2009/10 NBA Preview

[NJTank]

http://sportsecyclopedia.com/tank/NBA2010/nba2010.html

Comments and your picks

[Saintsfan]

I have a sneaky feeling the Knicks will be more competitive than Tank has them this year. I think they could be an 8th seed potentially. (I think if they still have any hope of signing Lebron that would be an important step!)

I think a Lakers/Cavaliers final series is probably a good shout, though I'd like to see the Celtics making it back to the finals. Personally I think you have yo make the Lakers favourites for the title.

[FamousAtticus]

I love how everyone once again is down playing the Magic. It happened last year and they took out both the Celtics and Cavs. I have a strong feeling(and maybe a little bias) that the Magic will be at the very top of the East as long as they stay healthy. They are by far the deepest team in the NBA, their 2nd string could even fight for a playoff seeding in the East if they were a team of their own.

I think the 2009-2010 NBA standings will look like this:

East

1) Orlando Magic

2) Cleveland Cavs

3) Boston Celtics

4) Atlanta Hawks

5) Washington Wizards

6) Chicago Bulls

7) Miami Heat

8) Toronto Raptors

West

1) LA Lakers

2) San Antonio Spurs

3) Denver Nuggets

4) Dallas Mavericks

5) Portland TrailBlazers

6) Utah Jazz

7) New Orleans Hornets

8) LA Clippers

NBA Playoffs

East Finals

Magic over Cavs

West Finals

Lakers over Spurs

NBA Finals

Magic over Lakers

[crashcarson15]

I love how everyone once again is down playing the Magic. It happened last year and they took out both the Celtics and Cavs.

Yeah because of the fact that they shot lights out against the Celtics and Cavs and then sputtered and died against the Lakers.

[DustDevil61]

These are the main questions for Utah:

1.) Will the major players (D-Will, Millsap, Boozer, Okur, AK, etc.) stay healthy through the year?

2.) If he is healthy, who can the Jazz get in exchange for Boozer? I feel that he's out, come New Year's; it would be dumb to simply keep him, as at this point, he still doesn't seem worth the $12 million he's being paid. I feel that this team's one good big defensive guy away from stealing the West. Not a big name, just a big guy that knows defense and fits into Sloan's system. Yea, that's right, I said the West. They were one of the favorites in the West in 07-08, before the Grizzlies spoon-fed sent Pau Gasol to the Lakers.

If their core can stay healthy through the year, and they manage to get 1 good or 2 decent players for Booz, then they can be a dark horse for the West. Utah needs some new blood that will refresh the team's outlook and the fans. As much as I like Matt Harpring (the best football player the Jazz have had, post-Stockton-Malone) , I think he's about done if not so. If I were Jazz management, then I'd be pretty close to waiving him then picking up an available guy.

As for the East, the Cavs look to be a strong contender, but don't rule out Orlando or Boston. I feel that KG will be back this year, as will the Celtics.

[Jigga]

I love how everyone once again is down playing the Magic. It happened last year and they took out both the Celtics and Cavs.

Don't even give me that bullsh**!

New year, new team. HUGE question marks. Orlando lost their best player. There's going to be a huge adjustment. So don't worry your pretty little Magic biased head about your boys being "downplayed" (which is ludicrous--did you forget that Boston didn't have KG last year?), you need to worry if Vinsanity is enough to make up for Hedo Turkoglu and worry if your backcourt can play well enough to deal with Cleveland and Boston.

[The_Admiral]

Where are you getting 50 wins for the Bulls? They're way too one-dimensional to be that good. They have no post presence. They have no defense. They were a great jump-shooting team last year when they had Ben Gordon, but they replaced him with Jannero Pargo, who was out of the league last year. John Salmons is a good small forward but he's out of position at the 2, and Deng is soft and fragile. Derrick Rose is awesome and all, but there's not enough talent around him. And what happens when they're not shooting out the lights? Some nights the shots don't fall, and when they don't, they have no recourse. If they can't shut down the other team's offense and they can't play in the paint, then what do they do? There's no Plan B for this team. The East is bad, but it's not "the Bulls can notch 50" bad.

[Saintsfan]

Where are you getting 50 wins for the Bulls? They're way too one-dimensional to be that good. They have no post presence. They have no defense. They were a great jump-shooting team last year when they had Ben Gordon, but they replaced him with Jannero Pargo, who was out of the league last year. John Salmons is a good small forward but he's out of position at the 2, and Deng is soft and fragile. Derrick Rose is awesome and all, but there's not enough talent around him. And what happens when they're not shooting out the lights? Some nights the shots don't fall, and when they don't, they have no recourse. If they can't shut down the other team's offense and they can't play in the paint, then what do they do? There's no Plan B for this team. The East is bad, but it's not "the Bulls can notch 50" bad.

Isn't saying the East is bad a bit out of date? Personally I think its more correct to say that both conferences have great teams and both have godawful teams. The east is improving its caliber, with players like Lebron, Shaq, KG, Dwight Howard, Ray Allen, etc. I think the west isn't as dominant as it was say 5 years ago.

[The_Admiral]

No, the East is still really bad.

[FamousAtticus]

I love how everyone once again is down playing the Magic. It happened last year and they took out both the Celtics and Cavs.

Don't even give me that bullsh**!

New year, new team. HUGE question marks. Orlando lost their best player. There's going to be a huge adjustment. So don't worry your pretty little Magic biased head about your boys being "downplayed" (which is ludicrous--did you forget that Boston didn't have KG last year?), you need to worry if Vinsanity is enough to make up for Hedo Turkoglu and worry if your backcourt can play well enough to deal with Cleveland and Boston.

If we lost our best player, then you would be referring to Dwight, we never had a true go-2-guy Turk just assumed a light-hearted version of that role. The Magic will miss his 4 games or so clutch performances but overall he had a horrible turnover rate. And did you forget that we were without OUR All-Star PG Jameer Nelson against KG's Celtics and the Cavs, and quite honestly the only reason that we didn't compete at a high level during the Finals is because we rushed Jameer back which in turn messed with the chemistry. The backcourt will handle the Cavs just fine this year and will be entertaining to watch against the Celtics. So yeah, my "pretty little Magic biased head" will just grow larger this year...can't wait until the 2nd half of the season when Cleveland is treading water and Boston's age catches up to them and the media is still making excuses for the both of them.