NuGGeTs-FaN
02-15-2009, 07:11 AM
West
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?page=WestOffseasonPredictions
1 Los Angeles Lakers 55 27 .671 57 25 .695
Kobe, Pau and Phil should build on their half-year of history and keep L.A. atop the West, especially if Andrew Bynum is healthy. Now they need to get tough and gritty enough to win it all, and that includes the Bench Mob of Jordan, Sasha, Vlad, Luke and Mihm ... but no more Ronny. | Offseason Moves
2 New Orleans Hornets 54 28 .659 56 26 .683
Chris Paul's breakout season ended with him ahead of LeBron James and just behind Kobe Bryant in the MVP race. Even if CP3 can't make another quantum leap, the optimists in New Orleans hope that James Posey brought his championship moxie from Miami and Boston with him. | Offseason Moves
3 Houston Rockets 53 29 .646 55 27 .671
Tracy McGrady, Yao Ming and the Rockets should finally make it out of the first round. But along the way, expect Ron Artest to create some chemistry challenges on the offensive end. Fortunately, he'll make up for it on defense, which is where Houston will really shine once again. | Offseason Moves
4* Utah Jazz 51 31 .622 54 28 .659
The Jazz faithful might not like this forecast, but the team's meek exit from the conference semifinals left a bad taste and the Jazz did very little to improve in the offseason. But with a young roster this strong, led by Olympians D-Will and Booz, maybe they didn't need to do much. | Offseason Moves
5* San Antonio Spurs 51 31 .622 56 26 .683
Fill in the blank: 2003, '05, '07, __. If you said '09, you're probably wrong, because that's the year we should be putting the Spurs "odd-year champions" pattern to rest -- or at least that's how it looked at the end of last season, as the aging Spurs limped out of the West finals. | Offseason Moves
6 Phoenix Suns 47 35 .573 55 27 .671
The Suns slumped when Shaq arrived, then got hot, then flamed out. So who are the real Suns? With the noisy exit of Mike D'Antoni and the quiet arrival of Terry Porter, the hope in Phoenix is that Nash and Amare can keep their offensive mojo working while defense is added to the mix. | Offseason Moves
7 Dallas Mavericks 45 37 .549 51 31 .622
Jason Kidd arrived with a thud and he'll be 36 in March. But the glass-half-full view in Cuban Country is Dirk, Josh and J-Kidd have plenty left, new coach Rick Carlisle will be a tonic for their damaged psyches, and the Mavs are just 26 months removed from a spectacular run to the Finals. | Offseason Moves
8 Portland Trail Blazers 44 38 .537 41 41 .500
Oden, Oden, Oden. That's the story in Portland, where the rookie big man is working out to rave reviews after his microfracture recovery. With Brandon Roy leading a young, exciting team and Jerryd Bayless setting the summer league afire, expectations are through the roof in Blazerland. | Offseason Moves
9* Golden State Warriors 39 43 .476 48 34 .585
Corey Maggette will add scoring for the run-and-gun Warriors, but how will they replace point man Baron Davis, who took his act to the Clippers? Couple the loss of B-Diddy with the recent injury to Monta Ellis, and things aren't looking so hot for Don Nelson's bunch -- this season, at least. | Offseason Moves
10* Denver Nuggets 39 43 .476 50 32 .610
The giveaway of Marcus Camby made it official: Denver is rebuilding. The loss of their backstop also raises a question: How many points per game will the Nuggets allow? Still, they'll get theirs, with A.I., Melo and J.R. free to fire, creating the best pickup games in the NBA. | Offseason Moves
11 Los Angeles Clippers 35 47 .427 23 59 .280
The '09 Clip Show has a new cast of characters ... and we do mean characters. Boom Dizzle and The Cambyman are joined by Ricky D and J-Will plus rooks Gordon and Jordan. This is going to be really fun or a complete disaster. The movie "Semi-Pro" comes to mind. | Offseason Moves
12 Sacramento Kings 34 48 .415 38 44 .463
Ron Artest is gone, and this is Kevin Martin's team now. His uncanny talent for high-efficiency scoring will be enough on some nights, but to really make noise the Kings need extraordinary contributions from ordinary players like Udrih, Salmons, Garcia, Moore and Miller. Good luck. | Offseason Moves
