Objectivly whats the order of the top 5 teams in the NBA

[Spin Move]

Rank the top 5 teams going into the season, if your list does not contain in some order the Celtics, Lakers, Spurs, Cavs, Magic (or maybe Portland) then quit smoking that crack, however rank them acording to the team you think is most likley to win the title.

5. Cleavland Cavaliers: Yes they added shaq, and yes they have Lebron, and Moe Williams is a solid scorer, and they have a really really strong supporting cast, but adding shaq was not enough he is a defensive liability at this point in his career and they already had 1 big slow guy in Z, they more then anyone would have benifited form adding Carter or Jefferson, instead they picked up some solid role players, they have a chance at the title becuae lebron is so amazingly good, but its a small one. Odds of winning the title 10%

4.Orlando Magic: Contrary to popular belif they did not get better this offseason. They went from an unconventional team that was very hard to gaurd to a conventional one that is very very good but not quite the best. I am not a huge Hedo fan, but he created huge matchup problems for teams who had to match up with him and shard at the same time, now teams can stick a normal wing defender on VC and (who i think is a better player then Hedo but a worse fit) and only need one long strong fast guy to gaurd Rashard. Odds of winning title 15%

3. San Antonio Spurs....I really think one of the top 3 will take the title and the spurs have a really decent shot at winning it there fate really rests on how well there new guys can blend in and how much TD has left in the tank, they are a really experienced squad and the only team out west that can knock off the lakers, if they do, then watch out because they really have a punchers chance against anybody. Odds of winning the title 20%

2. Boston Celtics.....Here is where my fellow board members get to flame me, I don't think we have the best odds of winning the title, How good will KG be after his surgery? How much do the Ray Paul Kg and Sheed have left. Can Perk stay healthy, this team has more injury risk then any other team in the NBA (possibly excepting the spurs) How will rondo react to this summers rumors, The celtics should be better then last year adding Daniels and Sheed is a big step up, we are still week at backup PG, however we have a couple of big questions besides health, will Daniels lack of 3 point shooting hurt us in the playoffs this team will win right about 65 games. 25%

1. Lakers, Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, Lamor Odom, Ron Artest 4 legit all stars and thats not even mentiong young Mr. Bynum. They are weak at PG and don't have the best bench but no one has a player as dominant as bryant is in the 4th qaurter and also has 3 other legit stars still in their prime, a good defensive team, if Bynum explodes they will be unstopable, however the artest for Ariza swap will either put them over the top or come back to kill them, i for one like it, but well see Odds of winning the title 30%.

[Captain_Caveman]

1. Cavs
2. Lakers
3. Celtics
4. Magic
5. Blazers

[vct33]

1. Lakers
2. Celtics
3. Cavs
4. Spurs
5. Nuggets

[Zin5]

1. Lakers - Defending champs and probably in the best shape heading into this year.
2. Celtics - A year removed from the championship and they're a better, albeit older, team now.
3. Spurs - Pretty much the same core that's won three championships and finally some legitimate depth in Jefferson. Duncan's become underrated the past couple years.
4. Magic - Defending Eastern Conference champs, and I think Carter's an upgrade over Hedo, but they did lose a bit by giving up Lee and not getting anything back for Hedo, although it's quality, not quantity that wins.
5. Cavs - Yes, Lebron's great and has the refs, but I think the Shaq trade is going to work against his ability to get to the rim and more importantly get calls. Overall, I'd say they're about where they were last year.

