Western Conference Preview and Predictions ...

[The_Trade_Seer]

I'd love to see everyone's WC predictions ... below are mine:

PACIFIC DIVISION:

1. Lakers (The division champs are back minus Odom and Brown and plus McRoberts, Goudelock and Kapono ... that should be enough to win the division)

2. Cippers (The Clippers will be much improved from ast year but I honestly feel the Gordon for CP3 trade makes the a worse all around team than had they kept Gordon and started Billups at the point)

3. Warriors (The Warriors still need a capable C and coach Jackson's playoff guarantee may ring hollow by season's end, but they should be fun to watch)

4. Kings (It seems every team in the Paific but the Lakers should be vastly improved this season and the Kings are no exception. They are still a solid veteran or a year or two of youngster growth away from playoff contention)

5. Suns (Steve Nash does not deserve this ... lineup and Grant Hill was insane to re-sign with the setting Suns as they are already done, book it.)

NORTHWEST DIVISION:

1. Thunder (The trendy pick to win the west comes back stronger and hungrier than ever and with young legs that should easily carry them to a #1 seed in the West)

2. Blazers (Roy retired, Oden's injured again and Adridge has heart problems and yet somehow you get the feeling it will be business as usual for the Blazers this season and a playoff berth is inevitable)

3. Jazz (The Jazz have the best and deepest frontcourt in the entire NBA-yes I'm serious, however they are still relatively young and miss backcourt scoring. I could see this team as the #6 seed in the West and as getting the #6 draft pick ... I wonder which I'll be closer to)

4. Nuggets (Who knows what the Nuggets team will resemble this season. Will they bring back Chandler, Smith and/or Kenyon Martin? Their frontcourt is strong and they have a solid PG and a great coach ... will that be enough to keep them out of their division cellar?)

5. Timberwolves (The Timberwolves have #1 seed talent and lottery bound inexperience ... with a HOF coach, it should be a fun and interesting year in frozen Sota)
SOUTHWEST DIVISION:

1. Grizzlies (Coming off a division championship loss, the Grizz return even stronger with a healthy Rudy Gay and another young guard in Josh Selby. They have the talent to win the title not just the West)

2. Spurs (An old and aging team everyone thinks is ready to fall off the map-the same could have been said last year and all they did was grab the #1 seed last season ... another playoff berth is a given it seems)

3. Mavs (The defending champs return without their starting C or backup PG and SG, but with a new jack of all trades (Odom), tough as nails combo guard (West) and sharp shooter (Vince) they are all but assured a playoff berth, though a Finals berth seems unlikey)

4. Rockets (The insanely young and inexperienced Rockets look to be devastated by the trade for Pau Gasol that didn't go through ... expect a top 10 pick in next year's draft)

5. Hornets (Eric Gordon could average 30+ a game ... and this team would still finish with a top 10 pick in the lottery. However can you imagine if their and the Wolves pick netted them Andre Drummond and Anthony Davis in the draft?)

PLAYOFFS:

1. Thunder (4-0 ... not close)
8. Jazz

4. Mavs (4-2 ... Mavs depth and experience to much for Clips to handle)
5. Clippers

2. Grizzlies (4-1 ... Grizzlies interior game dominates)
7. Warriors

3. Lakers (4-2 ... These two teams aren't close in talent)
6. Blazers

2ND ROUND

1. Thunder (4-3 ... Loss of Chadler greatly hurts Mavs ... Harden outplays Terry/Carter)
4. Mavs

2. Grizzies
3. Lakers (4-2 ... Talent may be equal but experience and length still in Laker favor)

CONFERENCE FINALS

1. Thunder
3. Lakers (4-3 ... Lakers size, length and experience bests Thunders speed and athleticism)

[ennui]

1. Thunder - Condensed season favors their youth.

2. Mavs - Self-explanatory, but could move down due to geriatrics.

3. Lakers - If we can shore up the 1 and 4 spot, I can see us moving up.

4.Grizzlies - Have all the talent but no superstar, take over guy.

5. Spurs - Age and injuries, my prediction is Tim Duncan retires after this year.

6. Clippers - Meshing in one season is going to be tough.

7. Portland - Always in the mix somehow.

8. Wild card (prolly Warriors)

Thunder/Mavs western conference finals and the Thunder take it.

Thunder lose to Miami in the finals.

[hermes]

if durant doesn't average 40 points a game you can ban the OP

[The_Trade_Seer]

if durant doesn't average 40 points a game you can ban the OP

That doesn't even make sense ... why would you waste your time to write such drivel?

[inkyonroad]

1. Thunder- Durant makes a strong case for MVP and Perkins having his best defense season.
2. Lakers- They will be much better defense team with Kobe being 2008 Kobe.
3. Dallas- The jump shooting team is back! Dirk will be Dirk.
4. Spurs- The last stand and Manu, Duncan's last relevant season.
5. Grizzles- They'll cool down a bit, but still dangerous.
6. Clippers- Hot and Cold team that goes out in the first round.
7. Trailblazers- "Nobody believes in us" team.
8. Suns- Just happen to be lucky to be here in the playoffs.

[crimsonkb24]

thunder
grizzlies
spurs
mavs
lakers
trailblazers
clippers
random

pretty sad and disappointed right now, but i can really imagine that we could end up quite low concerning our seed. our bench sucks, we lost odom and i dont want to know what happens if drew gets hurt again

**** stern

[TonyMontana]

[The_Trade_Seer]

if durant doesn't average 40 points a game you can ban the OP

That doesn't even make sense ... why would you waste your time to write such drivel?

The question and not that Im trying to be a **** but why do you write a novel on each post you make.

You post full page trades on every post that you make no matter what the topic is.

Just saying.

Um .... there isn't one trade proposal in this entire thread, let alone my few posts, so what you're saying isn't true ... however the reason I generally write full page or two posts rather than 40 words of nonsense like many on this forum is because I believe in quality writing and only writing things that are important enough to be written ... if others followed the same principle there would be 90% less posts and 90% more quality.

Just saying.

[TonyMontana]

[hermes]

if others followed the same principle there would be 90% less posts and 90% more quality.

this is the age of instant gratification

if everything was that long no one would read anything

[The_Trade_Seer]

this is the age of instant gratification

Sad ... but you are 100% correct.

if everything was that long no one would read anything

Again ... sad ... but true.

Hey Tony ... there you go mang ... short and sweet, tweet style, hahaha.

[ennui]

Ty was right about us being the best at derailing threads.

I feel if one is concise and generally mindful of grammar, attention span is not an issue.

[TonyMontana]

Ty was right about us being the best at derailing threads.

I feel if one is concise and generally mindful of grammar, attention span is not an issue.

You are correct but every cycle new posters arrive that dont know the R&G of this board. If I did derail it then Im sorry. But at the sametime there are a lot off topics or reposts as well as people posting trades on every thread they see. Threads are being opened about the same subject over and over again.

Again I was only addressing what I say that was annoying as well I was looking out for another poster just like you did for me earlier on the bleacher post.

So we can either take each others help and advice and move on and make this board better or we can argue among each other and never resolve a problem.

Im down for working with each other.

Infact Ill start by removing my reply to The Trade............ Cooooooooll???