13 Minn. Timberwolves 26 56 .317 22 60 .268
Minnesota has a different look this season -- and they got new uniforms, too. By acquiring sharpshooter Mike Miller and rookie big man Kevin Love for draftee O.J. Mayo, the Wolves have put some nice new pieces around Al Jefferson. But the improvement will be incremental at best. | Offseason Moves
14* Memphis Grizzlies 23 59 .280 22 60 .268
O.J. Mayo is one of the early-season favorites for ROY, and he'll team with Rudy Gay and Mike Conley to form an exciting young nucleus in Memphis, which has plenty of '09 cap room. But while the future might be bright, this looks like another season in the basement for the Grizzlies. | Offseason Moves
15* Oklahoma City 23 59 .280 20 62 .244
Season 1 will be one long, thunderous pep rally for Oklahoma's new team -- even if OKC appears to be the NBA's worst team, nothing can dampen the local optimism. What would stoke that fervor further would be measurable growth by Kevin Durant, Jeff Green and Russell Westbrook. | Offseason Moves
East
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?page=EastOffseasonPredictions
PREDICTED STANDINGS FOR EASTERN CONFERENCE: 2008-09
CONF TEAM W L PCT 08 W 08 L 08 PCT
1 Boston Celtics 55 27 .671 66 16 .805
How big is the Posey problem? Enough that the departure of Big Game James helps take the Celtics down 11 wins in our survey. Plus, by next June, the Big Three will nearly be the Big 33 (Kevin Garnett, 33; Paul Pierce, 31; Ray Allen, 33). But guess what? They're still the East's beasts. | Offseason Moves
2* Detroit Pistons 50 32 .610 59 23 .720
Pick your metaphor: Is the championship window closed? Are Sheed, Rip, Tay and/or Mr. Big Shot headed out the door? Will Michael Curry finally put a stop to the coaching carousel? Can Kwame cut it? Will Joe D blow it up? With no answers apparent, Detroit remains a team in limbo. | Offseason Moves
3* Cleveland Cavaliers 50 32 .610 45 37 .549
If the Cavs can find chemistry in the combo of King James and Mo Williams ... if Big Z and Big Ben have anything left ... if J.J. Hickson makes an immediate impact inside ... Cleveland can win 50 for the third time in four years. Which is just enough to earn LeBron his first MVP award. | Offseason Moves
4 Orlando Magic 49 33 .598 52 30 .634
Superman's deflating departure from the East semis has us feeling skeptical about Orlando. And apologies to Anthony Johnson, Mickael Pietrus and Courtney Lee, but it's far from clear the Magic have addressed their weaknesses at the point, shooting guard and power forward. | Offseason Moves
5 Philadelphia 76ers 47 35 .573 40 42 .488
Philly flipped from feeble to phenomenal in a few months last season, and the Elton Brand acquisition appears to have accelerated the Sixers' progress. But they need further growth from Andre Iguodala, Thaddeus Young and Lou Williams, plus another strong year from Andre Miller. | Offseason Moves
6 Toronto Raptors 45 37 .549 41 41 .500
Jermaine O'Neal has missed 122 games in four seasons, while T.J. Ford has missed 130, and each player helped wreck his previous team's chemistry. So the Raptors can only hope their new center puts his problems and sore knee behind him long enough to provide relief for Chris Bosh. | Offseason Moves
7 Washington Wizards 43 39 .524 43 39 .524
Agent Zero's biggest contribution to the Wizards last season was his blog, but Arenas and his repaired knee still got a $111 million contract. So will the return of Arenas and Jamison be enough to get the Wiz out of the first round of the playoffs for the first time in four years? Probably not. | Offseason Moves
8 Miami Heat 39 43 .476 15 67 .183
Dwyane Wade's scintillating Olympics performance was a welcome sight, but the roster remains a mismatched mishmash and the coach is a rook. Still, Marion, Beasley, Chalmers and Jones should help the Heat double (or perhaps even triple) their 15-win total of last season. | Offseason Moves
9 Chicago Bulls 38 44 .463 33 49 .402
No team is more baffling than the Bulls, which went from darlings to dregs in just months last year. The pessimist sees more of the same: weird chemistry and growing pains. The optimist sees a quick, Derrick Rose-led turnaround for the team many thought would win the East last season. | Offseason Moves
