Season Predictions

The 2010-2011 NBA Season is here!

Seems most likely :)

The Lakers win the title again, Ron Artest and Steve Blake record a rap single featuring Rihanna called “Love Dem Rings” to celebrate, and Pat Riley is consoled only by the fact that he owns the trademark for the phrase “three-peat.”

Will Hot Rod Hundley have to fill in for Stu Lantz at some point?!?

And if I have to go through all 3000+ members of SS&R, I’m gonna find out who voted “Orlando Magic” and “other” in the poll. Be warned.

Lakers’ Regular-Season Record: 62-20

Will the Lakers reach the NBA Finals?: Yes

Who will be their opponent in the NBA Finals?: 18*-time NBA Champion Boston Celtics

Will the Lakers win the title?: Yes, in 5 games, with an awesome celebration on parquet.

*on paper

Lakers’ Regular-Season Record: 63-19

Will the Lakers reach the NBA Finals? Yes

Who will be their opponent in the NBA Finals? Boston Celtics

Will the Lakers win the title? Yes

I dont think version of the Lakers can lose 20 games. I just dont see it happening. Im predicting 63 – 19 to be their worst finishing record. I think it could be even better than that. The west is just so far behind the Lakers. I think the revamped (and older) Celtics have enough to get by the Magic or the Heat. But the Lakers will be well rested in the West with little competition, and will beat whoever comes out of the East. I just dont see how the Lakers will lose this year, barring any other injuries.

i dug up the season predictions from last season:
http://www.silverscreenandroll.com/2009/10/26/1102213/season-predictions

Oh how I’ve waited
To see this season unfold
Lake Show Lake Show, Lakes.

Look at de jackass!

here’s hoping that inspires some sort of spark in them

a little windy and sunny with some clouds.

Lakers Record: 63-19

Will They Reach The Finals: Yes.

Finals Opponent: Miami Heat

Will They Win The Title: Yes. This team is better (on paper at least) than any team of the past 3 years. By far. In the post-season its all about match-ups. We have the roster to match-up with ANY type of team.

I dont see anyone in The West coming close to beating us. Im guessing we play Dallas at some point in the post-season just because we havent played them at all the past 10 years, it seems over-due. No series in The Conference will go to 7.

As to The Finals, like i said its all about match-ups. We have Ron/Barnes/Kobe/Shannon to throw at LBJ/Wade. You do they have to guard Drew/Pau/Lamar? No one, and thats why we win. Not to mention we have Phil Jackson coaching us, and Kobe Bryant leading us.

Season one day away. I can’t wait.

This is a Lakers blog, so the poll really shouldn’t be of surprise to anybody LOL.

Lets win one more for these guys and the organization!

67-15
Yes
Celtics
Yes (in 6)

but i think the lakers will win more games
sleep on Orlando if ya’ll want….let the games begin
GO LAKERS

Lakers’ Regular-Season Record: 60-22

Will the Lakers reach the NBA Finals? Yes

Who will be their opponent in the NBA Finals? Boston Celtics

Will the Lakers win the title? Yes

Lakers’ Regular-Season Record: 59-23

Will the Lakers reach the NBA Finals? Yes

Who will be their opponent in the NBA Finals? Boston Celtics

Will the Lakers win the title? Yes

Lakers’ Regular-Season Record: 64-18

Will the Lakers reach the NBA Finals? Yes

Who will be their opponent in the NBA Finals? Boston Celtics

Will the Lakers win the title? Yes

In full honesty, I have no idea who is coming out of the East until I see how much Howard’s post game has evolved, whether Orlando swings a trade using the ridiculous amount of depth they have, how much Garnett and Shaq have left in the tank, and how Miami compensates for having Joel Anthony and Zydrunas Illgauskas in the middle. It’s really variable — Howard can single-handedly destroy Miami, Boston has huge advantages at point guard and center, and how much Miami reacts to those things will determine how the playoffs go.

As for the Lakers, I actually think I might be underselling them, primarily on the basis that this team is deeper than it’s been in recent memory. Even in ‘07-’08, when we had the original “Bench Mob,” doesn’t really compare to now, partly because getting even a 70% Bynum makes this team immeasurably superior, and also since the depth is better. Heck, let’s break it down:

PG: Fisher/Farmar (‘07-’08); Fisher/Blake (‘10-’11)

This is essentially the only area in which the ‘07-’08 team is vastly superior. Even being miscast in a system ill-suited for his talents didn’t prevent Farmar from having a season in which many pegged him as the “point guard of the future” and one of the game’s premier young guards by cranking out a 15.29 PER, a superb figure for a backup guard. Blake is solid but he’d have to have quite a year shooting from the outside and handling the ball to match Farmar’s production.

