A few thoughts:
*Brooklyn has improved. They are yet to match up with Miami by any means and they struggle against them, but they are playing better overall.
*Chicago is silently having another great season with Rose.
*Detroit has steadied the ship considerably. Washington, while not as strong as Detroit, made a move forward.
*Toronto, after trading for Gay, and getting Bargnani back from injury (he can't play any worse than he did pre-injury) will not be as easy to get past.
*Philadelphia amongst the playoff contenders and Orlando amongst the bottom ranked teams are struggling (regardless of the record, though, their record also reflected their issues perfectly in that span).
Without Rondo, it won't be easy to make gigantic leaps, but I'm more concerned about the Captain here. He is needed to carry even more of a load now, as not only the go-to scorer, but also the facilitator, so, I hope he doesn't get burned down through regular season.