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by Michael 2009/06/22 17:37

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Looking at our biggest contenders
Written by Scott   
Thursday, 09 July 2009 20:03
With the acquisition of Rasheed Wallace, it looks like the Celtics are in prime contention for another championship run.  There are a few questions that remain, but let's look the the off-season of some of our key rivals and look at the moves they have made:
Cleveland:
Lebron James doens't look to be making things any easier for his team, by openly declaring he doesn't know if he is going to stay in Cleveland.  Even after Trevor Ariza said James was staying, he came and directly told the media he never told the free agent swingman he would stay in Cleveland, putting his future with the team in jeopardy.  Ron Artest, who eventually went to the Lakers, said he was hesitant to sign with the Cavaliers because of James' uncertain future with the team.
This compliments a team who is starting to make a few questionable moves already.  Acquiring Shaquille O'Neal was a great move... in 1999.  Now, he is old, overweight, and his adequate defense is now probably going to be a liability.  Then Anderson Varejao was resigned to a 5 year 60 million contract, making it even harder for the team to acquire more talent to go alongside James.  So they overpaid for one big man and they have another one who is nowhere near the championship level he once was.
Bottom line is the status of Lebron James seriously hangs over the team.  I think at this point, there is no question he is going to leave.
Los Angeles:
The Lakers made an interesting acquisition in Ron Artest, but I would much rather have had Ariza, who was a critical part of the team.  Artest is a person who can play lock-down defense, but has faltered in his lock-down defense as of late and had a really bad postseason.  Let's not forget Artest's incident in Detroit that gave the NBA a black eye.  To add to that, contract talks with versatile forward Lamar Odom have hit a standstill.  The only wild card is if Phil Jackson, the established Lakers coach, can calm Artest down.  Overall I think they will be a good team, but I think letting Ariza go was a tremendous mistake, he was critical to their success.
Orlando:
Getting Vince Carter was an excellent move to replace Hedo Turkoglu, who was determined to leave.  But giving up a solid to superior perimeter defender like Courtney Lee could be costly.  Lee was a budding star and with all of his intangibles was not worth an aging Vince Carter.  Their window for a championship alongside Dwight Howard and Rashard Lewis and Jameer Nelson is not as big as it once was..
Dallas:
Acquiring Shawn Marion for Jerry Stackhouse, Antoine Wright and Devean George, to go alongside Jason Terry, Josh Howard, Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Kidd is huge.  The Mavericks have also signed defensive specialist Quentin Ross and are in talks to sign Marcin Gortat, a defensive-minded big man who was critical to the Magic's success.  They could have an excellent turnaround next year to be a contender barring the injuries that held them back last year.
San Antonio:
Just when you think the Spurs are on the verge of falling off, they go and find Richard Jefferson for aging role players.  Then they sign Antonio McDyess.  These two moves alone could make for a championship team.  They already have a solid core, excellent coaching great defense, deep bench and they added to it.  I am most worried about the Spurs in the Celtics quest for a title.

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...
written by Don (With Malice), July 11, 2009
Hey...
Some interesting ideas there, but I think painting Trevor Ariza as "critical to their (LA's) success" is overstating it a bit. Quite a bit.
Yes, he was a nice piece, and had some key plays during the playoffs.
But you're talking about a guy who averaged a lil' under 9 points, a lil' over 4 boards. In what has been termed his 'break out season'.
A nice piece, but merely that.
Artest? If LA can keep him in line - and there's no reason to believe they can't (Ron's behaved when there are strong personalities around him, and Phil's had quite a few nutcases to deal with) - then LA definitely take a step upward on this. Have a look at how Paul Pierce and LeBron James have done when Ron-ron's been guarding them. Not-so-well...

And lastly, Lamar Odom and LA will get the deal done. I have every faith in that, and I believe that the rest of the NBA believe that too. It's interesting, that in this storm of FA movement, no-one's shown much interest in even attempting a move on LO. This - I think - is a pretty good indication that everyone believes that Lamar stays a Laker.

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