82 Things to Watch For This NBA Season (Pt. 2)

Last week, in part one of our month-long NBA season preview "82 Things to Watch For This NBA Season," we took a look at who went where in a very active NBA offseason. Now that that's been sorted out, it's time for some bold predictions.

In last year's preview, I correctly predicted LeBron for MVP and Dwight Howard for Defensive Player of the Year. I didn't exactly go out on a limb with either pick, but it still counts.

However, a combination of injuries and breakout seasons derailed my picks for the All-NBA teams. I only correctly predicted three first team players and one second team (mainly because the guys I picked to be on the first team ended up on the second team and vice-versa). This season, I'm back for redemption. But before we get into my picks for the postseason awards, there are a few other predictions I need to get off my chest. Without further ado, let's continue the countdown with some bold predictions for the 2009-10 season.

63. Kevin Durant will lead the NBA in scoring.

The boldest of my bold predictions.

The best thing that ever happened to Durant's career was when P.J. Carlesimo got fired after just 13 games last season. Once Scotty Brooks took over and moved Durant to small forward, Durant officially took his first step towards becoming a superstar. In the 13 games under Carlesimo, Durant averaged a respectable 21.8 points per game. Under Brooks, he averaged 26 points per game.

With two seasons of experience, a coach who uses him correctly, a system designed to make him the focal point, and limitless range, Durant is poised to make the leap and become the elite NBA scorer that everyone though he'd be after he left Texas. Don't be surprised when he averages 30+ points per game this season.

62. Amare Stoudemire will be traded.

Phoenix has flirted with trading Stoudemire each of the past two seasons, but I think this is the year Steve Kerr finally pulls the trigger. With his contract set to expire, and the Suns rebuilding, I can't imagine STAT will be very happy for much longer in Phoenix. Expect him to be the biggest name to be dealt this season, but Amare won't be the only superstar on the move. In fact...

61. This will be one of the most active trade deadlines in recent memory.

With the infamous "Summer of 2010" fast approaching, a lot of teams are going to have some big decisions to make this February. Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that there are several big-name players who will be free agents after this season. As you should also know, most of these players will be in the latter stages of their careers. Teams are going to have to make a choice with these aging stars: keep them and hope that they re-sign after this season, or trade them at the deadline for pieces that will help the rebuilding process.

I think that like never before we're going to see a noticeable gap between "buyers" and "sellers" at the deadline. Why wouldn't a middle-of-the-road playoff team like Miami roll the dice by trading away some young talent to rent a superstar for the stretch run? Why would a team like Toronto keep Chris Bosh if there's no way they can re-sign him in the offseason?

I fully expect to see some big moves at the deadline, with the playoff landscape being drastically changed after February 23rd.

60. Kobe Bryant
59. Chris Paul
58. LeBron James
57. Tim Duncan
56. Dwight Howard

All-NBA First Team

Kobe, LeBron, and Howard are locks. Last season, Chris Paul had one of the best point guard seasons of all-time, only to be overshadowed by Dwyane Wade's amazing comeback performance. I expect Paul to put up the same type of numbers this season.

Wade? Not so much. He'll be great again, but asking him to stay healthy and put up out-of-this-world numbers again is too much to ask. Plus, he should have more help this season. Wade will have to settle for second team.

55. Dwyane Wade
54. Tony Parker
53. Pau Gasol
52. Kevin Durant
51. Shaquille O'Neal

All-NBA Second Team

In case you didn't notice, that's a member of the Spurs on the first team and on the second team. Trust me, they are going to be really good this season, and voters love taking that into consideration when they cast their All-NBA ballots. Coming off the huge season he had last year, Parker is due to be rewarded for his consistency.

50. Deron Williams
49. Chauncey Billups
48. Carmelo Anthony
47. Paul Pierce
46. Brook Lopez

All-NBA Third Team

I'm guessing one name jumps out off the list of players I think are going to make the All-NBA third team: Brook Lopez. Before you write me off as crazy ask yourself this: what other centers are out there?

With Yao expected to miss the entire season, the center position around the NBA is extremely thin. Lopez isn't exactly making the list by default; he had an impressive rookie season. He averaged 13.1 points and 8.1 rebounds per game last season and shot 53% from the floor. If he improves on those numbers at all, and there's no reason to think that he won't, he's going to be the third best center in the league.

45. Kobe Bryant
44. Chris Paul
43. LeBron James
42. Kevin Garnett
41. Dwight Howard

NBA All-Defensive Team

This category is the easiest to predict. Most of the time the players on the All-Defensive Team get voted in on reputation alone. These five players were first team All-Defense last season. Do you see a player on this list whose reputation as a top notch defender took a hit this offseason? Me neither.

