Let’s be critical for a minute, shall we?

I’m no school teacher, but I’d like to offer up some post-season grades to each NBA team that made the playoffs.  Let is serve as a prequel to Nique’s exit interview questions, that is if we ever get a chance to see them.

Eastern Conference:

Atlanta Hawks: B

Let’s be real.  Nobody has expected the Hawks to fare well ever since Dominique Wilkins retired.  They’ve consistently been the cellar dwellers of the league.  Yet it finally looks like Atlanta finally has a product they can be proud of.  After taking the Boston Celtics to a seventh game, Atlanta fans should expect nothing less than playoff appearances for the next several years.  They have a respectable young nucleus of players in Josh Smith, Joe Johnson and Al Horford.  It will be interesting to see if they keep Mike Bibby and for how long.  The next step for Atlanta will be actually winning a playoff series, but it appears they’re on the right track.

Washington Wizards: C-

The Wizards are still a team without an identity.  Yes, they made the post-season, but is that enough?  They’ve also done so the past few years and it seems they’re now regressing.  The Wiz feature one of the league’s more dynamic players in Gilbert Arenas, but next year could be a critical one for both him and the franchise.  Can he stay healthy?  And if so, can he coexist with his teammates?  I have a gut feeling things are going to get worse for Arenas before they get better.  In this day and age, with the emergence of Deron Williams and Chris Paul, an NBA point guard cannot think shoot first and pass second and that’s not Arenas’ modus operandi.  Caron Butler had a great season when on the floor, but I’m not convinced the tandem of Brendan Haywood and Antawn Jamison are the bigs that can carry a team to the next level.  I predict Arenas will eventually play his way off this team and ultimately end up on a real contender.  The question is who and will they want to take a gamble on The Hibachi.

Philadelphia 76ers: B-

There are contenders and there are pretenders.  Nobody outside of the Philadelphia locker room gave this team much of a chance to win anything, yet this confident group of individuals gave the Detroit Pistons a run for their money.  Similar to Atlanta, this team has a young nucleus of talent to build around.  But they still have question marks.  I’m not sure what it will take this team to get to the next level, but I think they’re still several pieces away.  Andre Iguodala is a fine young player, but can he consistently be the go to guy for this franchise.

Toronto Raptors: D

In my opinion, the Raptors are at a crossroads.  They have talent to build around in Chris Bosh, but the top teams in the East have set the bar high.  The Celtics Big Three will be around for a few more years at least, LeBron isn’t going anywhere any time soon, the Magic have Dwight Howard and the Heat could eventually become a force with Dwyane Wade, Shawn Marion and either Derrick Rose or Michael Beasley.  This means, in order to keep up with the joneses, Toronto will have to add some pieces.  And it’s unlikely they’re going to be major players in the free agent market.  This team looked flat against an Orlando team they should have competed with.  Toronto has been surprisingly good over the past two seasons, but do their fans and ownership care enough to become a serious contender.  I’m not so sure.  Unfortunately, Sam Mitchell will ultimately take the fall for a team that nobody would be able to win with.

Cleveland Cavaliers: C

 The clock ticks loudly in Cleveland.  This poor city cannot sleep for rumors that King James will eventually leave this franchise for greener pastures.  Until then, they’ll have to keep him happy by surrounding him with talent.  While anything less than an NBA title would have been a disappointment for the Cavs, those goals were unrealistic.  They were the third or fourth best team in the East, and will probably be so again next season.  Both Detroit and Boston are clearly better than the Cavs.  Despite LBJ’s performance in Game 7, this team was not getting by Boston.  In the fire sale that was this NBA season, the Cavs added Ben Wallace (useless), Joe Smith (functioning), Delonte West (decent, but not a starter) and Wally Szczerbiak (white).  The experiment of starting two centers, Z and Wallace, failed miserably.  And at times, it looked like Mike Brown didn’t know who to play.  Should he put in Joe Smith for offense or Anderson Varejao for rebounding?  What Ben Wallace gives you defensively (which isn’t all that much these days), he takes away in offensive presence.  I mean the guy was four feet away from the basket and still didn’t shoot it.  I give credit to the franchise for making an effort, but those players were not what this team needed.  Next time, use some logic when making acquisitions.  Whatever they do in the off-season, they better do it quickly and wisely for that ticking clock is only going to get louder.  Every season the Cavs come up short will make playing in Madison Square Garden all that more palatable for King James.

Orlando Magic: C+

 And yet we have another Eastern Conference team at a crossroads.  Perhaps Orlando should play Cleveland in a seven-game series for the Eastern Conference’s bronze medal, because neither of these two teams was going to get any closer than that.  The Magic will ultimately have to find themselves a point guard to play alongside Dwight Howard.  Carlos Boozer has Deron Williams.  Tyson Chandler has Chris Paul.  Even Bosh has TJ Ford.  The jury is still out (or is it) on whether Jameer Nelson is their point guard of the future.  Additionally, Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu are offensive minded, non-rebounding machines.  Howard needs help on the blocks and he’s not getting it.  While this team has gotten better in recent years, in order to compete with the Clevelands, Detroits, and Bostons of the world, the Magic still have to add pieces to their puzzle.

