NBA Blogging: NBA Predictions

Oh crap, it's that time of year, isn't it?

Oh well, my poorly researched and, likely, hopelessly wrong predictions for the NBA season.

• Lakers over Hornets in the West
• Cleveland over Detroit in the East
• Cleveland wins it all.

I think it's Cleveland's year. LeBron just keeps getting better and better and, in the playoffs, he'll put the rest of the team on his back - even if that team is even better than it was when they went to the Finals 2 years ago.

Boston is, I think, in for a down year. They're a year older and a championship trophy less hungry so they're due for a let-down. Also, whatever horse doctor medicine they've been using to keep Ray Allen alive is bound to wear off sooner or later.

The Pistons will be right there in it, despite having changed almost nothing from last year. They've still got that best starting 5 and their young talent has only gotten better. But, again, they're going to come up short since, as good as they are, they're not the best in the East. They might not make it back to the conference finals but they should, at least, continue their run of 50-win seasons.

Teams like Orlando or Philadelphia looks to continue their rise but I don't think they'll have quite enough yet.

In the West, I think the Spurs are done. The Suns and Mavericks shot themselves in the foot so it's time for new contenders to rise. Houston has to be the hot pick and Portland might be a dark horse but I say it's going to come down to the Lakers and the Hornets. The Hornets look to improve on last year and I think they will. The Lakers, too, will have a full year of Bynum and that might make the difference. And I think that plus Kobe realizing his days are numbered and wanting to get hat solo-ring to prove a point will be the difference there. Either way, the winner's going to get slaughtered by whoever comes out of the East.