The NBA regular season officially starts on October 25th and NBA fans are excited to have the teams back. With a lot of changes that happened in the NBA this past off-season, fans will look to see how their favorite teams and players will perform. I have some bold predictions for this upcoming season. Before I start the predictions, I wanted to wish Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan, and Kobe Bryant well on retirement. These three players will be missed greatly by the fans, players, and coaches. These players have provided so many great moments in NBA history. They have provided great individual moments that left fans amazed as well as win championships for their teams. I am looking forward to see how these future hall of famers spend their retirements. Time for the predictions!
1. Russell Westbrook will be the MVP this year
Before I start with this prediction, do you see the way this man is looking at that award? This man looks really determined to get that award. Russell Westbrook is without a doubt a top five player in the league. He is one of the most athletic players in the league today. He is one of the few players in this league that can drop a triple-double any night. He has put up some amazing performances with Kevin Durant and while he was running the team himself because Durant was hurt. This off-season, Kevin Durant decided to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder for the Golden State Warriors. Basically, Kevin Durant left the team that drafted him to a team that went 73-9 and beat the Thunder in the conference finals when they had a 3-1 lead over the Warriors. With Kevin Durant leaving the Thunder for their rival and not telling Russell Westbrook, I believe this has put a fire under Russell which will make him put up crazy numbers. He will play like he has something to prove.
2. The Minnesota Timberwolves will make the playoffs this season
Watch out for the Minnesota Timberwolves, everyone. This team is on the rise with the way they have built themselves. The last two years, they have had Andrew Wiggins and Karl Anthony Towns win rookie of the year. Plus, they have probably the best dunker in the league, Zach Lavine. They got even better by drafting one of the best point guards in this year's draft, Kris Dunn out of Providence. These young players for the Timberwolves have a bright future ahead of them. The collection the Timberwolves have collected has made them one of the best young teams in the NBA. They could be a couple of years away from contending for a title, but I expect them to make the playoffs as one of the bottom four playoff teams.
3. Brandon Ingram will win rookie of the year
Ben Simmons could possibly be sitting out this season due to an injury, so that means this year's rookie of the year could be Lakers rookie and second overall pick in the draft from Duke University, Brandon Ingram. Brandon Ingram was one of the highly coveted players in the draft after having a great season at Duke. He will be joining a Lakers team that will be moving on from their retired star Kobe Bryant. They have some good young players like D'Angelo Russell and Julius Randle and adding Ingram will have the Lakers looking good for the future. The Lakers young trio have them set for the future as they look to collect more assets and try to lure free agents to help them become a competitive team again. The rookie of the year award is now Ingram's to lose as the season approaches.
4. The Miami Heat will have a terrible record and miss the playoffs
This off-season was a terrible one for the Miami Heat. They did retain center Hassan Whiteside but they lost Joe Johnson and their best player for year and hometown favorite, Dwyane Wade. To add to the bad news, Chris Bosh is not cleared to play due to health reasons and the Heat look to move on from Chris Bosh. So no Bosh and Wade and it is only just Goran Dragic and Hassan Whiteside. I see this team struggling a lot this season trying to adjust from losing Wade and Bosh. This team has lost it's main scoring weapons in Johnson, Wade, and Bosh I see them being a low scoring team. This team will lack leadership since the main veterans left so they will struggle during late game situations. I don't see this team doing well this season hopefully they get a good pick in the draft.
5. The Golden State Warriors WILL NOT win the NBA Championship
This might be a weird prediction, but there might be a good chance this happens. As of right now, the Golden State Warriors have two players that have won the MVP award. Those players are Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry. The Golden State Warriors are a legit super team. They were a team that went 73-9 last year and adding the talents of a top five player in the NBA in Kevin Durant. There were super teams in the past, like when Karl Malone joined the Lakers or when LeBron James joined the Heat. For the Heat, they didn't win the championship the first try. It took them two years to win a championship. The Warriors recently went through a huge roster change losing some key players from last year in order to grab Kevin Durant. They lost Harrison Barnes in free agency and traded away Andrew Bogut to make room for Durant. They will need to have a great team chemistry if they want to win. I don't see them winning this year due to this being the first year they play each other and there was a lot of players that left and came to the Warriors.
Those are some of my predictions! I am looking forward to this upcoming season with everything that has happened leading up to now and will be doing a Q an A article soon. If you have a question for me you can contact me on Facebook.
