1st Inning NBA Second Half Predictions

The NBA season is now passed the unofficial half way mark, so what should we expect for the remainder of the season. Well lets glance back at the first part of the season first. The season started off with all the talk about  “The Heatles”, Lebron James, Chris Bosh, and Dwayne Wade and their HUGE expectations in Miami.  There were also several other teams that made changes to their roster to improve greatly. The Chicago Bulls added Carlos Boozer, Kyle Korver, and Ronnie Brewer from the Jazz along with a couple solid veterans and Amir Asik from Turkey. The New York Knicks added Amare Stoudamire to their lineup in hopes of acquiring another big name before the trade deadline. The already deep and veteran Boston Celtics added Shaquille O’Neil, Jermaine O’Neil, and Delonte West to their bench. The Orlando Magic felt the pressure to add some pieces while not living up to their expectations early in the year. They traded Rashard Lewis for Gilbert Arenas, Vince Carter, Marcin Gortat, Mickael Pietrus for Hedo Turkoglu, Jason Richardson, and Earl Clark. All these moves helped shape up a great first half for the Eastern Conference. The Western Conference stayed mostly the same, with the powerhouse Lakers not adding much, the aging San Antonio Spurs playing with young legs once again and the Dallas Mavericks, with newly added Tyson Chandler are playing tough basketball. The First half wrapped up with those aging Spurs leading the league with the best record, three teams in the East separated by two games, and the Lakers seemingly loosing their edge. With the huge trades and acquisitions happening in the first half, the start of the second half did not disappoint. The New York Knicks, Denver Nuggets and the Minnesota Timber wolves were all involved in a three team trade, sending super start Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Renaldo Blackman, Anthony Carter, and Sheldon Williams to the Knicks. The Nuggets received Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari, Kosta Koufous, Tomofey Mozgov along with money and draft picks. The Timber wolves got Eddy Curry and Anthony Randolph along with some cash and a draft pick. This trumps any trade or acquisition that occurred in the first half. BUT WAIT! MORE BIG TRADES. Deron Williams goes to the New Jersey Nets. In return, the Jazz get Deron Favors, Devin Harris and draft picks. Then the big Boston Celtics made a move that shocked the entire league. They traded away Kendrick Perkins and Nate Robinson to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Jeff Green and Nenad Krstic. The Portland Trail Blazers strengthened their roster by adding Gerald Wallace and the Clippers moved Baron Davis to the Cavaliers for Mo Williams and Jamario Moon.

So what does all this mean for the second half of the season? If nothing else, it means that the NBA just got that much more exciting. People have made the argument that having these stacked teams is bad for the NBA because there are a handful of great teams and the rest suck. BUT that makes the entire season a giant playoff, and NBA playoffs are the most exciting in all of sports. So how will the conferences look come the end of the season? Well, the Western Conference is going to end up remaining mostly how it is now for the top four teams, with San Antonio in the first seed, Dallas with the second seed, Thunder taking over the third seed and Lakers with the fourth seed. The Eastern Conference is a closer race and will be a fight to the end for the top three spots. At the end of the day, the Chicago Bulls will come out with the number one seed. The Bulls have played at a very high level without being at full strength all season, but now Noah is returning to a team that has Boozer and Rose working great together. Add a big defensive center to this already outstanding defensive team and you have yourself an Eastern Conference Champ! Yes, this is a bold statement but the Bulls are a very well rounded team and have all the pieces. The top four teams in the Eastern conference will look like this going into the playoffs:  Chicago Bulls with the one seed, Boston Celtics with the two seed, Miami Heat with the third seed,  and the Orlando Magic will round out the top four with a four seed.

