teams to watch this year, literally

i'm going to re-up my nba broadband season pass again this year, the one that lets you choose 7 teams. you get to see all their games that are not televised nationally or in your area. so now i'm in the process of choosing which seven teams, and it's no easy task. you have to kind of predict where the action is going to be, which teams will be fun to watch, possible developments, etc. last year i was stung by an injury - i chose the hornets and they lost chris paul. without paul there is nothing at all to see there. so there are potential hazards to try to avoid. the process of choosing forces you to make predictions about how the season is going to go. so here are my season predictions, tied to the teams i'm considering for my watch list:

1. uh. miami. haters can skip to #2. i boldly predict there will be some action and entertainment there.
how do i predict their performance? not having wade right now is pretty bad actually. they are going to lose that first game against boston, and possibly the next one against orlando. the chemistry is not there, not even close. but i boldly predict they'll be a good team and win lots of games. but meshing is going to be the dominant issue for the first half of season. it's already become lebron's team, and he's developing chemistry with bosh and others. how does wade fit into the offense and how will it feel for him to even have to fit in, this was his team for chrissakes!

2. thunder. another obvious choice. this was one that i made the mistake of not choosing last year, won't do that again. but the challenge now is predicting what will be the next surprise rise. (see #3)
i don't have any unique predictions about thunder, like most i think they are great but still a notch or two below lakers. i will say that in the mvp race i'm leaning towards dwight howard this year, tho it could be very close. it'll depend on wins. okc has tougher competition in the west, more tough games. orlando can crush everyone except a small handful of teams during the reg season. assuming howard ups his game and goes on a rampage, as i predict he will. this is van gundy's last season if howard and the team falter. this seemed like a good opportunity to talk about orlando, since i don't want them on my list, and i don't have anything interesting to say about the thunder.

3. sacto. my pick to be the surprise rise. at the very least they have players i want to see, and a kind of oddly intriguing combo: tyreke evans, a passed over and pissed off cousins, underestimated carl landry and dalembert. a loaded but unpredictable frontcourt, and tyreke in the backcourt. gotta see how that plays out.
could they maybe edge out phoenix for second in the pacific? i say yes, they could.

4. chicago. hesitating a little now after stupid boozer's ridiculous tumble. still, this is one of the big offseason developments and i want to see it play out, cuz they have mega potential. can't wait to see what rose can do surrounded with more offensive talent. i think they could nudge their way into the top three in the east, and join the ranks of mega teams. and rose is so damn fun to watch, this could be a team i end up rooting for.

5. wizards. slightly hesitant after arenas' naughty little boy behavior with he fake injury. what an adolescent dumbass! the danger now is that the wizards will be so sick of it that they make a desperate move to get rid of him. but provided they don't, another wild combo of players that could be really amazing to see. three guards, wall - arenas - hinrich, egads. and that javale guy could be great.
and i gotta say this is just one of a few small fast dynamic backcourts that i'm excited about this season. there's wiz, brooks and martin in houston, and monta and curry in oakland.

those five i'm pretty certain about, the next two spots are up for grabs.

6. new york? it could go either way for knicks, this is a little risky. and amare is injury prone. it could be disastrous. Or it could be really fun, the dantoni insanity, a lot of players that could blossom, amare on a mission to prove he's one of the greats with or without nash. plus there's always the possibility they pull some sort of blockbuster trade mid-season, then i'll really regret not choosing knicks. i need advice on this one.

7. houston? yao? it would be great to see him play again. if he can be yao again for 25 min/game, this could be the second best team in the west. luis scola was a superstar at fiba, that's gotta carry over and hopefully adelman will give him a bigger role. brooks and martin backcourt, fast and fearless, great scorers, but both featherweights physically, not great shooters. oh and brad miller now, sharing minutes with yao.

8. phoenix? how can i not choose phoenix? they've been fun every single year, except maybe the shaq year. for some reason i'm hesitant. they made really good moves to offset losing amare, yet something doesn't feel right with this lineup, and the age, nash and grant hill, hedo is 31, even richardson is 29. as much as i love nash, i don't think the force is with this team anymore, the momentum. does anyone on the team really think they have a chance to come out of the west? that might affect the level of effort and confidence this team has now. all the other western powers have some glimmer of hope that they could break thru. the window hasn't completely closed on spurs, dallas, houston, but it think it has with phoenix. so the question is can they still overachieve, again, and win 50+ games? maybe the lesson to be learned from amare going to new york will be twofold, how much nash meant to amare, but also how much amare meant to the suns.

other possibilities are milwaukee (but bogut may not healthy), portland (but actually they're kinda boring), grizzlies (up and coming talents, but they ranked 29th in assists, which means not fun to watch), and hornets, simply because i love to watch chris paul, but me thinks they're going to stink.
any suggestions or alternate top sevens? (can't choose warriors, they're blacked out)