Formerly a Rough and Tough Group, It’s Just a Bunch of Pushovers Now

Here’s the hard thing to understand about the NBA’s Eastern Conference:

If every Eastern general manager said for years he was getting his team ready to take over after Michael Jordan left, how come Jordan is gone and none of them are ready?

The decline of the East was neatly encapsulated last spring by the New York Knicks, who made it all the way to the finals with Patrick Ewing first diminished, then absent.

Meanwhile, two of the top four finishers, Orlando (33-17, first in the Atlantic Division) and Atlanta (31-19, second in the Central) took hard looks at themselves in the mirror and broke up their nuclei to start over.

Nor does it help when the league is getting more frustrated with lower-scoring (Eastern) ball and putting in ever-more non-contact rules, which won’t make it easier for the rough, tough Heat and Knicks.

But the major problem is the distribution of the top players. Once, most of them were in the East. Now, they’ve migrated. Of the 15 players on last season’s three All-NBA teams, 11 were from the West.

It’s a problem for the league if some puny survivor from the East can’t make its Western foe go six games, which is what happened last spring. The Knicks were gone in a fast five and there went the showpiece TV rating.

A friend who covers the East claims there isn’t an Eastern team that would even make the playoffs in the West.

I think he’s being too harsh. I think two or three might.

1. MIAMI HEAT

Projected starters

G Tim Hardaway

G Voshon Lenard

F Jamal Mashburn

F P.J. Brown

C Alonzo Mourning

1999 record: 33-17, tied for first in Atlantic.

Offense: 89.3 (23)

Defense: 83.6 (2).

Gone: Terry Porter, Terry Mills.

New: Otis Thorpe.

It’s not good when Pat Riley’s teams get KOd in the first round of the playoffs--by the hated Knicks yet--in his third and fourth seasons, when players are tiring of the lash and the mind games.

Sure enough, there was a test of wills between Riley and Tim Hardaway, who was either hurt or starting on the downside of his career. Even with a healthy, happy Hardaway, Miami has a firepower problem that Riley hasn’t been able to solve. The new no-touch rules are hardly to its advantage, as the big numbers Miami gave up in the exhibition season proved.

Nevertheless, Riley’s teams still play harder than any others and the Heat will figure out how to move its feet on defense, even if it can’t knock opponents off theirs first. Or else.

2. MILWAUKEE BUCKS

Projected starters

G Sam Cassell

G Ray Allen

F Glenn Robinson

F J.R. Reid

C Robert Traylor

1999 record: 28-22, fourth in Central.

Offense: 91.3 (15).

Defense: 89.5 (11).

Gone: Dell Curry, Michael Curry, Chris Gatling, Armen Gilliam.

New: Danny Manning, Dale Ellis, J.R. Reid.

Who woke these guys up?

George Karl spent the off-season trying to see what he could get for his former franchise player, one-dimensional Glenn Robinson, whose famous $68-million contract now makes him only the third highest-paid player on the team.

The answer: He couldn’t get much.

The Bucks still have runty big people (try Robert Traylor and J.R. Reid as starters) but then, Karl wouldn’t know what to do with a real center if he had one.

However, with Sam Cassell finally sound enough to take his place alongside Big Dog and Ray Allen, and a bench augmented by Orlando Magicians-for-a-moment Danny Manning and Dale Ellis, they’re a deep, high-scoring outfit who will look better under the new rules. They had a sparkling 7-1 exhibition season and this is only the East.

3. CHARLOTTE HORNETS

Projected starters

G David Wesley

G Eddie Jones

F Bobby Phills

F Derrick Coleman

C Elden Campbell

1999 record: 26-24, fifth in Central.

Offense: 92.0 (13)

Defense: 92.0 (16).

Gone: No one of note.

New: Rookie Baron Davis, Todd Fuller.

The Hornets’ 14-4 finish with Eddie Jones and Elden Campbell makes them hot prospects in the East, even though they missed the playoffs.

Derrick (Where’s the Party?) Coleman returns and Anthony Mason, who was out last season, will be back too, so there goes their chemistry. In the depleted, center-poor East, Campbell looks pretty good--can you imagine our Elden an all-star?--but, of course, he may yet nod off as he always did for the Lakers.

