Opening night is tonight Cavs vs. Bulls. The Warriors have their ring ceremony. What are your predictions for the season?

Eastern Conference Finals: Cavs over Bulls
Western Conference Finals: Spurs over Warriors
Finals: Cavs over Spurs
MVP: Anthony Davis

My 10 year old son met Matthew Dellavedova this past weekend. Delly could not have been nicer, not only signing an autograph but posing for a picture.

Goombah,

hard to believe the season already started. Ive got to read about the additions that were made but your predictions sound about right. In fact...the Spurs would/could have beaten the Warriors last year.

I think that this is the year that Duncan's body wears down and gets injured.Despite them trying to limit his minutes and maybe move him to the 5..Father Time is undefeated and I think he finally catches up to TD.If that happens...Spurs lose in second round.

I hpe NBA clamps down(no pun intended) on the blatant dirty fouls like what the Celtics play did last playoffs to injure Love and cost the Cavs the title.

espn says blatt is out in cleveland

The Warriors went 37-4 in the first half of the season if they keep it up they may beat or at least equal the Bulls 96 season. Curry has been phenomenal, the team looks lost without him. Curry vs Lebron - https://vine.co/v/iOLI17QnvVL

Anyone following the ESPN NBA 100 of all time? They did a top ten for each position but that didn't interest me much since it was mostly obvious what they'd come up with. They have released 91-100 so far:

100.Shawn Kemp
99.Kevin Love
98.Gail Goodrich
97.James Harden
96.Bobby Jones
95.Marc Gasol
94.Mark Price
93.Lenny Wilkens
92.Nate Thurmond (should be a lot higher)
91.Maurice Cheeks

Link - http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/page/nbarank160120/all-nbarank-91-100

the alltime sports rankings are usually laughable..as the 100 to 90 nba list you posted from espn is...

would be more interested in the position rankings though..

with the rules changes...basketball between different eras is so different that even position ranks are skewed

Curry is a great player in modern nba....with perimeter friendly rules....but in 80s and 90s....he'd get knocked around and flattened if he drove to the rim.

Here is the link to the top 10 by position gets - http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/page/nbarankalltime/greatest-players-ever

Nothing surprising for you there i guess.

PG:
1.Magic Johnson
2.Oscar Robertson
3.John Stockton
4.Stephen Curry
5.Isiah Thomas
6.Chris Paul
7.Steve Nash
8.Jason Kidd
9.Walt Frazier (below Nash somehow)
10.Bob Cousy

SG:

1.Michael Jordan
2.Kobe Bryant
3.Jerry West
4.Dwyayne Wade
5.Clyde Drexler
6.Allan Iverson
7.George Gervin
8.Ray Allen
9.Reggie Miller
10.Earl Monroe

Center:

1.Kareem
2.Wilt
3.Russell
4.Shaq
5.Hakeem
6.Moses
7.Robinson
8.Ewing
9.Mikan
10.Walton

SF:

1.Lebron
2.Bird
3.Dr J
4.Durant
5.Baylor (should still be above Durant)
6.Pippen
7.Hondo
8.Barry
9.Worthy
10.Wilkins

PF:

1.Duncan
2.Malone
3.Dirk
4.Barkley
5.Garnett
6.McHale
7.Pettit (should at least be above McHale for his impact on the game)
8.Hays
9.Pau (seriously?)
10.Rodman

thanks,

brutally shameful lists

the prototype position players...Oscar and Cousy(pg), Baylor(sf), and Petit (pf) should be no lower than 5th on these lists

they literally created what is the modern definition of these positions.....

Gary Payton and Walt Frazier are 2 of the top five complete players regardless of position to ever play basketball. So GP not cracking the top 10 is a joke.

Agreed. Glad you mentioned Frazier there, most seem to overlook him because Reed won all of the awards.

Cam,

Funny you mention Clyde Frazier being overlooked. He had one of the alltime great performances in sports history the night the Knicks beat Lakers in game 7 for the ring. 39 points and 19 assists. Overshadowed by the clip of Reed limping out of the lockerroom before the game.

SPURS vs Warriors tonight for those of you on the West Coast who might be able to stay up to watch the end.

early preview of the WC finals, maybe?

I expect Coach Pop to be an A-hole though and "rest" a few guys tonight , just to do it.

