Mr. T

1. Bulls(D Rose healthy and Pau addition)

2. Cavs( regardless if they get Love or not, still takes a little time to mesh together)

3. Wizards(are better and have more experience than last year)

4. Heat( still have a solid playoff team)

5. Nets( Brook Lopez back healthy w/ D will and Joe johnson and Plumlee improvement)

6. Charlotte( a full year of healthy Al jefferson and got Lance as well)

7. Toronto( have 2 all stars and youngsters have that playoff experience)

8. Atlanta/Indiana/Boston/New York( these are all toss up teams, Atlanta could still be really solid because now they will have Horford who missed almost ALL of last season)

So you look at this and honestly every team that'll make the East playoffs this year are pretty good and ALL the teams that make the playoffs will be above .500

Lakers just added Carlos Boozer and Ed Davis today. Below is the projected Lineup as of today, there are still a couple guys they need to sign like Xavier henry and/or Wesley Johnson. Possibly make the playoffs?

PG: Nash/Lin/Marshall

SG: Kobe

SF: Nick Young

PF: Boozer/Randle/Davis

C: Hill/Sacre/Davis

This is so stupid to me, Julius Randle measured at the combine at 6'9 250lbs with a 7'0 wingspan and a 36" vertical. How is 6'9 250 undersized? The guy first of all lead the nation in double doubles and is truly beastly. they also say how he might not be as athletic to finish over the top of guys, well i watched him a lot in college and he was dunking on people in the lane quite easily. Also a 6'9 guy with a 7'0 wingspan and a 36" vertical mean he can finish over the top of you. Some of these NBA guys are so stupid. Karl Malone was the exact same size and weight and not nearly as athletic. Barkley was 4" shorter and had the same motor Randle does. Kevin Love Is around the same height and not nearly as athletic as Randle. it amazes me that Julius Randle wasnt a top 5 pick. O well, its all good for my Lakers.

Oh and BTW, he is not Zach Randolph, ZBo aisnt even close the athlete Randle is. I see Randle as a taller Charles Barkley

For example. There has been a lot of NBA draft shows on tv lately, one of which I watched called nba draft HQ on NBA TV. And Mike Fratello was talking about Julius Randle and said he might be a bit undersized for the PF position. Since when is 6'9 250lbs (exact same as Karl malone) considered undersized? That is the prototypical PF size. It annoys me so much that if a PG isnt 6'2 or above they are considered undersized, if a SG isnt 6'5 or above its undersized, if a SF isnt 6'7 or above its undersized and if a PF isnt 6'10 or 6'11 isnt undersized and if a Center isnt 6'11 to 7'0 its undersized. It just gets so annoying. the best players in the league over that past decade have been small for their size.

D Wade- 6'4

CP3- 6'0

Shawn Marion-6'7 SF who also plays PF

Kevin Love- who is actually about 6'8

Dwight Howard-who is actually 6'10

the list can go on and on. Im so sick of this undersized crap. Unless its a 6'4 guy trying to play PF then he isnt undersized. They make so much out of 1"

yes he is a very good player, but he is only this effective when he is not the primary focus from the opposition. Thats what he has going for him. I see him exactly as how Loul Deng was portrayed. If you remember those days, around 07 Deng was the next huge superstar and thats when Kobe wanted to be traded to Chicago and Bulls said they would not trade Deng. I see Kawhi as exactly like that. he is too inconsistent to be the #1 option on a team and he just might be able to be the #2 option but that is at best. People need to stop living in the moment and actually look and see the whole picture. He only had 3 big games out of the entire playoffs and they just happened to be when San Antonio played the best team basketball I have ever witnessed in 30 years. Leonard isnt a superstar and never will be

When is the last time this happened? As far as i can remember....NEVER! I love Durant and love Westbrook's game, but my turn your turn stuff will never work. Westbrook will not take a backseat to anybody at this stage in his career, maybe in 3-4 years when he has no rings, but if OKC loses this series, I honestly think its time to just entertain possibilities of trading Westbrook for the right complimentary players to pair with Durant. OKC wil most likley never win it all like this and that is the problem. Yes its good enough to make it to the West finals or even the NBA finals, but it will never work ti actually win a title. Only reason is worked in Miami cuz Wade told LeBron to take control and they complement eachother extremely well cuz their both excellent passers

Joakim Noah is a great player, but Nene (who has never averaged over 15 ppg in his career) just abused the DPOY. The year before that it was MArc Gasol and before that it was Tyson Chandler etc etc. The last wing to win it was Ron Artest in 03-04. And then before that was 1995-1996 when Gary Payton won. Thats only 2 wing players the last 20 years. Thats absurd. I dont know about u, but Patrick Beverly is absolutely ridiculous on the ball defensively. As well as Tony Allen. Its time to give these lockdown wing defenders more credit. LeBron should have actually won it last year instead of Gasol but that would have caused a huge uproar.

