Eastern Conference/Western Conference 2011 Seed Predictions

[atlwarrior]

I know its early but... why the hell not!

Ok I have
1. Lakers
2. Mavs
3. Blazers (Deep squad w/o all the injuries. May get a lot of regular season wins but wont make it far in the playoffs.)
4. Nuggets
5. Thunder (Get better with time)
6. Suns (I strongly believe Nash can lead them on his own w/o Stoudemire remember 05-06. Better squad but still. I think this team will be a sleeper and they dont have a bad bemch either. We'll see.)
7. Spurs ( wouldnt mind seeing another Spurs/Mavs re-match)
8. Jazz

9. Rockets (not buying it)
10. Hornets ( I honestly dont know. I want to put them higher but idk)
11. Grizzlies (still wont be enough)
12. Clippers (Same as above even with Griffin's help)

[benji]

Not buying what?

[Lamrock]

Why limit it to the West? Because I like doing shit like this:
1. Lakers* - Still the best team in the league in my humble opinion
2. Blazers* - They won 50 games with perhaps the most injury plagued season in franchise history. Oden plays 50 games, and Portland wins 55-60
3. Thunder - Their lack of a great big man (Ibaka's young, and Collison's a role player, albeit a good one) keeps them from winning the Northwest
4. Nuggets - More of the same. Good, but not good enough
5. Rockets* - Depends a lot on how much PT Ariza gets (hopefully not much), and how Yao can contribute
6. Spurs - Moar DeJuan Blair plz
7. Jazz - Probably figures to win about 48 games a la the '09 squad
8. Mavericks - For the past few years, these guys have simply not been legit. Another expensive, slightly above average Mavs team
----------
9. Hornets - CP3 may not be a Hornet all year, but with or without him, they're only a slightly above average squad
10. Grizzlies - Overpaying Rudy Gay will likely keep them in the 35-45 win region for the conceivable future
11. Kings - You and your cousins and me and my cousins. Its a line that's always running... They'll probably spend half the season in 8th, before falling to .500 a la the 2008 Blazers, but they should be pretty good.
12. Suns - Nash-Richardson-Hill-Turk-Fropez. They just lost their best offensive player, and will likely be starting Hedo at the 4. Expect Nash to be dealt at the deadline.
13. Warriors - Far too many variables. I expect them to get off to a bad start due to roster instability and injuries, and for the team to ultimately get buried in the West. They could conceivably finish between 7th and 14th, but there are just too many variables and I just don't think things will go their way this year.
14. Clippers - They just don't really have any good players
15. Timberwolves - lol

The Rockets win their division and a top 4 seed, but Denver wins more games, earning homecourt advantage and essentially the 4 seed.

[atlwarrior]

Not buying what?

Even with Yao I cant see Houston making it to the playoffs with this current squad. I'll wait to see how healthy Yao is. In the meantime i have them on the outside looking in.

Why limit it to the West? Because I like doing shit like this:

Exactly . But really though most of this off season all of the talk has been about the East and Lebron James. Let's give it a rest and talk West. It'll be interesting to see how the Suns will be impacted by the loss of Stoudemire and how the Jazz will be impacted by the loss of Boozer. The West has gotten weaker but it is still the stronger of the two.

[benji]

You don't think their roster is better now than when they won 53 games in 2008-09? Or when they won 55 games in 2007-08?

[airBerlin]

1. Mavericks
2. Lakers
3. Blazers
4. Jazz
5. Thunder
6. Nuggets
7. Spurs
8. Grizzlies

[atlwarrior]

You don't think their roster is better now than when they won 53 games in 2008-09? Or when they won 55 games in 2007-08?

Of course they are but I still hate that they traded Landry away. And is Yao 100 percent. Is he the Yao before he went down in the 09 playoffs?

[Alpha_]

for me..
1.Lakers
2.Mavericks
3.Nuggets
4.Spurs
5.Thunder
6.Suns
7.Jazz
8.Rockets

[NovU]

West this year should be AWESOME with full of big men that are coming back or new. Blake Griffin, Oden, Yao, David Lee, and throw in the rookie sensation Cousins, and we have a whole new big man era in West. Hoping to see all of them stay healthy and competitive.

