EASTERN CONFERENCE
South East Division
Atlanta Hawks with their borderline All-Stars Joe Johnson and Josh Smith (to name a few) are off to a hot start to the new NBA season after swiftly picking apart their opponents for 6 straight victories, can they finally challenge for an eastern conference crown? The depth of talent all of a sudden resident in the eastern conference especially in their very own south east division make this a herculean task for their Georgian wings.
Pat Riley masterminded one of the biggest (successful?) coups in NBA history by assembling in Miami the much ballyhooed new big 3 of Wade, James and Bosh (not a law firm…..yet) who have reacted correctly to an opening day loss to the Boston Celtics by winning 4 straight and holding superman Dwight Howard to 2 points in their victory over the Orlando Magic. We have also seen Lebron James playing point guard and setting a new franchise record for assists by a forward in a game he uncharacteristically ended with 0 rebounds! Are we about to have a new King James Version?
However, despite that loss to Miami heat, the Orlando Magic remain a force in the league if you consider the 42 point beat-down they handed to the Minnesota Timberwolves, their interior (Dwight Howard) and exterior (Rashard Lewis and Michael Pietrus) execution is still to be feared. Enough said.
The other members of the southeast division Charlotte Bobcats and Washington Wizards are no push-overs either. Charlotte Bobcats with the addition of Stephen Jackson (who’s had a colorful career) made the play offs last season, Gerald Wallace was nominated as an all star and young point guard Dj Augustin is ready to consolidate on the massive achievements of last season. Washington Wizards on the other hand are ready for a renaissance after selecting point guard john wall 1st overall in the draft plus Gilbert Arenas (former agent 0) is back and promises to leave his injury and controversy plagued career in the past to focus on a fresh start to his NBA career.
The south east division promises to be full of drama and we have taken our seats to enjoy the show.
Atlantic Division
Where the Boston Celtics starters list reads like an eastern conference All-Star team, you know they will not back down before any opposition in the NBA.
PG- Rajon Rondo
SG- Ray Allen
C- Shaquille O’Neal
SF- Paul Pierce
PF- Kevin Garnett
Some say they are too old but we all know that the NBA title is consistently won by veterans, plus their roster is still very deep. Big baby Glen Davis will contribute down the stretch as usual, Delonte West is a player and Jermaine O’Neal has experience to spare. Needless to say the Celtics will dominate their Atlantic division and contend one more time in the post season.
The New York Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni finally convinced former protégé Amare Stoudemire to move to the big apple and this should pay huge dividends. The Knicks should witness a new era as Danilo Gallinari matures plus Toney Douglas had a big game in Thursday night’s win against Chicago, if they sustain that tempo Madison Square Garden is sure to experience playoff basketball.
The other teams in the Atlantic division namely the Allen Iverson exporting (to Turkey) Philadelphia 76ers who just lost Andre Iguodala to injury, New Jersey Nets and the Toronto Raptors will continue their rebuilding projects till next season and will only win a few games between them while struggling to find footing in an Eastern Conference that will surely be more competitive than last season.
Central Division
This division was previously owned by the Detroit Pistons and recently Cleveland Cavaliers. If the much publicized departure of Lebron James to the warm beaches of Miami was not an extinction level event and the exodus of key players Shaquille O’Neal, Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Delonte West did not collapse the rafters at Quicken Loans Arena, then the Cavs led by Anderson Verajao are set to prove the experts wrong. The early season win over the Boston Celtics should ease the furrows on owner Dan Gilbert’s brows.
Chicago Bulls are the heir apparent to the Central Division throne. Although no Michael Jordan, Derrick Rose has developed into a topnotch point guard in the NBA finally made the windy city believers again, the addition of Carlos Boozer (once he’s healthy) should help the Bulls bully their way to the top of the central division.
Brandon Jennings scored over 50 points in a game last season and put up several game changing displays that propelled lowly Milwaukee Bucks to the playoffs. Any improvement is guaranteed to return them to the post season, but first they will have to contain the Indiana Pacers and Center Roy Hibbert who could be huge obstacle if he can figure out how to play the big man.
Fortunately for everyone in the Central Division, Detroit is in dire need of massive pistons to motorize this formerly well oiled machine. Their era of dominance having ended long before Chauncey Billups took a trip to the mountains of Denver and ‘Sheed Wallace retired in Boston. Handling the scepter of the Palace of Auburn Hills has proven to be too cumbersome for the young Rodney Stuckey, the addition of former scoring champion Tracy Mcgrady (sadly) poses little threat to the rest of the Eastern Conference playoff hopefuls, plus injuries to veterans Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince signals that the Palace will be without pomp and pageantry this season.
WESTERN CONFERENCE
Despite the significant departures of Amare Stoudemire (from Phoenix to New York) and Carlos Boozer (Utah to Chicago) to the eastern Conference, expect no power shift just yet for it is still a “wild wild west”.
