Consequence wrote:The only teams from that list that I'd trust to make a concerted push for the playoffs are Atlanta, Chicago, and Charlotte. The rest haven't shown me anything at all at any point to convince me they can string together the wins to achieve/maintain playoff positioning.
Funny you should mention those teams, because among the teams with worse records than the Wizards (who have had the easiest schedule in the NBA to date and are due for a bit of a slide when things get tougher unless they can get Arenas back without and readjustment period) the Bobcats and the Hawks have had the two easiest schedules to date. Those two teams are followed by the Nets, the Knicks and then the Bulls. The Hawks may make it in by default but the Bobcats in particular were never in the playoff race to begin with. They can't win on the road and are heading out west for some major road games.
I actually think the race is down to the Bulls, Pacers, with outside shots going to the Hawks and Sixers (Philly needs to take care of some business against the multiple sub-.500 clubs they face in the near future).