Eastern Conference:
1. Boston
2. Milwaukee
3. Cleveland
4. New York
5. Philadelphia
6. Miami
7. Brooklyn
8. Orlando
9. Atlanta
10.
11.
12. I
13. Detroit
14.
15. Charlotte
Playoffs:
· (play-ins): Oralndo over Brooklyn; Atlanta over Chicago; Brooklyn over Atlanta
· Boston over Brooklyn, Milwaukee over Orlando, Cleveland over Miami, New York over Philadelphia
· Boston over New York, Cleveland over Milwaukee
· Boston over Cleveland
Western Conference:
1.
2. Phoenix
3.
4.
5.
6.
7. Sacramento
8. New Orleans
9. Minnesota
10. Dallas
11. LA Clippers
12.
13.
14.
15. San Antonio
Playoffs:
· (play-ins): Sacramento over New Orleans, Minnesota over Dallas, Minnesota over New Orleans
· Denver over Minnesota; Phoenix over Sacramento; Memphis over LA Lakers; Oklahoma City over Golden State
· Oklahoma City over Denver; Phoenix over Memphis
· Phoenix over Oklahoma City
More notes:
· The East is weird; the top two teams shook up their roster and improved, on paper. The only teams I really think are tanking (Charlotte and Washington) are in the East. And Philadelphia is the team most likely to completely fall apart. I think the teams that are the most stable (Cleveland and New York) might thrive, at least in the regular season
· My fear for the Cavaliers is that they might be the next Utah- a great regular season team that doesn't have a playoff gear. For this year, I have them winning two rounds (including shocking Milwaukee), but not able to voercome Boston
· The West will be a dogfight. There are eleven teams that can make a good argument. Someone will finish in the lottery
· There are four teams (Lakers, Clippers, Phoenix, Golden State) that are old, injury-prone, and top-heavy. Someone is due for an awful year. I'm picking the Clippers to fall apart, but I could see any one of these teams having a disaster of a season.
· MVP? The top contenders (Embiid, Jokic, Giannis) have all won the award. I don't like Dallas enough to think Luka will win. I'm picking Tatum
· ROY? Even finishing last in the West, Wembayana will impress enough to win the ROY
· Finals? There will be a shakeup in the playoffs, but I do think Boston is built to thrive in the postseason. The West is a crapshoot; I'm picking Phoenix but won't bet heavily on it (they are two injuries away from the lottery; they are also a healthy year away from winning it all)
Going with the Celtics to win the title. After all, Boston's been without a championship long enough.
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| Going for Title #18 |
