NBA predictions

I know its kinda earlie but what the heck? Here are my top 10 teams for next year without analysis:

1.Indiana
2.Houston
3.Sacramento
4.San Antonio
5.Minnesota
6.Detroit
7.Dallas
8.Miami
9.Denver
10.Knicks ( just because there's no east teams)

Just the regular season standings;

Eastern Conference;

01) Detroit Pistons
02) Miami Heat
03) Indiana Pacers
04) New Jersey Nets
05) Milwaukee Bucks
06) New York Knicks
07) Philadelphia 76ers
08) Toronto Raptors
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09) Cleveland Cavaliers
10) Orlando Magic
11) Boston Celtics
12) Atlanta Hawks
13) Washington Wizards
14) Chicago Bulls
15) Charlotte Bobcats

Western Conference;

01) Minnesota Timberwolves
02) San Antonio Spurs
03) Dallas Mavericks
04) Sacramento Kings
05) Houston Rockets
06) Los Angeles Lakers
07) Utah Jazz
08) Phoenix Suns
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09) Memphis Grizzlies
10) Denver Nuggets
11) New Orleans Hornets
12) Portland Trail Blazers
13) Golden State Warriors
14) Seattle Super Sonics
15) Los Angeles Clippers

Just the regular season standings;

Eastern Conference;

01) Detroit Pistons
02) Miami Heat
03) Indiana Pacers
04) New Jersey Nets
05) Milwaukee Bucks
06) New York Knicks
07) Philadelphia 76ers
08) Toronto Raptors
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09) Cleveland Cavaliers
10) Orlando Magic
11) Boston Celtics
12) Atlanta Hawks
13) Washington Wizards
14) Chicago Bulls
15) Charlotte Bobcats

Western Conference;

01) Minnesota Timberwolves
02) San Antonio Spurs
03) Dallas Mavericks
04) Sacramento Kings
05) Houston Rockets
06) Los Angeles Lakers
07) Utah Jazz
08) Phoenix Suns
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09) Memphis Grizzlies
10) Denver Nuggets
11) New Orleans Hornets
12) Portland Trail Blazers
13) Golden State Warriors
14) Seattle Super Sonics
15) Los Angeles Clippers


The east is looking but do you really think that Pheonix will make the playoffs in the west?? Even with the addition of Nash I still think that their not good enough.

The east is looking but do you really think that Pheonix will make the playoffs in the west?? Even with the addition of Nash I still think that their not good enough.

They became deeper and more experienced. I think that they boost one of the top trio's in the entire NBA, if not the top trio in the game with Amare Stoudamire, Shawn "the Matrix" Marion and Steve Nash. Add a supporting cast consisting out of Quentin Richardson, Joe Johnson, Cabarkapa (young but a huge upside) and you got some fine ingredients for a playoff contending team.

Just the regular season standings;

Eastern Conference;

01) Detroit Pistons
02) Miami Heat
03) Indiana Pacers
04) New Jersey Nets
05) Milwaukee Bucks
06) New York Knicks
07) Philadelphia 76ers
08) Toronto Raptors
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09) Cleveland Cavaliers
10) Orlando Magic
11) Boston Celtics
12) Atlanta Hawks
13) Washington Wizards
14) Chicago Bulls
15) Charlotte Bobcats

Western Conference;

01) Minnesota Timberwolves
02) San Antonio Spurs
03) Dallas Mavericks
04) Sacramento Kings
05) Houston Rockets
06) Los Angeles Lakers
07) Utah Jazz
08) Phoenix Suns
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09) Memphis Grizzlies
10) Denver Nuggets
11) New Orleans Hornets
12) Portland Trail Blazers
13) Golden State Warriors
14) Seattle Super Sonics
15) Los Angeles Clippers
I like your standings, with a few tweaks :
In the East :
-No way Toronto makes the postseason. I have them behind Orlando, Cleveland and maybe Boston.
-Nobody will suck more than Atlanta. Even Charlotte.
In the West :
-I think Memphis will get better and sneak into the playoffs.
-Denver is a lock for the playoffs, probably over the Jazz, Suns and Lakers.
-Portland should be a tad higher as well.

