2009-10 NBA Power Rankings - July Edition EveryJoe

Now that a lot of the offseason action has taken place, it’s time to take a look at the 2009-10 NBA power rankings. While these rankings could change before the start of the season, here’s a look at the best basketball teams on the planet.

1. Los Angeles Lakers
The Lakers are the reigning NBA champions and they are still the best team on the planet. Although they lost Trevor Ariza, the addition of Ron Artest could make the team even better.

2. Orlando Magic
Hedo Turkoglu now plays for the Toronto Raptors but he was replaced by Vince Carter. Add in other signings such as Brandon Bass and Matt Barnes and the Magic shouldn’t skip a beat.

3. Boston Celtics
Two years ago, the Celtics were champions. With a healthy Kevin Garnett and the addition of Rasheed Wallace, Boston very well could make a run in the Eastern Conference.

4. Cleveland Cavaliers
Last year, the Cavaliers finished with the best record in the NBA. Trading for Shaquille O’Neal could lead to even more wins for the Cavs and superstar LeBron James.

5. San Antonio Spurs
Despite losing in the first round last year, the reloaded Spurs will be a team to deal with in the Western Conference. Adding Richard Jefferson and Antonio McDyess were great moves.

Richard Jefferson Lifts the Spurs in the 2010 Power Rankings (Image: Zuma Press)

Richard Jefferson Lifts the Spurs in the 2010 NBA Power Rankings (Image: Zuma Press)

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I hope this list isn’t supposed to be in order. Is it?
thetrueanalyist

1. Lakers: best starting five in the league…im not a lakers fan, i hate any team from boston and la…..knicks fan baby….but i still gotta give it to the lakers
2. Boston: will meet lakers in the finals and lose…perkins will handle d. howard wit ease again if u paid close attention in last years semi-finals. perkins will also handle shak wit ease. there defense will be too much for cavs and orlando….watch out for rando…only question is how they will guard lebron…pierce will get tired guarding him and therefore hinder his offensive game…but then again u got allen, kg, and sheed for offense…cavs cant match that and so cant orlando
3. san antonio spurs: pretty darn good starting 5….u have parker and ginobli in their primes…artest/kobe will shut down ginobli/richardson and the lakers bigs will be too much for tim…if they do manage to get to the finals some how…celtics/spurs series would be a really good/touch match-up to predict but then again perkins’ defense is highly underrated and will help them take the spurs…all perkins has to do is put up his body against tim just like he did to howard last postseason…..i know i know they lost the series against the magic but if u look bak u’d see that howard wasnt close to the reason y they won…it was because of a team effort and an injured kg
4. orlando magic: i think theyve made an improvement from last season which can be debatable based on numerous factors….picking up matt barnes and brandon bass is a biggg plus…watch out for barnes defense….i think they’ll handle cavs easily again…howard is going to get better…shaq will be a burdon on him tho but then you have rashard lewis’ 3′s…hes not going to be effective against lebron in the post however…vince will handle west and mo…lebron would take on vince as well but it may be too much for him like last postseason…cavs just dont have enough…magic could win a series against celtics if howard got that much better…but i think kg/sheed combo might be too much for them
5. cavs: lets see…they have west, mo, lebron, varagao, and shaq…they just dont have enough offense…lebron can’t do it all against the teams mentioned above…if they managed to get to the finals against the lakers…artest would hinder lebron enough to make him look some what human….artest is fiesty, watch lebron get aggitated…gasol and bynum are better than varagao and shak on both ends of the floor and plus varagao has no offense….then that leaves mo and west who wont be able to do much wit kobe on them defensively and kobe will be offensively effective because he doesnt have to waste much energy on the defensive end because he has artest doing his dirty work there….cavs just don’t have enough to match up wit the celtics defense and offense as well as orlando’s pick and roll…if they some how managed to face the spurs…they might have a chance in the paint but parker and ginobli will be too much for west and mo, so they’ll lose cause of that
6: the rest of the nba won’t have a chance this season against the top 5…but matchups is a big part of the nba….i think nuggets starting 5 could handle the cavs and orlando but im not gonna go there yet…not till the season begins and we see how things start out atleast…watch out for the blazzers in the future….hornets are overrated, i see teams like phenox and atlanta beating them…pheonix is underrated…watch out for the return of amare…dallas will be the 3 or 4th best team in the west but they arent serious contendors…the heat are overrated….dwane wade is arguably the best player in the league but i think other teams got better in the east…i see the wizards beating the heat and i also see torronto and phili beating the heat….charlot trading for tyson chandlor….he’s nothing witout cp3….