No Blood No Foul

While the 2nd round isn’t quite over (Boston has to play Philly tonight), it’s time to make some predictions.

In the West, I expect the Spurs will beat the Thunder in 6 games. In the East, I expect Miami to beat either Philly (5 games) or Boston (6 games). Here’s why, as well as a recap of my 2nd round predictions: (more…)

As I write this post, the 2nd round has been underway for about an hour (only I haven’t seen a minute of them yet). Here are my predictions:

Eastern Conference

• Boston over Philly in 6
• Miami over Indy in 5

Western Conference

• OKC in  5 games, no matter who they play
• SAS over Memphis in 6 games OR SAS over the Clippers in 5

More on these picks – as well as a recap of the first round – below. (more…)

As I write this post at 1:30pm Eastern, the playoffs have just begun…here are my predictions:

WEST

• San Antonio sweeps
• OKC in 5
• LA in 7
• Memphis in 6

EAST

• Chicago sweeps
• Miami in 6
• Indiana in 6
• Boston in 6

More on these picks below. (more…)

I won’t go into my opinion of LeBron too much, but I think Adrian Wojnarowski at Yahoo Sports has it right. James is an egomaniac, and his spectacle only served to ruin his image. However, that’s really not important now. Now it’s time to wonder just how well the new triumvirate of Wade, Bosh, and James will play. Without all the pieces assembled, it’s still up in the air a little bit, but it’s safe to say the final Heat roster will look something like this: (more…)

In the last couple of days, it’s been reported that Chris Bosh has given the Raptors a list of teams he’d like to play for next season. While this news has been denied by Bosh’s agent, it’s been confirmed by Raptors GM Colangelo. Colangelo’s confirmation seems like pretty strong evidence Bosh has requested a sign and trade because:

1. Confirming the existence of the list hurts Bosh’s image with Toronto’s fans. The fact that a list officially exists hurts Bosh’s standing with fans. Colangelo wouldn’t do that to his star player unless he felt like his chances of staying in Toronto were slim.

2. Colangelo is starting the sign-and-trade ball rolling. Now that NBA GM’s are aware Bosh can be had, it’s time for them to start calling Toronto and making a pitch to Colangelo. Obviously, the final move is up to Chris Bosh…but if someone calls and offers a superstar to Toronto to try and acquire Bosh, that’s going to help set the value for a sign-and-trade. The next question is… (more…)

If you watched Dallas in last year’s playoffs, you know they needed a post player – bad. Dampier (who wasn’t available when Dallas was upset last year by Golden State) is really the Mav’s best post option right now, but he’s still coming back from injury…and let’s face it, Dampier’s not exactly a dominating presence. While Dirk’s post play seems to have improved, he seems a little soft to really bang in the paint. In other words, Dallas still needs a post player.

Dallas knows they don’t quite have enough to get over the hump right now, so they’ve been exploring a trade for Jason Kidd. While I’m a huge fan of Jason Kidd, I don’t think he makes Dallas a championship team because he doesn’t help them in the post. But what about Shaq? Riley has hinted that he might be available saying that a contending team would “value Shaq’s production” (then quickly denying a trade is possible – ya right). (more…)