[AwardedBallerParticipant]

I had time on my hands and was having trouble sleeping so I decided to do an entire prediction of the upcoming season. Let me know your opinions and what you think. It’s a long read so feel free to just skim. It was super hard to do this, I really think we might have the most competitive NBA season in years on our hands. It really will not be a cake walk for the Dubs and the Cavs.

Eastern Conference:

1) Cleveland Cavaliers

2) Indiana Pacers

3) Boston Celtics

4) Toronto Raptors

5) Chicago Bulls

6) New York Knicks

7) Milwaukee Bucks

8) Atlanta Hawks

9) Washington Wizards

10) Detroit Pistons

11) Charlotte Hornets

12) Orlando Magic

13) Philadelphia 76ers

14) Miami Heat

15) Brooklyn Nets

EC Finals: Cavaliers defeat Celtics 4-1

Western Conference:

1) Golden State Warriors

2) Los Angeles Clippers

3) Houston Rockets

4) San Antonio Spurs

5) Portland Trail Blazers

6) New Orleans Pelicans

7) Oklahoma City Thunder

8) Minnesota Timberwolves

9) Memphis Grizzlies

10) Utah Jazz

11) Dallas Mavericks

12) Sacremento Kings

13)  Denver Nuggets

14) Pheonix Suns

15) Los Angeles Lakers

WC Finals: Warriors defeat Clippers 4-2

NBA FINALS: Warriors defeat Cavaliers 4-2

FINALS MVP: Draymond Green

Although their season was not as dominant as they would of hoped, the Dubs still willed their way to the Finals with their talent and through the leadership of Draymond Green. With his playmaking pivotal in Games 5 and 6 Draymond Green provided the final blows to the Cavaliers fantastic season. With Draymond Green being crowed the Bill Russell award for Finals MVP.

MVP:

 LeBron James

Everyone thinks this is pretty much a race between Russ or a member of the Dubs’ core 4, I don’t believe it’s that easy. In the 14-15 season the excuse for no giving Russ the MVP nod in a two man race between James Harden and Stephen Curry was the fact that his team was not winning much. Although I do think the Thunder will make the playoffs, I don’t believe they’ll be able to crack the top 4 in the west just off of Russell Westbrooks play alone. The media loves to play on stories when it comes to the MVP race, and one narrative no one is paying attention to is the Cavaliers first season following a 52 year drought in the city. After LeBron won his first ring with Miami, he came back the next season a new player and played like a man possessed, I think the media will have to respect this and he’ll force their hand to selecting him MVP.

Runner up: Paul George

HM: Russell Westbrook, Draymond Green, Kawhi Leonard

ROY: Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid

In the 1994-1995 season and the 1999-2000 season, we witnessed two rookies share the ROY award. Grant Hill and Steve Nash sharing the former and Steve Francis and Elton Brand splitting the latter. I believe we’ll see this again. The Sixers are ready to turn the corner, and I expect a huge improvement from them with two game changers wearing a Sixers uniform for the first time this season. Joel Embiid’s rare combination of strength, post moves, shooting touch and overall athleticism could make him a match up nightmare at possibly the weakest position in the NBA today. That combined with the play making ability of both Ben Simmons and Jahlil Okafor could make the Sixers front court very young and scary for the remainder of the league to watch, Voters will be split as to who is more impactful on the team, leading us r4to see yet another case of co-ROY.

Runner up: Brandon Ingram

HM: Jamal Murray, Thon Maker

6MOY: Allen Crabbe

Has come along nicely as one of the supporting pieces to this Trail Blazers team, as this award will be depending on if  Evan Turner gets the starting nod over him or not, I still expect him to be a large part of this Blazers team heading into this season. He’s shown flashes of what he can do as a great two way player. The Blazers can really make some noise this year if he, Myers Leonard and Evan Turner all step up into their roles.

Runner up: Shabazz Muhammad

HM: Jamal Crawford, Courtney Lee, Corey Joeseph. Will Barton

DPOY: Anthony Davis

Seems as if everyone has forgotten about Anthony Davis. Although he is not apart of the most dangerous team in the league, he is still one of the best if not the best big man in the league today. Just a couple of years ago it seems as if he was in the argument for best player in the league, with that conversation starting to fade out way too early, I expect a healthy Anthony Davis make huge strides this season and help the Pelicans make a playoff push. I expect to see him re-take the league by storm and start with his excellent defensive precense.

Runner Up: Draymond Greem

HM: Kawhi Leonard, John Wall

Most Improved: Bradley Beal

After getting off to an extremely fast start the last season which included a buzzer beater victory vs. the Spurs, Bradley Beal was out with an leg injury for a large part of the season. Still managing to average 17 a game, an improvement over the previous season. With new coach Scott Brooks who has had his fair share of scoring duo’s in the past. I expect to see John Wall’s assist numbers spike and Bradley Beal’s scoring to rise as well. As long as he can stay healthy the Wizards backcourt combo should be able to frighten coaches all over the association.

Runner up: Jabari Parker

HM: Harrison Barnes, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Bismack Biyombo, Zach LaVine, Dwight Howard

Coach of the Year: Tom Thibodeau

The Timberwolves are back on the map, with the last two Rookie of the year winners, along with veteran precense in the locker room, Two athletic scoring wings, and a nice bench. They caught the attention of the whole NBA adding the final loss to the Warriors’ record setting record last season and are back and possibly better. Other than their youth, one major knock on the team was the fact that Sam Mitchell was their coach. With Thibs the athletic Wolves will be a defensive juggernaut and in the playoffs for the first time since their Western Conference Finals appearence in 2004. Expect great things out of this team.

