Life After LeBron: 25 Bold Predictions for the 2010-11 NBA Season

Now that "The Decision" has come and gone and LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh will be forming a team of SuperFriends down in Miami this coming season, the final pieces of the free agency puzzle will fall into place in the coming weeks.

Now there's only one thing left to do: Make way too early predictions for the upcoming NBA season.

Before we ever see LeBron, D-Wade, and Bosh step on a court in Heat jerseys, there's no reason we can't predict how their next season will unfold. After all, the statisticians have already jumped at the chance to project the Heat's future.

We're going beyond the Miami Thrice here. We're presenting 25 bold, somewhat outlandish predictions for the coming year.

From a team that could be worse than the 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers to a surprise Sixth Man of the Year, let's take a look at 25 things that you can expect to happen in the NBA's 2010-11 season.

The Toronto Raptors Will Challenge the NBA's Worst All-Time Record

Last year, NBA fans became reacquainted with the 1972-73 Sixers—they of the worst single-season record of all-time, at 9-73—as the cover-your-eyes Nets threatened to challenge the ignominious record for most losses in a season.

This year, after losing Chris Bosh in free agency, the Toronto Raptors will be in the same position.

Last year with Bosh, the Raptors couldn't play defense worth a lick. According to John Hollinger of ESPN, the Raptors were the only team to give up an average of more than 110 points per 100 possessions. No amount of offensive proficiency could save a team that played D that terribly.

Now with Bosh gone and Hedo Turkoglu traded away to Phoenix (say what you will, but he averaged nearly 20-5-5 two seasons ago), the Raps will rely on Jose Calderon, DeMar DeRozan, Leandro Barbosa, and Andrea Bargnani as their main scoring threats.

If that lineup isn't inspiring much confidence in you, dear Toronto fan, there's a reason for that. Your team is going to be categorically awful this year, and the times of 40-win seasons will be a thing of the past for the next year or two.

Greg Oden Will Stay Healthy for a Full 82-Game Season

In the first three years and 246 games of his NBA career, Greg Oden has been healthy for 82 of them. You have to figure that the Blazers didn't pick Oden No. 1 overall in 2007 (right in front of Kevin Durant) with the expectation that they would have him on the court once every three games.

The real shame is that when Oden does manage to stay healthy, he's shown flashes of the potential that justified his selection as the top overall pick. According to ESPN's John Hollinger, Oden had a PER of 23.14 this past season (15 is considered average, anything above 20 is excellent).

Oden missed his full rookie season after undergoing microfracture surgery on his right knee in September. He stayed relatively healthy in his sophomore season, although he did miss some time with a foot injury and a chipped knee cap. This past season, Oden only managed to play 21 games before fracturing his left patella, which knocked him out for the rest of the year.

The (injury) buck stops here for Oden. While the Blazers have the Bowie curse, they certainly don't have the "all your players get injured" Clippers Curse.

From all reports, Oden's a great guy off the court (despite the "private" pictures of him that went viral) and doesn't deserve the type of injury misfortune he's gone through. This season, fate will end up siding with him for a change, and he'll finally reinsert himself in the conversation of the NBA's best young rising stars.

Billy King Won't Murder the Nets Like He Killed the Sixers

For the past five years, the name "Billy King" has been synonymous in Philadelphia with "bad contract."

In 2005, King was the culprit who locked up Samuel Dalembert, Kyle Korver, and Willie Green for over $100 million combined, dooming the Sixers to mediocrity for a half-decade.

Somehow, someway, King has found his way back into the NBA, as Mikhail Prokhorov just hired him as the new general manager of the Nets.

Bill Simmons summed up my initial impressions of the deal: "How do you say, 'Any time you can turn your NBA team over to the guy who destroyed the 76ers, you gotta do it' in Russian?" But upon further reflection, King could end up being the right man for this job after all.

Prokhorov has already established that he's a business savvy man, and a man who doesn't tolerate many mistakes. He says he demands a 75 percent success rate from his employees. While he's promised to give his staff some leeway, he also recognizes how long ("five to six years") a mistake in the NBA can haunt a team.

