Boston and Philadelphia? Really?! Philadelphia is a nobody. Elton Brand will sustain a season-ending injury just like he does every year. The Celtics, as long as they have Ray Allen and Paul Pierce, will continue to be good, but you have to know Kevin Garnett is done. Too many games and too much stress on his knees. It's a bad sign when he's out for months without anything substantial being diagnosed. He's played in the league for a long time (since graduating HS) and I think his knees are pretty much through.
I think it's obvious the two teams in the mix in the East will be Orlando (who I'm going to say is one of the best dunking teams of all time) and Cleveland. The Celtics are third, firmly behind those two. Provided Michael Beasley gets out of rehab and changes his life around, Miami will be surprisingly good. Dwyane Wade will establish himself as the undisputed second best player in the league (behind Lebron James, of course) and the Heat should be pretty good. Beasley has the skill to be a 20 point player night in and night out.
In the West you know it's going to be the Spurs and Lakers. Kobe is getting older but he's still a few years away from inefficiency. He's already lost most of his freakish athleticism and is relying more and more on his jumpshot (ala Jordan in his later years). He'll become a better shooter and that should increase his shelf-life but it's pretty clear his athletic prime is behind him. Of course, with Pau and Lamar, the Lakers will still be ridiculously good. I don't like the Artest pickup because I think Ariza was the perfect role player, but he was definitely asking for too much money. Mistake by Rockets to sign him. I don't see his shot-making ability which basically will relegate him to being a great role player (nothing wrong with that).
Clippers should be really exciting to watch this year. Sure, they might not be the best team in the league, but their record will be over .500. Eric Gordon has a silky smooth jumper and Blake Griffin is going to be a beast. Add in Thornton and Baron Davis and you're starting to get a respectable team.
Teams for the future are the Thunder and the Trailblazers. Durant and Westbrook (as a Trojan, I hate to admit Westbrook is good) are going to make a scary good tandem in a couple years. On the trailblazers side, I guess we'll see if Oden will turn into anything special but B-Roy is crazy good.
Here are some pretty random thoughts that are on my mind right now. I know, they're unorganized.
-Best shooting forms in the league belong to Carmelo Anthony, Ray Allen, and OJ Mayo.
-Derek Rose is so athletic I think he's a superhero. And Nate Robinson.
-Dwight Howard might want to learn some offensive moves. You know, besides dunking
-I'm pretty excited to see what Lebron does in the dunk contest (if he goes through with it) although I wouldn't be surprised to just see some big tomahawks.
-Allen Iverson is still good
