Playoff Predictions

After pre-season and a first handfull of games, my playoff predictions are as follows:

Western Conference
1. Spurs; still the best team, everybody seems healthy (except for Mills) and they once again will top the west. 
2. Clippers; Blake, who made a giant leap last year, and Paul are two of the top 10 players in the NBA. Together with a nice supporting cast and a good coach they will just fall short of first place.
3. Thunder; Similar in terms of two top 10 talents, except that one is injured in the beginning, and in terms of supporting cast. Difference between Brooks and Doc makes them a 3-seed.
4. Mavericks; Very, very talented team that basically has it all, from good defense, youth, brilliant coach, and one of the best ‘closers’ in Dirk. Considering they have to incorporate important new pieces and see them just below the big three in the West during the regular season, but as an important dark horse for the playoffs. 
5. Warriors; New coach, new system, same amount of talent. It will take the Warriors a while before they run this new system smoothly, also during the high-pressure moments. 
6. Blazers; One of the best starting units in the NBA improved the bench a bit, but not enough to gain home court advantage in the first round. Only other issue I have with this team, besides the bench production, is that Lillard still shoots a relatively low percentage, and that Aldridge’ game is based on long 2 pointers. 
7. Grizzlies; Just said in another post this is one of the most dangerous teams in the West if they make the playoffs. In a slow game (playoffs!) they can beat any team, as long as they stay healthy and don’t lose any major pieces (Gasol, Conley, or veteran Carter). 
8. Nuggets; Finally (sort-of) healthy this team just beats out the Pelicans and the Rockets for the final play-off spot.  

Just missing out:
– Pelicans; Davis might be good, even very good, and their frontcourt as a whole is a strenght, but they lack the stability at guard to beat out the Nuggets for the 8-seed. 
– Rockets; Two of the biggest stars (like the Clippers and the Thunder), but then minus the strong supporting cast. Also, both Harden and Howard have major flaws and I can’t see them changing that during this season. 

Eastern Conference
1. Bulls; Deepest team in the East goes 3 deep at some positions (PF, PG) with some of the better players in this league. Combine this with one of the finest coaches in the NBA and you have the top seed in the East. 
DET – BRO – IND – NYK
2. Cavs; Best player in the league with a nice supporting cast. Although they depend on the health of some role players (Varejao!), they still have LeBron, and that alone will bring them to the postseason. 
3. Heat; Losing your best player hurts, but they still have two major stars in Bosh and Wade (who looks healthy), complemented by nice role players in Deng and McRoberts (when healthy). Experience and good coaching will lead them just past Toronto in the standings. 
4. Raptors; very balanced team that has it all: guards (Lowry), wings (DeRozan) and big men (Valenciunas). They will fall just behind the top two teams and the experienced Heat. 
5. Hawks; this is just a very, very solid team led by one of the most underrated coaches in the league. Yes they are modelled to the Spurs, and no they are not as good as their example, but they do bring a good PG in Teague, a big tandem in Millsap-Horford and one of the best (shooting) role players in the NBA in Korver.
6. Bobcats; Perhaps a slight surprise seeing them at 6 over the Wizards, but they have a lot of talent and seeing the effort some of these players put on (Stephenson) and off (MKG) the floor I can see them winning a lot of games. They also seem less injury-prone than the Wiz. 
7. Wizards; They will miss Beal (and Webster) more than you would like to admit, especially after exchanging athleticism (Ariza) for experience (Pierce) on the wing. Wall and his big guys will make sure however they reach the postseason, representing a though out for any team. 
8. Nets; Preferably, nobody else makes the playoffs from the East considering the dire lack of talent in the other 8 teams. However, somebody has to get bullied (no pun intented) by Chicago in the first round, and if Brooklyn’s veterans stay healthy they will be that team. 

Just missing out:
– Pistons; they have a good coach, but lack the balance and stability to truly compete for a playoff spot.
– Knicks; they have a star, but also a dire lack of talent surrounding him and implementing the triangle during the season will be tough. 
– Indiana; they still have a good coach and nice role players but lack their star for the season. If Bird let the team play out the season in their current setting they might still have a chance getting the 8 seed. 

What I find truly incredible is that the two teams missing out in the West (Pelicans and Rockets) would have made it in the East easily, possibly even clinching a 4-seed over Toronto.