Preseason Predictions Part III-The East

1. Celtics-A healthy KG means this team is pretty much unbeatable. Also, this the best bench they've had in the last 3 years. I think the big three stay healthy, Rondo stays motivated, and the C's have the best record in the league.

2. Magic-They're deep, they're talented, and they don't have Shaq getting in LeBron's way. I think in just about any other year they would win enough games to be the one seed, but this year they fall just a little, but still win 60 games.

3. Cavs-I just don't think it will work. Shaq has to be in the spotlight, he is really slow, has virtually no offensive skills any more, and is one of the worst defensive centers in the league. Why is he an upgrade again? I think the Cavs take a serious step back, only win 55-58 games (down from 66 last year), and lose to the Magic in the 2nd round. Plus, LeBron staying or leaving will hang over this team all year long, and that is never good.

4. Wizards-No got better in the offseason than the Wiz. Yes, much of that is because Arenas appears healthy, but they also added Randy Foye and Mike Miller. If Antawn Jamison can come back healthy, this team is the only team in the East that can threaten the big three of Boston, Orlando and Cleveland.

5. Bulls-Like I wrote down below, I think they only win 45 games, but I think that is good enough for the five seed. I go back and forth on whether they can beat the Wizards in the first round, but I'm a homer so I'm sticking to it. As long as Rose's ankle isn't an issue all year long, this team should be able to score and rebound with every team in the league.

6. Hawks-Many writers have the Hawks in the four seed, but I think they quit on their coach. Mike Woodson has been rubbing that team the wrong way for almost three years now, and I think it comes to a point this year. Plus, Joe Johnson is the one player that I truly believe will leave via free agency in the summer of 2010. So like the Cavs, that hovering over their heads all year long is never a good thing.

7. Heat-Michael Beasley is your number 2! That's not a good thing, not yet at least. At best this team is a 6 seed this year. At worst, D-Wade misses 20 games and they miss the playoffs. If they miss the playoffs my bet is Wade leaves. If Wade stays healthy, the Heat will still lose in the first round of the playoffs, but if Beez improves enough it could tempt Wade to stay were it is nice and warm. By the way, I hate Pat Riley!

8. Raptors-Lots of talent and a healthy Chris Bosh will mean they will make the playoffs. But if Hedo or Bosh miss significant time, this team is completely fucked! The 7th and 8th seeds are really up for grabs, and I think it will only take 40 wins to get into the playoffs this year.

Preseason Predictions Part II-The West

With the season already under way, I am a little slow to get this out, but I'VE BEEN BUSY!!! So without further chit chat my predictions for the seedings out west.

1. Spurs-I think this is going to be a very tight race all season long, but Manu Ginobili has already said he feels great. And as long as he stays healthy this team will win and win and win. I think 66 wins is in play for them. They are just loaded, I don't think there is a better top 9 in the league than what the Spurs throw out there every night. Kudos to upper management for continuing to show the league how a franchise should be run.

2. Lakers-They will still win sixty games, but this year that will only be good enough for 2nd place out west. I think Artest will fit in fine, I just don't think he is as good a player as Ariza. Ariza is quick and long and fits today's style of game better, whereas Artest is old, bulky and slow. He was much more effective 5 years ago when the league wasn't so uptempo and more contact was allowed. So no shame in second in the West, but home court is going to be huge in the playoffs for the Spurs. By the way, these are the only two teams that have any shot out west, everyone else is playing for third place.

3 thru 8 is going to be separated by like four games, so this is really a toss up. But, at the end of the day here is how I think it will play out.

3. Nuggets-They got to the conference finals last year and choked, it's essentially the same team and as long as George Karl stays interested I think this will be a tough team to beat all year long. Plus, believe it or not, I think Carmelo gets his scroing back up around 25ppg. Everything I've read said he is working and motivated and blah blah blah. So that can only help this team.

