Wednesday, November 02, 2005
NBA Season.....It's About Time
Before I start, I've got to make a confession. I'm a Utah Jazz fan. Living in Salt Lake City leaves me with only one real professional team (We'll see if the MLS team sticks). So I'm absolutely crazy about the Jazz. I'm a real homer, and so any discussion of the Jazz may or may not be coherent. Hopefully that doesn't infringe on the rest of my topics of discussion. Moving on.
On sports radio this week they've got a new contest going. "So You Think You Can Be a Radio Talk Show Host". Basically the idea is, you call in and rant for 60 seconds about something. If Ian Fitzsimmons gets through the 60 seconds without deciding you're an idiot, you move on to the next round. I kept listening to the guys calling in, as they all got blasted off the air (Most of them because they had obviously written down what they were going to say) and kept thinking I could do a better job than that.
However, I realized I probably couldn't do a better job than that. It sounds easy to just talk all day about sports, but I imagine it's like anything else, and practice makes pretty good. If you've never done it before, the chance of you sucking is high. So instead of embarrassing myself on AM radio, I'm just going to post here what I would have tried to say there. It should be more complete and coherent.
NBA PREVIEW
Last year I put together my predictions for the record of each team in the NBA. I saved it on my desktop in a little notebook file, and referred to it throughout the season to see how I did. Well, it wasn't spectacular. I nailed a few things, and missed some completely (Seattle, anyone?). But one thing I hit on the head was Chicago. Everyone was predicting Chicago to be a mediocre to bad team yet again. But I watched them in the Rocky Mountain Revue here in Salt Lake and saw they really cleaned up in the draft. I don't know how they managed to get Luol Deng, Ben Gordon, and Chris Duhon in one draft, but I was impressed. And so I put them at the 5 seed in the east last year. When they ended up at number 4, I was fairly pleased with myself, especially when I kept hearing people say things like "No one could have predicted the rise of the Bulls this year," yada yada.
Unfortunately I couldn't really prove it to anyone, because all I had was my stupid little notebook file. So I decided this year I'll put my predictions up on a blog. That way, if I am somehow lucky again and guess right on a team no one knew about, I'll have some proof. If only to make myself feel better.
And maybe to show my dad.
Anyway, on to the predictions, because if you are still reading this, you're probably just about to click away and find a non-rambling blog to get your NBA fix from. (caveat: I know I'm posting this after four games have already happened. But I'll try not to be swayed by them. Especially the beating New Orleans/Oklahoma City put on Sacramento. That's got to be a fluke, right?)
WESTERN CONFERENCE
I am sick and tired of hearing people gush over the Spurs this year. Yeah, they have the same team from last year, plus a few extra parts. Sure, they've got easily the most talented bench in the league. But there are reasons for concern.
EASTERN CONFERENCE
Team Last Year's Record Predicted Record for this Year
Pacific Division
Phoenix 62-20 47-35
Golden State 34-48 45-37
Los Angeles Lakers 34-48 43-39
Sacramento 50-32 42-40
Los Angeles Clippers 37-45 36-46
Southwest Division
San Antonio 59-23 60-22
Houston 51-31 56-26
Dallas 58-24 53-29
Memphis 45-37 38-44
New Orleans/Oklahoma City 18-64 27-55
Northwest Division
Denver 49-33 53-29
Minnesota 44-38 48-34
Utah 26-56 42-40
Seattle 52-30 35-47
Portland 27-55 20-62
Atlantic Division
New Jersey 42-40 48-34
Philadelphia 43-39 43-39
Boston 45-37 42-40
New York 33-49 39-43
Toronto 33-49 15-67
Central Division
Detroit 54-28 55-27
Indiana 44-38 55-27
Cleveland 42-40 48-34
Milwaukee 30-52 43-39
Chicago 47-35 39-43
Southeast Division
Miami 59-23 54-28
Washington 45-37 37-45
Charlotte 18-64 28-54
Orlando 36-46 23-59
Atlanta 13-69 16-66
On sports radio this week they've got a new contest going. "So You Think You Can Be a Radio Talk Show Host". Basically the idea is, you call in and rant for 60 seconds about something. If Ian Fitzsimmons gets through the 60 seconds without deciding you're an idiot, you move on to the next round. I kept listening to the guys calling in, as they all got blasted off the air (Most of them because they had obviously written down what they were going to say) and kept thinking I could do a better job than that.
However, I realized I probably couldn't do a better job than that. It sounds easy to just talk all day about sports, but I imagine it's like anything else, and practice makes pretty good. If you've never done it before, the chance of you sucking is high. So instead of embarrassing myself on AM radio, I'm just going to post here what I would have tried to say there. It should be more complete and coherent.