[jonthefon]

1. Mavericks
2. Lakers
3. Blazers
4. Jazz
5. Thunder
6. Nuggets
7. Spurs
8. Grizzlies

Tee-hee, I wish I had your optimism.

Lemme think this out...

1. Lakers - They're still pretty good at basketball. Steve Blake a great value signing for their current situation
2. Jazz - I'm wary as hell about these guys. The Lakers ate them up, but they seemed to be on an absolute roll offensively by the end of last season. I know they didn't add all that much by replacing Boozer with Jefferson and Wes Matthews will be missed, but Paul Millsap is really, really good.
3. Thunder - I still think they're a little green, but why not predict them to take the jump up? They're really stacked, might lose out to the Jazz by the slightest.
4. Mavs - Your Dallas Mavericks: outperforming pyth. record since 2008! Your Dallas Mavericks: losing every year of the playoffs since 2006...uh, FOREVER! /slashes wrists, then jumps into a tank filled with sharks.
5. Blazers - LOL PAUL ALLEN IS THE NEW AL DAVIS, YOU GUYS WILL NEVER GET A GM LIKE PRITCHARD AGAIN. One of the deepest (the deepest, perhaps?) top-to-bottom rosters in the entire league, but for some reason I don't see the absolute dynamite go-to guy. Sure, I have a mancrush on Brandon Roy (playmaking wings!), and he certainly is an elite clutch scorer, but I hate on him, and then he'll totally prove me wrong. Then again, I don't know shit about the Blazers, apart from their depth. And Greg Oden's knees? shudder. Still, I don't see them any worse than #5, unless injuries eat them again.
6. Nuggets - Holy shit the Northwest is stacked. The Timberwolves are like one of those ACME anchors which keeps the rest down. I couldn't drop these guys any lower even with their problems. That team never really got it back together after George Karl's illness.
7. Rockets - Go Astros! ARGH THEY'RE SO BAD, TRADE OSWALT ALREADY. At least the Rangers are finally doing stuff /knock on wood. I feel obligated to hate the Rockets as a division rival, but some of their fans have really gotten on my nerves lately. Still, they're due an improvement across the board, with Yao back, though they're probably still wait-and-see, and he could easily go down again. I'd bet on him playing more games than Tyson Chandler...by just a bit.
8. Spurs - Fuck the Spurs! They'll probably annoy me more by being surprising and sneaking into the middle seeds. Their whole is always greater than their sum of parts, but Parker seems to have regressed, Duncan's age seems to have impacted his consistency, Manu isn't going to be ridiculous for a whole season like he was for two months last season, I don't think George Hill and DeJuan Blair are any more than solid starters (which is good, but...). Splitter is going to do work for them and I do like James Anderson, but I don't see the Spurs having the quality to reach the heights of even recent seasons.

The also-rans:
9. Suns - I think they'll hang around, being carried by Nash, before ultimately being dumped. I think they can replace most of Amare's production scoring-wise, but it'll cost them eventually.
10. Grizzlies - Rudy Gay is not worth that contract. OJ Mayo probably won't be elite, ever, but he's an above-average starter who plays D and can shoot very well. Mike Conley is my fantasy kryptonite, I always have high hopes for him. Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph are a nice...one-way frontcourt. I'm still optimistic about Thabeet as a top defensive center, but he probably needs a full year in D-League to develop adequacy offensively. Greivis Vasquez seems like a pretty cool guy. Xavier Henry? Future elite bench scorer, but I don't see too much better than a decent starter.
11. Kings - Cousins is clearly a temperamental type, but him and Evans could be a ridiculous guard-forward combo. They're fine elsewhere, but they probably could do with one or two more jigs in the lottery to get back to the height of the Adelman days.
12. Hornets - I hope they make CP3 available. Be still, my beating heart.
13. Clippers - So much talent...so crappy. Eric Gordon! Blake Griffin! Bizarro combo guards Eric Bledsoe and Willie Warren! Al-Farouq Aminu! Baron and Chris Kaman, yay. They'll be fun to watch, I guess.
14. Warriors - They're slightly less bizarro than last season. Steph Curry is awesome, I bet David Lee is a chill bro too. Man, this team used to be epic on NBA 2K9 where defense wasn't all that important and you could just roll out an endless line of three-point shooters. I buried guys by attempting, like, 50 threes a game. Oh wait, that's what they do in real life?
15. T'Wolves - Heh.

