Who knew?

Who was so smart he could look ahead to the middle of December and see Detroit sitting a scant half-game out of the lead in the Central Division?

SECOND-QUARTER FOCUS

1. Theo Ratliff's return could turn the Hawks into a playoff contender. 2. The Isiah Thomas-Jalen Rose test of wills could disrupt the Pacers progress. 3. While owners shop their franchise, the distraction could be the ruin of the Hornets. 4. As the Bulls continue to sag, the cries for the scalps of Tim Floyd and Jerry Krause will become calamitous. 5. If the Raptors don't wake up, Lenny Wilkens could be in trouble. Remember, Atlanta's paying him. 6. Given a quarter-season to get in shape, Anthony Mason is due to become an inside force. — Jeffrey Denberg

Who could know that there would be seven teams separated by a scant 6½ games, a total of five victories from the crowded top and the muddled bottom?

Did we know Milwaukee would be near the top? Yes. Could we guess that Toronto would flop around and play .500 ball? We could. Did we know the Bulls would be living in the sub-basement? Of course, we did.

But the Pistons? Please. When Joe Dumars whacked George Irvine, yes, you could figure the Pistons would be a little tougher under first-year coach Rick Carlisle. But with essentially the same team, they are within two victories of reaching half their victory total from last season. This is extraordinary.

But, remember, the Bucks are still on top by a ½-game and if they get their act together they could separate themselves from this field before the All-Star Game.

Here's an in-depth look from top to bottom (with records through games of Dec. 18):

Detroit Pistons (14-8)
Cliff Robinson certainly isn't a major defensive force. He's not a big-time shot blocker or rebounder. He is, in fact, a most unorthodox center, but the rail-thin Robinson is quick and he can score and as a 17-point scorer he gives the Pistons' front line the only offensive punch it commands. If you put Robinson together with power forward Ben Wallace (almost 11 rebounds), you have a potent inside force.

This is Jerry Stackhouse's team and, despite Tracy McGrady's harsh assessment of Stackhouse's offense game (forced, he said), the man gets to the line and he puts points on the board (22.9 per game). Not to the degree of a year ago, though. Last season, Stackhouse averaged 10 free throws a game. Now he's down to about 7½.

Rick Carlisle has his guys defending (sixth in the league) and running when a lot of teams have trouble keeping up. Dana Barros, out with a hamstring injury, beat out Chucky Atkins for the point guard job and moves the team up. Corliss Williamson is a tough forward coming off the bench, maybe a legitimate Sixth Man award candidate.
Grade: A.

Milwaukee Bucks (14-7)
So much talent, so much temperament. Given the scoring punch of the Big Three -- Ray Allen, Glenn Robinson and Sam Cassell -- it's hard to see how the Bucks would have trouble scoring against anyone. But in a game at Toronto, they couldn't get to 80. With Tim Thomas coming off the bench and Anthony Mason working inside, the Bucks might be the strongest team in the East, the one that gets to the Finals.

But ...

For a club that started 9-1, it's not all been wine and roses. It's more George Karl whines and his team decomposes. Big Dog Robinson was angry about some of Karl's criticisms, but that's not going to change, of course. Big George puts his personal stamp on any team he coaches and there's no mistaking that this is George's team, as capable of going over the line as he is.

With the Big Three averaging 60 points per game, it's reasonable to expect the Bucks will break out of their 5-6 funk and go on another streak. If Mason adapts quickly and Karl can get enough defense and rebounding out of his patchwork center position, they'll be drinking imported beer in Brewtown.
Grade: B.

Indiana Pacers (14-12)
Donnie Walsh has always done a terrific job keeping this small-market team in contention and it appears there is enough talent building here for another run. If not this season, then perhaps next. But you have to wonder how long Reggie Miller can play at this level. He's 36 and guards tend to age quickly when they hit the downside of 35. And that leads to the next question.

Can Jalen Rose get over his funk and play well for Isiah Thomas? Rose has about 150 more shot attempts than Miller. He's having a little test of wills with Thomas and the coach is not averse to sitting him, which makes Rose fume all the more.

Up front there are all sorts of possibilities. Al Harrington and Jermaine O'Neal are budding stars. Jeff Foster is a competent and competitive center and if Austin Croshere can ever regain the form he flashed before they gave him $50 million, the Pacers will enjoy extraordinary depth.
Grade: C+.

