[llperez]

1-miami heat. Not much to dislaike about this team. Haslme back healthy, a couple solid additions in norris cole and shane battier. I think this team is the clear early favorite.

2-oklahoma city thunder. Speed and an mvp candidate in durant.

3-los angeles lakers. have blown a few winnable games but the size advantage over most teams will start to take its toll. Lack of youth and athleticism is a problem.

4-portland trailblazers. Good all around team. Size, excellent pg play and shooters.

5-boston celtics. I give them the slight edge over the bulls and mavs based on the fact that rondo just continuously makes sure this team gets quality offensivepossesions and they have guys who play smart and know their roles.

So who are yours?

[Knicksboy42Participant]

 5. Denver Nuggets- If they get homefield, I can see them in the WCF. Altitude advantage, and they can run 11 players at you with no significant dropoff. Lawson and Galinari emerging, with Nene as your rock. 

4. Los Angeles Lakers- LOVE the defense, I like the order of Kobe-Bynum-Gasol of the offense. My question, you don’t just make the move for Dwight? 

3. Oklahoma City Thunder- I like them, but not as much as my #2 team. 

2. Portland Trailblazers- I think right now, they’re my favorites to win the West. Perfect combo to throw at Durant, Aldridge quietly putting together another nice season, veteran bigs, and Jamal Crawford, someone who can hit the late game shot. 

1. Miami Heat- Simply put, the best team in the NBA. 

[FLYNTFLOSSYBABY]

 Miami Heat- Just because they got eddy curry!!! 

OKC- Looks like Harden coming alone really nice and DCook hitting money 3s. Durant and Westbrook are playing great together westbrook just needs to slow down a lil bit

Boston Celtics- As long DOC cocahing and Rondo running the point they be ok for the Eastern Conference Finals. KG needs to average a double double tho. (15 &10)

LA Lakers- Kobe is playing tho alot of pain! hopefully that can change for a dollar. they have more questions than 50 cents at small forward its ludacris!!! they need Tayshaun Prince.

LA Clippers- Finally got some leadership coming from Paul and Billups. may get 3 seed due to being young and athletic need some back up bigs!!!

 

[R-Dot-13Participant]

Really? I dont even like em but no bulls? SMH

[aamir543Participant]

 The Lakers are off to a slow start and are slow and not so athletic, but I have no problem putting them at 4 or 5.

The Celtics on the other hand are even older and slower other than Rondo, and don’t have much depth or size and lack scoring outside of the big three, and Rondo. I would put the Nuggets, Pacers, Spurs(with Manu), and Magic(with Howard) ahead of them. 

[FastAndFuriousParticipant]

1. Heat- Nuff Said

2. OKC- Ultra young and athletic team who if they can put it together could win a ring, Westbrook and Durant need to come together for them to be as succesful as they can be or it will be a repeat of last year.

3. Blazers- Very talented team, even tho B Roy is gone they still have a good chance to come out the West

4. Bulls- Why not? They made it to the Eastern Conference finals last year and currently are a top 3 team record wise in the league and have the reigning MVP.

5. Atlanta- Hear me out, they are argubaly one of the most talented teams in the league, they have a deep roster, if they can put all the tools together who knows? Think about it, Teague is playing solid at the PG spot, Hinrich will be back for that change of pace guard and brings defense and shooting. Joe Johnson if he can play how he is capable he is a 20+ a night scorer, Tracy McGrady is still proving he can play and produce in limited minutes, you have a superstar waiting to happen if he can get his mind together in Josh Smith, Al Horford down low is a good enough presence, Marvin Williams is not what people expected but still good, Ivan Johnson is playing decent off the bench, I mean they have the tools, I know it wont happen, but they are def a sleeper team, Oh and they also have a shooter to spread the floor in Willie Green. Think about it.

