http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/3830350 Off-season moves tip scale of power Story Tools: Print Email XML DIME Magazine / Dime Magazine Posted: 1 day ago Even with training camp still months away, it's never too early for a Dime NBA Hit List. The free-agent frenzy that has gripped the L for the last few weeks has done its best to tip the scales of power (see: the rise of the Bucks, Cavs and Pacers). If the season were to start today, this is how we would rank the teams ... DIME MAGAZINE HIT LIST Rk Team Comment 1. Spurs The best team in the game. Period. Team page | Statistics | Fantasy news 2. Suns The No. 2 ranking is contingent on the Suns re-signing Joe Johnson. What looked like a lock just a month ago now seems uncertain. New Suns owner Robert Sarver might be getting cold feet about parting ways with max money for JJ's services. Assuming JJ does stay, they'll enter next season with their core intact, including the reigning MVP and The Matrix. The most important piece though? No doubt, it's Amare Stoudemire. The Spurs were helpless against him in the playoffs. Another off-season of adding strength and polishing his game will make him one of the three best players in the L. Count on it. Team page | Statistics | Fantasy news 3. Pacers We'll say it right now: the Pacers will represent the Eastern Conference in the Finals this season. J.O. and Jamaal Tinsley are finally healthy. Ron Artest is back and will be on fire the entire season. They finally have another point guard with the signing of Sarunas Jasikevicius. Throw a wild-card rookie Danny Granger into the mix with athletes like Stephen Jackson and Freddy Jones and this team can be scary. Team page | Statistics | Fantasy news 4. Pistons How will Flip change the chemistry of this team? They'll still play selflessly and come at you with great D, but this is a team that is getting older. As good as they are and have been, their window is closing. Team page | Statistics | Fantasy news 5. Heat People will freak when they see that we have the Heat this low. They roll out strong with Flash and Shaq, but we still think their supporting cast is suspect. Damon Jones might still walk this summer and they're in need of someone to take some minutes at the point. Team page | Statistics | Fantasy news 6. Mavericks They're a team in transition, but still good enough to best the majority of the League. As Dirk continues to improve, his sidekicks are dropping like flies. First Nash last season and it looks like Michael Finley is going to be cut outright. Team page | Statistics | Fantasy news 7. Cavaliers The only Eastern Conference team to get after it more than the Bucks this summer has been the Cavs. They resigned Z, and added Larry Hughes and Donyell Marshall — each signing designed to fill a specific need. Did we mention that they also have a cat named LeBron? Ridiculous. Team page | Statistics | Fantasy news 8. Rockets Heading into year two of the T-Mac-Yao Ming combo, we're still waiting for them to truly click. They love each other though, so it's only a matter of time. They desperately needed to get more athletic in the off-season and addressed that issue by stealing Stromile Swift from the Grizzlies. Team page | Statistics | Fantasy news 9. Nuggets The Nuggets had the misfortune of drawing the Spurs in the first round of the playoffs this year and were dealt with predictably. That's OK though, because George Karl's team wasn't ready for the big time yet. Another year together under Karl and this team is dangerous come the second season. Team page | Statistics | Fantasy news 10. Bulls Last year was no fluke. These young cats can ball and will continue to do so. It's on the front office though to keep Tyson Chandler and Eddy Curry, both restricted free agents, in the mix. Team page | Statistics | Fantasy news 11. Nets Vince showed signs of absolute dominance toward the end of the regular season, but then promptly disappeared in the first round of the playoffs. With R.J. back, though Carter and Kidd won't have to shoulder as much of the load. And don't sleep on Nenad Krstic. Kid is on his way to being one of the best centers in the East. Team page | Statistics | Fantasy news 12. Timberwolves The Big Ticket is frustrated. He hates to lose and won't let it happen again. With Flip gone and drama still surrounding the team, the Wolves may need another