Boston Celtics: They looked like world-beaters for the first 12 minutes of the season, holding the Heat to a paltry nine points (prorated, that’d be 36 a game, a point more than Kobe averaged in 05-06). Then they were underwhelming against the Knicks and the Cavs. This team is too old to bring maximum intensity against the bottom feeders in the East, but they’ll contend come playoff time, particularly when they get Kendrick Perkins back in the pivot. Until then they will have to deal with starting five all-stars and playing in an extremelly weak division.
Philadelphia 76ers: Philly should have been better last year and I’m counting on a bounce-back season this time around. I’m still not sold on Evan Turner as a potential star, but he should be good off the bench. Losing Samuel Dalembert won’t hurt much and Jrue Holiday, Marreese Speights, Thaddeus Young and Lou Williams are also still young and have room to improve. Led by versatile advanced-statistics-all-star Andre Iguodala, this team could be primed to charge up the Eastern charts.
New York Knicks: For all the doubters out there who thought Amar’e couldn’t do it without Nash—if his play through the first couple games is indicative of a trend—your theory has been debunked. While Amar’e has looked incredible, his supporting cast hasn’t. Raymond Felton and Danilo Gallinari are as inconsistent as ever. Landry Fields looks great, but he’s a glue guy. Wilson Chandler has been nice off the bench, but this team is still a few pieces away from being anything more than a fringe playoff team/first round fodder for the Miami Heat.
New Jersey Nets: My desperate man-crush on both majority owner Mikhail Prokhorov and part-owner Jay-Z may be cause for bias, but I love this team. Brook Lopez is a straight-up stud, Devin Harris was a top-10 PG in ‘08 and has the potential to return to form, and Anthony Morrow is the best knockdown three-point shooter in the league. Derrick Favors, the number three pick in the draft, oozes potential, as do sixth man Terrence Williams and Trailblazers cast-off Travis Outlaw. Still, potential should not be confused with wins, and this team will struggle to get those.
Toronto Raptors: What is there to say about a team whose best player is Andrea Bargnani? Nothing good, and that’s what we can expect from the Raps this season. The roster is replete with role players, so you can expect a lot of unselfish play to go along with the double-digit losses. DeMar DeRozan and Sonny Weems have freakish athletic abilities, but the fraction of NBA players that make the transition from jump-out-of-the-gym athletes to star players is miniscule. The ever-optimistic Bryan Colangelo has already counted his team out of the playoff picture, so anticipate disaster.
