WOODS:

With the NFL season officially behind us and pitchers and catchers not set to report until Feb.. 14 (Editor’s note: Woods wrote “February xx” there, knowing Eli would fill the date in), the NBA takes center stage for us this week. The season is just over halfway complete, and there are plenty of surprises, both good and bad, in both conferences.

Let’s start in the East, which to me, seems to be a two-team race with the Celtics and Pistons. The Celtics have proven that the big three can play together and that they can even win some games with only two of the big three in action. In Detroit, I think they have one of, if not the, strongest teams of the past five years there, with a vastly improved group of young bench players backing up a solid starting five.

I think Orlando can make some noise in the playoffs, but I still see them as being a year or two away. And Cleveland is playing well, but I can’t see LeBron repeating his legendary performance of last year’s playoffs, unless they manage to pull a trade and land someone like Jason Kidd from New Jersey or Mike Bibby from Sacramento.

ASCH:

I agree with you on the East wholeheartedly, but I have to add that while it’s a two-team race there is, in my mind, a clear favorite in the Detroit Pistons, and a clear challenger in the Celtics. The reason for this is simple: experience. The Celtics’ big three, as great individually and collectively as they are, haven’t really “been here” (favorites heading into the playoffs) before: Paul Pierce took the Celtics to one Eastern Conference final back in the Antoine Walker days, Kevin Garnett was famously frustrated by the T-Wolves’ inability to win as much as a playoff series while he was there (they eventually one exactly one), and even Ray Allen has never won a conference title, only getting as close as game seven of the 2001 Eastern Finals.

These Pistons, meanwhile, are battle-tested, playing in two straight NBA Finals (’04 and ’05) and winning the first. This experience, shows, I think, in the big games; do you remember the first time the Celtics played the pistons this year and just seemed overexcited and couldn’t seal the deal? Although they have since played a rematch which the Celtics won, I could see the Celtics getting struck by the jitters again in the big three’s first playoff appearance: if they look this good in year two together, though . . .

But we both know that when we’re talking about the East we’re basically talking about JV ball. You mentioned the other day on our radio show who your favorite coming out of the West is, and it’s one that nobody saw coming at the beginning of the year.

WOODS:

That’s right, the Los Angeles Lakers are my favorite to win the West as of right now, and that’s a team that none of us had even in the top three when the year started. With the Pau Gasol steal I think they have as good a chance out of anybody. When Andrew Bynum, who was averaging a double-double, comes back, this team is going to be a force out West. I refer to the trade as a steal because the Lakers didn’t give up one, not one, of their top 10 players in the deal.

Pau Gasol is a legitimate all-star in this league that has been stuck in Memphis for too long. To illustrate his impact on the Lakers: in a game a few days ago since the deal, Kobe Bryant scored 6 points…and the Lakers won the game! I don’t think that has happened since Kobe had Shaq by his side in the early 2000s. And speaking of Shaq, with his deal to the Phoenix Suns completed last week for Shawn Marion, where do you see the Suns stacking up out West?

ASCH:

Now I don’t follow the NBA that closely, but from what I gather, Shawn Marion really wanted out of Phoenix, and when a guy wants out that bad, it’s probably better for the team to let him go. That being said, the Suns got pennies on the dollar for Marion: Shaq is old, expensive, injury-prone and will seriously slow down the Suns up-tempo offense.

Perhaps the Shaq-necessitated slowdown isn’t a bad thing, though, as the run-and-gun model Suns team was never able to make the finals: let alone win a title: twice losing in the Western Conference finals (to Dallas in six games in ’06 and to San Antonio in 5 in ’05). But this is definitely a do-or-die deal for Phoenix: as you mentioned on our radio show, Nash is getting old, and Shaq almost has to retire when his contract expires after the ’08-’09 season, and when that happens Suns GM Steve Kerr is going to look like either an idiot or a genius: I like the guy, so I’m hoping for the latter but am expecting the former.

Shifting gears, though, another team no one expected to be this good out West is the New Orleans Hornets, led by Most Valuable Player candidate Chris Paul. How good do you think his team really is? And do you think Chris Paul really has a shot at the MVP? What about the other individual hardware: wanna give out some mid-season awards?

Mid-season awards: Eli’s picks:
Most Improved: Andrew Bynum
Rookie of the Year: Al Horford
Coach of the Year: Doc Rivers (and I can’t believe it!)
MVP: Kevin Garnett and Chris Paul make me have to split my vote
Mid-Season Awards: Woods’s Picks:
Most Improved: Chris Kaman
Rookie of the Year: Kevin Durant
Coach of the Year: Byron Scott
MVP: Chris Paul