Eastern/Western Conference Win/Loss Predictions

[yabadabayolo]

Deng is not better than Ross at all, Luol Deng is one of the single most overrated players in the NBA.

Deng is better than Ross at SF though because of his size.

Okay now, let's not get carried away. I agree he is overrated but he is not worse than ross. He is an inefficient player who can defend with length all the time while ross is an inconsistent player who can defend most of the time.

I think ross will become better than deng but he ain't better right now. Just look at their stats from last year. Deng is still the better player

[OldSkoolCool]

Yeah, it wouldn't surprise me to see the Cavs underperform during the first half of the season (and by that I mean float around the .500 mark). Neither Kyrie nor Love have ever played with another Alpha before. LeBron will need patience to help transform a franchise (for the 3rd time in his career). New coach. Even the LeBron/Wade/Bosh trio struggled out of the gate in Miami, and the Cavs team would be younger and even less experienced.

And we haven't even talked about defense....the kind of championship defense that Miami hung their hats on. Kyrie and Love don't scare anyone defensively. It will take a while to build that 5-man defensive chemistry.

With Love, there's enough talent in Cleveland to run away with the conference easily, but it won't happen in 2014-15.

I'm not worried about Love defensively. He may not be a great defender but he is average and is a SUPERSTAR defensive rebounder...so he could be a big part of a very good defensive team.

Kyrie tho.....is a broomstick on D. He was a huge reason why they lost a lot of games last season. Also I don't see how a Kyrie+LBJ duo works offensively. Then factor in that Kyrie on a max contract will hurt the team more than his on-court performance...

Cavs need to get rid of him IMO

[raptors999]

I'm not worried about Love defensively. He may not be a great defender but he is average and is a SUPERSTAR defensive rebounder...so he could be a big part of a very good defensive team.

Kyrie tho.....is a broomstick on D. He was a huge reason why they lost a lot of games last season. Also I don't see how a Kyrie+LBJ duo works offensively. Then factor in that Kyrie on a max contract will hurt the team more than his on-court performance...

Cavs need to get rid of him IMO

Kyrie, J. Thompson to Detroit
J. Smith to Kings
Love to Cleveland
Wiggins, Bennet + Picks - TWolves

[BobLoblaw]

Brook Lopez is basically bargnani, cept he plays inside not on the perimeter. Both can't rebound, and both are horrible defenders but are ok individual defenders

I think that Lopez is a legit all star when healthy. He's a much better offensive player than Bargnani and a much more valuable defender too. He's a decent rim protector, and that's the most important defensive skill today. They used to replace Lopez with Blatche, and the drop off used to be huge. No one will probably call Lopez a good defender, but it can be much worse.

[OldSkoolCool]

Kyrie, J. Thompson to Detroit
J. Smith to Kings
Love to Cleveland
Wiggins, Bennet + Picks - TWolves

Or just trade Kyrie for Love and keep Wiggins and Bennett so you have some sort of depth....

[BobLoblaw]

Okay now, let's not get carried away. I agree he is overrated but he is not worse than ross. He is an inefficient player who can defend with length all the time while ross is an inconsistent player who can defend most of the time.

I think ross will become better than deng but he ain't better right now. Just look at their stats from last year. Deng is still the better player

I like Deng, but I'm curious about their situation and how he'll perform. Miami is weird. They really need McRoberts to space the floor well, because their wings won't make many 3s. And McRoberts shooting accuracy seemed a bit fluky to me.

And they lack playmaking from the backcourt too. They can't expect Wade to be their main playmaker for big minutes and 80 games. Chalmers will have to step up in a big way, and I'm not sure that he can.

I don't know about them. I think they'll try to play kind of like Atlanta two years ago, McRoberts in a Josh Smith role, at the elbow, a lot of McRoberts/Bosh two man plays, a lot of pick and pops. But the difference is that the Atlanta team had a ton of shooting from their wings to make it all work, and Miami doesn't. Miami actually needs their big men to step outside and help space the floor.

It will be interesting how it all works. It's interesting to see what Spoelstra can come up with, because this isn't an easy team. Still, if they get to the playoffs healthy, got to respect them.

I think Riley wants to build a defensive team. It's what Riley's done many times before. Every time he lacked talent in Miami, he kept adding defense. But now they look like they'll be just average on both ends.

[NoPropsneeded]

I think that Lopez is a legit all star when healthy. He's a much better offensive player than Bargnani and a much more valuable defender too. He's a decent rim protector, and that's the most important defensive skill today. They used to replace Lopez with Blatche, and the drop off used to be huge. No one will probably call Lopez a good defender, but it can be much worse.

For a dude as big as him he's a below average rim protector. I also recall him being posterized by Bargnani lol

[BobLoblaw]

For a dude as big as him he's a below average rim protector. I also recall him being posterized by Bargnani lol

No team will ever miss Bargnani for defensive reasons. That actually happens with Brook Lopez.

'For a dude as big as him.' Ok, maybe. I don't know how a comparison to other 7 footers would look, would he be average, below average. But what does that make Bargnani? It's like no one will confuse DeRozan with Avery Bradley or Tony Allen, but it wouldn't be fair to call DeRozan a Jimmer Fredette either.

