NBA's coming Era of Deflation

[Gainesville Celtic]

EDIT: I don't have any way of judging this, but I don't think it's that uncommon to only have four teams judged to REALLY be legit title contenders.  That strikes me as about the same as usual.  It was considered five teams before Jameer Nelson got hurt.  There are still a few teams out there that could get things right and make some noise before all is said and done.  There's four teams winning more than 79% of their games and four teams winning 28% or less; that's not too unbalanced.  We're seeing a transition where teams like Atlanta get a little better and teams like Detroit get a little worse.  A few disappointments like New Orleans - but there always are, and they've got time to get better if CP3 isn't out too long.

I guess...  I just don't see the league's current standings, a few teams being worse than expected, as being anything out of the ordinary.   

It strikes me as strange that a league with every team spending the same amount of money has so few legitimate title contenders. Look at the NFL and all the teams that had a serious chance at the Super Bowl because of smart salary cap management, while the NBA really only has 4.

NFL- Colts, Chargers, Titans, Ravens, Eagles, Cardinals, Steelers, Giants, etc. (there's more)

NBA- Celtics, Lakers, Cavs, Spurs

As a lifelong Chargers fan, I object to listing them as a team that has a serious chance at the Super Bowl 

[Roy Hobbs]

David Aldrige had a look at what the economy could do to the trade market this season:

http://www.nba.com/2009/news/features/02/09/aldridge/index.html

In the last week, I've heard of a half-dozen owners whose personal fortunes have been slashed significantly by the recession.

In one case, one employee of a team told me his boss has lost nine figures--more than $100 million--in personal wealth. In another, someone who's never been wrong in 10 years swears that another owner has lost $1 billion since the recession began. (Obviously, as I don't have each team's spreadsheet in front of me, or a month of free time to become an expert on tax shelter/tax write-offs policy, determining exact losses is an impossibility.) But owners aren't immune to the forces that have paralyzed the rest of the American economy.

"I don't think there's an owner in the NBA who hasn't lost money in this recession," one NBA team executive said Monday.

Players he think could be moved for little in Gasol-like deals?  Chandler, Villanueva, R. Jefferson, Sessions, Nocioni, Gordon, Kaman, Amare, and others.  He predicts that Portland will have one of the best opportunities to improve, because Raef's contract is subsidized by insurance and is a huge trade chip right now.