2006 / 2007 NBA Thread

[Cowboy22]

Alright, the season starts tommorrow, here's my playoff and award predictions. Playoff teams are listed by the seed I think they'll get, not according to record.

East:
1. Miami
2. Cleveland
3. New Jersey
4. Chicago
5. Detroit
6. Milwaukee
7. Orlando
8. Washington

West:
1. Phoenix
2. Dallas
3. Denver
4. San Antonio
5. LA Clippers
6. New Orleans
7. Memphis
8. LA Lakers

Eastern Conference Champ: Cleveland
Western Conference Champ: Dallas
NBA Champ: Dallas

Awards:

MVP- Dirk Nowitzki
Rookie of the Year- Brandon Roy
Scoring Champ- Kobe Bryant
Defensive Player of the Year- Andrei Kirilenko
6th Man- Shareef Abur-Rahim
Most Improved- Jameer Nelson
Coach of the Year- Mike D'Antoni


So there it is. The Cleveland in the NBA Finals thing might just be wishful thinking on my part, but the East is really wide open. I'm not really all the confident in any of my picks other than the top 4 or so teams in either conference.

[svosen]

I love it! Miami got CRUSHED tonight! Wow - that's unbelievable...

The Lakers/Suns games was really good tonight. The Lakers were down by 19 in the first quarter, and they were up by as much as 16 in the fourth (the won by about 12, I think).

I'm falling in love with Bynum. His game is so refreshing to see, as a Laker fan. First time since Shaq that I've felt we have a decent center. I'm really excited to watch him grow this year. And of course Lamar is great. As always, I just hope he can stay as aggressive as this after Kobe comes back (he didn't play tonight). Farmar is another bright spot. I'm just not excited about Radmonavic, though. Hopefully I'm wrong about him. Oh, and Evans will be a good addition, too.

For the suns - Leondro Barbosa is a fun player to watch. I really like him. And I was glad to see a few flashes of aggressiveness from Amare, but I just think he's a long way off. Poor bugger.

[svosen]

Originally Posted by Cowboy22

Alright, the season starts tommorrow, here's my playoff and award predictions. Playoff teams are listed by the seed I think they'll get, not according to record.

East:
1. Miami CLEVELAND
2. Cleveland CHICAGO
3. New Jersey MIAMI
4. Chicago DETROIT
5. Detroit NEW JERSEY
6. Milwaukee WASHINGTON
7. Orlando INDIANA
8. Washington ORLANDO

West:
1. Phoenix DALLAS
2. Dallas SAN ANTONIO
3. Denver LA CLIPPERS
4. San Antonio HOUSTON
5. LA Clippers PHOENIX
6. New Orleans LA LAKERS
7. Memphis MEMPHIS
8. LA Lakers DENVER

Eastern Conference Champ: Cleveland CLEVELAND
Western Conference Champ: Dallas LA CLIPPERS
NBA Champ: Dallas CLEVELAND

Awards:

MVP- Dirk Nowitzki DWAYNE WADE
Rookie of the Year- Brandon Roy MORRISON
Scoring Champ- Kobe Bryant LEBRON JAMES
Defensive Player of the Year- Andrei Kirilenko KOBE BRYANT (if knee's OK)
6th Man- Shareef Abur-Rahim AMARE
Most Improved- Jameer Nelson ANDREW BYNUM
Coach of the Year- Mike D'Antoni BROWN (CLEVELAND)

See my choices in ALL CAPS above.

[Cowboy22]

Originally Posted by svosen

I love it! Miami got CRUSHED tonight! Wow - that's unbelievable...

The Lakers/Suns games was really good tonight. The Lakers were down by 19 in the first quarter, and they were up by as much as 16 in the fourth (the won by about 12, I think).

I'm falling in love with Bynum. His game is so refreshing to see, as a Laker fan. First time since Shaq that I've felt we have a decent center. I'm really excited to watch him grow this year. And of course Lamar is great. As always, I just hope he can stay as aggressive as this after Kobe comes back (he didn't play tonight). Farmar is another bright spot. I'm just not excited about Radmonavic, though. Hopefully I'm wrong about him. Oh, and Evans will be a good addition, too.

For the suns - Leondro Barbosa is a fun player to watch. I really like him. And I was glad to see a few flashes of aggressiveness from Amare, but I just think he's a long way off. Poor bugger.

The Miami game was insane. It's too early to mean anything obviously, but...jesus, that was a beating. How do you play that crappy on the night you get your rings? Shaq looked terrible, although he usually does coast a bit in the early part of the year. I turned it off at halftime.

What I saw of the Phoenix game was a little better. The Lakers did look good, as much as I don't like to admit it, especially considering they were without Kobe. Odom was a monster, which just shows that either he doesn't get the ball enough with Kobe, or that he's content to sit back and watch Kobe like everyone else on the team. You know he's always had the ability you play like that every night. I'll admit, I was shocked by Bynum, with what I saw and heard about him coming out of high school, I didn't think he'd ever amount to much of anything, but he looked really good. And I told you Farmar would be a solid addition. The Suns didn't look very good, but again, I expect that to change as the season wears on. Sadly, one thing I DON'T think will change is Amare's condition. He looked like he was really hurting, and it's only going to get worse as he keeps trying to play on it.

Your picks are a little off if your predicting seeds, because each division winner is guranteed one of the top three spots. If you're going for straight record then I don't think there's anything terribly crazy about them, other than maybe Kobe as defensive player of the year, which won't ever happen, even if he is the best defensive player.

[svosen]

Yeah, I guess I wasn't considering actual seeds. Oops.

From what I understand, the main reason Kobe has let off on his defense the past couple years is because of his knee. I believe that's an important aspect of the game to him, so if his knee is capable, I think he'll really ramp it up this year.

But you may be right about actually getting the award. Unless it's purely a matter of adding numbers (i.e. no disputing it, like with the scoring leader), I don't think he'll be winning any awards anytime soon. Anything that's subjective, like the MVP, he'll be passed over for, regardless of merit.

[Cowboy22]

I think he plays like he did last year and the Lakers are near the top of the league in wins, he'll have no problem winning the MVP. It's just that the defensive player of the year award is based a lot on reputation, much more so than any other award. There's only so many guys that have a realistic shot at winning it in any given year. Kobe, even if he were the best defensive player in the league (and I don't think he's even close, although he can be very good), isn't one of those guys.

[svosen]

Well, Cleveland won tonight, but I don't know that I was that impressed. I think it was more a case of Washington losing than anything. What were your impressions on that one? You were probably paying closer attention than I was...

[Cowboy22]

I only caught bits and pieces of the early moments and the tail end because I was watching Lost and South Park, but from what I saw, I agree with you. They didn't look good, but Washington just happened to play even worse. LeBron still looked pretty good from what I saw though.

[svosen]

Found in an article by Randy Hill of FoxSports.com:

"I believe in doing what you've got to do, what has to be done."
— Miami Heat center Shaquille O'Neal one day before erupting for 7 points and 5 rebounds in a season-opening, 108-66 home loss to the Chicago Bulls.

[Cowboy22]

That is pretty funny, although I think he may have meant taking it easy in the early part of the season to rest up for the stretch run and playoffs, which is when they really need him. At his age and size he can't really go all out for the entire season without getting hurt or worn out.