If King pulls the trigger on a few more deals like the Dalembert contract, he'll be out of town just as fast as he rode into town. But if he works as Avery Johnson's puppet—the Russian reportedly dig Mr. Johnson in the early going—then he'll start rebuilding his tarnished image as a general manager.

The New Jersey Nets Will Make the Playoffs

So the Nets had a 12-win season last year. Big deal.

Add Derrick Favors, Anthony Morrow, Travis Outlaw, Johan Petro, and Jordan Farmar to the equation, mix in some better health for their key players, and the Nets easily have the potential to add 30 wins this season.

Avery Johnson will give the team a sense of direction, and his experience working with Devin Harris in Dallas will behoove the team in the early going. Terrence Williams' late-season breakout last year gives Johnson another offensive weapon to play with, and he can run his rotation to nine or 10 deep without much hesitation.

While the Heat clearly booked their ticket to the playoffs, barring injury to one of their Big Three, the Cavaliers and Raptors likewise booked their tickets to the lottery by losing their superstars. The Heat, Magic, Celtics, Hawks, and Bulls seem like playoff locks at this point (and Milwaukee's not far behind), but the Nets can and will scrape their way into one of the final two seeds.

The Nets won't cash in this year on Mikhail Prokhorov's promise to win a championship in the next five years, but they'll take a huge step in the right direction.

LeBron James Will Participate in the 2011 Dunk Contest

While sitting in the crowd for the 2009 dunk contest, LeBron James "preliminarily" put his name into the 2010 dunk contest.

One year later, as All-Star Weekend rolled around, one prominent name was missing from the dunk contest roster: Mr. James himself. Granted, during the Super Bowl the week before, LeBron did put his dunking talents on display in a pretty sweet McDonald's commercial, so…there's that (He's spoiled us with his play).

Now that he's the most hated NBA athlete outside of Miami, LeBron will realize that he has nothing to lose if he's somehow upstaged in the dunk contest. (Remember, this is the same guy who had tapes confiscated of a college kid dunking on him.)

Then again, given the competitor list from last year's dunk contest—Shannon Brown, DeMar DeRozan, Gerald Wallace, and Nate Robinson—it's hard to imagine someone upstaging King James.

Thus, he'll take his talents to the 2011 dunk contest, where he'll be the NBA's version of Triple H. Unless Dwight Howard dunks on a 14-foot hoop, 'Bron's taking home the dunk contest hardware as well.

And to answer your question before you can even ask it: Yes, he will be announcing his decision on ESPN in a one-hour special.

DeMarcus Cousins Will Be the Rookie of the Year

Going into the draft, DeMarcus Cousins was the second most talented player in his draft class (behind John Wall), but had legitimate character questions that dissuaded teams from taking a risk on him.

Cousins slipped all the way to the No. 5 pick despite leading college basketball in production per minute this past season as a freshman. The Kings wisely scooped him up with the fifth pick, setting up the potential for a devastating pick-and-roll combo with Cousins and Tyreke Evans.

According to ESPN's David Thorpe, Cousins is tearing up the summer league, proving that at least one team made a mistake in passing him up. At the same time, Thorpe reported that Cousins' questionable attitude has also popped up, as he's been unnecessarily jawing with his opponents.

The Kings traded for Samuel Dalembert to give them a strong defensive presence down low—sending out Spencer "Stay Puft" Hawes to the Sixers in return—but once the Kings learn to appreciate Sammy D's limitations on offense, they won't keep Cousins on the bench long.

Barring any behind-the-scenes blowups, Cousins will earn his 30-plus minutes a game very early in his rookie career. Assuming he continues the productivity he's displayed in college and in the NBA summer league, he'll end up stealing the Rookie of the Year award from under the nose of his former college teammate, John Wall.

Gilbert Arenas Will NOT Threaten To Shoot John Wall

Last year, Mr. Arenas got himself into a bit of trouble after a joke with a teammate escalated into a potentially violent threat.

Something tells me that after being suspended from the league for a year, right on the verge of his comeback, Arenas will have learned to keep his guns at home. Maybe he'll also have learned to not point your fingers like guns when you're already in trouble for something gun-related.

