NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE PREVIEW : Bulls Aren’t Only Team That Will Feel Loss of Key Player

There should only be a Mourning in the NBA, Alonzo with the Charlotte Hornets. Instead, after an off-season of tragedy and surprise throughout the Eastern Conference, there is mourning.

Mourning in Boston, where all-star Reggie Lewis, who had yet to decide whether he would return this season because of a heart condition, collapsed and died in July.

Mourning in New Jersey, because Drazen Petrovic was killed in a car accident on a rain-slicked German autobahn near Munich.

Mourning, to a far lesser degree, in Chicago, where Michael Jordan announced his retirement just days before the start of training camp.

Who will fill the voids? No one will immediately replace those individuals, and it’s hard to imagine anyone can ever duplicate what Jordan did for the Bulls. All three were scoring leaders for their teams. Jordan and Lewis were captains and community heroes.

Some team, however, will replace the Bulls atop the conference and maybe another will even take the Celtics’ annual spot in the playoffs. Hoping to make Chicago the second city in the East--if not the third or the fourth or the fifth--are Cleveland and New York, and fast-charging newcomer Charlotte.

“We aspire to the title, and that’s a goal of ours, but it’s not the be- all, end-all of the season,” Knick Coach Pat Riley said. “There are a lot of teams aspiring to the title. But it’s a mistake to assume it’s going to be easy just because Michael Jordan retired.”

OK, then, how about easier?

“You only have to look at the history of the NBA,” Chicago Coach Phil Jackson said. “When Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Walton with Portland, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird retired, teams fell 15-20 games. We can only hope to stem that process.”

A team-by-team look at the Eastern Conference, in predicted order of finish:

CENTRAL DIVISION

1. CLEVELAND CAVALIERS

* Coach: Mike Fratello (first season)

* 1992-93 Record: 54-28

* Outlook: Wither the Hairdressers? After averaging 19.3 fouls last season, they committed 30.1 in eight exhibition games, a sign that Fratello is making an impact with his intense style. Brad Daugherty, who fouled out once the previous two regular seasons, fouled out twice in exhibition play. The Cavaliers will be the division favorites, but the real goal should be nothing less than at least the conference title. In Daugherty and Mark Price, they have perennial all-stars. In Larry Nance and John Williams, they have the two best shot-blocking forwards over the last five seasons. In first-round pick Chris Mills, they may have the answer at small forward. And in the long run, what do they have? A chance for the big time, all they can ask for after years of Jordan’s oppression.

2. CHARLOTTE HORNETS

* Coach: Allan Bristow (third season)

* 1992-93: 44-38

* Outlook: It’s suddenly a football town, but maybe the basketball team can get some attention around the Carolinas. Just a hunch. The Hornets already have everyone’s attention around the league, with the devastating combination up front of Mourning, 23, and Larry Johnson, 24. Hersey Hawkins, all of 27, arrives as the shooting guard and joins Dell Curry as an outside threat. Imagine if they add Danny Manning in a year as a free agent. Bristow wanted an aggressive man-to-man defender so the Hornets drafted Scott Burrell. What isn’t going right? The Hornets are thin at point guard, and even though Johnson and Mourning rebound in double figures, Charlotte still needs to be better than 22nd in the league.

3. CHICAGO BULLS

* Coach: Phil Jackson (fifth season)

* 1992-93: 57-25

* Outlook: Some symbolism: Scottie Pippen, taking over Michael Jordan’s old locker in Chicago Stadium, found it still full of candy, wrist bands, T-shirts, gym shorts and toothpaste. Some reality: Pippen won’t take over for Jordan in other areas. No one can, of course, which is why the Bulls can only hope for a soft landing. Toni Kukoc, finally in the NBA after years in Europe, can help with that. Otherwise, they have lost the game’s best offensive player and the best defensive guard, if not the best, period, and have no one besides Pippen and Horace Grant to replace him. B.J. Armstrong, the defending three-point champion? He doesn’t figure to get as many open shots starting next to Pete Myers. Besides, players who win the three-point title one season historically go quickly down the drain. Call it a jinx.