season to regroup. Don't be surprised if K.G. takes them on his back into the first round. Team page | Statistics | Fantasy news 13. Kings Maybe we're being generous by granting them a place this high. Because once you get past Peja and Bibby, it gets a little dicey. It looks like they're letting their next best scoring option — Cat Mobley — sign with the Clips. Geoff Petri has proven time and again that he's a genius, so we have to think he has something in the works. Team page | Statistics | Fantasy news 14. Grizzlies They lost Stromile Swift to the Rockets, but picked up Hakim Warrick in the draft. It seems like the Grizzlies are always in the middle of the pack. The deal to free themselves of Bonzi Wells and get Bobby Jackson and Kirk Snyder in return was a nice move. Team page | Statistics | Fantasy news 15. Celtics The Celts are the most unpredictable team in this whole lineup. Pierce? Payton? 'Toine? Will they all be back? None of them? Whatever happens, their core crew of young guys — Tony Allen, Delonte West, Al Jefferson and rookie Gerald Green — are all gonna be nasty. Team page | Statistics | Fantasy news 16. Bucks The Bucks are clearly tired of being mediocre. Check out their moves this off-season: they drafted Andrew Bogut, stole Bobby Simmons from the Clips, hired Terry Stotts to coach and kept Michael Redd in town with a max deal. Throw in the return of T.J. Ford and you basically have a whole new team in Milwaukee. Team page | Statistics | Fantasy news 17. Supersonics Nate is gone but admired assistant Weiss is in. Ray & Co. will try to build on the surprising run they had last season. Losing Jerome James might hurt more than anyone is predicting, especially with the possibility of losing Vlad Radmonovic and Reggie Evans to free agency as well. Who will help Nick Collison on the front line? Team page | Statistics | Fantasy news 18. Wizards We'll give the Wizards front office credit. When they lost Larry Hughes, they didn't panic. Instead they softened the loss by dealing Kwame Brown (who they were going to lose anyway) for Caron Butler and Antonio Daniels. Their front line is still sketchy though ... Team page | Statistics | Fantasy news 19. Trail Blazers Why do they get love? Zach is back and the "Baby Blazers" are in full effect. Travis Outlaw, Martell Webster, Sebastian Telfair — it's like a frat party up in there. But does that equal wins yet? Team page | Statistics | Fantasy news 20. 76ers Willie Green: six years, $20 million? Kyle Korver: six years, $27 million? Samuel Dalembert: six years, $70 million? If Billy King's signings don't work out, at least he'll be going out in a blaze of glory. Team page | Statistics | Fantasy news 21. Magic If Jameer is at the point and Steve Francis plays the two, then Hill plays the three and Howard plays the four. Lottery pick Fran Vasquez can play the five and the Magic could be really good this year. Wait, it can't be that easy right? Know this though: Dwight is going to be a beast this year ... this is a team on the move. Team page | Statistics | Fantasy news 22. Warriors During the final two or three weeks of the regular season, there wasn't a more entertaining team to watch in the NBA. Baron and J-Rich were running on all cylinders and it was entertaining as hell. For the fun to continue, Baron needs to stay healthy — something he really hasn't ever been able to do. Team page | Statistics | Fantasy news 23. Jazz Unfortunately for Utah, last season was a wasted year. Remember, before Andrei Kirelinko went down the Jazz were rolling. This season, with the addition of a floor general in Deron Williams, they could be playing sweet music in Salt Lake come playoff time. Team page | Statistics | Fantasy news 24. Knicks What can Larry Brown even do with this squad? The first step will be to cut Allan Houston. After that, it's up to L.B. to mend fences with Steph — easier said than done. Team page | Statistics | Fantasy news 25. Lakers They do have Kobe and Lamar Odom, and Phil is back on the sidelines. Gotta be worth something right? Team page | Statistics | Fantasy news 26. Clippers We thought about sticking them at the very bottom because we still can't understand their draft. Yaroslav Korolev ? Really? With Danny Granger, Gerald Green and everyone else still on the board? So frustrating ... Team page | Statistics | Fantasy news 27. Raptors GM Rob Babcock is