 

 

[KayjayParticipant]

Would even be in the top five is a conundrum to me. Miami Heat for sure, OKC next, after that is the bulls, and after them the Blazers. At fifth bringing up the rear as of right now to me is the Celtics. Every team I mentioned is deep and have a bench. (Miami’s bench is iffy) But with the additions of Shane Battier and Norris Cole, they actually have bench production on the defensive end and offensive. The rest of the four teams are much deeper than the lakers.

[llperez]

bulls came back in the last minute vs the lakers without bynum after getting outplayed most the game. Then they came back from down like 19 points to atlanta. They got destoryed tonight. I have watched them play and im not impressed but what ive seen.

lakers will turn it around. anyone who doesnt think they are a top 5 team is crazy. Bynum alone makes them better then last year. Improved play from Steve blake, matt barnes and the addition of josh mcroberts all add more depth then last year. Kobe is no worse from last season, if anything he is playing a little better.

[durantula83Participant]

1 Miami

2 Chicago

3 Oklahoma City

4 LA Lakers

5 Portland

Outsiders: San Antonio (when completely healthy) / Atlanta (when completely focused) / Denver

[DanEboyParticipant]

The Bulls have arguably the best defense in the league llperez, and have one of the best benches in the NBA. They have the MVP in Rose, one of the best finishers in the game. The Blazers got blown out by the Suns yesterday, teams are going to have that happen this year with all of the bunched up games. They beat the Lakers on the road, the Clippers on the road, and the Magic on the road. They know how to tighten the defense when it counts and can come back from large deficits. They were out of gas tonight.

Watch them some more. It will be the Heat and Bulls in the ECF, no doubts about it.

[HaleParticipant]

 Through 2 weeks I don’t see how anyone can make the argument the Lakers are top 5. They are 5-4.

[DanEboyParticipant]

And Kobe needs to take some time off. As tough as he is, you can’t expect him to continue the way he has with having to take a cortizone shot before every game. Sooner or later, that is going to take its toll. They said his hand looks like a boxing glove.

[llperez]

lakers are a different team with bynum. They only lost twice with him and one was vs denver where kobe had maybe the worst game of his pro career and the lakers still led in the 4th quarter. The other one was vs portland on the road where the lakers have lost 11 of the last 13 times they have gone there. Thats easily the lakers toughest road game every year for some reason. I mean they had as bad a final minute of play vs chicago as a team can have where they missed 4 straight ft’s and turned it over and did nothing right after outplaying the bulls the majority of the game without an all-star big man while the bulls were at 100% and lost by 1.

Lets bump this thread in may. You guys will see whats up then.

[marcusfizer21Participant]

 hard to believe you didn’t put the Bulls in your list perez… that’s ok though..

The Celtics don’t look that scary to me anyomore… They just lack that killer instinct they had a few years back. They get beaten by non-contenders this season. Ever since they traded away Perkins, they lost a lot of toughness. KG is still there but hardly the guy he was way back in 2008. Their roster don’t scream championship to me… 

[HaleParticipant]

Are you saying they will have a top 5 record in the NBA?

[llperez]

nope. This is my title contenders and who has th ebest chance of winning in the playoffs. Nothing to do with records.

[HaleParticipant]

 I’ll take that bet.

[llperez]

so you are saying that regardless of record, when playoff time comes, the lakers are not gonna be one of the 5 best teams? You are on my man. That pretty much means they have to make it to the confernce finals to prove me right i guess.

[HaleParticipant]

I’ll definitely bet they don’t make the conference finals. 

[llperez]

sounds good. So who are your 4 final teams then?

[HaleParticipant]

Bulls vs Heat. Blazers vs. Thunder. Of course knowing Portland Alridge and all their other bigs will tear their ACL’s next week.

