And since all players 23 and under tend to regress instead of improve, that about evens out whatever contribution said veteran players will add.

Not to mention obtaining a veteran Back-up Center for nothing…. that couldn’t help at all.
Adding a Point Guard with one of the best assist to turnover ratio’s to the bench, probably not worth mentioning.
And having a full compliment of 14 players to practice with…. gee, why would that help?

The ESPN ‘experts’ say: "So will the return of Arenas and Jamison be enough to get the Wiz out of the first round of the playoffs for the first time in four years? Probably not. "

But in the same breath…. the return of Dwayne Wade propels the Heat from worst team in the league in 2007-2008 to the Playoffs in 2008-2009?

They also said: "If the Cavs can find chemistry ….if Big Z and Big Ben have anything left ….if J.J. Hickson makes an immediate impact inside … Cleveland can win 50 "

Boy, that’s a lot of IF’s… and on that, they’re predicting the Cavaliers as the 3rd best team in the EC? Sorry, but that’s not a bet I’d take.

How come they didn’t rate the Wizards as 2nd best in the league; based on IF’s? – “IF Arenas comes back full speed…… IF Caron Butler can stay healthy…. IF the team can play better defense…. Washington can win 55”

fine, you can rank cleveland higher than they deserve (just like every year)
fine, you can keep holding on to a rapidly aging detroit team
fine, you can buy into a 76ers team with a lack of perimeter shooting
but the raptors?
come on, now that’s low. jermaine o’neal is more washed up than shaquille, and he’s makes a team that was clearly less talented than we were last season better than the wizards with arenas back? very weak.
whether we can stop lebron >:( or not is irrelevant here;
how the espn experts can put the raptors above the wiz completely baffles me.
previous posts point out well the inconsistencies in the record impacts of d-wade vs. gil zero…
i can’t wait for when the sportscasters will have to pretend like they had predicted the wiz to fry the dinosaurs in the standings, and a few other teams to boot

I also noticed that when they talked about the other teams in the East, they actually spoke about the impact of off-season moves on the upcoming season:

Boston: Departure of Posey, aging of big-3, etc… Boston loses a few more games. This is the most logical prediction the “experts” made.

Cleveland: Once again, the LBJ love comes through from the National Media. Cleveland, without James, is a lottery team. They picked up Mo Williams and JJ Hickson – ESPN is already giving early MVP love for the Queen? If Cleveland needs a big year from JJ HIckson to win 50, put me down for 2 bills on that bet !! Cleveland is NOT the 3rd best team in the East. Not even close. They’re a 45-37 club…struggling to earn the 6th Playoff seed.

Orlando: added Anthony Johnson, Mickael Pietrus and Courtney Lee (an upgrade over last year) – and they get worse?

Philly: they obviously mentioned Elton Brand – but conveniently omitted that Philly still can’t shoot the basketball.

Toronto: They said Jermaine O’Neal should have the ability to give Chris Bosh “relief” – And Chris will need it after the extra work from the Olympics. I predict less than 40 games for O’Neal.

Miami: Pointing out Dwayne Wade’s “scintillating Olympics performance” – like that’s gonna make up for the fact that they don’t have a PG, and have no inside game and too many forwards.

Atlanta: The East is deeper. They lose Josh Childress. But the Hawks end up with the same record? What kind of logic is that?

Milwaukee: The Bucks get better by getting rid of Mo Williams and Yi Jianlian – and replacing them with Richard Jefferson?

Then the “experts” talk about Washington… only to talk about the Playoffs…. not the regular season… the Playoffs. And how, the addition of Arenas means they have the SAME RECORD as last year and won’t make it out of the 1st round? !!