Now that this year's nail-biting baseball playoffs have concluded, I am sure you are all ready for the always riveting 82-game NBA season which is underway as of last night (chuckle). With the season just beginning, it once again is time to make improbable season-long predictions for division winners and an NBA champion. I am sure half the teams will prove me wrong by December, but that is the fun in making predictions, right?
Eastern Conference:\nAtlantic Division Champion: \nNew Jersey Nets\nCentral Division Champion: Detroit Pistons\nEastern Conference Champion: Indiana Pacers
The Atlantic Division might be the most unpredictable of all four divisions as its two premier teams over the last couple of seasons (Philadelphia and New Jersey) both have coaching issues. Philadelphia promoted assistant Randy Ayers to coach after Larry Brown flew the coup for Detroit. Ayers has no extensive NBA coaching experience and will have to find enough shots to go around for both Allen Iverson and Glenn Robinson. Have fun with that one, Randy.\nMeanwhile, Byron Scott returns to the helm in New Jersey for his fourth season, but at the end of last year he was at odds with star, Jason Kidd, who nearly got Scott fired. Winning can put these frustrations for Scott and Kidd in the past, but a slow start by the Nets or mid-season struggles could be the end of Scott's tenure in the northeast.\nThe Central Division will be a three-team race between Detroit, Indiana, and New Orleans. Ironically, all three teams have new coaches. Rick Carlisle was fired in Detroit when they realized they could get Brown from Philadelphia, and Tim Floyd returns to the NBA coaching ranks in New Orleans with a solid Hornets squad.\nWhen Larry Bird returned to the Pacers, it was only a matter of time for Isiah Thomas' term as coach. His time was up as soon as Carlisle was fired. Bird brought in his former Pacers assistant to lead the Pacers back to the NBA Finals. Brown has the defending Central champs in Detroit and will repeat, but a feisty Pacers team will head to the NBA Finals. Carlisle has more talent in Indiana than he had in Detroit and will flourish with the Pacers personnel he is already familiar with from his assistant coaching days. Kenny Anderson provides Indiana a solid and experienced point guard and with the Pacers youth movement still running in full stride, Jermaine O'Neal's inside game and Reggie Miller's sharpshooting bring glory back to the basketball state.
Western Conference:\nMidwest Division Champion: Dallas Mavericks\nPacific Division Champion: Sacramento Kings\nWestern Conference Champion & NBA Champion: Sacramento Kings
What was Dallas thinking when they traded for Antoine Walker last week? They now have five players who all averaged over 17 points per game last season and while that may sound good, it will bring nothing but ball distribution troubles to Mavericks coach Don Nelson. I still like the Mavericks in a long regular season as they should win lots of games just by scoring 120 points a night, but come postseason time, they will have absolutely no defense when they need it most.\nThe Pacific Division is likely set to be the most intriguing division and will be full of talented teams with multiple story lines. Youth prevails in promising teams like Phoenix and Golden State, while experience will keep both Portland and Seattle in the playoff hunt. Then you have the Los Angeles Lakers.\nUntil Kobe Bryant's troubles, it appeared as though the Lakers were going to have a starting lineup full of all-stars. Signing Gary Payton and Karl Malone alongside Shaquille O'Neal and Bryant seemed to spell doom for Western Conference foes. But with Bryant's playing future uncertain, so is the Lakers success. At times they have looked lost in the preseason and any struggles could create problems for the huge egos of their star players.\nSacramento may have had the best team in the NBA the last two seasons, but they have yet to overcome the Lakers mastery of them in the postseason. However, this is the year of the King. If Chris Webber does not miss excessive time due to his illegal dealings from his college days at Michigan, Sacramento will once again claim the Pacific title. Their solid defense and unlimited options on offense will propel the Kings over the Lakers and the Mavericks this season.\nAn NBA Finals match-up of the Kings and Pacers may not appease to the NBA's likeness for big market teams, but it will provide quality basketball for the fans. It also poses two teams involved in a trade during the offseason as Brad Miller went to the King and Scot Pollard to the Pacers. I like the Kings to outlast the Pacers in six games as they have superior talent and will hoist their first championship in franchise history in 53 years when they were the Rochester Royals.