40. Jonny Flynn
39. Tyreke Evans
38. Blake Griffin
37. DeJuan Blair
36. Hasheem Thabeet

NBA All-Rookie Team

Four lottery picks and ... the 37th overall pick?? That's right, I think there are going to be a lot of teams sorry that they passed on DeJuan Blair. He's already done good things for the Spurs, posting 16 points and 19 rebounds in his first preseason game.

He may not get consistent minutes all season like the other players on the list, but the trade-off is that he gets to learn from the best by playing against Tim Duncan in practice every day. By the time the playoffs roll around, look for Blair to be a key player off the bench for the Spurs as they make a real push for the NBA title.

35. R.C. Buford, Executive of the Year

In case you couldn't tell, I really like the Spurs this year. I think they had by far the best offseason of any team, and Buford is the guy pulling the trigger on every move they make.

However, I'd like to put an asterisk next to this prediction based on a prediction that I already made. Buford is the early favorite to win this award, but if there is as much trade deadline activity as I think there will be, and one of the "buyers" that I talked about hits a home run with a big trade, Buford's great offseason will be overshadowed by the GM that made the most recent move and he will swoop in and win Executive of the Year.

34. Flip Saunders, Coach of the Year

I don't like predicting this category, because I don't agree with the voting for Coach of the Year most years. In my opinion, the Coach of the Year should be the coach who gets the most production out of the least amount of talent, or the coach who leads his team to the biggest improvement from the previous season. Last season, Mike Brown was the Coach of the Year. The Cavs won 66 games. With that roster, anything less than 60 wins and Brown should have been fired.

For my prediction this season, I'm sticking to my formula, and I'm going with Flip Saunders. The Wizards made the playoffs for four consecutive seasons before having their season completely decimated by injuries last year and limping to a 19-win season. This offseason, the Wizards quietly made some nice additions to their roster by getting Randy Foye and Mike Miller from Minnesota and are getting Gilbert Arenas back and by most accounts healthy. This looks a lot more like a playoff team in the East than the lottery-bound-from-day-one group that they had last season, and Flip Saunders will reap the benefits with his first ever Coach of the Year trophy next spring.

33. Lamar Odom, Sixth Man

I picked L.O. to win Sixth Man last season, and he was well on his way until Bynum got hurt and they had to slide him into the starting lineup.

Assuming the Lakers' starting five stays relatively healthy (which is asking for a lot with the track records of Andrew Bynum and Ron Artest), and Odom doesn't start too many games, he should have no trouble securing this Sixth Man of the Year award.

32. Dwight Howard, Defensive Player of the Year

Last season, Howard got 105 of the 119 possible first-place votes for Defensive Player of the Year. He led the league in blocks and defensive rebounds, and really, no one else was even close to him in either category. He won't turn 24 until December.

Something tells me that he's not going to see a statistical decrease defensively, and at his age, it's possible that his best seasons are still ahead of him. I'm not betting on anyone else to win this award for a long, long time.

31. LeBron James, MVP

Here's a snippet of what I wrote last season when predicting LeBron to win the MVP:

"Since he played his first game back in 2003, everyone has been wondering how good LeBron James will end up being. Now at 23 (he'll turn 24 in December), with five seasons under his belt, a trip to the NBA Finals, and Olympic gold already to his credit, LeBron may finally be entering his prime.


Think about that for a second. This is a player who has gotten 27-7-7 over his career and he may not have had his best season yet."

You know what's scary? You can say the same exact thing about LeBron this year. He easily won the MVP award last season, averaged 28.6 points per game, 7.6 rebounds, 7.2 rebounds, had career highs in both field goal and free throw percentage, and we still aren't sure if we've seen LeBron at his best.

There are only two things that could prevent LeBron from winning back-to-back MVPs. First, the voters could treat him like they did Shaq when he was at his best, taking his greatness for granted and giving the award to someone else even though everyone knows he's the best player on the planet. That's not going to happen because everyone absolutely loves LeBron.

The only other thing that could keep LeBron from hoisting the trophy is if he sacrifices his own individual stats for the sake of winning. That's not going to happen, either.

First of all, it's a contract year. He's going to put up monster numbers, even though he could average 10 points per game this season and he'd still get a max contract. Secondly, his team won 66 games last season because he put them on his shoulders and carried them all season long. There's no way he changes his approach this season, and frankly, he shouldn't.

Barring injury, I don't see how anyone steals the MVP award away from LeBron.

Be sure to check back at Sports Central next week as Scott Shepherd continues his countdown of the "82 Things to Watch For This NBA Season."