Another season has ended for the NBA, with the San Antonio Spurs getting their 4th championship crown since '99 and clearly establishing themselves as the class organization of the league and the dominate dynasty of our time. They have not had to face the best competition history has to offer and have never won back-to-back, but their run of success is hard to ignore and their underappreciated consistency will go down in the history books as one of the key components to the team. The mainstream fans of basketball have never caught on to the Spurs' grind-it-out, team 1st style of play and emphasis on defense, calling it boring, but they play the best form of basketball the NBA has to offer and to true afiocinados of the game they are far from boring. The only criticism anyone could have of the Spurs is their constant complaining and penchant for embracing the new NBA craze of flopping. Tim Duncan will go down as one of the top 2, if not the best, power forward of all time for his championship rings and consistency. He has never had a bad season and his ability to do it all and act as defensive anchor of the team has made him a player for the ages. He can dominate with his scoring and methodical post moves/use of the bank shot, he is a great rebounder, and an amazing defensive player and shot blocker who relies on positioning and helping the weakside, protecting the paint and erasing teammates' mistakes as well. Tony Parker has also established himself as one of the best scoring guards in the history of the postseason and probably the NBA when all is said and done, getting to the paint and scoring at will with his blazing speed and slippery, creative finishes and moves. His scoring also nabbed him the Finals MVP trophy. Two other players who were vital to the Spurs championship success are Manu Ginobli and Bruce Bowen. Manu does not consistently dominate and often his impact disappears, but he plays with reckless energy and is the versatile motor that drives the Spurs and gets them to play at another gear. His back-breaking threes are also a key attribute. Bruce Bowen is the league's most physical defender and always does his job of guarding the opponent's best player and throwing him off his game with various jabs, knees, and elbow-shots that look like accidents to the untrained eye. Bowen is a master at making these subtle moves, as referees don't see them but opponents feel them. Veteran sharpshooter Micheal Finley, a great leader and former star with the Dallas Mavericks, also got his 1st ring by accepting a lesser role. Crafty center Fabricio Oberto had a fantastic playoffs, showing a great nose for the ball and a scoring sense around the basket, while the athletic Francisco Elson played his role too. Brent Barry did not play a very big role on this team but made some occasional threes, while Jacque Vaughn did his job of spelling Parker. Now the question is, can the champion Spurs repeat and win a few more titles before Duncan has to call it quits, along with the 37-year old Bowen? The Spurs are already an old team and aging fast, with the only young players being Parker and Ginobli. There is no doubt that they will be in the hunt again for the next few years, but can they keep winning? If they do they will be in the discussion as one of the best basketball teams of all time, even in this era of lesser competition and meaningless regular season games. Expansion has hurt the parity of the league, as the two conferences have wide gaps in talent level. The playoffs need to be re-seeded to make sure that the true "championship" of the playoffs each year doesn't keep occuring in the Western semis, where the Spurs played the Suns this season and the Mavs played the Spurs last season. The West is a tough place to play and no team is guaranteed a spot out, but even if the Cavs continue to dominate the East and Lebron makes more strides toward All-World status, will it really matter once they run into a stronger foe in the West? These are all intriguing questions and ones that will be answered in the future. The Heat should be back in the thick of things as long as Wade stays healthy, but the rest of their senior citizen roster is a mess. Detroit seemed to implode and they have gotten the most they can out of this unit, so they probably need to rebuild their roster a bit. They have talented vets and experience though and they should be back as a high seed. Washington is a very talented, overall young team with some great young scorers and a legit superstar in Gilbert Arenas, but they need to stay healthy, improve their defense, and Gilbert needs to show that he is a leader who can take this team on a deep postseason run, which he has yet to do in his career. Hell, he might not even stay on this team. In the East, however, anyone can ascend to playoff status in a year, but none of the teams can come close to even the bottom of the West. Golden State probably could have beaten Detroit in a series this year. As far as other Eastern teams, Toronto should be back and could be a sleeper now that they have more experience. They have a young superstar to build around and a versatile roster that can score a lot of points, but they need more depth and for their young Euros to keep improving. The Nets still have a talented trio but they have gotten as far as they can and that roster may get blown up pretty soon. And i still haven't mentioned the Chicago Bulls, the one team i believe can give Western foes problems. They have youth and they play with a lot of toughness and energy, and they are only one post-scorer away from being a perennial title contender and a team noone wants to face in the West. If they can nab KG, look out. The West is a totally different story. The Spurs will be the favorites as long as they have the Big Three of this roster together, most notably Duncan and Parker, but there are other talented teams that could give them a run for their money. Dallas is the most talented and versatile team around, with the most depth as well, but they don't play the consistent defense needed to go all the way and their mental and emotional toughness is not up to par, as they completely collapsed against Golden State this year. Phoenix will be back with their explosive offense and versatility, but the clock is ticking on Steve Nash and it is yet to be seen if can take this talented bunch to their fullest potential, to an NBA championship. Keeping Shawn Marion around will be important. Remember, things could have been completely different had Diaw and Stoudemire not been suspended. Utah has a fabulous young nucleus and Deron Williams broke out as a star player in this playoffs. The Williams/Boozer combo will be lighting up the league for a long time and will make Utah a perennial threat, but they still need more pieces (shooters and post players) to take down the Spurs. Houston has a new coach and will have a new identity next year, but will still be back in the thick of things with the star power of McGrady and Yao. Houston may not play the tenacious defense they did under Van Gundy, but you can bet that their offense will be much improved and much more wide-open, which may be enough to get Tracy his 1st series win. Golden State will be dangerous for the forseeable future, they have a ton of great athletes and shooters, but they won't be able to make a deep run in the playoffs playing Nellie ball and won't be much more than a playoff perennial novelty act. The Clippers should be back in the playoffs if they can find a good point guard, or if a miracle happens and Shaun Livingston returns at close to 100 percent. The Lakers will be interesting, as they can't wait on their young players to emerge and waste Kobe's prime. As long as Kobe and Phil are here they will make the playoffs,but deep runs are out of the question unless they get more support or another star to go in the post. The Nuggest proved they can put up points, while Carmelo emerged as one of the best all-around scorers in the NBA and Nene may be an emerging post star, but they are still a shooter away and they need more depth/defensive play. A sleeper team that should start becoming a dangerous playoff squad is the Portland Trail Blazers. They will be great in the future, with an impressive young nucleus. Post-star Zach Randolph will probably be gone but they have do-it-all guard Brandon Roy, athletic and offensively skilled power forward LaMarcus Aldridge, and presumably phenom big man Greg Oden in the middle after this month's draft, along with a bevy of other talented athletes. So while this year's playoffs was one of the most boring in recent memory, we have another dynasty to crown and plenty of talent Western foes ready to make things interesting for San Antonio again next year. The question is, can anyone in the East put up a fight?