NBA Predictions

I'm pretty excited that we will be getting most of an NBA season. Here are my predictions for the year. I'm pretty accurate with these over the last five years, but with the shortened schedule being played in a really short amount of time, it may throw me off a bit, with older teams pacing stars minutes and whatnot.

Rookie of the Year: Kyrie Irving - CLE I don't see anyone getting more playing time than him. Looks like a Chris Paul clone.
Dark Horse:  Kenneth Faried - DEN If Denver's expatriate players can't come back to the US for a while, look for Faried to get a lot of court time. He should get 10-12 rebounds and a block or two every start.

MVP: Who knows?  KD and Rose will be in the mix, depending on how the teams finish. Lebron.
Dark Horse:  Blake Griffin - LAC If the Clippers find there way into a playoff spot (what?!!? With Caron Butler, they could be on their way), there is no way that Blake doesn't get consideration.


Coach of the Year: Rick Adelman - MIN Again, this is a tough one. My early favorite is going  to be Rick Adelman, because he is getting a team with a great young core and adding two possible superstars (or busts) in Rubio and Williams. If he can get them to play great defense as he has done with most of his teams, they'll make a push for the playoffs but fall short.
Dark Horse: Scott Brooks - OKC The coach with the best record is always in the running. 


Sixth Man: James Harden OKC / Jamal Crawford ATL Harden is a beast. Crawford is the best bench scorer in the league. Depends on where he plays this year.
Dark Horse: Thaddeus Young PHI The new Lamar Odom? 


Defensive Player of the Year: Dwight Howard ORL Of course.
Dark Horse: Serge Ibaka OKC If he plays 36 minutes a game without fouling out, his block stats will be out of this world. Won't happen. Tyson Chandler Dude is good.


Western Conference Champions: OKC Thunder This is our decade. If Perkins is healthy, that is.
Dark Horse: Memphis Grizzlies Without Rudy Gay the Grizz put forth an amazing effort in the playoffs last season. If the whole team can shine like that while Gay is playing, Memphis should tear some teams apart. Slowly...


Eastern Conference Champions: Miami Heat Lebron James and stuff...
Dark Horse: New York Knicks Quite a few weapons. Need to stay healthy. Need to play good defense. They are close to signing Tyson Chandler which would be huge.


NBA Champions: Miami Heat 4-2 The Heat will prove too much for the Thunder as King James goes nuts trying to quell the "not showing up in the Finals" opinions (erm... facts)