10 Bold Predictions for the 2013-14 NBA Season

There's a difference between being bold and outlandish, and the line needs to be properly drawn before the start of the 2013-14 NBA season.

Being bold is making a prediction that, while unexpected, still exists well within the realm of possibilities. Being outlandish, on the other hand, is saying something that your head, your heart and the stat sheets simply say won't happen.

Predicting the end of the Miami Heat's stranglehold on the title is bold. Declaring that their demise will come at the hands of the Charlotte Bobcats is absurd.

This season has a number of bold branches to traverse, some far more stable than others. With a wide championship field and a radically transformed landscape, the NBA promises to deliver a campaign rife with dramatic storylines and even more compelling on-court action.

I would tell you to buckle up, but all safety nets have been removed for these 10 bold predictions for the 2013-14 NBA season.

1. Omer Asik Is out of Houston...Before Christmas

Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey's superstar plan came to fruition this summer.

After years of financial maneuvering and draft-pick stockpiling, Morey had the perfect collection of young talent to acquire stars and keep them engaged once they'd arrived.

He traded for his first star, James Harden, prior to the start of the 2012-13 season. Under Harden's guidance, the Rockets snapped a three-year playoff drought and oozed with potential. That intrigue was tantalizing enough to lure seven-time All-Star Dwight Howard to H-Town this summer.

The Rockets have championship aspirations, but a roster still lacking a comfortable option at power forward. So when Houston struggles out of the gate as manufactured superteams have been known to do, Morey's panic meter rises and he cashes in his biggest trade piece (7'0, 255-pound center Omer Asik) to solidify that spot.

Asik himself saw no future in Houston once Howard climbed on board, and it won't take long for the Houston brass to come around.

2. Los Angeles Clippers Post West's Best Regular-Season Record

There are productive offseasons, and then there's the Los Angeles Clippers' 2013 summer.

In a matter of months, L.A. re-signed its All-NBA point guard (Chris Paul), landed a championship-caliber coach (Doc Rivers), found a backup for Paul (Darren Collison) and brought in shooters by the busload (J.J. Redick, Jared Dudley, Antawn Jamison and Reggie Bullock).

There are still some issues to work out—Jamison, Byron Mullens and Ryan Hollins as the interior insurance?—but none that limits this club's regular-season success.

Paul puts together a formidable MVP campaign, as his unselfish play is finally rewarded by the hordes of competent scorers around him. Rivers fuels Blake Griffin's fire, and the high-flying finisher adds reliable offense to his resume. DeAndre Jordan saps all of the humor out of Rivers' hilariously optimistic expectation level for his big man.

The Clippers' post problems ultimately derail this team, but not before L.A. rattles off a conference-best 62 wins.

3. Evan Turner Takes Home Most Improved Player Award...In a Sixers Jersey

The NBA doesn't punish Most Improved Player of the Year candidates for playing on losing teams the way it does the horses in the MVP race.

Among the past five winners of this award, two (Kevin Love in 2010-11 and Danny Granger in 2008-09) played on teams that finished below .500 and a third (Aaron Brooks in 2009-10) played for a winning team but not a playoff participant.

Taking team success out of the equation will work wonders for Evan Turner's chances. His Philadelphia 76ers could be historically bad, but the fourth-year wing looks primed for a breakout season.

If his three-point consistency from last season (36.5 percent) carries over, then the 25-year-old will add another weapon to his quietly loaded arsenal. He's been a terror from mid-range since his college days at Ohio State, and his impact as a rebounder (6.3 per game last season) and distributor (4.3) continues to grow.

He'll have more than enough offensive chances to finish somewhere near the 17.4 points, 7.6 boards and 4.1 dimes Paul George posted in his award-winning campaign last season. Truth be told, I'd be surprised if Turner can't top those scoring and assist averages.

So, how does he perform this well and not be sacrificed in Philly's tanking effort? This team has Michael Carter-Williams, James Anderson and Spencer Hawes in the starting lineup. Turner could go 20/10/10 and the Sixers still wouldn't budge from the bottom of the standings.

At some point, Philly needs to figure out whom to pair with their 2014 draft haul. An improved Turner would be a great place to start.

4. Ben McLemore Takes R.O.Y. Honor

Scouts and analysts seem to have a warped view of this rookie class.

On one hand, they view this talent influx as being woefully weak. The lack of a surefire star (think: Derrick Rose, Blake Griffin or even Anthony Davis) has left the basketball world taking a glass-bone-dry approach to these rookies.

