After last season playoffs success we have not one but two teams to best in the sunny beaches of the southeast division. Miami Heat is course the first team to beat this year. The Miami Heat led by the trade active manager Proid made a exceptional make over this summer. Despite the return of 4 of their starting five Miami didn't lose their strength for this season. Miami's bench is a little better with Morris, Johnson and Marcus Thornton. They probably will be worry about injuries. Duncan is almost 40 and Gay and Smith are not known by playing 82 games a season. The Heat are not only worried about injuries. They should also be worried about the new comer Atlanta Hawks.

The Hawks acquired last season two superstars Dwight Howard and Chris Paul, one lottery pick Justise Wislow and a cheap future, or maybe already, all-star defender, Rudy Gorbet, without touching his superstar D Wade. With this amazing roster The Hawks finally defeated the three times champs Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, showing all the league they are very serious danger.

 

Key Story Line

Behind the spot light of the big teams, are the less successful franchises Charlotte Hornets, Orlando Magic and Washington Wizards. 

Hornets finally recognized their place as a rebuild team. Kept their first round pick traded players for young or future first rounders. They are building a team to win in the next 4 or 5 years. So the Hornets fans need to be patience this season because they will lose a lot for a long time.

On the other hand are Orlando Magic and Washington Wizard. Both gms are known to have 0 patience and always move to win now basketball.  Orlando had a decent off season bringing Wesley Mathews, Nikola Pekovic, Demarr DeRozan and others to Disney. But they had to pay a lot sending away Ricky Rubio, Luol Deng and a couple of first round picks. Orlando now have a shot to make the playoffs again but it all depends on their starters health which is not so good. If don't they will lose more than a ride in the Roller coaster.

The Wizards is another team that always move to win, or at least try to. After another bad year people thought the Wizard would finally work on their rebuild project, planned after the heroic title in 2010, by drafting their own pick. Nooooooot. Wizard quickly shipped Willie Cauley Stein and their first round pick once again to Utah for Miami's Marc Gasol. Now The Wizard looks better but can only a defensive center change this losing team into a playoff team?

 

Five best players:

Let's take a look on the best of the southeast based on the NLL ranking

 

1) Atlanta Hawks PG Chris Paul  - The best ranked player is one of the bests point guards of the league Chris Paul. He left the losing Minnesota Timberwolves to come to Atlanta to join with Dwyane Wade. Chris promised himself to prove he could play all 82 games last season. With that he led his team as a floor general for the first time into the Conference Finals. But Chris is leading with a series of injuries early inthe season and might not play all 82 games he played last season. However the Hawks is too strong to rely only on Chris Paul, they also have the second best player of the southeast division

 

2) Atlanta Hawks SG Dwyane Wade - The Hawks have another superstar, the veteran DWade. He came to Atlanta from Brooklyn Nets  for a bargain of four role players and a second round pick. He comes to his last year contract but probably will stay in Atlanta now the team is kicking butts all over the league. His number are falling and will keep falling this year again but 26 per game is way more points than a half of the league can score as season high.  Another situation Wade have to be worried is his health. Wade played on 58 games last season and this number might be even low  this season.

 

3) Miami Heat SF Rudy Gay – Small Forwards are a rare specimen these years. When you find one like Rudy Gay it is better to stay with him as long as you can. Can the trade happy gm Proid keep this gem for more than two seasons? Rudy is one of the best small forwards of this league. After a living nightmares in Detroit and Chicago Rudy finally found a winning team to call home. He is capable to score 20 plus points per game and play great on defensive end. He is yet to see another 82 season games healthy just like in the early days in Utah, but never had a season ending injury, I think. Miami will depend on him this season again.

 

4) Orlando Magic PG Marcus Smart – Yes, Marcus Smart can't stop scoring. He is a devil in this 2k game and gm Laddas even traded away the young spaniard Ricky Rubio to give more space to the young point guard. How long can his 2k magic last? For some players don't rest more than on game season. This year however Smart will have company to share points and we will see if he is a glitch or Orlando last year didn't have anyone else to score but him.

 

5) Miami Heat Rajon Rondo–  He was forced to returned for another year to Miami. Traded last season for Kemba Walker Rajon proved he is a great 2k point guard. He do everything you want but shoot 3s. He is coming to another season and we might see him into more trouble than previous season. He will probably lead this team to the playoffs once again but might leave them again next season if The Heat's gm Proid don't throw a lot of gm points into his bank account.

 

 

Honorable mentions - DeMar DeRozan, Isaiah Thomas, J.R Smith, Dwight Howard 

 

 

Sleeper: Eric Gordon is a top 20 player in this league mostly because of his quickness and great shooting ability. Last season he was able to play 56 games and had a career high of 28 points per game! His team however will not be a playoff team but Gordon will keep scoring until his contract end and he find another team next year.

 

 

Breakout star: Rudy Gobert from Atlanta Hawks. Yes, I guess Davetradamus couldn't predict this, when he traded him to Laddas and Laddas will start crying when he sees this guy becoming the best shot blocker in the game. Hawks becoming even more invincible with this guy coming out 

 

 

Best newcomer: DeMar DeRozan. Finally got away from the star crowded, but winning, Sixers to play the cornerstone guy. Maybe for one year. If everything works out Orlando will make the playoffs once again and DeRozan will stay. if not Orlando will have to count their gm points to prevent him to leave Disneyland. 

 

 

Prediction: All these teams but the Charlotte made a nice offseason keeping their main core intact or giving a better face to their franchise. But we can't forget only 8 teams can make the playoffs. Thing is you can't forget Sixers, Cavs, Knicks, Pacers, Bucks and Raptors from the other divisions might be in the playoffs this year. There is only two spots that will probably be filled by Hawks and Heat, with Hawks leading not only the division but the conference or maybe the league standings. Magic have a small chance if they stay healthy and other teams like Raptors and Bucks don't. Wizard will improve their record but they might have another losing season and seeing their traded pick becoming a star in few years while Gasol, if still their, retires. Even worse we will find Bobcats, i mean the Hornets...yeah they still will play Bobcats like basketball until these rookies breakout.