None of these guys played on the Redeem Team though they do have a championship ring? Does this dampen their enthusiasm? Will they start looking for stats?

They lost James Posey but they got Darius Miles. So I guess they think his knees can take the pounding.

But they have Bryant. Oh... it's Patrick O'Bryant from G-State.

They'll need more than a reclamation project to defend their title.

Jury's still out.

Next season we'll see a hungrier and wiser Kobe Bryant. Add to that the return of man child Bynum, and the arrival of the so called Magic Johnson of China, Sun Yue (albeit unproven in the NBA game). The West may have become even more powerful, but KB8's the reigning MVP, and when he's hungry and motivated, no one can stop him. Imagine leading his team to the Finals with a torn ligament on a finger on his shooting hand.

David Stern will be jumping up and down once again cause it looks like its going to be another Boston-LA final, with LA getting it this time around.

With the way things are now, with a lot of teams not making any additions yet, it looks like it could be another Beantown-Lake show finals. Posey's departure leaves them one less spark of the bench, Posey is the league's most coveted role player and a good chemistry guy, but I'm sure its not his absence or presence that will determine if the C's will have another championship run. It all depends if the remaining core can play at the level they played for 82 games and a grinding post season run to the championship. Not that I'm a fan, but I'm picking the C's to come out of the east, with cleveland a close second. Im doubting that detroit will have another conference finals run. Im pretty sure there's a lot of chemistry problems there.

Under the radar is the Magic, the Raptors and the Wizards. Can these teams add more to stay with the C's? The Raptors have acquired J. Oneal, not a bad pick, since this guy can provide Bosh with needed help in the paint. Magic and the Wizards are basically the same team. I wonder how the Knicks would look like, Im not doubting D Antonni, but I'm doubting everyone else in the roster whose names are either Marbury, Jerome James, Randolph. Again, not a lot of movements have happened, so this all just based on paper.

I like the Philly acquisition for Elton Brand. Brand may not have stood by his word, but with a recent injury, he could rest from the run n gun style of the west and settle for the "grind it out" of the East. He has Iggy Hop, Andre Miller and Dalembert. Maybe they could add another shooter to fill Korver's spot.

Well anyway, I used to be an east coast fan, back when the nets where running and contending. I'd rather talk about the west.

The Lakers are still this year's favourites to come out of the west. With the return of Bynum to provide the muscle Gasol can't, can you imagine having at least 6 11 players in your frontline? Odom will slide to his natural 3 spot and gasol will be at 4. Add kobe and fish and you may have a lineup that may be difficult to stop if all works well. They will miss turiaf's presence as a spark though, but a bench mob of radmanovic, walton, vujacic, farmar, mihm will even be more solid with a final's experience tucked under their belt.

I also like New Orleans and Utah's chances. You can see it coming, as long as new orleans stays healthy and develops their thin bench, they're strong contenders out of the west. As for Utah, well, they caught a freight train last season when they met Kobe in the finals. These teams are due, probably not now, but in the future for a run, for as long as the decline is steady for
the Spurs, the Mavs, and the Suns.

I almost forgot about the rockets. damn it, how long can houston keep dropping the ball. I hope the artest move pays off for them. I feel sorry for the rockets, what a run last year. 22 wins and making a run despite yao's presence. Hopefully yao stays healthy, tmac stays motivated and hungry, scola improves in the nba game, artest keeps his head in check and senior Mutombo doesn't retire yet. haha.

Also, if there are any two point guards who I'd want to have a shot at the Larry O Brien trophy, it would be JKidd and MVSteve. These guys are still the best guards, in my belief at this time for as long as they are still playing. I want Shaq to do his job and help Steve and Amare win. Or, I'd like to see Jkidd push it for one more season. I think he still can, he just needs one training camp to do it. He basically has a better team than the 02 or the 03 nets. Its just to bad the Mavs are in the West.

If there is one team I am not tired of seeing, and Im sure a lot of people are, its my san antonio spurs. How can anyone hate this team? a disciplined team, a good core with duncan, parker, ginobili and bowen. Its an aging core, but its a core. If san antonio wants to stay competitive, they have to inject youth to their team. You can't keep playing on finley, horry off the bench. By the way, its an odd-numbered year right? Spurs might get number 5... they just might get it this year..

Haha, as much as i'd love to see Duncan, the greatest PF of all time, have more hardware, I'd love to see the following have a chance this year:
Jason Kidd, dirk, Nash, Tmac and Yao and at least another shot for Kobe before his prime ends ( just so he can stick to shaq's face)

Cleveland has a real legitimate shot at going over the top in the East this season.

Both Boston and Cleveland are recognized as head and shoulders ahead of the other Eastern Conference teams. Given the near parity of both teams in terms of talent and experience having the right players and additional 'ammunition' could spell the difference. Cleveland has improved this season as seen in the win-loss performance to date. The addition of Mo Williams and the stellar play of Lebron James have been positives. But what could put Cleveland over the top is the rumored trade between Cleveland and Miami wherein the Cavs get Shawn Marion even as the Heat get Varejao and Wally World.

Boston on the other hand grew one year older but not necessarily better. The loss of James Posey and PJ Brown will haunt the Celtics on the defensive end come the playoffs.

Intriguing to see how the Richardson trade plays out for Phoenix. He does give Nash another explosive offensive option together with Stoudemire and O'neal (when he comes to play). Could this vault the Suns as the top-tier threat to the Lakers to advance to the Finals? Might still be hard considering the strength of the Hornets and the Jazz, the potential of the Blazers and the improved roster of the Rockets.