A Jew, A Muslim, and a mormon make their NBA predictions.

Steve Balmer will be…

Mo
The center of at least one controversy this year.  Maybe he takes off his shirt at a game.  Maybe he'll tackle a ref.  All I know is it's going to be inadvertently hilarious.

ROJO

The darling of the NBA. He will be shown rooting for all of the clippers game. Mike Greenberg and Van Gundy will get so tired of having to mention Balmer’s name during their game commentary that they will almost wish that Donald Sterling was back… Almost.

Drew 

 will be willing to allow minorities to attend games

Cleveland will be… 

Mo
interesting.  I'm having a hard time trusting a rookie coach and a frontline that relies on Anderson Varejo to play meaningful minutes.  But then, there's LeBron and K Love on the same team, and that might just be too much talent for other teams in the East to overcome.  


ROJO

Still the worst major-city to live in America. Take it away Jo

Drew
Cleveland will be better than Detroit

The Spurs will be… 

MO
NBA Champions again, cementing Tim Duncan's place in the upper echelons of basketball royalty.  People seem to think that because Tim Duncan is quiet, he's not a fierce competitor. He wants those six rings to match Jordan as much as anyone. 


ROJO

The Spurs. I think this will be they’re last year on top, but no one can deny how good they were last year. I think Duncan retires after this year, but I think he does it on top.

ROJO
The Spurs will be Viagra for people who like fundamentals

The Coach of the year will be… 

Mo
not Gregg Popovich, which is a travesty.  It'll probably be Stan Van Gundy after the Pistons make the playoffs and Andre Drummond becomes a stud.  

ROJO

Steve Kerr, which is a travesty. Mark Jackson never received the type of praise that he deserved for taking a perennial laughing stock of the NBA and making it a good team. If you ask me, its because Jackson is an outspoken Christian and an African American. Kerr will ride off the success that Jackson had and the Warriors will be about the 4^th seed in an overly competitive west.

DREW

The coach of the year will be Lionel Hollins

Mo
The 6th man of the year will be…
Jamal Crawford and/or Doug McDermott.  Taj Gibson is not going to be playing late in games like last year.  McDermott might have one of those insane years and become evolutionary Kyle Korver faster than we think.  But we might be overthinking everything and it might just be Jamal Crawford doing Jamal Crawford things.  

ROJO

Reggie Jackson 

DREW

The 6th man of the year will be Tyreke Evans

Mo
The biggest draft bust will be…
Noah Vonleh.  He was soft in college, and he'll be soft in the NBA.  He's playing behind Big Al Jefforson, so we'll never see him, and after a couple years of not playing he'll be traded.

ROJO

Aaron Gordon/ Elfrid Payton. Orlando went risky and gambled on two highly talented, underdeveloped players. My prediction is that both will not pan out. Gordon because he has no post moves, is undersized for a power forward, and has a low free throw percentage. Payton because there is a lot of marijuana in the world and that man looks like he could smoke all of it.

DREW

Shawn Bradly

The rookie of the year will be… 

Mo
Jabari Parker.  If MCW won last year, then that proves that stats, rather than actually mattering to your team, doesn't matter (It is a sham that Mason Plumlee didn't win the award last year).  Jabari is gonna put up huge numbers on a really bad (albeit entertaining) Bucks team.

ROJO

Jabari Parker. The dude can ball. He’ll barely miss the all-star team. He’s ready to play at a competitive level right now. Like Mo said he’s also on a pretty crappy team.

DREW

Shawn Bradly


The NBA MVP will be…

MO
Anthony Davis.  LBJ won't play as many games and will probably be limited minutes wise.  KD is going to be recovering from injury.  Anthony Davis grew a ton during FIBA.  I did a highlight for one of his preseason games, and everyone keeps talking about, 'When AD makes the leap.'  Well, I think it's going to be sooner than people think.  Dude is too good.

ROJO

Lebron James. He’s enchanted everyone in the NBA with his decision to go back to Cleveland. He’s going to put up slightly worse numbers than the year before, but because he chose to sacrifice his posh existence in South Beach to return to the city of broken dreams, the NBA will give him the MVP trophy.  As they should

Take it away Jo.