[celtxman]

I think judging the Celtics ranking is like trying to buy a stock that is free falling. Logic tells you it is a great buy - and then you kick yourself for not buying it at a low point but you can't bring yourself to do it. It seems everybody is handicapping the Celtics based on injury and age. There seems to be a predetermination that Garnett will not be the same as the first year...that Pierce playing with no backup last year is just an old man...and that somehow Wallace isn't light years ahead of any of the tall big men that the Celtics have had .
I wish I could give credit where it is due (this list was posted before) but here is the ages of the last Chicago Bull championship, remembering that they were not dethroned the following year - they disbanded:

PG Ron Harper (Age 34)
SG Michael Jordan (Age 35)
SF Scottie Pippen (Age 32)
PF Dennis Rodman (Age 37)
C Luc Longley (Age 29)
Bench
Toni Kukoc (Age 29)
Steve Kerr (Age 32)
Randy Brown (Age 29)
Bill Wennington (Age 34)

Now the Celtics key players:
Rasheed Wallace (age 35)
Ray Allen (age 34)
Kevin Garnett (age 33)
Paul Pierce (age 32)
Kendrick Perkins ( 25)
Rajon Rondo (23)
Glen Davis (23)
and presumably Marquis Daniels (28)
It's about perception - we expect Bynum to breakout - but we don't expect Wallace's addition to pose nightmare matchups for the opposition....Kobe's played more more minutes than Pierce, but the story is that Garnett has played almost 40,000 minutes - but Kobe a mere 35,000.
Sorry I'm missing something. I'm looking at Rondo and Perkins being far more talented than they were in the first championship....I see the Lakers finally getting a challenge with the Spurs....I see the Cavs make a couple of nice moves, but not the important one of having a true #2 player next to LeBron...I see Orlando a team the Celtics would have beaten in 5 games with Garnett. If you want to say there is concern with Garnett - absolutely until we see otherwise. But since I'm not going to handicap any other potential injuries I'm not doing it here:
1.) Celtics - best talent in the NBA. With the team ravaged with injuries they made it farther than any of the other teams would have losing a player the stature of KG. A toss up with the Spurs as to who had a better off-season, because both teams added exactly what they needed. Celtics have better depth than the championship year and everyone forgets how much better Perkins and Rondo are.
2.) Lakers - I'll buy in that Bynum is more effective and Artest is more effective than the valuable Ariza. Slight edge over Spurs.
3.) Spurs - they could move to the head of the class. Great off-season. Just a hunch at #3 .
4.) Cavs - they could jump to the head of the class by trading Ilgauskus or Shaq (both expiring contracts) and getting the #2 player I alluded to. Not a far-fetched idea for ANY of these teams as the "have-nots" will look to dump salary by February in advance of the lower salary cap when they realize they are going nowhere. I'm going with the current roster with the #4.
5.) Orlando - Carter/Turkoglu basically a wash - nice pickup getting Ryan Anderson and got a nice trade exception chip for Turkoglu. Still judging on current talent

[bc legends]

Boston
Los Angeles
Orlando
San Antonio
Cleveland

[LA Titletown]

1. Lakers
2. Magic
3. Celtics
4. Cavs
5. Spurs

[hairybyrd]

1. Celtics
2. Lakers
3. Spurs
4. Cavs
5. Nuggets

[Cyclical]

Celtics, Lakers and Cavs are 1a 1b and 1c.

No one one's got a special edge over the other. I think the OP is underestimating the Cavs quite a bit. Shaq's D may not be what it once was but it's still better than Z. Z coming in with the 2nd unit is big. and their wings additions are huge. LeBron is still improving as scary as that prospect may be.

4. SA
5a. Denver
5b. Orlando (sorry SVG, you ain't making it to the finals again.)

[Kefa461]

Until told different I will assume KG is 100%.........

1. Celtics
2.Lakers
3.Cavs
4.Magic
5.Spurs

That's my Pre-Camp view.

[kgnwally]

1. Lakers- Defending champs so rightfully so ( even though it is very rare for teams to repeat) team also has arguably the best offensive and defensive players in the league in kobe and artest so they are extremely dangerous.
2. Celtics- We would have easily beat Orlando last year with a healthy team and could possibly have repeated. our off season moves make the most sense and i really like are chance as long as we stay healthy and get kg n pp around 32 min a night.
3. Cavs- they improved there bench probably more than we did with parker and moon alongside shaq. they will be a force to reckon with but they could run into chemistry issues and we just have to see how this pans out.
4. Spurs- they have a solid team with a great coaching staff. stemming injuries they can make some noise against the lakers in the west.
5. Orlando- it feels wierd putting the eastern conference champs so low but they barely got out of the 1st round against the sixers and would have certainly lost to the celtics if we had kg/sheed. they will be good but i dont see them being championship ready just yet.

