Bullz-Eye.com's 2009 NBA Preview, team previews, NBA predictions, team rankings
Fantasy Football Preview

Sports Channel / Bullz-Eye Home

Comment at The Scores Report

The 2009-10 NBA season promises to be compelling. In addition to the usual drama we see every year, this season will be seen through the prism of next summer's free agency, when two of the league's top five players (LeBron James and Dwyane Wade) will be free to sign with another team. Teams have been living on the cheap for the last few years in the hopes of landing one of these superstars, but next summer's free agent crop also includes Chris Bosh, Amare Stoudemire, Joe Johnson and Carlos Boozer, among others, so the NBA landscape should be very different a year from now.

To that end, the Cleveland Cavaliers traded for Shaquille O'Neal in the hopes that he is the missing piece to the Cavs' championship puzzle. After all, it would be tough for LeBron to leave if he's coming off a win in the Finals. But the Cavs might not even make it out of their own conference. The Celtics hope to have a healthy Kevin Garnett back, and they added Rasheed Wallace to bolster their front line. The Magic weren't content with a Finals appearance; they let Hedo Turkoglu walk and replaced him with Vince Carter, while also adding the up-and-coming Brandon Bass at power forward.

In the West, the defending champs weren't content to stand pat. When Trevor Ariza played hardball, the Lakers signed Ron Artest instead. Meanwhile, the Spurs acquired Richard Jefferson and Antonio McDyess to shore up their front line, and DeJuan Blair somehow fell into their waiting arms in the second round of the draft. Not to be outdone, Mark Cuban and the Mavs added Shawn Marion to an already talented lineup.

These tough economic times have increased the disparity between the NBA's "haves" and the "have-nots." Last summer, teams that were willing to spend found that many of the league's second- and third-tier stars were suddenly readily available (often at a reduced cost). This is a throwback to the old, pre-salary cap NBA, when there were a handful of great teams stacked with talent. That era had some of the most memorable playoffs of all time, so there is reason to be optimistic about what the 2009-10 NBA season might bring.

This year, we're previewing the Association division-by-division, with quick-hitting analysis of each team as well as fantasy breakdowns by division. Scroll through the entire preview below, or click right over to the previews for the Pacific, Northwest, Southwest, Southeast, Central and Atlantic divisions.



You can follow us on Twitter and Facebook for content updates. Also, sign up for our email list for weekly updates and check us out on Google+ as well.

Around the Web