Top five teams to win it all (Part II)

By T. Williams

Editors note: The Original copy of this was written before Manu Ginobili suffered a season ending injury. San Antonio was the original team I had seated at #3, pending the health of their big 3. Now, with Ginobili out, San Antonio no longer makes my top 5. So Boston and Orlando move up a slot and Utah is now the 5th team on my list

#3 Utah Jazz

Jerry Sloan has been coaching the Jazz since I was playing with my Transformer toys in sandboxes, and was recently voted to be in the next class of the Basketball Hall of Fame. With the Jazz, Coach Sloan has been to the NBA Finals twice, and presumably the only thing that stopped him from winning the NBA championship was fellow 2009 Hall of Fame Inductee, Michael Jordan. Also, in this hall of fame class is Coach Sloan’s point guard from those Western Conference championship teams, John Stockton. Stockton, along with Karl Malone, wreaked havoc on the NBA’s Western Conference for the better part of two decades, to eventually become the NBA’s All Time Assist leader. Fast forward about 20 years, and Jerry is back at it again with another young stud point guard. Deron Williams, whom is second in the NBA for assists (10.6 apg), and sixth in the NBA for double doubles (40), and was a member of the gold medal USA Olympic Basketball team, is without question one of the NBA’s top 3 point guards and the unquestioned leader of the franchise. Although, Carlos Boozer is no Karl Malone, 10.4 rebounds, and 16 points per game is nothing to scoff at, either. Paul Milsap and Ronnie Brewer are two absolute beasts that have proven this year that they are ready to step up and more, when their number is called, and Matt Harpring and Kyle Krover provide the jump shooting. Add that to energy man and defensive stand out “AK47” Andre Kirilenko and “The Poor Mans Dirk Nowitzki” Mehmet Okur, this year’s Utah Jazz are a young, deep, versatile squad with a lot of potential.

#2 Cleveland Cavaliers

What can you say about this year’s Cleveland Cavaliers? For starters, they have the future of the NBA in LeBron James as their leader and captain, and he has been playing out of his mind this season! He leads the NBA in efficiency and triple doubles and is in the top 10 in points per game (2nd in the NBA with 28.4), and assists (7th with 558). But, more importantly, for once the King has a cortege of players with him in his quest to concur the NBA, and none more important than fellow All-Star Mo Williams. Williams provides that second scoring option that LeBron desperately needed in order to keep opposing defenses honest, averaging almost 18 points per game. No one really made that big of a deal when the Cavs acquired Williams from the Bucks in the off season, but Mo has proven that he is a legitimate scoring threat, prone to outbursts, including the 44 point tirade he unleashed on the Phoenix Suns in mid February. Meanwhile, Coach Mike Brown has maintained the team’s defensive focus, with the Cavs allowing an NBA low 91 points per game. Cleveland, who will presumably wrap up the top seed in the East, has only one loss at home all season, a feat that if completed, will tie the ’86 Celtics as the best home record in NBA history. The only thing that makes me question whether or not this is Cleveland’s year to take home the gold, is their lack of ability to show up in big games this season. Against the other four teams on this list, Cleveland is 4-6 with one game against Boston, at home, left to play.



#1 Los Angeles Lakers

What can you really say about L.A.? They have the championship experience from playing in the Finals last year (Kobe and Fisher of course were on the championship teams of the early ‘00s), they have three legitimate All Stars on their team with Kobe, Gasol and Odom, they have a young cast of role players who are about as effective as you can ask one to be with Ariza, Walton, Vujacic and Radmanovic and to top it all off, they are coached by the Zen Master himself, Phil Jackson, who already has six rings to his credit! Add to the mix, big man Andrew Bynum will be back for the playoffs, and if memory serves correctly, Bynum’s true potential was just beginning to blossom right before his regular season ending injury. If Andrew Bynum can come back and put up the same numbers he was averaging before his injury (14.0 ppg, 1.9 bpg, 8.2 rpg), that gives the Lakers another inside presence to play against the likes of Yao Ming, Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan, Dwight Howard or whoever else they may see in the playoffs. Listen, any team with Kobe Bryant has the potential to go all the way. He has the work ethic of a young Michael Jordan and the game to match. His numbers are down this year, but don’t get it twisted, Kobe is still the Mamba! If Andrew Bynum can come back healthy, and ready for the playoffs, and can re acclimate himself into the Lakers rotation, I just can’t think of a logical reason as to why the Lakers shouldn’t be holding the NBA title this June.