10 Atlanta Hawks 37 45 .451 37 45 .451
Good news: The Hawks gave the Celtics a tougher playoff series than the Lakers did. Bad news: Josh Childress flew to Europe. Good news: The Baby Birds are a year older. Bad news: The East is deeper. More bad news: Another 37-win season probably doesn't get it done. | Offseason Moves
11 Milwaukee Bucks 35 47 .427 26 56 .317
To get stronger on defense, Milwaukee moved out Mo Williams and Yi Jianlian, hired Scott Skiles as coach and fortified with Richard Jefferson ... and Luke Ridnour, the pixie point guard who "can't guard a chair." If the chemistry works, it should add up to a jump up the charts. | Offseason Moves
12 Indiana Pacers 34 48 .415 36 46 .439
Jettisoning Jermaine O'Neal to Toronto was a bold step, and new PG T.J. Ford should keep Jim O'Brien's Pacers running. But does Larry Bird's reform movement add up to change Pacers fans can believe in? Probably not, at least until he finds some players worthy of an All-Star vote or two. | Offseason Moves
13 Charlotte Bobcats 32 50 .390 32 50 .389
Which Larry Brown did Michael Jordan hire: The one who has turned around many a young team in his Hall of Fame career, or the one who led the Knicks so badly that many accused him of sabotaging the season? Another question: What does the (nearly) 68-year-old coach have left? | Offseason Moves
14 New York Knicks 29 53 .354 23 59 .280
Mike D'Antoni will certainly raise team morale. But will the Knicks see a boost in the standings? Not as long as two heavyweights -- Eddy Curry and Zach Randolph -- are around to spoil the fun-and-gun. It'll be a season of transition, but change won't be happening in seven seconds or less. | Offseason Moves
15 New Jersey Nets 28 54 .341 34 48 .415
The youth movement is under way, as the Nets' brain trust builds hope that a King will lead them in 2010. Until then, the '08-09 season is all about finding out which prospects are pieces of the puzzle for the future. In other words, as part-owner Jay-Z might say: "Show me what you got." | Offseason Moves
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?page=WestOffseasonPredictions
1 Los Angeles Lakers 55 27 .671 57 25 .695
Kobe, Pau and Phil should build on their half-year of history and keep L.A. atop the West, especially if Andrew Bynum is healthy. Now they need to get tough and gritty enough to win it all, and that includes the Bench Mob of Jordan, Sasha, Vlad, Luke and Mihm ... but no more Ronny. | Offseason Moves
2 New Orleans Hornets 54 28 .659 56 26 .683
Chris Paul's breakout season ended with him ahead of LeBron James and just behind Kobe Bryant in the MVP race. Even if CP3 can't make another quantum leap, the optimists in New Orleans hope that James Posey brought his championship moxie from Miami and Boston with him. | Offseason Moves
3 Houston Rockets 53 29 .646 55 27 .671
Tracy McGrady, Yao Ming and the Rockets should finally make it out of the first round. But along the way, expect Ron Artest to create some chemistry challenges on the offensive end. Fortunately, he'll make up for it on defense, which is where Houston will really shine once again. | Offseason Moves
4* Utah Jazz 51 31 .622 54 28 .659
The Jazz faithful might not like this forecast, but the team's meek exit from the conference semifinals left a bad taste and the Jazz did very little to improve in the offseason. But with a young roster this strong, led by Olympians D-Will and Booz, maybe they didn't need to do much. | Offseason Moves
5* San Antonio Spurs 51 31 .622 56 26 .683
Fill in the blank: 2003, '05, '07, __. If you said '09, you're probably wrong, because that's the year we should be putting the Spurs "odd-year champions" pattern to rest -- or at least that's how it looked at the end of last season, as the aging Spurs limped out of the West finals. | Offseason Moves
6 Phoenix Suns 47 35 .573 55 27 .671
The Suns slumped when Shaq arrived, then got hot, then flamed out. So who are the real Suns? With the noisy exit of Mike D'Antoni and the quiet arrival of Terry Porter, the hope in Phoenix is that Nash and Amare can keep their offensive mojo working while defense is added to the mix. | Offseason Moves
