By Paul M. Banks

1.  Los Angeles Lakers (6-1)

If you missed the battle of Los Angeles opening night broadcast on TNT, consider yourself lucky. The announcers were fawning all over this team and penciling them in at 40-1 already. Easy guys, the ’96 Bulls aren’t leaving the record books anytime soon.

2.  San Antonio Spurs (3-3)

I like the deal for Richard Jefferson a lot. They’re a quicker, younger team, and certainly not your older brother’s Spurs that were slow and plodding. They could be a Finals contender, but must improve their defensive rebounding and guarding the paint.

3. Phoenix Suns (7-1)

Maybe there won’t be a re-building phase after all. And they should be fun to watch in getting those wins too, conquering a foe with scores of 150-145 every so often. It’s like a NBA version of college football’s WAC conference.

4.  Denver Nuggets (5-2)

Don’t expect a let-down from last year’s breakthrough season. They have too much talent, and balance. They also have a certain Gestalt- the whole is more than the sum of the parts. And I’m not talking about the players’ body art. Denver unofficially leads the NBA in tattooed space.

5.  Dallas Mavericks (4-2)

Is there anything uglier than Shawn Marion’s shot release? Well, actress Julia Styles is no picnic to look at. We must be overdue for a Mark Cuban publicity stunt/fining/fake public outrage/ridiculous boastful public comment. There hasn’t been a news cycle surrounding the attention whore in quite a while. Oh wait, what’s this about him wanting to buy the Dodgers?

6.  Portland Blazers (4-3)

So any day now Greg Oden is going to start playing up to his pre-draft hype, right? Well maybe not. The rebounds and blocks are there, but the scoring? About as lackluster as an Ohio State performance in a national championship game.

7.  Oklahoma City Thunder (3-3)

Kevin Durant and company will make a big step forward this season. You should take the Thunder seriously this year. As long you can get past the fact that their logo and name sounds like either an Arena football or indoor women’s soccer franchise.

8.  Utah Jazz (3-4)

This is Deron Williams’ team, not D. Will & Carlos Boozer’s team. Williams, BY FAR the best player in the league never to have been an All-Star, gets ornery when he loses, so they must get much better on the road, and stop the 4^th quarter collapses, if he is to stay in good moods. The defense in the final stanza MUST improve.

9. New Orleans Hornets (2-5)

Every time I’ve asked a college point guard who they look up to in the NBA, they say either Deron Williams or Chris Paul. Those two are the gold standard, and will be inextricably linked like Magic and Bird throughout their careers. I guess it’s fitting that their teams are right at the same level too.

10 Houston Rockets (4-2)

You may ask how they ended up this low, with a record as good as they have. Well, injuries will catch up to them soon enough, and the W-L will soon be under .500.

11.  Los Angeles Clippers (3-4)

If they can tread water long enough till Blake Griffin gets here, they just might be able to squeeze into the playoffs.

12.  Golden State Warriors (1-4)

Stephen Curry’s career is off to a quick start, as he establishes himself near the top of this year’s rookie class. They can succeed if they follow the Phoenix method of winning basketball games- outscore them!

13. Sacramento Kings (3-4)

Everyone makes the Clippers their NBA punchline, but don’t forget about Sac-town. With the exception of a couple years at the beginning of the decade, (and their one fluky deep playoff run) they’ve been tremendous slouches themselves. Don’t let the quick start fool you, they’ll find the basement soon enough.

14.  Minnesota Timberwolves (1-6)

Someone email me some rationale stating that David Kahn truly knows what he is doing. I’d like to think that a person who gets a job as a NBA GM actually has a clue when it comes to basketball decisions, but I just don’t see it.

15.  Memphis Grizzlies (1-6)

That goes double for Memphis’ General Manager Chris Wallace. Seriously, the Zach Randolph trade, the fact that they can’t sell any tickets even though their home court is located right on one of the nation’s biggest parkways of partying (Beale St.), the fact they’ll be a fixture in the lottery for years to come…I’ll stop there.