Drew

Lebron

Atlantic Division Predictions

How do you feel when the Oscar Award for best picture goes to the movie you have never heard of?

How do you feel when you go to your favorite restaurant (starved) only to find they closed early?

How do you feel when you go to see your favorite band in concert…and they play the “soon to be released and none of the classics?

If your answers to the above questions is “incomplete” and “maybe a little bit robbed”…STOP READING NOW….you will not like the ending here…

This week is opening night for the NBA…6 teams are in action.  We are only 2520 regular season games away from knowing who will make the 2014/15 playoffs.  That seems like an awfully long time to wait to see who will be the “Beast of the East” or the “Least of the East”.  To keep my article somewhat short…I am going to bust my prediction into 3 parts….The Atlantic, The Central and The Southeast.  Today…The Atlantic…

To accurately predict the outcome of the Atlantic Division, I will need to reach deep into the bowels of the basement storage and pull out the MAGIC 8 Ball…a few shakes here and a few shakes there…flip the ball upside down and see who will rule this season… its MAGIC… 

Here are my predictions (in alphabetical order):

ME:                                       Oh Magic 8 Ball….will the BOSTON CELTICS win the Atlantic this                                                           season?

MAGIC 8 BALL:                          

OUTLOOK NOT SO GOOD

When a teams three highest paid players are pulling down a cool $34 million and your reaction when you hear their names spoken aloud is…

Rajon Rondo                         $13 million a year               Is he related to Rajon “I am injured” Rondo?

Gerald Wallace             $11 million a year                  Didn’t he play for the original John Thompson?

Jeff Green                        $10 million a year                  Who?

…you have to ask, “Is that MAGIC 8 Ball a prophet of sorts?”

ME:                                    Magic 8 Ball…will the Brooklyn Net win the Atlantic this season:

MAGIC 8 BALL:                        MY SOURCE SAYS NO

When your three highest salaries are a combined 101 years of age…

Kevin Garnett                        38 years old

Joe Johnson                        33 years old

Deron Williams            30 year old

…you realize the 8 ball is no prophet.  Visiting a “source” to get that answer = NO PROPHET ZONE

ME:                                    Big 8….what is the news on the KNICKS?  They hanging one this year?

MAGIC 8 BALL:                        ASK AGAIN LATER

Clearly the PHIL FACTOR in play here…the Zen Master is reconfiguring the universe and he has thrown the infamous split finger to the 8 Ball…and it is stumped and buying some time….so, we will in fact ask later!

ME:                                    Yo 8!  Whazz up wiff the Sixers?   They going Moses Malone in ’15?

MAGIC 8 BALL:                        CONCENTRATE AND ASK AGAIN!

I got nothin!   Total payroll is $33 million…(Boston is paying their top three $34 million)…$33 million for 15 players?   Head coach is Brett Brown.  Did I already say, “I got Nothin?”  Rita’s…Geno’s….and Flyers…

ME:                                    Crazy 8???  Do the Raptors have a chance up there in Tim Horton land?

MAGIC 8 BALL:            

WITHOUT A DOUBT

7-1 in the pre-season….the only loss was to Sacramento…maybe an over-look there?  Young, hungry and talented.  When the maple syrup starts dripping and the Leaf’s fans are done…look for the Raptors to challenge the leaders of the Southeast and Central for the East Crown…

So…early on I asked you about Oscars, restaurants and concerts.  How do I tie that into my prediction?

How will you feel if the Toronto Raptors win the Atlantic Conference and challenge The Roses, The James and The Ex-James’ in the Eastern Conference Finals?  I will tell you how you will feel?

1.     Name any player on the Raptors current roster?

2.     Name the Raptors team colors, Arena or province they play in?

3.     Is Rob Ford affiliated with the team?

Watching the Toronto Raptors in the playoffs would definitely be like the Oscar, restaurant and concert analogy….You would feel incomplete & even a little bit robbed…

Stay tuned for the Southeast and Central predictions.