first four games (29.5 points and 13 rebounds per game). DeMar DeRozan and especially Jose Calderon have been considerably less exciting, though, and to win more games they'll need those two to step it up.
Washington Wizards
Record: 2-3
Opponents' Winning Percentage: 0.560
Grade: C
Notes: Losing Antawn Jamison hurts. He was pretty clearly the team's best player last season and because of a bum shoulder hasn't had the opportunity to play a single regular season game yet and probably won't for at least another week. As a result, the Wizards are off to a bit of a shaky start despite pretty solid individual starts for Gilbert Arenas, Andray Blatche, Brendan Haywood, and Caron Butler. Getting the real Agent Zero back is a great place to start, but they'll need Jamison at full strength too if they want to be taken seriously.
It's very early in the season to count any of what these teams have done as trends, but certainly more is known now than a week ago. What changes can we expect in week 2? What new trends will be set, and what early stories will change direction? That's what HOOPSWORLD is for; check back every day for every possible snippet of updates.
