New Beast of the East?

The Maine Red Claws must not have liked what I said about the Eastern Conference or perhaps they heard that I thought they were the most overrated team in the NBA Development League.

Notice the use of past tense.

All they did yesterday was fleece Springfield (who I don't honestly believe will win another game this season) by acquiring the league's leading scorer (Morris Almond) and the eighth-leading rebounder (T.J. Cummings), who won't even start on this ridiculously deep team that's had three different NBA-assignees (Bill Walker and J.R. Giddens from the Boston Celtics and Alexis Acinja from the Charlotte Bobcats) at times this year to add a boost.

I thought Maine was a pretender. They were feeding on a weak Eastern Conference and losing to better teams. Heck, Maine has lost to Springfield four times (they're 5-22... did I mention I don't think they're going to win another game this year?).

Now? Maine is a legitimate contendor, whether they get their NBA-assignees back or not.

As recently as Thursday I considered Maine perhaps the fourth or fifth best team in the league, leaning towards fifth, and even considering sixth. Now? They're a legitimate top-four team along with Rio Grande Valley, Austin and Iowa.

This move has two major effects on the Vipers:

1. The Vipers have their only two regular season meetings with Maine this weekend at State Farm Arena. Saturday at 8:00 and Sunday at 5:00. Almond and Cummings should have enough time to learn the system, and besides, they've seen Maine plenty this year from the other end. I was originally thinking these games were going to be similar to the Vipers blasting through of Iowa in Des Moines. Not anymore. I expect two down-to-the-wire competitive contests. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing.

2. The Vipers hold a 3.0 games lead over Austin for first place in the Western Conference and, if you want to lump everyone together, 3.5 games lead over Maine who has the fourth best record in the league. The Vipers are 2.5 back of Iowa for the best record in the league. I thought the race was going to be between RGV and Iowa for the top spot, but now, realistically, those four teams could finish in any order at the top. I've talked at length about Maine playing in the easier conference and therefore having an easier road to a great record. But what about Austin? They have three games with Springfield (and five with Bakersfield) left. Must be nice to get to beat up on the weakest teams in the league. But, hey, you can only play the schedule in front of you. The Vipers have two games left with Springfield themselves, plus three with Bakersfield, so let's not blow it completely out of proportion, but that's one extra game the team chasing the Vipers has against a team that I don't think will win again this year. And Maine's going to win more games because of the trade. So... it's going to be a photo finish.