NBA Season Predictions

Greetings all... Check out all 30 of the Team Previews (big-ups to the other contributor, Ryan)... here's what I came up with... First? The standings... (Ed: Ryan's thoughts added)

WEST

1. LAL (61-21) Ryan: LAL
   
2. Dallas (55-27) Ryan: DAL
   
3. OKC (54-28) Ryan: POR
   
4. San Antonio (52-30) Ryan: SA
   
5. Houston (50-32) Ryan:OKC
6. Portland (49-33) Ryan: HOU
7. Utah (49-33) Ryan:UTA
8. Denver (46-36) Ryan: PHX
   
9. New Orleans (44-38) Ryan: DEN
   
10. Phoenix (44-38) Ryan: NO
    
11. LA Clippers (39-43) Ryan: MEM
12. Memphis (36-46) Ryan:LAC
13. Sacramento (27-55) Ryan: SAC
    
14. Golden State (25-57) Ryan:GS
15. Minnesota (14-68) Ryan: Minny

EAST

1. Miami (60-22) Ryan: MIA
   
2. Orlando (55-27) Ryan:ORL
3. Boston (53-29) Ryan:BOS
4. Chicago (51-31) Ryan:CHI
5. Atlanta (49-33) Ryan:MIL
6. Milwaukee (48-34) Ryan: ATL
   
7. Indiana (41-41) Ryan:NY
8. New York (38-44) Ryan:IND
9. Washington (35-47) Ryan: CHA
   
10. Philly (32-50) Ryan: WAS
    
11. Charlotte (30-52) Ryan: PHI
    
12. New Jersey (26-56) Ryan: NJ
13. Detroit (22-60) Ryan:DET
14. Cleveland (21-61) Ryan: CLE
15. Toronto (17-65) Ryan: TOR
    

Now... to the Individual stuff....

MVP - Dwight Howard, C Orlando... Calling my shot here... Lebron will have the better year... and Durant is getting the preseason hype (deserved btw) but Howard has a different look about him this year from what I've seen (probably helps to have Hakeem work with you on post moves, good lord!), he's the best defender/rebounder alive, he'll finally average 20+ this year, and Wade will steal votes from King James... Runner-up? Kevin Durant...
Ryan: Kobe Bryant... Durant isn't ready... nothing for Lebron this year...

DEFENSIVE POY - Dwight Howard, C Orlando... never a doubt... Ryan: Dwight, I wouldn't know who else to give it to

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR - Blake Griffin, PF LAC... Yes, he still qualifies... and yes he'll be better than Wall and Cousins... Ryan: John Wall, PG Washington...he's electric, and I don't think anyone will have more opportunities

COACH OF THE YEAR - Rick Adelman, Houston... Call it a hunch.... Ryan: Whoever is Miami's coach (Ed: Erik Spoelstra)... big improvement from last year (duh)

1st Team All-NBA (with positions mattering) - Howard, Dirk, Lebron, Kobe, Paul

1ST TEAM ALL-NBA (how they actually vote, i.e. C-F-F-G-G) - Howard, Durant, Lebron, Kobe, Paul

1ST TEAM ALL-ROOKIE - Splitter, Cousins, Griffin, Johnson, Wall (notice the lack of Turner), Ryan: Cousins, Monroe, Johnson, Turner, Wall

OFF-THE-RADAR ROOKIE SLEEPER - Eric Bledsoe (no way they get more 60 games out of Baron), Quincy Pondexter, Jordan Crawford (if Jamal gets dealt), Devin Ebanks (wayyy deep sleeper), Damion James, Ryan: Pondexter and Lance Stevenson (Indy)

ROOKIE BUSTS - Evan Turner (carrying the torch), Ekpe Udoh (hurt, bad situation), Al-farouq Aminu (see Turner, Evan), Paul George, Ryan: Derrick Favors, NJ

BREAKOUT POY - Kevin Love (18 and 12 this year), Derrick Rose (makes the leap), Brook Lopez (continues the leap), Russ Westbrook, Eric Gordon, Andrea Bargnani (averages 20+ on that team), OJ Mayo, Ryan: Danny Granger, alot to prove and plays in a small market... watch out for him...

GUYS WHO WILL REGRESS A BIT - Tim Duncan (sigh... it has to happen sometime for the GOAT at PF), Kobe (just a little more), Monta Ellis (this is Curry's team now, change in system), Joe Johnson (say goodbye to Iso-Joe), Chauncey Billups

And this will be fun... Top 5 at each position!

C - Howard, Lopez, Jefferson, Bogut, Horford
PF - Dirk, Gasol, Bosh, Duncan, Amare
SF - Lebron, Durant, Carmelo, Granger, G. Wallace (Note: It falls off the cliff after 3 and then again after 4)
SG - Kobe, Wade, Roy, Joe Johnson, Tyreke Evans (Pretty wide-open for the #5 spot IMO)
PG - Paul, D. Williams, Nash, Rose, Curry, Rondo, Westbrook (Okay, I had to do 7.. I have no idea after the top 2... Does Nash regress? How much of a leap does Rose make? This could be it's own column)

The lesson here... is that I'm an idiot... so if there's a glaring omission... hit me in the comments...

PLAYOFF PREDICTIONS

West

LA over Denver in 5, Ryan: LA over Denver in 4

Dallas over Utah in 7, Ryan: Dallas over Utah in 5
OKC over Portland in 7, Ryan: Portland over Houston in 6
San Antonio over Houston in 6, Ryan: SA over OKC in 6

LA over San Antonio in 6, Ryan: LA over SA in 6

OKC over Dallas in 7, Ryan: Portland over Dallas in 7

LA over OKC in 6, Ryan: LA over Portland in 6

East

Miami over New York in 4, Ryan: Miami over Indy in 4
Orlando over Indiana in 4, Ryan: Orlando over NY in 4
Boston over Milwaukee in 6, Ryan: Boston over ATL in 6
Chicago over Atlanta in 7, Ryan: Chicago over MIL in 6

Miami over Chicago in 6, Ryan: Miami over Chicago in 7
Boston over Orlando in 6, Ryan: Boston over ORL in 6

Boston over Miami in 6, Ryan: Boston over Miami in 7

Finals

LA Lakers over Boston in 7... seems.. redundant?.... Ryan: Ditto!

That will do it for me... as always... the NBA is FANNNN-tastic! I love this game...