From how things looks right now... we have the following
East:
Miami, Orlando, and Chicago. Everyone else can just take the season off. Yes yes, I know that Boston went to the finals blah blah blah. Doesn't matter because they ran incredibly well in the injury department, ran into a Cleveland team that didn't seem to care, and matched up wonderfully vs a better Orlando team. Also another year on that team does not help in the least. So yeah. Miami is obvious as the team to beat unless the BFFs start fighting ala Shaq and Kobe. Orlando is still Orlando. Chicago improved their interior scoring and 3 point shooting... which they needed. We'll see how the defense is though and I also want to see how long it is before Noah and Boozer get into it!
Sleeper teams: None. Atlanta is still just Atlanta and nobody else improved enough to matter.
West:
Lakers, Blazers, OKC, Utah(?), Dallas
West is a bit more interesting. Lakers are still the favorites, but some other teams could make it interesting. Most of these teams have big IFS though and I expect that by playoff time we'll be ignoring 2 of them as legitimate contenders. Houston and Spurs are left off because of age and frailty. They might both be good, but have no real shot at going deep. Denver left off to avoid West bias! (And because it feels like this team missed their shot. Some aging players and Carmelo possibly going apathy mode are bad things.)
Lakers: Duh
Blazers: Need to avoid injury to GO. Camby is good, but aging. This is a huge if though. Also, Roy needs to be healthy for the playoffs.
OKC: Needs Durant to make another defensive improvement and Westbrook to make another offensive improvement. Might have it in them.
Utah: Needs Jefferson to learn to submit to D-Will. Another big if.
Dallas: Needs to learn that the playoffs is more important than the regular season.
Sleepers: The obvious Spurs, Nuggets, Rockets... but meh, none impress.