Sign and trade deal obviously, you send Boozer's expiring Contract and possibly Taj Gibson or whomever to make the deal work along with a few draft picks. Unfortunately you would lose a great 6th man in Taj Gibson, but u get arguably the 2nd best scorer in the NBA which is what Chicago's worst attribute is. And Melo and D Rose would fit just fine. i tend to remember than in the Olympics TEam USA, Melo plays pretty freakin well off the ball and with other teammates, he just hasnt had that other superstar to play with since being in the league

your not Kobe, u cant score 35 a game and shoot 25 times a game which is what hes averaging in the playoffs and shooting 34%FG 18% 3pt. He is averaging .6 more shot attempts than Durant. Westbrook and Durant are averaging 50.6 shots of OKC's 87 shots a game. Thats 2 guys taking almost 60% of their teams shots every night. The next person in line is Serge Ibaka who is averaging 10 shots a game. This is why Durant is not on the same level as LeBron and not even close to where Kobe has been. Durant needs to step up and demand how this team needs to be orchestrated. Scotty Brooks obviously isnt doing anything about it. Yes OKC needs Westbrook to score, but not at the rate he is trying to do right now. He needs to get other players rythm going first and for most. Westbrook should be around 18-20 shots MAX. He could average 10 assists easily if he decided to get others involved rather than get himself going. Ibaka is only getting 10 shots a game and averaging 14ppg while shooting almost 60%FG. He should be getting 5 more shots a game. If OKC loses, I honestly think its time to possibly explore trading Westbrook and just build around Durant. Westbrook wants that Derrick Rose role and he will never get it unless he plays elsewhere.

When OKC WAS shopping Harden, they had a deal in place to send Harden to the Wizards for then #3 overall pick Brad Beal and Chris Singleton for Harden. Wizards owner rejected offer cuz he didn't want to commit $80 mill to Harden. I thought this would have been a great trade for both parties. Could u imagine Beal just spotting up while Durant and Westbrook drove the ball. And Harden and Wall as a back court tandem for the next 10 years? I mean wow! I constantly think about what could have been for both. Thoughts?

Did you know that in 2008 (Derrick Rose draft) the Chicago Bulls had a .017% chance 9th place on winning the lottery and obviously they won! Also in 2007 (Durant & Oden draft) Portland had a .053% 7th place chance on winning the lottery and they got the #1 pick as well. Lakers right now have a 6.3% 6th place chance on winning the lottery, so to say its unlikely is very untrue. the team with the highest chances hasnt received the #1 pick for like 8 straight years or something.

I have watched him countless number of times and tonight I watched him again. He absolutely is awful on defense. No excuse. He doesn't even try. At least Melo tries at times. Joe Johnson destroyed Harden tonight. Inside, outside, post. Didn't matter. He barely passes half court at times . This is what separates Kobe, Jordan and LeBron. They all got after u on both ends. Durant doesn't play much defense either.

superstar's are consistent, Bottom line! A lot of players who get to play 35+ minutes per game can put up good stats. The simple fact that George has shot under 40%FG since Jan 1 tells you he has a loooong way to go. I have to admit at the beginning of the season I was ready to put Goerge as the 3rd best SF and arguable the 2nd or 3rd best All around player, but his play has taken a MASSIVE nose dive. his defense is still great, but Indiana is not even going to make it to the Eastern Conference finals if they dont get George and that offense going. They have scored under 80 points like 4 out of the last 5 games or something. Melo may not be the defender Goerge is, but he still is the 3rd best SF in the NBA, unfortunately nobody else shows up to play on the Knicks. Goerge is overrated right now and he is virtually just might end up being a Joe Johnson type player if hes doesnt get better

Here is mine: (BTW, duncan is a Center, I dont care what anybody says, he is a Center so dont include him on this)

1. Blake Griffin

2. Kevin Love

3. Lamarcus Aldridge

4. Anthony Davis

5. Dirk Nowitzki

whether its Melo or somebody, the salary CAP might not matter and Miami wouldnt have to trade either. All the big 3 have to do is ALL opt out of their contracts after this season and dont resign with Miami until a top free agent is signed. Once a top free agent is signed than all Miami has to do is resign LeBron, Wade, Bosh using their BIRD RIGHTS (which lets u sign players even if u go over the CAP because of their length of tenure with that team). Trust me, this works financially. Also once they sign a top free agent and the big 3, they can still use their Mid Level exception which also allows a team to sign a player even if your over the CAP. The Mid Level exception is about 1st year salary $5.35 million

This annoys me so much, now your going to have all the sports media talk about how Indiana can beat Miami now and Miami is in trouble and fans are reacting the same way, just look at these questions here right now. C'mon guys, Miami turns it up in the playoffs, eveybody knows that. Its what the Lakers used to do in the early 2000's and its what Boston did with there big 3 a few years ago. Please stop putting so much stock into 1 or 2 regular season games out of 82