Cleveland is the best team in basketball...

Nothing like keeping the faith.

is that you? How’d that Laker pick work out?

I’m sorry, they aren’t the best. You have a defensive oriented coach working with mostly offensive players who don’t play much defense. Mo Williams is a good shooter, but how much defense does he play? How about Boobie? Pavlovic? Big Z? And Ben Wallace has never been that great of a defender, he was piggybacked by Rasheed on those Detroit teams. Rasheed is the one who truly covered the paint and guarded it whereas Wallace went for weakside rebounds and blocks (he had quick hands and athleticism so he put up some outstanding numbers for a while). Devoid of athleticism, he’s been rendered useless today.

I think LeBron James is the best player in the game as well, but his personnel is pretty much the same as last year’s. I’m sorry.

I think Cleveland is the 2nd best team in the East so I don’t think your far off.

Remember Billy was just ‘kidding’ about his Lakers pick.

They will be great rivals. They used their size well against us, but I think we can out do them again with our fast defense. I look for our offense to be more efficient, and Ray Allen to be used better this year.

Go Celts!

Lebron James, Lebron James, Lebron James. I felt like last year the Cavs were the 2nd best team in the playoffs, and they were definitely our toughest test in the playoffs, although Atlanta was a close second so I’m not sure how much that really means.

I don’t think they are the favorites at this point, however I would not be surprised if the Cavs won the NBA title this year. The Western Conference was outed last year as basically fraudulent. I mean what they have is a bunch of good teams, but the 3 best teams in my opinion were in the East last year. I’m not sure that has changed. The Lakers lack of defense is too big of an obstacle for them to overcome. The Spurs are finally done. The Hornets and Jazz are spectacular up and coming teams, but again they lack the defensive consistency to win an NBA title.

If Houston can stay healthy, they have the best foundation right now to compete with the Celtics, Cavs or Pistons. Unfortunately, staying healthy for them seems almost impossible. But they are the only West power (outside of the rapidly aging Spurs) that can actually play defense. A Houston/Cavs Final would be amazing. Mcgrady and Lebron both going for their first title shot, wow the ratings would soar and the NBA would continue it’s resurgence! As fun as that would be, I still want it to be the Celtics.

After further reviewing the defensive numbers from last year I will conceded that point Steve. The Hornets and Lakers are definitely better defensive teams than they initially appear.

Well based on what we saw last year in the finals, they’re going to need to. In my opinion Detroit and Cleveland were tougher tests than the Lakers were for us. I do agree that Bynum may be what they were missing. Gasol is a great player, but nobody is accusing him of being the toughest player in the NBA. Bynum’s presence might compliment Gasol perfectly.

If I had to wager right now though, I think the Hornets would be my pick to come out of the West. Considering their two key players are so young, there’s a better chance that we will see them get even better. Houston definitely has a great shot if they stay healthy, it’s just very hard to bet on that considering the past. I don’t think adding Posey is as big of a deal as people are making it. Paul and West will determine how far that team goes, not an overrated role player.

… WNBA!