It's my favorite time of the year as a basketball junkie. We're about 10 hours away from NBA tipoff and in a month from now, college basketball tips off with its "preseason tourneys" and non-conference mashups. Not matchups, MASH-ups. Anyway, putting thought into this over the past few days I had to take a few things into consideration...

- Which teams are legitimately contending for a title and which teams are legitimately pretending that they are contending?

Well, your legitimate contenders are as follows...

- San Antonio, well, they're the champions.
- Phoenix, probably the only team out West that's legitimately not afraid of the Spurs. We'll be arguing the validity of the Suns/Spurs series for forever and a day, but if it can't be done for this team this year, I dunno.
I will say that Kerr put himself and the team in a major hole by dealing the only big on their team that can kinda guard The Big F'N Dynasty known as Tim Duncan.
- Houston. Anyone who knows Adelman knows a few things...he's real infamous for choking in the playoffs with really good teams and oh yeah, he's good at running offenses that have versatile to fairly decent big men and two guards who can shoot. The last time Adelman had a team that was anywhere near this deep or talented, I'd venture to say he was in Portland.

Pretenders?
- Dallas. What?! Not the Mavs! Yes. I'm not joining the endless masses who will drink the Cuban Cool-Aid, thinking these guys will finally figure out a way to put it all together in the playoffs. If two years ago never happened, sure. But these guys followed up an epic Finals collapse with the worst first round meltdown in NBA history. Nothing's topping last year's owning by Golden State. If you remove the two games where Cuban Court advantage factored into the equation, the Mavs would've been swept. Beyond bringing in Eddie Jones, this team did absolutely nothing to show me they're ready to atone. Speaking of teams that did nothing...
- Cleveland. Let me make this short and sweet. They had no business being in the Finals a year ago and the moves they made this offseason will ensure they don't return. But L, they made no moves in the offseason. Exactly.
- Detroit. Last year's meltdown against the Cavs was the Buster Douglas moment for this franchise. As in basically, it's the knockout that all but seals the deal for this group. Make no mistake, you're not going to find a lineup this potent anywhere outside of Phoenix and Dallas. Really ya won't. But as it is with all teams following Larry's departure, they're never the same and this team has not been the lockdown personified team they were in the middle half of this decade.

Conversely, unlike these other clowns I've got a few of my 'Nightmare' teams in that sleeping on these teams can be incredibly hazardous to your health.

- Denver. One part of this is Melo biased, the other half is that they're a legitimate sleeper. Yeah, I get that K-Mart's about as fragile as cheap China on a speedboat. I get that Karl's something of an enigma as a head coach and the Melo Answer duo didn't exactly do what was expected
in its first half season. Here's the scary thing though that folks are really overlooking...

A) Both Iverson and Anthony want that ring and quiet be kept, you're not going to find a more lethal one-two punch in the league. Anthony's the deadliest scoring threat in the Association and Iverson's still a nightmare to guard one on one, don't think that ankle shattering crossover of his is getting any worse with age.
B) Denver's lone playoff debacles have come to the Wolves (In the lone year KG actually had legitimate help and considering who it was, take it for what you will), Clippers (It's considered an "upset" only because the Nugs were the higher seed) and the Spurs twice (even Jordan couldn't get around the Celtics and Pistons in their prime before he became "Jordan").

All that said, if Melo can figure a way around the Spurs who have been the lone legitimate obstacle he can't get around, they're going to wreak havoc in the playoffs. Remember, just seven years ago, George Karl took a Bucks team that had Ray Shuttlesworth and a bunch of nobodies to the Eastern Conference Finals. So it's proven that Karl can coach a team to the promised land, it's just up to him to get them back there.
- Washington. The Wizards? Yeah. Remember, Boston's not the only team in the Least with a high octane trio. The Wiz have their own and if it weren't for Arenas going down for the year last season, we're not talking about the Leastern Conference Champion Cavaliers because Agent Zero wouldn't have let the Cavs sink him twice in the postseason. I think they've got more than enough firepower in a conference where not
a ton's needed. Speaking of...
- Golden State. I'll let you all in on a little secret...this isn't a one shot deal with these guys. I believe they're that good and simply put, Nellie's building these boys up in a way he didn't do with Dallas. Picture the Mavs
if they had a Baron and Stephen Jackson type on their team to get in your face and play smothering D. They're deep and give or take a break or two in their favor (seeing Dallas again in the playoffs certainly wouldn't hurt), they can make a serious run towards the Finals.
- New Jersey. Homer, right? Yeah and there's something people have so totally forgotten. The Nets have won two Eastern Conference crowns in this decade. They haven't forgotten how to win, even if everyone finds it conveinent to think they have. I was righteously disappointed with how things fell apart last year, downright infuriated when they folded up like church chairs to the LeBrons in the East Semis. Bottom line, before they hit Crooklyn, I'd like to see them make ONE last Finals run and cap it off with an actual title. Alright, time to weed through it all and come up with a final verdict of sorts. Out West, I think it's as simple as the AFC is this year. There's the Spurs and then there's everyone else. I know everyone's going to be riding the Mavs as San Antonio's equal, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Honestly, I think there's an unspoken gap as far as the space between the champs and their closest challenger go. This isn't the Pats/Colts we're talking about here, because in all honesty folks, the Pats own stock in the Colts and Peyton. One second half collapse is just that, a SECOND HALF COLLAPSE. Think Brady's sweating that? He looks at his hand, the one that Gisele's not holding and sees two more rings than Peyton's got. Anyway, I get that the Spurs have not repeated as champions...EVER. But in 2004, it took a miracle shot by Derek Fisher to seal their fate and in 2006, a lapse in judgment by Manu Manu. Take away those two and yeah, we'd have ourselves something to rival the Celts of the late 50s and early 60s in terms of consistency. But I don't think an inability to win titles in even number years means they can't do it. Fact is, they've won more titles this decade than some have in their lifetime.

