Midseason Recap

It's a little past halfway of this year's NBA season...and I want to point out some surprises so far.

First of all, the East has emerged as a dominant force (it is now stronger than the West). For the last four, five years, the West has consistently produced stellar teams including the Spurs, Suns, Jazz, Lakers, Houston, Dallas, and New Orleans. The Spurs and Suns can't see any bright spots in their future. Suns will never learn how to play defense, and the Spurs are just getting too old. However, as long as Duncan is with San Antonio, they'll make it into the playoffs every year (I mean the guy is just amazing).  The only teams that I see as viable candidates to make the finals are the Lakers and New Orleans. Rockets came into this season with high expectations, but they have underperformed. What do you expect with T-Mac on the team... (but not playing - the poor soul is a cripple).  Denver deserves honorable mention - Billups in quite an underrated PG. Without Anthony, Billups was able to lead the Nuggets to a solid 7-3 in their last 10. 

Anyways, the West has several decent team, but the East has all the true powerhouses. Celtics, Cavs, and Magic. The Magic are extremely surprising...their defense is pretty solid and they have a set of amazing shooters - J.N., Hedo, and Rashard. Then Superman to beast up the boards. Cavs, well LeBron - my midseason MVP handsdown. He singlehandedly leads his team every night, and they are one of the top title contenders. Unlike Kobe and MJ, LeBron does not really have a second solid player to support him -- which aggrandizes his accomplishments (in a good sense of course).
 

Here you go: 

Top MVP Choices
1. LeBron James
2. Kobe Bryant
3. Dwight Howard
4. Chris Paul
5. KG or Tim Duncan

Most of teams are able to play together and win games - no single player is the absolute superstar save Cavs, Lakers, Hornets, and the Magic.

Top Title Contenders
1. Celtics
2. Lakers
3. Cavs
4. Magic
5. Hornets

What do you guys think?