We now reach the end of our seasonal preview and with the Pacific Division.  The Pacific is as clear cut a division as you'll find.  The Lakers are a title contender and the cream of the crop and no real contenders after that.  Let's take a look:  1.    Los Angeles Lakers:    The Lakers are the favorites to come out of the West again this year, as they were last year.  The success here isn't a mystery.  The team has few weaknesses (defending quick point guards is the only one that comes to … [Read more...] about NBA Preview 2009-10: Pacific Division

1.    Portland Trailblazers:    Most people agree that the Blazers are loaded with talent and that they are the likely up-and-coming team of the next decade.  What there is some disagreement about  is how quickly Portland will arrive and how high they will ascend.  The Blazers looked quite good look last year.  They won 54 games and had the expected record of a 56-win team.  In terms of how they did it, the Blazers had the slowest pace in the NBA last year but also had the most efficient offense … [Read more...] about NBA Preview 2009-10: Northwest Division

Last year, the Southwest Division was, by far, the deepest division in the NBA, with four of the five teams winning at least 49 games.  This year, the division should still be deep but not quite so.  Moreover, all four playoff teams are at some key points.  Dallas and San Antonio are trying to squeeze another run out of veteran cores, Houston is hoping to overcome injuries to stay competitive, and New Orleans has the best player in the division and is teetering on the edge of playoff participant … [Read more...] about NBA Preview 2009-10: Southwest Divsion

Turning to the Central, we see the same pattern we saw in the Atlantic.  One title contender (Cleveland) and a whole bunch of maybes.  While the Central doesn't look like it will have any truly horrible teams it also has plenty of also-rans.  The also-rans are varying degrees of interesting from very (Chicago) to not so much (Milwaukee).  Let's see how it all shakes out:  1.    Cleveland Cavaliers:    By most accounts, the Cavs seemed to be the best team in 2008-09.  They had the most wins, … [Read more...] about NBA Preview 2009-10: Central Division