Dennis: Haha, yeah, I know as a Nuggets fan this isn't a pretty thing to watch. As far as if they'll slow down, I think only injuries can do that, which isn't out of the realm of possiblity to happen considering the history of Carlos Boozer and Andrei Kirilenko. As far as my pick, I'm going to stay in the West and go south from Utah and say the the residents of the Clip Joint. They've only played 8 games and are 6-2. Let's look at the losses first. The Clippers opened the season at Phoenix against the Suns and lost 112-104. A tough place to open the season to say the least. Their second loss was at Utah, the hottest team in the league right now. Those losses are totally understandable. Now their wins. The Clippers got revenge against the Suns a few days later by beating them in LA, but before that win, they got their first win the day after their loss to the Suns by beating the defending Northwest champion Denver Nuggets. The Clips beat the Dallas Mavericks by 18 points, beat a surging New Orleans Hornets team by 16, and tonight they face the cross locker room rivals in the Lakers, whom they are currently tied with for first in the Pacific. The Clips are showing that last season was not a fluke with a few quality wins AND quality losses, if there is such a thing.
Mike: Good points. And in one of the league's toughest divisions, they're going to need to play like that all season to hold off the Lakers and the Suns. I know Phoenix is currently in last, but we all know they won't stay there for much longer.
Dennis: Okay, so we talked about the surprisingly good teams, how about the surprisingly bad. Who do you have?
Mike: I'm going to go with the Chicago Bulls. Since signing Big Ben, the expectations have been huge for Chicago. Some "experts" even predicted the Bulls to beat out Detroit and Cleveland for the Central Division title. After beating up on the Heat in the first game of the season, I have to say that I thought they were the real deal. But a 2-7 record since, definitely makes me question if they can even make a run at the Eastern Conference Finals.
Dennis: The problem with the Bulls is that while they have a very solid defense, who's going to put the ball in the basket for them at a prolific rate... consistently. Now I say consistently because Ben Gordon has outstanding scoring ability, but while you can get the 37 point nights, you're also go to get the 7 point nights.
Mike: There's a number of teams to consider as disappointments and it was a difficult choice for me, but had to go with the Bulls. So who would you add to the list of most disappointing teams?
Dennis: I'll go with the defending champion Miami Heat. During the offseason they didn't make any major splash as the Bulls did and maybe they should have. Sure you can make the argument that they're the champs, so what moves do they need to make, but the problem is that the returning team are for the most part, well, old. I'll put it this way - during a recent three game stretch Dwyane Wade averaged 32 points, seven boards, and a little over eight assists and the Heat lost two of the three games!!! I think we're looking at a Bulls-like team when Jordan was the only solid talent doing everything he could, but with his team still falling short. They need more contributions from a returned Jason Williams, a consistent Antoine Walker, and Alonzo Mourning and Udonis Haslem will need to step up in Shaq's absence as well. But is that even enough? I just don't know.
Mike: Well they weren't the best regular season team last year and we all saw what happened. So I wouldn't count them out just yet.
Dennis: Well, that Southeast division isn't the strongest, although the Orlando Magic is coming on, so maybe the Heat still win the division thanks to experience. But, how much of a load can Wade carry... let me rephrase that, how LONG can he carry that team? Okay, Mike, we're done. Thanks for the chat.
Mike: No problem. It was fun.