My 2011-2012 NBA Season Predictions

 Western Conference

Northwest:

1. Oklahoma City Thunder
2. Portland Trail Blazers
3. Utah Jazz
4. Denver Nuggets
5. Minnesota Timberwolves

Pacific:

1. Los Angeles Clippers
2. Los Angeles Lakers
3. Phoenix Suns
4. Sacramento Kings
5. Golden State Warriors

Southwest:

1. Dallas Mavericks
2. Memphis Grizzlies
3. San Antonio Spurs
4. Houston Rockets
5. New Orleans Hornets

Eastern Conference:
Atlantic:

1. New York Knicks
2. Boston Celtics
3. New Jersey Nets
4. Philadelphia 76ers
5. Toronto Raptors

Central:

1. Chicago Bulls
2. Indiana Pacers
3. Milwaukee Bucks
4. Detroit Pistons
5. Cleveland Cavaliers

Southeast:

1. Miami Heat
2. Atlanta Hawks
3. Orlando Magic
4. Washington Wizards
5. Charlotte Bobcats

Western Playoffs: 1. Thuder 2. Mavericks 3. Clippers 4. Lakers 5. Grizzlies 6. Spurs 7. Blazers 8. Suns

Eastern Playoffs: 1. Heat 2. Bulls 3. Knicks 4. Celtics 5. Hawks 6. Magic 7. Pacers 8. Bucks

Why I Hope the Lakers Don't Acquire Both Dwight Howard & Chris Paul ...

Reports came out late last night that the Los Angeles Lakers are pursuing the possibility of acquiring both all star center Dwight Howard and all star point guard Chris Paul via trade and they are willing to trade anybody and everybody that isn’t Kobe Bryant. 

Howard and Paul will be the two biggest free agents after the next season and because the Orlando Magic and New Orleans Hornets both don’t want the possibility of their stars leaving via free agency without anything in return there is a great chance that both could be moved before this season starts on Christmas. 

Acquiring both Howard and Paul would of course be a huge move for the Lakers and probably would make them the favorite this season, but I’m 100 percent against the Lakers doing this.

Why?

Because I’m sick of what appears to be the new movement in the NBA for a handful of teams to create “super teams.”

The Miami Heat started this before last season with LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh and now it seems every team with the means and money wants to model themselves in the same fashion.  

Some people say “super teams” are great for the NBA. I, frankly, don’t understand how that can possibly be the case. If you create even just a handful of “super teams” or maybe not even that many you are basically going to have a league for a few years where those “super teams” will be the only teams capable of winning a championship and all other teams will basically be screwed. Multiple teams creating “super teams” dilutes the NBA and for that reason it’s obviously a bad thing for the sport.  

From Miss Universe to Miss Iowa (This is Baseball Right??)

Washington Nationals phenom starting pitcher Stephen Strasburg was scratched from a start on Tuesday night against the Atlanta Braves because he didn’t feel right when warming up for the game. It was later revealed that he has some shoulder inflammation and is listed as day-to-day.

Okay, that happens and everything is fine, right?

Well, the Nationals reaction toward veteran pitcher and Tuesday night’s spot starter for the Nationals 39-year old Miguel Batista has gotten me more than a little perturbed.

The Nationals had sold the game out on Tuesday night because people wanted to see Strasburg pitch. When it was announced that Strasburg had been scratched and that Batista would be replacing him on the mound the Nationals’ so-called fans threw a fit and booed Batista.

What did Batista do?

Batista pulled his cap brim down low and went out and did his job like any veteran should … and he did it damn well. Batista pitched five shutout innings against the Braves and led the Nationals to victory. The fans still didn’t care; they wanted to see Strasburg after all.

The cold hard truth is that Batista might have done a better job against the Braves than Strasburg would have. The Braves had beaten the young ace earlier in the season.

It’s frankly ridiculous the way that the Nationals fans treated Batista, one of their own, on Tuesday night. Many fans even left the game before the first pitch had been thrown because they were so disappointed that Strasburg wouldn’t pitch. By the way, I don’t care if the entire ballclub comes down with food poisoning and is replaced at the last second with the entire AAA club, I’m still going to watch the game that I paid my hard earned money for and support my team.

Baseball seems to be the ultimate team sport out of the big three sports leagues in this country, in that the team is more important than the individual player. Maybe that’s changing?

Much like LeBron James of the NBA, it seems like baseball fans in Washington have quickly become Strasburg fans instead of Nationals fans … and, if you ask me that’s very wrong. I wonder if Albert Pujols were to leave St. Louis in a trade or via free agency would Cardinals fans just up a switch favorite teams as fast as many Cleveland Cavaliers switched to the Miami Heat when James signed with them a few weeks ago?

I seriously hope that the MLB doesn’t go down this road like the NBA apparently already has.

As for Batista, he should’ve felt bad being treated the way he was for such an excellent performance; however he understood saying, “Imagine if you go to see Miss Universe, then you end up having Miss Iowa, you might get those kind of boos.”

The James Game

Never have I seen a professional sports league revolve around one athlete the way the NBA is going to revolve around LeBron James in free agency this offseason.

There are around five to 10 teams with enough salary cap space to sign James. All 30 teams have a shot at obtaining James through a sign and trade, which is a less likely scenario.

Free agency begins on Thursday, July 1 at 12:01 a.m. and that’s when five reported teams: Cleveland Cavaliers, Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat, New York Knicks and New Jersey Nets will reportedly start wooing James. No team can sign James before July 8.

It turns out that the team with the most likely chance of signing James isn’t necessarily the one that will give him the most money, but the team that will surround him with the most talent.

The Heat has the most available cap space with $44 million available. Following the Heat, the Knicks have $35 million open, the Bulls have $30 million open and the Nets have $27 million open.

The Heat has the unusual opportunity to sign three max-contract players. This would almost certainly include re-signing point guard Dwyane Wade. Of all the free agents, Wade is the one who’s expressed the most interest in remaining with his current team. The Heat could then add a third huge contract in a Chris Bosh or Amar’e Stoudemire type player.

NBA experts have expressed that this scenario might be the best for James to win a championship, but maybe not the most likely. James and Wade are the type of players where they should be their respective team’s best player. Some just can’t see Wade playing Scottie Pippen to James’ Michael Jordan.

Another likely scenario would have James going to the Bulls. This is the scenario that I predict will happen. The Bulls are a young team with all of the great makings of a championship contender if they added one or two pieces. Those pieces could turn out to be James and Bosh and then this team would shoot past the Orlando Magic and any others as the best team in the Eastern Conference and possibly all of the NBA. The starting lineup of James, Bosh, Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah and Luol Deng would instantly be the best starting five in the NBA. Of course, this is just a prediction.

The other likely scenario would simply involve James re-signing with the Cavaliers. The Cavaliers would then likely have to acquire a Bosh-type player through a sign and trade.
The month of July is definitely going to be an exciting one in the NBA. After July the entire 2010-2011 season could be completely changed. Teams like the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Boston Celtics could drastically fall and teams like the Miami Heat, Chicago Bulls and other could drastically improve and become championship-caliber teams.

The only thing that is completely clear at this moment is that at 12:01 a.m. on Thursday the James game is going to start.