Dallas all the way? I am not seeing that at all. I have them 5th in the West, maybe even 6th. 3 way tie in the NW Division would be intense.

I love how you even predicted the sportsmanship and J. Walter Kennedy Awards.

I’m seeing Cleveland and LA in the finals this year, allowing Nike to bring back the puppets. I see the Cavs, Magic, Celtics, Lakers and Spurs being a cut above the rest of the league. The title is coming from that group of 5.

that you are wrong

I expect Mark Cuban to sign off on some blockbuster trades come mid-season. It’ll be earth-shattering deals.

For starters, the Mavericks will once and for all probably solidify its center position — with a hypothetical trade being Erick Dampier (non-guaranteed contract after this season), Shawne Williams (expiring contract), and a couple future first-round draft picks (2012, 2014, and/or 2016) to the Milwaukee Bucks for Andrew Bogut and Dan Gadzuric.

Knowing the Mavericks newfound love of +/- and Cuban hopefully realizing that size wins championships, I can see him shipping out Drew Gooden (partially guaranteed contract) and salary filler (e.g., Kris Humphries) for Marcus Camby. Off of the bench for roughly 24 minutes per game, Camby could provide Mavs the second unit top-notch shot blocking and weakside help defense.

At any rate, though, I predict the Mavericks will not make just any run-of-the-mill trades near or at the deadline next year, but rather stratospherically beneficial transactions similar to Detroit acquiring Rasheed Wallace in 2004.

It’ll be whoever pulls of the best mid-season trade.

I don’t care enough to map the East, so here’s my West

(by record, not by actual seeding):

1. Lakers
2. Nuggets
3. Blazers
4. Jazz
5. Mavs
6. Spurs
7. Suns
8. Hornets

WCF: Blazers > Lakers

We meet and beat Cavs in the finals.

For Completion. That’s quite a thing to put in writing. Dallas? Do those pop cans hang all the way to the floor or what?

here is my predictions:

West:
LA
Portland
Dallas
San Antonio
Denver
NO
Utah
OKC (oh yah , its going to happen!!!)

1st round:
LA sweeps OKC
Portland beets Utah in 6 games
Dallas beats NO in 7
Spurs beat Denver in 6

2nd round:
LA beats spurs in 5
Portland beats Dallas in 7

Conf finals
LA wins in 7

East
Cleveland
Boston
Orlando
Atlanta
Miami
washington
chicago
Toronto

1st round

Cleveland sweeps toronto
Boston beats chicago in 7 and there will be atleast 3 games that go to overtime
Orlando beats washington in 5 games
Atlanta beats Miami in 7 games

2nd round
Cleveland beats Atlanta in 6
Boston beats Orlando in 7

conf finals
Boston over Cleveland in 7

Finals
Boston over LA in 7

and REC!! that had to have taken a while to predict wins and losses for every team. Good work!

Considering, this is just for minor bragging rights and basketball honor I’d say going out on some of these limbs is a bit foolish.

The Cavs and Wolves regular season records are laughable, the Wolves more so than the Cavs. It would take a special kind of terrible to only record 10 wins. I don’t think predicting 10 makes sense unless Al Jefferson is already out for the year and I didn’t hear about it. I mean, you’ve got the Rockets, a team is without their all star center and could be out McGrady, winning 47 games. I know they’re well coached and scrappy, but I don’t see it.

The Cavs won’t win 69. I just don’t see them as (tied) for the 2nd best regular season record of all time. It’s not a bad bold for the sake of bold prediction, though. More generally about 60 wins teams….I don’t think 4 teams will be over 60 and I definitely don’t think there will be 2 more teams that close to 60 as well. There have only been roughly a dozen (I forget the exact number) of 60 win teams since the strike season, barely 1 a year.

Now, to the Mavericks. Even with a big mid season trade, I just don’t see it. Although, predicting a mid-season trade is smart; they have contracts that can save another team money and they are in win now mode. The Mavs are a jump shooting team filled with geriatrics. I wouldn’t be surprised to see half their lineup injured and the other half have their production plummet because of age. The Mavs are a team that need EVERYTHING to go right just to make the WCF. I do mean everything. Kidd needs to stay highly productive for another season, no one else in the first 6 can have their production decline, injuries need to be at a minimum , and they need to be on the opposite side of the playoff bracket from the Lakers. The Mavericks are, at best, a dark horse (get it?) candidate for the WCF.

I do like Brook Lopez as a breakout talent though.

