After a week of basketball I decided to write my thoughts and predictions on what will happen in the NBA this year. I wrote this post similar to the way Pat Forde writes his 40 thoughts column for ESPN.
Teams That Look Different From
1. Miami are going to be really good this year…2. Celtics game aside, the Heat have looked dominant in their 2 other games and the Celtics are probably one of the two toughest matchups for the Heat in the NBA (the other being the Lakers).
3. The Nets are going to win more than 12 games this year…4. Lopez, Favors, and Harris have all looked pretty good so far…5. Troy Murphy comes back this weekend setting up the Nets to have one of the better front courts in the NBA
6. Oklahoma City might become one of the best teams in the NBA for the next decade…7. OKC might be a top 3 team in the NBA this year…8. Youngest starting lineup that are only going to get better (how scary is it that Kevin Durant just turned 22??!!!!!)
9. Fact: Phoenix came up 2 wins short of a finals appearance last year. ..10. Fact: Phoenix will not make the playoffs this year…11. Forcing an undersized Hedo Turkgolu to play the 4 makes an already small front court smaller (they may give up more points in the paint than any team in the NBA this year)…12. Prediction: Steve Nash will want out well before the deadline and Phoenix is lottery bound.
13. Ray Felton has looked really good for the Knicks so far, he’s gelling perfectly into the Dantoni offense…14. Stoudemire may not be that much better than David Lee, but the Knicks are playing with a lot more intensity than they ever have in the Dantoni era…15. The better Wilson Chandler looks, the closer the Knicks are to landing Melo…16. Crazy Prediction that would be really cool: Knicks get Melo from the Nuggets and trade all of their draft picks for the next 3 years to get Nash ( Can’t you just picture Nash and Amare reuniting under Dantoni with Melo on the wing), that team would be scary good.
New and Potential New Looks for Players
17. Lebron’s recent Nike ad was so good that it took my hate for Lebron from a 10 to a 9.5...18. Watching Lebron play now is so different from the last 7 years of his career, he always used to just look like he loved the game. Now he looks like basketball is strictly business to him.
19. Other than the inevitable Melo trade, I think the next most likely superstar to get traded is Chris Paul…20. The odds of Paul getting moved aren’t very good, but can’t you just picture New Orleans—headed for another dud season—at the deadline realizing that this team just isn’t good enough and won’t be for at least 3 or 4 more years…21. If New Orleans realizes this, I think the Magic seem like the most plausible contender for him to be moved too (unless of course the Knicks fail to get Melo and New Orleans agrees to take Chandler, Gallo, Curry)….22. If the Magic get Paul, they are probably as good as either Miami or Boston.
23. John Wall is going to be a star in this league (although he won’t be able to stop Blake Griffin from winning the Rookie of the Year award)…24. Wall’s clear ability necessitates the trade of Gilbert Arenas (at some point)…25. If the Wiz decide to move Arenas I wonder who would be interested…26. He would be the ideal fit for a team like Portland…27. Unfortunately, Portland has only just gotten over the “Jail-blazers” era and bringing in a gun toting point guard who poses “guns up” pre-game for photos, might not be too endearing for Blazers fans…28. Other possible destinations I could see: New York, San Antonio, maybe Denver??
Bold (At times insane) Eastern Conference Predictions:
29. The Eastern Conference Playoff order will go like this: 1. Miami 2. Orlando 3. Chicago 4. Boston 5. Atlanta 6. New York 7. Charlotte 8. New Jersey
30. Miami, Orlando, and Boston all sweep their first round series…31. The Knicks upset Chicago…32. Boston shocks Miami in 6 games (Rondo might average a triple double a game with the Miami PGs guarding him)…33. Orlando sweeps New York…34. Boston beats Orlando in 7
Bold (Not nearly as crazy) Western Conference Predictions
35. The Western Conference Playoff order will go like this: 1. Oklahoma City 2.LA Lakers 3. Dallas 4. Portland 5. Utah 6. San Antonio (limping into the playoffs) 7. Denver 8. Golden State (just edging out the Clippers)…36. OKC cruise…37. All three other Series go 6 games with LA, San Antonio, and Portland winning…38. OKC beat Portland in 6…39. LA sweep San Antonio…40. LA beat OKC in 7.
NBA Finals
41. Boston beat LA in 7 games…42. Rajon Rondo is series MVP…43. Kobe begins the Favre-esque retirement rumor stage of his career…44. Ray Allen retires.
Awards
45. MVP goes to Kevin Durant with a higher percentage of votes than Republicans will win seats in the midterm elections.
46. Defensive Player of the year goes to Lebron James (he has to win some award)
47. Rookie of the Year goes to Blake Griffin (John Wall will get votes because of the hype but has no chance to win…Griffin already looks like a seasoned vet)
48. Eastern Conference All Star Starters: Lebron James, Dwight Howard, Dwayne Wade, Rajon Rondo, Carmelo Anthony (that’s as bold a prediction as you are going to get but I just don’t see Denver holding onto him more than 2 months.)
49. Western Conference All Star Starters: Kevin Durant, Chris Paul, Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, Dirk Nowitzki
50. This is going to be a wild year. Since my Nets probably won’t be great again I’ve come up with a short list of 4 teams I would like to see do well: the Knicks, Celtics, Thunder, and anyone who are playing the Heat.
yo kron.... how you gonna say lebron has to win some award....he doesnt have to win anything, there are way to many other players with better defensive games than lebron, his on ball defense subpar, its when he is in transition that he will terrorize opponents. Dwight howard, josh smith, rajon rondo, ron artest and gerald wallace all have a better shot than him in my opinion. Also, basketball has alaways been strictly business to lebron, more over its everything that he is and will ever be. He still looks like he loves the game but last year he looked like he was out there having a good time, he was very animated on the floor and was always trying to put on a show for the fans that he claimed to have loved, but now it just looks like he is trying to change his game to account for 2 other superstars who both had 25% of their teams offensive sets run through them. its hard for them to move off the ball and judege eachothers movements, that will all change in time and come play off time they are gonna b crazy good. as for rookie of the year, john wall is the runaway winner, both him and blake are paired with franchises that need the second coming of jesus type player to help them. you need to take into consideration position here, blake is a PF and wall is a PG, who has more responsibility? Wall, and he is already posting superior numbers to griffins. If wall had a team around him he could have been the second player in history to win MVP and ROY in the same season. im gonna rival your confrence play off seeding as well. EAST: 1. orlando 2. miami 3. atlanta 4. boston 5. chicago 6.charlotte 7. new jersey 8. new york. Look at what boston did last year, coasted through the regular season at their own pace, kew they did not need homecourt advantage because of their experience if they could stay healthy. repeat this year. RONDO IS BEST POINT GUARD IN THE LEAGUE no contest. now for the west. 1. LA lakers 2. OKC 3. Portland 4. Golden state 5.New orleans 6. Dallas 7. san antonio 8. phoenix (goin out on a shaky limb there). sorry this was all over the place but its 3 in the morning im half asleep and bored but good blog dude definately thought provoking....come home once in a while and we can debate these topics a little more in depth...KILLLA OUTT
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