ItsTheBlog™

The folks at ItsTheLeague.com take their stab at answering the following questions about the 2010-2011 NBA Season, which kicks off tomorrow:

1. What will be the 2010-2011 Miami Heat regular season record?

Michael Boyd (MB): 63-19
Karan Lodha (KL): 63-19
Matt Reyes (MR): 56-26
Steven Rojas (SR): 58-24
Kevin Reyes (KR): 61-21
Hayden Alfano (HA): 58-24
Cody Schumacher (CS): 63-19
Jayson Moss (JM): 65-17


2. What will be the 2010-2011 Los Angeles Lakers regular season record?

MB: 64-18
KL: 65-17
MR: 59-23
SR: 53-29
KR: 59-23
HA: 55-27
CS: 58-24
JM: 63-19

3. Who will be the 2010-2011 NBA Champion/the runner-up?

MB: Celtics/Lakers
KL: Lakers/Magic
MR: Lakers/Heat
SR: Heat/Thunder
KR: Lakers/Celtics
HA: Celtics/Lakers
CS: Celtics/Thunder
JM: Lakers/Heat


4. Who will be the 2010-2011 MVP?

MB: Kevin Durant
KL: Kevin Durant
MR: Kevin Durant
SR: Kevin Durant
KR: Kevin Durant
HA: LeBron James
CS: Kevin Durant
JM: LeBron James

5. In terms of points, rebounds, and assists, what will be LeBron James' 2010-2011 stat line?

MB: 24 points, 8 rebounds, 8.5 assists
KL: 24 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists
MR: 24 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists
SR: 25 points, 7 rebounds, 9.5 assists
KR: 24 points, 7 rebounds, 8.5 assists
HA: 24 points, 7 rebounds, 10 assists
CS: 25 points, 8.5 rebounds, 7.5 assists
JM: 27 points, 8 rebounds, 10 assists

6. Who will be the 2010-2011 Rookie of the Year?

MB: Blake Griffin
KL: Jeremy Lin
MR: Blake Griffin
SR: Blake Griffin
KR: John Wall
HA: Blake Griffin
CS: Blake Griffin
JM: John Wall

7. Predict seeds 1-8 in the 2010-2011 Western Conference playoffs. In particular, who will be the Lakers' biggest threat, and why?

MB: 1. Lakers
2. Mavericks
3. Thunder (Biggest threat because they are young and athletic, took Lakers to 7 games last year. )
4. Spurs
5. Utah
6. Portland
7. Denver
8. Houston

KL: 1. Lakers
2. Thunder
3. Dallas
4. Memphis
5. San Antonio
6. Portland
7. Denver
8. Phoenix

MR: 1. Lakers
2. Thunder (OKC will be the Lakers biggest threat with Durant having an MVP season but they will fall short of the Lakers and get the number 2 seed.)
3. Mavericks
4. Utah
5. Spurs
6. Blazers
7. Rockets
8. Nuggets

SR: 1. Lakers
2. Nuggets
3. Thunder (The Thunder will be Lakers biggest threat, and I think they will beat them. I think Kobe has an off year, I'm not saying he is done, but I think he will be playing at 60% energy all season and try to turn it on during the playoffs, and it won't work.)
4. Blazers
5. Suns
6. Mavs
7. Spurs
8. Grizzlies

KR: 1. Lakers
2. Thunder
3. Mavs
4. Jazz
5. Spurs
6. Trail Blazers
7. Nuggets
8. Rockets

HA: 1. Los Angeles Lakers (In terms of the regular season, I think all of the top five or six seeds could step up and challenge LA for the league's best record. Nagging injuries to the Lakers really could cause them to win fewer games during the regular season, especially at the start.)
2. Utah
3. Oklahoma City
4. Dallas
5. Denver
6. San Antonio
7. Portland
8. Houston

CS:1. OKC (OKC's youth and raw talent will lead them to take out the Lakers as defending champions)
2. Dallas
3. LAL
4. Utah
5. Denver
6. SA
7. Portland
8. Houston

JM:1. Lakers
2. Jazz (The Jazz have a new center and will mesh well with D. Williams dishing the ball)
3. Thunder
4. Hornets
5. Mavs
6. Nuggets
7. Trail Blazers
8. Spurs

8. Predict seeds 1-8 in the 2010-2011 Eastern Conference playoffs. In particular, who will be the biggest threat to the Magic, Celtics, and Heat, and why?