[BRUNiNHO91]

Lakers
Celtics
Magic
Cavs
Spurs

[bballcool34]

1. Lakers
2. Celtics
3. Magic
4. Spurs
5. Cavs

I switch 3,4, and 5 around on a daily basis- the reason I have the Cavs the lowest is because though they match up very well against us, they'd have problems with the rest of the team there.

[sunshinekids99]

1. Lakers
2. Celtics
3. Cavs
4. Spurs
5. Nuggets

I'm not a huge fan on the Magic to return to that level for next season. Also the Blazers are getting close to that top 5 IMO as well.

[UGA Hayes]

Cavs
Celtics
Orlando
Portland
San Antonio

[return2glory]

It too early to tell. It all depends on how KG's knee is going to react.

As of right now, I would say:

1. Cavs
2. Lakers
3. Spurs
4. Orlando
5. Boston

I only say this because of the uncertainty with KG's knee's.

If KG's knee is close to a 100%, then I would say:

1. Boston
2. Cavs
3. Lakers
4. Spurs
5. Orlando

So a lot depends on KG's knee.

[LA Titletown]

It too early to tell. It all depends on how KG's knee is going to react.

As of right now, I would say:

1. Cavs
2. Lakers
3. Spurs
4. Orlando
5. Boston

I only say this because of the uncertainty with KG's knee's.

If KG's knee is close to a 100%, then I would say:

1. Boston
2. Cavs
3. Lakers
4. Spurs
5. Orlando

So a lot depends on KG's knee.

Just curious. Why do you put Cavs ahead of Lakers?

[BRUNiNHO91]

It too early to tell. It all depends on how KG's knee is going to react.

As of right now, I would say:

1. Cavs
2. Lakers
3. Spurs
4. Orlando
5. Boston

I only say this because of the uncertainty with KG's knee's.

If KG's knee is close to a 100%, then I would say:

1. Boston
2. Cavs
3. Lakers
4. Spurs
5. Orlando

So a lot depends on KG's knee.

Just curious. Why do you put Cavs ahead of Lakers?

I second that. Actually alot of people here have put the Cavs at #1..I'm thinking it's because of LeBron being so ridiculous..but I don't think they are better than Boston or LA..mhm..

[bballcool34]

It too early to tell. It all depends on how KG's knee is going to react.

As of right now, I would say:

1. Cavs
2. Lakers
3. Spurs
4. Orlando
5. Boston

I only say this because of the uncertainty with KG's knee's.

If KG's knee is close to a 100%, then I would say:

1. Boston
2. Cavs
3. Lakers
4. Spurs
5. Orlando

So a lot depends on KG's knee.

Just curious. Why do you put Cavs ahead of Lakers?

I second that. Actually alot of people here have put the Cavs at #1..I'm thinking it's because of LeBron being so ridiculous..but I don't think they are better than Boston or LA..mhm..

Yep- Lakers can defend Lebron pretty well with their length and it's not going to get any easier for him with them Artest (though the Shaq factor may negate that somewhat since he should be able to have his way with the Lakers front court).

Still- Kobe is great at running the pick and roll with Gasol, and Shaq's presence (or Big Z's for that matter) won't help them there.

Lebron would be the best player in that series but the Lakers are more well-balanced and would win the series.

[return2glory]

LA Titletown, the reason I put the Cavs over the Lakers is because of the off season changes. You guys improved a little with Artest. Artest is a really good player. But so was Trevor and Trevor was still getting better.

The Cavs added Shaq basically for Ben Wallace. I would do that trade all day long. Shaq is still a very good player as long as his minutes are limited to about 25 minutes a game. The Cavs have that luxury of playing Shaq limited minutes to keep him fresh because they have Big Z. The Suns didn't have the same luxury.

Also the Cavs added to solid role players in Moon and Parker.