More NBA Thoughts

So, in the past three days, I've finally gotten to catch a couple of NBA games.

Ok, actually, I've caught the last two Cavs games, against the Heat and the Lakers. And they've gotten me excited about the NBA again. Gotten me paying closer attention to NBA highlight reels on ESPN and following news stories and rumors and all that. And, I've got a couple of thoughts.

1) The Cavaliers are starting to look good. The move to go to Daniel Gibson as the starting point guard looks to have freed up the offense. Eric Snow is a phenominal defensive talent, but teams are no longer able to completely ignore one of the Cavs' starters when playing defense.

It's also energized the second team, to help the bench play. Eric Snow commands that unit a lot better, because they can run a slowed down offense through him, without everyone else standing around waiting for LeBron to get invovled. Sasha and AV are really producing on that unit right now, and if they keep it up, this could be a very dangerous team in the playoffs.

2) It's becoming obvious to me that the East playoffs are going to be dramatic than the West playoffs. The Mavs are the class of the West. There is no debate about it, at least not in my mind. They have the best player in the West (Dirk), are a deep team, and have tasted some success with the bitter taste left in their mouth in falling short. The other contenders in the West just seem too flawed.

In Phoenix, the lack of real depth is showing as injuries creep in. I wouldn't bet on them against a deep and rested and focused Mavs squad. They look like a team that is going to run out of gas in the second or third round of the playoffs.

In San Antonio, the team looks a little lost. Tim Duncan is still dominant as usual, but it doesn't look like anyone else is showing up consistently to help him. It could be just an off year, or it could be the end of an era. I'd probably bet on this being the end of their era. Lucky for them, Duncan has more than enough miles left for them to retool and make another run with him.

Both L.A. teams look too inconsistent to be real contenders. Utah doesn't do anything for me, especially if they lose seeding position with Boozer out.

The West just looks clear-cut as a slamdunk win for the Mavs.

In the East, however, there are a handful of teams I can see winning the conference.

The Cavaliers are starting to gel and come together. The Pistons, since the addition of Webber, have realy looked good. The Heat have to be a contender as long as they remain in position to make the playoffs. The Magic are someone who worry me, since they have Dwight Howard (more no him later), and there's no telling what a dominant center can do in the playoffs. And, there's Washington, lead by a man on a mission (Agent Zero), who can carry a team to an upset or two, which might be enough to win a few rounds and win the conference.

That said, I think the East drama is all for naught. None of those teams would I pick to defeat the Mavs for the NBA title, save the Cavs, but that would be a very biased pick.

3) I finally am starting to see what all the talk about Dwight Howard is all about. Wow, he's simply amazing, and he's getting better every game it seems. I'd put long-term stock in the Magic, if I could trust that organization to either build around a star, or at least keep a star. Still, he's entered into my top five NBA players I will stop and watch when they are on TV, just because you don't know what they might do next. That list:

1) LeBron
2) Kobe
3) Agent Zero
4) D-Wade
5) Dwight Howard