For years, the Atlantic Division was dismissed as the weakest in the NBA, even during the Nets' run as back-to-back Eastern Conference champions. The architect of those teams, current Sixers president Rod Thorn, says that the division is now the toughest in the league, writes Marc Berman of the New York Post. “Oh my goodness, I think the Atlantic Division is the best division in basketball right now,’’ Thorn said. “Every team is better. Jersey (Brooklyn) got way better. Even Toronto will be better. I think Boston also got better. Every team in the Atlantic got better, and until someone beats Boston, they should be favored.’’ Here's more out of the stacked Atlantic..
- Rasheed Wallace, who has had multiple teams offer to bring him out of retirement over the last two years, said that he only wanted to play for Knicks coach Mike Woodson, writes Nate Taylor of the New York Times. The two became close when Woodson served as an assistant coach for the 2004 Pistons championship team.
- Sixers coach Doug Collins likes the flexibility that he has with this year's roster, writes Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News. With Andrew Bynum sidelined, the club was able to move Spencer Hawes up to the center position with Thaddeus Young manning the four in the starting lineup. Outside of that, the Sixers' bench has several players who can move between multiple positions.
- After struggling to fill out the rotation for the last two seasons, Nets coach Avery Johnson now finds himself with the opposite problem, writes Tim Bontemps of the New York Post. As it stands now, C.J. Watson, MarShon Brooks, Josh Childress, Mirza Teletovic, and Andray Blatche figure to be the first five off of the bench. However, others such as Keith Bogans and Reggie Evans could make a strong case for minutes as well.