NBA Roundtable (cont.)

Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and the rest of the Celtics' veterans figure to get plenty of rest during the regular season. Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images

3. Do you see a team capable of challenging the Bulls' record-breaking 72-win season in 1995-96?

Thomsen: The Celtics, for instance, would be out of their minds to pursue this. Their No. 1 goal will be to enter the playoffs on fresh legs, so why would they run their veterans to exhaustion in pursuit of a regular-season record they're unlikely to achieve anyway? For, say, Orlando to challenge that record, Dwight Howard must blossom offensively into the league MVP while commanding double teams and then defeating them with low-post moves, passing and free-throw shooting. All of that is entirely within his potential, but it's too early to say whether he'll become that player this season. The bottom line is that the Bulls were the league's dominant team in '95-96. That the five contenders appear tightly bunched this year precludes any of them from chasing Michael Jordan -- the Lakers, Celtics, Cavs, Spurs and Magic will be fully occupied trying to beat one another over the six months ahead.

McCallum: Can we give one-word answers? No? OK, how about three-word answers: No freakin' way. I see the Celtics fighting to get to 60 wins, and only if Kevin Garnett stays healthy. These are not super teams.

Mannix: Scottie Pippen told me last week that he thought the Lakers were best equipped to topple the Bulls' mark (though that was factoring in a healthy Pau Gasol). But I think that number is safe for this season. There is not much margin for error when you are going for 72 wins, and the Lakers have shown early that they will have some ups and downs. Boston is clearly the best team right now, but Doc Rivers is going to make sure the minutes for Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Rasheed Wallace stay down -- even if it costs the Celtics a couple of victories. And I don't think the Magic are equipped to take a run at 70.

Markazi: My answer to this question is always the same no matter the team or the year -- no, no, no. Since the '96-97 Bulls won 69 games, the only teams to threaten the 72-win mark have been the 1999-2000 Lakers, who won 67 games and then the championship, and the 2006-07 Mavericks, who also won 67 before losing in the first round. A few teams may have a shot at 67 victories, but the five wins that separate them from the 72-win Bulls is like making up five seconds in a race to catch Usain Bolt. There's a reason only one team has won more than 69 games in NBA history.

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4. A handful of players (Andray Blatche, Danilo Gallinari, Jermaine O'Neal, Brandon Jennings, Aaron Brooks) have surprised with their play thus far. Who has the best chance of sustaining the early success?

Thomsen: The answer is Gallinari, who will put up numbers all year in Mike D'Antoni's spread offense. His main rival in this little category will be O'Neal, who insists he is healthy and is likely to have a strong year in pursuit of a new contract. It's only fair to Jennings to predict that he'll be up and down as a rookie, and that he'll have a harder time as the league focuses on game-planning against him. Brooks is a four-year collegian entering his third NBA season, so he is sure to have a better year than Jennings, but he'll also face problems in the weeks ahead as opponents focus on stopping him in the absence of Yao Ming, Tracy McGrady and Artest. Blatche's minutes will shrink when Antawn Jamison returns in a few weeks.

McCallum: Definitely Brooks. He's now in his third year, there's no reason (except for injury) that his 35-minute average will be going down, the Rockets need him to engineer the offense, and he's a talent.

Mannix: Gallinari. A back injury all but washed out his rookie year, but if we learned anything about the Knicks in the first week of this season, it's that Gallinari is a player. The 6-10, 225-pound small forward is a deadly shooter (19-of-42 form three-point range through four games) and is a much better defender than many expected. More scary for opponents is that Gallinari is still working himself into game shape after spending most of the offseason recovering from back surgery.

Markazi: After watching Brooks run circles around the Lakers for seven games in last season's playoffs, he would be the least surprising of the players out to hot starts, and he also has the greatest chance of keeping it up. Houston is relying a lot on Brooks to score and create plays for his teammates.