Southwest Division
The Texas big 3 of San Antonio, Houston and Dallas traditionally dominated this division but things have changed in recent times. Houston Rockets once a contender is facing a risk of fading into obscurity as the season progresses, they are winless after 4 games this season, and waiting for the Chinese giant Yao Ming to shake off his injury woes and dominate the paint has been like waiting for godot.
Dallas Mavericks anchored by veterans Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Terry and the ageless Jason Kidd are poised to make another deep run into the post season and once rising star Roderigue Beaubois returns from his injury layoff, they’ll play some exciting basketball and challenge for the division title but they are no longer NBA title contenders.
The other member of the Texas big 3 San Antonio Spurs used to be the biggest of them all with efficient and dominant basketball that saw the team coached by Greg Popovich win 3 NBA titles in the last ten years, however the last one was 4 seasons ago. Until recently, the game of superstars Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili was the law, these season alongside rising stars Dejuan Blair and George Hill are back to present another case for one more ring in the Tim Duncan era.
Regardless of what transpires at the top of the Southwest Division, regardless of bright prospects in the likes of OJ Mayo, Rudy Gay and Marc (the younger) Gasol, the Memphis Grizzlies will be fighting to stay off the bottom of this tough division. They had better search for wins elsewhere because New Orleans Hornets the last but not the least member of this division are buzzing.
Chris Paul is back and just like that the Hornets are back to stinging I mean winning ways and look good enough to challenge the Texas biggies for this one. They have a 5-0 start to the season to brag about. Chris Paul is back dishing assists by the buckets and carrying the scoring load with the help of David West and new signee Trevor Ariza, plus Emeka Okafor finally has a chance to become an NBA star and will be there to retrieve rebounds on both ends of the floor to ensure that New Orleans Hornets sting many opponents this season.
Northwest Division
Last season the entire NBA saw many signs of future greatness from scoring champion Kevin Durant. The Oklahoma City forward further established himself as a new NBA superstar by leading a young Team USA to a world championship title with a record breaking performance to end a 16 year drought. Kevin Durant now referred to as the god of thunder is back to lead OKC to another remarkable NBA season and with a nucleus of exciting young talent like of Russell Westbrook, Jeff Green and Serge Ibaka, expect Oklahoma City Thunder to strike their way into the post season on a regular basis for years to come.
Meanwhile with speculations about the loyalty of All-Star Carmelo Anthony temporarily suspended, the Denver Nuggets having added Al Harrington at center will need Chauncey Billups, JR Smith and co. to elevate the mountainous franchise to the playoffs once again.
Although the Utah Jazz will miss the beastly presence of Carlos Boozer and struggle on the road as a consequence, however, with Al Jefferson there to protect the paint, Salt Lake City will remain a fortress. Dereon Williams is still around to make things easy for his teammates and difficult for opponents as the battle for the Northwest intensifies.
Portland on the other hand needs to stay healthy for a considerable stretch of time in order to compete vigorously for everything, Brandon Roy, LeMarcus Aldridge, Greg Oden etc were out for large chunks of last season, Yet the Trailblazers made the playoffs, if they remain injury free this season they could become contenders rather than also rans.
Lastly the Minnesota Timberwolves (who are yet to recover from the departure of Kevin Garnett 3 seasons ago!) Suffered a 42 point knockout by the Orlando Magic on Wednesday night and will be cutting timber with the wolves in the forests of Minnesota long before the post season rolls by.
Pacific Division
Phoenix Suns have the veterans in Steve Nash, Grant Hill and Jason Richardson to make another playoff run, however the Suns are no longer hot enough to scorch many teams and their era as Western Conference Title contenders has evaporated with the departure of Amare Stoudemire.
Likewise the Golden State Warriors after showing a lot of promise some seasons back seem to have lost the battle of building a future team, nevertheless, with what is available, they will record some wins and Monta Ellis will have occasional outstanding games. If this once exciting team can keep it together with frequent hot streaks, they may well turn out to be the surprise team once again in the NBA.
Sacramento Kings look to build on the humble gains of last season occasioned by the presence of last season rookie of the year Tyreke Evans, the same goes for LA Clippers as Eric Gordon, Chris Kaman and Blake Griffin blossom into future NBA stars. The forecast is however not bright for the Baron Davis led team who will continue to seek a storm free climate in the deep west.
Finally, like the rest of the NBA, the Pacific Division has an enormous task of unseating the LA Lakers from the throne they have occupied for the last 2 seasons. The 6-0 start to the season, a Lakers team with the indefatigable Kobe Bryant (who is personally seeking a sixth NBA title to equal Michael Jordan), triangle offence coach Phil Jackson and the addition of swingman (some say journeyman) Matt Barnes to an already Loaded Staples Center Locker Room consisting of the bearded (and dreaded!) Pau Gasol, Ron Artest, Lamar Odom, Shannon Brown etc means a 3rd straight NBA title is within reach, it will be foolhardy to bet against a team that is this deep.
