the heat aren't making any finals this season..they are still in rebuilding mode and are just not ready to make any kind of push...in the east, it is the pistons, the celtics and the magic...lebron will carry the cavs into the playoffs but unless they make significant changes to their roster, they are not getting the celtics or a fully functioning pistons...
the west has the two most exciting young teams in the hornets and the lakers...the hornets retained all their young stars and added posey to the mix although for a ridiculous price for someone as old as posey...they are a legit contender...so are the lakers, jackson experimenting with bryant at small forward and and trying odom as a really big point guard...a starting five of bynum, gasol, bryant, odom/ariza and fisher is very good...and their bench is still pretty deep with walton, radmanovic, vujacic etc...their only significant loss was turiaf but doesn't make a huge difference to them...as for the spurs, they will be contenders but the team is just getting older and older, so are the suns...let's see how porter fashions a defensive-minded phoenix side with the current personnel...dallas will get into the playoffs and be a dangerous floater but they are not serious contenders this year i feel...the blazers may or may not make a big impact this year but that is a team full of promising young stars and a team who could dominate in 3-4 years' time...
The 2K series is so much better anyway.