When Arenas returns, he'll be without many of his running mates from the past few seasons due to salary-slashing trades. Instead of Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood, and Antawn Jamison, Arenas will walk onto a team with John Wall, Kirk Hinrich, and Andray Blatche as three of their main options offensively.

It'll presumably be a bit difficult for Arenas to swallow the fact that a soon-to-be 20-year-old usurped him as the face of the franchise. There'll be some natural tension at first.

For Arenas sake, here's hoping he learned his lesson with the suspension, and that he won't escalate that tension between he and Wall into something more problematic.

The Miami Heat Will Sign Allen Iverson

I want to return to the NBA this season, and help any team that wants me, in any capacity that they feel that I can help. I'm disappointed, and I owe my fans more than what they have seen of me the last couple seasons.—Allen Iverson, July 5.

Finally, finally, it sounds like Iverson's had the dose of humble pie that he needs to become a successful NBA role player into his late 30s. If he's truly willing to help in any capacity—including a bench role the entire season—he'd be the perfect fit for the newly-formed Miami Heat.

Much like Zydrunas Ilgauskas, the signing would be as much about the team as it would be about giving a storied NBA veteran a real, final chance to earn an NBA ring. But like Big Z, Iverson would still be able to contribute enough to justify his presence on the roster.

As Iverson fans will always be quick to point out, A.I. was averaging over 25 ppg only two seasons ago, back in 2007-08. Iverson's lost a step since then, but he's still got the potential to be a highly productive bench scorer.

It's hard to imagine him not willingly accepting any amount of money to join the Heat and have his best chance at a title in a decade.

Stephen Curry Will Win the NBA All-Star Game Skills Challenge

Steve Nash and Deron Williams just found a new threat to their All-Star Weekend Skills Challenge dominance.

Brandon Jennings and Russell Westbrook took their shot at the two All-Star point guards last February, but Nash ended up taking home the hardware, with Williams coming in a close second.

This year, Stephen Curry will enter the fray.

If we haven't learned to stop doubting Curry by now, we never will. The diminutive guard captured our attention with a magical NCAA tournament run, but he's solidified himself as a legitimate NBA PG by improving on his season averages every month of last year, finishing with a 42-9-8 in the last game of the season.

Curry has steadily improved his passing skills since becoming a point guard two years ago, and he's already proven himself as one of the more accurate shooters in the league. Curry's skillset, speed, and youthful exuberance will be the recipe that allows him to walk out of All-Star Weekend as the winner of the Skills Challenge.

Brandon Jennings Will Be the Most Improved Player of the Year

Last November, rookie Brandon Jennings took the league by storm by scoring 55 points in his seventh career NBA game, a 129-125 victory over the defenseless Golden State Warriors. It was that much more impressive considering he didn't score his first point until the second quarter.

From that point forward, Jennings never scored more than 29 points in a single game, and even referenced his 55-point game as a possible "curse."

This year, Jennings will snap the curse and then some. After bursting into the league averaging 15.5 points and 5.7 assists as a rookie last year, Jennings will establish himself as one of the better point guards in the NBA this season—think Russell Westbrook last year.

Granted, this improvement will largely stem from the fact that Milwaukee remained extremely active this offseason, re-signing John Salmons to a long-term deal and acquiring Drew Gooden, Corey Maggette, and Larry Sanders through free agency, a trade, and the draft, respectively.

It never hurts a PG when he gets to pass to a guy who averaged nearly 20 ppg last season (Maggette), or someone who averaged 16 points and 11 rebounds per 36 minutes (Gooden).

Jennings will have that many more scoring options on his team—say farewell to the days of Luc Richard Mbah a Moute starting—which will only open the floor that much more for him. Jennings will continue the trend Aaron Brooks started last year, and he'll be the second straight PG to be named Most Improved Player of the Year.

J.J. Hickson Will Make His First All-Star Team

Without LeBron James, there's no easy way to say this: No matter what Dan Gilbert believes, the Cleveland Cavaliers are going to be awful next season.

There's just no way to replace a two-time MVP who's led your team in points and assists all seven years that he's been with your franchise. James made his teammates that much better, and we're about to be treated to a front row view of James' importance to Cleveland in the coming season.

