Atlantic Division: Is it 2010 yet?

In the Eastern Conference, both the Southeast and Central division should be fun to watch. The Atlantic division? Not so much.

Everyone is waiting for the big 2010 free agency class, especially the teams in the Atlantic. Boston will be a great team, no doubt about it, but the other clubs have been waiting for their Christmas for two years now.

The New York Knicks have done a spectacular job of keeping themselves mediocre for the last two seasons as they cross their fingers and hope for LeBron James or Chris Bosh at the least. The New Jersey Nets have done the same thing in a more subtle way. Instead of announcing to the world they are waiting for 2010 like the Knicks did, the Nets have stockpiled plenty of young talent and kept their salary cap low as they have sold the idea of a "rebuilding process."

Don't be fooled, they want those big names just as much as New York. And poor Philadelphia and Toronto have been stuck in the middle. They have rebuilt and unloaded at the same time, resulting in a good, but not great team. So until 2010, here is what to expect from this division.

1. Boston Celtics

This team definitely does not want 2010 to come. Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo will all be pursued heavily come June, so the Celtics know their time is now if they want another championship. Rasheed Wallace will hopefully be able to lighten the load on Kevin Garnett so they can keep their defensive leader healthy for the whole season.

The only weak spot the Celtics have had is on the bench, but they took big steps to solve that with the acquisition of Marquis Daniels. Glen Davis started to come into his own in the playoffs and I still think Bill Walker will bust out at some point this season. Celtics cruise to a division championship.

2. Toronto Raptors

The 76ers may look like the teams of their glory days with their throwback jerseys this season, but Toronto is better. The Raptors had huge additions with Hedo Turkoglu, Jarrett Jack, Amir Johnson and DeMar DeRozan. This is the best the team has looked on paper in a while and there is depth. Chris Bosh will play his hardest as he wants a big payday this summer and Jose Calderon with super-scorer Turkoglu on the floor.

Defense has been a problem in the past, but I think Jack and Johnson both bring tenacity on that end of the floor. And your darkhorse for Rookie of the Year: DeMar DeRozan. He has looked good in preseason. Let's not forget Andrea Bargnani, he has improved each year.

3. Philadelphia 76ers

The biggest question on this team: Can Elton Brand stay healthy, and if so, does he remember how to play basketball? The team has plenty of young talent including Marreese Speights, Thaddeus Young and rookies Jrue Holiday and Dionte Christmas, but Brand is the key. In a division with Chris Bosh, Kevin Garnett and Brook Lopez, a solid front court player is a must.

Andre Igoudala is the man, but this team will struggle this season because it doesn't have an NBA-ready point guard. Louis Williams fills in OK, but he is much better as a shooting guard. Holiday has potential, but it is rare to see a rookie point guard have a significant amount of success in their first year. Royal Ivey will provide much needed defense at the point.

4. New Jersey Nets

The Nets have received plenty of criticism and I'm not sure why. I think Courtney Lee is a great addition as he is a solid, consistent defender as well as a good scorer. Devin Harris and Brook Lopez are nearing all-star status and Chris Douglas Roberts continues to improve as a scorer. The team doesn't have much of a bench, but it did add some veteran leadership.

The additions of Rafer Alston, Tony Battie and Keyon Dooling will provide guidance to a young team susceptible to outside influences. This core group of veterans should keep the young players focused on the game, but they are still too unseasoned to be seen as a true threat yet.

5. New York Knicks

They just want LeBron James in 2010 and I'm sure they wouldn't mind adding another top-five draft pick to the mix next season either, so don't expect much from the Knicks. David Lee will continue to record empty double-doubles, Larry Hughes will continue to take too many shots, Eddy Curry will continue to be too overweight, Nate Robinson will continue to be too short, Al Harrington will continue to take ill-advised threes and Wilson Chandler will wonder why he is in New York.

I like Chandler, and I think Chris Duhon is capable of good games for the most part. Jordan Hill and Toney Douglas will try to fit in, but this team has got next to nothing.