[|)e8*]

1.Lakers
2. Spurs
3. Nuggets
4. Mavs
5. Thunder
6. Blazers
7. Jazz
8. Rockets

9.Suns
10.Grizzlies
11. Kings
12. Hornets
13.Clippers
14.Warriors
15. Twolves

[rise]

1.Lakers
2.Mavs
3.Jazz
4.Suns
5.Blazers
6.Spurs
7.Nuggets
8.Warriors
9.Rockets
10.Thunder
11.Kings
12.Grizzlies
13.Clippers
14.Hornets
15.Timber Wolves

[atlwarrior]

No sense in starting another topic so I added East in the topic.

1. Miami Heat
2. Orlando Magic
3. Chicago Bulls (Boozer was a great addition to their team)
4. Boston Celtics (They are better when playing teams in a whole series but not so much in the regular season)
5. Milwaukee Bucks
6. Atlanta Hawks (New coaching may hurt them a little)
7. Charlotte Bobcats
8. Ny Knicks

[Martti.]

East :

1. Miami
2. Orlando
3. Chicago
4. Boston
5. Atlanta
6. Milwaukee
7. Charlotte
8. NY Knicks

West :

1. LA Lakers
2. Dallas
3. Oklahoma City
4. Denver
5. Portland
6. Utah
7. San Antonio
8. Phoenix

[Alpha_]

Eastern Conference

1. Miami Heat
2. Orlando Magic
3. Boston Celtics
4. Chicago Bulls
5. Atlanta Hawks
6. Milwaukee Bucks
7. New York Knicks
8. Cleveland Cavaliers
___________________

9. Washington Wizards
10. Charlotte Bobcats
11. Philadelphia 76ers
12. Toronto Raptors
13. New Jersey Nets
14. Detroit Pistons
15. Indiana Pacers


Western Conference

1. Los Angeles Lakers
2. Dallas Mavericks
3. Denver Nuggets
4. Oklahoma City Thunder
5. Portland Trailblazers
6. San Antonio Spurs
7. Phoenix Suns
8. Utah Jazz
____________________

9. Memphis Grizzlies
10. Houston Rockets
11. Los Angeles Clippers
12. New Orleans Hornets
13. Sacramento Kings
14. Golden State Warriors
15. Minnesota Timberwolves

[NovU]

Any wild guesses on Cinderella team? Such as OKC jumping to become one of the better teams from previous year when they were at the bottom.

[Murat]

Eastern Conference

1. Orlando Magic
2. Miami Heat
3. Boston Celtics
4. Atlanta Hawks
5. Chicago Bulls
6. New York Knicks
7. Cleveland Cavaliers
8. Milwaukee Bucks
___________________

9. Washington Wizards
10. Charlotte Bobcats
11. Philadelphia 76ers
12. Toronto Raptors
13. Indiana Pacers
14. Detroit Pistons
15. New Jersey Nets

[Lamrock]

My East:

1. Heat* - I honestly think the other Florida team will stun them in the conference finals, but expect Miami to win like 65 games this season.
2. Magic - Despite running into a nightmare match-up last year, and probably losing Barnes this offseason, these guys are still pretty awesome.
3. Bucks* - Here's your Cinderella team ZanShadow. The improved Bucks edge the playoff-built Celtics for the #3 seed.
4. Celtics* - They once again see the big 3 sit many games out, and finish around the 50 mark again. They still go on to give Miami Thrice nightmares
5. Bulls - They sucked last season, but have responded by adding Carlos Boozer and a bunch of role players. The Bulls are improved, but it will take perfect health, luck and a revelatory season by Rose to beat Milwaukee for the division title this year
6. Hawks - They blew their chance to ever improve their team again in the next half decade, and will likely be stuck in the bottom half of the East playof picture for the conceivable future...
7. Knicks - Could finish as high as 5th if Meal Ticket pans out and Felts has another fluke season...
8. Cavaliers - As constructed, this team could probably edge out the Bobcats for the 8 seed. They may even get Shaq back.
----------
9. Bobcats - The inverse of the 09-10 Raptors. Top 3 defensive team, but the league's worst offensive team.
10. Pistons - I don't expect this season to be as catastrophic as the last, thanks to health, but these guys just aren't very good. Time to rebuild. For real this time.
11. Nets - Their off-season improvements were marginal at best, but steady coaching and a clean bill of health should return them to 35 win territory.
12. 76ers - Could be a dark horse for the 8 seed, but I expect Iguodala to get traded, and a spirited late season playoff run to fall short
13. Pacers - Thanks to the likes of Troy Murphy, the Pacers always seem to make the playoffs in Ben's projections, but these guys just aren't very good. Their starting back-court of TJ Ford and Dahntay Jones may be the league's worst.
14. Raptors - Swapping Turk for Barbosa was a good idea, but overall, BC has done an awful job following Bosh's departure, taking a 30-wins max team way over the cap.
15. Wizards - Wall will not be a savior, at least not right away. The turrible Wall-Arenas backcourt buries them early, and they never recover, finish with the second worst record in the league (behind the Timberlolves)

