NBA.com Season Preview: http://www.nba.com/preview2008/por.html Every other team is on there as well. And for kicks and giggles, here's what NBA live 09 on there simulated the 08-09 season to be Portland- Record: 33-49, 10th in Western Conf. Playoffs: No postseason Scoring Leader: B. Roy, 18.2 PPG Rebounding Leader: G. Oden, 9.4 RPG Assist Leader: S. Blake, 6.1 APG Seeds- West 1. L.A. Lakers 65 17 0.793 2. Houston 59 23 0.720 3. Dallas 54 28 0.659 4. Denver 50 32 0.610 5. New Orleans 53 29 0.646 6. San Antonio 50 32 0.610 7. L.A. Clippers 47 35 0.573 8. Phoenix 47 35 0.573 Utah 45 37 0.549 Portland 33 49 0.402 Golden State 31 51 0.378 Memphis 30 52 0.366 Sacramento 29 53 0.354 Minnesota 28 54 0.341 Oklahoma City 23 59 0.280 East 1. Miami 55 27 0.671 2. Detroit 48 34 0.585 3. Boston 44 38 0.537 4. Chicago 41 41 0.500 5. Cleveland 41 41 0.500 6. Orlando 40 42 0.488 7. Toronto 40 42 0.488 8. Charlotte 39 43 0.476 Milwaukee 37 45 0.451 New Jersey 37 45 0.451 Philadelphia 37 45 0.451 Atlanta 36 46 0.439 New York 32 50 0.390 Washington 30 52 0.366 Indiana 29 53 0.354 MVP: Yao Ming Houston Rookie of the Year: O.J. Mayo Memphis Coach of the Year: Phil Jackson L.A. Lakers Sixth Man Award: Ben Gordon Chicago Most Improved Player: Randy Foye Minnesota Defensive Player of the Year: Kobe Bryant L.A. Lakers And a ton more crap: http://www.nba.com/preview2008/easim.html
<table width="377" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr style="font-size: 12px; font-family: verdana;" bgcolor="#eeeeee"></tr><tr style="font-size: 10px; font-family: verdana; color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: bold;" bgcolor="#01298b"><td colspan="3">ALL-DEFENSIVE TEAM</td></tr><tr style="font-size: 12px; font-family: verdana;" bgcolor="#ffffff"><td style="font-weight: bold;" width="120">FIRST TEAM</td><td>Kobe Bryant</td><td>L.A. Lakers</td></tr><tr style="font-size: 12px; font-family: verdana;" bgcolor="#eeeeee"><td style="font-weight: bold;"> </td><td>Allen Iverson</td><td>Denver </td></tr></tbody></table>
Here's another one: Kobe Bryant wins 66 games, #1 seed in league, gets defensive player of the year AND leads the league in scoring, and makes all-nba team..and the MVP goes to Yao Ming?? ffs EA,try to at least make sense just a little
Im not say Kobe is gonna actually be the best defender next year BUT with Bynum and Gasol (to a less extent for sure) patrolling the paint Kobe is pretty much allowed to play free safety. He can go for the high risk play and not have to worry about giving up a layup. Before Bynum went down thats exactly what he was doing. But yeah, IMO he still wont be in major consideration in the end...who knows BTW...There is no way Kobe is gonna lead the league in scoring next year. Way too many options now
Another: LeBron only makes 2nd All-nba team, replaced by Paul Pierce even though it predicts LeBron to average more points?? (And not to mention they put LeBron only down for 24.9 ppg, and they put PP all the way up to 24.4 ppg on a stacked boston team)
Where'd results indeed. My formula predicts: (Keep in mind, this is more so to predict who will win the championship, not for predicting regular season records, but I will organize it that way anyhow). East: 1. Boston Celtics 2. Detroit Pistons 3. Orlando Magic 4. Cleveland Cavs 5. Philadelphia 76ers 6. Chicago Bulls 7. Washington Wizards 8. Toronto Raptors ----------------------- 9. Atlanta Hawks 10. Indiana Pacers 11. New Jersey Nets 12. Charlotte Bobcats 13. Milwaukee Bucks 14. Miami Heat 15. New York Knicks West: 1. San Antonio Spurs 2. Utah Jazz 3. Los Angeles Lakers 4. Houston Rockets 5. New Orleans Hornets 6. Phoenix Suns 7. Dallas Mavericks 8. Denver Nuggets --------------------- 9. Portland Trailblazers 10. Golden St. Warriors 11. Sacramento Kings 12. LA Clippers 13. Memphis Grizzlies 14. Oklahoma City Thunder 15. Minnesota Timberwolves http://www.sportstwo.com/dabullz/09-30-08-pre-season-power-rankings The numbers should move quite a bit next season, when all of the offensive, defensive, and w/l inputs are coming from the current season. The Blazers problem, in my model, is that this is to predict who is most likely to win the championship. Part of the model takes into account past playoff success. The Blazers haven't been to the playoffs recently. Removing the playoff portion, you can begin to look at where it predicts for regular season record. I'm not going to recalculate everything without adding the playoff portion in, but just eyeballing it, Portland would move ahead of Denver, would be just behind Dallas, and behind Phoenix.
Not a chance in hell SA is finishing #1 in the west. Did you predict that before or after the Ginobli news? NO, Jazz and HOU have a much better chance of dethroning the Lakers much more than the Spurs
My model is to predict who has the best chance of winning the NBA Championship, not for regular season. Although if the Spurs have difficulties without Ginobili to start the year, they may take a hit once this season's data starts rolling in. But if they play like they have through injuries in the past, there shouldn't be too much effect on where they rank.