7 Dallas Mavericks 45 37 .549 51 31 .622
Jason Kidd arrived with a thud and he'll be 36 in March. But the glass-half-full view in Cuban Country is Dirk, Josh and J-Kidd have plenty left, new coach Rick Carlisle will be a tonic for their damaged psyches, and the Mavs are just 26 months removed from a spectacular run to the Finals. | Offseason Moves
8 Portland Trail Blazers 44 38 .537 41 41 .500
Oden, Oden, Oden. That's the story in Portland, where the rookie big man is working out to rave reviews after his microfracture recovery. With Brandon Roy leading a young, exciting team and Jerryd Bayless setting the summer league afire, expectations are through the roof in Blazerland. | Offseason Moves
9* Golden State Warriors 39 43 .476 48 34 .585
Corey Maggette will add scoring for the run-and-gun Warriors, but how will they replace point man Baron Davis, who took his act to the Clippers? Couple the loss of B-Diddy with the recent injury to Monta Ellis, and things aren't looking so hot for Don Nelson's bunch -- this season, at least. | Offseason Moves
10* Denver Nuggets 39 43 .476 50 32 .610
The giveaway of Marcus Camby made it official: Denver is rebuilding. The loss of their backstop also raises a question: How many points per game will the Nuggets allow? Still, they'll get theirs, with A.I., Melo and J.R. free to fire, creating the best pickup games in the NBA. | Offseason Moves
11 Los Angeles Clippers 35 47 .427 23 59 .280
The '09 Clip Show has a new cast of characters ... and we do mean characters. Boom Dizzle and The Cambyman are joined by Ricky D and J-Will plus rooks Gordon and Jordan. This is going to be really fun or a complete disaster. The movie "Semi-Pro" comes to mind. | Offseason Moves
12 Sacramento Kings 34 48 .415 38 44 .463
Ron Artest is gone, and this is Kevin Martin's team now. His uncanny talent for high-efficiency scoring will be enough on some nights, but to really make noise the Kings need extraordinary contributions from ordinary players like Udrih, Salmons, Garcia, Moore and Miller. Good luck. | Offseason Moves
13 Minn. Timberwolves 26 56 .317 22 60 .268
Minnesota has a different look this season -- and they got new uniforms, too. By acquiring sharpshooter Mike Miller and rookie big man Kevin Love for draftee O.J. Mayo, the Wolves have put some nice new pieces around Al Jefferson. But the improvement will be incremental at best. | Offseason Moves
14* Memphis Grizzlies 23 59 .280 22 60 .268
O.J. Mayo is one of the early-season favorites for ROY, and he'll team with Rudy Gay and Mike Conley to form an exciting young nucleus in Memphis, which has plenty of '09 cap room. But while the future might be bright, this looks like another season in the basement for the Grizzlies. | Offseason Moves
15* Oklahoma City 23 59 .280 20 62 .244
Season 1 will be one long, thunderous pep rally for Oklahoma's new team -- even if OKC appears to be the NBA's worst team, nothing can dampen the local optimism. What would stoke that fervor further would be measurable growth by Kevin Durant, Jeff Green and Russell Westbrook. | Offseason Moves
East
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?page=EastOffseasonPredictions
PREDICTED STANDINGS FOR EASTERN CONFERENCE: 2008-09
CONF TEAM W L PCT 08 W 08 L 08 PCT
1 Boston Celtics 55 27 .671 66 16 .805
How big is the Posey problem? Enough that the departure of Big Game James helps take the Celtics down 11 wins in our survey. Plus, by next June, the Big Three will nearly be the Big 33 (Kevin Garnett, 33; Paul Pierce, 31; Ray Allen, 33). But guess what? They're still the East's beasts. | Offseason Moves
2* Detroit Pistons 50 32 .610 59 23 .720
Pick your metaphor: Is the championship window closed? Are Sheed, Rip, Tay and/or Mr. Big Shot headed out the door? Will Michael Curry finally put a stop to the coaching carousel? Can Kwame cut it? Will Joe D blow it up? With no answers apparent, Detroit remains a team in limbo. | Offseason Moves
3* Cleveland Cavaliers 50 32 .610 45 37 .549
If the Cavs can find chemistry in the combo of King James and Mo Williams ... if Big Z and Big Ben have anything left ... if J.J. Hickson makes an immediate impact inside ... Cleveland can win 50 for the third time in four years. Which is just enough to earn LeBron his first MVP award. | Offseason Moves
