...any decent team in the West i.e. all 3 Texas teams, OKC, Portland, Denver, and the champs.

None of the key FA's in the East (LBJ, Wade, Bosh, Pierce, Allen, Joe J.) have left the East and Amare and Boozer have now made Phoenix and Utah irrelevant in the West regardless of what nominal FA pieces are still left on the table for those teams to pick up.

Looks like there may finally be some balance in the league and no more sub-.500 teams making the playoffs in the East...and perhaps wherever LeBron does finally go, leading the league in regular season wins may finally become a little more difficult.

[This message has been edited by Look Out Below (edited 7/7/2010 10:24p).]

The west is still VERY crowded with also-rans to the LA machine. Phoenix or Utah will drop down to basically fill the spot that the Thunder filled this year, while OKC likely improves significantly to offset the loss of Boozer / Amare.

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Phoenix or Utah will drop down to basically fill the spot that the Thunder filled this year

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one of these teams will be on the outside looking in. my guess is phoenix

Agreed. If the Rockettes can finally stay healthy they will bounce Utah or PHO into the lottery.

Who knows what will happen? Yao has been out for what seems like 50 years with an injury. The odds of his body holding up a whole season aren't exceptional.