When I take a look at the NBA as of right now, I think there are five legitimate contenders for the NBA Championship: in the East there’s Boston, Cleveland and Orlando, and in the West you have the Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio. And to me the most interesting part of the off-season is that four of these teams all have significantly improved during the summer with the jury is still being out on the Lakers (Odom needs to stay). Who of these teams did the best so far? My opinion? So far it’s the Magic. But that all could change in a few days…
It was only a few weeks ago when they traded for Vince Carter, and losing three players because of it in Courtney Lee, Tony Battie, and Rafer Alston. This also meant that Hedo Turkoglo would leave, and it was widely assumed that Marcin Gortat would end up with the Dallas Mavericks. Magic GM Otis Smith insisted in the Carter deal that promising young big Ryan Anderson was included, and his play in the Summer League made Smith look like a genius. They also pried Brandon Bass away from Dallas, and did (to me) the unexpected: they matched Dallas’ offer for Gortat, paying him 34 million in the next five years. Owner Rich DeVos’ team got richer by spending a lot of money. I read that Orlando is close to signing free agent point guard C.J. Watson, a gunner and a good back-up for Jameer Nelson. Last week there was also a rumor that Matt Barnes might go to Orlando. Whether or not if it that will actually happen, the reigning Eastern Conference Champion is still the team to beat.
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