With the NBA season set to begin on Christmas Day, let's take a further look at the basketball landscape. We already looked at the NBA power rankings to see the best teams in basketball. Now, let's look at the worst. Here are the top 10 worst teams in the NBA headed into the 2011-12 season.

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While everyone now agrees that the 2011-12 NBA season won't feature 82 games, the New York Post is reporting that a 78-game regular season is still possible. Of course, that is assuming that an agreement can be reached before next weekend.

Since all NBA games are canceled until Nov. 30, to squeeze in the needed games, David Stern would have to push back the start of the playoffs and limit the number of off days during the season.

Could the NBA lockout be coming to an end? At the very least, the two sides are much more cordial with each other right now. The last two bargaining sessions have ended with some optimism. Tonight, the optimism was at its highest level to date.

"I think we're within striking distance of getting a deal," said Billy Hunter.

Well, it's good to finally be able to report some good news regarding the NBA lockout. According to both the players and owners, Wednesday's 15-hour negotiating session led to some progress.

"We can't say that major progress was made in any way," said Derek Fisher, the president of the players union, "but some progress was made on system issues.

The bad news is that the NBA lockout seems as dire as ever. The good news is that the two sides are going to talk today. Last week, the two sides held long sessions but didn't get much closer on the issues. After the sessions, things got ugly with both sides spitting venom.

Though it looks more and more likely that there won't be a 2011-12 NBA season, the talks resuming is a good sign.

The NBA lockout is getting serious. According to multiple sources, David Stern and Dwyane Wade got in a fight during Friday's negotiating session. Wade was apparently felt disrespected after Stern pointed at him and responded by yelling at the commissioner.

After the incident, Wade and other players were going to leave the negotiations.

Do you still not believe this is going to be a long, long NBA lockout? The latest proof came on Tuesday when the NBA owners sued NBA players. In fact, NBA owners filed a pair of claims claiming everything from NBA players being uncooperative and that the players were making harmful threats.

Legal experts see this as a ploy by the owners to beat the players to the punch.