NBA PREVIEW
Last year I put together my predictions for the record of each team in the NBA. I saved it on my desktop in a little notebook file, and referred to it throughout the season to see how I did. Well, it wasn't spectacular. I nailed a few things, and missed some completely (Seattle, anyone?). But one thing I hit on the head was Chicago. Everyone was predicting Chicago to be a mediocre to bad team yet again. But I watched them in the Rocky Mountain Revue here in Salt Lake and saw they really cleaned up in the draft. I don't know how they managed to get Luol Deng, Ben Gordon, and Chris Duhon in one draft, but I was impressed. And so I put them at the 5 seed in the east last year. When they ended up at number 4, I was fairly pleased with myself, especially when I kept hearing people say things like "No one could have predicted the rise of the Bulls this year," yada yada.
Unfortunately I couldn't really prove it to anyone, because all I had was my stupid little notebook file. So I decided this year I'll put my predictions up on a blog. That way, if I am somehow lucky again and guess right on a team no one knew about, I'll have some proof. If only to make myself feel better.
And maybe to show my dad.
Anyway, on to the predictions, because if you are still reading this, you're probably just about to click away and find a non-rambling blog to get your NBA fix from. (caveat: I know I'm posting this after four games have already happened. But I'll try not to be swayed by them. Especially the beating New Orleans/Oklahoma City put on Sacramento. That's got to be a fluke, right?)
WESTERN CONFERENCE
I am sick and tired of hearing people gush over the Spurs this year. Yeah, they have the same team from last year, plus a few extra parts. Sure, they've got easily the most talented bench in the league. But there are reasons for concern.
- Everyone thinks they will win. All 12 "experts" on ESPN.com picked the Spurs to go all the way. ALL 12! Why do they even have 12 if they're all going to tell us the same thing? And when is the last time a consensus preseason pick actually won a championship? (On second thought.....ok, we're not counting USC football)
- It's been at least three years since having Nick Van Exel on your team was a good thing. He's been shown to be a team chemistry killer, and even with Officer Duncan patrolling, there could be trouble in the locker room here. Who knows how well Michael Finley will deal with being a backup as well? Everyone is saying the Heat won't be able to gel, why isn't anyone worried about the Spurs?
- San Antonio has never one back to back championships. They always follow up the championship year with a fairly good, but not excellent year. I expect that to continue.
EASTERN CONFERENCE
I can't tell you how much I like the Pacers this year. You'll see that I predict them to only be second in their division, with a 4 seed in the playoffs, but I think they will just start slow and then kick it into gear. This was a good team last year. They went 44-38, and gave Detroit a good run in the Conference Semifinals. All this without their best player, (with apologies to Jermaine O'Neal) Ron Artest. Now Ron is back, with something to prove. The team as a whole has more playoff experience, and plus they got Sarunas Jasikevicius, the best non-NBA player out there. This is a guy who knows how to win in the playoffs, something Indiana has lacked over the past few years. The only other Sarunas I could think of to play in the NBA was the great Sarunas Marciulionis, which bodes very well for these guys.
Detroit will give them trouble as always, and Miami is the most intriguing team, but they aren't made for playoff success, and LeBron is still a year or two away. I think this is Indiana's year.
Team Last Year's Record Predicted Record for this Year
Pacific Division
Phoenix 62-20 47-35
Golden State 34-48 45-37
Los Angeles Lakers 34-48 43-39
Sacramento 50-32 42-40
Los Angeles Clippers 37-45 36-46
Southwest Division
San Antonio 59-23 60-22
Houston 51-31 56-26
Dallas 58-24 53-29
Memphis 45-37 38-44
New Orleans/Oklahoma City 18-64 27-55
Northwest Division
Denver 49-33 53-29
Minnesota 44-38 48-34
Utah 26-56 42-40
Seattle 52-30 35-47
Portland 27-55 20-62
Atlantic Division
New Jersey 42-40 48-34
Philadelphia 43-39 43-39
Boston 45-37 42-40
New York 33-49 39-43
Toronto 33-49 15-67
Central Division
Detroit 54-28 55-27
Indiana 44-38 55-27
Cleveland 42-40 48-34
Milwaukee 30-52 43-39
Chicago 47-35 39-43
Southeast Division
Miami 59-23 54-28
Washington 45-37 37-45
Charlotte 18-64 28-54
Orlando 36-46 23-59
Atlanta 13-69 16-66
OK, so I'm still working on this formatting thing. We'll call this post good for today, and maybe I'll elaborate on my playoff predictions another day. If I feel like it.
Thanks for reading this far.
