<font class="post">10. The 2007-2008 Atlanta Hawks – can they finally make the playoffs? The Hawks’ brass finally had a good draft day this offseason, selecting a potential star post player with the third overall pick (Al Horford) and someone that should become a capable starting point guard with the eleventh pick (Acie Law IV). Funny enough, it addressed two glaring needs. Will filling those holes allow them to get over the hump and approach a .500 record? Joe Johnson is an all-star and still young enough to improve and become more comfortable with being “the man”. Josh Smith made huge strides last year on the offensive side to compliment his defense. Marvin Williams will continue to improve. Josh Childress will be a 6th Man candidate. Law will allow Johnson to play his natural shooting guard position more. But will coach Mike Woodson get these kids on a unified system, playing cohesively as a team? They have a lot of nice players, but can all of these high draft picks finally start to pay dividends? 9. The 2007-2008 Houston Rockets – over the hump? With perennial powerhouses within their division and state (San Antonio and Dallas), as well as another marquee team in Phoenix, an up and coming division power in Utah, and a global star in Kobe Bryant all stealing headlines in their conference, it’s easy to forget just how good the Rockets are. Last year they had the fourth best record in the West (52-30) and have made their roster even better this offseason. Last year they had Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming, with some nice role players. This year they upgraded from Juwan Howard to Luis Scola (likely the best player not in the NBA for the past few years), and added great guard depth with the additions of Mike James (traded for Howard) and Steve Francis (signed as a free agent after being bought out by Portland). They still have the ultimate role player in Shane Battier, a bulls-eye shooter in Luther Head, last year’s starting point guard Rafer Alston, uber-rebounder Chuck Hayes and an underrated Bonzi Wells. They also replaced their defensive minded coach Jeff Van Gundy with an offensive coach in Rick Adelman (who got great results from Wells in Sacremento two years ago). This is definitely not shaped like a first-round-exit squad, yet they are likely the most underrated team in the league. 8. The 2007-2008 New York Knicks – what should we expect? The Knicks are always a headline. They are a headline when they are winning, they are a headline when they are losing, they are a headline when they aren’t even playing (thanks to the much maligned management/owner tandem of Isiah Thomas and James Dolan, along with the never-short-for-words Stephon Marbury). They made headlines on draft night too, acquiring an all-star caliber power forward in Zach Randolph. On paper, it’s a great move, however it remains to be seen how Randolph and Eddy Curry (another slow-footed, offence-only post player) can play together. Both demand the ball a lot, but both are very gifted offensive players. Both will have to find a way to get the ball enough to be happy though, and with ball-hawking guards like Marbury, Jamal Crawford and Nate Robinson, that will be no easy task. Allan Houston’s comeback attempt hasn’t even been mentioned yet. This could just as easily result in a lower-tier playoff seed as it could in a lower-tier lottery position. 7. Gilbert Arenas in a contract year Though this is not the last year of Arenas’ contract, he has publicly confirmed he will be opting out of his current contract at the end of the season to test the market, citing it as just “a business decision.” Arenas is only 25, and is one of the top stars in the league with a knack for hitting shots at the buzzer. He will be paid the maximum by whatever team can afford it (and there doesn’t appear to be many who will have that much cap room available). He has indicated he wants to play for a team that will challenge for a championship, but also said that the Wizards are by no means ruled out if they show him they are poised to put a winning team on the floor. How will this affect his play? Will he put up even more shots to make sure his stats are as gaudy as possible? Will that take the focus off of winning, thus hurting the rest of his team? Which teams are going to stock up on expiring contracts to have a shot at signing him? A lot of questions, and we are months away from finding answers. 6. What will become of Shawn Marion’s situation? About a year ago, I read a magazine interview with Marion that absolutely floored me. He was asked if he would prefer to play on a perennial championship contender as the 2nd or 3rd option, or on a team out of the playoffs where he could score 25 points a night and be “the man.” What floored me? The fact that he honestly didn’t know what he would prefer, and seemed to lean toward the latter. That screamed selfishness and egotism. Marion has been reported on numerous occasions to butt heads with teammate Amare Stoudemire, and the Suns forward is constantly in trade talks. It all came to the fore this offseason when he appeared to ask out of Phoenix. Phoenix management then publicly stated they would not be trading Marion and would seek to reconcile the situation. Will this hurt the Suns’ championship aspirations? Personally, a Marion/Kirilenko type deal seemed to make very good sense for all sides of the deal, but we will have to wait and see how this situation plays out, and if Marion plays out the season in Phoenix before potentially opting out. 5. Can the Warriors make another playoff run? The Warriors have the uneasy task of moving forward from a fun underdog story to a legitimate playoff threat. They have more than a handful of very good players, most of whom have powerful egos that coach Don Nelson was able to contain. Nellie’s small ball worked very effectively