OT: 2009-2010 Season Predictions

[bc legends]

Aside from who the champions will be next year, the Celtics, who do you guys have as the:

Most Valuable Player -
Rookie of the Year -
Defensive Player of the Year -
6th Man -
Most Improved Player -
Coach of the Year -

[SonicYouth34]

Most Valuable Player - LeBron (Biased pick by voters)
Rookie of the Year - Johnny Flynn
Defensive Player of the Year - Dwight Howard
6th Man - Marquis Daniels (I think he's gonna beast for that new contract)
Most Improved Player - Anthony Randolph/Morrow
Coach of the Year - Phil Jackson


I think a few more things should be added to your list like: worst team, best team, most surprising team, most disappointing team, stuff like that.

[Scalamental]

Most Valuable Player - LBJ
Rookie of the Year - Blake Griffin
Defensive Player of the Year - Ron Artest
6th Man - Sheed
Most Improved Player - Sessions
Coach of the Year - Doc Rivers

[Zin5]

Most Valuable Player - Chris Paul (really think the Okafor addition is going seriously overlooked for what it's going to do for him)
Rookie of the Year - Blake Griffin (most ready to make an immediate impact)
Defensive Player of the Year - Dwight Howard (he's going to put numbers up better than what Camby put up to win DPOY for a while now)
6th Man - Manu Ginobili (assuming he stays healthy)
Most Improved Player - Greg Oden (I don't think he puts up the PPG numbers to earn the vote, but I believe he'll deserve it)
Coach of the Year - Nate McMillan (will explain why I picked him in a bit)

Also going to go into a couple of my bold predictions for the year:

-Portland will at least challenge and for prediction's sake I'll say they'll win the first seed in the West. I could see them being a second round exit, but they're deep, got more experienced from a team that was basically in a deadlock for second with several other teams, added Andre Miller, and hopefully Oden will breakout. All that will win McMillan coach of the year.

-Houston will make the playoffs and not by some kind of series of lucky events (like teams ahead of them getting the injury bug). Yes, they'll be without Yao, but T Mac looks better than he has in years and they were a competitive team last year in the playoffs without either of them. Yes, they lose Artest, but they pick up Ariza, still have a winner in Battier, a rejuvenated T Mac, another year in Brooks, and Scola who's pretty underrated. For prediction's sake here, I'll say they'll finish sixth in the West.

-Shaq will make Cleveland a worse team from last year. I just really see that being a problem on offense and he's just not there enough to make it worth it on defense. They'll finish third in the East and they will be closer to fourth than second.

[hourockman]

Adelman and Scott Brooks could have COY in the bag if Adelman goes over 500 w/ the injuries or the Thunder assimilate their talent into a winning product for the first time. I agree that McMillan is potentially a candidate, but Portland is a young jigsaw. They haven't proven they can win on the road consistently and showed their immaturity in the first round against experience. They won't sniff the 1st seed out of thin air, at least not w/ LA and SA in the same conf. The Blazers have to figure out how to work their minutes to avoid diminishing returns. That's a tough job when your team is composed of all good players and no clear superstars -- check the 2000 Blazers, they knew how to do it, but they were a deeply veteran team.

Jason Terry for 6th man unless Manu gets hurt again.

DPOY to Artest or more likely Howard, though I think the voters are enamored with his stats more than his actual ability to lock someone down.

[Zin5]

That's the kind of mentality as to why the Blazers are getting overlooked. Just because someone or some team hasn't done something yet, doesn't mean they can't. They were tied for second last year and they can only get better with the addition of Miller and another year of experience under their belt. And it's pretty clear where the minutes are going to, I'd definitely say Roy, Miller, and Aldridge are the clear cut best players at their positions, and Webster (if healthy) and Oden (if healthy), will probably get the bulk of the minutes at their positions. It's just a prediction, not a fact. I'm sure no one was guessing the Magic to make the Finals this time last year.

[Green_for_life]

Most Valuable Player - Wade
Rookie of the Year - Blake Griffin
Defensive Player of the Year - Chris Paul
6th Man - Terry
Most Improved Player - Anthony Randolph
Coach of the Year - Saunders

[hourockman]

That's the kind of mentality as to why the Blazers are getting overlooked. Just because someone or some team hasn't done something yet, doesn't mean they can't. They were tied for second last year and they can only get better with the addition of Miller and another year of experience under their belt. And it's pretty clear where the minutes are going to, I'd definitely say Roy, Miller, and Aldridge are the clear cut best players at their positions, and Webster (if healthy) and Oden (if healthy), will probably get the bulk of the minutes at their positions. It's just a prediction, not a fact. I'm sure no one was guessing the Magic to make the Finals this time last year.

It's more giving them credit for something they haven't proven capable of yet (winning on the road) when you have 2 other teams ahead of them who have proven it and each one has arguably gotten better as well. I don't think a team that young is going to outwit and outplay the Lakers and Spurs.

Under normal circumstances (a healthy Garnett), I think most peoples' guesses that Orlando wouldn't make the Finals would've been borne out in reality. So if Kobe and Duncan go down with knee injuries like KG did, the Blazers might take that 1st seed.