Who do see rise and fall this year, without the obvious i.e. Boston
Fall - Dallas; pourous defense will put team in a psition to have to ave. 105 pts. per game to even come within 10 wins of last years franchise record 67 wins. An injury to Dirk would put them in a position to be a 500 team at best.
Rise - Portland;Even without Oden this team will make playoffs. The growth of Aldridge and Roy will pay dividends this year. Addition thru subtaction with the trade of Randolph brings team not I attitude. Kudo's to Mike Pritchard astute draft day picks.

Although a huge underdog to even make the playoffs last year the Warriors have greatly fallen with in my opinion absolutely no way to recover and be an upset team. Last year the fans were believers and now, not so much not even a drop of hope in their eyes. Other than the obvious Boston and Portland increase there is not much else out there. New Orleans is a very nice surprise compared to their below .500 39-43 last year. Another huge disappointment has been Miami, only a couple wins does not reach or even come close to expectations.

Rise: Orlando
look at Dwight Howard's stats the past few games. His time is here and when you couple that with Lewis's arrival and 3 point capabilities, look for Orlando

Fall: Cavs
OK, so I don't expect a dramatic fall here, but question whether the team can come together around LeBron like they did last year. They need some pieces to sustain that type of quality play