Keys For Success: Atlantic Division

With the NBA season about to begin tomorrow, the little girl inside me needs to talk some more basketball, and cute boys, oddly enough.  So, I'm going to break down each division, team by team, solely based on which player will be the most important to the success of the team this year.  I am going to start with the Atlantic Division, you know, alphabetical, I guess...in the Eastern Conference.

Boston Celtics
     Jeff Green: Green is a super solid player with size and is an all around talent.  He showed some sick play in the preseason, he looks to be coming out strong since his absence last season.With Ray Allen gone, Paul Pierce and Garnett getting...up there, and some new young bigs, he is going to have to play his best to keep the team anchored.

Brooklyn Nets
     MarShon Brooks: The Nets starting five are looking strong this year despite some lack of defense and a messy preseason. Their bench however, is made up of a motley crew of drop outs and could-have-beens (sorry guys).  Their go-to bench guy and sixth man, MarShon brooks, is a strong player though, and has shown he can step it up.  When the starters have to take a breather, he has to be able to step in and take over.

New York Knicks
     Amar'e Stoudemire: Last season was one of the weakest in Stoudemires' career, which is understandable considering the countless bad lucks that happened to this guy.  But, The Knicks has revamped and kicked it into overdrive with...senior citizens.  Although the bench can take care of themselves this year, the starters have to do it.  Melo and Stoudemire need to gel quickly, but most of the pressure will be on the latter.  The work he put in this summer looks exciting, and needs to pay off.

Philadelphia 76ers
     Andrew Bynum: Whew...it has to feel pretty bad to be traded away by a title contending team for a player who plays the same position and who you consider to be worse than you.  Although most people don't consider Bynum to be the best center in the league, when he plays Dwight Howard, his stats are by far in his favor.  If he can stay injury free and play with a chip on his shoulder, the 76ers will be far more successful.  Plus, he is rocking a new afro now, which is probably just because he thinks he badass, but I like to think its a throwback.

Toronto Raptors
     Andrea Bargnani: The Raptors, despite a cool name and a sick logo, have never really been a contending team.  They have had cool players, even cooler nicknames, and a weird on court optical illusion, but still not contenders.  This year looks to be about the same, but if they are going to compete, their European big man Bargnani, has to play like a big man.  He has put up some solid numbers before, especially since Chris Bosh departed, but they have no super solid big guys and he has to play his part, not the parts of others.