Money’s NBA season predictions

B. Anthony posted a nice write up of the upcoming season. My one gripe is that it is not bold enough. Anyone can predict the Patriots to win the superbowl or the Florida gators to win the national championship in basketball. Everyone does, and nobody remembers, therefore you get no credit. Money likes to put his neck out there and come up with some bold predictions. If I am wrong, then I am an idiot, but most of you feel that way anyway. If I am right, then I am, well….Money

NBA Champions: Detroit Pistons. They have such a good team, and an outstanding backcourt. Plus they added two great rookies; my favorite Bruin Aaron Afflalo and Rodney Stuckey. Stuckey has a broken hand, but will finish second in rookie of the year voting behind Durant.

MVP: Dwight Howard. This guy is 100% man. He is so dominant now, and he has done it so quickly. Expect many more MVP trophies.

Best record: Orlando Magic. This team, led by Howard, Lewis and Nelson will end the year with the best record in the NBA. It won’t translate to an NBA championship though.

Guess who’s not coming to dinner? Cleveland Cavaliers. There is no doubt that LeBron James is one of the best players in the league, if not the best. But the rest of his team is horrible and they did nothing in the off-season to improve this team. They won’t make the playoffs this year.

Division Winners:
Atlantic: New Jersey Nets
Central Detroit Pistons
Southeast: Orlando Magic
Northwest: Utah Jazz
Southwest: Dallas
Pacific: Phoenix

Warriors prediction: I am usually quite pessimistic when it comes to the Warriors and their chances for success, but this year, I like them. First of all, let me start off by saying the expectations for these guys is high. Will anyone be satisfied if they make the playoffs as an 8th or 7th seed and lose in the first round? No, you will be pissed. Frankly, that is another good season, but based on the ride they took us on last year, they have to do better. Do they need to be the 6th seed, or get out of the second round of the playoffs? That would be nice, but to me, not the most important thing. They just have to keep me interested. It has been about 13 years since I have cared about the Warriors and right now, I am interested. Make it fun, keep me interested and let’s see where this leads us. It better be into the second round though.

I predict a good year for them; 47-35 and a second place finish in the Pacific. This takes into account that Baron Davis stays healthy and happy, which is a huge assumption. They won’t succeed without Davis, but if he performs under Nellie’s system they can be good. They will always get killed on the boards, but their energy, shooting and passion can carry them a long way. If Davis gets hurts, sulks or quits on Nellie expect them to drift to the bottom of the pond and I will mention them this time again next year.

My favorite Warrior; Kelenna Azubuike. What a great signing this guy was over the summer. He is really versatile and can and will score when needed. Keep an eye on him. Runner-up; Brandan Wright. He could have been the #3 pick in the draft and that is saying a lot falling behind Oden and Durant. He won’t do much this year, but I think he will be great in the future.

Get back on that Horse!

The Nba is tricky and we did see some pretty good individual performances last night. Let's see if we can found our way back into the winning ways.

Orlando- -6.5. A soft Milwaukee team will have a very difficult time with Dwight Howard. If you want an example, see Carlos Boozer vs the Warriors.

Philadelphia +7 . They are scrappy and Andre Iguadola will have the highlight dunk of the night. They will lose, but by less than 6. Take the points.

Sacramento + 9.5. Another team that is not that pretty to watch, but New Orleans will not beat this team by double digits.

Happy Gaming

B. Anthony

NBA Season Preview

NBA preview 2007-2008

Let’s just welcome all the basketball starved readers back to the world of B. Anthony and Money. Clearly this is just a warm-up for college basketball, but we have a few weeks, so we might as well start picking games. Before I get into the season long predictions, let me give you the winners of tonight’s games to wet your whistle.

Spurs -13 will absolutely obliterate the Blazers. This team does not have Oden yet, and is just very young. Actually more that 6 years per player younger than the Spurs. This will be mismatch early.

Warriors -3.5 Too much momentum and anger from last year. Baron Davis will have 25 and 12 assists in a great opening night fun.

Rockets - 5.5 Kobe will put on a show, but they have no answer for Yao. This will be a long season for the Lakers. They might sneak into 8th place again, but they will lose consistently to the class of the league. ( line updated at 2:58pm PST)

Western Conference
1. Dallas- Back with a vengeance, and not worried about the Warriors finishing 8th
2. San Antonio- They will slowly wear everyone down, and look like a possible repeat
3. Jazz- They just win games, and Williams and Boozer are becoming an awesome combo.
4. Phoenix- The fun will continue, but a couple injuries will slow them down throughout the year, and they won’t win enough games to crack the top 3.
5. Houston, getting better every year. Some of the new young guards will help, and you can’t teach 7-6
6. Warriors- Very good and moving up the league, but this league are just too much. They will be battling all year to not finish 6th or 7th, knowing they will face Utah or San Antonio. If it is possible, they may tank to finish 8th, or make a late run at Houston to finish 5th.
7. Denver- Another talented team that could win the East, but will have several highlights throughout the year, only to battle San Antonio in the finals and succumb to the inevitable.
8. Lakers- Just fun to watch them implode in the playoffs again. Not even sure this will happen if they trade Kobe after the all-star break. If they do trade Kobe, look for the Clippers to surprise even with out Elton Brand.

Final Four in West:
San Antonio vs Houston
Dallas vs Warriors: It just happens. I don’t know how. It is good for ratings.
San Antonio over Dallas
San Antonio wins it all, no one watches. ( No one wants to believe this, but this is just the way it is!)

Eastern Conference:
It is hard to put in as much time for this league, given the lack of talent and competition.

1. Detroit- Deep talented, Tashaun Prince will be their leader.
2. Chicago- Young and not likely to get injured, so many wins will come.
3. Orlando- Dwight Howard will rip the rim off of a basket this year. I love his game, and this is way too high for this team, but I like all the points that Rashad Lewis will add.
4. Cleveland- Lebron will do his thing, but he doesn’t have enough help. Greatest team to go watch on the road. Amazing how the groupies show up for Bron’Bron
5. Washington- The big 3 will put up some big numbers, and Gilbert might get 65 in a game this year!
6. Boston- With the Atlantic so weak, Boston will win a lot of games, but no one in this conference will really win 50 games, so it will all be close. They will be fun to watch, and will make noise in the playoffs.
7. Toronto- Chris Bosh, could be the best lefty in the world!!!! (Sorry to Michael Redd, Manu Ginobli, and Michael Beasley) if you don’t know the third player, this is why you read my column for your basketball picks!
8. New Jersey- I just like Kidd too much not to put him in the playoffs. Shaq is retired, he just doesn’t know it yet. There is nothing left in Miami. Sorry D-Wade.


Final Four in East
Detroit vs Cleveland
Chicago vs Boston
Detroit vs Boston
Detroit advances to get crushed by the West.
MVP-
Lebron will get this award on athletic ability and highlights alone. It is his turn.

Rookie of the Year: Kevin Durant, Numbers will be overwhelming:
2nd place to Al Horford- Only true pro from Florida!

Off the wall pick (Steven Lasme will contribute for the Warriors this year!)

Enjoy, as the NBA will only be covered for a few weeks until NCAA hoops starts. And then again in June for the playoffs!

B. Anthony