The "Titanic" Division

Sinking faster than the Titanic, is the East's Atlantic division, in which the Nets and Sixers probably should be the top 2 teams and have winning records. Somehow, someway, they don't and its abysmal. Many teams out West could move to the Atlantic and find the playoffs this season.

The Nets should be by far ahead of the pack at this point, but at times they just appear bored or as if they don't have the answer to finish out a game. It's amazing considering that the core trio of Kidd, Carter, Jefferson is healthy this year and was winning games last year as well. While a big man would help, it shouldn't be unreallistic to think a talented core of those 3 plus some great new rookie and vet talent off the bench would win games. A mystery right now, but with last nights performance vs Phoenix maybe the Nets are about to turn things around.

Sixers have the biggest little man in this game in AI. A true competitor with heart who puts it all out on the court and makes big plays. He plays hurt, he scraps, he doesn't let the competition strike fear in him. And the guys around him aren't exactly scrubs. Iguodola and Carney should be breakout type players in their explosive playmaking. Wait and see. With looking at the other teams in the divison, there's no reason Philly shouldn't be the 2nd best.

The Knicks are clearly a team of "heroes" with no identity. So much talent overloaded on one roster. Steve Francis and Marbury are all-star caliber guards but shouldn't co-exist on one unit. Couple that with more scorer types like Crawford, Robinson, and Frye, as well as big man Eddie Curry, and it makes one wonder what the plan is for New York. Isiah as coach is a nice move, but will only work if he has a realistic team to coach.

The Toronto Raptors' new gameplan with new GM Jerry CoAngelo was to start running it Phoenix style. Problem is they aren't the Suns. Yes they have talent, but Bosh/Bargnani aren't Amare, and TJ Ford is no Steve Nash. I've seen many other players say TJ Ford is the fastest PG in the league. Which is good, but you can't expect the roster of Raptors to be knocking down 3's as much as Phoenix. Couple that with rotation. Phoenix does this better than any other team in the league. Give Toronto at least a few years to adjust; to the new plan and their new bigman rook.

That leaves the Celtics. Another strange story. They have held onto veteran Paul Pierce for longer than they should have. Constantly rebuilding, yet keeping Pierce in limbo is wrong. You cant put it all on the back of this player as great as he is. While there are flashes of talent on the roster, its not championship calibur by a longshot. If you want to rebuild you don't just re-package players yearly to try to find someone who "might succeed" alongside Pierce. You need to truly rebuild. Package pierce for a high draft pick and get the plan in gear. I've seen other columnists suggest Danny Ainge become coach as well. But like I mentioned about Isiah, why coach if you don't have a proper team to be coached?