LeBron, DWade, Bosh, Mike Miller, Big Z and uhm, Carlos Arroyo will all be in Miami jerseys next season. I know that the first 3 names were enough to make my point, but the others were necessary (more on that later). Most people say though that the triumvirate of 1,6 and 3 will be enough to pull the Heat out of the East and straight to the Finals.
On the other beach-lined side of the country, Mamba, Pau, Ronron, Fish, Andrew (he needs a nickname quick) and Chlomar are still going to be Lakers. This time, with the help of former enemy Matt Barnes. With their experience and skill, not to mention Amare, Boozer and Josh Powell(?) all moving East, the Lakers seem favored to go back to The Finals.
So i guess it's obvious: Miami vs LA (of course the Lakers. Clippers? Haha. Funny) in the 2011 NBA Finals. Wade Lebron and Bosh vs Kobe Pau and Phil's legacy. Sounds great! Sounds exciting. Sounds likely? Not so fast.
This is a great game. The best part is that everyone starts out 0-0. Mathematically, everyone's got a shot at the title right? Right. But in all likelihood, it'll come down to a few teams. A few very good teams ready and very much able to beat LAL and MIA. So let's weigh all of them up and see who MIGHT make it to the Finals.
(But of course being that it's soooo early and that Free Agency still isn't done and trades will still be made and injures will happen, and draft picks will shine and disappoint, all this will probably be ridiculously wrong in a few months. But what the hey? At least we have something to go back to for a few laughs right?)
WEST
DALLAS MAVERICKS
The biggest signing for Dallas is their homegrown (sort of) star, Nowitzki. Second best signing was keeping Haywood, to keep a formidable frontline with Caron Butler and Shawn Marion. With Jason Kidd, Terry, Barea and Beaubois, this team is still the elite team they were last year. The addition of Tyson Chandler makes them really deep, but look for them to make one more deal soon, maybe ship Terry or Marion for some sure help for Dirk.
*Can they break the Lake? People thought they could beat LA last year in the playoffs. Unfortunately they never got the chance. With their current roster, they'll probably go as far as 6 games before losing to the Champs. But if they improve that lineup?
DENVER NUGGETS
Two years ago, they were championship material, NBA giants. This year? They're smaller. Much smaller. Kenyon Martin is likely gonna miss a chunk of the season after his surgery. The Bridman is questionable as well. Nene is very good, but he'll need help for the Nuggets to be the tough team that they wanna be. Al Harrington is a great pickup, but fitting in might be a problem as he's more of a poor man's Carmelo than the big inside presence they need. Their most important big man though, Coach George Karl, needs to be on that sideline this year for them to stay in the hunt and for Melo to stay with them after this season.
*Can they break the Lake? They almost did two seasons ago. They won't be able to do so this year though.
GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS
This is a weird team to gauge, mainly cos of their weird coach. But Don Nelson aside, it must be noted that even though they signed David Lee (who i think is a way better pick-up for most teams than Carlos Boozer and [gulp!] Chris Bosh), they still lost key young talent in the form of Maggete, Anthony Morrow, CJ Watson, Anthony Randolph and Kelenna Azubuike. However, a core of Monta Ellis, Lee, Andris Biedrins and Stephen Curry still looks promising. Plus, new owners willing to spend is always a good thing.
*Can they break the Lake? Not likely. But remember when the fast Warriors beat the tall Mavs that year? Nah. Forget i even said that.
HOUSTON ROCKETS
Much like in years before, the Rockets will go only as far as Yao Ming's testy foot can carry them. Adding Brad Miller was a good move, seeing as a frontcourt of Yao, Miller, Luis Scola and Trevor Ariza, paired w/ a Kevin Martin, Aaron Brooks and Kyle Lowry backcourt looks AMAZING on paper. But then again, so did T-Mac-Yao. We all know what happened there.
*Can they break the Lake? If Yao stays healthy, and plays in All-Star form, yikes. Yes.
LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS
It all starts and ends with how Blake Griffin will perform this year right? Right! But that shouldn't have been the case. Their core is okay: Baron Davis, Chris Kaman, Eric Gordon. Adding Ryan Gomes and Randy Foye were okay too. But with the cap space they had and their big-market city, this team should (as it has always been with them) be more than just okay. And with new coach Vinny Del Negro, the Clips are looking like they're gonna live up to their usual expectations and be....okay.