They became deeper and more experienced. I think that they boost one of the top trio's in the entire NBA, if not the top trio in the game with Amare Stoudamire, Shawn "the Matrix" Marion and Steve Nash. Add a supporting cast consisting out of Quentin Richardson, Joe Johnson, Cabarkapa (young but a huge upside) and you got some fine ingredients for a playoff contending team.
Yet you have them over Denver who doesn't have a good trio, but rather has a good quatuor : Miller-Anthony-Martin-Camby with Nene coming off the bench.
That's IMO much better than Matrix "can't shoot" Marion, Steve "can't defend" Nash and Amare "defense, what's that?" Stoudamire.

Yet you have them over Denver who doesn't have a good trio, but rather has a good quatuor : Miller-Anthony-Martin-Camby with Nene coming off the bench.
That's IMO much better than Matrix "can't shoot" Marion, Steve "can't defend" Nash and Amare "defense, what's that?" Stoudamire.

My reasoning behind it is that I expect the Suns to sort of break-out. They have a huge upside as a team and I think that this will be the first season they will realise some of it. But the 8th and final playoff spot is usually an extremely close battle, I wouldn't be suprised if 4 teams ended up with a simular record, and the Suns are known for winning against good teams, but then go on to have a tough time against the weaker sides.

I'm not expecting a better season from Denver, honestly. Carmelo is a selfish player, probably the most selfish player in the entire NBA. Martin is a punk who doesn't give a rats ass about winning, Nene is decent but young and not starting material just yet. Dre Miller I like, but he ain't even gonna lead an NBA team. Beyond those players they are fairly thin. I don't see why they are a lock to make the playoffs over the renewed, though still pretty darn solid Lakers (Odom/Butler/Bryant/Grant/Divac), a mucho improved Utah Jazz team Boozer/Kirilenko/Arroyo/Okur/Giricek) who already made the playoffs last year.

Denver is just one of those teams on the bubble. They will likely finish between 6th and 10th, but there the competition is extremely, extremely strong.

East:

*1. Detroit Pistons
*2. Miami Heat
*3. New York Knicks
4. Indiana Pacers
5. Milwaukee Bucks
6. Philadelphia 76ers
7. Toronto Raptors
8. Orlando Magic
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9. Cleveland Cavaliers
10. Boston Celtics
11. Washington Wizards
12. Chicago Bulls
13. New Jersey Nets
14. Atlanta Hawks
15. Charlotte Bobcats

West:

*1. San Antonio Spurs
*2. Minnesota Timberwolves
*3. Sacremento Kings
4. Dallas Mavericks
5. Houston Rockets
6. Utah Jazz
7. Denver Nuggets
8. Phoenix Suns
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9. Memphis Grizzlies
10. New Orleans Hornets
11. LA Lakers
12. Portland Trail Blazers
13. Seattle SuperSonics
14. LA Clippers
15. Golden State Warriors

I like your standings, with a few tweaks :
In the East :
-No way Toronto makes the postseason. I have them behind Orlando, Cleveland and maybe Boston.-Nobody will suck more than Atlanta. Even Charlotte.
In the West :
-I think Memphis will get better and sneak into the playoffs.
-Denver is a lock for the playoffs, probably over the Jazz, Suns and Lakers.
-Portland should be a tad higher as well.