Yet, when it comes to identifying a Rookie of the Year frontrunner, everyone seems to be in agreement. Orlando Magic guard Victor Oladipo was tabbed for the award by 80 percent of the league's executives according to the results of NBA.com's 12th annual general manager survey.

My frontrunner is different; he's not even on the same coast as Oladipo. Sacramento Kings guard Ben McLemore has All-Star potential, thanks to his Ray Allen-esque shooting form and jaw-dropping athleticism.

He's slotted to come off coach Michael Malone's bench, but it shouldn't take long before unabashed gunner Marcus Thornton falls out of favor with his defensive-minded coach. The Kings took a major step toward building their future by extending DeMarcus Cousins this summer; giving McLemore ample opportunity to succeed should be the next step of that process.

Surrounded by an interior scorer (Cousins) and a pass-first point guard (Greivis Vasquez), McLemore has the opportunity and skills to bring this franchise its first Rookie of the Year winner since Tyreke Evans earned the nod in 2009-10.

5. LeBron James Wins Second Scoring Title

Regular-season awards are highly subjective, and many of them are typically tied to both individual and team success.

That's what makes the scoring race as compelling as it is. Arguments aren't needed; stat sheets tell the whole story.

Calling Miami Heat superstar LeBron James a scorer is a gross slight toward the rest of his well-rounded game, but his ability to get buckets is special. Last season, he became the youngest player in NBA history to score 20,000 points, both a tremendous achievement and a natural progression considering he was also the youngest to clear the 1,000-point and 10,000-point thresholds.

James has one scoring title in his career (30.0 points per game in 2007-08), but he's backed off the accelerator since landing in South Beach back in 2010.

But look for him to keep the medal floored throughout this season, as Dwyane Wade continues to struggle with knee injuries and Chris Bosh does Chris Bosh things. The Heat never found a reliable offensive complement to the Big Three, and James relives a season's worth of his "Cleveland Days" while abusing the league for 29-plus points per game.

Bold sidebar: Kobe Bryant actually eclipses James' scoring average, but fails to meet the statistical requirements needed to qualify for the scoring title.

6. First-Round Meeting Takes Battle for L.A. to New Heights

The Western Conference playoff race will be crowded all season.

The top-six spots should be set in stone, although not in order: Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs, Los Angeles Clippers, Golden State Warriors, Houston Rockets and Memphis Grizzlies.

Those last two playoff tickets will have no less than six teams vying for those invites, seven if "Boogie" already lives up to his max extension.

Pick whoever you'd like for that No. 7 spot (feeling boldly generous today), but the No. 8 seed is off the board. It belongs to the Los Angeles Lakers—injury, aging, coaching concerns and all.

Led out of the gate by a rejuvenated Pau Gasol, then later sparked by Kobe Bryant's return, the Lakers find a way to match last season's win total (45), which proves just enough to solidify a postseason spot.

Regular-season records get thrown out the window in a physical, closer-than-it-should-be first-round series for the keys to the city. Network execs rave over the series' ratings, as Bryant and Paul battle in basketball's clash of the titans.

The Clippers barely escape, but the physical toll proves costly as Donald Sterling's team suffers yet another early postseason exit.

7. Brooklyn Nets Get Bounced in the First Round (Again)

Speaking of playoff disappointments, Mikhail Prokhorov's nearly $200 million plan may fizzle out long before the start of the second season.

Injury concerns figure to bother this aging team throughout the season. Building an opening lineup with a 37-year-old Kevin Garnett, a 36-year-old Paul Pierce and a rapidly declining 32-year-old Joe Johnson tends to have that effect.

The injury bug hasn't bothered to wait for the season's official start to rear its ugly head. Deron Williams could be a part-time participant in the Brooklyn Nets' season opener, via ESPN New York's Mike Mazzeo, highlighting this team's basement if prominent players are pulled from the action.

It's not the simple fact that certain players will be sidelined, it's the potential that this roster fails to properly gel in time to make a significant playoff run. The Los Angeles Lakers never found their collective footing last season, as they fell all the way from preseason favorites to postseason punchlines.

Brooklyn has plenty of offensive mouths to feed, and a rookie coach left easing any concerns about players wanting more involvement. When that offensive frustration boils over to the defensive end, Brooklyn's championship dreams are shot and Garnett wonders why he ever agreed to this trade.