MB: 1. Celtics
2. Heat
3. Orlando
4. Atlanta
5. Chicago
6. Bucks
7. 76'ers
8. New York

KL: 1. Heat
2. Magic
3. Bulls
4. Bucks
5. Hawks
6. Celtics
7. Bobcats
8. Knicks

MR: 1. Celtics
2. Magic
3. Heat
4. Bulls (Chicago will be the next biggest threat finishing 4th in the East and will also make it to the conference finals but lose. The Boozer and Korver pieces will give them more depth at positions they lacked last season.)
5. Bucks
6. Hawks
7. Knicks
8. Wizards

SR: 1. Heat
2. Magic
3. Celtics
4. Bulls
5. Hawks
6. Bucks
7. Knicks
8. Cavs

KR: 1. Heat
2. Magic
3. Celtics
4. Bulls
5.Hawks
6. Bucks
7. Bobcats
8. Knicks

HA: 1. Boston
2. Orlando
3. Miami
4. Chicago (Chicago is the biggest threat by default, because any team seeded 5-8 will have to beat all three of the Celtics, Magic, and Heat without homecourt advantage. That's just ridiculous. Equally ridiculous, however, is the idea that Chicago could win two such series'. This is a three-horse race from the getgo.)
5. Milwaukee
6. Atlanta
7. New York
8. Philadelphia? I don't even know. I can't think of a single East team deserving of the eighth seed.

CS: 1. Miami
2. Orlando
3. Boston
4. Chicago (I dont see anyone really being a threat to the big 3 teams, but if i were to say one it would have to be Chicago, the combo of Rose/Boozer (when healthy)/Noah should be pretty tough to deal with.)
5. Atlanta
6. Milwaukee
7. New York
8. Philly

JM:
1. Heat
2. Magic
3. Hawks (Hawks want it and need it; also the Bulls, with a new team new attitude)
4. Celtics
5. Bulls
6. Knicks
7. Bucks
8. Wizards

9. Will Carmelo Anthony be traded during the season? To whom?

MB: New Jersey
KL: Knicks
MR: No trade
SR: He will not be traded, the Nuggets will have a good team and try to win with him for one more year.
KR: I think Carmelo stays put. If the Nuggets are really struggling at the deadline, they'll make a big effort to move him, but otherwise, I would guess he ends the season a Nugget.
HA: No
CS: No, I dont think he will be traded, but if he is it will be to NY
JM: Yes. Knicks

10. Will there be an NBA lockout next season? If so, what does that mean for the NBA?

MB: Better not be. Though I think there will be. If so, NBA takes huge hit. Will contract 2-4 teams.
KL: Probably... sad.
MR: Yes, they will need to cut the number of teams in the league in order to cut expenses.
SR: If there is a lockout it will kill all of the momentum this LeBron James saga has created for the NBA. More people will watch because of the Heat, and a lockout will kill those casual fans and even some hardcore ones.
KR: I sure hope not, but it's sounding more and more like a lockout is not only possible, but likely. All we can hope for is that it doesn't delay--or, worse, completely cancel--the 2011-2012 season.
HA: Yes. I don't want to talk about it.
CS: No, the league can't afford to take a hit like that, and things should get worked out in time.
JM: Hope not!

11. Who will be the NBA's leading scorer, and how many points will that person average? (Matt's version of this question: how many points will Kevin Durant average?)

MB: Durant, 30 ppg
KL: KDeez Nuts, 29.7 ppg
MR: Durant, 28.6 ppg
SR: Durant, he will average pretty much the same as last year, as I said before Kobe will cruise most of the season and lebron's heat won't have enough scoring to go around.
KR: Durant, 31.2 ppg
HA: Durant, 33 ppg
CS: Durant, 30.4 ppg
JM: LeBron, 30.8 ppg

Labels: basketball, Boston Celtics, Bulls, Lakers, NBA, predictions