Cleveland Cavaliers (9-14)
John Lucas refused to allow his players to feel sorry for themselves when they struggled early while awaiting the return of center Zydrunas Ilgauskas. Well, the Z-Man is back after his latest rehab from a fractured foot and so far the results are very encouraging.

With a wonderful young point guard in Andre Miller, Ilgauskas has been a dynamic force off the bench that has allowed a troop of role players to enjoy some success. Through six games, Ilgauskas averaged 13.3 points and 4.7 rebounds in only 18 minutes. He's very frank in saying he doesn't want to start, but is eager to maintain his current status while he grows comfortable with playing again.

In truth, this isn't a very good team without Ilgauskas and is only average with him, but given the travails of the Cavs in recent years, average doesn't look to bad.
Grade: C+.

Charlotte Hornets (11-13)
This is a little Orphan Annie of a team. The Hornets compete on the road, where they have won eight of their first 14 games. But when they return to vast, largely-empty Charlotte Coliseum, their focus diminishes and so does their record. The Hornets started 3-7 at home. Not even Chicago was that bad in its own building.

The extended loss of Jamal Mashburn to a lower abdominal injury after nine games of the season has clearly put a crimp in this team. Mashburn had finally emerged as one of the very best small forwards in the game, a reliable and sometimes brilliant source for offense. But now it appears he could be out another month.

Baron Davis has developed into a solid point guard but the tandem of Davis and David Wesley is simply too strong to take the Hornets much deeper than they went last season when they were two rounds and out. Besides, with the laughable specter of two owners flying around the country peddling the franchise, who says they can focus well enough to get that far?
Grade: C.

Atlanta Hawks (9-15)
The Hawks have been star-crossed since they went to training camp and learned that center Theo Ratliff had a hip problem. Turned out after playing only his first two games since a freak wrist fracture last February, Ratliff won't be able to play before mid-January. That keeps the Hawks treading water at best.

It took Toni Kukoc all of November to regain his form and Jason Terry has been utterly inconsistent. Only Shareef Abdur-Rahim has been a night-in, night-out strong performer for Lon Kruger and even he has not escaped the injury bug that had the Hawks use 10 different starters the first two weeks of the season.

The elements of a good team are here and the Hawks are far from being out of the playoff hunt if they can hover anywhere near break-even until Ratliff brings his personal brand of quick-reacting defense to the lineup.
Grade: C-.

Toronto Raptors (12-12)
The mark of a Lenny Wilkens team these days is one that is reasonably well-composed, not given to overt excitability, a team that is almost, well, bored and strangely boring.

With Vince Carter and Morris Peterson, Dell Curry and Hakeem Olajuwon, how is it that the Raptors are not a truly explosive club? With Olajuwon, Antonio Davis, Jerome Williams and Keon Clark, how is it that they don't dominate on the boards and kick up a fastbreak that stops rival hearts? In fact, with the smooth moves general manager Glen Grunwald made in putting this squad together, how is it that the Raptors are flirting with .500 and not scaring the shorts off the Eastern Conference?

When Grunwald signed Olajuwon in free agency, the sense around this team was that not much would be required of the once-great center until the playoffs -- that the greatness of Carter, the blue-collar work of Davis and the talent of the surrounding cast would put the Raptors in excellent position and then they'd Olajuwon's presence to take the next big steps. But this is a .500 team and that wasn't supposed to be.
Grade: D.

Chicago Bulls (4-19)
Simply awful. Dreadful. Stupefyingly bad. That's the Bulls. The team and the town are paying for the bizarre decision to break up a three-peat championship team. The high draft picks Jerry Krause has played with have all been questionable, save one: Elton Brand. And he was traded away.

Krause's coach, Tim Floyd, has the worst record of any coach in NBA history at this stage of a career and it isn't going to get any better after dipping to 49-188 as the Bulls hit the quarter pole with a winning percentage of .174, even worse than Floyd's personal .207 winning percentage.

With journeyman Greg Anthony at the point, some mediocre players coming off the bench, the Bulls lack brilliance at any level. And they are going to be lacking for a long, long time.
Grade: F.

Jeffrey Denberg, who covers the NBA for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.