So let's get down to it. As of right now, the Bulls are in talks with the Lakers. DAILY talks mind you. I can only see one deal the Bulls can make that gets them their 7th Eastern Conference crown and their first in ten years. Ready?

Anything that does NOT include Kirk Hinrich. Anyone else under the sun, call em' expendable. It's not everyday a franchise is practically giving away the best player on the planet for 50 cents on the Canadian Dollar. Paxson would be foolish to not take this deal. So let's say the Bulls part with Wallace, Gordon
and Deng. Yeah, there's backlash in Chi-Town, but guess what Bull fans? You not only have the best backcourt in the league this side of the Alamo with Captain Kirk and Kobe Bauer, you've all but punched your ticket back to the Finals and depending on the draw from the West...ya might have banner #7 thanks to Kobe. Of course, if this does NOT happen, I honestly don't think it's going to matter out of the East the way it's presently set up. The Cavs can take their silver ball and stay home. I know everyone's picking Boston because hey, their three names are bigger than everyone else's in this JV League trying to be a conference, but I'm not. We still don't know how well they're going to gel together over 82 games, I remain unconvinced that Doc Rivers won't screw this up and all told, I just don't know. Chicago's got enough to be formidable in
this thing with the talent it has, but they lack that 'it' needed to go back to the Finals. Detroit's the best in this conference that nobody looks at, but as 'Sheed
said about last season...the Cavs didn't beat them, they beat themselves. I'm in full agreement with you 'Sheed, but I don't have enough faith in you and your
Boys to not let them off the hook again.

Out West, I dunno. The Spurs are the favorites in my book, but of all the teams I think that can seriously stand toe to toe with them in a seven game set...I like Phoenix. Yes, they gave away the only person on their team that can defend Duncan down low. But maybe, just maybe I believe there's a silver lining in that dark cloud that the Spurs kept over the Suns last May. I think this is the final shot Phoenix has before this thing is disassembled once and for all. They're afraid of the Luxury Tax the way the Yanks are of losing the spotlight, so I can't forsee this team remaining intact if it falters this year. So short of the Spurs doing their usual "we'll take a year off because we're the Spurs" trick, San Antonio takes the West. Which leaves the Least.

- Can the C's led by the G.A.P. Band turn a trick we haven't seen in 20 (I was 7)
years in leading the Celtics back to the Finals?
- Will John Paxson follow in Danny Ainge's footsteps and foresake the youth movement to acquire the game's best player (who's got to have a chip on his shoulder the size of Cali times 50)?
- Do the Pistons have one final run in them?
- Will the Heat re-emerge as a legitimate force in the conference and reclaim their crown?
- Can the Nets remember who they used to be and get theirs back?

Maybe, they'd better, no, no & for the love of all that's right with the world...I hope so.

Honestly, I think it's hard not to pick against the C's for me personally. While I
haven't had much reason to loathe and vehemently despise them as I would if they were the Deadskins or Eagles in football, it's hard for me to not root for KG and Ray Ray. I've been a fan of Ray's going back to his UConn days and KG's
been a demon since he entered the league some 12 years back. They've gone for far too long carrying craptastic teams and giving their all with next to zip to show for it. So for one year ONLY, I'm going to root for them to do it just as a 'sentimental' thing and if Rasheed's really right with his scripted theory...I can't see the Finals ending any other way than with the Spurs facing the Celts.

In the end, Spurs win. Sorry Boston, you're getting a 2nd WS crown in 4 years, another Lombardi trophy and quite possibly an ACC crown to compliment your school's first national championship. Ya can't win em' all.