[Sauru]

i think the hawks will see a drop personally. joe got his pay day and now its time to ride it out lol

[Lamrock]

Joe Cool will stay his same, slightly above average self. J-Smoove may revert to old ways though.

[NovU]

Enjoyed reading your predictions, Lamrock. So the Blazers and Bucks you think are going to shock the world. Perhaps, the Blazers have a good chance at it, but the Bucks, I'll be damn surprised if they pull it off.

Orlando I think is is getting too much credits here. Their problems were exposed against the Celtics and with Rashad playing at PF, I think they're likely to be taken advantage of, insdie again despite having the best center in the NBA. If that's your bet on knocking out the Heat in the conference finals, I have to disagree.

[Axel The Great]

West-
1. Lakers
2. Mavs
3. Jazz
4. Suns
5. Nuggets
6. Thunder
7. Rockets
8. Spurs
-----------------
9. Blazers
10. Kings
11. Warriors
12. Hornets
13. Grizzlies
14. Clippers
15. T-Wolves

East-
1. Heat
2. Magic
3. Bulls
4. Celtics
5. Bucks
6. Hawks
7. 76ers
8. Knicks
-------------------------
9. Bobcats
10. Cavs
11. Pistons
12. Wizards
13. Pacers
14. Raptors
15. Nets

[rise]

i did the west earlier, now it's time for the East!
1.Heat
2.Celtics
3.Bulls
4.Hawks
5.Knicks
6.Bobcats (with some adjustments, it's possible)
7.Magic
8.Cavs

9.Pistons
10.Pacers
11.Bucks
12.Raptors
13.Wizards
14.Nets
15.76ers

[airBerlin]

West
1. Mavericks
2. Lakers
3. Blazers
4. Jazz
5. Thunder
6. Nuggets
7. Spurs
8. Grizzlies

9. Suns
10. Rockets
11. Kings
12. Clippers
13. Warriors
14. Hornets
15. Timberwolves

East:
1. Magic
2. Heat
3. Hawks
4. Bulls
5. Celtics
6. Bobcats
7. Bucks
8. 76ers

9. Cavaliers
10. Knicks
11. Nets
12. Wizards
13. Pacers
14. Raptors
15. Pistons

/thread.

[Andrew]

5. Bulls - They sucked last season, but have responded by adding Carlos Boozer and a bunch of role players. The Bulls are improved, but it will take perfect health, luck and a revelatory season by Rose to beat Milwaukee for the division title this year

How did they suck? One might suggest they overachieved, but finishing 41-41 despite a ten game losing streak admist a rash of injuries isn't exactly sucking. The Nets sucked, the Bulls are probably best described as mediocre. As for Rose, I still feel you don't give him enough credit though I won't disagree that there's still plenty of room for improvement.

Anyway, my picks:

East

1. Heat
2. Magic
3. Bulls
4. Celtics
5. Bucks
6. Hawks
7. Knicks
8. Cavaliers

If the Heat get the top seed, I'd love to see the Cavs make it in the eighth spot. That could make for a pretty heated series and a fun footnote to the whole situation with LeBron leaving, though the games themselves would probably be lopsided.

West

1. Lakers
2. Mavericks
3. Blazers
4. Thunder
5. Nuggets
6. Spurs
7. Rockets
8. Jazz