Shouldn’t they be listed alphabetically? I’m not sure if they do it in the NBA, but I know other sports follow that format.

Predictions I like:

Utah to have a bounceback season. I think they finish ahead of the Nuggets… and maybe our Blazers. They have a lot of talent and an excellent coach. As Blazer fans, I think we want to ignore how much injuries knocked them off track last season. The current group of Jazz will probably never win it all, but they will play very good basketball.

Oklahoma City will continue to struggle. Maybe not 25 wins struggle, but what’s the difference between 25 and 30 wins? 5 wins? Only mathematically. In the NBA it’s essentially the same record.

The Cavs to have another stellar regular season record. It’s not rocket science, but I’m surprised with how few national pundits are high on the Cavs.

The Rockets to player above expectations (which is 35 wins). Defense, team work, and veteran savvy can carry a team a long way. My guess is more like 45 wins, though.

While I don’t agree with the win totals, I agree with the standings you have for the Western Conference.

Predictions I don’t like:

Well, it mostly looks like you have been bitten by both the exaggeration bug and the false certainty bug. I read or can guess at your reasoning for some of the predictions and the reasoning isn’t crazy. The problem is that you’ve treated events or dynamics that might happen as certainties. I guess that’s fine, if these guesses represent what you view as the modal outcome in potential future NBA 2009-2010 seasons, but it’s likely to mean that you will end up with a lot of prediction error. Minnesota may well have a disastrous season, but it’s very likely that they win at least 20 games, so the 10 win prediction is a unnecessary gamble. Similarly, the chance that the Mavs pull off a really superb midseason trade is less than 50%. There is maybe one great mid season trade per year. The are at least 10 teams a year looking to make such a trade. Even though the Mavs are smart organization, they probably will not be able to pull off the perfect move.

Concerning basketball, I don’t see the Hawks regressing. They have enough talent to withstand an injury or two and they have several players that could player better than they did last year (Smith, Horford, Williams).

The Heat will improve on last year’s record unless D-Wade is injured.

If I were to make one crazy pick, it would be that the Pacers make the playoffs. They lost a ton of close games last year. Roy Hibbert may prove to be a reasonable center and moving Daniels and Jack is addition by subtraction.

I just don’t see a first round exit this year for us. I think you’re crazy. I also think we’ll win the division. A for effort, though.

but Chris Paul totally has the J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award locked up.

but I think he will be in the running for the MIP and DPY awards and has a very good shot at the All-Star team and All-NBA 2nd or 3rd team as well. It’s not because I think he will morph into Hakeem Olajuwon this year, but because there is such a paucity of good centers in the league and especially in the West, and because a strong center has a bigger impact on his team’s success than a player at another position. The Blazers will be one of the top teams this year, which will also help Greg’s cause.

Predictions are such a crapshoot that we might as well be speculating on when cars will fly.

WEST
1 Lakers 61-21
2 Spurs 56-26
3 Nuggets 54-28
4 Blazers 53-29
5 Mavericks 52-30
6 Jazz 51-31
7 Hornets 46-36
8 Suns 44-38
9 Rockets 41-41
10 Clippers 37-45
11 Warriors 34-48
12 Ex-Sonics 33-49
13 Grizzlies 27-55
14 Kings 22-60
15 Wolves 19-63

EAST
1 Magic 63-19
2 Cavs 59-23
3 Celtics 54-28
4 Hawks 50-32
5 Bulls 48-34
6 Heat 42-40
7 Wizards 41-41
8 Pacers 38-44
9 Sixers 37-45
10 Bobcats 36-46
11 Raptors 33-49
12 Pistons 29-53
13 Knicks 25-57
14 Nets 23-59
15 Bucks 19-63

West playoffs: Lakers def. Suns 4-1; Spurs def. Hornets 4-2; Nuggets def. Jazz 4-3; Blazers def. Mavericks 4-2; Lakers def. Blazers 4-2; Spurs def. Nuggets 4-2; Lakers def. Spurs 4-2.

East playoffs: Magic def. Pacers 4-0; Cavs def. Wizards 4-0; Celtics def. Heat 4-1; Bulls def. Hawks 4-2; Magic def. Bulls 4-1; Cavs def. Celtics 4-3; Magic def. Cavs 4-3

Finals: Magic def. Lakers 4-3

I watched their game against the Magic last week. They couldn’t hit water if they fell out of a boat. Absolutely terrible. I think they overachieved last year and I put them closer to 40 wins than 50.

whats your reasoning for that pick. i like dallas alot this year so im not a hater. i just know lamar odom gives dirk fits. so no double team there and dallas doens’t hav ea quick point guard to exploit lakers weak pg defense. also, kobe’s has had a way of destroying dallas and taking away their spirits.

can Coach this Bulls team to 56 wins, shouldn’t he be coach of the year?

better bring lots of ketchup.

