Full Court Press.

The NBA season is nigh upon us. Time to run down the predictions for the year.

As has been the standard in past Bobbo Approved Sports Previews, let's take a quick glance at the expectations are for my teams.



Ahh, the Boston Celtics. It has been a long, long time since I've been excited about this team. 5 and a half years, to be exact. The last time I was this enthralled with the Big Green was 2002 watching them give the Nets everything they had in the Eastern Conference Finals. But since then, they've been in the shitter, making the playoffs only 2 years since then. In recent years past, I've been overly optimistic, sometimes to a fault. I seem to recall saying last year that they actually had a shot to take the Atlantic Division. But 58 losses sure made me look like I was on crack. But I seemingly was always a little bit over optimistic, when in fact I should've been well guarded. But I know the team had the talent and potential. I mean, Delonte, Jefferson, Green, Wally... they were all pretty good players. But they got absolutely nothing. Then when they thought they were going to get the next great star, the lottery shafted them, and things looked grim for Beantown... It looked like yet another young player to add to the stockpiling of unproven potential, which fully includes another year of playoffs, or an 8th seed at very best.

But Danny Ainge had enough this year. He took literally 80% of the players he's drafted and acquired in seemingly oblong trades and shipped them up and out. 7 players went to Minnesota, 3 went to Seattle. Enter KG and Ray Allen. And with them, an ocean of expectation, and a huge changing of the guard. Boston no longer will be the doormat of the league; the team ridiculed for being the worst team in the worst division in the worst conference. Shipping off 10 players for 2 of the NBA's elite moved them up from doormats to hot contenders.

Let's get one thing straight, don't call them the Big Three. That title solely belongs to magnificent trio of Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parrish on the championship teams of yore. But whatever you call them, KG, Ray, and Paul have to be considered one of the most formidable trifectas in the history of sport. And like the media, I expect the world of them. They are all but assured of banking a playoff spot. In fact, I'm of the mind if they don't get a spot above the 6th seed, it was a disappointing year. Inside the playoffs, who knows? It depends on who they face. But any combination of those guys certainly have the attack power to bring home some playoff wins.

The media favorite for deriding the C's is their now empty bench. And rightly so. Most of their bench is no made up of unproven and/or unsigned rookies and journeymen. Not including Pierce, the Celtics only have 5 returning members from last year. I'm thinking the bench is just going to be good for eating minutes while Paulallenkevin get some much needed rest. Eddie House and James Posey have been around the league, and are fairly serviceable. The question mark has to come to into play with Leon Powe and Glen Davis. They have to step up and play, particularly on defense where Boston is pretty weak. But other than that, I think it's decent. Tony Allen is one of the few bright youngsters still on the team, and if he comes back strong from his knee injury, C's fans know that he'll play great off the bench, and keep popping points when he can. Meanwhile, Kendrick Perkins is a great defensive center, albeit undersized for the rest of the league. And I don't care what the general consensus is around the media, Rajon Rondo will be an unsung hero for the team. Why wouldn't he? He has very little pressure being the point guard on a team featuring three elite scorers. He basically has to hold onto the ball, and set up the play, then execute.

It's absolutely amazing. The Celtics are relevant again. They're getting national publicity. Hell, I even watched their preseason game on ESPN instead of FSN. How long has it been since the C's have been nationally televised? For a preseason game at that! It's finally exciting to be a Celtics fan again. As for my expectations, I'm very excited about the possibilities, but I am a realist. I am not banking on a championship this year. Hell, I'm not even going to expect them to represent the Eastern Conference in the finals. But what I do expect is a playoff spot, and a chance to make some noise.

This season is going to be awesome.

Best Case Scenario: The C's dominate the Atlantic Division and rumble into the NBA Finals led by their powerful starting lineup.
Worst Case Scenario: Pierce's unlucky run with injury continues, lack of chemistry becomes a problem with KG, Allen, and the rest of the team, and a first round playoff exit is imminent.
Realistic Scenario: A nice and gutsy season with lots of success, locking up the 3rd or 4th playoff seed, complete with a nice deliberate first round victory.




I'll admit that I haven't really kept up with the Kings' going-ons recently. It's hard to. The team is going through a rebuilding process and aren't on national TV much, so I can't keep track of them that much. So I'm just going to make this short so if any other Kings' fan who knows better finds this post, I'm not an idiot who's talking out his ass.