:shakehead I gotta disagree if the Raptors can stay healthy they can possibly even beat out the knicks and sixers for first place in the division(now that jersey lost martin and kidd is injured for a while).Orlando didn't get much better as basically they switched francis for Mcgrady which is a pretty big downgrade.Cleveland lost Boozer and Gooden is a downgrade as well.Boston did improve but how much isn't known yet if Payton doesn't report.A core of Carter/Rose/(second year)Chris Bosh along with Alston,Marshall and wildcard Rafael Araujo could see the Raps among the top 5 teams in the East battling the knicks for first in the divison

:shakehead I gotta disagree if the Raptors can stay healthy they can possibly even beat out the knicks and sixers for first place in the division(now that jersey lost martin and kidd is injured for a while).Orlando didn't get much better as basically they switched francis for Mcgrady which is a pretty big downgrade.Cleveland lost Boozer and Gooden is a downgrade as well.Boston did improve but how much isn't known yet if Payton doesn't report.A core of Carter/Rose/(second year)Chris Bosh along with Alston,Marshall and wildcard Rafael Araujo could see the Raps among the top 5 teams in the East battling the knicks for first in the divison
Agreed, if the raps stay healty their a lock to make the east playoffs.

:shakehead I gotta disagree if the Raptors can stay healthy they can possibly even beat out the knicks and sixers for first place in the division(now that jersey lost martin and kidd is injured for a while).Orlando didn't get much better as basically they switched francis for Mcgrady which is a pretty big downgrade.Cleveland lost Boozer and Gooden is a downgrade as well.Boston did improve but how much isn't known yet if Payton doesn't report.A core of Carter/Rose/(second year)Chris Bosh along with Alston,Marshall and wildcard Rafael Araujo could see the Raps among the top 5 teams in the East battling the knicks for first in the divison
You're entitled to your opinion, but Orlando has added Francis, Mobley, Howard, Turkoglu as well. They're solid at every position.

You're entitled to your opinion, but Orlando has added Francis, Mobley, Howard, Turkoglu as well. They're solid at every position.
Toronto has Bosch and the draft pick(forgot his name) at center, they have accuired Alston to manage at the point with Rose at shooting guard, then we got VC an Marshall at power forward and shooting forward. All in all I if the Raps stay healthy I predict them to finish no lower than 6th.

East
1. Detroit
2. Indiana
3. Miami
4. Milwaukee
5. Philadelphia
6. New Jersey
7. New York
8. Toronto

West
1. San Antonio
2. Minnesota
3. Dallas
4. Sacramento
5. Houston
6. Denver
7. Utah
8. LA Lakers

4-8 in the West will be really, really close though.

I'm not expecting a better season from Denver, honestly. Carmelo is a selfish player, probably the most selfish player in the entire NBA. Martin is a punk who doesn't give a rats ass about winning, Nene is decent but young and not starting material just yet. Dre Miller I like, but he ain't even gonna lead an NBA team. Beyond those players they are fairly thin. I don't see why they are a lock to make the playoffs over the renewed, though still pretty darn solid Lakers (Odom/Butler/Bryant/Grant/Divac), a mucho improved Utah Jazz team Boozer/Kirilenko/Arroyo/Okur/Giricek) who already made the playoffs last year.

Denver is just one of those teams on the bubble. They will likely finish between 6th and 10th, but there the competition is extremely, extremely strong.Utah didn't make the playoffs last year, as they finished one game behind the eighth seed Nuggets. Both Utah and Denver improved in the offseason. There are going to be a couple of good teams left out of the playoffs in the Western Conference. The Midwest Division itself is absolutely loaded from top to bottom.

I don't completely agree with your assesment of Denver, especially about Carmelo and Kenyon Martin. I think the Nuggets have a lot of room to improve upon last season. Nene and Carmelo should get better with experience, and Martin changes their frontcourt bigtime. Camby will get to come off the bench and provide quality minutes, also lessening the wear and tear on his fragile body. Earl Boykins is a nice sparkplug off the bench. Any contribution from Nikolaz Tskitshvili will be an added
bonus, though I'm not expecting much - there's always the offseason articles proclaiming how much better Tskitishvili has gotten over the summer break. Voshon Lenard is a streaky shooter and the Nuggets could really improve at his position, shooting guard.

I can't see Philly making the Playoffs

I can't see Philly making the Playoffs

Me neither.