praying that Charlie Villanueva will make him look like a genius right from opening night. A slow start from their lottery pick will have everyone (including us), begging to know why they didn't snag Mr. Do-it-all Danny Granger when they had the chance. Team page | Statistics | Fantasy news 28. Bobcats They're young, they have three former NCAA champions on their roster and Nelly is a part owner. At the very least, they'll get up and down and sell a bunch of tickets. Team page | Statistics | Fantasy news 29. Hawks You know it's bad when you can't give away $70 million. On the bright side, Salim Stoudamire has been absolutely killing in his limited summer league run. Team page | Statistics | Fantasy news 30. Hornets Hornets fans, take solace in the old saying, "You have to go through hell to get to heaven." In case you don't realize it, hell was last season. And maybe the year before too. The Hornets may not win many more games than the 18 they came up with last season, but with Chris Paul in the mix tossing 'oops to J.R. Smith, better days are ahead. Team page | Statistics | Fantasy news
Utterly preposterous. Rockets are two ranks below the Mavs?!?!? We almost beat them last season when they were stronger, and before we signed Swift. This season, we will be much better than them. Cavs and Pacers will be better than the Rockets?!?!? No way Nuggets are ranked 9th?!?!? No way - they're going to be much better than that. This guy is an Eastern-team lover. The only Eastern team that should be in that top-10 should be the Heat.
Though the Pacers really could be pretty good. If the Rockets don't win this year, I think it would be great for the Pacers to win it all the year after Reggie retires.
Pacers will be one of the top ten teams in the East. But won't be one of the top-ten teams in the NBA. The only Eastern team that'll be in the top 10 in the league will be Miami.
So Donyell Marshall and Larry Hughes take Cleveland from a team that couldn't make the playoffs in a conference that was close to a YMCA league to a team taht is in the top quarter of the league? In the immortal words of Vizzini, INCONCEIVABLE!!!
I agree with JayZ that it would be awesome, but that's just because I detest Reggie Miller, personally. Don't know his reasoning. The Suns should not be ranked that high.
I don't know what the "Ewing theory" is exactly, I just think Reggie was overrated. He was a great shooter and scorer, but enormously one dimensional. At 6-7, he didn't once average over 4 rebounds a game. Allen Iverson has done it 5 times, and he is lucky to be called 6 foot. He averaged just over 1 steal a game, pretty average. More power to him for creating more fouls than actually existed - was there ever anyone better at pump faking a defender only to jump into said defender and draw a foul? I'm not saying Reggie wasn't a very very good player. And I appreciate that he played his entire career, long as it was, for one middle market team. I just don't think he was GREAT, and he is treated as such occasionally.
Then I guess you probably are: http://proxy.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?id=1193711 It's a cool read if you have the time.
that list is a bunch of shiit. no way dallas is better than us right now. or the pacers or anyone else below sa and phoenix maybe. bastards
I think you can make an argument for all the teams ahead of the Rockets, except the Cavs. The Pacers would have beaten the Pistons had Artest & O'Neal not be suspended, so I can see why they ranks higher on the list; The Mavs have always been good as long as they have Dirk and Cuban's wallet; but why Cavs? None of Hughs/Marshall/James/Z has won anything in this league, how can you put all losers together, and all of a sudden they become the winner?
chicago at 10? that's a complete joke. yes, they had a good season, yes, i was rooting for them in the playoffs...but honestly - i don't think they're a whole lot better than...golden state, and to put them above the sonics is absolutely ridiculuous.
I think the Nets can win 55+ games this year and belong in the top 10. The guy didn't mention the Abdur-Raheem or McGuiness signings that were huge (SAR especially). They now have Nenad/SAR/RJ/VC/JKidd. Depth (especially at the 4 or 5) may be a problem but that starting 5 is scary. Nenad played very well last year and will probably imrpove quite a bit this year.