The Cavs can't build around Mo Williams, Anderson Varejao, or Antawn Jamison, but the Cavs do have one young piece that could emerge from the wreckage: J.J. Hickson.

Hickson averaged a respectable 14.7 points and 8.5 rebounds per 36 minutes this past season. Not All-Star numbers, but keep in mind, it's not like the Cavs were drawing up many plays for him.

That's all about to change with Bron in Miami and Byron Scott as the new coach. Scott sees Hickson as a cornerstone for the franchise, and plans to use Hickson as the main piece in a running-based offense.

Scott's going to do everything in his power to make Hickson a 20-10 player. Considering Hickson's competition on the team, it's not hard seeing him do so and earning an All-Star berth, a la David Lee last season.

The Chicago Bulls Will Finish With a Better Record Than the Miami Heat

When LeBron decided to "bring his talents to South Beach", the Eastern Conference suddenly had a new superteam to reckon with.

But one of the teams LeBron spurned, the Chicago Bulls, weren't deterred by his decision. Instead, they went out, extended an offer sheet to Orlando's J.J. Redick, and signed Carlos Boozer and Kyle Korver from Utah.

Add that to their core of Derrick Rose, Luol Deng, and Joakim Noah, and you'd be crazy to rule out the Chicago Bulls as legitimate contenders in the Eastern Conference this upcoming season.

The big questions surrounding Chicago coming into free agency were "who are your shooters?" and "who scores in the post?" Korver and Redick answer the first question, Boozer answers the second (Although it sounds like Orlando will match Redick's offer.).

The Heat built their team from the ground up, and they'll need more than just a few weeks in training camp to acclimate all of their players to their system. While the Bulls have a new coach in Tom Thibodeau, the Chicago veterans will still have the experience playing together and knowing their teammates' strengths and weaknesses.

Chicago will storm out of the gates to establish itself as a legitimate Eastern power (think Atlanta from this past season), and it will build up enough of an advantage over the Heat that it will secure a higher seed in the playoffs than Miami.

But Miami Will Beat Them in the Eastern Conference Finals

When Pat Riley convinced Wade, Bosh, and James to all sign for less than they could potentially earn this summer, he took his first step towards establishing a new dynasty down in South Beach.

By convincing Udonis Haslem, Mike Miller, and Zydrunas Ilguaskas to sacrifice some riches for a chance at winning an NBA championship, Riley proved that the "completely blow your team up and restart" model can work to perfection in the rarest of circumstances.

While the Heat still lack the interior defense that would establish them as a true favorite to win the title this year, they've added an ideal complement in Miller, and including the two rookies, Jarvis Varnado and Dexter Pittman, the Heat have a workable five-man frontcourt rotation as is.

Let's be honest: Most statistical models predicted 60-plus win seasons for the Heat assuming Bron, Bosh, and Wade were surrounded with guys equivalent to the ninth and 10th best guys on an average NBA team. Haslem, Miller, and Z are all a cut above those type of role players, and thus, there's a solid chance the Heat outperform most of these predictive models.

LBJ will get his revenge against the Magic in the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs, the Bulls will battle past the Celtics on the other side of the bracket, and the Heat will beat the Bulls in the Eastern Conference finals to move on to their first shot to win an NBA championship together.

The New Orleans Hornets Will Trade Chris Paul

The Hornets shocked the NBA world earlier this week by firing GM Jeff Bower, who was widely regarded as one of the more competent GMs in the league today. (Also known as "Not David Kahn.")

ESPN's Marc Stein reported that owner George Shinn fired Bower because of an "increasingly strained relationship" with Chris Paul, largely due to the premature firing of now-Cavs coach Byron Scott.

What makes anyone think CP3 will stick around New Orleans once his contract expires in 2012? The Hornets have shown themselves to be a cap-wary organization that's never managed to get a player better than David West around Paul. Plus, this is a team locked into Emeka Okafor long-term.

Paul recently alluded to the possibility of he, Carmelo Anthony, and Amar'e Stoudemire forming their own Big Three in New York eventually. The Hornets will read the writing on the wall sooner rather than later and trade Paul for as many cents on the dollar as they can get before they receive the LBJ-abandonment treatment.