4. DETROIT PISTONS

* Coach: Don Chaney (first season)

* 1992-93: 40-42

* Outlook: Were this baseball, we could say they are caught between hops. The two lottery picks from last summer, Lindsey Hunter and Allan Houston, have bright futures but also don’t figure to get the bulk of the playing time at guard with Joe Dumars and Isiah Thomas still around. Sean Elliott is in Detroit now, too, and that is good news for the Pistons. They get an all-star small forward who doesn’t turn 26 until just before the season’s midpoint and who increased his scoring average in San Antonio each of the last four years. And they get rid of Dennis Rodman, whose personality made him more trouble than he was worth, which is saying something, considering the way he rebounds. If the Pistons come up with a big man within a couple of years, the Palace of Auburn Hills could again become a scary place to visit.

5. INDIANA PACERS

* Coach: Larry Brown (first season)

* 1992-93: 41-41

* Outlook: The Pacers have high- scoring Reggie Miller and it’s their turn to spend time with Brown, but what else is here? Pooh Richardson, Rik Smits, Dale Davis and Derrick McKey. Maybe Brown will show again why he is regarded as such a great tactical coach. Maybe Smits will play an entire season as he did against Patrick Ewing in the first round of the playoffs. Maybe McKey, a forward who can defend against the center and the guard and pass and play unselfishly, won’t be so inconsistent. Maybe someone will replace Detlef Schrempf, the leading rebounder last season. Or maybe not. Maybe the Pacers will hang around mediocrity for another season.

6. ATLANTA HAWKS

* Coach: Lenny Wilkens (first season)

* 1992-93: 43-39

* Outlook: Who plays forward? Dominique Wilkins, of course, 33 years old but coming off perhaps his best season. Kevin Willis, of course, after averaging 17.9 points and 12.9 rebounds. Except they are still in each other’s way. And the first-round pick in 1992 went toward a forward, Adam Keefe. And the first-round pick in ’93 went toward a forward, Doug Edwards. Something has to give. Too often, however, it’s been the Hawk defense, the second-most pourous unit last season, behind only Dallas.

7. MILWAUKEE BUCKS

* Coach: Mike Dunleavy (second season)

* 1992-93: 28-54

* Outlook: Two significant additions, Ken Norman as a free agent and Vin Baker in the lottery, means they should improve, just not enough to get out of the cellar. That both play in the frontcourt is significant, since the Bucks finished last in the league in rebounding. That also gives them a sense of depth, since Norman’s arrival moves Blue Edwards, tied for the team lead in scoring in 1992-93, to backup small forward and shooting guard. Baker is expected, at least at the start, to play behind Anthony Avent at power forward and Frank Brickowski at center, but this is not your average role player. Already, Dunleavy is telling him to bring the ball upcourt against pressure defenses.

ATLANTIC DIVISION

1. NEW YORK KNICKS

* Coach: Pat Riley (third season)

* 1992-93: 60-22

* Outlook: There is no truth to the rumor that Patrick Ewing, John Starks and Riley helped Jordan pack his belongings. The Knicks are the new odds-on favorites to win the East title, thanks to Jordan’s retirement and a defense that allowed opponents only 84 points and 37.5% shooting during exhibition play, in which the Knicks clearly wanted to set a tone. They have size up front and are very deep--Anthony Bonner was fourth in minutes last season at Sacramento and is 12th man here. If there is a potential worry, it’s with the lack of shooting, though they hope rebounding and defense will again make up for a team that was only 19th best last season. Hubert Davis has taken over for Rolando Blackman as Starks’ backup at off guard.

2. ORLANDO MAGIC

* Coach: Brian Hill (first season)

* 1992-93: 41-41

* Outlook: You’d better believe this is a team on the move. One day Matt Guokas is the coach and the next he has been, ahem, “promoted” to vice president of basketball development. All well and good except that he didn’t even have an office at Orlando Arena. He has since joined the league’s 28th franchise, NBC. And now, power has been stripped from General Manager Pat Williams. His contract runs out at the end of the season and there are no talks of a new deal. Through it all, the Magic will get better. Having Shaquille O’Neal will do that for a team, especially when it wins the lottery a second year in a row despite barely missing the playoffs. This season’s bright rookie is Anfernee Hardaway, not bright enough yet to unseat Scott Skiles at point guard so he becomes the starter at shooting guard. That moves Nick Anderson to starting small forward and Dennis Scott, who again arrived out of shape, to the bench.

