I say Odom is another bust and on the downside of his career. I say they’ve gotten good veteran players, but are now older. I say Crawford is too sporadic to be relied upon as a consistent performer in the playoffs. I say Billups won’t hold up the whole season and Deandre Jordan marginally improves. Meanwhile, the Spurs roll out the same team who swept them a year ago. I think Denver beats either one of these teams.

Boston has to be the favorite to reach the Eastern Conference Finals, while it would be a tremendous upset if the Clippers reach the Western Conference Finals and might be lucky to get out of the first round.

I have the Nets at #5 and Sixers at #6.

Not sure I agree with “there’s no way Boston is better than San Antonio.” For starters, Boston’s bench got a significant upgrade. Scoring – which was a lingering problem – got a great boost with Terry, Lee, and Green. They have greater depth upfront. I agree that Terry’s defense is not spectacular, but he knows how to play great team defense. Besides that, I think his defense can be masked by other great defenders, i.e. Rondo, Lee, Bradley. I’m not saying they WILL finish ahead of San Antonio, but to suggest there’s no way they’re ahead of them is kinda silly. I’m not sure what San Antonio has done to improve. Their big 3 is another year older (and injury prone), plus a 34 year old Stephen Jackson. They clearly ran out of gas against OKC in the playoffs. What has changed?

I agree, Hornets could be better and I’m not sold that the Magic aren’t better than the second worst team in the league.

Amusing comment. Made me chuckle. Everyone knows overpaid 2-guards nearing the end of their prime are far more valuable pieces than a 24-year old center coming off a career year.

76ers: I have serious doubts about them. Iguadala is more valuable than people think; whereas conversely, Bynum as the focal point of an offense will be less valuable than people think. They will be a disappointment. Bynum is obviously a fantastic return for Iguadala, but he won’t make much of a difference in terms of improving the team in the standings.

Mavs: This is an old, slow team. Nowitzki will keep them competitive, but they’ll have a tough time beating better teams, and espcially faster ones.

Minnesota: Injury risks all over the place. They need all their pieces healthy if they want to make a serious playoff run, but I just don’t see that happening. And I doubt Brandon Roy will do anything but shoot, or take one dribble and shoot. He had to retire b/c doctors told him he’d never walk again if he continued to play – how can you come back from that and seriously compete with some of the world’s best athletes (especially at his position)?

You may have an argument regarding Denver vs Boston, but there’s no way Boston is better than San Antonio. I would argue that the Pacers are better as well.

Jason Terry is a bit over-rated for this team, b/c his defense is just excruciatingly bad. It will drive Doc Rivers nuts (remember, Doc started Bradley over Allen whose defense is at least decent…what’s he going to think about Terry vs Bradley?), and I’ll bet you that Terry will only be playing 15 minutes a game by season end.

Also, Hornets are way too low here. Eric Gordon is the best player on any team in the last 10 spots, and they added 2 dynamic rookies and the best stretch 4 in the game. I’d put them at #20.

Otherwise, I’d agree with everything else.