Division Predictions

On By Steven AIn Around the League, NBA

The West is better than the East. I get it. I read it somewhere every hour. Dogs bark it. Birds chirp it. Everyone knows.

So, forget conferences. Let’s talk divisions.

(*=playoff berth)

Atlantic

The three best teams in the East (Boston Celtics, Philadelphia 76ers, Toronto Raptors) are all housed under the same division, making the Atlantic the best division in its conference in terms of number of quality teams.  The Celtics are the favorites to win the division, but the Sixers and Raptors could potentially win it. So the Atlantic is pretty predictable in terms of who’s making the playoffs, but the fight for home-court advantage could be interesting. The New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets will compete to see who can end with a worse record.

Prediction: 

  1. Boston Celtics*
  2. Philadelphia 76ers*
  3. Toronto Raptors*
  4. New York Knicks
  5. Brooklyn Nets

Central

The Central will be a much more interesting division now that LeBron James is gone. We’ll see two separate dogfights. The Milwaukee Bucks and Indiana Pacers will fight for the first seed and the Detroit Pistons and Cleveland Cavaliers will tussle for the third seed. But this division is ripe for surprises. With the addition of Dwane Casey the Detroit Pistons look dangerous. Maybe dangerous enough to take the second seed. And don’t be surprised if the Kevin Love led Cavs make a some noise. Their young core looks promising.

Do I even have to mention the Chicago Bulls?

Prediction:

  1. Milwaukee Bucks*
  2. Indiana Pacers*
  3. Detroit Pistons*
  4. Cleveland Cavaliers
  5. Chicago Bulls

Southeast

The Southeast looks to be one of the least exciting divisions. Besides the Washington Wizards there isn’t much to look at. Don’t get it wrong, the Miami Heat are a decent team but I wouldn’t necessarily call them good either. They did win the division last year, but I think the Wizards would have taken it had John Wall not missed the games that he did. Plus the Heat still have to deal with Hassan Whiteside. The Wizards will win the division and the Heat will make the playoffs. The Orlando Magic and Atlanta Hawks will see who ends up worse, but they’re okay with that because they’re supposed to be bad. In fact Hawks and Magic fans should be- relatively -excited. Trae Young can prove to be something special for the Hawks and the Magic- with a second-year Jonathan Isaac paired with Mo Bamba- may surprise us all.

Prediction:

  1. Washington Wizards*
  2. Miami Heat*
  3. Charlotte Hornets
  4. Orlando Magic
  5. Atlanta Hawks

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Northwest

The Northwest looks like the best division in basketball. From top to bottom you have playoff caliber teams. The Denver Nuggets were the only team in the division to miss the playoffs last year, and they only barely missed. Now they have a potential star in Michael Porter Jr, they don’t have to deal with Kenneth Faried’s disappointing fall-off, and they have a high quality point guard in Isaiah Thomas. The Portland Blazers didn’t change much but they will remain a good team. The Minnesota Timberwolves had a quiet offseason. We don’t know if Andrew Wiggins is going to be around much longer and there are questions as to what their long term plans are in terms of maintaining their core. But they’ll be competitive and have as much of a chance as anyone in this division to make the playoffs again. The Oklahoma City Thunder are looking like favorites to win the division this time around. Without Carmelo Anthony, space is freed up for Paul George to consistently put up good numbers. But, hey, don’t forget about the Utah Jazz. See what I mean about this division? All quality teams. A second year Donovan Mitchell sounds scary.

Prediction:

  1. Oklahoma City Thunder*
  2. Portland Trail Blazers*
  3. Utah Jazz*
  4. Minnesota Timberwolves*
  5. Denver Nuggets

Pacific 

Theres nothing too exciting about the Pacific in the sense that it’s pretty predictable. Actually it’s extremely predictable. The Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers will make the playoffs. The rest of the division will not. It feels like a waste of time writing this.

  1. Golden State Warriors*
  2. Los Angeles Lakers*
  3. Los Angeles Clippers
  4. Phoenix Suns
  5. Sacramento Kings

Southwest 

The Southwest isn’t the most exciting division but it’s far from being boring. The Houston Rockets have Carmelo Anthony now. Yeah, anytime Melo is on a new team it becomes sort of an observational experiment to see if he’ll make them worse. Either way the Houston Rockets will win the division. But the San Antonio Spurs won’t be that far behind. With a productive DeMar Derozan now on their squad, the Spurs will finish better than last year. The New Orleans Pelicans are hard to predict. Without DeMarcus Cousins and Rajon Rondo one would think they won’t be as good as last year, but they did add Julius Randle and if Elfrid Payton can consistently play at a good level, then the Pelicans won’t be an easy team to beat. The only exciting thing about the Dallas Mavericks is seeing how Luka Doncic fits in the NBA, even if that means putting up empty stats on a lottery team. Playing time is playing time.

There is nothing to look forward to for the Memphis Grizzlies and their fans.

Prediction:

  1. Houston Rockets*
  2. San Antonio Spurs*
  3. New Orleans Pelicans
  4. Dallas Mavericks
  5. Memphis Grizzlies
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