[Sam17]

Kyrie, J. Thompson to Detroit
J. Smith to Kings
Love to Cleveland
Wiggins, Bennet + Picks - TWolves

That'd be the worst trade in history for the cavs

[iblastoff]

I think it's a given that we're going to be in the top 4. I really don't see how we lose the Atlantic division. The Nets lost two extremely key starters and did nothing to replace them. Knicks are basically the same team, but I guess will be a bit better with Calderon instead of Felton. Celtics and Philly are both crap

sure, but the knicks also had a 50+ win season with pretty much the same players before last season too. who knows how they're gonna be this year.

[psrs1]

Eastern Conference:
1.Bulls (For once they are healthy, and can be a dangerous team)
2.Cavs (If Love comes to Cavs, switch this spot with the bulls)
3.Raptors (Addition of players may bring them to seed 2 but it is seed 3 in my mind)
4.Wizards (Chemistry will get better)
5.Heat (Aging players like Wade,Bosh)
6.Hornets (The sleeper team this year)
7.Indiana (No Lance, not as much wins)
8.Hawks (Won't really get further than they did last year)
9.Nets (Age isn't doing them any favours)
10.Knicks (Might make the playoffs this year, but I don't think so)
11.Detroit (Could creep into playoffs, don't see it happening though)
12.Celtics (Tanking teams all below.)
13.Magic
14.Bucks
15.76ers



Western Conference:
1.Spurs (I don't doubt this team at all, they also retained their key players)
2.Clippers (If Spurs didn't win it all last year, Clippers would be at the top)
3.Thunder (They remain only slightly better with Anthony Morrow)
4.Blazers (Look for this team to make a serious push this year)
5.Rockets (Losing Chandler Parsons was a major low-blow)
6.Warriors (Didn't get much better)
7.Phoenix (Dark Horse team this year; make it, or break it)
8.Dallas (Losing Calderon hurt them a bit)
9.Memphis (I don't see them making the playoffs again Z-Bo is older)
10.Sacramento (Getting better each year, watchout)
11.Denver (will be better, with Gallinari coming back)
12.New Orleans (Not much better)
13.Minnesota (assuming Love is gone)
14.Lakers (Tank nation stand up for Kobe)
15.Utah (Let's get the worse record in the league! at least get noticed)

Remember these picks?

[jerome]

those crazy pacman hawks

[psrs1]

East

1. Chicago
2.Cleveland
3. Toronto
4. Washington
5. Indiana
6. Miami
7. Atlanta
8. Charlotte
9. NY Knicks
10. Detroit
11. Brooklyn
12. Milwaukee
13. Boston
14. Orlando
15. Philadelphia



West

1. San Antonio
2. LA Clippers
3. OKC
4. Golden State
5. Dallas
6. Portland
7. Memphis
8. Phoenix
9. Houston
10. New Orleans.
11. Utah
12. Denver
13. LA Lakers
14 Sacramento
15. Minnesota.

I am factoring in that Love will go to Cavs which it looks like Le bron wants.

I wasn't much better having Hawks at 7th and Golden State 4th.

[psrs1]

Doesn't the title say win/loss predictions?

1. Cleveland 55-27 (I have no idea who's going to win the East so I just threw up my hands and said LeBron)
2. Washington 53-29 (I think there's a lot of potential for improvement with this team.)
3. Toronto 52-30
4. Chicago 49-33 (I don't believe in Derrick Rose so much right now, and if he's not there, this is what this team is)
5. Miami 48-34 (Bosh, 50 games of DWade and Deng should be enough to win in the high 40s)
6. Atlanta 48-34 (Horford back is going to mean improvement)
7. Indiana 45-37 (No indication yet that the second half of last year was a fluke)
8. New York 43-39 (This team has good players, I think regression to mean will spell improvement)
9. Brooklyn 41-41 (Older, missing key pieces)
10. Charlotte 41-41 (My big disappointment. Last year they got in based on Al Jefferson having a career year, I don't think that will happen again, plus he's an injury risk. If so, they rely almost entirely on Stevenson for offense, which could be disasterous)
11. Detroit 37-45 (This team simply doesn't have the right mix of players)
12. Milwaukee 35-47 (Can't see things going as horribly wrong as last year)
13. Orlando 35-47 (Improvement has to happen at some point, right?)
14. Boston 34-48 (Bad.)
15. Philly 25-57 (Real bad.)

West -Doing records here means I have to balance wins and losses. I don't want to do that.
1. San Antonio (Keep it clicking)
2. LA Clippers (This team is just going to keep getting better, I think)
3. Memphis (1st half of last year was fluky bad. This is closer to the team that only lost to OKC because of HC advantage and a missing ZBo in Game 7)
4. Oklahoma City (Should be better)
5. Houston (Their offseason wasn't great, but it wasn't fall out of the playoffs bad)
6. New Orleans (Need a surprise team somewhere)
7. Minnesota (I don't believe Love is getting traded, and this team was a lot better than its record)
8. Golden State (I just don't believe much in this team)
9. Portland (I'm not exactly sure why I have them missing the playoffs. Just trying to uphold some good turnover. The West playoff teams won't be exactly the same as last year, or last year plus Phoenix or something like that.)
10. Phoenix (Need them to show me last year wasn't a fluke)
11. Dallas (The West is murderous, plus they lost a couple of players and Nowitzki's another year older)
12. Denver
13. Sacremento
14. Utah
15. L.A. Lakers (Haha)

New York 43-39---yikes!