Athlon Sports And Lindy's '08-'09 Predictions

[duncan228]

Picked up the preview magazines for the season today.

Athlon:

East: Boston over Philadelphia
West: New Orleans over LA Lakers

Finals: Hornets over Celtics

Lindy's:

MVP: LeBron James
ROTY: Michael Beasley
DPOY: Kevin Garnett
COTY: Byron Scott, New Orleans
NBA Champion: Celtics over Lakers, seven games

[Allanon]

I didn't think the Hornets got better in the off-season but they actually did.

They have a possible starting lineup of:
CP3-PG 6'
Posey - SG 6'8"
Peja - SF 6'10"
David West - PF 6'9"
Chandler - C 7'1"

This has gotta be one of the biggest and best starting lineups in the NBA, they should be pretty good defensively. However, their bench is still very weak and that's what's going to haunt them this year. They'll be a good regular season team but they don't have the depth for a run to the Finals.

There's only 1 useable player off the bench this year and it'll be Mo Pete...the rest are quite useless.

[AC#21_TD ERA]

This is my version,

East: Boston in 6 over Cleveland
West: New Orleans in 7 over LA Lakers

Finals: Celtics in 6 over Hornets

MVP: Chris Paul
ROTY: O.J Mayo
DPOY: Tim Duncan (It can't believe he hasn't won it yet)
COTY: Rick Adelman, Houston
Most Improved: Tony Allen
NBA Champion: Boston Celtics

[Texas_Ranger]

I can just say that Spurs will win it...I don't give a about the others!

[duncan228]

I can just say that Spurs will win it...I don't give a about the others!

Both issues have good write-ups on the Spurs and both say don't count them out of a le run. They're in the hunt as strongly as any other elite team in the league.

I'm not finding the write-ups on their sites, just the sales pitch to buy the magazines. I guess that makes sense, if they made it available on-line people wouldn't have a reason to buy the magazines.

My scanner isn't unpacked yet, maybe someone else will pick up the mags and scan the Spurs pieces.

[mrspurs]

If bynum stay healthy I dont think NO can beat LA. As for our Spurs, they will need some luck if they plan of going in with this roster and plan on winning it all.

[Extra Stout]

This is the weakest Spurs team since at least 2001-02. The only team of the Duncan era that I can say was definitely weaker is the 1999-2000 team. So it's no surprise that the Spurs are little more than a dark horse in the media projections.

[Supergirl]

Celtics over Cavs in 6
Spurs over Lakers in 7

Spurs over Celtics in 7

Hornets peaked last year. They rode a season of relatively few injuries on a roster filled with people prone to injury. You think Chandler, Paul, and Peja can make through another seasons without injury? That would be a miracle, and I don't think it will happen. Plus, Posey is a year older and playing in a new system. I don't think he's going to help - in fact I think he's a downgrade from what they had last year.