4. Jazz-Carlos Boozer in a contract year, a healthy Deron Williams, and one of the all time great coaches in Jerry Sloan. What's not to like here? I think Denver, Utah and Portland battle all season for the division crown, and at the end of the day it will come down to tie breakers for the Nuggets and Jazz with the Blazers finishing just a game or two behind. This could be the toughest division in the league.

5. Blazers-A lot of Writers and Sportscasters are predicting them to win the division and finish third behind the Lakers and Spurs. I just don't see it. They play way to slow, Aldridge isn't physical enough down low, Oden isn't going to be the second coming of Bill Russell, and Andre Miller will be wishing he stayed in Philly by the all-star break after averaging only 25 minutes per game coming off the bench. The one thing that could change is if they make a trade. The Blazers still have waaay too many players and not enough minutes. Jerryd Bayless and Nicolas Batum both appear to be in mop up duty, so if they make a move things could change.

6. Mavericks-I like what the Mavs did in the offseason, they are basically going for it. Unfortunately for them, this team is no where near good enough to compete with the Spurs and Lakers. They could however sneak into that three spot. When you look at the roster it's pretty loaded: Dirk, Kidd, Marion, and Terry, but I have always said this team goes as Josh Howard Goes. And he just doesn't seem right and is already banged up with an ankle injury that kept him out of the opener. Since their championship run he has been the do it all guy that holds everything together, and without him playing like he did circa '06, they are pretty much screwed.

7. Hornets-I don't like this team at all. They have three good players in Chris Paul, David West and Emeka Okafor...AND THAT's IT! Chris Paul's greatness will get them into the playoffs, but just barely. Hell they could end up the 8 seed.

8. Suns-Did you know the Suns averaged 117ppg after Alvin Gentry took over last year? I didn't know that. I expect that trend to continue this season and I see the Suns winning and losing a lot of games in the 120s. I think with Nash, Jason Richardson, and Amar'e they have just enough to get into the playoffs. I think it will be one of the most exciting teams to watch, but sadly they don't have the depth or the interior defense to do anything but lose in the first round of the playoffs!

Preseason Prediction Part I

So I'm going to break down my preseason picks into three parts: Out of the Playoffs, the East, and the West. So here we go, the following teams will miss the playoffs.

East:

These teams aren't really ever going to be in it, there just isn't enough talent on the Knicks, Pacers, Bucks, and Bobcats. These are definitely the cellar dwellers and I don't give any of them a chance to make the playoffs.

The Philadelphia 76ers and the New Jersey Nets however, I think will be close, but ultimately come up short. I see the Sixers in it all the way until the last week, but at the end of the year I think losing Andre Miller is going to be to tough to overcome. He set everyone up and got open shots for his team and I don't think Lou Williams can do that. The Nets I just don't think have quite enough depth and no team starting Yi Jianlian can make the playoffs, I'm pretty sure that's an unwritten NBA Rule. I like Courtney Lee a lot, and I love Devin Harris and Brook Lopez, but until they get a bench and a quality starter at the four this team will be out of the playoffs.

West:

The west is pretty interesting, there are a couple of teams that I think are going to be just terrible and will give up by the end of November. The Kings, T-Wolves and Rockets just don't have enough horses to be competitive night in and night out. I think all three teams will struggle to win 25 games. After those three though, anything could really happen. I don't think what Memphis is doing will work (so they're out of the playoffs), but it could. And talent wise they are way up there if only everyone could check their ego at the door. The Warriors are already dealing with disfunction and Wacko Stephen Jackson, so I think they are out. But who knows, they could trade him and pull everything together. And maybe Don Nelson will decide to coach this year, but again, I doubt it. The OKC Thunder are on the verge of the playoffs, but I think they are still a year or two away and they still don't have any interior defense. So 2011 seems like a much more likely year for them to make the playoffs, unless Durant becomes the second coming, in which case all bets are off.

