The beginning of every NBA season is filled with excitement, hope and the promise of new beginnings. It's also filled with predictions: lots and lots and lots of them.
Here at The Dream Shake®, we pride ourselves on being different than other sites out there. But predictions are just too much fun, especially for the writers who wind up being correct (me, probably) and get to go back in time and have documentation of just how much smarter we are than our peers.
This is also a chance to show you, the readers, just how much The Dream Shake has grown over the years, because holy crap do we have a lot of writers participating in this predictions hootenanny (spell check tells me this is the correct way to spell that). Without further ado:
Writer | Rockets wins | NBA MVP | DPOY | East Champs | West Champs | NBA Champs |
Date of first report |
Date when Mavs start tanking |
D-Leaguer who will set RGV on fire |
Ethan Rothstein | 55-59 | Anthony Davis | Kawhi Leonard | Cavaliers | Rockets | Rockets | Dec. 18 | Feb. 11 | Denzel Livingston |
Max Croes | 55-59 | James Harden | DeAndre Jordan | Cavaliers | Spurs | Spurs | Nov. 24 | Dec. 4 | Toure' Murry |
Ryan Dunsmore | 50-54 | Anthony Davis | Kawhi Leonard | