Introduction
It was a summer of fun in the NBA with blockbuster trades galore and major free-agent signings. The transactions will seriously change the balance of power in the NBA as they will resurrect some clubs and impoverish others.
The turbulent summer that saw Kobe Bryant escape a possible rape trial in Colorado, the Dream Team capture a mere bronze metal in Athens, and a pathetic and immature war of words between the dismantled Los Angeles Lakers can finally be put aside for some real on the court drama.
Powerhouses
For the first time in the last several seasons, the East can arguably match, if not beat the West in this category. The defending champion Detroit Pistons are one of these new Eastern big rigs, as they return their entire core group.
The Indiana Pacers, despite suffering early season injuries to Jermaine O’Neal and Reggie Miller, are 5-2, and assuming Ron Artest can control himself and not focus too much on his music career, they will continue to have success.
South Beach rounds out the top teams in the East as a revamped Miami Heat squad with Shaq at the helm looks dangerous early in the center-less East. The Heat are thin, but assuming they can be healthy come playoffs, this team has championship potential.
The Western Conference has seen the greatest shift take place as the Lakers have fallen from the team to beat to a question mark for the playoffs. Minnesota tops this deeper, but not as intimidating conference. At 3-2, the Timberwolves are the favorite to reach the Finals—that is if an aging Latrell Sprewell can be happy with 13 million dollars a season, instead of his demanded 15 million dollars.
Trailing the T-wolves are the not-so-usual suspects. Tim Duncan and the Spurs look to contend again, but the Lakers are mediocre at best. Dallas lost Steve Nash and still can’t play defense, and Sacramento is an older and flawed squad.
This could be the year teams such as Houston, Memphis, Denver, Phoenix and Utah make a push toward the top half of the conference. A face-lifted Houston team has the weapons in Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady who was acquired via trade for Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley while Denver, Phoenix, and Memphis all have loads of young and exciting talent.
Cellar Dwellers
The expansion Charlotte Bobcats lead off this category. This team was created to fail. They have absolutely no talent outside of first pick Emeka Okafor and guard Eddie House. But they are in the East, in particular the Southeast Division, which is extremely weak outside of the top three, so this team should be able to win 10 games to avoid the worst record in NBA history.
Golden State will be the easiest win in the West. This team traded away their best player in the off-season and has failed to make much of an attempt to build a solid team.
Question Marks
The Lakers and Kobe Bryant have to be the most talked about mediocre team in history. Jerry Buss has successfully dismantled an organization that was a serious championship contender to a team that may have new head coach Rudy Tomjanovich sounding a lot like Jim Mora. Playoffs? It is truly up in the air for a team with no presence in the middle. Kobe’s demands, and Buss’ stupidity in heeding them, were outrageous and pathetic. Bryant wanted to be the star of the main event, but now it looks like he will be only highlighting the matinee.
Toronto, with its 3-0 start, has started to turn heads, but has sinse dropped to 4-3. They have knocked off the Rockets and the Pistons early. Rafer Alston looks like a solid starting point guard, Chris Bosh is living up to the hype, and Vince Carter may finally be having fun. The early success could quiet talk of dealing Carter, however, should the team start to slip, expect that to be revitalized. This team is the strongest in a dismal Eastern Conference Northeast Division and should make the playoffs.
Sleepers
The Utah Jazz are certainly alive again as they scored over 100 points in their first four games, all resulting in wins. They sit in at 5-1 behind equally surprising Seattle in the Western Conference Northwest Division. The Jazz stole Carlos Boozer from Cleveland and Andrei Kirilenko could be an MVP candidate. Oh yeah, and Jerry Sloan is up to his usual tricks en route to another Coach of the Year award.
This year’s other big surprise will be the team that won just one game in their first 20 last year; the Orlando Magic. The Magic have already won four games which took until December 13 last season. Dealing McGrady was a solid move as it got rid of an overpaid, disgruntled super star and replaced him with two excellent and motivated players in Francis and Mobley. The Magic will sneak in the playoffs this season.
Busts
Denver will have a sophomore slump this season. They will still make the playoffs, but the off-court troubles of Carmello Anthony along with teams finally figuring out how to stop the Nuggets, should slow down their progress if just for another season.
The Philadelphia 76ers will undoubtedly be horrible but still salvage a playoff appearance this season. Iverson is no longer “The Answer,” as the Olympic Team found out this summer.
