Cold Pizza call Bucks "mediocre"

This morning, on ESPN's "Cold Pizza", resident NBA expert Chris Broussard gave his Central Division preview.

He said three teams had a chance to win the Division: Cleveland, Detroit, and Chicago. He predicted the team to emerge from those three would be Cleveland. He based his opinion on LeBron James' stated intention to make a "commitment to defense." (That's some pretty weak evidence upon which to base a prediction. Cleveland might win, but players don't become good defenders through words, they do it through discipline and technique, and James has showed precious little of that on the defensive end. I'm skeptical about the durability of his stated conversion.)

Broussard went on to say he thought Chicago's acquisition of C Ben Wallace made them a player in the Eastern Conference, but that he foresaw trouble between the Bulls players and their roughneck coach Scott Skiles. He cited Skiles track record of alienating players over time, and on information he had that upwards of 7 Bulls asked to be traded last season.

When asked who would be in for "a long season", Broussard immediately mentioned the Bucks. When asked why he said "The Bucks are mediocre. They are what they are." That was the extent of his analysis on the Bucks.

He went on to predict that the Pacers may fall apart as a team due to the weight of recurrent injuries and off-the-court problems.