Apparently Ford disagrees about the "other" TX teams...

Let me be the first to say that I respect Chad Ford and enjoy his columns on ESPN Insider. But since he took a teaching gig, he's clearly lost a step. Por ejemplo, take this excerpt from his most recent chat on ESPN.com (Insider req'd for link):
While the Spurs are the hands down favorites as the best team in the league ... I think the next five best teams (Indiana, Detroit, Miami, New Jersey and Cleveland) are in the East. David Stern always said that the pendulum would swing the other way and it has.

What-what-whaaaaaat? Chad. Dude. Seriously. You want to call a restocked Indy and almost-crowned Detroit #2 and #3 in some order, fine. Make the argument. But the other teams? Bzzzt. Let's break it down:

Miami
Last I checked, Jason Williams and Antoine Walker were two of the most overrated bad-chemistry chuckers in the league. Plus, they've got the delusional, feet-in-quicksand version of GP to add to their stack of whiners. In this league, you win by surrounding a few stars with hard-working role players. Last year's team had exactly that: Shaq, Wade, some shooters, some rebounders, a great backup C, and a tight rotation in which everyone knew his job. If Wade hadn't been hurt, they probably beat Detroit. And you blow all of that up to add selfish ballhoggers with no rings and a long history of dragging teams down? I'm sorry, but the LA experiment with Shaq, Kobe, Malone, and Payton proved that the fantasy-style approach to real basketball doesn't cut it. O'Neal and Wade will get them into the playoffs, but I would bet my Dirk jersey they don't even make the conference finals. And if they made it to the NBA Finals, SA, DAL, HOU, SAC, DEN, and maybe even PHO would decimate them.

New Jersey
Puh-leeze. VC is back, Kidd has some juice left, but their inside game is super-ultra-mega-weak. Scott Padgett and Cliff Robinson could be combined and they still wouldn't qualify as a starting NBA 4. Krstic would get destroyed by the Western PFs and Cs. You can't hang with Western Conference teams without an inside game.

Cleveland
LeBron is spectacular. Hughes is underrated. Ilgauskas can score down low. Jones gives them a much-needed shooter. And I like their coach. But let's be clear about something: you don't usually go from zero to top-5 in the NBA even with the best player in the game. Ask KG about that. Teams need seasoning and playoff experience, and if Cleveland were in the West, I am certain they'd be punk'd by the likes of better-tested teams like Denver, Sacto, and of course, the other TX teams. In two years, maybe this team will be in the mix, but it says here they will have a losing record against the top 5 teams in the West.

Pick up your game, Chad. You're slipping!