Shaquille O'Neal Will Sign With the Atlanta Hawks

If the Hawks plan on winning with their current core group, they have to realize that they need to make some changes after being swept by the Orlando Magic in the second round of this year's playoffs.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Hawks have one big change they could make: Shaquille O'Neal would be interested in joining Atlanta this coming season.

Before you wince at the thought of a 39-year-old O'Neal taking 10 seconds to run down the court, remember, Cleveland brought in O'Neal as a ringer for Dwight Howard in the playoffs. Atlanta had no answer for Howard, as their center, Al Horford, is much more cut out for playing the 4.

Adding Shaq would allow Horford to slide to the 4 and Josh Smith to slide to the 3. If the Hawks went through with a sign-and-trade with the Cavs for Shaq, they could ship out starting SF Marvin Williams, who's largely been underwhelming after being the No. 2 pick in 2005.

The Hawks would have the option of running big with a Smith-Horford-O'Neal lineup, or they could run their typical lineup from this past season, with either Jordan Crawford or Jamal Crawford stepping in as the 2 and Joe Johnson sliding to the 3. Either way, adding O'Neal would give the Hawks an extra look on offense, which is absolutely imperative for their team if they hope to win a championship with this group.

As a Result, Josh Smith Will Be Defensive Player of the Year

If you play fantasy basketball, heed this advice wisely: When you draft Josh Smith, you will fall in love with him quickly*.

You'll see that Smith, at 6'9", 240 pounds, has one of the rarest skillsets of any combo forward not named LeBron James. Not many starting PFs walk onto the court as a nightly triple-double threat. Add to that Smith's 1.25 steal and 2.34 block per game average, and you've got yourself a fantasy superstar.

With Shaquille O'Neal sometimes manning the 5, Smith could slide over to the 3 and absolutely dominate opposing small forwards on the defensive end. Besides LeBron and maybe Carmelo Anthony, no other small forward could out-rebound Smith consistently, and Smith's quick hands would cause serious problems with a lengthy Atlanta frontcourt.

Smith bumped his steals per game average to 1.6 this past season, and with O'Neal in the lineup, there's no reason to think his stats wouldn't increase more. Having O'Neal as a help defender will allow Smith to sell out defensively more, as he can go for more steals and more blocks knowing he's got a 7-footer behind him to guard the basket.

With O'Neal in the lineup, Smith would become one of the most dangerous forwards in the league, on both ends of the court.

(This strategy assumes you do not care about free throw percentage one bit. You are punting free throw percentage by drafting Smith. Go after Dwight Howard and Rajon Rondo if you're going this route.)

Jason Kapono Will Get Off the Bench This Season

Last season, Philadelphia ranked 22nd out of 30 in the NBA in three-point shooting percentage, as the Sixers only knocked down 34.3 percent of their long range shots.

On their bench, they had a career 44 percent three-point shooter—a guy who led the league in three-point field goal percentage twice in his career. Yet, former Sixers coach Eddie Jordan staunchly refused to bring this player off the bench until March of last season.

This year, Doug Collins cannot fall victim to the same trap. Every team needs long-range shooting to stretch the floor, and the Sixers aren't paying Jason Kapono over $6 million to be a benchwarmer.

Kapono's biggest problem is that the Sixers have more small forwards (Kapono, Iguodala, Young, Carney, Nocioni) than they know what to do with. The Sixers only have so many available minutes for wingmen per game, and Iguodala will command a sizeable share of those minutes until he's traded.

Still, Collins has to realize the lunacy of watching your team jack up awful three-pointers when you've got one of the league's most proficient three-point shooters sitting on your bench every game.

Now that the reign of Eddie Jordan has ended, Kapono should expect to actually see some real playing time before March.

David Kahn Will Make At Least 10 More Absurd Darko Milicic Comparisons

"Like a manna from heaven…"
"Hasn't seen a big man pass like him…"

These are descriptions I expect to hear about, I don't know, Pau Gasol? Lamar Odom or Greg Monroe, to a lesser extent?

David Kahn, general manager of the Minnesota Timberwolves, instead believes these things about none other than Darko Milicic, the No. 2 pick in the 2003 draft who's been regarded as one of the biggest busts of the decade.