62-20 The Lakers were better than the field last season, but Artest does not improve them.
51-31 Denver lost their only glue guy and replaced him with another, less experienced glue guy.
50-32 San Antonio retooled… with another old guy and Richard Jefferson. Injury report looks grim.
65-17 Portland needed a veteran point guard and got a veteran point guard to go with a late season surging squad.
40-42 Houston lost its most important player. Having Chuck Hayes start at center ain’t working.
48-34 Dallas has an unbalanced roster, and the pieces they want to trade won’t draw high value.
46-36 New Orleans didn’t improve by swapping for Okafor, and their shooting guard situation worsened.
51-31 Utah will be better this year if they stay healthy, but have no bench other than at small forward.
39-43 Phoenix will be starting Channing Fyre at center? No playoffs this year for Phoenix.
26-56 The Warriors are a mess, dithering their way back down to the cellar, regardless of talent.
25-57 Minnesota is young and is not going to win very many games this year.
32-50 Memphis will take a lot of unassisted shots but is not going win very many games this year.
33-49 Oklahoma City still doesn’t defend very well and are still a year or two out of the playoffs.
41-41 The Clippers will win more games than last year, but they are cursed, so Griffin will break a leg.
14-68 The Kings are hoping to win 20 games this year. They won’t.

60-22 Cleveland will not be a better team with Shaq than without him. Negative cohesion, fewer wins.
58-24 Boston will never be healthy again with its current personnel, they had a small window.
64-18 Orlando is going to be better with Vince than Hedo, they will own the east this year.
44-38 Atlanta is, again, not going to be able to put it all together. Johnson is gone after this year, too.
42-40 Miami won’t be as good as last year, and Wade will sign elsewhere afterward.
37-45 Philadelphia will miss Andre Miller in a big way this year.
50-32 Chicago will have a good year if they can stay healthy, which they likely will.
36-46 Detroit is trying to figure out where the bottom is. Ben Gordon and Charlie V don’t defend.
43-39 Indiana is stuck in the middle, but Hibbert emerges as a force so they’re in the playoffs.
37-45 Charlotte wins more than last year, because all Larry Brown’s teams win more year two.
21-61 New Jersey will try to get that number one seed, Devin Harris may take the year off (see Baron ‘09).
22-60 Milwaukee is in for a bumpy ride with their retooled roster.
39-43 Toronto always looks good on paper, don’t they? Perhaps chemistry is important after all.
25-57 New York is just waiting for the off-season.
29-53 Washington can’t stay healthy, and even healthy Gilbert was never a winner.

Blazers beat Clippers 4-0
L*kers beat Hornets 4-1
Jazz beat Mavericks 4-3
Spurs beat Nuggets 4-2

L*kers beat Jazz 4-2
Blazers beat Spurs 4-3

Blazers beat L*kers 4-1

Magic beat Raptors 4-1
Cavs beat Heat 4-0
Celtics beat Pacers 4-2
Bulls beat Hawks 4-3

Magic beat Bulls 4-1
Cavs beat Celtics 4-3

Magic beat Cavs 4-3

Blazers beat Magic 4-1

Yeah. I’m a homer.

WCF versus Fakers after a shocking 4-1 crushing of SA.

It gets cloudy from there.

I don’t know who is better than you predict, but I don’t see the Bulls, Wiz or Rockets doing as well as you predict. The Bulls seem too thin on the frontline, the Rockets too tiny. I’ve seen two of the Wizards’ pre-season games and they are a disorganized mess. Arenas runs right through Flip’s sets. Either Gil gets injured or his team gets sick of playing with him.

Your signature makes everything that you have to say appear as bait to everyone else, just waiting hungrily to pick your opinions apart. I can’t take anything you write seriously, because you intentionally preface it with ‘if you disagree, you are obviously stupid and have stupid ideas.’ Whether that’s what you intend or not, that’s how you come across.

There are few things as boring and inane as someone who is captivated by their own opinions. Only slightly exceeded by those who believe that they are intelligent because of their opinions.

And if Dallas winning it all isn’t a stupid idea, I don’t know what is.