to close out the season as the players started to get used to the style of play and their respective roles, and that roll continued into the playoffs where they upset the top team in the regular season, the Dallas Mavericks . So the question is, in a Western Conference that appears to have six playoff teams all ready locked in, can they build on that and keep the momentum moving forward, or will their spark flame out? 4. Kevin Durant: The opening scene It could work against Durant to have Greg Oden injured the whole season; he likely won’t have any competition pushing him for Rookie of the Year. But it will also allow him to have the freshman spotlight all to himself (with Rashard Lewis and Ray Allen gone, there isn’t anyone to steal it from him in Seattle either). Everyone is all ready booking Durant’s ticket to the Hall of Fame, and from all reports, he is a very driven young man with nothing but the highest goals for himself. Will he make an immediate impact like most suggest? There is no discounted his extensive offensive arsenal, but will his defence (or lack thereof) keep him off the floor more than he would like (let’s not forget Kevin Martin tearing him up in limited minutes in preseason)? He played a lot in the post in college, but he is going to need to sharpen his speed and footwork on the perimeter to be an impact player at both ends. He should be one of the most exciting players in the league for the next fifteen years, and everyone is eagerly awaiting his beginning. 3. LeBron’s “best season yet”? LeBron was recently quoted as saying this could be his “best season yet” after arriving to Training Camp in the best shape of his life. He then suffered a minor injury in preseason that shouldn’t figure to affect his regular season performance. You have to wonder if he is speaking prematurely; let’s not forget that he played deeper into the playoffs than ever before (though he wasn’t there long, he did play in the NBA Finals last season) whilst playing over forty minutes a game, and he played a full summer with Team USA. For those unsure, his best season so far was 2005-2006 when he averaged 31.4 points, 7 rebounds and 6.6 assists per game (in 42 minutes!). It would be hard to better those numbers, however his first MVP and another Finals appearance might do the trick. (However unless Cleveland signs him some more help, this team looks much weaker than last year’s.) Heck, maybe he will be the first player since The Big O to average a triple double. 2. Which Kobe will we see, and where will we see him? Kobe Bryant is always a story; whether it be a court appearance, changing his number, his ego getting in the way of his teammates or his coach. This summer was no exception with that whole ridiculous ‘I want to be traded/no I don’t/yes I do’ saga this summer when the Lakers failed to make KB24 happy by acquiring more talent through trades. He then showed up to the Team USA camp in the best shape of his career, refused to talk about the Lakers, and was the best player on both ends of the floor, as well as a leader off of it. Will his dedication to team-play and defense carry over into the NBA season, or will he once again put up just south of 30 shots a game to lead the league in scoring, but lead the Lakers to a .500 record? Will he demand a trade again mid-season when the team is sitting in the 10th seed in a deep Western Conference just before the All-Star break? The Lakers did say that they would take offers on Bryant, so will he even be in La-la-land in February? The fun never ends! 1. The 2007-2008 Boston Celtics – how will they fare? Everyone knows about the new “Big Three” by now. Many believe that they (if you spent the offseason under a rock, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen have joined Paul Pierce in Boston) put Boston as the favourites to win the Atlantic Division and give them a legitimate shot at the Eastern Conference crown. Now the great thing if you are a Boston fan, is that the players have put their egos aside, have developed a great chemistry together, and are focused solely on winning. But who else is on this team? Rajon Rondo is a nice young point guard, but he is the starting point guard on a championship team? Can he help lead them to the next level in only his second season, or is he really just a defensive spark plug off the bench? Is Tony Allen going to be healthy enough after knee surgery? James Posey came into camp out of shape last year in Miami, and is starting the season with a suspension this year – will he be ready to be a major role player? A lot are hailing Kendrick Perkins as a great benefactor of this big offseason, but it appears a lot of people haven’t done their homework. Last year the Celtics had Al Jefferson emerge as a legitimate low post star in the making, so Perkins wasn’t exactly being guarded heavily last year either. In fact, he averaged over 2 more minutes per game last year than in 05-06, yet his points, offensive & defensive rebounds, blocks, free throw percentage and field goal percentage all declined. He has yet to show a whole lot of improvement in the past three seasons, and it’s premature to say ‘this is the year’ just because he has someone better beside him. There are a whole lot of questions with this revamped squad, and while they certainly look like a playoff team in a weaker Conference, I’m not sure they are the team to beat. </font></p>
I'm interested to see how Houston does, they've added alot of nice players and a good coach. It all depends on how healthy they'll be.</p>
I've predicted that Houston meets Boston in the finals. Thats my answer to two of those questions. </p>
Forgot about Kirlenko. He should probably just go along with Marion.</p> Another big one is the whole Suns team, not just Marion. Hill, Nash, Amare, Diaw are all important players to look at this season.</p>
