Miami Heat (44-38)
In order to avoid discriminatory words, we’ll just say the roster for the Miami Heat is chock full of experienced players, very experienced players.  Shaquille O'Neal, who had a knee injury last year, will turn 36 this season.  Penny Hardaway is returning from the deeps, Jason Williams ain’t getting any younger and neither is Alonzo Mourning.  There are some young players on the team too, and if everyone stays healthy, the team could do fairly well this year. 

Dwyane Wade has recovered from shoulder surgery; at shooting guard he averaged 27.4 points, 4.7 rebounds and 7.5 assists per game last year.  Jason Williams will lead the team at the point averaging 10.9 points and 5.3 assists per game last year.  Free agent Smush Parker will keep the pace coming off of the bench.  He averaged 11.1 points and 2.8 assists last year.  Shaquille O’Neal was still good for 17.3 points, 7.4 rebounds and 2 assists per game last season and no one can deny the affect  O’Neal has on a game.   The guy to watch for the heat is power forward Udonis Haslem.  Averaging 10.7 points and 8.3 rebounds last year, and with a career floor shooting percentage of 50.3 points and 75.7 percentage from the free through line, Haslem is the type of player Coach Pat Riley can count on.

Pat Riley who also recovered from hip and knee surgery last year is entering his 25th season, the 11th with Miami.

Washington Wizards (41-41)
Coach Eddie Jordan, in his fourth season with Washington feels the key to better defense this year will be rebounding.  The Wizards were 28th in the league last year allowing their opponents to score 104.9 points per game.  Okay, rebounding might be the answer. (?)

Even with their poor defensive showing, the Wizards made to the first round of the playoffs last year where they were swept by the Cleveland Cavaliers.  Agent Zero — Gilbert Arenas has been rehabbing a torn MCL leading up to this season.  If he has fully recovered, watch out for an MVP season from Arenas.  He averaged 28.4 points, 4.6 rebounds and 6 assists per game last year.  He also has a great blog.

Guard DeShawn Stevenson, a straight from high school player and former Jazzman, should again take the start at the two.  He started 82 games last season. 

At small forward Caron Butler averaged 19.8 points and 8 rebounds last season; he’ll get the starting nod.  Antawn Jamison averaged 19.8 points and 8 rebounds last season.  He led the team in rebounding, and he’s also a shooting threat from everywhere on the floor, including 3 point range.  Center Brendan Haywood rounds out the starting line-up with 6.6 points and 6.2 rebounds per game. 

Without a particularly deep bench, a team that doesn’t like to play defense can get in foul trouble easily and early in games.  While the Wizards know how to score (they were 4th in the league with a 104.34 points avg.), they’ve got to do a whole lot more than grab a few more rebounds next season, to make it further in a conference that will be much improved this year.

Orlando Magic (40-42)
In a need for scoring help the Orlando Magic signed Seattle power forward Rashard Lewis to a large multi-year contract.  He averaged 22.4 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game last year.  He can score with his back to the basket, but he can also hit the outside shot, averaging 2.5 three pointers per game last season.  He’ll complement center Dwight Howard, an emerging star in his own right.  Howard led the team last year in scoring (17.6 points per game), rebounds with 12.3 per game, and blocks (1.9) per game.  Expect more production from Howard this year; new Coach Stan Van Gundy should key the offense around Howard. 

The Magic roster is not particularly deep, especially in the backcourt.  Jameer Nelson will start at the point; he averaged 13 points and 4.3 assists per game last season.  The shooting guard start goes to Keyon Dooling, who averaged 7.9 points per game (remember those scoring woes last year)? Former Jazzman Carlos Arroyo will come off of the bench for guard duty.   Hedo Turkoglu at 6’10” is at the small forward spot, but he plays more like a two guard which makes him difficult to cover by the opponent.  Look for second year college standout J.J. Redick to compete for a start.  After a disappointing last couple of seasons including a lower back injury, he should be ready to show what he’s capable of.  