Kahn has fallen head-over-heels with Darko's size ("he's a legitimate 7'1""), and has apparently ignored the fact that Darko wasn't spectacular defensively last season as the team's starting center. Darko also made his expectations about the coming season pretty clear (30 to 35 minutes a game and a starter's role); time will tell if Kahn conforms to Darko's demands.

Here's guessing that reporters will mercilessly question Kahn about Darko, knowing the potential gold mine of quotes he's sitting on, and Kahn will fall right into the trap.

Alvin Gentry Will Win Coach of the Year

A week ago, when Amar'e Stoudemire decided to leave Phoenix for the bright lights of New York, it appeared that the sun was finally setting on the Steve Nash era in Phoenix.

Then, Phoenix added Hedo Turkoglu and Josh Childress through trades with Toronto and Atlanta, and its future suddenly looked that much brighter.

The newly signed Hakim Warrick will likely be asked to step into the starting PF role, but Turkoglu could see some minutes at the 4 if the Suns run with a small lineup. The Suns also now find themselves with a plethora of lengthy wingmen—Jason Richardson, Turkoglu, Childress, Jared Dudley, and Grant Hill included—perfect for their fast-paced offense.

Gentry will have to find which wing players work best together and to fill the holes in the frontcourt, but this wouldn't be the first time he brought an unheralded team further than they should go. Last year, he resurrected Amar'e Stoudemire just in time to have his team catch fire in the playoffs and advance to the Western Conference finals.

This year, the Suns won't make it back to the WCF—the West sports too many strong contenders—but a week ago, Suns fans weren't even thinking playoffs. Now, they're cautiously optimistic.

When the Suns still win 50 games this season despite the loss of Stoudemire, Gentry will earn the coach of the year award. And he'll deserve every bit of it.

Cleveland Will White-Out With This Shirt When Miami Comes to Town

Alright, this one's not necessarily a bold prediction.

When you can find a shirt that combines a "your mom" joke with a nasty rumor that spread like wildfire, and it's making fun of your city's newest archenemy, the opportunity should be too good to pass up.

During "The Decision," LeBron said he hoped that Cleveland would spare him some expense, given all that he'd been through with the city in the past seven years.

Uhh…you went on national TV and broke up with them. Fat chance, buddy.

When Miami comes to Cleveland for the first time this season, the atmosphere will be one of the most electric sporting events Cleveland fans could ever hope to experience. Having been at Terrell Owens' first game back after leaving the Philadelphia Eagles, I can vouch: There's nothing like cheering against a hero you once loved.

The venom will spew from 20,000 Cleveland fans that night. A white-out with this shirt will capture that environment perfectly.

The Nuggets Will Trade Carmelo Anthony

The Nuggets extended a reported three-year, $65 million offer to Carmelo Anthony when free agency began this summer. But to this point, Anthony hasn't signed the deal.

By not signing immediately, Anthony keeps the pressure on the Nuggets to continue improving, as Frank Hughes of Sports Illustrated observed.

With an aging Chauncey Billups, an overpriced Kenyon Martin, and an always volatile J.R. Smith, it's tough imagining the Nuggets making the sudden improvements that establish their place as a long-term contender. And if Melo wants to become a free agent next summer, Nuggets management say they plan to trade him before he gets the chance.

The Nuggets made their miracle run to the Western Conference finals in 2009, but it's near impossible to imagine the team returning, given the number of brutally tough teams in the West this season. 'Melo has no incentive to re-sign right away, yet if he doesn't by October, he's locking himself into becoming a free agent next summer.

Eventually, the team will realize they'll have to cut their losses with Carmelo, and they'll ship him away at the trade deadline to guarantee they get something in return for their franchise superstar.

Michael Beasley Will Be the Sixth Man of the Year

Recently, Tom Ziller of FanHouse proved that an avocado would be a better general manager than David Kahn of the Timberwolves.

To Kahn's credit, while he just traded away his best player for a trade exception and Kosta Koufos, he also obliged the Miami Heat and took a gamble on Michael Beasley, the No. 2 pick from the 2008 draft.