2010 is almost here, hang in there.

Uh, Houston. We have a problem.

I hate to say it, but 'Sheed could help Houston. For the right price, this should be the Rockets next move.

By now, I am sure every NBA fan has read at least one story about Yao Ming's foot. 

Yes, the sports world recently acquired foot fetish has created quite the buzz (or buzz kill if you are a Rockets fan). Yao Ming will miss all of next season with a broken left foot. But the story doesn't end there, Ming could be done playing basketball entirely. 

Many have claimed the story is being blown out of proportion and this will serve as wake-up call for Yao Ming that his body cant handle the stress of playing in the NBA and for China's national team. I am no doctor, but I am sorry to say this story is not blown out of proportion. Yao Ming could have played his last NBA game. 

Being 7-foot-6 comes with a price, and unfortunately Yao is now paying that price. Having superhuman size is a health concern in itself and normally leads to a much shorter life. But when a man that size has a serious break in his foot, it's like a horse that breaks its leg. There is a good chance there is no coming back from it. 

It would be a huge loss to the NBA to lose the most gifted player over 7-foot-3 in the history of the league. Yao's gargantuan predecessors George Muresan and Manute Bol played like giants. Both were very uncoordinated and slow. But Yao is quick with a soft touch and can run down the floor like a power forward. While once-in-a-lifetime player gets thrown out a lot, Yao really is an oddity. 

My concern for Yao now is that the problems stop at his feet. Gigantism is a pituitary disorder and as stated earlier, can cause not just career-threatening, but life-threatening problems. Former professional wrestlers Andre the Giant and Giant Gonzalez both suffered from gigantism and Andre died in his 50s, while Gonzalez is having serious health issues at 43.

I'm not ready to jump to that severe of a conclusion, but while the selfish part of me wants Yao to get back on the court, I just hope he can get healthy and stay healthy for a long time to come. 

But for now Houston has a problem, and it needs to be addressed. Yao Ming is out and Tracy McGrady is out for most of the season. Ron Artest is a free agent. Houston has done a great job managing their cap the last few years and now is time to be even more careful. 

Yao! That hurts the bank account

Prior to this foot debacle, Yao having a player option at the end of next season was no problem for Houston. They wanted him to pick up that option and probably would have offered an extension. But now he has an option he will definitely pick up, because after a season on the sidelines, that backloaded deal is a lot better than any sort of money he would get from another team. 

So that money is accounted for. Now the Rockets have two realistic options. Artest is a free agent, but with Yao hurt, they should let him walk. Artest is not the cornerstone of a franchise, he is a nice third man. If they signed him, he would be the star and it would never work. 

The Rockets would also like to dump McGrady, but they will have to wait until the end of this season when his contract is up. I doubt any team will want to pick up that contract on a perennial injured player. 

So now the Rockets either have to use the money they save by letting Artest walk to sign a free agent center this season, or they trade some of the top-notch young players on their bench that have made them so good the last two seasons for a quick fix with Chris Bosh or Amar'e Stoudemire. 

It's a tough call. Picking up Bosh or Stoudemire would keep them in contention, but they would lose players that could help them for years to come. The team would struggle to stay in competition by signing one of the free agent centers and it would also tie them up financially more than a quick fix. 

My best advice: Sign Rasheed Wallace. I know, Rasheed Wallace scares me too. He comes overpriced sometimes and you don't know if he will always show up. But when he does, his post defense is still top-notch and his versatility makes him hard to defend. 

The Rockets could make a play for a real pricey big man like Carlos Boozer, but he would be too expensive and is not any sort of answer to replacing a center. Or they could go cheap and sign Marcin Gortat, but Carl Landry would work just as well in that case. 

Wallace would be a good move if they could sign him to a 2-year deal with a club option in the third. It would keep the team afloat without crippling them too much financially since McGrady is sure to be gone by the end of the season. 

The Rockets front office has the toughest job this offseason. Their next move could make or break this franchise for the next three years.