Where’s Whitey Sammy Sosa?

Seriously, how is this guy a Heat fan anyways? Like most Heat fans, Mr. Sosa probably didn’t even realize the team existed until after game 5 against the Celtics.

Remember kiddies, don’t do steroids. They’ll turn you into a white person.

With the worst regular season in major sports winding down lets take a look at the type of teams you’ll see in the greatest playoffs in all of the major sports.  I’m not taking into account potential match ups, just looking at my general feelings of the potential playoff teams.  Once the seedings are final we will take a look at the individual match ups  and hopefully have a TSB predictions post.  On to the playoff teams.

Proof the NBA has too many playoffs teams:

Indiana Pacers – Granger is nice, but any NBA team with Psycho-T and Mike Dunleavy is bound to get rolled in the first round.  It’s a good thing for the Pacers the East is garbage because they are not a legitimate playoff team.

Philadelphia 76ers – /doesn’t give a shit.

New York Knicks – 2 games over .500 despite having runs of 13-1 and 7-0.  Eventhough they have two studs in Carmelo Anthony and Antoine Amare Stoudemire the Knicks struggle.  They haven’t figured out how to incorporate Billups and Anthony into the team and I don’t think Dantoni is the man to do it.  Man the East is garbage.

Just Happy To Be There:

New Orleans Hornets – Limping to the finish line after starting the season 11-1.  Injury to West hurts.

Memphis Grizzlies – Good season for the Grizz making the playoffs for the first time since 2006.  With a descent core of players to build around they should be back next season.

Possible Party Crashers:

Portland Trailblazers – Hell of a job by the Blaze keeping it together this year while they transitioned from being B-Roy’s team to LaMarcus Aldridge’s teams.  The addition of Wallace has been great.  Not only is he a high energy guy that can do a number of things on the court, his toughness has seemed to rub off on the Frenchie.  In fact Batum has really embraced his role coming off of the bench.  The Blaze could win a series or two.

Orland Magic – The Magic went through an identity change to start the year, then again mid season and have never seemed to find their rythm.  However there is a lot of talent on that team and if they do figure it out they could win a series or two.  Any time you have the most dominant big man in the game you have a chance in the NBA Playoffs.

Denver Nuggets – Like the Blaze the Nugs have done a great job of transforming their team.  While they Blaze had to do it due to injuries, the Nugs did it after trading away their two best players in Billups and Anthony.  The Nugs could win a series or two as well, but they are not legitimate contenders.

Chronic Underachievers:

Atlanta Hawks – Has a group of players done less with as much talent the Hawks have had over the last few years?  Maybe they win a series, but no way the put together a serious run.

Dallas Mavericks – Just like the Hawks I wouldn’t be surprised if  Dallas won a series, but this group has been the poster boys for underachieving since their Rory Mcilroy-esque finals collapse in 2006.  After winning 67 games in 2007 (6 more than the next best team),  they became the first ever #1 to lose in the first round since the 7 game series format.  In 2010 they became the only team to ever lose in the first round as a #2 seed in a best of 7 format.  It’s no wonder that the #5-#8 seeds are hoping to draw the Mavericks in the West.

The Favorites…2 months ago:

San Antonia Spurs – While they haven’t fallen as far as Boston has, it’s still hard to consider the Spurs the favorites at this point.  While they are the leagues best 3-point shooting team, they don’t score in the paint.  And the team that gets the most easy buckets wins in the NBA Playoffs.  Although bonus points for having the best coach in the Association.

Boston Celtics – They Perkins trade was their death sentence.  This team lost their identity at that point and haven’t found a new one yet.  Horrible trade.  The Celtics are 9 of the their last 20 and haven’t had a 5 game win streak where at least one of those teams was a playoff team since the first of December.

Young With Something to Prove:

Oklahoma City Thunder – The Thunders where the beneficiaries of Boston’s panic trade of Perkins.  Already flush with scorers the Thunder were more than happy to trade away green for a tough inside presence.  With Perkins and Ibaka controlling the paint on the defensive end and Durant and Wesbrook owning it on the offensive side the Thunder have the tools to contend for a championship.  Don’t be surprised if they win the west this year.

Chicago Bulls – The Bulls have had an incredible regular season.  With this year’s MVP and a tough defense they are contenders to win the East.  Noah and Boozer provide toughness down low and Rose has proven to be a great leader this year.  However I want to see them do it before making them the favorites.  I worry about Rose being their only legitimate scoring threat.  In a 7 game series teams might beable to slow him down.

