With a little more than a month remaining of the NBA schedule, who do you see as the main contenders? Who’s a dark horse? What teams do you think will surprise, and who will disappoint?
1. Who do you see as the main contenders?
2. Who’s a dark horse?
3. What teams do you think will surprise;
4. and who will disappoint?
Given thus far we’re looking at LA/Cleveland/Orlando, what does each need to do to get over the hump?
– LA. Forget about wins. Forget about offense. Forget about defense. Forget Xs & Os. Get back your intensity, the rest will follow.
– Cleveland. Can Shaq/Z a) maintain their health, & b) fit back in upon return? Two big Qs. And a caveat: Cleveland will only beat Orlando if Shaq can control/limit Dwight.
– Orlando. Dwight needs to stop having nightmares about Shaq.
Please click “Read More” to continue the second part of the Roundtable Discussion…
1. Who do you see as the main contenders?
Despite the Lakers recent struggles and injuries, they have to still be considered the favourites to win the title. They actually have more pieces in place with this year’s team than last year’s. Ron Artest’s stats might not be great, but he is still a terror on defense. Andrew Bynum continues to progress. Lamar Odom is still a glue, do-it-all guy. And they have two stars in place – Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant. I think the main thing is everyone seems to and accept their role on the team.
Other than that, Orlando is the only other real contender in my eyes. The main weakness there is the lack of a consistent, secondary star to Dwight Howard. If Vince Carter can come close to playing like he did the rest of his career, they will be a dangerous team.
2. Who’s a dark horse?
In my opinion, there are far more dark horses than legit contenders this year. Atlanta probably is still a year or so away but it wouldn’t be shocking if they went deep this year. Dallas has plenty of talent and have been flying under the radar. But my real dark horse is the Utah Jazz. They have a star inside-outside combo in Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer and solid secondary pieces in Mehmet Okur, Paul Milsap and Andrei Kirilenko. Do I think they are going to win the title? No, but they are a team that doesn’t get much publicity that could be dangerous.
3. What teams do you think will surprise…
Same answer as question 2.
4. Who will disappoint?
If you read the link to my story I included at the start of this e-mail, you can guess who I think will disappoint – Cleveland. Other than LeBron, they are a bunch of over the hill stars and average players. If they have Shaq and Jamison circa about 5 years ago, then they’d be a legit contender. As it stands now, I don’t see them winning the title, or even necessarily getting out of the East.
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