The Rockets have the best starting five, but the Spurs probably have the best team. The Nash-Wade-Abdul Jabbar combination is awesome, and with good help from Brand and maybe from Artest, that's an excellent starting five. But Artest can certainly be a major problem, and I wouldn't want him on my team. The Spurs have a very quick backcourt with Richardson and Iverson that will rack up a lot of steals. They have an excellent scoring combination with Iverson and English, and an excellent all-around center in Willis Reed. And the frontcourt would be even better with Haywood starting instead of Larry Johnson. The Spurs have a great bench, certainly a huge advantage over Houston's and the other teams in the division. They have a HOFer in Goodrich, and Gus Johnson was a beast, many think should be a HOFer, as probably should Haywood and Guerin. If they move Larry Johnson to the bench then he's a nice player to have off the bench, as is Rudy LaRusso who played five All-Star games, and was a very solid defender and rebounder. Houston is going to have to tire their starting five, because their bench is weak.

Memphis has good starters, the Pippen-Robinson combination is great, and Alvin Robertson is a very good underrated all-around player, but it's too much of a defensive team. There's not enough scoring there. And they don't have much fire power off the bench either. Richard Hamilton is going to have to be their top scoring threat off the bench.

Dallas has an excellent passing PG in Kevin Porter, but he wasn't much of a scorer and neither was Pressey who was very good defensively. The combination of Elgin Baylor and Dirk is awesome and will score and they'll need to because Divac wasn't much of a scoring threat either. Heck, I'd be tempted to start McHale at center instead of Divac. If McHale stays on the bench, they have a HOFer coming off the bench, along with a very good all-around player in Jamaal Wilkes, a very good PG with Norm Nixon. Caldwell Jones will provide good defense and rebounding. Ben Gordon is young but a good scorer and clutch player.