djskillz
Posts: 56861
Joined: 7/17/2007
From: Nashville, TN
Status: offline
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Atlantic: Boston--Still very good and the frontcourt additions will only help. One final run for Allen/KG/Pierce before they have to retool. Philadelphia-A little luckier in the injury department and they start to gel a bit. They'll make a move midseason with Andre. New York-A bit better, and Felton helps, but still not great. Randolph/Douglas will be factors, and Turiaf's energy will help. New Jersey-Much improved. Favors begins to help in the 2nd half some. Mini-Mouse helps. Morrow/Outlaw both give Harris options too. Toronto-Just a bad team. Not enough talent. Central: Chicago-Much, much better team. Boozer improves interior scoring, Rose takes another leap forward as one of the NBA's superstars, and the Korver addition helps give him another shooter. Milwaukee-All the next 3 teams will be bunched up. None of them all that good. Indiana--Ditto. Paul George helps in the athleticism department. Collison will help at the PG position. Detroit--Ditto. Greg Monroe helps, but not enough. Cleveland--Tough year with no real go-to guy. Southeast: Miami-Will be a very good regular season team barring injuries. Wade leads them. How they do will depend on their group of C's. Orlando--Dwight Howard takes another step forward (working with Hakeem can't hurt) and the Duhon move is underrated. Brandon Bass is used more this year, which also helps. Favorite in the East IMO. Atlanta--Same old same old, solid athletic team, just not quite good enough. Charlotte--Take a step back after a bit of a flukish 2009-10 IMO. Washington-Take a step forward with Wall. Freakishly athletic team. Eastern playoffs: Seeds: 1) Miami, 2) Orlando, 3) Boston, 4) Chicago, 5) Atlanta, 6) Philadelphia, 7) New York, 8) One of Indiana/Milwaukee/Detroit Just outside looking in: 2 of Indiana/Milwaukee/Detroit, Charlotte. A bit lower but on the upswing: Washington/New Jersey. Bottomfeeders: Cleveland, Toronto. Miami beats Central team Orlando beats NY Boston beats Philly Chicago beats Atlanta Chicago gives Miami all they can handle, but lose. Boston and Orlando goes 6-7 games, but Orlando wins. Orlando beats Miami in the Eastern Finals. Northwest: Portland-Can't have much worse luck than last year. They put together a solid year this time and make a trade splash with their ridiculous chips. Matthews will help. Oden needs to get healthy to really be a force. This division's the best in basketball and will be a dogfight IMO. Oklahoma City-Maybe the most "talented" team in the league, right with Portland. Only going to get better. And Ibaka will improve. Aldrich will help. Utah-Fesenko takes a step forward and Al has a big year, but this division is loaded. Denver-Really depends on Melo, but either way I think they take a step back. NY isn't helped that much even if they get Melo IMO. Minnesota--Still a very bad team with no stars and will fight for a top 3 pick. Pacific: LA Lakers--Best team in the league. Will coast early in the year nursing injuries, but get healthy for the stretch run. Bynum has a big 2nd half and Ebanks/Caracter help. Kobe is an underrated player this year as he gets back to full health for the first time in a few years. LA Clippers--Big step forward with a good young roster. Jordan continues to improve and a healthy Blake helps. Aminu too. Phoenix-Step backward in the post without Amare obviously. Still good guard play, but Nash is more banged up this year. Lawal opens eyes. Sacramento-Cousins/Evans form a good young duo but not enough talent around them and their coach is pathetic. At least 2-3 legal issues this year for that young duo too. Golden State--Not enough talent, and more disarray with the coaching staff in flux. Southwest: Dallas--Underrated added size. Not great, but good enough. 3 very "good" teams in this division, but no one great. Haywood/Chandler form the best C duo they've ever had, and their defense has a lot of solid players all of a sudden. San Antonio--One last run. Splitter helps in a large way. Best move of the offseason. James Anderson makes another in a long line of SanAn rooks making an instant contribution. New Orleans--A healthy Paul makes all the difference in the world. Now has tons of awesome athletes around him in Pondexter/Ariza/Thornton, plus Belinelli helps. Houston--Yao gets hurt again, shockingly, and they don't have quite enough this year with the NO improvement. Memphis--Kind of like Charlotte in the East, revert to form a bit. Some good young talent, but not enough. This division is easily the deepest division in the NBA. Western playoffs: 1) LA Lakers, 2) Portland, 3) Oklahoma City, 4) Dallas, 5) Utah, 6) San Antonio, 7) Denver, 8) New Orleans Just outside looking in: LA Clippers, Phoenix, Houston, Memphis. A bit lower: Sacramento, Golden State. Bottomfeeders: Minnesota. LA Lakers beat New Orleans in 5-6 games. Size is too much. Portland beats Denver. San Antonio upsets Oklahoma City with size for their final run. Dallas beats Utah with size as well. Size is the story in the Western playoffs, and mostly in the East too. Lakers beat Dallas in a good fight. Portland and San Antonio have a heavyweight matchup in the semis but SanAntonio prevails. Lakers beat SanAn in the Western Finals in the Spurs last real contending run. 6 games. Finals: Lakers prove to be too much for Orlando again. As they have no answer for Kobe or the dual size threat. Rashard Lewis disappears once again. Lakers in 5. Coach of the Year: Nate McMillan or Monty Williams. Coach gets the credit for "rebound" of each team, even though it's health. MVP: Kevin Durant. Kobe/Wade/Lebron split too much of the vote. Defensive player of the year: Dwight Howard. Comeback player of the year: Chris Paul. A healthy Chris Paul is a top 5 player in the league. Most Improved player: Brandon Bass or Darren Collison (playing time). This award is a crap shoot. Rookie of the Year: Jon Wall. He's in a big media market and on a bad team with athletes, so he'll put up the numbers. Has tons of hype already. Sleepers: Gani Lawal, DeMarcus Cousins, Quincy Pondexter, Paul George, Greg Monroe. All of them impress. Sixth Man of the Year: Manu Ginobli.
< Message edited by djskillz -- 10/25/2010 3:32:54 PM >
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"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring."
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