4 Orlando Magic 49 33 .598 52 30 .634
Superman's deflating departure from the East semis has us feeling skeptical about Orlando. And apologies to Anthony Johnson, Mickael Pietrus and Courtney Lee, but it's far from clear the Magic have addressed their weaknesses at the point, shooting guard and power forward. | Offseason Moves
5 Philadelphia 76ers 47 35 .573 40 42 .488
Philly flipped from feeble to phenomenal in a few months last season, and the Elton Brand acquisition appears to have accelerated the Sixers' progress. But they need further growth from Andre Iguodala, Thaddeus Young and Lou Williams, plus another strong year from Andre Miller. | Offseason Moves
6 Toronto Raptors 45 37 .549 41 41 .500
Jermaine O'Neal has missed 122 games in four seasons, while T.J. Ford has missed 130, and each player helped wreck his previous team's chemistry. So the Raptors can only hope their new center puts his problems and sore knee behind him long enough to provide relief for Chris Bosh. | Offseason Moves
7 Washington Wizards 43 39 .524 43 39 .524
Agent Zero's biggest contribution to the Wizards last season was his blog, but Arenas and his repaired knee still got a $111 million contract. So will the return of Arenas and Jamison be enough to get the Wiz out of the first round of the playoffs for the first time in four years? Probably not. | Offseason Moves
8 Miami Heat 39 43 .476 15 67 .183
Dwyane Wade's scintillating Olympics performance was a welcome sight, but the roster remains a mismatched mishmash and the coach is a rook. Still, Marion, Beasley, Chalmers and Jones should help the Heat double (or perhaps even triple) their 15-win total of last season. | Offseason Moves
9 Chicago Bulls 38 44 .463 33 49 .402
No team is more baffling than the Bulls, which went from darlings to dregs in just months last year. The pessimist sees more of the same: weird chemistry and growing pains. The optimist sees a quick, Derrick Rose-led turnaround for the team many thought would win the East last season. | Offseason Moves
10 Atlanta Hawks 37 45 .451 37 45 .451
Good news: The Hawks gave the Celtics a tougher playoff series than the Lakers did. Bad news: Josh Childress flew to Europe. Good news: The Baby Birds are a year older. Bad news: The East is deeper. More bad news: Another 37-win season probably doesn't get it done. | Offseason Moves
11 Milwaukee Bucks 35 47 .427 26 56 .317
To get stronger on defense, Milwaukee moved out Mo Williams and Yi Jianlian, hired Scott Skiles as coach and fortified with Richard Jefferson ... and Luke Ridnour, the pixie point guard who "can't guard a chair." If the chemistry works, it should add up to a jump up the charts. | Offseason Moves
12 Indiana Pacers 34 48 .415 36 46 .439
Jettisoning Jermaine O'Neal to Toronto was a bold step, and new PG T.J. Ford should keep Jim O'Brien's Pacers running. But does Larry Bird's reform movement add up to change Pacers fans can believe in? Probably not, at least until he finds some players worthy of an All-Star vote or two. | Offseason Moves
13 Charlotte Bobcats 32 50 .390 32 50 .389
Which Larry Brown did Michael Jordan hire: The one who has turned around many a young team in his Hall of Fame career, or the one who led the Knicks so badly that many accused him of sabotaging the season? Another question: What does the (nearly) 68-year-old coach have left? | Offseason Moves
14 New York Knicks 29 53 .354 23 59 .280
Mike D'Antoni will certainly raise team morale. But will the Knicks see a boost in the standings? Not as long as two heavyweights -- Eddy Curry and Zach Randolph -- are around to spoil the fun-and-gun. It'll be a season of transition, but change won't be happening in seven seconds or less. | Offseason Moves
15 New Jersey Nets 28 54 .341 34 48 .415
The youth movement is under way, as the Nets' brain trust builds hope that a King will lead them in 2010. Until then, the '08-09 season is all about finding out which prospects are pieces of the puzzle for the future. In other words, as part-owner Jay-Z might say: "Show me what you got." | Offseason Moves