1. Cleveland (Shaq helps and they are supposedly looking hard at Wallace. Obviously short term moves but they have one year or they go back to being irrelevant again)
2. San Antonio (The Jefferson giveaway helps, Blair is a nice addition but Ginobilli's health is a question mark and Duncan is one year older)
3. Boston (I would rank them far down the list. They have done nothing to improve, Garnett is a question mark coming off a serious injury, Allen is in a decline which may become rapid and Ainge has been shopping without success. Last year seems like a long time ago)
4. Denver (Lawson was a nice addition but hardly is a difference maker. They also need to resign Anderson)
5. Orlando (The Carter thing was a strange move as they not only traded a promising player making peanuts, in essence they traded Turkeyglu also. I dont think they are better)
6. Lakers (Stood pat while others got better. Remains to see what will happen with Ariza and Odom. Losing one is an issue in my mind because they dont have a readily available replacement and an Ariza-like improvement from a mid level guy cant be expected every year. The team to beat but lots of question marks not to mention the coaching situation.)
7. Portland (Still a bit away from primetime)
8. Houston ( Yao is hurt, MeGrady is coming off being hurt, artest is still nuts, and they aren't doing anything)
9. Chicago (They arent as good as Atlanta or Miami)
10. Utah (They arent as good as Dallas)
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