2018-19 NBA Predictions

With the regular season just a couple weeks away, I like to make predictions about how the season will go. Not that hard to do, given how predictable the NBA is, but still a nice way to procrastinate for a few minutes. I'm assuming that Jimmy Butler gets traded to a non-specific Eastern Conference team

West Standings:
1 Golden State
2 Houston
3 OKC
4 LAL
5 Utah
6 San Antonio
7 Denver
8 Portland
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Grizzlies, Pelicans, Timberwolves*, Clippers, Kings, Mavericks, Suns

East Standings:
1 Boston
2 Philadelphia
3 Toronto
4 Milwaukee
5 Washington
6 Indiana
7 Detroit
8 Charlotte
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Heat, Bulls, Cavs, Nets, Magic, Knicks, Hawks

Playoffs:

Warriors over Rockets in WCF in 6 games
Celtics over Raptors in ECF in 7 games

Warriors over Celtics in Finals in 6 games
Finals MVP: Steph Curry

Awards:

MVP: Kevin Durant
RotY: DeAndre Ayton
MIP: Buddy Hield
6MotY: Isaiah Thomas
CotY: Brad Stevens
EotY: Danny Ainge

West Standings:
1 Golden State
2 Houston
3 utah
4 LA
5 okc
6 San Antonio
7 Portland
8 Pels
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Nuggets, mavs, Grizzlies, clips, Timberwolves*, Kings, Suns

East Standings:
1 Boston
2 Philadelphia
3 Toronto
4 Milwaukee
5 Washington
6 Indiana
7 Charlotte
8 miami
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Detroit, Hawks, Bulls, Cavs, Nets, Magic, Knicks,

Playoffs:

Warriors over Rockets in WCF in 5 games
Philly over Boston in ECF in 7 games

Warriors over Philly in Finals in 5 games
Finals MVP: KD

Awards:

MVP: LeBron
RotY: Doncic
MIP: Randle
6MotY: Kuz
CotY: Brown
EotY: Pelinka[/quote]

i like toronto as the early on paper champion from the east. depth at each position and a multitude of versatile defenders.
GSW fron the West. i'd like to see GSW go through defensive juggernauts in UT and OKC in their playoff run.

A warriors Utah matchup would be very interesting. Would like to see that and then a rockets rematch afterwards.

Toronto got Kawhi but for some reason I still feel like Philly will do really well in the east. However, what's scary is that you have that Boston team from the playoffs and add Kyrie and Hayward to that.

i like those 3 from the EAST. too early to say how well each team will do. boston integrating hayward and irving/getting everyone to share... philly young studs improving, fultz looks ike a stud on D, and the weirdo Kawaii lenard in TO

i also like the denver team. no defense but lots of weapons on offense and joker playing point center

Not a whole lot of big names on that Denver team but I just saw them twice in a row against the Lakers and they got a bunch of snipers

I think Philly will be really good this season. Ben Simmons will probably make a big jump, as well as Saric and Fultz. The only thing that makes me nervous with them is Joel Embiid. While he was able to more or less stay on the court last season, he's still played less than 30% of his regular season games.

I'd probably drop OKC to the 6 or 7 seed now with the injuries they're dealing with. If not for Roberson's injury being so severe, I'd call them a dark horse to make the conference finals.

Not a big fan of the Denver Nuggets, but they should be pretty good now that Millsap's healthy and has been integrated with the team. If they don't make the playoffs, heads will roll - the first being Mike Malone's

nuggets do have miami heat type bust potential/high payroll. i agree Malone's head on the chopping block/ OKC a darkhorse