This 07-08 season ended on the 17th of June with the Celtics beating the Lakers in 6 games to get their first NBA championship in over 20 years. I will make my predictions for who will make the playoffs, win the championship, , who will be traded or sign with another team and who will win the awards.
PLAYOFFS:
EAST
First Round
1 - Boston Celtics
2 - Detroit Pistons
3 - Orlando Magic
4 - Chicago Bulls
5 - Miami Heat
6 - Cleveland Cavaliers
7 - New Jersey Nets
8 - Charlotte Bobcats
Second Round
1 - Boston Celtics
5 - Miami Heat
2 - Detroit Pistons
3 - Orlando Magic
Conference Finals
1 - Boston Celtics
3 - Orlando Magic
WEST
First Round
1 - Los Angeles Lakers
2 - New Orleans Hornets
3 - Utah Jazz
4 - San Antonio Spurs
5 - Portland Trailblazers
6 - Houston Rockets
7 - Dallas Mavericks
8 - Phoenix Suns
Second Round
1 - Los Angeles Lakers
5 - Portland Trailblazers
2 - New Orleans Hornets
3 - Utah Jazz
Conference Finals
1 - Los Angeles Lakers
2 - New Orleans Hornets
NBA Finals
1 - Los Angeles Lakers
1 - Boston Celtics
Winner - Los Angeles Lakers in 6 Games
Finals MVP - Kobe Bryant
WORST TEAM IN LEAGUE - Minnesota Timberwolves
AWARDS
MVP - Lebron James, Cavaliers
Defensive Player of the Year - Kobe Bryant, Lakers
Rookie of the Year - Derrick Rose / Michael Beasley, Bulls/ Heat
Coach of the Year - Doc Rivers, Celtics
Executative of the Year - Mitch Kupchak, Lakers
Most Improved Player - Andrew Bynum, Lakers
All-NBA First Team - Chris Paul, Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, Kevin Garnett, Dwight Howard
All-NBA First Defensive Team - Kobe Bryant, Shane Battier, Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan, Dwight Howard
PEOPLE WHO WILL BE TRADED OR WILL SIGN WITH A DIFFERENT TEAM OR WILL RETIRE
Ron Artest
Rasheed Wallace
Baron Davis
Lamar Odom
Ronny Turiaf
Robert Horry
Brent Barry
Gilbert Arenas
Carmelo Anthony or Allen Iverson
Those are my predictions for the 2008-2009 Season.
Doc Rivers won't win coach of the year. He won 66 games this year, COTY is generally given to coaches who do a lot with a little and improve upon the previous year.
You pick LeBron James as the MVP and you have the Cavs as the SIXTH seed in the East?? Uh, no.
LeBron was the best player last year and finished FOURTH in MVP voting because his team finished FOURTH in the East. If the Cavs finished sixth he wouldn't even be in the discussion. Were you ALIVE this year?
Kobe Finals MVP? Based on last week, right?
We all know he can get off.
ExecuTATive of the year? Mitch Kupchak? What steal is he going to pull of this time?
Uber, I was right there with you until you went and said Lakers in 6...........LOL!
The Lakers will need better guns if they are going to take on the Celts again next season
Do you think they will make a trade for Leandro Barbosa to play along side of Kobe?????
You didn't forget the Mavericks. They won't make the playoffs the way they are constructed now. I'd have Golden State at #7 and Phoenix at #8. Golden State is going to be HUNGRY after missing the playoffs despite being a .600 team.
I'd love to see the Lakers in the Finals again and I may well see them there. But the one team to watch out for is Utah. In the East, it's going to be a three-way dogfight between Boston, Detroit, and Orlando.
evilquacks1,
I said Lakers in 6 because the Celtics big 3 and some important role players will be older. PJ Brown and Sam Cassell will probably retire and James Posey and Eddie House might sign somewhere else. The Lakers will have Bynum back and maybe Ron Artest or Baron Davis or Gilbert Arenas also. The Lakers will probably have the best record in the NBA next year, so they would have homecourt.
Last edited by Ubershorty on June 21st at 8:59 AM.
I think Phoenix and Houston will be ranked higher than you put them. Portland I think is too high and unproven, even with Greg O next year, they are still unproven and too young.
LNSU
I like your predictions. I hope they come true. i would suggest that Philadelphia will make the playoffs and that Charlotte won't. In fact, Charlotte will be the worst team in the league as they become the last stop on trail for fading unc coaches and players.
it is so hard to make picks this early, Not knowing all that is left to happen before the season starts.
Considering what you have to work with, it looks like you went conservitive but did well.
I think Boston will start to pull at the seams a bit. With Doc taking on the personna of Pat Reilly, Players can only take so much, when they realize their future money is not about how much they sacrifice for the team, but how much they do on the court. Then the troubles will start, people demanding playing time or trade time. I think it starts half way through the season and by playoffs, decention sets in. Doc proved in Orlando, that a few years of him is all players can handle before they shut down on him.
Lakers are set. On the way to dominance. again.
Bulls, 1st round exit and happy to have been there again.
New York will make the playoffs though. Getting rid of marburry is the key to that. He is a poison.
Your picks still are better than mine, but I will go with mine anyway.
I am a die-hard Lakers fan. I write a lot of blogs for foxsports. I know a lot of stuff about basketball and have been named "The Basketball Oracle" by my family because of my basketball knowledge. I'm a huge Kobe Bryant fan and think he is the best in the game today. L.A. Lakers - 08-09 NBA Champs!!!