Jones says he’s ecstatic to be away from the Lakers, where his name was always in trade rumors. Of course, now the Hornets say they won’t offer him a new contract yet, so he’s going into his free agent season, unsecured.

It will be a challenge for Coach Paul Silas, but if he can keep Campbell awake and everyone else happy . . .

4. INDIANA PACERS

Projected starters

G Mark Jackson

G Reggie Miller

F Jalen Rose

F Dale Davis

C Rik Smits

1999 record: 33-17, first in Central.

Offense: 94.6 (6).

Defense: 90.9 (13).

Gone: Antonio Davis.

New: Rookie Jonathan Bender.

Going: Larry Bird.

Not that he’s disenchanted that management has started rebuilding, but Bird then announced again that this is his last season, making him a lame duck coaching more lame ducks, such as Reggie Miller, whose contract will be up next summer and who hasn’t been offered an extension.

Bird didn’t like losing Antonio Davis and wouldn’t have known what to do with Bender, the high school phenom, even before the kid was hurt. Nevertheless, President Donnie Walsh is on to something. As they showed in last spring’s dispirited loss to the Knicks, who were without Ewing, the Pacers are dependent on tenderfoot Rik Smits and needed to consider the future before the present ended.

Nevertheless, what remains is a roster full of hard-working professionals, and in the East, that’s worth something.

5. PHILADELPHIA 76ERS

Projected starters

G Allen Iverson

G Eric Snow

F Theo Ratliff

F George Lynch

C Matt Geiger

1999 record: 28-22, third in Atlantic.

Offense: 89.3 (21).

Defense: 87.3 (8).

Gone: Anthony Parker, Harvey Grant.

New: Billy Owens, Stanley Roberts.

Larry Brown did the impossible again, easing Allen Iverson to shooting guard so Philadelphia could run an occasional play that features a pass, taking the 76ers all the way to the second round of the playoffs.

Unfortunately, it gets harder, and when that happens, Brown gets edgy.

On the plus side, Iverson may shoot 10,000 free throws under this season’s no-touch rules and Larry Hughes, coming fast, has admirers who think he’ll be better than Iverson. On the other hand, insiders say Iverson tests Brown daily and the coach isn’t one to hide his feelings forever, or at all.

Then there’s the frontcourt, or what’s left of it after Theo Ratliff was lost for the first month of the season and Matt Geiger just left for knee surgery. Brown was so worried, he signed the one and only Stanley Roberts.

It might still be too soon to panic, or pack, but stay tuned.

6. DETROIT PISTONS

Projected starters

G Lindsey Hunter

G Jerry Stackhouse

F Grant Hill

F Christian Laettner

C Don Reid

1999 record: 29-21, third in Central.

Offense: 90.1 (19).

Defense: 86.5 (5).

Gone: Bison Dele.

New: Terry Mills, Michael Curry.

It’s not every day your starting center retires and everyone celebrates, but that was what happened when Dele left them for the water-treatment business in Beirut, giving up $36 million and a life of controversy in the Motor City.

Even if the Pistons’ cap space and their chemistry is enhanced by subtraction, there is the problem of Bison’s replacement. Don Reid?

Not that they’re out of the woods on the chemistry problem. They still have Christian Laettner, who is to harmony what ants are to picnics, and there’s a problem between Jerry Stackhouse and Grant Hill.

Much more worrisome: Hill will be a free agent next summer, so if things don’t improve fast, they could be saying goodbye to another famous Piston soon.

7. NEW YORK KNICKS

Projected starters

G Charlie Ward

G Latrell Sprewell

F Allan Houston

F Larry Johnson

C Marcus Camby

1999 record: 27-23, fourth in Atlantic.

Offense: 86.1 (27).

Defense: 85.3 (4).

Gone: No one of note (yet).

New: John Wallace, Andrew Lang.

Last spring, they made a miraculous run to the finals while boss Dave Checketts dangled Jeff Van Gundy and Van Gundy engaged in a battle of wills with Latrell Sprewell and Spree’s buddy, Marcus Camby.

Not that it looks like anything that’s easy to build on. Still old, cranky and ill-fitting, they have to show it wasn’t a mirage.

Ewing has tendinitis in the Achilles’ he tore last spring and may not play before January. Charlie Ward is coming back slowly after knee surgery. Sprewell turned the preseason into the usual tabloid-stuffing all-Spree-all-the-time circus, blowing off the first week of camp, failing to call (“That’s what agents are for”) and announcing he would take his $130,000 fine to arbitration against the team that then shopped him (no takers) and finally signed him to a $61.9-million extension.

