LA Lakers. The big question in LA is whether Kobe and Artest will work well with each other. The rest of the team is essentially the same as last year’s, and we know their chemistry is solid. Artest is hit or miss with his teams and it remains to be seen how he’ll do in LA.
Artest often takes over games and likes to be the focal point of his teams. This won’t be possible in LA as long as Kobe Bryant is on the court. The adjustment in roles may be an easy shift for Artest, but if he doesn’t take well to it, things could be murky come playoff time. Regardless, the Lakers should easily win their division during the regular season.
San Antonio Spurs: This will be a hit or miss team. They have added some good pieces to an injury, aging team. The additions of Richard Jefferson and Antonio McDyess will carry this team at least to the 2nd or 3rd spot in the West if the Lakers take care of business as they should. They have Duncan, Mason, Parker, and Ginobili who all know how to run the offense. Jefferson will take a lot of pressure off Parker by adding key offensive above the rim plays and McDyess will help Duncan grab a rebound and fight down the middle for an easy score against the weak front lines of the Western Conference. The liability with this team will be INJURIES. Ginobili, Parker, and Jefferson are all injury prone, whether being an ankle, wrist, or just sore torso to play in all 82 games. If the backups of can really step up and reduce the starters minutes by 3-6 minutes per game then the Spurs have a good chance of coming out of the west. Someone should really focus on becoming a lock down defender because the premiere SGs of the league will put this team in serious foul trouble. Sorry Mason, you andJefferson will not be the answer to this problem.
Dallas Mavericks. It seems like this team always enters the season with high hopes, only to quietly exit during the first round of the playoffs. With some big additions in Shawn Marion and others, Dirk and Jason Kidd have a nice core in place now. Josh Howard’s effectiveness will be a question mark, and the development of Barea will be key.
Boston Celtics. A top-tier team that got a boost with the addition of veteran Rasheed Wallace. No matter how good and dangerous they are, the Celtics are one year older and we saw last year what can happen to this team without its start, Kevin Garnett. Garnett’s injury was a crippling blow to Boston and while they’re somewhat effective without him, they’re not championship caliber. Not even Sheed can fill KG’s shoes.
Cleveland Cavaliers: Cleveland, you are expected to make those Kobe/LeBron ABCpuppet commercialsuseful come June 2010. No excuses will be accepted. You lost nobody and gained a bunch. Williams and West will continue to be one of the topduo of guards in the league. Varejao will need to prove he was worth 50 million as he did against Orlando in the Conference Finals last year. His flaw is he cannot defend the outside which reallyhurt Cleveland last year. He needs to reinventhis defense to cover the perimeter.Shaq, will need to be Diesel and not “Dwight you stole my name and my All-Star spot”. Shaq will need to cut out the T.V. antics and really focus because he is not the Shaq he was in L.A. in his late 20’searly 30’sIlgauskas will be upset but have to realize the team wants to win a championship and he is not the starting center to get them there.
The bench won’t see too much playing time outside of 10-12 minutes so all they need to do is keep the leads while the starters rest. LeBron… the best player in the league… behind Kobe. Quit playing the stats and play with your team. Steal Kobe’s menacing look and get your team in the game. Your assists are great, your dunks are spectacular but Orlando seemed to let you score 40+PPG and do what you wanted, when you wanted and still beat you in 6 games (should have been a sweep if you didn’t make that lucky 3-pointer with a hand in your face). You are a small forward. When you are playing PG the team seems to want to watch the next LeBron ESPN highlight. Demand more of them like Kobe has done with the Lakers and your championship should come this year.
Orlando Magic – Why does no one respect this team? They have Cleveland’s number, much of it due to Dwight Howard’s dominance in the post. Now, they have Vince Carter, Brandon Bass, Matt Barnes, and Ryan Anderson. Thius should more than offset the loss of Hedo Turkoglu and Courtney Lee, and the Magic enter the season right where they left off – as the team to beat in the Eastern Conference.
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