*Can they break the Lake? LA still belongs to the next team on this list. Nothing's gonna change this year. For the record, no, they can't.
LOS ANGELES LAKERS
The defending champions are looking at a 4th 3-Peat for Phil Jackson on his final year of coaching. Kobe and Pau are getting rest in the summer for the first time in years. Keeping Fish and adding big man Theo Ratliff (in case Bynum gets his yearly injury), Matt Barnes (tough perimeter defender + decent 3point shooter = calmer, better shooting version of Ron-Ron, just in case) and Steve Blake (more experienced, better shooting version of Jordan Farmar) has restored the Lakers' Bench Mob that disappeared at times last year. They have the chemistry, the experience, the confidence. It's just a matter of staying focused and turning that switch on and keeping it on to avoid playoff threats (see Nuggets, Rockets 2009 & Thunder, Suns 2010). All in all, still quite possibly the best team in the league, definitely the best in the West, without question.
*Can they break the boredom? These Lakers have the tendency to coast. If they do it again this year against the wrong team, they might finally pay for it. But if there's something Kobe Bryant and D-Fish have proven, when it's win time, there's no one better.
MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES
Stop the Girzzly jokes. This is a real NBA team. Forget the god-awful Vancouver jerseys and that Allen Iverson tragedy. Rudy Gay (hahaha, Gay. Okay, we can still joke about that one), OJ Mayo, Marc Gasol, Zach Randolph, Mike Conley Jr. and Hasheem Thabeet make up one of the most promising cores in the entire league. This is a playoff team this year. And seeing Mayo and Gay's consistent improvement as offensive monsters, Gasol and Randolph getting in shape and more athletic, and hoping Thabeet finally lives up to expectations, they'll remain a playoff team for the coming years. Believe that.
*Can they break the Lake? They'll definitely be more competitive this year. If they're lucky, they can avoid LA in the 1st round this year. If they meet, they might be swept and ruin the morale of a young upstart team. OR they might scare like the Thunder did and fast-track their success.
MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES
This is a crazy team, mostly because their General Manager is a complete lunatic in the eyes of many. They say David Khan is a trainwreck waiting to happen. But first the good stuff: getting Michael Beasley for nothing, adding shooter Martell Webster, PG Luke Ridnour and drafting Wesley Johnson. However, giving away Al Jefferson for chum change and overpaying Darko Milicic? Darko? So they're saying that a combo of Kevin Love and Darko is better than Love and Al Jeff? Wow. Plus all that waiting over Ricky Rubio with no certainty he'll even ball in Minnesota? Summer moves made this T-Wolves team more athletic, but not necessarily better.
*Can they break the Lake? Not even with Rubio in the lineup.
NEW ORLEANS HORNETS
Their biggest problem is the smallest guy on their team: Chris Paul. Why is he the problem when he's without a doubt the best player to ever put on a NOH jersey? Simple: it's because he wants a new jersey and a new team to play for. He's very frustrated at the ownership's refusal to spend and put together a winning team around him. Sure, they might have calmed him down for now, but after the first month of the season, look for CP3 to take a serious stand at demanding that trade. On the court though, he'll be great, but the team will get blown out a lot of times. It's like Katrina rolling in all over again.
*Can they break the Lake? Not even with a hurricane on their side
OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER
Now here's a team that has a silver lining waiting for it this coming season. Kevin Durant is going to be neck-in-neck with Kobe Bryant and possibly Dwight Howard in the MVP Race this year. Russel Westbrook is going to grow as a point guard and will continue to create very difficult mismatches around the league. Playing the Lakers very well last year did wonders for this team, and it will be obvious once the season starts. Their main weakness though, is strength inside, so they're hoping draft pick Cole Aldrich will blossom and help them out in the interior.
*Can they break the Lake? They almost did it last year. Tough to see them winning a seven-game series though, but i think they'll be even more competitive this year. It's a stretch, but it's possible.