Incredibly, the Heat were all but begging to give Beasley away for free for the past few months to clear up cap space, and they still couldn't find any takers. Kahn eventually relented by giving up a second-round pick for Beasley, but when you consider Beasley's talents, you recognize that Kahn found himself on the right end of a deal for a change.

Beasley played much more effectively as a four than a three in Miami's offense, and with the departure of Al Jefferson, the Wolves will need a high-scoring backup for Kevin Love, who's virtually guaranteed to step into the starting PF role.

Luckily for Beasley, he won't be running with scrubs in his second-line unit. Luke Ridnour, Martell Webster, and new signee Nikola Pekovic, who's reportedly become one of the hottest prospects in European basketball, will be playing with him. As the leader of this unit, Beasley will return to the dominant form he showed so often in college, and he'll win the Sixth Man of the Year award as a result.

The Blazers Will Be the No. 3 Seed in the West

While OKC coach Scott Brooks truly deserved his Coach of the Year award last season, Portland coach Nate McMillan should have been right there with him. McMillen managed his way through a minefield of injuries last season to still guide his team to a 50-win season and a playoff berth.

This season, lightning can't strike every one of their players twice.

The team traded away SF Martell Webster for the draft rights to Nevada SF Luke Babbitt, a deep-shooting lanky forward who could space the floor next to Andre Miller and Brandon Roy. The Blazers also drafted Memphis combo-guard Elliott Williams, who they'll attempt to plug in as a backup PG behind Miller.

With Roy and Oden healthy and their new draft picks on the roster, the Blazers will have depth at every position.

Considering that the Blazers racked up 50 wins while they were banged up, a year younger (and less experienced), and without their current draft picks, it's no stretch to imagine they'll add 5-10 wins this season. The Blazers will finish only behind the Lakers and the Thunder in the regular season.

Dwight Howard Will Be the League MVP

Before every season starts, some sucker ends up predicting that this will finally be the year when Dwight Howards puts everything together and becomes the league MVP.

This year, I'm that sucker.

Howard's road to MVP theoretically became easier when Bron, Bosh, and Wade decided to team up together down in Miami—with three of them on the same team, it limits the damage that any given one of them will do every single night.

In his best statistical season (2008-09), Howard averaged 20.4 points, 13.8 rebounds, and 2.9 blocks per night, leading the league in the latter two categories. Ostensibly, to win MVP, Howard will have to increase his scoring by five points per game while maintaining (if not improving) his rebounding and blocked shot averages.

Then again, Howard isn't competing with the USA team later this summer, giving him a full summer to work with Magic assistant coach Patrick Ewing on continuing to develop his skills in the paint. If Howard comes back this fall with a suddenly reliable mid-range jumper, he becomes that much more of a threat at all times for Orlando.

Howard will finish the season averaging 25-15, along with three blocked shots per game, and will take home his first MVP award in April as a result.

The Oklahoma City Thunder Will Win the NBA Championship

Underrated story of the playoffs: The Oklahoma City Thunder were one last-second Pau Gasol putback away from pushing the eventual champions to a Game Seven in the first round.

As Sports Illustrated's Britt Robson recently (wisely) observed, the Thunder only improved this summer.

Thunder GM Sam Presti worked his usual magic this summer, turning four draft picks outside the top 20 into two sharpshooting swingmen (Daequan Cook and Morris Peterson), a quality center (Cole Aldrich), and a future first-round pick from the Clippers. For a team short on long-range shooters and big man bangers in the series against the Lakers, Presti found just what the doctor ordered.

The Thunder enter the year having just locked up their young superstar, Kevin Durant, through 2016—a sure-fire selling point to all future free agent prospects—and will benefit from their young squad having cut their teeth in the playoffs last season.

Now that Durant's tasted the intensity of the playoffs, chances are he won't shoot 5-of-23 from the field in a series-deciding game again. Add to that a year of experience for Jeff Green, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Eric Maynor, and Serge Ibaka, and you've got a team that's got the potential to be extremely dangerous in the coming season.

The Thunder will exact their revenge against the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals and use the momentum of upsetting the defending champs to propel themselves to their first championship in (new) franchise history.