The NBA season has been excellent thus far with some teams really stepping it up and taking a hold of the reins and some teams slipping by the wayside without much fight. We, of course, have the playoffs approaching quickly.

Today we are going to take a look at a few teams that are some of the best. And, we are going to a look at their teams, and discuss, of those teams, which has the worst starting lineup. Who is doing the most with the least?

What team has lesser ended talent across the starting unit amongst the other top teams? Eliminating certain teams off the top, like the Miami Heat, after their fiasco this of season, that ends that conversation. The Boston Celtics have 3 expected Hall of Famers on the squad, so they are dismissed. The Denver Nuggets have to be excluded from the process on the basis, they played the majority of their season with Carmelo Anthony, so who knows where they may or may not be if they played the entire season without him (interesting concept, by the way). But there are a few teams that pique my interest a bit more.

Taking a look at the teams, let’s start with:

The Orlando Magic (47-27) What does this team have? Probable 53 wins with no authentic superstar besides the big man in the middle. Brandon Bass, Dwight Howard, Hedo Turkoglu, Jason Richardson, Jameer Nelson Not much surrounding help for Dwight, yet they continue to win 50+ games every year.

The San Antonio Spurs (57-17) They have gone with frequent changes, but we will look at the lineup they used the most and with the greatest productivity, 60 likely wins, but descending fast. DeJuan Blair, Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobli, Richard Jefferson, Tony Parker Yes, they have been great all year, but talent wise, they are aging.

The Dallas Mavericks (52-21) Another team with a boatload of mix and match lineups, we’ll go with the up to date formula that works so far. Probable 56 more wins this season. Dirk Nowitzki, Tyson Chandler, Shawn Marion, Rodrigue Beaubois, Jason Kidd 2/5 starters are future Hall of Famer first ballots, hard to consider them too inadequate.

Portland Trail Blazers (43-31) With injuries plaguing this team, and their star shooting guard, out for much of the season, they have trudged onward like warriors. Looking at 48 W’s in the win column. Gerald Wallace, LaMarcus Aldridge, Nicolas Batum, Wesley Matthews, Andre Miller The team I have fallen in love with for the last several seasons has dependable players all over. Backcourt is firm, front court is first-class. No one stands out as a superstar, yet, even though Aldridge is on his way. After much thought, my vote goes to the Orlando Magic. PPG: 99.9 (14th), Opp PPG: 94.4 (5th)

This team has no help up front for Dwight Howard. Bass and Hedo are inconsistent at the forward slots (22 ppg/10 rpg combined). As a team they shoot an appalling 69% from the free throw line, 30th in the league. Only 480 steals, which puts them at 26th in the NBA. But, they can rebound the ball, thanks in large to Dwight’s 14.3 /gm he brings; no one else gets half that many for the team. But they can knock down the deep ball, burying 698 from three (3 players on the team have 100 or more treys on the season), putting them 1st in the NBA. They win with hard play and teamwork from all of their players. Someone new seems to step it up every other night to help out this squad. Stan Van Gundy is an underrated and tremendous coach and the Magic deserve a lot of admiration in the NBA for their accomplishments this season.
 

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