Backdoor Cut: My official predictions for the 2010-11 NBA season

Time for my overall NBA predictions posts

Music to listen to: Human Behavior by Bjork

　

As usual, I’ll give you the quick, condensed version of my predictions and than break things down further later in the post

Atlantic: Boston, New York, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Toronto

Central: Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, Indiana, Cleveland

Southeast: Miami, Orlando, Atlanta, Washington, Charlotte

Northwest: Utah, Oklahoma City, Portland, Denver, Minnesota

Pacific: LA Lakers, LA Clippers, Phoenix, Sacramento, Golden State

Southwest: Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, New Orleans, Memphis

Eastern Conference playoff seeding

1) Miami

2) Boston

3) Chicago

4) Orlando

5) Milwaukee

6) Atlanta

7) New York

8) Washington

Eastern playoffs: Miami over Washington, Boston over New York, Chicago over Atlanta, Orlando over Milwaukee…Orlando over Miami, Boston over Chicago…Boston over Orlando

Western Conference playoff seeding

1) LA Lakers

2) Utah

3) Dallas

4) Oklahoma City

5) Houston

6) San Antonio

7) Portland

8) LA Clippers

Western playoffs: Lakers over Clippers, Utah over Portland, San Antonio over Dallas, Oklahoma City over Houston…Lakers over Oklahoma City, Utah over San Antonio…Lakers over Utah

NBA Finals: Lakers over Celtics

MVP:

1) Kevin Durant, Oklahoma City: He’s going to win another scoring title and get plenty of exposure this year. Furthermore, he’s going to benefit the most from the anti-LeBron James sentiment that is present around the league at this time…

2) LeBron James, Miami: James is going to be the leading scorer and assist man for a squad that will probably win 60+ games.

3) Dwight Howard, Orlando: Not only will Howard probably be on the short list for Defensive player of the year again, but he will add some offensive maturity that voters will notice

4) Deron Williams: I’m bullish on the Jazz and for that to happen, Williams will have to have an MVP-type season. I say this happens

5) Kobe Bryant, Lakers: If Kobe is upright for an entire season, he will be in the top-five in voting leading the top team in the West.

Rookie of the year:

1) Blake Griffin, LA Clippers: He’s going to put up monster numbers, produce highlights and lead the Clippers to the playoffs.

2) John Wall, Washington: He really can be 1a for this award because he will do the same exact things as Griffin but the learning curve is always steeper for a point guard and will fall just below Griffin who really just has to be his athletic self and not run a team.

3) DeMarcus Cousins, Sacramento: I think he’s going to put up numbers, maybe even average a double-double, and that can’t be ignored by voters even though the Kings won’t win many contests.

Other predictions and thoughts to take to the bank or at least contemplate:

-I think Boston is the best team in the East but Miami will have more regular season wins because Doc Rivers and the Celtics will actually try to pace themselves for the postseason while the Heat are trying to learn to play with each other and can’t afford to rest, therefore playing hard all year.

-I’ve been asking it all off-season and it will bear itself out in the playoffs. Who’s going to guard Dwight Howard on the Heat? That’s why I have the Magic over Miami

-I really, really want to like Milwaukee and still have them making the playoffs, but the lack of outside shooting is going to hurt the Bucks.

-Yes, Knick fans, New York will finally return to the playoffs. If not, than the entire front office and coaching staff will be gone.

-Philadelphia is going to regret not taking DeMarcus Cousins. I’m not saying its going to be Darko over Carmelo Anthony and Dwayne Wade or Harden over Steph Curry bad but it will be close and we’ll see that within the first two months of the season.

-The 1996-97 San Antonio Spurs had the biggest one-season drop in wins, going from 59 victories the previous season to 20. Cleveland last year won 61 games, so to break that record, they would have to win only 21 games. The Cavs aren’t that bad but they’re going to make it interesting.

-Al Jefferson will be the second-biggest offseason acquisition behind James in Miami.

-It was tough deciding the two through eight seeds in the West. I was good with the actual teams accept it was a coin flip between the Clippers and Suns.

As far as the seeds, I can see San Antonio being a two seed or Utah falling all the way to seven or Oklahoma becoming a 60 win team, you get the idea.

When it came to the East, Washington got in be default.

-The hardest teams to read in the NBA right now are Dallas and San Antonio because of their age and health issues. There will be some nights when they look like the best teams in the NBA and there will be a night when they drop a contest to Charlotte and we’re wondering if they’re even going to win a playoff game.

-Carmelo Anthony is a Net by February.

-Chris Paul will be a…Hornet throughout the season.

Those are my initial thoughts, I’ll have plenty throughout the season.

What are yours?