Van Gundy is still trying to figure out how to play Sprewell and Allan Houston, in the same backcourt. And who says Checketts isn’t still laying for Van Gundy?

OK, let’s see you do it again.

8. TORONTO RAPTORS

Projected starters

G Doug Christie

G Tracy McGrady

F Vince Carter

F Charles Oakley

C Kevin Willis

1999 record: 23-27, sixth in Central.

Offense: 91.0 (17).

Defense: 92.8 (18).

Gone: No one of note.

New: Antonio Davis, Dell Curry, Muggsy Bogues.

Thought to be back to square one after Isiah Thomas left and new General Manager Glen Grunwald was forced to trade their first two No. 1 picks, Damon Stoudamire and Marcus Camby, they rocketed toward respectability instead, led by the spectacular Vince Carter and the grumpy Charles Oakley.

Now Grunwald has gotten Antonio Davis. Unfortunately, they still don’t have a point guard, and Oakley, being Oakley, is upset about the way management handled his situation, even if he wound up with a three-year, $18-million deal, and the young guys are going back and forth with the old guys.

Nevertheless, the Raptors have a big, veteran front line, good young perimeter players in Doug Christie and Tracy McGrady and then there’s Carter. If Vince keeps coming, the Raptors will too.

9. ATLANTA HAWKS

Projected starters

G Jason Terry

G Isaiah Rider

F Jim Jackson

F Alan Henderson

C Dikembe Mutombo

1999 record: 31-19, second in Central.

Offense: 86.0 (28).

Defense: 83.2 (1).

Gone: Steve Smith, Mookie Blaylock, Ed Gray.

New: Isaiah Rider, Jim Jackson, Lorenzen Wright, rookie Jason Terry.

Having watched his team swoon each postseason and collapse in last spring’s sweep by the Knicks, General Manager Pete Babcock decided to back up the truck now and avoid the rush later. Getting Wright, who’ll be tough alongside Dikembe Mutombo, was a good move, but they’ll miss their old backcourt, Terry is lost, they still don’t have much firepower and now they have to deal with the one and only Rider.

Rider was his old self in the preseason (one late arrival because “I don’t ride crop-dusters,” two ejections), meaning Lenny Wilkens is in for it. Next summer, Rider’s contract will be up and the Hawks can let him go for cap space--which is the only reason they took him--but by then, Lenny will have seen some stuff even he has never seen before.

10. CLEVELAND CAVALIERS

Projected starters

G Brevin Knight

G Wesley Person

G Lamond Murray

F Shawn Kemp

C Zydrunas Igauskas

1999 record: 22-28, seventh in Central.

Offense: 86.4 (26).

Defense: 88.0 (10).

Gone: Coach Mike Fratello.

New: Coach Randy Wittman, Lamond Murray, Mark Bryant, rookies Andre Miller and Trajan Langdon.

The mistake they made was replacing Fratello with a coach, assuming that’s what Wittman turns out to be. What they need is a faith healer.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who sat out most of last season because of a stress fracture, sat out the preseason because of an infection in the same foot. Murray, the former Clipper, is out until January because of a knee injury. Shawn Kemp came in at a hefty 283, and is reportedly unhappy they hired Jim Paxson as general manager, rather than Isiah Thomas.

The edgy Fratello was a pain in the rear and his slowdown style had attendance nose-diving, but he did a terrific coaching job with meager resources. This season, everyone will discover just how meager.

11. NEW JERSEY NETS

Projected starters

G Stephon Marbury

G Kendall Gill

F Keith Van Horn

F Jaime Feick

C Gheorghe Muresan

1999 record: 16-34, seventh in Atlantic.

Offense: 90.8 (18).

Defense: 94.9 (23).

Gone: Eric Murdock.

New: Gheorghe Muresan, Johnny Newman.

Just when things were looking up, the clock struck midnight, the coach turned into a pumpkin and the Nets turned into the Nets again.

They stunk. They sustained injuries. They got fiery John Calipari fired. They traded for Stephon Marbury, who took one look around and started pining for the snows of Minnesota.

