The Odds

[Frank Breakfast Styleham]

LA Lakers 10%
They might be back in the Finals but i don't see them beating Cleveland.

Cleveland 80%
All i can see this year is LeBron winning his first and Shaq getting his fifth. I think this is their year.

San Antonio 0%
No way San Antonio wins it this year. I still don't get the Richard Jefferson thing. He doesn't seem to fit with that team...they'll be better than they were last year...maybe...but no way they win it all.

Boston 10%
Too many question marks. Will Kevin Garnett be healthy? Are they too old? I don't see them getting out of the east.

 

[TheStig]

The cavs aren't wining it. LA has to be the favorites coming back and getting artest. Who Phil should be able to work with, they got better.

SA desperately need a third scorer when Ginobli goes down. And if Ginobli is healthy, they will be better.

Boston is the best team in the east. They play great team D and just added another solid piece in Sheed. Sheed will be good there, KG will make him better and he will really stretch the floor for them.

Shaq is good but they already had a good C in Big Z. They need another backcourt guy and a PF. C was not their week point. I just can't see them winning it, they may have a good record but shaq will break down after 82 games and he will retire.

 

[Frank Breakfast Styleham]

Yeah i definitely think this is Shaq's last year.

He's going to squeeze every last drop this season.

 

[dougthonus]

The Cavs have a legit chance. Any team with LeBron does.

However, no way do I make them 80/10/10 favorites with the only 2 other teams having a shot being the Lakers and Celtics.

 

[TheStig]

dougthonus wrote:

The Cavs have a legit chance. Any team with LeBron does.

However, no way do I make them 80/10/10 favorites with the only 2 other teams having a shot being the Lakers and Celtics.

SA has a shot too, I wouldn't count them out, they wouldn't have gone into the LT if they didn't have a shot.

 

[cool007]

If I have to guess, here is what I think about the odds:

Boston: 25% (if healthy)
Cleveland: 23%
Orlando: 10%
San Antonio: 22% (if healthy)
LA Lakers: 20%

I think Spurs are better than Lakers this year if Spurs are healthy during the playoffs.

I would love to see Boston vs Spurs in the finals this year.

 

[clonetrooper264]

SA 0%????? NO WAY Frank. They have a shot for sure. I think the rankings would go Lakers, Cavs, Celtics, Spurs, Orlando. But it's really close.
I'd probably say something along the lines of (assuming perfect health and all that)
Lakers: 22% (They didn't really do anything except swap Ariza for Artest which ideally would be a plus)
Cavs: 20% (LeBron is just that good, plus if Shaq gives his all, there is a legitimate shot here)
Celtics: 20% (Sheed gives them so much offensive versatility and he's solid on D when motivated, which he should be)
Spurs: 20% (Parker, Jefferson, Ginobili, Duncan. Enough said)
Magic: 18% (Carter will help, but the other teams are a bit better than the Magic are right now)

 

[Bullsman24]

yeah, seriously, don't even MENTION the magic???

 

[Frank Breakfast Styleham]

Wow I did forget the Magic.

The reason i must have done it was because they lost Turkoglu and brought in Carter. Carter is much, much, much better but we haven't seen him that deep in the postseason. Maybe this will work out though and we'll get to see it this year.

Are there any other teams we should take a serious look at to go far this year?

 

[Frank Breakfast Styleham]

Anyone think New Orleans will be better this year?

Last season they were my pick to come out of the west and they just got pimp slapped by Denver.

 

[clonetrooper264]

Frank Breakfast-Styleham wrote:

Anyone think New Orleans will be better this year?

Last season they were my pick to come out of the west and they just got pimp slapped by Denver.

Well Okafor instead of Chandler will probably have an impact of some sort. Whether that's positive or negative depends on your view of them. They will probably be at or around where they were last year I think.

 

[RC_Skinny22]

What about Denver? They looked pretty good in playoffs last year.

 

[Frank Breakfast Styleham]

Bullseye wrote:

What about Denver? They looked pretty good in playoffs last year.

Denver, absolutely. They have Chauncey for a full year...i think thats another dangerous team.

I think they can beat the Lakers if they meet up with them again.