The Magic and Lakers will meet for the NBA title this season. But what happened to the Cavs and the Nuggets? And what can they do to get back to the show next season?
Cleveland Cavaliers
Why they lost: Sometimes the head understands things that the gut does not. My head told me that the Magic had mismatches over the Cavs at just about every position that didn't involve LeBron James, but my gut told me that LeBron and the Cavs were a team of destiny this year. My gut was wrong. The Magic took full advantage of their mismatches and made the big, physical Cavaliers frontline into a liability. None of the big men from Cleveland could guard ANY of the Magic frontcourt players, and ultimately that is the reason why LeBron is watching the Finals from home while Nike scrambles for what to do with their Most Valuable Puppets advertising campaign.
What they can do: First, the good news. LeBron will be a Cav for at least one more year, and he will enter next season at age 24 even hungrier and more focused on winning a title. Also, the Magic are the only team in the NBA with the combination of beast center and long, shooting forwards that can take such advantage of the current Cavs frontcourt. The bad news, though, is that next season Kevin Garnett and the Celtics might be healthy again and they might be even better than the Cavs even without the mismatches. So, Cleveland needs to add a 6-7, athletic forward that can close the Hedo Turkoglu/Rashard Lewis loophole and they also need to increase their overall talent base with at least another Mo Williams-caliber addition. If they play their cards right, that can be done with a single player. Either way, though, expect the Cavs to be back and powerful again next season.
Denver Nuggets
Why they lost: A month ago I pointed out several reasons why the Nuggets might be able to compete with the big dogs of the league. All of the reasons that I pointed out held up except the most important ones, namely, that Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups could approximate a superstar. There is a reason that almost every champion ever has been led by at least one top-5 NBA player: a team's identity comes from its best player, and when the crucible of the playoffs heats up it is that identity that carries them through the hard times. The 2004 Pistons won a title with a dual best player approach, and I though that the Nuggets might be able to do the same thing. I was wrong. Anthony started off the series like he was ready to step up to the plate, but by the middle games he had taken a step back. Billups never found his "Big Shot", and by game 6 I was actively wincing every time he hoisted it. More than scoring, though, both Billups and Anthony have a reputation for being good closers. Instead, at crunch time more often than not the Nuggets were imploding and turning potential victories into losses. The rest of the team played their part...the big men were physical and active, the bench regularly outplayed their Lakers counterparts, and J.R. Smith went from wild card to basically best player over the last few games of the series. But Anthony and BIllups came up short, and ultimately that is where the series was lost.
What they can do: Unfortunately, unlike the Cavs, the Nuggets didn't get beat by a bad matchup...they just weren't as good as the Lakers. Barring a leap from Melo to superstar level next season, I don't see any small moves that put them over the top. Also, teams like the Spurs, Hornets, Rockets, and even the Jazz could conceivably be better than the Nuggets next season with better health and a few offseason additions of their own. While I expect the Nuggets to add the best talent that they can this offseason, perhaps more talent on the perimeter, it is hard for me to imagine them finishing next season in a better spot than they finished this year.