The NBA championship race isn't closed, but it isn't exactly wide open, either.
With the 2015-16 campaign inching toward the halfway point, it's getting easier to separate the contenders from the pretenders. The things that might keep each of those contenders from reaching their ultimate goal are also becoming clear.
Before discussing where things might go wrong, we have to set the playing field first. All contenders had to clear two marks topped by at least each of the last 19 champions (as far back as NBA.com's advanced statistics go): a .600-plus winning percentage and a top-10 net efficiency rating.
If you think there's a contender missing from this list, there's a performance-based reason they didn't make the cut.
As for the seven teams that did, each has at least one area that needs strengthening. That might be as specific as an individual player or as broad as an entire unit or an element of the game.
The potential remedies are just as different. Some may need to seek external help in trades or free agency. Others might just need patience to get typical contributors back on track, or they need a wider rotation to ma ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NBA
Article written by Zach Buckley
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