PHOENIX SUNS
No Amare means no more chance for the Suns right? Wrong. Stevie Nash and the rest of the Arizona boys got a whole lot of help to help fill the giant void Stoudemire created by chasing the money, i mean the......oh nevermind, money, by moving to the Big Apple. All the new faces in the city of the sun though, will have success because of that Canadian wearing #13. Hedo Turkoglu plays great when he wants to, and EVERYONE likes playing with Nash, so expect Hedo to shine again. Josh Childress is a great pickup despite him not having NBA action the last two years. The daily lessons he'll get from Nash in practice will go miles. As for Hackim Warrick being signed to 'replace' Amare, people often laugh at that, but in reality, Nash is so good that all it takes is a big body, two hands and decent hops for him to find you in the pick-and-roll. Even Jimmy Santos could average 15-10 playing with Super Steve.
*Can they break the Lake? I don't see it happening. But if they avoid LA in the early rounds, they can go back to the Conference Finals again this year.
PORTLAND TRAILBLAZERS
This team has all the pieces: a grade A superstar in Brandon Roy, a slew of great and could-be-great big men in Joel Pryzbilla, Marcus Camby and Greg Oden, a veteran point guard in Andre Miller and a spark off the bench in Rudy Fernandez. Okay, maybe not ALL the pieces, but a couple of good ones, at elast enough to get out of the first round. However, injuries plaguing this team have brought them here: on the verge of dealing Fernandez and considering packaging Miller with him (maybe for Chris Paul or Tony Parker). Whether they pull the trigger or not, they go nowhere if Oden remains to be a bench ornament.
*Can they break the Lake? The Lakers always have a tough time winning in the Rose Garden, so they might steal a game or two. But not a playoff series.
SACRAMENTO KINGS
This young team needs to focus. Over the summer, their rookie-of-the-year Tyreke Evans got clocked and convicted after driving at 130 mph. And then they drafted a bright talent with questionable attitude in DeMarcus Cousins. Adding Samuel Dalembert however, will give them that inside presence they need, and hopefully, the development of Evans, Casspi, and Cousins gets fast-tracked enough for this team to pull off a couple of shockers.
*Can they break the Lake? They'll meet four times this season, and though it still won't be like the Kings-Lakers games of old, the Kings might be more competitive this year, not enough to beat LA, but enough to make Vlade Divac proud. And in the end, isn't that what matters?
SAN ANTONIO SPURS
The MVP for the Spurs this offseason is Peter Holt, their owner. He has pledged to pay whatever amount of money up until Tim Duncan's contract is done to get another crack at the title. And that's why they were able to extend Manu Ginobili and Richard Jefferson and bring in Tiago Splitter, one of the best big men to never play in the NBA. Now whether or not they trade Tony Parker to give more room for George Hill is probably a decision entirely up to Greg Poppovich. Either way, the Spurs, in true Spurs fashion, are still able to beat anyone anyday, as long as they're healthy.
*Can they break the Lake? What part of "able to beat anyone anyday, as long as they're healthy" did you not get?
UTAH JAZZ
One thing I don't get with the Jazz is their position on Paul Milsapp. They traded away Boozer to make room for Milsapp at the power forward and then signed Al Jefferson from the T'Wolves anyway. I doubt Al Jeff will play the 5, seeing as how ineffective that was in the Twin Cities. However, Jerry Sloan is one of the smartest basketball minds in the planet, so i bet he knows what he's doing. All their other signings make up perfectly for the personnel they lost. Raja Bell fills in for Wesley Matthews' defensive shoes, Gordon Hayward will take up where Kyle Korver left off.
*Can they break the Lake? They've been meeting each other in the Playoffs the past few years. If they see each other again this year, expect the same result.
So there it is folks. A full round-up of your NBA teams. With the schedule already released, it seems as if almost all is set for us to sit back and enjoy the game and the league we all love. The two teams we focused on here - LAL and MIA, have pretty opposite paths ahead of them. The Lakers have a soft end of the season, while the Heat play 8 of their first 12 at home. Whether or not those paths still lead them to meet in June is a different story, and seeing as we've reviewed the entire league, we now know that there are a couple of teams out there hell-bent and capable of stopping a LeBron - Kobe Finals again.
Thankfully, we're at a day and age where we can enjoy all the action from our couches, no matter how much our wives/girlfriends/mothers tell us to do something more productive. But then, that's why we love this game. because the Bobcats beat the Lakers every year. Because the Spurs are like the dads at the court - capable of beating anyone with boring post plays and mid-range jumphots. Because every game starts out zero-zero, and every guy is due for a lucky shot or two. And every superstar catches the flu.
As they say in every kanto court in the country, "Bilog ang bola" Indeed it is. And that's why I Love This Game.
