Who will be the NBA's version of the Indiana Colts

The Colts have been annual play-off participants, championship contenders and division champs since Payton Manning was drafted... until this season and now it looks like they have a shot at the top pick in the draft.

So who in the NBA have a chance to go from really really good over an extended number of years to lottery team? There are 4 contenders IMO.

Boston
LAL
Dallas

All of those teams are really really old. I'll break down why I think they have a chance to fall off the map and which one I think is most likely.

Boston - Really old is not a good mix of so many games cramed into a few months with a bunch of back to backs and even some back to back to backs. Paul Pierce is starting the season out hurt and on the bench. He is clearly the best Boston player. Ray Allen is just a shooter these days and when his logs go (which is likely to be often) so will his shot disappear. KG has not been an offensive player for a few years. He can still play defense, block shots and pass the ball but his rebounding is not even what it used to be. The Celtics will have to be carried by Rondo and Brandon Bass until Pierce comes back and hope the can play good enough defense to win a few games. The only thing that might save Boston from the lottery is the awful Eastern Conference and that might not even be enough.

LAL- Kobe is starting the season with a hurt wrist among other things. Bynum is starting the first 5 games on suspension which leaves Gasol and a bunch of spares to try and keep the ship a float during the early part of the season. Add to the fact that the Lakers hired the most spare of coaches (Mike Brown) to replace Phil Jackson and this season could be very ugly for the Lakers. If Bynum stays healthy when he comes back and Kobe's wrist has a speedy recovery I suspect they will still be a formidable team by mid season. They better hope that they don't have to spend too much time relying on guys like Steve Blake or Matt Barnes to make major contributions or they could find themselves in the lottery.

Dallas - last years NBA champs did not bring back Tyson Chandler or JJ Berara who were both major contributors and both young compared to the rest of the team. Roddy B has been trying to crack the rotation for a couple of years but he can't win Ricks trust enough to get consistent minutes. This year the Mavs have to get him in the rotation. Jason Kidd is ancient and Jason Terry has been on a steady decline until catching fire in the play-offs last season. Dirk is old but showed no signs of aging last season. As long as he can still play like his normal self the Mavs will continue to have a great record but I think you will see them feasting on mediocre to bad teams while getting their teeth kicked in by the better teams.

 

I did not think the Hornets qualified because they have not been good enough IMO over the past several seasons? Only issuing the play-offs 2 seasons ago and just barely squeaking in ahead of the Rockets last season.

 

I think the Lakers have a real chance at being really really bad. But if Kobe gets healthy and paired with Bynum and Gasol, and if Mike Brown can stay out of the way, the Lakers can still be a play-off team IMO.

 

They don't qualify. They did not even make the play-offs last season.

 

One great season does not qualify. That being said were talking about this year.

 

Negative rep

 

Really? Why did the Celtics suck for so long then?

 

Dallas looking very old and slow in the early part of the game today.