So that leaves us with the Suns and believe it or not, the Clippers. I think this race goes right down to the last day of the season and I think the Suns make it into the playoffs. The Clippers will fall just short, not because of anything they do wrong, but because they are a year away with young studs like Eric Gordon and Blake Griffin. I see the Clippers winning 45 games which would be a five seed in the east, but isn't good enough in the west.

Coming next, the Western Conference Playoff seedings

Tyrus Thomas

As of this writing, there is talk Tyrus Thomas might not be the starter at the four. This is a testament to how unbelievably stupid Vinny Del Sucko is. If Tyrus comes off the bench, I am calling for the immediate firing of Vinny. Tyrus is better in every way than Rookie Taj Gibson. He's a better shooter, better defender, better rebounder and much better shot blocker. So why the hell would anyone other than Tyrus start?

MY PRESEASON PREDICTION

I used to run a website with my buddy Sumner, but no one ever went there so we decided to stop paying 60 bucks a year for nothing. So now I am going to start blogging about the Bulls and the NBA in general.

Well, something we did every year was preseason predictions. This year I'll break down both conferences, but for my first post I'm just going to break down my beloved Bulls and give my prediction for the season.

First things first. Derrick Rose gets a lot better this year and starts to be talked about as one of the elite PGs along with Chris Paul and Deron Williams. He won't finish the year as the best PG in the league, but he will be in the discussion. The sky is the limit for this guy, and this year he gets to the line more, he hits more jumpers and with Ben Gordon gone he takes over as the go to guy in the fourth quarter. I also think he improves his defense, but sadly he will still basically suck on that end of the court for at least one more year. I see averages of 18ppg and 8assts and at least two WOW plays per game.

But that is the easy part, everyone knows Rose is a beast. So let's break everything else down. The starting five should be Rose, John Salmons, Loul Deng, Tyrus Thomas and Jokim Noah. I love this lineup. Both Salmons and Deng can knock down open jumpers (Salmons shot 42% from behind the arc last year). Deng, Thomas, and Noah are all finishers in the paint. And Thomas and Noah are two of the best shot blocking big men in the game. This is a well balanced team that should be able to score with the best of them while keeping most teams out of the paint. I also like their sixth and seventh men Kirk Hinrich and Brad Miller. Hinrich does everything well, but nothing great. Good shooter, good ball handler, excellent defender, there isn't anything he sucks at. He may have a shot at the Sixth Man of the Year award as he'll probably average close to 30 minutes a night and be in at the end of games whenever defense is needed. Miller is of course, old, and slow, but still savvy and at 20-25 minutes a night he may be the best backup big man in the east.

Unfortunately, there is some downside to the Bulls. First, they only have one star (Rose) so there is a ceiling here. Second, their bench is very thin. After Hinrich and Miller the next two guys off the bench are rookies (James Johnson and Taj Gibson), so who knows what to expect from those guys. If there is an injury to anyone of the top 7 guys the Bulls could be in for a very long season. Third, last year the Bulls had one of the five WORST coaches in the NBA in Vinny Del Negro. He screwed up rotations, he messed with guys minutes, he refused to turn the team loose offensively, he screws up timeout situations late in the game, he runs the same play over and over and over, and he sucks as a defensive coach. In the playoffs last year he seemed to catch on a little bit, but how much of that was simply the Celtics not having KG and how much of that was Vinny getting Smarter? I have no idea, but I can't imagine Vinny is any worse than he was last year. All I ask from him this season is to not fuck with Tyrus' minutes and to turn Rose loose. If he does those things I'll be happy. Lastly, they did lose Ben Gordon who is a big time scorer and clutch performer. My hope and belief is that Salmons will more than make up for Gordon's loss with his defense and ability to keep the ball moving.

So with all that being said, I think the Bulls will definitely make the playoffs and if things fall right, they could make it to the second round where they will get crushed by the Magic, Celtics, or Cavs. Final prediction, 45-37 (which is four more wins than they had last year), the fifth seed in the east and a first round win.