Originally Posted by eric generic

a few thoughts on some contenders:

Bulls: they had a great regular season. however, they are too inexperienced(playoff-wise especially) to make it past the conference finals. really young teams don't win big in the playoffs. also, they are a jump shooting team after rose and boozer, which doesn't bode well for their chances.

Spurs: I did my picks before I knew Manu was injured. they could lose to the grizzlies if he can't play. this is another jump shooting team that will struggle to defend big teams(lakers).

Thunder: dark-horse title contender. with Perk, they match up with lakers much more favorably. the lakers still have the edge down low, but if the lakers can force Durant/Westbrook into being volume scorers, the lakers win(I assume Kobe and Artest will be able to). I know I'm being a big fat hypocrite because these are KIDS, but they went 6 with the Lakers just last year.

Heat: if LeBron doesn't have an absolutely phenomal playoff run, I would be astonished. he has the most to prove of any player considering how his last playoff series ended. the big question mark is whether or not Bosh wants to be the junkyard dog and rebound when things get tough. another is whether or not they can get bench production.

Celtics: they killed their chances with the Perk trade IMO. J O'neal is a corpse and Shaq can't give them big minutes. Big Baby will play ok, but I doubt he could shine. also, at this stage, would you really expect Boston to win the SG and SF matchups VS the Heat?

Lakers: I think they could actually win it without Bynum, because Barnes can solidly guard the 4. I would be really surprised if they don't win it.