3. NEW JERSEY NETS

* Coach: Chuck Daly (second season)

* 1992-93: 43-39

* Outlook: They lost Petrovic, Chris Dudley to free agency and Sam Bowie in trade. They gained Benoit Benjamin, Kevin Edwards, Armon Gilliam and Rex Walters. All that talk of them nipping at the heels of the Knicks has cooled just a bit. Derrick Coleman is not yet an all-star, believe it or not, but he is a star, along with Karl Malone, Charles Barkley and Larry Johnson the only forwards last season who averaged 20 points and 10 rebounds. Maybe even more encouraging for the Nets, he seemed to mature. Now they have to come up with a new contract, and none of that chintzy $69-million stuff either. Kenny Anderson would be a rookie now if he had stayed all four years at Georgia Tech, but instead already scares opposing defenses with his speed and skills as a penetrator and ball handler.

4. MIAMI HEAT

* Coach: Kevin Loughery (third season)

* 1992-93: 36-46

* Outlook: Remember when people talked about the Heat getting Harold Miner at No. 12 in the 1992 draft as a steal, and then he couldn’t find playing time with a lottery team? He’s a steal again. The Heat is raving about the strides the former USC star has made in areas such as defense and playing without the ball. This team really could have used that ’93 first-round pick after disappointing last season, but Detroit got it in the John Salley trade. This team could also use some stability--what with contract problems and mental and physical ailments, the preferred roster has not been together since Nov. 13, 1991. Now Grant Long is expected to miss three weeks because of a broken right hand. Speaking of hurting, only Philadelphia, Dallas and Detroit had worse shooting percentages than Miami last season.

5. BOSTON CELTICS

* Coach: Chris Ford (fourth season)

* 1992-93: 48-34

* Outlook: Drug tests would have been ordered if anybody had dared suggest two or three years ago that the starting lineup for opening night 1993 would be Sherman Douglas, Dee Brown, Kevin Gamble, Ed Pickney and Robert Parish. Three seasons removed from a 56-victory campaign, the Celtics are suddenly fighting to avoid missing the playoffs for the first time since 1978-79. What Lewis’ loss means to the Celtics in mood cannot be measured. On the court, it means that no returning player averaged more than 13.5 points last season or shot more than 242 free throws. The two significant additions are both big men: Dino Radja, in the NBA after four years in Europe, and Acie Earl. The first-round pick from Iowa fouled out of of four of nine exhibition games. Parish said Earl was really trying out for Benihana and not the Celtics--chop, chop, chop.

6. WASHINGTON BULLETS

* Coach: Wes Unseld (seventh season)

* 1992-93: 22-60

* Outlook: Were it about true value, the Bullets got their lunch handed to them by trading Harvey Grant to Portland for Kevin Duckworth. But their thinking will pay off by allowing Pervis Ellison, a center in the past, to move to power forward, which may suit him better. Tom Gugliotta has a great future, coming off a rookie season in which he averaged 14.7 points and 9.6 rebounds. This year’s lottery pick, Calbert Cheaney, has been nagged by injuries in camp and may not start ahead of Rex Chapman. Together, they need to shoot for just being in games before worrying about improving in the victory column--the Bullets lost 33 games by 10 points or more last season.

7. PHILADELPHIA 76ERS

* Coach: Fred Carter (first full season)

* 1992-93: 26-56

* Outlook: The 76ers are one giant investment in the future. Shawn Bradley, who was 2 when Moses Malone played his first pro game, has skills and coordination to go with his 7-foot-6 body, but will be a paper tiger on defense, getting pushed around until he bulks up. Malone was signed during the summer to be his tutor. Hersey Hawkins, the leading scorer last season, was traded to Charlotte so the 76ers could reacquire their own probable lottery pick for ‘94, originally sent to Phoenix in the brilliant deal for Jayson Williams. Any more questions how they got in this position? Jeff Hornacek wins this season’s Derek Harper Please Rescue Me Award.