Second Semester Report Card

The second semester report cards came out a couple days ago, and to the surprise of many reporters and broadcasters, there was only 1 A in the Eastern Conference and that team is the Toronto Raptors.

Since a 2-8 start in the first month of the season the Raptors have been on a tare rising to a 27-23 record and first place in the Atlantic Division. The Raptors aren't just a team a team that plays in a bad division proving that by beating the Lakers on February 9th. The team is being led by all star Chris Bosh and clutch play by the Raptors bench. The scary thing about the Raptors is that most of their best players aren't even 25! Chris Bosh is 22, Andrea Bargnani is 21, P.J Tucker is 22 and T.J Ford is 24, so all of these players will only get better. So I believe in future years this A will turn into an A+!

On the other end of the league in the Western Conference, there were 2 teams with an A+!

The first team is the Phoenix Suns. Led by all star, MVP candidate and Canadian Steve Nash the Suns are having another great year. They are 39-11 and are going to fight with the #1 seeded Mavericks for 1st place. Right now Nash is injured but should be back for the Suns next game. A cool theory is that if these grades predict the Finals by some crazy series of events, Nash will be able to play in Canada for at least 2 games. Watch out for these Suns, because they'll be a threat.

Finally, the last team with an A+ is the Dallas Mavericks. They've been led by MVP candidate Dirk Nowitzki who is having another great year. They are first in their conference and look to fight of the Suns to keep that seed. After a Finals loss to the Miami Heat last year, they are hungry for a title. They have a team that can go into any stadium in North America and know that they can get a win there. Look for the Suns an Mavs to be in the Conference Finals.

Here are the rest of the grades:New Jersey- D
New York- C
Philadelphia- D+
Boston- C-

Detroit- B
Cleveland- C
Chicago- B
Indiana- C
Milwaukee- D

Washington- B+
Orlando- B-
Miami- C-
Atlanta- C-
Charlotte- C-

San Antonio- B-
Houston- A-
New Orleans/Oklahoma- B
Memphis- F+

Utah- A-
Denver- Incomplete
Minnesota- C-
Portland- B-
Seattle- D+

L.A.Lakers- A-
L.A. Clippers- C
Golden State- C
Sacramento- D