[FastAndFuriousParticipant]

 Oh and to boot my Atlanta picking before todays game they were #1 in least points allowed meaning they are a lock up team, they are currently at #4, with Chicago now being the best defensive team in the NBA at #1 

[invalidParticipant]

 when will  lakers get a decent PG.. lakers/boston/spurs are all still capable but its just risky. they are injury prone and you just cant bet on them anymore. if they make the playoffs all healthy then they have equal chance but as of now. just now, for me.. 1. heat 2. okc 3. bulls .. i would put blazers at 4 but after the suns blowout its messed up lol 4 and 5 maybe lakers, clipps, celts, nuggs , blazers , grizz

[DanEboyParticipant]

So llperez, the reason you aren’t sold on the Bulls being legit contenders is because they beat the Lakers in LA, on opening night, by one point, at full strength, on opening night, while the Lakers were missing Bynum, on opening night. Because they didn’t wow you, on opening night, you are writing them off?

You are crazier than TWO mutha fu@kas!

The Saints lost to the Packers in week 1. They look pretty legit right now.

[TyroberParticipant]

 Can’t believe nobody posted the Bulls in the first two posts. Bulls and HEAT are probably best two teams in the NBA.

1. HEAT

2. Bulls

3. Thunder

4. Blazers

5. Can’t decide on number five lol. Nuggets and Hawks are probably tied for me. 

[Michael.S.Participant]

Laker are going to be a tough out in the playoffs. I have them in the Finals.

1. Heat

2. Lakers

3. Bulls

4. Thunder

5. Hawks

[IndianaBasketballParticipant]

It’s crazy to have contenders after only two weeks…

Two weeks into last season, who picked the Mavs?

 

[OhCanada-Participant]

Lakers? Come on guys. Kobe wont last all season and neither will Bynum. Gasol is unstable and who else do you have? when they play OKC, are you guys kidding they have no PG to gaurd Westbrook, and Barnes on Durant? Playing Artest is like a selfdestruction watching him jack up bad shots and make horrible plays. It isnt worth having good defence on the floor. Westbrook will torch LA and just get more cocky and more confident and keep going for the neck. Bynum and Kobe will have lingering injuries and wll not be 100%, lets not only take stats and jumpshots into consideration here.

Portlands injury issues from here on out are speculation on luck (or lack there of) and myth. The fact is Camby, Oden and Roy are injury prone and that is why they usually had injuries. Wow right! The way they are playing kinda raises some eyebrows but I think Gerald Wallace is the only person I would be scared for, especially while playing their fastbreak. Lamarcus seems solid, as does Felton, Matthews, Batum, and Crawford.

The Hawks will crumble. A team is only as good as its leader, at the same time a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Atlanta’s leader has no charisma and loses all confidence ccome playoff crunch time Joe Johnson, and the Hawks weakness would be size at both frontcourt positions which matches up horribly for any of the Western Conference teams.

As a sleeper team Ive got Indiana, those guys are going to cause problems for whoever plays them.

1-Miami Heat

2-Oklaholma City Thunder

3-Portland Trailblazers

4-Chicago Bulls

5-Los Angeles Lakers

Sleeper- Indiana Pacers

 

[llperez]

dan eboy, im assuming you didnt read about how i said i have seen them numerous times and included other games including getting way behind to the hawks twice. When i say after numerous games,  they dont impress so far as a top 5 team, that doesnt mean 1 game and thats it. Great reading comprehesion there buddy.

[HitsterParticipant]

Teams can get off to a slow starter whilst others can make a flyer and in this shortened season the games will come think and fast but from what I’ve seen Miami, Chicago and the Thunder are the sort of teams you expect to see at the business end of the season. Dallas made a slow start but are picking up again now and I noticed that the Spurs are 6-2 without anyone noticing.

The title isn’t won during the regular season but it can be lost if teams don’t make the play-offs or get a bad seeding, a lot of teams will be looking to position themselves for the play offs and that is when the real action starts perhaps in the minds of the bigger teams.

Also a lot of teams such as the Knicks are still bedding down and others such as the Cavs have made a sirprisingly strong start. I’d put the Pacers as one of the better teams so far and I can see them having their first winning season in several years and make the play offs comfortably but I don’t really see them being there at the business end of the play offs. That is nothing against the Pacers, its just where they are development wise compared to other teams.

[llperez]

also i’ve never said anything about "writing anybody off". Im not dumb, i know its early.

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