Originally Posted by SpottieOttie305
We can't decide what teams are better until the playoffs start?
I have to wait until the playoffs to see if the Miami Heat are better than the Atlanta Hawks? I have to wait until the playoffs to see if the Lakers are better than the Denver Nuggets? C'mon dude.
No one, except Bulls fans actually think the Bulls are better than the Heat. In a 7 game series everyone will pick the Heat as favorites. If you don't believe so than you don't know basketball....
We know the Lakers are better than the Nuggets because not only of their history in the playoffs (2x defending champs anyone?), but also their record is so more better than the Nugget's, even on cruise control.
The Miami Heat and Atlanta Hawks, well... whenever I think of the Atlanta Hawks I think about their stinkfest against Orlando in the playoffs. Throughout that whole season Atlanta had actually built themselves a decent record but they showed their true colors in the playoffs. The Hawks, actually, are a perfect example to illustrate my original point.
Between teams of similar records, especially the Bulls and Heat, you have to wait and see. Especially when both teams are new and it's the first season for the currently assembled versions of said teams.
With Atlanta you can make a judgment of them before this year's playoffs because the assembled team is basically the same as previous versions and we can safely make an assumption off of previous playoff history.
*edit yet again*
I think the best way to illustrate my point is this. The Spurs have the best record in the L. But do we truly know that the Spurs are the best team in the L?
All we can go on is current regular season success. Besides that we have no other precedence on which to truly predict the Spurs's future playoff success. Popovich has retooled the offense to make them a more perimeter oriented team. Tim Duncan is no longer the cornerstone of the offense. Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker have taken hold of the reigns of this squad. They got all those young players contributing that weren't there during the Spurs championship runs. This is basically a new team so how can we be definite that this team is truly the best team in the nba since this is essentially a new team?
Only way we can know for sure is to wait and see how they do in the playoffs.
Until then, I feel inclined to give the nod to the lakers based on previous playoff success until they fail to replicate previous playoff success.
Is my point clearer now, Spottie?