2010-11 NBA Season: 10 Sure-Fire Predictions For This Upcoming Season
The 2010-11 NBA Season is less than three weeks away which means it's prediction season. Preseason games have started and teams are starting to fine tune themselves for the regular season.
Now is a perfect time to look at 10 things that will happen in the NBA this year.
After a year in which the Lakers battled injuries to Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum on way to a second-consecutive championship and Boston showed critics that age is still just a number, anticipation was high for this season already.
Then came the offseason.
LeBron James and Chris Bosh teamed up with Dwyane Wade in Miami, Amar'e Stoudemire went to save the New York Knicks, and players like Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul let their teams know that they wanted to see better results and immediately.
Here's a look at 10 sure-fire predictions for the 2010-11 NBA Season.
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10. The Lakers Will Not Three-Peat
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The Los Angeles Lakers are the defending champions. After a tough seven-game series against the Boston Celtics, the Lakers came out on top of the NBA world.
That won't be the case this year. Yes, the Lakers are definitely better than they were last year on paper. Will they have all of those parts is the question.
Andrew Bynum still hasn't recovered from offseason surgery and Phil Jackson hinted at using Bynum as a part-time player. Similar to the role Yao Ming will be playing this year for the Rockets (only 24 minutes per game).
Kobe Bryant is still playing with about three fingers on his right hand. One bad hit could do a lot of damage to not only Bryant's hand, but to the Lakers' hopes of repeating as champions.
Plus, the rest of the league got better too. I still think the Lakers are contenders, but they won't be taking home the Larry O'Brien Trophy again this year.
9. The Memphis Grizzlies Will Make the Playoffs
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The Memphis Grizzlies went 40-42 last season, a 16-game improvement from their 24-58 record in the 2008-09 season. That would have been the biggest improvement in the NBA if it wasn't for the surge of the Oklahoma City Thunder, who improved by 27 games.
But the Grizzlies have all the key parts back from last years team. Rudy Gay was signed to a five-year, $80 million extension this offseason, Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol are in their final years of their contracts. OJ Mayo and Mike Conely are also still under contract.
Memphis didn't just sit back on it's heels all offseason though. They added swing man Tony Allen formerly of the Boston Celtics, and drafted guards Xavier Henry (13th overall) and Greivis Vasquez (28th overall).
Depth is not a problem for the Grizzlies and expect to see another season of improvement under Lionel Hollins in his second year as head coach. The Grizzlies will finally make it back to the playoffs for the first time since 2006.
8. The New York Knicks Will Make the Playoffs
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Amar'e Stoudemire is now the face of the New York Knicks. He signed a five-year, $100 million deal as a free agent this offseason.
The Knicks, however, did lose David Lee (traded to the Golden State Warriors), but the Knicks got good players in return: Kelenna Azubuike, Ronny Turiaf, and Anthony Randolph.
All three players will be in Mike D'Antoni's rotation this year and Randolph may finally have that breakout year that everyone has been expecting of him.
New York also added Raymond Felton through free agency. Felton is definitely an upgrade over Chris Duhon, and Felton has thrived in the past in an uptempo offense (University of North Carolina 2002-05).
New York finally has a solid nine players on it's roster and D'Antoni is known to not expand his rotation past that number. With some added youth and a couple of star players in Felton and Stoudemire, the Knicks should get back into the postseason in the 2010-11 season.
7. Kevin Durant Will Be the 2010-11 NBA MVP
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Kevin Durant had a phenomenal 2009-10 NBA season. He became the youngest player ever (21 years old) to lead the league in scoring averaging 30.1 PPG.
He built off that with a tough showing in the first-round playoff matchup against the Los Angeles Lakers. Even though Durant wasn't scoring like he was during the season, he had much better all-around performances during the playoffs.
Durant carried all that momentum and brought it over to Turkey with him for the World Championships as the leader of the USA Men's Basketball team that won the gold medal.
Durant scored the most points (205) and had the best average (22.8 PPG) of any player to ever compete in a tournament for USA Basketball history.
Now Durant will carry all of that over into the 2010-11 season. Last year's MVP, LeBron James, is now in Miami and is likely to get less votes seeing as he's paired with two other All-Stars and future Hall of Famers for 82 games this year.
6. DeMarcus Cousins Will Win Rookie of the Year
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Going into the 2010 NBA Draft, there was one name that you could not escape and that name was John Wall. He deserved the praise he got as he had a spectacular freshman season and was an intriguing prospect.
