ESPN the Magazine grades the contenders. (insider required)

Although I agree with where they ranked the Wizards; and I mostly agree with the rest of the rankings - some of the individual grades are puzzling.

Of course at ESPN, "grading" is done on somewhat of a curve; with Boston, Cleveland and Orlando getting the benefit of a positive grade on anything that might be considered iffy, while any "doubts" on the rest of the teams are strictly graded negative.

Boston Celtics
ECONOMICS — B-plus
If the Celtics don't look like contenders by the break, they may try to unload Allen. There will be takers because he's in the last year of his deal.

Washington Wizards
ECONOMICS — C-plus
Mike Miller (unrestricted) and Randy Foye (restricted) are both in the final year of their deals. Will they play for wins or stats?

I fail to see how an expiring contract on one team (Boston) is treated as a positive; while expiring deals on another team (Wizards) are graded down.... Doesn't Washington have the same option as Boston to trade their expiring contracts? If ESPN thinks that Miller or Foye could "play for stats", what makes Ray Allen so special that they can't even contemplate the same from him?

As a matter of fact... It would seem to me that Washington has an advantage over Boston here. The Wizards have a player (Mike James) with an expiring contract that does not fit into the team's long range plans. They may be able to trade that "asset" at the Trade Deadline for help down the stretch and into the Playoffs. Boston can only trade Allen and hope they get value in return.

And the Wizards get a "C" for Biology because of the uncertainty of Gilbert Arenas' knee. While the Celtics get a "B" even though ESPN admits that

The Celtics are old. Ray Allen is 34, Kevin Garnett, 33, Paul Pierce, 32, and Rasheed Wallace, 35. But the bigger deal is KG's knee. Preseason reviews were mixed. Some saw a limp, others saw that old explosiveness.

On the other hand, this is one of the first times I've seen ESPN actually acknowledge that, when healthy, the BIG-3 are capable of playing contending basketball;

The last time Arenas, Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison were running at full tilt for a long stretch (2006-07), they had the Wizards revving at a 45-win pace. And incoming coach Flip Saunders has a much better supporting cast this time.