Fred Kerber of the New York Post reports that at least one expert is picking the New Jersey Nets to win the East. Paul Pierce of the Boston Celtics likes the moves made by the Nets this summer and believes they can repeat as Eastern Conference Champions.

"The Nets made changes and it's all about chemistry but with their trades I believe they definitely got better. On paper they will be the team to beat [in the East]," said Pierce, who helped lead the Celtics to the Eastern Finals, where they lost in six games to the Nets.

"They're the Eastern Conference champs. They've gotten better. They upgraded from a year ago. They basically traded Keith Van Horn for Rodney Rogers and Todd MacCulloch for Dikembe Mutombo. Both of them are better players. So they definitely should be the favorites going into the season."

Pierce wasn?t nearly as confident in his own club. After losing Rodney Rogers to the Nets and Trading Kenny Anderson for Vin Baker, Pierce wonders about the team chemistry. "We have to wait and see," Pierce said. "You have to find out how the chemistry is going to work and how our players are going to get along. I thought we had something special last year. Maybe we should have come back with the same team but obviously we had to get better. We weren't quite there. Hopefully this change will make us better."