Runner Up; Tyronn Lue

HM: Nate McMillan, Brad Stevens, Jeff Hornacek

Scoring champion: Russell Westbrook

Assist leader: Rajon Rondo

Rebound leader: Andre Drummond

Steals per game: John Wall

Blocks per game: Hassan Whiteside

 

All NBA-First Team:                          All NBA-Second Team:             All NBA-Third Team:

F Paul George                                     F Kevin Durant                         F Draymond Green

F LeBron James                                  F Kawhi Leonard                      F Anthony Davis

C Karl-Anthony Towns                      C DeAndre Jordan                    C Andre Drummond

G Russell Westbrook                          G James Harden                       G Damian Lillard

G Stephen Curry                                 G Chris Paul                            G Kyrie Irving

 

All NBA Defensive First Team:               All NBA Defensive Second Team:

F Anthony Davis                                      F Kawhi Leonard

F Draymond Green                                  F Paul George

C Hassan Whiteside                                C Steven Adams

G Chris Paul                                            G Jimmy Butler

G John Wall                                             G Marcus Smart

 

All-Rookie First Team:                  All-Rookie Second Team:

Ben Simmons                               Buddy Hield

Joel Embiid                                  Jaylen Brown

Brandon Ingram                           Kris Dunn

Thon Maker                                 Brice Johnson

Jamal Murray                              Tyler Ulis

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[ChewyParticipant]

 1. I expect KAT to make the sophomore jump just like the rest of you. But I don’t think he jumps to first team All-NBA.

2. I’m excited to see Embiid in an actual game, rather than a YouTube video. Color me a glass-half-broken kind of guy, but I don’t see Embiid playing in enough games to beat out Simmons for ROY.

3. I have Harden winning the scoring title instead of Westbrook, but let’s be honest, both players are easily capable of winning that title.

4. Kawhi will show people last year wasn’t a fluke and will end up on first team All-NBA and first team All-D.

Fun read. Nice post!

 

 

 

 

[AwardedBallerParticipant]

 1) My prediction was more an indictment on how poor the Center position is in the league, there’s only 4-5 All-Team NBA candidates at the position and I believe KAT will be more dominant than Marc Gasol and DeAndre Jordan. It could be a reach but only time can tell.

2) A dominant big is always better than a dominant wing in my opinion. Although your assesment about the amonut of games Joel Embiid will play, I did not take that into consideration. Great point.

3) James Harden is my current favorite player and if D’Antoni runs anything close to the 7 seconds or less Suns, I could definently see The beard winning his first scoring title. I’ve always wondered why they did it by average instead of the literal amount, I believe he’d have 2 right now if that’s the case.

4) Kawhi wasn’t the issue, I just believe Paul George will have an incredible season. Most the predictions I made were based off of someone stepping up rather than anyone regressing. I still think no doubt Kawhi is going to allow the Spurs to continue to make noise. He isa top 5 player currently.

 

 

 

[Swim34061Participant]

Well done – what jumped out to me was Miami 14th in the East.  What’s your reasoning here – you expecting no Bosh/tank job this season? 

[AwardedBallerParticipant]

 Appreciate the reply, thank you. The Heat are my favorite team been a Heat fan my whole life. I feel like Pat Riley has a propensity to tank the season completely if the playoffs don’t seem imminent. I don’t feel like the whole Dion Waiters thing and James Johnson will work out very well. I do think Tyler Johnson and Josh Richardson are coming along well but the weaknessess of the backcourt won’t do us much justice (no pun intended). I don’t think Bosh will play much this season, I don’t know what will happen with him, but I just feel like Pat Riley will somehow manage to hold him out in hopes to tank. Having the Heat below the 76ers is my rendition of a bold prediction. I just think the Sixers will over preform greatly that is all.

 

 

[ThefabulousjqParticipant]

Very nice write up!  Just one note, the 94-95 ROY was shared by Hill and J Kidd, not Steve Nash.  Nash was a rookie in the 96-97 year, and Iverson won that ROY award.

[AwardedBallerParticipant]

 Good catch, thank you! I don’t know how I fumbled that I’ve been watching throwback Jason Kidd games all month. I guess that 97-98 Suns team confused me a bit there.

[AwardedBallerParticipant]

 Good catch, thank you! I don’t know how I fumbled that I’ve been watching throwback Jason Kidd games all month. I guess that 97-98 Suns team confused me a bit there.

[LOFTYParticipant]

I may be wrong but I don’t see any way possible the jazz are worse than last year. they finished 9th. if anything they will go up in standings. there are a number of teams in the west that were in the playoffs last year that have gotten worse.

[ZachAttackParticipant]

 10th place for the Jazz!!! And MIAMI at 14th!!! I can’t believe those. You better have a good explanation for that, there is no way that will happen!!! 

[AwardedBallerParticipant]

 Yikes! Don’t rip my head off lol, Although I do think the Utah Jazz are a good team, any team I placed ahead of them I just believe are head and shoulders better than them. I think it’s more about how good the other teams are than the Jazz being bad or anything. The Grizzlies spent the year a top 5 team most of the season and still cracked into the playoffs despite all the injuries, the Timberwolves are an up and coming team with explosion everywhere. The Blazers are back and healthier. The Spurs, Warriors, Rockets and Clippers for obvious reasons. I really believe you could have a toss up between the Grizzliers, Timberwolves and Jazz. The Jazz were just the odd man out in my eyes. Appreciate the reply!

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