Ben Gordon and Ben Wallace quit on the Bulls early last year and the season snowballed into a disaster. Wallace is long gone, Gordon wants out, and the Bulls would be best off without his selfishness, his defenselessness and his inability to convert simple layups.

Even without Gordon, the Bulls present a potentially potent offense with Luol Deng's mid-range game, Larry Hughes' slashing talents, Drew Gooden's ability to post or pop, Kirk Hinrich's reliable shooting, and a slew of energetic hustlers in Andres Nocioni, Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah. And, of course, there's rookie phenom Derrick Rose. Without Rose, that group combined to average close to 80 points a game, and that number should only increase.

Still, there's still too much uncertainty surrounding the team, and the Bulls have yet to solve their lack of a refined post player, their over-emphasis on jump shooting, and their lack of quality defenders.

Like the Bucks, the Bulls will be in the hunt for a playoff spot this season, but if they don't solve the problems mentioned above, it will be a second straight trip to the lottery.

Indiana Pacers

About a season and a half too late, the Pacers have finally decided to start over and rebuild.

With Jermaine O'Neal and Jamaal Tinsley missing half the season to injuries, the Pacers learned last season that Mike Dunleavy Jr. could be a reliable playmaker to build around — he put up 19 points a game and 3.5 assists. And Danny Granger continues to be a matchup nightmare — stronger than opposing small forwards, faster than opposing power forwards — while averaging 19.6 points and 6.1 rebounds.

T.J. Ford and Jarrett Jack give the Pacers a young combination of a lithe speedster and a smart, sturdy backup who complement each other well, while Rasho Nesterovic and Jeff Foster are strong and dependable at center.

However, the scorers on the team can't defend, the defensive players are very limited offensively, and there isn't a lot of star power to carry the team. The management finally has their heads in the right place, but it will take some time to see exactly what players need to surround Dunleavy and Granger for the Pacers to escape the Central cellar.

The Central Division matches the Atlantic Division in legit Eastern Conference championship contenders, but while the Bucks, Bulls and Pacers have their problems, they shouldn't be nearly as bad as the Nets and Knicks. And even though the Raptors are a bona-fide playoff team, they don't have the toughness to get out of the first round anyway.

It isn't quite the West's murderous Southwest Division, but top-to-bottom the Central Division is still the class of the Eastern Conference.

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