The Nets might not offer as much drama as the Lakers did, but this team's headed for a premature exit nonetheless.

8. Derrick Rose Builds MVP Collection

LeBron James isn't the most generous player I've ever seen. The two-time defending champion has claimed four of the last five NBA MVP awards and both of the last two Finals MVP honors.

But his shot at a three-peat is in jeopardy, if for no other reason than voter fatigue.

The league's more than open to repeat winners, but claiming three consecutive awards has been a challenge. Only three players can lay claim to that accomplishment, the last being Boston Celtics legend Larry Bird who filled his trophy case with a trio of MVP awards from 1984-86.

James' numbers could be better than ever this season, but that won't keep his MVP string intact.

Not with all basketball eyes centered on the return of Chicago Bulls superstar Derrick Rose, the only player other than James with an MVP nod since 2009.

Bolstered both by the arrival of a lethal three-point shot (44.4 percent in the preseason) and a strengthened supporting cast, Rose is set to take the league by storm (again). His scoring (career 21.0 points per game) and assist (6.8) numbers are good enough to get him in the conversation, and his new-found perimeter success will work wonders for his efficiency marks.

Rose won't be the only dog in this race.

Kevin Durant's a serious threat, but his numbers (and the Oklahoma City Thunder's win totals) will be undermined by Russell Westbrook's absence. Carmelo Anthony may be the definition of value over replacement, but the New York Knicks won't win enough games for him to present a successful campaign.

This race is Rose's to lose, fair or not.

9. Golden State Warriors Have Three All-Stars and Three Postseason Series Wins

Two Golden State Warriors have been selected for the NBA All-Star Game since 1993: David Lee (who made his first trip as a Warrior last season) and Latrell Sprewell (who played in three All-Star Games during his Golden State tenure).

But this Warriors team is different. And its impact will be felt heavily at All-Star Weekend in New Orleans and beyond.

Stephen Curry should've been selected last season, and voters won't make that same mistake twice. Joining him in The Big Easy will be Andre Iguodala and Andrew Bogut, both of whom will draw major support as the Warriors' evolution from lovable losers into a defensive power continues (105.5 defensive rating last season, 13th in the NBA).

Of course, regular-season recognition isn't at the top of the priority list for this incredibly patient fanbase. Luckily, the Warriors will deliver with more postseason triumphs than they've enjoyed in more than three decades.

Golden State will navigate all the way through a crowded Western Conference field, thanks to this team's sudden versatility. Coach Mark Jackson has hordes of shooters to frustrate opponents and now the perimeter and interior defensive presences to extend that frustration to the other end of the floor.

Curry earns a serious look as an MVP candidate, and the perimeter trio of Iguodala, Harrison Barnes and Klay Thompson shines regardless of which one Jackson brings off the bench.

It will take a special kind of team to eliminate these two-way Warriors, but unfortunately this league still boasts one of the most special teams in its history.

10. Miami Heat Win in Trademark Fashion

Wait a minute. After taking all of those chances, I place the biggest stock of my bold predictions on the two-time defending champion Miami Heat?

Somehow yes, that's exactly what I'm going to do.

Maybe it's analysts' fatigue, but you've started to see the experts drift away from the Heat with their championship predictions.

Former Denver Nuggets coach and current ESPN analyst George Karl cited Dwyane Wade's lingering health concerns as his reason for jumping off the bandwagon. TNT analyst and five-time champion Steve Kerr said the rigors of postseasons past will ultimately unseat the Heat.

The Heat are still overwhelming favorites in the betting world—13/5 according to VegasInsider.com—but I think the gap between Miami and the rest is bigger now than it ever has been.

I don't expect that lopsided edge to surface in the regular season. I think Erik Spoelstra will limit Dwyane Wade's activity and tinker with his rotation to strike the perfect balance come playoff time.

Once the postseason starts, the Heat will be back in their comfort zone. James will once again hold his spot as the game's biggest star. Wade will be around when he's needed most, and at least one of Miami's offseason gambles (Michael Beasley and Greg Oden) will pay dividends at the biggest stage.

After that, it's just another championship party down Biscayne Bay and overflowing royalties for Heat president Pat Riley, who holds commercial rights for the phrase "three-peat."

An upset pick always carries a trendy appeal, but over-analyzing this championship field is a dangerous game. Simplify the thought process, avoid the desire to cave to this trend and believe exactly what your eyes have been telling you—the Heat are the best team in the business.

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