Jeff from CelticsBlog.com is doing the grunt work to put together a comprehensive NBA preview from bloggers ’round the ‘sphere. The Atlantic Division Preview was first, the Southwest Division was second, and now the Central Division is out. Here are the highlights from the participating bloggers for each team, click on the blog links to see the full team preview:

Chicago Bulls

[Give Me The Rock]
Non-player goals would be to try to trade some expendable players to get help at the SG position. Yes, I know that Ben Gordon is on the team, but, while I can’t deny his scoring ability, at 6′ 3″ (and apparently a smaller 6′ 3″ than Derrick Rose) I’ve always felt his height was a liability and that the Bulls would have a very hard time making it through the playoffs with him as the go-to guy. Prediction: 42-40

[Blog-A-Bull]
One major goal is to get the team’s defense back to what it before last season, a top-5 unit that thrived on hassling opponents into bad shots and turnovers. With the personnel mostly constant from those happier times, the onus is on Del Negro to get the team motivated on that end of the floor. Likely years away from being a great offense, the return to a top defensive team is imperative if they hope to challenge for a playoff spot, which is the ultimate aspiration for the team this season. Prediction: 43-39

Cleveland Cavaliers

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flickr/ellievanhoutte

Time for some quick react quotes from the past two Wizards games. It certainly wasn’t pretty, but the Wiz were able to squeeze out dubs versus both Miami and Chicago. Considering the injuries, I’ve become comfortable in the fact that the Wizards can mange wins while trying to find a rhythm. These are not your father’s Washington Wizards Bullets…so let’s not get spoiled by four playoff appearances in a row. Even so, wins against the Miami Heat and the Chicago Bulls are hardly anything to write a blog post home about, or is it?

Next Up: Boston Celtics, 7pm, Wednesday April 9th. Onto to the quotes….

Miami Heat

“Last night, when the Wizards clinched their fourth straight playoff appearance with a 109-95 victory over the dreadful Miami Heat, the reaction from the crowd was the basketball equivalent of a golf clap, and players reacted with relief rather than excitement. [Washington Post]

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Well, that answers Ivan Carter’s question, Gilbert Arenas will sit out and rest the knee tonight against the Chicago Bulls, opting out of the back-to-back. Who knows what that means….I thought it was normal rest earlier this season, then all of a sudden, he’s having another surgery. Antawn Jamison, as most know, will also be dress-code suited on the bench.

The update is that Gilbert is out as a precaution.

Quarter One

11:41: Can of Tuff Juice from long distance to start.

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Is he in or is he out (for the season)…..what exactly is going on with Caron Butler?

At this point of the season, we can all say that we’d rather Butler heal 100% before returning to the court.

My question is: What the hell is going on with the team medical staff?

MRI #1 says strain. MRI #2 says tear. (yea, yea…that could’ve happened when Tuff Juice tried to come back) The next order: a reevaluation, of course. The franchise is mum on the whole thing because of “policy.”

Today’s Ivan Carter story in the Washington Post gives us hope that Caron might return this season. As Bullets Forever points out, the Times is not covering the latest. Maybe they don’t have a source, maybe they’re waiting for something official.

I had a conversation with a friend a while back about the medical staff for the Washington Wizards. I would call this friend a former team source. And this conversation took place back in mid, late-October…..way before the Caron Butler fiasco (per se) and pertaining to Gilbert’s 2nd time around knee issues. In any case, his assessment was less than complimentary. At the time, I didn’t think much of it….but now……

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Okay, back to blogging…..it’s been a couple days. Overload at work, knee surgery earlier today (more on that later)….yada, yada, yada. The most important thing, I made it home just in time to catch the Wizards-Bulls game. Since I was slightly incapacitated, my boy AJ is going to help me out. But of course, I could not help taking some notes.

So let’s start the show…

1st Quarter

KB
Ok, AJ did not make it home in time for the 1st quarter (or second) and I wasn’t up for taking notes just yet. And perhaps this should’ve been the case for the whole game since the 1st was the best quarter of the game for the Wizards. They came out with some energy, moved the ball well, and Caron Butler was leading the offensive flow with 6 assists. At the end of one, the Wizards led 27-20. I believe the Wizards shot over 50% for the 1st. And then came the……

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