But the name that will be engraved on the 2011 NBA Rookie of the Year trophy will be DeMarcus Cousins. DeMarcus was the most NBA-ready prospect in the 2010 draft.
He has the size and skills to be able to come in and have an immediate impact on the court. However, there were questions about Cousins' attitude and he was red flag by a couple teams as not worth the risk of a high selection.
The Sacramento Kings took the chance with the fifth overall pick and they are going to be patting themselves on the back after this season.
The Kings struck gold last year when they took the eventual 2010 Rookie of the Year Tyreke Evans and they did it again this year. Cousins had an impressive summer league averaging a double double.
And after the first two games of the preseason Cousins is averaging 15.5 PPG and 9.5 RPG. Cousins will be putting numbers similar to that up throughout the whole season.
5. Carmelo Anthony Will Be a Denver Nugget All Season
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The second biggest story of the offseason was rumors of Carmelo Anthony wanting out of Denver. Carmelo has since came out and denied that he ever requested a trade from the Nuggets.
Still there were reports of a proposed four-team trade and some people questioned if Anthony would even show up for training camp this year.
But Carmelo was there on time and even faced the media head on. Head coach George Karl has came out and said he thinks this is the best training camp Carmelo has ever had.
It was just two years ago that the Denver Nuggets almost beat out the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Finals. The Nuggets roster has seen some minor tweaks since then, but if they can find that chemistry that went missing last year this is a dangerous team in the Western Conference.
Anthony will put on his best show this season and lead the Nuggets to one of the best records in the West, and with the team and Anthony playing well together, the Nuggets will try to ride out Anthony to one last attempt at an NBA championship.
4. The Miami Heat Will Have the Best Record in the NBA
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The biggest story of the 2010-11 NBA season will be anything that has to do with the Miami Heat. They were the talk of the offseason, the talk of the preseason, and will be the talk of the season.
That's what happens when you add two talents like LeBron James and Chris Bosh to a team with Dwyane Wade.
There have been many people to predict what this season will hold for the Heat. Jeff Van Gundy went as far to say they will break the 1996 Bulls' record of 72 wins in a season.
While they will not surpass 70 wins, the Miami Heat will have the best record in the NBA. LeBron James carried a Cleveland Cavalier team with less talent to the best record in the NBA the past two seasons. He, Wade, and Bosh should have no problem doing the same this year.
3. Jerry Sloan Will Win Coach of the Year
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Quick, name how many times Jerry Sloan has won Coach of the Year...
If you answered zero you are correct! In one of the biggest travesty in sports, Jerry Sloan has somehow never gotten the award in his 26-year coaching career.
He has made it through 22 years as the head coach of the Utah Jazz and in all that time he has only had one season where the Jazz failed to have a .500 record or better.
Sloan has been one of the games best coaches for awhile, but often gets overlooked when it comes to awards.
Not this year, after seeing a bit of an overturn in the roster from last year to this year, Sloan will finally get the recognition he deserves and win Coach of the Year.
2. A Guard Will Win Defensive Player of the Year
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The last time a guard won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year award was in the 1995-96 season when Gary Payton took home the award.
This is the year that 14-year drought ends. New Orleans Hornets point guard Chris Paul has come close to winning this award in 2008, but after a couple injuries sidelined him for the better part of the 2009-2010 season, Paul will once again have his name back in the DPOY conversations.
Another guard who has a fighter's chance of winning the DPOY award is Boston Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo. Rondo has built a profile for himself off his passing and steals.
Rondo and Paul will be one and two in the league leaders for steals this season. I think that will be good enough for one of them to take home the award.
Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard is the two-time winner of the award, but this is a year of change in NBA and the DPOY won't be left out of that change.
1. LeBron James Will Average a Triple-Double
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LeBron James will average a triple-double this year.
A feat that was last accomplished 49 years ago by the great Oscar Robertson
Yes I said it, and yes I believe it. James has always been a great all-around player with career averages of 27.8 PPG, 7.0 RPG, and 7.0 APG.
This year James will not have to be the focal point of his team, playing alongside Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, LeBron won't be counted on to score as much.
And with teams no longer being able to cater their defenses and game plans only to him, LeBron will see an increase in his other stats like assists and rebounds.
If anyone is capable of pulling this off, it is LeBron James. For the year I see him averaging 22.4 PPG, 10.2 RPG, and 10.5 APG for the 2010-11 season.
Brandon Jefferson is a student at High Point University and a Bleacher Report Writing Intern. You can follow him on Twitter @Dotcom_2.
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