Well one thing looks certain. Steve Kerr appears to be set on the total demolition of that Phoenix Suns team. It started last year when he traded Shawn Marion for Shaq. Then he pushed Mike D'Antoni out of town. Now it looks inevitable that Amar'e Stoudemire will soon be traded...even Shaq has been shopped around. Terry Porter was just fired. It looks like Steve Nash might be the only one left.
Everyone seems to be gearing up for that 2010 free agent class by clearing cap space...guys like LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Dirk Nowitzki, and Joe Johnson.
As for the Finals, it looks like the Lakers will again get there, barring any more major injuries of course (losing Bynum won't slow them down). The Spurs could give them some trouble. Hopefully the Rockets will get and stay healthy by the time the playoffs roll around, and maybe they can get out of the first round for the first time in 12 years. But the Lakers look pretty good right now.
The East will more than likely come down to Boston and Cleveland. Whoever gains that home court advantage might end up winning the Conference Finals. I would have given Orlando a chance before Jameer Nelson went down, but I don't think they can do it without a point guard. Atlanta is talented but probably don't have enough to get it done. Detroit's run of six consecutive Eastern Conference Finals comes to an end this season. The Allen Iverson experiement doesn't seem to be working.
If I had to predict the Finals right now, I'd go with a rematch of last year, Lakers vs. Celtics. Though a LeBron vs. Kobe Finals would be fun.
