Welcome to the Carnival of the NBA #54. SportProjections.com thanks Matt at blogabull.com for asking us to host this edition. As a site that predicts the future in sports, and since the All-Star break is a time to reflect on the first half of the season, SportProjections.com asked each contributor to predict the final seedings for the playoffs in each conference.
Opinions varied from blogger to blogger. The Eastern Conference predictions were a surprising battle at the top between the Boston Celtics and the Detroit Pistons. The bloggers agreed on which teams would be in the top five, but seeds 6-8 were a crapshoot.
Some Western Conference bloggers selected a team at the top seed that others predicted wouldn't even reach the playoffs(New Orleans Hornets). The abundance of trades before the trading deadline will keep this regular season one of the most exciting in recent history. Note: These predictions do not represent the Mike Bibby and Jason Kidd deals.
Remember SportProjections.com's rankings as the regular season continues. These bloggers know the NBA. Before the last draft, SportProjections.com invited bloggers to participate in a mock draft. These team bloggers were as accurate as any publication. We found only two (of 50) mock drafts with more correct selections.
Without further ado, let's get to the articles that make the Carnival of the NBA a must-read every month. Catch SportProjections.com's NBA team pages to read these bloggers' daily columns and to find the latest headlines from each city.
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| Western Conference Lottery Teams |
| Seattle Sonics |
Sacramento Kings |
Portland Trail Blazers |
| Golden State Warriors |
| Minnesota Timberwolves |
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The staff here at TWolvesBlog commemorated this event by holding a “Roundtable Discussion” to look at both the Wolves and Celtics franchises, during the sixth months following the trade. —www.twolvesblog.com
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| Memphis Grizzlies |
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View my video, and if you are up to the challenge, upload yourself demonstrating your best dunk as a video response on this page. I will pick the one that I like the best and.....perform it during the competition. This is a rare opportunity to leave your mark on the NBA's...." —www.powerdunk.com
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| Los Angeles Clippers |
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At the end of my injury post yesterday I mentioned parenthetically that Livingston's rehab might not be going "as well as hoped"...Shaun's next exam is March 6 in SF. If he's not being examed until then, 6 weeks from the end of the season, —www.clipsnation.com
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| NBA Blogs |
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If you were to start an NBA team today with the goal of winning a championship, which 15 players would you select? As GM, you’ve been given a blank slate, plenty of money to spend, and 15 roster spots. You can have anyone in the NBA on your team. —hoopsaddict.com
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Wire to Wire aims to be your waiver wire resource for all of your fantasy basketball needs. It will dive into playing time trends, injury replacements, and even an occasional category specialist—all of which can be found on a typical waiver wire within your fantasy league at any given time. —droppingdimes.gearlive.com
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There were signs before this season that maybe the Eastern Conference was catching up to the West...Just prior to the All Star break reality tells a different tale: the East - other than two teams - vacillates between mediocre to dismal. —with-malice.com
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These guys have been doing it all. No job too big, none too small. The stats which individual achievement is traditionally measured by–points, rebounds, assists–often paint an incomplete picture of a player’s true contributions on the hardwood. —www.emptythebench.com
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| Eastern Conference Playoff Seeds |
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Boston Celtics |
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The Celtics started the season with one of the best offenses in the league and carried that up until just after their first west coast swing. The team had the 1st ranking in team FG% and was top 5 in asst/FG, points, 3 pt shooting, and points in the paint-all in all quite a showing for a unit thrown together over the summer...then KG went down... —www.celticsblog.com
Note: Also read Green With Envy |
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The telecast started with Steve Jones recalling how Larry Bird defeated Detlef Schrempf in the previous year's finals. He credited Bird's following strategy: 1.Opt to shoot first in the finals
2.Keep his warm up jersey on for a psychological edge.
3.Bury a ton of early shots.
—www.greenbandwagon.com
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One of the finalists for this year's Hall of Fame induction is Dennis Johnson. It has always seemed a disgrace to me that DJ wasn't inducted into the Hall of Fame when Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish. and Joe Dumars were elected to the Hall and I would say that DJ deserved it just as much, or even more so. —celticsgreen.blogspot.com
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Detroit Pistons |
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Orlando Magic |
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Cleveland Cavaliers |
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We won the game in the Staples Center even though it was nearly rained out and the game was indoors. At first we were told the roof had a leak and then we were told the leak had been repaired by a roofing company crew who, for some inexplicable and slightly disturbing reason, removed their rain-soaked clothing and gear and left them on a catwalk 400 feet in the air over the north basket. —blog.cleveland.com/andone
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Toronto Raptors |
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...we’ve been seeing GM’s suddenly perk up as if they had just chased a can of RedBull with a can of RockStar...there could be even more conversation as the league’s GM’s look to tool up their rosters for the impending stretch drive. The Toronto Raptors right now aren’t exactly the model of consistency and while sporting a solid record, could of course use some of the aforementioned “tooling up.” —www.raptorshq.com
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Washington Wizards |
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Atlanta Hawks |
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Chicago Bulls |
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I've been thinking about writing mid-season player reviews for awhile now. I'll start with Ben Wallace because looking back through my passed diaries, I found this one from a little more than a year ago. Last year at this time, Wallace had the worst plus/minus of any starter in the league. I honestly had forgotten how bad Ben Wallace was prior to the All-Star break. —www.blogabull.com
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| Western Conference Playoff Seeds |
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Los Angeles Lakers |
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Phoenix Suns |
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So the Suns are now pinning their hopes on a soon-to-be 36-year-old center who has four championships with two different franchises. Before he even officially arrived, he told Steve Nash "I won't let you down". In his press conference on Thursday he vowed to make skeptics "eat their words" and talked about the need to win not just one but two championships with the Suns to complete his "legacy". The question is, can his body make good on these lofty aspirations? —brightsideofthesun.com
Note: Also read Shaq-related articles: this is a joke, right?, so it's not just a rumor? You've got to be kidding me!, even if it does lead to a ring, is it worth it?, pro-Shaq point of view, ready to make the best of it |
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The Suns lost a double overtime thriller to the New Orleans Hornets but that game--perhaps the game of the year so far in the NBA--was just an afterthought to the news that the Suns traded Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks to the Miami Heat for Shaquille O'Neal. If you understand basketball then you realize that the two stories are actually connected, so let's look how some of the things that occurred in the game shed light on why the trade happened and what we can expect to see from the revamped Suns. —20secondtimeout.blogspot.com
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New Orleans Hornets |
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Utah Jazz |
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San Antonio Spurs |
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Dallas Mavericks |
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My favorite aspect of the Devean George's monster block last night (of the proposed Jason Kidd trade), besides picturing George in Mark Cuban's office acting like he just swatted a shot ("Aaah, mo-fo! Get that weak sh*t OUT of here! RETURN TO SENDER! Come hard or don't come at all...")? That there is a possibility Keith Van Horn might get a contract out of this, —www.stopmikelupica.com
Note: Also read BIWHM: Keith Van Horn |
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Denver Nuggets |
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Houston Rockets |
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With the trade deadline approaching and rumors flying everywhere, I’ve decided to give some of the other teams a bit of help. The chance of any of these trades going down is near 0. But it’s a lot more fun to talk about than most of the trades that will go down (unless something screwy happens with Jason Kidd). So lets take a look at the Houston Rockets, the team that lost to the Jazz in the 1st round of last year’s playoffs —biasedfan.wordpress.com
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Please tell us your playoff seeds in the Eastern and Western Conference in the Carnival of the NBA #54 forum below.
Chris Fry created this group on SportProjections.com. 
