3 Cleveland Cavaliers

Befitting a man who has a title in his sights, Cavaliers coach Mike Brown owns 22 pairs of eyeglasses. "I've got them in black, silver, gray, red, brown," he says. "My wife picks out a pair for every game, along with my suit, shirt, tie, socks and shoes."

Last year Brown, now 36, did more than look sharp on the sidelines, leading Cleveland to its first playoff series win in 13 years. He was also the first rookie coach to win 50 games since one of his mentors, Rick Carlisle, accomplished the feat with Detroit in 2001--02. But unlike the Pistons and the rest of the Central Division, Brown's Cavs made few off-season changes to their roster. His primary goal will be to improve an offense that ranked 15th in scoring last season (97.6 points a game) but was often predictable, as players stood around waiting for LeBron James to work his magic. "We're going to try to get a little more movement," says Brown, who has included more options off pick-and-rolls. "But make no mistake, the ball is still going to be in LeBron's hands."

As the second-youngest coach in the NBA and one of the few who didn't play in the league, Brown had plenty of skeptics when G.M. Danny Ferry hired him in 2005. But he quieted the doubters by keeping the Cavs in contention after guard Larry Hughes broke a finger on his shooting hand in midseason and missed 46 games. The Cavs beat the Wizards in the first round of the playoffs, then took the Pistons to seven games.

"Last year was great, but our goal is to win the championship," Brown said. But even with a pair of rose-colored glasses, he's unlikely to see that this year. -- Marty Burns

Projected Starting Lineup with 2005--06 statistics

Record: 50--32 (3rd in East)
Points scored: 97.6 (15th in NBA)
Points allowed: 95.4 (10th)
Coach: Mike Brown
(second season with the Cavaliers)

Zydrunas Ilgauskas

POS. C
PPG 15.6
RPG 7.6
APG 1.2
BPG 1.74
SPG 0.49
FG% 50.6
FT% 83.4

LeBron James

POS. SF
PPG 31.4
RPG 7.0
APG 6.6
BPG 0.84
SPG 1.56
FG% 48.0
3FG% 33.5