Post-Pre-Seas-Predictions

Well, I haven’t kept up with basketball too much this season yet, with the exception of the Lakers, but now that that the new year has started, I expect to begin to see the pattern weaved into the fabric of time more clearly leaving memories that become legend and fade to myth and a wind will rise to mark a beginning...

uh… that was odd... anyhow...

Because of my inattention to this point, I believe I can, relatively honestly, make a post pre-season prediction about the playoff hopes. I do remember that I’d definitely picked Chicago vs. Dallas in the Finals though it’s more likely that one of the Western Conference series’ will be a better representation of what the Finals were meant to be, the best two teams in the league squaring off (Dallas/Suns? or Dallas/Spurs?).

(i wish this thing supported columns)

West

1. Mavs
2. Spurs
3. Lakers
4. Rockets
5. Clips
6. Suns
7. Hornets
8. Nuggets

East

1. Pistons
2. Nets
3. Bulls
4. Cavs
5. Magic
6. Knicks
7. Wiz
8. Heat

My predictions as of today though look like I made some glaring mistakes. I’m huge fan of good coaching and defense when it comes to strength once the playoffs have started so I underestimated the Suns and Wizards big time as far as regular season power. I’m also kicking myself for not having the Jazz in the lower 3 as well as they have great coaching and defense. I never would have predicted the heights they’ve achieved thus far. They look to me like the Pistons did 2-3 years back – great example of a *team*, with very good defense all around.

With the advantage of seeing injuries now, and a small trade, I can say that the Hornets are out of it, the Rockets are facing rough times for the 3rd year running (I really thought this could be a great year for them…), and the Nuggets are officially intimidating.

As for the East, they were much more difficult for me to gauge in general. I thought the Pacers (coaching) and Bucks (talent) both had a chance but I gambled on the Knicks (still playing worlds better than last year), thought that the Nets’ defense would be better than it is, and couldn’t bring myself to knock the Heat out of the playoffs (even though I knew they were all decrepit and were going to fall apart at the hinges).

All of that said, my updated playoff predictions:

West

1. Mavs
2. Spurs
3. Suns
4. Jazz
5. Lakers
6. Nuggets
7. Rockets
8. Clips

East

1. Pistons
2. Wiz
3. Bulls
4. Nets
5. Magic
6. Cavs
7. Pacers
8. Knicks

Injuries are always a wrench in the works so we’ll see how they play out through the progression of this season. Thus far though, they've made a solid Rockets start into some big question marks, the Hornets into noncontenders, and my Lakers into a .500 club for now. It does look like the Rockets and Lakers will have significant amounts of time (2+ months; 30+ games), barring further injuries, at full capacity to solidify their team play prior to a playoff push so either one could be a dark horse in my mind due to their defense. I'd love to place the Nuggets higher but I'm not sure they'll have enough games left before they start clicking together. And they don't play defense. Regardless, they will be worrisome come playoffs. My big gamble is still the Knicks while the smaller one is that the Clips will start playing to their potential. We'll see about those, they both have their own issues...