Houston gotta be 1st due to their team chemistry, balance, potential and experience from last year. Lin,Harden, Parsons, Asik all played over 30 min. And the addition of Howard makes them automatically even better. They just need a true PF, if not they got Dmo and Jones to stretch the floor.
Cavs is full of question mark due to their front court depth. Bynum did not play last year so noone can be sure how he has been recovering from his injury. Also even though karasev is automatic from 3 point range, he will need even longer time to adoptate to NBA and his athletism limits his potential. Bennett is a scorer PF who knows how to shoot but will have a hard time to defend without fouling.
Thunder comes to me after Rockets due to same reasons as well except Adams. They've got experience, chemistry and balance in all positions. If Adams grows as expected, they can pass Rockets but i feel he'll be mediocre due to limited offense, early fault problems and lateral slowness. Also, westbrook's gotta come back well and not lose his quickness.
Warriors seem so good on paper but even though it's sad to see it that Bogut is done so you can not count him as a good player in old days. No shooting, FT and laterall quickness. They've got all players who knows how to score but no defensive presence on the low block or perimeter player. May be Barnes can turn into this type but early to say. So they have got one sided team and this limits their potential.
Wizards is least exciting team due to their chemistry and history. If you do not put a purpose to reach, you gotta be called mediocre at best. Full selfish ball hoggs whose efficincies will be down and down. And Nene is not the same one playing for the Nuggets.
The interesting teams after coming from Rockets and Thunder are Blazers and Pelicans. I am really wondering how they will pan out. Blazers starting 5 is so perfect except having a true 5 who knows how to protect the rim, otherwise PnR of Lamarcus-Lillard, defense and running of all players are perfect fit and this increases their potential. But their lacking 3 point shooting hurt a bit.
Pelicans really stepped up by behaving patiently. If the health and durability of Davis and Gordon is ok and consistency of Anderson becomes same in magic days, they are same with Blazers after Rockets and Thunder.