I don't know what to expect from this team, but it's not going to be that much. I've pretty muched scorned Ron Artest forever. As long as he's in Sacramento (or the NBA for that matter), he'll never help the team be champions. They need to cut their losses and sever all ties with Artest, even if it means just outright releasing him and eating the contract. This team is Kevin Martin's. He's come into his own, he's living up to the potential he attained years back, and the fate of the team really relies on him. His supporting cast of Mike Bibby, Brad Miller, and Shareef Abdur-Rahim are also crucial. Though injuries are always going to be a nasty problem with this team. Shareef is already shelved for a little while. The team knows how to score points though. And with the addition of Mikki Moore, they shore up the center position and get some depth. And with him and Artest out, this gives Francisco Garcia the chance to finally step into the role of big time NBA player. If he can become that key role player the Kings need, the team can go places. The rest of the team is pretty much unknowns.

I don't expect a lot from the team. A playoff spot would be nice, but in the ultra competitive west that'll be hard to achieve. However, if Bibby and Miller stay healthy, Garcia steps his game up, and K-Mart becomes a scoring machine, this team may be able to wreak some havoc in the West.

Best Case Scenario: The team start playing with heart and explode onto the scene, banging out a playoff spot with enough momentum to get them into the second round.
Worst Case Scenario: Shareef and Miller go down with injuries, the team gets so far out of it by the trade deadline that they deal Bibby, leading to yet another long summer for the capital of California.
Realistic Scenario: Some hard fought games, and staying competitive until the last month of the season, wrapping up the 8th and final seed in the playoffs with 5 days to go in the season.


Ok, here are the Bobbo Approved Predictions

Atlantic Division
1 - Boston Celtics
2 - New Jersey Nets
3 - Toronto Raptors
4 - New York Knicks
5 - Philadelphia 76ers

Central Division
1 - Chicago Bulls
2 - Detroit Pistons
3 - Cleveland Cavaliers
4 - Indiana Pacers
5 - Milwaukee Bucks

Southeast Division
1 - Washington Wizards
2 - Miami Heat
3 - Charlotte Bobcats
4 - Orlando Magic
5 - Atlanta Hawks

Southwest Division
1 - San Antonio Spurs
2 - Houston Rockets
3 - Dallas Mavericks
4 - Memphis Grizzlies
5 - New Orleans Hornets

Northwest Division
1 - Utah Jazz
2 - Seattle Sonics
3 - Denver Nuggets
4 - Portland Blazers
5 - Minnesota Timberwolves

Pacific Division
1 - Phoenix Suns
2 - Golden State Warriors
3 - Los Angeles Lakers
4 - Sacramento Kings
5 - Los Angeles Clippers


Playoff Seeding
East
1 - Chicago Bulls
2 - Detroit Pistons
3 - Boston Celtics
4 - Washington Wizards
5 - Miami Heat
6 - Cleveland Cavaliers
7 - New Jersey Nets
8 - Toronto Raptors

West
1 - San Antonio Spurs
2 - Phoenix Suns
3 - Houston Rockets
4 - Utah Jazz
5 - Dallas Mavericks
6 - Golden State Warriors
7 - Los Angeles Lakers
8 - Seattle Sonics

MVP
Gilbert Arenas - Washington

Coach of the Year
Don Nelson - Golden State


Playoffs
1st round:
(1) Chicago defeats (8) Toronto
(4) Washington defeats (5) Miami
(3) Boston defeats (6) Cleveland
(2) Detroit defeats (7) New Jersey

(1) San Antonio defeats (8) Seattle
(5) Dallas defeats (4) Utah
(6) Golden State defeats (3) Houston
(2) Phoenix defeats (7) LA Lakers

2nd round:
(1) Chicago defeats (4) Washington
(2) Detroit defeats (3) Boston

(1) San Antonio defeats (5) Dallas
(2) Phoenix defeats (6) Golden State

Conference Finals:
(1) Chicago defeats (2) Detroit
(2) Phoenix defeats (1) San Antonio

NBA FINALS:
Phoenix Suns defeat Chicago Bulls

Finals MVP
Steve Nash


There you have it. I think the Suns set on the Finals trophy by season's end. Steve Nash is finally vindicated.