east:

1. Miami
2. Chicago
3. Knicks
4. Boston
5. Atlanta

West:

1. Thunder
2. Dallas
3. Lakers
4. Clippers

I can't see the "Cinderella Story" but maybe a Warriors or Indiana put a run together in the playoffs to upset and move to the semi's or conf. final.

Miami has to be the favorite. They not even "talking" about how they are "not talking" this year! The self proclaimed bravado is not there. To me the Bulls have the depth to be the real contenders in the East. As with all teams, health is important. Noah has to play a full season as does Booze. Thats what championship teams need. Add to that, if either of them take their games up a notch to another level they have to be the true favorite. Miami is there already but Bulls can move up.

Below that I'd have to put the on paper talented Knicks and proven Celtics below them. Celtics are a year older but I am not talking any smack until I see them "Games behind" in the standings.

Out west is there really a true favorite? The Lakes with new coach and a year older can't be considered fav's anymore. The Clips have the hype now but they have a thin bench but really its an unknown potential. Grif is a highlight machine but untested in playoff ball.

An early prediction has to be a Bulls-Thunder final but its never this easy.

Parallel hype has to be Knicks-Clippers. Two teams with great starting lineups on paper. Potential is there!

Lakes-Boston would seem to be fading teams but still dangerous. Is this the year Bynum steps up and stays healthy? Who fills the void left by Shannon Brown and OhDumb?

SupremeCommander wrote:

nixluva wrote:I think the Knicks have a great shot to win the Atlantic. The Celtics have the experience and chemistry on us, which is the only reason i'm hedging on whether we win the Division or not. I do feel we have the talent to win the Div. How fast it all comes together is the question. The thing is that this team should be able to win even before it fully develops good chemistry.

No way KG makes it through this season and plays at a high level in the post season. The Knicks SHOULD win the Atlantic. But hopefully after winning close to 60 percent of their games instead of 70 and risking injury

Seems the Celts whiffed on losing Big Baby thinking they had Mark West but instead just have Bass from orlando.

Arenas not landed anywhere yet? I don't see him in Miami unless Wade gets hurt and they desporate.

Anyone have a good read on Miami?

Assuming good health, I believe the Knicks can realistically think about a title this year. Anything less than ECF should equal a fail for D'Antoni and the team.

Nalod wrote:
Who is the "it" team favored at this point?

east:

1. Miami
2. Chicago
3. Knicks
4. Boston
5. Atlanta

Some might think its hate, but it ain't love!

The Nerd Stats Are Not So Crazy About the Knicks By Will Leitch FacebookTwitterShareThis CounterEmail
What a tall cameraman.
The NBA season starts on freaking Sunday people, and the whirlwind of activity over the last fortnight shouldn't distract us from that basic fact. There is a whole season to project! We stopped caring about random predictions from idiots like us years ago, once the Internet made it that much more obvious that everyone was guessing. Instead, we go the stat folks, the people actually studying all this business. Baseball has Bill James and Baseball Prospectus. Football has Football Outsiders. And the NBA has Basketball Prospectus and John Hollinger. We can talk all we want about what Tyson Chandler and Baron Davis and Shump-Shump will do for the Knicks: We trust nothing anymore until it has been Nate Silver-ed up. So: What's everybody saying about the Knicks?

First off, we thought we'd take a look at Basketball Prospectus and their SCHONE projections. (Go buy it.) Bradford Doolittle writes the chapter about the Knicks, and he makes a scary parallel: These Knicks are sort of just collecting talent the way Isiah did. Gulp.

Our projections suggest that New York is again going to have to outscore people. Despite the addition of Chandler, SCHOENE sees the defense as remaining stuck in the league’s bottom third. It also sees an even more efficient offense relative to the league. Add it up and you’ve got a team a little over .500 that will be in the mix for the fifth or sixth seed in the East. This isn’t exactly what Walsh was building towards. There is little to no flexibility cap-wise for at least the next four years. The amnesty clause was burned on Billups. Unless the Knicks completely tank and winds up with a top-five pick, they won’t have a selection in the 2012 draft. There are still a lot of holes on this team and it’s not entirely clear how they can be filled. Unlike Miami, New York hasn’t assembled a powerful enough roster to attract ring chasers willing to play for peanuts. Unfortunately, that’s likely to become abundantly clear this season.

Doolittle has concerns about the NBA's "new guidelines for calling the rip-through move and continuation plays," which could hurt Carmelo Anthony, calls Toney Douglas an "exceptional value," calls Fields "the game's best rebounding guard," and compares Iman Shumpert to Fat Lever. B-Pro picks the Knicks fifth in the East. Suffice it to say, that'd be considered a disappointment.

How about Hollinger? (Insider required on that link.) Uh-oh: He has them seventh in the conference, saying, "I'm not sure the Knicks have dramatically improved." (He picks them to go 35-31 on the year; a No. 7 seed — behind Philadelphia! behind Indiana! — which would pit them against the Chicago Bulls in the first round.) Mostly: He and the stats are worried about injuries:

I have trouble envisioning a high seed for this team. The Knicks get more dangerous once the playoffs begin. If their three frontcourt stars and Davis make it to May upright, they'll be a very difficult first-round out. Getting to that point is the problem.

Mike D'Antoni has said the Knicks are a potential championship team with Chandler on the roster. If he's as wrong as the stat folks think he is ... he's pretty certain not to be the Knicks' coach next year.

This team on paper can win very nice on talent but the Flow of the ball and the discipline to run SSOL takes time and Practice!

Practice?

We talking about practice?

We need to consider the lack of it. 4 games in a row? 4 days of not running the drills.........

Practice......the art of redundant drills to make the "Scheme" instinctive!

What I fear is the team won't reach its potential AS A TEAM.....A cohesive unit, not the individual talents!

This team has great potential. Miami's core is unchanged. Philly's core is not as impressive but they are a full year under Doug COllins and I think Dru Holliday might be ready to step up. Indy was an 8th seed but has added Mark West and other pieces to a young playoff core from last year. I can see us:

Chicago
Miami
Boston
Indy
Philly
Knicks

On paper we should be better.......

So Im sticking to 36 wins but hope like hell I am wrong on the short side.

That total is 6th or 7th seed.

Thats my expectation.

i'll go with:

39 wins

4th in the east.

2nd round playoff exit.