Ladies and Gents, the crazy, constantly entertaining 2010 offseason is over. It was filled with moments of brilliance, stupidity, and what the hell were they thinking. It proved to live up to all of the hype, even if some players didn’t go to teams I wanted them to go to. I’m a Knicks fan, enough said. Now the dust has settled and we are entertaining the ideas of preseason, hopes of glory, but pretty much setting up for extreme disappointment and anger. Again, I’m a Knicks fan. I was going to try and focus on team by team basis, but I will take care of that in the preseason predictions to follow up in the next couple of weeks, maybe I will do a division by division basis, I don’t know, I’m pretty lazy and don’t want to make any commitments (See my girlfriend). Nevertheless, the list in the following will cover what to look for and what has pondered my mind since my unexpected but triumphant return from Europe:

1.The Atlantic Division is the worst division in basketball history. The Celtics can honestly go under .500 and still win the division by 5 games. I wish I was exaggerating. The Knicks got worse, didn’t think that was possible, especially with Isiah out of the picture, but no, the Soap Opera General Knickerbockers gets worse with old girlfriends and ex wifes getting back with abusive husbands. I honestly have no idea where I am going with this but it coincides with the absurd mess the New York franchise creates on a f***ing hour to hour basis. The Nets made some impressive moves and I give the front office a lot of credit but it is fruitless. Devin Harris and Troy Murphy are going to get hurt, Terrence Williams is going to go back to his mid season performance and the attendance, even in Newark, is going to average 7,000. The Raptors tried everything they could to keep Chris Bosh and it was irrelevant, and its awful. Toronto is a solid franchise and Brian Colangelo is a great GM, but he is has no pieces to surround Andrea Barganni and DeMar Derozan, who is going to have a breakout year, seriously fantasy sleeper alert…DeMar DeRozan. Anyway, they aren’t going anywhere. The Sixers, who have a lot of hope with Doug Collins commanding the young troops and an aging Elton Brand, but it is going to be for nothing. G is going to be disappointed and I feel bad for saying that, I truly do, but I don’t see this team going anywhere. Needless to say, I am not going to waste my $179 of the League Pass Fee on any of these division rival games.

2.The Magic matching Chicago’s 3 year-19 Million deal for JJ Redick is the most underrated event in the offseason. I know I am going to get chastised for this and I maybe overrating JJ Redick a bit but lets look at this logically. When he is open for a trey, he will not miss, he has a terrific basketball IQ, a great team player, and extremely hardworking. Honestly, in his first couple of years, everyone called him a bust, a typical Duke-to NBA transition. Comparisons to Trajan Langdon and Christian Leattner quickly rose throughout basketball fandom, but after last years postseason series against Boston, on both sides of the court, illustrated we are to quick to judge. Now, if he went to the Bulls with Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah getting rebound after rebound and Derrick Rose and Luol Deng creating space in the lane, here is JJ Redick waiting in the corner urging to pull the trigger whenever he gets the opportunity. I would have put the Bulls, if they stayed healthy, at the top of the list to win the East, again I understand the weight of the comment, especially with Vinny Del Negro as the coach but when you have players like Rose, Ronnie Brewer, and Noah playing stellar defense, it’s tough to beat. But this is my ‘What If’ statement of the off season. The Magic may have realized the worth of not only the skill of Redick, but the balance of power shifting in the East. It was simply intelligent and key.

3.The Heat will not win a championship until at least the 3rd year of this experiment. This may sound bitter, this may sound ridiculous but it’s not. Leaving chemistry alone, totally making it an exception, I am asking the jury to dismiss this piece of evidence and the Heat still have problems. Who is their point guard? Mario Chalmers, Carlos Arroyo, or Eddie House. None of those players can conduct a team of this caliber. Yes, I do know Lebron James is going to attempt to play like Magic Johnson, but there is a problem with that. Magic was a leader, a champion, a winner. Lebron is not. He has not shown any of those qualities since sending the Cavs to the finals against the Spurs. Something needs to change in his demeanor and maybe being Robin to Wade’s Batman will teach him, because he needs to be humble a bit…or a butt load. I couldn’t think of a better adjective. Another roster problem, who is there center? Joel Anthony, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Juwan Howard, and All Star Center Jamaal Magloire. I can’t even waste my time explaining what a debacle this is. It’s simply embarrassing. Signing Mike Miller means nothing. He is going to get hurt in the first 30 games of the season and contribute nothing with all of the surrounding players around him. Chris Bosh is yet another problem. See the Trend. How is he going to adapt to not being the main go to guy? He is not a Pau Gasol player and this what I like about Gasol. He will whine and moan about not getting enough touches, but when its gametime, it’s meaningless. He shuts up, plays the game, gives an immense amount of energy and changes the game for the opponents. Bosh cannot do this, or better said, it is going to take awhile if it ever happens at all. The scary thing though, is the Heat can win without this intangible but they need a center and a point guard. I don’t think any of those things will occur in the next three seasons and what then…what happens to Lebron’s legacy, or what’s left of it by that point. He will be known as the Henry Clay of sports, not only basketball, but sports. A God-Blessed, genetically engineered being created to lose. Nothing more and maybe for good reason. Maybe it will teach us you can have everything you want when it is given to you, but when you have to take it and earn it, you need to dig deep and man up. Then, would we call the ‘The Decision’, The Great Compromise?

I have more to say but I want to go outside and enjoy this beautiful weather. Come back at the end of this week and check out the rest of the list.

This is The Ref signaling I’m out until next time and remember: We miss calls, you miss lay ups.