Charlotte Bobcats' D.J. Augustin is an emerging star PG in the NBA./AP Photo

With the NBA in lockout mode, it may be easy to forget how the 2010-11 season reestablished the league as one of the best in pro sp0rts.

While the owners and players try to work things out, here’s a look at my five favorite players who I consider to be under the radar. They can play.

Just aren’t on TV enough for people to notice or they’re playing for bad teams or they’re part of a team that’s a playoff contender or they’re one of many who excel at the same position (Hint! Hint!).

Now I tried to avoid guys who have made the all-star team. That kept hem from including Al Hortford. Guy is an very good player, but teammates Joe Johnson, Josh Smith and even Jamal Crawford get more pub than him in Atlanta.

I could have put guys like Houston Rockets forward Luis Scola on there, but people talk so much about how underrated he is, we all know who is he now.

In closing, I really wanted to put Philadelphia 76ers forward Thaddeus Young on the list, but I want to see how he does with coach Doug Collins for another season. I love Young’s game.

Look for more Top 5′s from me at www.goerie.com/blogs/giveandgo.

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LeBron James and the Miami Heat head to Los Angeles for a Christmas Day showdown with the Lakers.

The NBA has five games scheduled for Christmas Day with the big one being the Miami Heat taking on the L.A. Lakers in Los Angeles.

You’ve got Miami’s Big 3 going up against the two-time NBA champions with all the celebrities sitting courtside.

By the time that game comes on, I’m might be snoozing after eating my mom’s turkey and dressing, but as long as I wake up by the fourth quarter, I’m good to go.

Anyway, the other four games aren’t too shabby either, but is each one worth missing out on a meal or gift giving? Will you fall asleep on them or fight fatigue to tune in? Here’s how I see the appeal of the five games on a scale from 1-10.

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No one was more fun to watch in college basketball last season than Kentucky freshman point guard John Wall.

Let’s take a look at the first five picks of Thursday’s 2010 NBA Draft and see what they bring to the table.

1. Washington Wizards – John Wall (6-4, PG, Kentucky).
Strengths: Gifted athete, playmaker and brings size to PG position. Weaknesses: Needs to improve FT (Shot 75.4 percent at Kentucky), inexperience.
Impact on Wizards: Not only will he bring fans to the arena, Wall gives Washington a player they can immediately build around and put past troubles with the franchise.

2. Philadelphia 76ers – Evan Turner (6-7, SG/SF, Ohio State).
Strengths: Clutch, seasoned (played three years in college) and shoots a  high percentage  (shot 51.9 percent from the field last season). Weaknesses: Turnover prone and not as explosive around the rim in terms of finishing in traffic.
Impact on 76ers: Will have to play small forward, but teaming up with Andre Iguodala will give the 76ers two very good perimeter defenders. Has a very competitive edge, which Philadelphia has lacked in recent years.

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The Orlando Magic are the only team that hasn't lost a game in this year's NBA playoffs.

Well, let me rephrase that.

The Orlando Magic are looking very strong.

They’re 7-0 in the playoffs and just taking Atlanta to the cleaners. Hard to gauge their wins against Atlanta because the Hawks are so disoriented, but Orlando has something to do with that.

After winning Game 3 by 30 points on Saturday, Orlando will close out its Eastern Conference series against the Hawks on Monday in Game 4.

Dwight Howard seems to have adjusted to the fouls, but what’s great about the Magic is they’ve got five guys who can get 20 points at any time.

Hard to guard a team like that. The Cleveland Cavaliers are going to have their hands full with the Magic in the Eastern Conference finals.

I know. I know.

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Dwight Howard and the Magic the only team to sweep a first round series this season.

With only one more first round series remaining (Atlanta Hawks vs. Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference ) a conference semifinal series beginning tonight (Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference) , let’s look at see how I fared in my opening round NBA playoff predictions.

Eastern Conference

(1) Cleveland Cavaliers vs. (8) Chicago Bulls
Series result: Cavaliers win series, 4-1
Rankin prediction: Cavaliers, 4-1
Final word: Bulls just didn’t have enough to overtake LeBron James and the top-seeded Cavs.

(2) Orlando Magic vs. (7) Charlotte Bobcats
Series result: Magic win series, 4-0
Rankin prediction: Magic, 4-2
Final word: Even with Dwight Howard a non factor offensively, Orlando was good enough to sweep the Bobcats.

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Shaquille O’Neal left Friday night’s win against Portland with an eye injury after Blazers’ center Joel Przybilla racked him over the face. O’Neal was taken to Cleveland Clinic Courts.

The Cavaliers are calling it a left eye contusion, but he along with Daniel Gibson are traveling with the Cavaliers for Sunday night’s game at Oklahoma City. Gibson has a little right finger sprain.

A 17-year veteran, O’Neal is averaging 11.1 points, 7.1 rebounds and 1.3 blocks this season.

Quincy Douby is playing for Toronto this summer.

This is how guys who want to play in the NBA would like to spend their summers.

Erie BayHawks players Erik Daniels (Memphis Grizzlies), Maureece Rice (Cleveland Cavaliers), Darian Townes (Orlando Magic) and Quincy Douby (Toronto Raptors) are either currently playing in the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas or played in the summer league in Orlando earlier this month.

This is how they’re fairing  so far or how they fared.

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Kobe Bryant scored 30 points in leading the L.A. Lakers to a Game 5 victory.

After losing Game 4 Thursday night to fall down 3-1 in the NBA Finals, the Orlando Magic were leaking and the Los Angeles Lakers smelled blood.

So when the L.A. Lakers went on a torrid 16-0 run in the second quarter of Game 5 Sunday, the end result was inevitable.

The Los Angeles Lakers are NBA world champions after beating the Magic, 99-86, in Orlando.

Few expected the Magic to upset the Lakers even though they had upset top-seeded Cleveland to make to the NBA Finals. When the Magic look back at this series against the Lakers, they let Game 2 and Game 4 slip away as they lost both in overtime.

It’s hard to win a  best-of-7 series when you give two games away.

As for the Lakers, this is the 10th NBA title for their Hall of Fame coach, Phil Jackson. It’s the first time Kobe Bryant has won a title without Shaquille O’Neal.

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After days of rest, Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers get back at it Monday against Houston.

So far, so good.

In looking at my first-round predictions in the Western Conference of this year’s NBA playoffs, I went 3-for-4, losing only the New Orleans-Denver best-of-7 series.

I picked the Hornets mainly because I predicted they would win the NBA title before the 2008-09 season began. After a season of dealing with injuries, the Hornets were no match for the Nuggets, who has finally figured out how to play defense.

Again, some prediction, but I can at least take a bow for picking the Dallas Mavericks to upset the San Antonio Spurs and the Houston Rockets to derail the Portland Trail Blazers.

Anyway, let’s look at the Western Conference semifinal match ups. Not to give anything away, but the top two seeds should make it out the conference semifinals.

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Detroit couldn't stop LeBron James.

Let’s take a look and see how my predictions have fared for these best-of-7, first-round NBA playoff series.

Eastern Conference

(1) Cleveland vs. (8) Detroit
Prediction: Cavaliers in 5.
Final result: Cavaliers in 4.
Closing remark: Detroit never had a chance against Cleveland, which played like the top seed in this year’s playoffs in sweeping the Pistons with relative ease.

(4) Atlanta vs. (5) Miami
Prediction: Heat in 6.
Still in progress: Atlanta leads the series, 3-2, heading into Friday’s Game 6 at Miami. The winner will face Cleveland in the conference semifinals.
Why: Dwyane Wade’s back spasms have literally hurt the Heat.

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