The Favorites, But By No Means Locks:

Miami Heat – The favorite in the east by default.  They have two super duper stars that have proven they can take over a playoff season.  They play good defense and have won 14 of their last 17 including wins against Boston, LA, Spurs, Griz, Nugs and Hawks.  But it wouldn’t shock me if they lost in the 2nd round in epic fashion.

La Lakers – The two time defending champions have to be considered as the favorites both in the West and to win the whole thing.  But they are certainly vulnerable.  Artest is a shell of his former self, Kobe is a year older and Gasol and Bynum are still pussies.  Their recent 5 game slide is concerning, but it is coming off the heels of a 17 for 18 stretch where they were beating playoff teams left and right.  By no means are they a lock, but they are the champs until someone knocks them off.

Big news at this time is that Chris Bosh has decided to join Wade in Miami as the newest member of the Heat. Immediately this makes the Heat a contender in the eastern conference. Lots of people are gonna go on saying now that they are the favorites. I am not one of those people. Obviously if they land Lebron as well that could change. If Lebron signs with someone else (I think he should), the Heat are still not better than the Lakers, and they probably aren’t as complete a team as the Magic. This gives them a total of 4 players on the roster now with Bosh and Wade joining Beasely and Chalmers. Unless they make another big signing I still don’t see them winning a championship. They will need to add about 8 more guys to complete the roster and for their sake some of these guys better be players.

The one thing they could really use is a center. Someone like a Kendrick Perkins would be perfect to complement “the big 2.” A big man who takes up space and doesn’t need the ball would be the perfect fit. We’ll soon find out what the Heat are going to do but for right now I still don’t think Bosh is enough to put them over the top.

AdrianWojnarowski, Yahoo Sports

Lebron James is planning to invite six teams to meet him over the first three days of free agency, and rap mogul Jay-Z and Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov will be part of a New Jersey Nets contingent that will make the first presentation on July 1 in the Akron, Ohio, area, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

James and his advisors plan to have the Nets, New York Knicks,  Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Clippers, Miami Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers make presentations. Yahoo! Sports first reported on Thursday night that James would be taking appointments with teams on July 1 to begin his free-agency process.

The Bulls have emerged as the favorites for James, and the Heat and Nets are making a strong push, too. The Knicks and Clippers appear to be longer shots to sign James. The Cavaliers remain a viable choice because of James’ seven seasons there and the opportunity for him to make as much as $30 million more re-signing with his hometown team.

When did the Clippers become one of the 6 teams to get Lebron. Am I mistaken in that Donald Sterling still owns them, because there’s no way his cheap ass will ever fork out that kind of dough for 1 player. He’s to busy dealing away any young talent he gets, sexually harassing women, racially discriminating against people and promising to build homeless centers that never get built. Gotta love the Clipper franchise.

As for the other teams I’ll throw out Miami as well. I just don’t see Lebron heading to South Beach with Wade and Riles, he wants to be the man and Wade is King of Miami.

So that narrows it down to the Nets, Bulls, Knicks and Cavs. They are saying that the Bulls are the front runners, but I just don’t see why. Lebron wants to be known as the best ever and to go to Chicago where the best ever played he would have to achieve more than what Jordan did, and lets be honest here thats just not going to happen. The Bulls have an ok looking team and Rose looks like he will be a stud I just don’t see them ripping off titles. Other than Rose I’ll take the Cavs roster right now over them.

The Knicks have been talking about getting the King for over a year now and sorry Knicks fans that’s not going to happen. Would it be great to watch Lebron in Mike D’Antoni’s offense. Yeah, but that organization and team are so bad who would want to play for them.

So that leaves the 2 teams I think Lebron has a chance to play for next year. The Cavs and the Nets. I want to say that Lebron will stay in Cleveland and be at home, but the more I think about it the more I’m leaning towards the Nets. They have a new owner who will spend money, they have a new coach who has been in big playoff series, they have some young talent that will be good and they have Lebron’s buddy in the Jigga Man. Everything adds up to Lebron landing in New Jersey. Will they win a title if Lebron just showed up today. No, but if they pickup a good veteran player and Derrick Favors isnt a complete bust they will be competitive this year and are only a couple years away from being contenders.