West will dominate NBA

I don't know about everyone else, but I am thrilled the NBA season opened Tuesday. \nWell, not exactly. \nThe World Series is just finished, the NFL season is just starting to get good, and suddenly the NBA sneaks up on us. It seems like it was just a few weeks ago the Lakers beat the Pacers in the Finals.\nIt's not that I don't like the NBA; I do, even though I think most of the league's players are overpaid, spoiled, egocentric babies. (But that's another topic altogether.) Maybe it's just that I'm not ready for a new season yet. After my beloved Indiana team came two games short of winning that ever-elusive title last summer and then lost a few key players after the season was over, I haven't exactly been counting down the days until the new season.\nI'm definitely not ready to hear Bob Costas tell us every two minutes how great Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal are. \nBut I will still watch the games and pay attention to the standings. Along with that come the predictions:\nWestern Conference\nThe West is far superior to the East this year. Of all of the predictions made by the experts, I haven't seen anyone pick a team from the East to win the Finals this year. And that is for good reason. The three best teams in the league are in the West: Los Angeles, Portland and San Antonio.\nIn the off-season, the Lakers got rid of unhappy Glen Rice and added Horace Grant and Isaiah Rider. Disgruntled in Atlanta, Rider doesn't exactly have a history of cooperating with his coaches or teammates, but if coach Phil Jackson can control Dennis Rodman and get Shaq and Kobe to play nice, he can handle Rider. Most important factor here -- Shaq is really big.\nPortland has the best lineup in the league on paper. They lost Brian Grant but picked up Dale Davis and Shawn Kemp to try and slow down O'Neal. Getting all its talent to play together will be tough for coach Mike Dunleavy. Look for Bonzi Wells to have a breakout year and Rasheed Wallace to get a lot of technicals.\nSan Antonio won the title in 1998-1999, but was eliminated from the playoffs last year in the first round, while Tim Duncan sat injured on the bench. But he's back this year, and he and David Robinson form the most formidable frontcourt pair in the league. If the Twin Towers can avoid injuries, they will challenge the Blazers and Lakers for the league's best record.\nPredicted playoff seeding: Portland, San Antonio, L.A. Lakers, Phoenix, Utah, Sacramento, Seattle and Minnesota.\nEastern Conference\nMany people say five, even six teams have a chance to come out of the East. It's hard to pick a clear favorite because most of the top teams significantly changed their rosters during the off-season.\nMiami looked to be the preseason favorite with the addition of former Charlotte guard Eddie Jones and former Portland forward Brian Grant, but just recently found out center Alonzo Mourning will miss the season because of kidney disease. Don't expect too much from the Heat.\nOrlando will be an exciting squad to watch this year with the addition of free agents Grant Hill and Tracy McGrady. I just don't know if the rest of their team will be able to make them title contenders, but they will win a lot of games.\nThe defending conference champion Pacers look a lot different from the team they put on the floor last year. Rik Smits retired, floor leader Mark Jackson left for Toronto, and Dale Davis was traded. At first I thought the Davis trade for young, unproven Jermaine O'Neal was a huge mistake, but after watching O'Neal play in preseason and the Pacers opener Tuesday night, I've changed my thinking. First year coach Isiah Thomas has his hands full will a very young squad, and to make things worse, leading scorer Jalen Rose will start the season on the bench with a broken wrist. But I do think Indiana will be better than most analysts are predicting.\nMilwaukee is expected by some commentators to sneak into the Finals as the East's representative, but I think their lack of playoff experience will outweigh their good mix of talent.\nEven though I hate to say it, I think the Knicks will be in the Finals this year. They finally got rid of Patrick Ewing so they can run a more up-tempo offense, and they added sharpshooter Glen Rice. They don't have a true center and rebounding could be a big problem, but Jeff Van Gundy's team seems to always find a way to overcome adversity.\nPredicted playoff seeding: Orlando, Milwaukee, New York, Charlotte, Indiana, Philadelphia, Toronto and Miami.\nPlayoff predictions\nKnicks over Magic in Eastern Conference Finals\nBlazers over Spurs in Western Conference Finals\nBlazers over Knicks in Finals