More than that though, Farmar’s production overshadows an important difference: Fisher was an immeasurably better player in ‘07-’08. Although he was slipping defensively to some degree, he put up a 13.71 PER and shot 43.6% from the field and 40.6% from three-point range. I can’t overstate how much better our offense is when Fisher is shooting anywhere close to those numbers and we can only hope that Fisher has a bounce back year in that regard, especially from beyond the arc.

Wings: Kobe/Radmanovic/Vujacic/Walton (‘07-’08); Kobe/Artest/Vujacic/Brown/Barnes/Walton/Ebanks

And we get to the primary differences between the two teams. Aside from Kobe probably trading whatever he learned from Hakeem in exchange for better fingers and a knee any day of the week, Sasha, back when he truly was the “Machine,” is really the only thing that the ‘07-’08 team has on the present team. Needless to say, the present Sasha is a far cry from that, although he’s notably cut down the fouls and some of the bone-headed decisions on defense (except when facing another Slovenian).

Past that, it’s no contest. Artest/Barnes/Ebanks/Brown (leaving the present Walton out for the moment) against Space Cadet and Walton? Sure, we lose some three-point shooting and Walton’s expert triangle passing there, but this set of wings is really incredibly versatile — practically all of them can play and guard more than one position and for a modern-day team, that’s invaluable. Between Artest’s all-world defense; Barnes’ peskiness, toughness, and rebounding on both ends; Ebanks’ ability to check four positions much in the manner that Ariza did while being far ahead of the curve offensively than Ariza was at his age; and Brown’s athleticism and gradually improving decision-making, it’s really a group in which Phil Jackson can trot out a lot of unorthodox and multifaceted lineups for teams to face and really check a giant laundry list of threats. The fact that Ebanks and Vujacic will struggle to see daylight this season is testament to how deep we are on the wings and how much better this team is equipped for the long haul.

Bigs: Gasol/Odom/Turiaf (‘07-’08); Gasol/Odom/Ratliff/Caracter (‘10-’11)

Obviously, Bynum returning makes the present group far superior, but even without him, the current outfit outstrips our complement of bigs in ‘07-’08. Obviously, we’d all take the grittier, tougher Pau of now over the much-maligned “soft” Pau of then, although that has as much to do with perception more than anything. Odom is pretty much a wash between the two: the better offensively-suited Odom of ‘07-’08 versus the better defense and rebounding of the Odom of now.

In any case, as we all fondly recall, the primary backup big in ‘07-’08 was Ronny Turiaf, who brought two big things: shot blocking and hustle. For all intents and purposes, he acquainted himself well in both regards, although his awkward midrange game and being somewhat short for a center limited him slightly. Ratliff definitely isn’t anything remotely close to the limited offensive game Turiaf had then, although he does bring the shot blocking along with better pick-and-roll defense. The bigger comparison, however, is between Turiaf and Caracter though. Part of it can be attributed to a bit of bias on part in favor of Caracter, but with the exception of the shot blocking and greater mobility, Caracter is a far well-rounded player than Turiaf. He already has a well-developed post game complemented by a nice midrange jumper and although he’s still learning the sets and adapting to NBA defenses, he certainly has a much higher skill level than Turiaf in this regard. Moreover, Caracter has already shown a much better aptitude for rebounding, which was a key area in which Turiaf has always been somewhat mediocre for a big. While Caracter will struggle initially to find his place on defense and is definitely inferior overall to Turiaf in most aspects besides rebounding, he brings a greater set of positives to the table than Turiaf does, besides the fact that he’ll never be as good as a bench entertainer.

So, in a hyper-competitive West and after essentially swapping Bynum for Gasol, the Lakers finished 57-25 in ‘07-’08. We get Bynum back to go along with this current group in definitely a much weaker West than a year in which you needed 50 wins to make the playoffs. Even with Phil managing minutes and Bynum not getting to 100% off the bat, we’re so deep this year that I can’t really see that much letup even if we wanted to.

Lakers Record: 0-82

Will they reach the NBA Finals? NO
 
Who will be the opponent? N/A

Will the Lakers win the Title? N/A