The Miami Heat, Los Angeles Lakers and Oklahoma City Thunder are the early favorites to capture the 2013 NBA title. This should come as no surprise, that the two NBA Finals teams plus the Dwight Howard auction winners are the cream of the crop. But perception does not always mirror reality. And media pre-crowning usually differs from the thoughts of NBA execs, who usually have further insight than us outsiders. Well that’s not the case this year.
Sports Illustrated’s Sam Amick polled 19 NBA executives, including 10 general managers, and found similar results.
“The final tally, with three of the voters submitting only first-place votes: The defending champions in Miami received 15 first-place votes, one second-place vote and two third-place votes; their Finals foe, Oklahoma City, garnered two first-place votes, six second-place votes and eight third-place votes; and the Lakers, who have added Dwight Howard and Steve Nash to Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol, got two first-place votes, nine second-place votes and six third-place votes. The Lakers may not be seen as the favorites to win it all, but the idea that they’re the top threat to the Heat is not only a topic of much discussion in the media but also clearly a very real sentiment in NBA circles.
Whether Miami is the recipient of championship respect or actually considered the favorite, who knows. But despite all the offseason moves on the West Coast, few execs see Miami being ousted. And, considering the Heat vastly improved their roster this offseason with Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis, finally acknowledging that playing small ball (read: never play Joel Anthony) is the right way to go, it’s hard to blame them. Of course, preseason predictions almost never prove themselves right, so take all of this with a grain of salt. Still, it’s interesting to see that even NBA execs agree that there’s the Lakers, Heat and Thunder, and then there’s everyone else.
You should really go check out the full article hear the NBA execs’ unfiltered thoughts on these teams.
What do you think?
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