A Glass Half...Full?

 Just over halfway though the season, its time to take stock of the NBA Southeast

By Kyle Basedow

So far the NBA Southeast has followed the script that was written before the season, falling into the same pattern as last year.

AP Photo/ Rich Pedroncelli

The Miami Heat have continued to dominate in the Eastern Conference and are currently in first place in both the Southeast conference and the entire Eastern conference.

The Atlanta Hawks are sitting pretty in the middle of the Eastern Conference standings and are currently second in the Southeast.

The Orlando Magic are falling fast, slipping way out of playoff contention and are struggling to stay in third place in the Southeast.

The Washington Wizards are attempting to surge forward after their dreadful start and have risen past the Bobcats for fourth place in the Southeast.

The Charlotte Bobcats have returned to their losing ways and are trying to gather momentum in order to avoid finishing their season on another terrible note.

The Southeast is still struggling despite the strong leadership brought by the Heat and the Hawks, both of whom look to be playoff caliber teams. At the halfway point, the three teams at the bottom are running in place, all their efforts seeming futile. In order to truly understand what’s going on in the Southeast, though, here’s a short breakdown of each team at the moment.

Miami Heat: There’s not much to say about the Heat because nothing about them has changed over the past year, except for the addition of Ray Allen. LeBron still does more work than anyone else in the league, expect possibly Kobe Bryant, and the rest of the Big Three continue to follow his lead. Dwayne Wade seems to be getting better and is able to play 100% about 85% of the time. Chris Bosh’s play is unpredictable, sometimes playing well, and other times acting almost invisible. Go figure.

Atlanta Hawks: The Hawks have fallen from where they were last season, though not by much, which is impressive considering they lost an All-Star in Joe Johnson, though he isn’t playing like one right now. The addition of Devin Harris hasn’t helped as much as originally thought, but steady play from Josh Smith and Jeff Teague will keep this team on course.

Orlando Magic: The Magic cannot seem to catch a break, literally. Glen “Big Baby” Davis is out for the rest of the season with a broken foot that required surgery and Jameer Nelson, Aaron Afflalo, J.J. Redick, and rookie DeQuan Jones are all listed on the injury report and have missed time this year. With his team falling down right before his eyes, first year coach Jacque Vaughn has watched ten straight losses. There doesn’t seem to be much light at the end of his tunnel. Additionally, J.J. Redick is possibly on the trading block, but only for the right price. The Magic are reportedly looking for either draft picks or a quality young player.

Washington Wizards: The return of John Wall has given the Wizards little of what they’ve hoped for. Looking for a savior, John Wall has come back to become the team leader in both assists and points per game, but even that hasn’t been enough to save them as they also continue to fight the injury bug. The Wizards will look the win most of their games after the break, hoping to finish third in the Southeast conference.

Charlotte Bobcats: The Bobcats just can’t win. Something about the team just makes them unable to win games even though their players really aren’t bad. It’s not just the coach and it’s not just the players, so the blame now falls onto the organization. Something has to slow the team’s fall and right now no one has any clue how they’re going to be saved.