D'Antoni Highered

Mike D'Antoni is the new coach of the Lakers. I do not think it was a good higher. For starters, Defense wins championships, not an up-tempo regular season offensive juggernaut (that does not even pretend to play defense). We have seen what Mike D'Antoni can do with a great roster, he can fail to make it to the finals or possibly even the second round. This team will be fun to watch, but probably will not be hoisted the Larry O'Brien trophy come June.

A trade that should happen

Just a thought, and it will never happen, but it would be a very mutually beneficial trade if the Clippers traded Blake Griffin to the Timberwolves for Kevin Love. The Clippers would get a more well rounded player, one who can hit a shot from more than 2 feet from the basket and would make an excellent partner for CP3. The two would be both a lethal pick-and-role and a pick-and-pop option. While the Timberwolves, who are not going to win anything important anytime soon, would have a player who brings more of an entertainment factor to the table and would keep butts in the seats.

Western Conference playoff preview

     Since nobody knows how the 3 through 8 will look out west, we will just jump to the probably conference championship match-up. Thunder v Lakers.
     The Lakers have a fantastic star studded starting 5, the Thunder an almost equally fantastic starting 5, that is almost as star studded. The Thunder by far have the better bench with James Harden and Nick Collison. The difference maker in this series though will be the back-court. The Thunder's combination of  Westbrook,  Maynor, Harden, and Sefolosha are a much more youthful and athletic bunch than the Lakers with Kobe and Nash. The speed and driving ability of the Thunder will be able to repeatedly break down the Lakers defense at the point of attack, forcing Howard to guard the basket far too often. Not that Howard is not one of the best defenders in the league, but you can only stop a clean drive to the basket so often without getting into foul trouble or your own man getting a lot of uncontested buckets, both of which are problematic. The Lakers needed some youth to run with the Thunder, and all they got was older and slower. Better, but older and slower.
    This will certainly be a good series, 6 or 7 games most likely, but the Thunders youth and athleticism will make the difference. They will earn the right to plat for the Larry O'brien trophy for the 2nd straight year.

Eastern Conference Playoff Predictions

     The seeding predictions for the Eastern Conference came out a few days ago, so now it’s time to predict how the Eastern Conference Playoffs will unfold.

    The Heat, Pacers, and Celtics will probably advance to round two and that does not really require an in depth explanation. The only possible way that would not happen is that one of those teams suffers a major injure or the Bulls get a miraculously fully recovered Derrick Rose back, who gallops in on a white horse and obliterates all who cross his path. The interesting battle could be the potential 4-5 battle between the Nets and 76ers- even if it is not these two teams it will be one of the top 5 Eastern Conference teams not names the Heat and will still be a fun watch. But the winner is pointless to pick, they will lose in the 2nd round to the Heat.

     Which brings us to the second round, which is shaping up to be the Heat v Someone and the Pacers v the Celtics. The Heat win the first matchup. The intriguing matchup is the Pacers-Celtics matchup. Both are feisty, well rounded teams that play good (in the Celtics case great) defense. The Celtics though have a few key advantages; stars, veteran savvy, and elite coaching. It should be a hotly contested series of 6-7 games which ultimate goes the Celtics way, because they have well coached guys with names like Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce and the Pacers do not.

     The Celtics and Heat will meet once again in the Eastern Conference Finals. The results should be the same. The Heat have the better team, but the Celtics are old crafty and have too much pride to not make a series of it. The Celtics almost pulled it off last year, and while Christ Bosh may not be injured again, they did pick up some talent in the offseason in Jason Terry, Jared Sullinger, and Fab Melo. Additionally the Celtics will have Jeff Green back from his heart issues to which he lost all of last season. While ultimately this probably will not be enough, it should be a fun grudge match to watch. Also let us not forget the intrigue added now that Ray Allen is with the Heat, he will be a player to keep an eye on if this series comes to be.

Derrick Rose

Derrick Rose and Adidas posted a video about his recovery which is soon to be followed by more. Its a good watch, and definitely gives hope for later this season and next season. The doctors optimism concerning his chances to come back even better than before he got hurt  makes you wonder what he could do if he does. Get well soon Derrick! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt6at8wCkbw&feature=player_embedded)

Jimmy Butler

Jimmy Butler just got some love on ESPN.com! Go check out http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/8299129/nba-top-three-risers-fallers-nbarank, it is a fun read, and it’s good to see some positive news about the Bulls this off-season. Jimmy played well last season when he got the chance-remember his stellar 1-on-1 defense against Lebron James? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExwdQ_m20sE (okay the rebounding left a lot to be desired but still). Watching Jimmy Butler mature should be a bright spot this coming season, keep an eye on him. Marquis Teague could also be a young Bull that surprises this year and is worth paying attention to.

Western Conference Pre-season Preview

Same thing as the Eastern Conference, just this time its the Western Conference Predictions.

1.  The Thunder: They pretty much stood pat, but given that all the important guys are young, that only means they have the luxury of getting better by doing absolutely nothing.
2. The Lakers: Assuming they can get their myriad talented players working together in a cohesive manner, they could make a run at the Thunder. If not, this could be a fun 24/7 melt-down watch unit. And if these last 18 months showed us anything, its that as talented as Dwight is, he is a bit of an immature and indecisive individual. This should be interesting either way.
3. The Spurs: They always find a way to stay good, I do not think that this year will be different. On a side note: Their age does eventually have to catch up to them right?
4. The Clippers: They should be able to outplay the Grizzlies this year, although the fact that Vinny Del Negro (the guy who forgets to put CP3 back into the game) is still the head coach does not bode well for their playoff potential. 
5. The Nuggets: The addition of Iguodala makes the Nuggets a matchup nightmare; they could push for the 4th seed. They have no shot at a ring of course, but they sure could make another teams road there much harder.
6. The Grizzlies: Once again, their beastly front-court makes them a force to be reckoned with and a game planning issue for much of the league.
7. The Jazz: They looked good, especially when Favors got on the court, they should be able to ride him and the rest of the young guys to the playoffs again.
8. The Mavericks: Dirk may be old, and he may not have as much help as he could have had things gone differently, but teams with superstars like him do not usually miss the playoffs. If the team gels quickly, they could easily finish higher.
9. The Timberwolves: Love is great, but Rubio needs to be healthy for them to be good, and who knows when he will be back to 100%. Also, Kirilenko and Roy are most likely going to be non-entities, the signings would have been better if the year was 2009. The T-wolves will probably miss the playoffs once again. 
10. The Trailblazers: If they can avoid injury's (not a strong suit of theirs) they can contend for the 8th seed. Expect them to fall short though.