My predictions: West 1. LAL 2. SAS 3. HOU 4. NOH 5. UTA 6. PHO 7. DAL 8. POR East 1. BOS 2. DET 3. CLE 4. TOR 5. ORL 6. PHI 7. MIA 8. WAS
East: 1 Boston 2 Cleveland 3 Miami 4 Toronto 5 Orlando 6 Philly 7 Detroit 8 Atalanta 9 Washington West: 1 New Orleans 2 Houston 3 Bortland 4 Utah 5 Lakers 6 Phenix 7 Warriors 8 Spurs 9 Mavs
Well, considering the intelligence level of the ESPN forum members, I'm not terribly surprised about their (wrong) opinions. How can the Rockets have less wins after putting together a big 3 and bolstering their bench with Barry? Shiet son.
i dont understand how they have us winning less games than last year. were a better team this year with one of the best offseasons out of all the teams
Seriuosly, it's mind boggling. Working for us: 1. Artest 2. Yao healthy again 3. 22 game win streak last year 4. Scola improvement (we started Chuck Hayes for the first 35 games) 5. 1 year under Adelman 6. Barry>Head And we still won 55 games last year.
It's too early but here goes: EAST 1 Boston 2 Cleveland 3 Philly 4 Washington 5 Orlando 6 Detroit 7 Toronto 8 Miami The Wizards are being unfairly overlooked. I think the Pistons roster is stale, even with a new coach. If Mo Cheeks is up to the task, Philly should be a lock for a top 4 seed if Elton Brand stays healthy. The Cavs should be able to win 50+ games if they keep believing in Mike Brown's defense and tolerate his lack of creativity on offense. If Mo Williams meshes with LeBron, the Cavs will be co-favorites, equal to the Celtics. The rumor of Miami making a major trade before training camp casts a shadow over everything. I admit to overlooking the Raptors (the same way I accuse others of overlooking the very Wizards). Sorry, I just don't expect JO to be healthy all year and Sam Mitchell is a flake. Until the Magic improves their weak backcourt, their ceiling is making the 2nd round. The Bucks and (maybe) the Pacers could make their way into the playoffs if things go right. WEST 1 LA Lakers 2 Houston 3 New Orleans 4 Utah 5 San Antonio 6 Phoenix 7 Portland 8 Dallas I feel very confident these will be the top 8 teams in the West. The 3 best teams are clearly the Lakers, Rockets and Hornets. I have to agree with an earlier poster that an injury to Chris Paul (or any other key Hornet) will pop their bubble pretty hard. Even with Posey they are not deep. The Jazz didn't get any better. The Spurs will be worse. Don't laugh, but I can see them possibly winning less than 50 games. I think Phoenix will have chemistry problems and Shaq's age (36) will be on full display. Portland will surprise people if Roy is healthy. Dallas will still have enough talent to make the playoffs. The only thing stopping them would be chemistry problems with the new coach. If Carlisle has a good relationship with the players, they might do better than expected because he can flat out coach. Regarding the Rockets, we definitely have more talent than the Hornets. If Ron Ron keeps his head screwed on, we will battle the Lakers all season for best record in the NBA. Other open items that might change things before camp: (1) Ben Gordon being traded and (2) AI being moved. I'm excited and can't wait for the season to start. But at least summer league, the prelim games in Shanghai and the Olympics really helped satiate my bball appetite.
i hope the rockets win this year. because i think starting next year the blazers may not lose for about 7 years. i just dont see how the blazers wont end up not being a great team. unless they keep up with all the injuries.
I don't see how it's possible to win less games than last year now that we've got artest. Thanks for putting us 3rd but no thanks. I expect no less than 10 losses.
overall really good guess. detroit is a little low, but you knew someone would say that. here's my take: WEST 1. Lakers 2. Rockets 3. Hornets 4. Jazz 5. Mavs 6. Spurs 7. Blazers 8. Suns I see the lakers increasing their win total from last season since they will have a full season with pau. this should keep them atop the west standings. the Mavs still have more talent on their team then most teams in the league. this year jason kidd will be the leader, a PG who can get that talent to score ,rather than a soft minded dirk. rick carlisle will help right the ship as well. the Suns new plan is to rest nash up to 10 games during the season. nash thinks that's a bit much... we'll see how it all plays out. sounds like trouble either way. they might slip. EAST 1. Boston 2. Detroit 3. Cleveland 4. Orlando 5. Philadelphia 6. Toronto 7. Washington 8. Milwaukee Detroit won so many games last year that there's no reason to believe they can't come close to that again. I think Phili will have a better record than Orlando, but because the Magic should win their division they will take the #4 seed. Lastly, I think scott skiles will help the Bucks reach the playoffs thanks to his tough style of defense, and the addition of RJ makes it tough to guard redd without letting one of those two score.
we should check if the standings are plausible. ie add up all the wins and losses to see if they match.
Playoffs Prediction: Houston vs Los Angeles Alston=Fisher Tmac< Kobe (hate to say that, but its true) Artest>Odom Scola< Gasol Yao > Bynum 2:2 but our benches are much deeper Houston vs New Orleans Alston<CP3 Tmac > Peterson Artest > Peja Scola < West Yao > Chandler 3:2 we win, Houston vs Spurs Alston<Parker Tmac > Ginobili(31 year old, injured after Olympic, in decline) Artest> Finley( or Bowen) Scola < Duncan Yao > Thomas(or Oberto) 3:2 Houston vs Utah Alston < D.Williams Tmac > Brewer Artest > AK Scola = Boozer Yao > Okur 3:1 utah sucks Houston vs Boston ( 2008~2009 NBA Final?) Alston = Rondo Tmac = Pierce Artest > R.Allen ( only a bit) Scola < KG Yao > Perkins? 2:1 title
I dont understand why people think Hornets will be a threat this year. Posey has got his long fat contract, he will be another Mike James. And they even have Mike James around, eating up salaries for contributing nothing. And they have Peja and West, both injury proned, to rely on And on top of all these, they have resigned Ryan Bowen...do we need to say anything else?
If they are healthy, how can you deny the Hornets are a threat? Didn't last season show you anything? If they had not completely choked in game 7 against the Spurs, they would have made the WCFs. They also picked up Posey. Losing Pargo hurt them but Devin Brown is sufficient to back up Chris Paul for a few minutes. I'd say they are better than last year but their lack of depth makes them vulnerable.
You are right, this team when healthly can outplay every opponent. We have McGrady, Ron and Yao and when you add Scola, Baryy and Battier to that mix it makes this team much better. And I am not afraid of saying that we have big chances of winning it all this season. But, we just gotta stay healthly which may be difficult.
The big ole "if they are healthy" question applies to the Hornets just as much as it applies to the Rockets. Before last year, that team was injury plagued big time. Will Posey's ridiculously high paying contract decrease his motivation to do what he does best? The fact that they couldn't even win Game 7 at home against a beat up Spurs team showed a lot to me. They are easily the most overrated team on this board based on what I've read here. At best they finish 4th, and I wouldn't be surprised if they lose in the 1st round. They have to make at least one big trade if they want to reach the elite status.
I like where your heart is at, but I think you might be over simplifying things. Also that SI cover gets me so pumped !
