pelicans are gonna surprise some people this year...they have quite a squad, and they played pretty well towards the end of last year. jrue, eric gordon, anthony davis is a very strong core add in tyreke running the 2nd team and you've got a pretty lethal rotation, esp. when you consider ryan anderson and co.
Go to ESPN.com and check out the comment thread in any article about the Lakers or Dwight Howard. There is a large portion of the Laker faithful that actually think this is a contending year for the purple and gold. I wonder how long before they become Clippers fans?
I would flip the Warriors and Memphis. For the Lakers, they look like a mess. I don't expect them to contend for the playoffs without major changes or one of Kobe, Nash, or Gasol discovering the fountain of youth. I put the odds of one of those happening at about the same odds as Cousins figuring things out.
From what I have seen so far, I don't think anyone can keep the Rockets from the number one seed. I don't care about the rest of them. The Rockets are big, fast, talented, and deep. What's not to like?
1. Rockets (Harden is going to have a monster season. I can feel it.) 2. Clippers 3. OKC (best team once Westbrook is healthy and in form again. I see Durant taking another step forward.) 4. Spurs 5. Pelicans(Yea, I said it. Anthony Davis is a beast. I think he and Jrue are going to play well together) 6. Warriors 7. Grizzlies 8. Minnesota/Lakers
To be fair, I think 7 - 12 all look like messes or potential catastrophes in some way. Some better than others of course, but if you have a player like Kobe on your roster, you can't leave out the possibility of them winning games they aren't supposed to in the regular season if Kobe is right health wise. Most likely- Kaman breaks down after 10 games, Nick Young does Nick Young things, Nash's back happens, Gasol starts playing un-inspired, and Kobe takes longer to get back then people think & doesn't look 100% for a few months. However, I'm not going to say they have no chance at all. If anything, I should put Sacramento at #13 as a team that has a chance if Cousins finally figures it out, and their GM makes trades to straighten out their roster. You're right that they probably have as good a chance as the Lakers at this point, and I like the surrounding pieces around Cousins WAY better than that around Kobe.
Rockets - Let the good times begin. Clippers - Doc Rivers helps their defense Spurs - Another year older but they will challange the Rockets and Clipps all season for the best record Warriors - OKC - Due to Westbrook being out and no Kevin Martin or James Harden on the bench, they will suffer a small set back. Memphis Dallas - Dirk is healthy, shooters, penitrators and not much defense Portland Denver - falls out of the play-offs due to too many changes and injuries but they will battle Dallas and Portland all season for the last play-off spot. Lakers - Let the good times roll! They Suck!
Two teams that I believe will do much better than people believe: Denver and Utah. Both have a 10+ game home court advantage due to the altitude (Utah's is actually 12+ games). And Denver won 55 games last season and still have a boatload of talent on the roster.
Just watched Bill Simmons and Jalen Rose preview on the Blazers. Simmons thinks, like I do, the Blazers and not the Twolves make the playoffs, he even bet Jalen on it. Except! He's ranked them 9th in the West. What an idiot! Even though POR are ranked 16th, they don't make the playoffs because he's already put in 8 Eastern teams in the bottom 14. So Washington, ranked 20th actually should make the playoffs as 8th East seed. Hilarious fail. http://www.grantland.com/nbapreview2013
I picked the same teams to make the west as he did then. They will probably be in a very different order. I don't see Portland beating out Dallas, look at Dallas' record last year and look at how many games dirk missed. Denver won a lot of games last year so even with danillo injury and Iggy lost they shouldn't have that big of a drop off, Lawson and Faried are still getting better.
Oh you're saying he picks them in the playoffs. Haha. Either way I picked the top 8 like he did. Can't explain his miscalculation
Based on regular season standings: 1. LAC 2. SAS 3. Houston 4. OKC 5. Golden State 6. Memphis 7. Denver 8. Dallas 9. Minnesota 10. LAL 11. Portland 12. New Orleans 13. Sacramento 14. Phoenix 15. Utah
Clippers (CP has MVP season) Rockets (WCF - book it) Spurs (great coach, front office, system) Thunder (tick tick tick) GS (not buying the hype) Dallas (will feed off weak teams) Memphis or Minny (who cares?) Lakers (ha ha, no lottery for LA)
Thunder (Westbrook will be back sooner than expected) Clippers Rockets Spurs (I think they will save their firepower for the playoffs) Warriors Grizzlies Wolves Mavs