With theses seedlings, it will be a tough playoff, and an interesting one to watch. Bulls fans rejoice! This is the year. The Bulls have a young well rounded team with an MVP player. The only other team in the East that was as well rounded as the Bulls WAS the Boston Celtics, but they gave up what made them better, Perkins. In the West, the Spurs have a very well rounded and experienced team, but their old. They have worn down legs, and their best player, Duncan, seems to be fading as the season goes on. So lets go round by round through the playoffs. In the West, none of the lower half teams acquired anyone to improve their roster enough to boost up to the top eight teams. The Western Conference Finals will be a heavy weight battle, that includes two teams that have been here before, the Spurs and the Lakers. The Lakers will return to their old selves once the playoffs start and cruise to the Championship game where they will knock out the San Antonio Spurs. The Eastern Conference Championship will be another heavy weight battle. The Chicago Bulls and the Boston Celtics will go head to head. These two teams put on one of the greatest shows in NBA playoff history a couple years ago and  every game since has been nothing less than amazing.  The Chicago Bulls will advance to the Championship game. The Chicago Bulls will then knock off the LA Lakers in the NBA Championship in a seven game series. It will be a series that goes down to the wire, but the young guns of the Chicago Bulls will prevail and stop the Lakers from three peating.
Lets look at individuals and how these trades will work out. The New York Knicks became a very strong squad and are going to be exciting to watch, but they aren’t yet at the top of the standings. It is going to take a little bit for Carmelo and Billups to get used to playing with the new team. But Carmelo will put up great numbers and thrive in his hometown of New York City. The most underrated part of this trade is the solid veteran, Chauncey Billups. He has been the player of the week this year and is still a great leader for any team. He will help this transition work smoother and faster with his locker room leadership and leadership on the court. It is unfortunate for Deron Williams that he had to go to the Nets, and not even get a Robin to help him out. He will struggle, but still be one of the best guards in the league in New Jersey, but will he like it enough to stay and sign the extension? Probably not. Now in Oklahoma City, Kendrick Perkins is going to help make that team a great contender with his mean and tough inside presence. On the other side of that trade, the Boston Celtics are going to struggle against the bigger teams, which is something their not used to. They were once the big team, but now they lost their defensive specialist and big bruiser in Perkins. Boston was not the only team to make an odd, somewhat confusing trade, the Clippers traded away Baron Davis and received Mo Williams to take his place. Both players have similar numbers this year, but Baron Davis seemed to be playing great alongside rising star Blake Griffin. Its not much of an upgrade to have to deal with the meshing issues. In Portland, Gerald Wallace will be a great addition with Brandon Roy returning to the lineup. This team is closer to becoming a regular contender.

The MVP award this year will go to the Chicago Bulls point guard, Derrick Rose. An argument can easily be made that Lebron deserves it, and Cal will make that argument based on the numbers Lebron deserves it. Sure, Lebron leads Derrick Rose in nearly all statistical categories, but Derrick Rose deserves it based on what he has done for his team. The Bulls have played most of the season without either Joakim Noah or Carlos Boozer and yet they still have a number 2 seed as of right now. Even though Lebron leads Miami in most every stat, he is still not the most important player on the team, Chris Bosh is. If Chris Bosh goes 1 for 14, and Lebron puts up 40 and Wade puts up 30, Miami will still loose. Derrick Rose doesn’t have to score all of the points, he just has to control the game, which he does night in and night out. Sure, Lebron was the entire team in Cleveland but now he has a great surrounding cast and the team would still be good without him. When choosing an MVP, numbers shouldn’t be the only thing looked at. It is how the player controls a game and how they make their team better. Derrick Rose controls the game better than anyone in the league, as he showed against the heat. In the  games against the Heat when the Bulls needed a big shot, Rose came up  big. In the second game, Rose drove to the basket and drew a double team of Lebron James, best defender in the league, and Dwayne Wade. When Rose assessed this, he jumped and kicked the ball out to wide open Luol Deng. This shows how D Rose makes his team better and how he controls the game. At the end of many games this season, Cal’s NBA love, Lebron James , has thrown up BRICKS to give his team a victory. He shouldn’t be the guy to take those shots, it should be Dwayne Wade, who also has missed those shots this year. All in all D Rose is the MVP.