Unfortunately for the new coach, Don Casey, little has improved since. Center/leading spirit Jayson Williams is out until January. Kerry Kittles is coming back slowly off knee surgery.

Marbury and Keith Van Horn will score a lot of points, but then what?

12. BOSTON CELTICS

Projected starters

G Kenny Anderson

G Paul Pierce

F Antoine Walker

F Tony Battie

C Vitaly Potapenko

1999 record: 19-31, fifth in Atlantic.

Offense: 92.2 (12).

Defense: 94.0 (22).

Gone: Ron Mercer, Popeye Jones.

New: Danny Fortson, Eric Williams, Eric Washington, Calbert Cheaney.

Rick Pitino’s personnel decisions have been setting him up for a disaster since he got here. Now that he finally has expectations to live up to, here it comes.

In his latest series of adventures, Pitino had to trade Ron Mercer, who wanted a maximum contract and didn’t dig Pitino’s style; acquired Danny Fortson, who promptly suffered a stress fracture that will keep him out half the season; shopped prima donna/putative star Antoine Walker and then had to make up with him when he couldn’t find a taker.

Embarrassed by last season’s no-show, Pitino also slipped up and predicted the Celtics will make it back to the playoffs, which would be a neat trick. A better bet is that he’ll be back in the NCAA in two seasons.

13. WASHINGTON WIZARDS

Projected starters

G Rod Strickland

G Mitch Richmond

F Juwan Howard

F Michael Smith

C Isaac Austin

1999 record: 18-32, sixth in Atlantic.

Offense: 91.1 (16).

Defense: 93.3 (20).

Gone: Interim Coach Jim Brovelli, Calbert Cheaney, Ben Wallace, Tim Legler, Terry Davis, Jeff McInnis.

New: Coach Gar Heard, Ike Austin, rookie Richard Hamilton.

Compared to the days when Chris Webber and Juwan Howard were getting arrested and Rod Strickland was fighting with teammates or holding out, this looks like heaven.

Mitch Richmond re-upped. Strickland took a short vacation this exhibition season, but he’s under contract and may have been trying to show his new coach how it works around there.

The Wizards even found a center, although Austin is still overweight, as he has been ever since Orlando gave him a big contract last season.

However, owner Abe Pollin is on his way out and expenses are being held down. Heard was chosen because he was the low-priced alternative. His team will be better, but probably not better enough.

14. ORLANDO MAGIC

Projected starters

G Darrell Armstrong

G Tariq Abdul-Wahad

F Bo Outlaw

F Matt Harpring

C Michael Doleac

1999 record: 33-17, tied for first in Atlantic.

Offense: 89.1 (22).

Defense: 86.9 (7).

Gone: Coach Chuck Daly, Penny Hardaway, Nick Anderson, Ike Austin, Horace Grant.

New: Coach Doc Rivers, rookie Corey Maggette, Pat Garrity, Harvey Grant, Anthony Parker, Tariq Abdul-Wahad, Ben Wallace, Terry Davis, Monty Williams, Chris Gatling, Armen Gilliam.

They had to destroy the franchise to save it?

Blasted out of the playoffs by the 76ers, wrung out from years of trying to please Hardaway, management took the Kevorkian alternative, trading Penny and three more starters--Anderson, Grant and Austin--and returned to expansion status, whence it had come.

The future is now built on Maggette and the hope of recruiting free agents. There is whispering around the league about the friendship between Rivers, who lived in San Antonio, and Tim Duncan.

15. CHICAGO BULLS

Projected starters

G Randy Brown

G Hersey Hawkins

F Toni Kukoc

F Elton Brand

C Will Perdue

1999 record: 13-37, eighth in Central.

Offense: 81.8 (29).

Defense: 91.1 (14).

Gone: Brent Barry.

New: Rookies Elton Brand and Ron Artest, Hersey Hawkins, Will Perdue, B.J. Armstrong, Chris Anstey.

Bull fans will be happy to know that management, which hastened the end of the old dynasty so it could start rebuilding, has a plan.

Of course, the plan has nothing to do with this season, which again will be written off.

The plan is to clear enough cap space to sign Tim Duncan and Grant Hill, even if they have to dump Toni Kukoc. They would then woo Duncan and Hill with the pitch that this is their only oppportunity to play together. Unfortunately for the Bulls, this is a longshot, because Duncan dislikes cold weather and big cities.