NBA Tidbits Possibly Worth Your While

With the NBA season winding down in spectacular fashion, I thought it would be a good time to through out some thoughts and observations on the NBA season thus far.

Awards:
This is my take on the NBA awards for the year

MVP: This one is easy. Lebron James. He is the most dominant player in the league. We could just pencil him in for a few years to come.
Defensive Player of the Year: This one is funny to me because everyone automatically says that Dwight Howard is the winner of this one, but I feel like they do not give enough consideration to the likes of Lebron James or Andrew Bogut. Lebron is a beast that physically can hound any player, and Bogut has been very good on the defensive end. Although I am tempted to give this to Lebron, I still say Dwight Howard. He just changes everything.
6th Man of the Year: While most "experts" are saying Jamal Crawford, I am going with Manu Ginobli. Yes, everyone loves to hate Manu, especially in Utah. But he is an all-star that comes off the bench and Jamal Crawford isn't.
Most Improved Player: This one is up for grabs, you have Bogut, George Hill, Russell Westbrook. But I would have to give it to Durant. And that seems a little counter-intuitive to me, but here is why. From last season to this he has improved in every single statistical category, most importantly W's.
Coach of the Year: This award is a mystifying award. Year after year this award has no consistency. One year it is given to Phil Jackson for coaching Kobe or MJ, the next year it is given to Byron Scott for his team being better than expected. What exactly is the criteria for this award? 3 out of the last 5 winners of this award are not even currently still coaching, what does that tell you. With all that said, I would say that Scott Brooks, coach of the Thunder, will win this award. And it is a load of crap! Jerry Sloan absolutely deserves this award. What if I gave you the following two seasons and asked you to pick the coach that did the better job: Season #1. The team has a 54-28 record. The team takes 1st place in their division and is the #2 or #3 seed in the Western Conference. Their record last year was 48-34 when they were the #8 seed in the Western Conference. The number of Lottery picks on the roster is 1. Season #2. The team has a 50-32. The team is the #8 seed in the Western Conference. Their record last year was 23-59. The number of Lottery picks on the roster is 6. Which coach would you say did the better job? This is my problem with this award, I say the coach of Season #1 did the better job because he did it with less talent and has finished higher in the conference. Season #1 is coached by Jerry Sloan. But Jerry will get screwed again and be left off the ballot by most voters. Won't even make the top 5.

Predictions:

Final Standings: This is how I think the final standings will look.
Eastern Conference:
1. Cleveland
2. Orlando
3. Atlanta
4. Boston
5. Miami
6. Milwaukee
7. Charlotte
8. Chicago
Not much drama there.
Western Conference:
1. LA Lakers
2. Utah Jazz
3. Dallas Mavericks
4. Denver Nuggets
5. Phoenix Suns
6. Portland Trailblazers
7. San Antonio Spurs
8. Oklahoma City Thunder
There are a lot of assumptions made in these standings. Those assumptions come via the predictions I have made regarding the last 4 meaningful games of the year. Portland should beat Golden State tomorrow night and that will solidify them at the 6th seed due to tiebreakers. So the 4 meaningful games are as follows: Denver at Phoenix tonight, San Antonio at Dallas tomorrow, Utah at Golden State tonight and Phoenix at Utah tomorrow. Basically if Denver wins tonight at Phoenix, they get the 3 spot and Dallas gets the 2, regardless of what else happens. However, if Phoenix wins at home tonight then the circus ensues. Scenario 1: Phoenix wins tonight and then wins in Utah. While Dallas wins tomorrow. Then the order would be Dallas 2, Phoenix 3, Denver 4, Utah 5. Scenario 2: Phoenix wins tonight but loses in Utah. While Dallas wins tomorrow and Utah wins tonight also. Then the order would be Dallas 2, Utah 3, Denver 4, Phoenix 5. Scenario 3: Phoenix wins tonight but loses in Utah. While Dallas loses tomorrow and the Jazz beat Golden State tonight. Then the order would be Utah 2, Dallas 3, Phoenix 4, Denver 5. Scenario 4: The Jazz lose tonight to the Warriors. Then the Jazz are at best 4 and worst 5, while Dallas is 2, Denver 3 and Phoenix 4 or 5. So as you can see from my predicted standings above, I have Phoenix winning tonight, Dallas losing tomorrow and the Jazz winning out. Whatever happens the last 2 days of the regular season will be crazy that is for sure.

Playoff Pairings and Results
Based on the above information the playoff pairings in the East are:
Cleveland vs. Chicago (My prediction Cleveland in 4)
Orlando vs Charlotte (Orlando in 4)
Atlanta vs Milwaukee (Atlanta in 5)
Boston vs Miami (Boston in 7)
The pairings in the West are:
LA vs Oklahoma City (LA in 6)
Utah vs San Antonio (Utah in 7)
Dallas vs Portland (Dallas in 5)
Phoenix vs Denver (Denver in 6)
Based on those predictions, here are the second round pairings in the East:
Cleveland vs Boston (Cleveland in 6)
Orland vs Atlanta (Orland in 5)
In the West the second round pairings are:
LA vs Denver (LA in 7)
Utah vs Dallas (Utah in 6)
Taking it another step further, the Conference Finals are:
Cleveland vs Orlando (Cleveland in 7)
LA vs Utah (LA in 7)
Moving it to the Finals:
Cleveland vs LA (Cleveland in 5)

Once the playoffs are actually set. We will put out a round table with more opinions than just mine and some actual analysis. That is probable enough babbling on from me for now. Expect more from the Upper Bowl soon.