The gaudy 3.6 assists-per-turnover that Seattle's Luke Ridnour has compiled will be tested in the slow-paced playoffs. Layne Murdoch/NBAE via Getty Images

So, as the dust settles after a wild scrum at the finish line of the trading deadline, did any new NBA title contenders emerge? Not likely. The one thing that did get more intriguing is the Atlantic Division race (welcome, Chris Webber, and welcome back, Antoine Walker), an interesting development since the words intriguing and Atlantic Division would've hardly appeared together before last Thursday. But neither acquisition tips the balance of power in the Eastern Conference.

For this week's five-pack I thought I'd ruminate on how the five legitimate championship contenders look right now, what they have to do to prepare for the postseason and what their strengths and weaknesses might be as they push toward the playoffs. And, no, I didn't decide that there are five just to match the format; over the past two months these five teams -- three from the West and two from the East -- have distanced themselves from the pack.

In order from least to most likely to become champion:

Seattle SuperSonics

This team spends more time outside than a battalion of park rangers, and so far it's worked. But it won't be quite so simple in the postseason when opponents will have more time to figure out how to effectively slow down the quick-trigger bombing of Ray Allen, Rashard Lewis and Vladimir Radmanovic. The small-ball Sonics will have to get more inside production from some combination of Reggie Evans, Jerome James, Nick Collison and Danny Fortson; the latter, in particular, because of his rebounding prowess. The Sonics are going to need all of those big men, if only to spread out the personal fouls; taken as a trio, Fortson, James and Collison are 1-2-3 in the league in personal fouls per 48 minutes.

Second-year point guard Luke Ridnour is having a fun time right now, but he would be wise to spend his extra practice sessions working on his halfcourt game. More and more, teams will be able to stop Seattle in the open floor, and Ridnour will have to find a way to get the ball to his scorers on the set offense. That requires a whole new set of skills.

Overlooked strength: Head coach Nate McMillan. He hasn't been mentioned much as a Coach of the year candidate but he should be in the running. He played in 98 postseason games as a player, 19 of them in 1996 when the Sonics lost to Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls in the Finals. He knows what's what in the postseason.

Miami Heat

For a team that seemed to be buzzing along contentedly, the Heat haven't stood pat, signing free-agent veteran center Alonzo Mourning and dealing for guard Steve Smith. Having a former All-Star ready to step in as a backup center sounds like a no-brainer, but there are potential potholes. With Shaquille O'Neal coming off an injury, coach Stan Van Gundy has to carefully monitor Shaq's playing time. But if 'Zo plays big minutes, will he start to think of himself as a starter and chafe when the Big Fella comes back?