Detroit Pistons: C (if they lose to Boston); A (if they beat Boston) 

Another season… another Eastern Conference Finals appearance for Detroit.  That wasn’t good enough for Atlanta Braves fan (fourteen division titles, one World Series championship) and it’s likely not good enough for Pistons fans either.  It’s unclear whether Flip Saunders is capable of winning a title with this team and unfortunately for him, he’ll always be living in the shadow of Larry Brown, who may have only won his title by running into a dysfunctional Lakers team at the time.  However, this Pistons team did not lose BECAUSE of Saunders.  You can’t point to any specific coaching blunders that justify him losing his job.  If anything, they’ll lose (again) in the Eastern Conference Finals because of an unhealthy Chauncey Billups, but it’s more likely that Boston is just the better team.  Joe Dumars will have some questions to answer in the off-season.  Does he keep this team intact and what’s needed to get this team back to where they need to be?

Boston Celtics:  A- (if they beat Detroit); D (if they lose to Detroit)

Danny Ainge’s bold off-season moves paid off in more than just a GM of the Year award.  Along with Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen have the Celtics one win away from the NBA Finals.  The pieces of this franchise fit nicely together.  Ainge didn’t just look at whoever was out there and land players that didn’t match, a la Cleveland.  Boston’s bench is capable and complementary to their core unit.  And Rondo has proven he’s more than capable of leading this team.  The only question that remains is whether they’ll be able to beat the purple and gold.  While anything less than a title will be disappointment for those in the Boston locker room, a Finals appearance should still be considered a successful season.

It happens every year.  I felt its onset again this week.  Its advance is inevitable.  I’m speaking, of course, of my post-NBA season depression.  Perhaps I should consult Brooke Shields on how to cope.

Yes, I know we’re smack dab in the middle of the NBA playoffs.  The action is (finally) starting to get good, and I should just enjoy it while it lasts.  But I still feel it coming on.  Nothing on television to watch until football season.  Ugh!!!  That’s right, I said it.  Baseball’s unwatchable.

Now, back to the NBA.  I was just one among many who was eagerly awaiting this year’s post-season.  With the parity and talent in the league and the intense competition, particularly in the West, these playoffs promised to be among the best ever.

So far it has failed to live up to the expectations.  Teams once thought to be on a par with one another have distanced themselves from the pack, often in impressive fashion, sometimes inconsistently.  While the Lakers look like the team to beat, the Celtics have yet to win on the road, dropping three in Atlanta and one in Cleveland… by 24!!!

Very few games have been memorable, if even competitive.  The majority have been blowouts (65% of the games so far have been decided by ten points or more!!!).  After the double overtime Game One of the Phoenix-San Antonio series, I thought for certain we were in for one heck of a ride.  As is turns out, that has been the only overtime game so far (until today... finally).  Game Three of the Spurs-Hornets was an instant classic with Parker battling against Paul.  Other than that, the playoffs have been relatively lackluster, particularly after the hype and anticipation surrounding them.

Let’s recap the inactivity to date, shall we?  In the first round, the Lakers seamlessly dispatched Denver, a talented, yet defenseless team in four straight games.  Few of those games were competitive, if even worth watching.  The smallest margin of victory was by six points in the final Game Four.  The Lakers won every other game by fourteen or more.

New Orleans dismissed Dallas, leading to the immediate firing of their head coach.  Three of their four wins came by double digits.  While Houston made every effort to give Utah a series, most fans knew that without Yao Ming, the Rockets would have a tough time advancing.  Once again, Tracy McGrady finds himself watching the playoffs from home in mid-May.  And a Suns-Spurs series that so many fans looked forward to saw the Suns set in five.   Their coach now works in Madison Square Garden.

In the East, Orlando handled Toronto who made Dwight Howard look like Wilt Chamberlain.  While the Wizards and 76ers both took their opponents to six games, the series favorites were never in serious jeopardy of being upset.  Same with Boston.  Although Atlanta took advantage of Boston’s inability to win on the road and took the Celtics to seven games (the only Game 7 we’ve had so far), Boston won that yawner by 34 points.

Similarly, the second round has been anti-climactic.  Only three games in this second round have been decided by single digits.  While Utah has played well at home, are Lakers fans really concerned about dropping this series?  Detroit has again created mismatches against the Magic and beat them without employing the services of their starting point guard.  The Celtics have more talent than Cleveland and have made LeBron look human… in Boston.  The only real watchable series is San Antonio-New Orleans and even those first three games have all been decided by ten or more points.  In fact, 37 of the 57 games played to date have been decided by double digits.  So much for TNT knowing drama!

Don’t get me wrong, I’ll be watching regardless.  I got a basketball jones and I have to feed the mo nkey.  But I would like to see some more competitive basketball  (Note: As I write this, the Lakers have made a ten-point, fourth quarter lead disappear in the final minutes… finally!)  Maybe they’re weeding out the pretenders and saving the best for last.  Celtics-Lakers?  Could be.  As long as the Celtics don’t lost a game at home, they’ll be hoisting the O’Brien trophy.  Even that doesn’t quite seem as predetermined as it was a few months ago.

Regardless, I sure could use a few more Game Sevens thrown in there to postpone the summertime and get my heart racing a little bit.  I guess I shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth.  Even though the games have been anti-climactic, it’s still better than the alternative.