The Magic look good for the upcoming year.  Look to Dwight Howard to really take off with the aid of teammate Lewis helping to spread the opposing defense, and look for role players on the team stepping up to balance things out for the Magic.

Charlotte Bobcats (33-49)
Coach Sam Vincent is stepping into a huge challenge.  He’ll start his first season as a head coach in the NBA for Charlotte having been hired by his former teammate Michael Jordan.  If that isn’t a big enough challenge, young college standout and emerging star; Sean May will be out for 6-12 months with microfracture surgery.  Only the Portland Trailblazers can truly know your pain; Charlotte.

The Bobcats are like the Pinnochio of the NBA, just this close to being a real boy/team.  The trade for Jason Richardson of the Golden State Warriors might be the answer to making a real live NBA contender.  He averaged 16 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 3.4 assists per game last year.  He should produce even more this year being the go to guy rather than one of the supporting cast.  Point guard Raymond Felton has very good numbers; averaging 14 points, 3.4 rebounds and 7 assists per game last year.  He’s likes an up tempo pace for the offense which should be well complemented by Richardson.  Matt Carroll will contribute some good outside shooting from the bench. 

Gerald Wallace could have a breakout year for the Bobcats.  He averaged 18.1 points, 7.2 rebounds and 2.6 assists.  Walter Herrmann returns after a stellar performance with the Argentine National team.  He’ll need to fill the void left from the injured Sean May.  Herrmann averaged 9.2 points and 2.9 rebounds last year.  Center Emeka Okafor rounds out the lineup at center; he averaged 14.4 points and 11.3 rebounds in the previous season.  Primoz Brezec adds another element to the Bobcats’ bigs coming off the bench.

It remains to be seen if the Bobcats can use all of the pieces they’ve gathered in order to produce a playoff worthy season.  They certainly have the shooters now; if they can balance that with some defense, they do have the potential to reach the first round.

Atlanta Hawks (30-52)
Fourth year coach, Mike Woodson has a fairly young and hopefully healthy team this year.  Expect a break neck pace from the Atlanta Hawks led by draftee Acie Law.  He was the 11th pick out of the draft for the Hawks.  It’s a big job for a rookie to take over at the point.  He’ll be backed by 6th year pro Speedy Claxton; who led the Hawks in steals per game last year (1.71).  Claxton averaged 5.3 points per game and 4.4 assists.  Ten year veteran Anthony Johnson, and nine year man Tyronn Lue will be there to back up the guard position as well.  Lue averaged over 11 points per game last year.  Shooting guard responsibilities will go to Joe Johnson, who led the team in points per game (25) and assists per game (4.4) last year.  He belonged to the 25 and over club, being one of only twelve NBA players to average 25 or more points per game last year.  Salim Stoudamire lends even more depth in the backcourt off of the bench; he averaged 7.7 points and 1assist per game last year.

The Hawks did well in the draft with forward/center Al Horford out of Florida.  Horford was an early candidate out of college, entering the draft after his junior year.  The 6’10”, 245 lb. Horford can fill in at the 4 or the 5 position.  Josh Smith will start at the small forward spot, having averaged 16.4 points, 8.6 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game.  Smith’s rebounds were good enough to lead the team last year; he also led in blocks, averaging a nice 2.88 per game.   Josh Childress is another scoring threat in favor of the Hawks with his average of 13 points per game last season.  Center Zaza Pachulia (with a name like that he’s gotta be good) has shown marked improvement in every one of his four years in the league.  He scored 12.2 points per game grabbed 6.9 rebounds and handed out 1.5 assists per game last year.  Coach Woodson looks forward to Horford being able to back up the center position, and carve out his own place on the starting roster.  At 6’9” forward Shelden Williams is small, but can able back up the center as well. 

The Hawks team is very athletic and has many parts that should come together as a whole.  It’s hard to say whether they’ll really click by the end of the season; but there is much potential to look forward to for Atlanta.

- By Annie Whittaker