Derek Fisher finally fired as Knicks head coach

Thunder (part)owner dies.....seems to be suicide.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/03/02/aubrey-mcclendon-indicted-former-ceo-dead-in-car-crash.html

Warriors win 72 games to tie the Bulls

one regular season game remaining

I'm pumped for the NBA playoffs. One of the big reasons is that I am taking my son to his first playoff game on Sunday - Cavs vs. Pistons.

At the start of the season, my prediction was Spurs vs. Cavs in the Finals. Despite the 73 wins by Golden State, I am not backing off that prediction. In fact, my opinion is that the 73 wins puts even more pressure on GS in the playoffs. I could easily been wrong, but I just think the Warriors have expeneded a tremendous amount of mental energy between winning the title last year to getting the 73rd win this year.

Goombah,

the season flew by.

Memphis upset the Spurs a few years back in the playoffs, so that's a matchup to watch. Also..Lamarcus' finger is still banged up...and I don't think he has any heart so worth noticing whether he shows up in the playoffs.Not sure if Ginobili is healthy either.


Glad you and your son can catch a home playoff game. If JR Smith and Kevin Love show up, Cavs have a chance in the finals. Tired of seeing Jersey native Smith shrink in big games. Watch out for Detroit though, Stan Van Gundy is an excellent coach, so they may steal a game or two.

I agree this season went by in a blink of an eye. If they could ever figure out the $$, I'd like to see the season shortened to 50-55 games.

I didn't realize that Aldridge was nicked up. He has to be thrilled playing for the best coach now that he is a member of San Antonio.

My biggest wish is that the Cavs stay healthy. Love's injury last year really hurt them from a depth perspective. Many here forget that Kyrie sat out much of the Atlanta series & was hobbled in the Chicago series too. So those two voids were a huge help to GS in the finals. Hope GS gets some reciprocation this year.

GS getting major reciprocation,Goombah. Steph Curry's ankles...literally his Achilles Heel , hahahaha

How did your son enjoy the game? How were the seats?

I like the length of the regular basketball season. I was upset when they expanded the first round of playoffs to best of 7. I liked the best of 5 opening round, really forced teams to transition quickly into playoff mode or they could easily lose a short series.
Four full rounds is too much basketball.

Wow, these were some bad predictions! Bulls didn't even make the playoffs and Anthony Davis was sidelined most of the year. Hoping my Finals prediction comes true.


We had a great time getthesenets. The Cavs organization does a great job distributing stuff for the fans that any kid would appreciate: a towel to wave, a playoff t-shirt, and a wristband that lit up at various points in the game.

I have a sneaking suspicion Steph Curry is playing possum. I think his ankle is not as bad as GS is portraying it and that they're simply giving him the rest he didn't get in the push for 73. It's a sad commentary that Houston can be beat so handily by GS without Curry playing.

Goombah,

Glad to hear you and your little man had a great time at the game.

Round two of Western conference playoffs will be EPIC!!!!

Curry is snakebitten.
He slipped on a wetspot on the court not one second after a Rocket slipped and slid in exact spot.

Curry out 2 weeks with sprained MCL.

Curry has been fragile other than last season. The same with Chris Paul, who broke his hand last night. That will seriously derail the Clippers chances of upsetting GS while Curry is out.

dixie,

thanks..it looked a LOT worse than 2 weeks


goombah,

those are tough breaks but nobody feels sorry for teams with injuries....2/5 of the starting lineup for Cavs missed most of the Finals and Bron almost single handedly carried them to the ring. btw, Cavs play Celtics in next round....is the thug who broke Love's shoulder still on the roster?

espn reports Blake Griffin out for rest of playoffs

Chris Paul out indefinitely

I don't have an ounce of sympathy for GS. While I respect Curry as a shooter, I dislike that nobody plays him physical. He's small and should be knocked down a few times. Hard.

Kelly Olynk is the guy who took out Love last year. Ironically he has missed recent games with a shoulder injury. I think Atlanta will advance past Boston, but neither will pose much of a threat. I'm thinking a Cavs-Heat Conf Finals will be a good matchup.

absolutely unacceptable play

and you're right about Curry. Modern NBA has rules which promote perimeter play and players.

Not sure how old you Getthesenets, but if you watched the 80s/90s NBA teams like the Celtics & Lakers, later the Bulls & Pistons, would have destroyed Curry. Imagine a Rick Mahorn elbow to Curry, or Robert Parrish making Curry wish he never drove the lane.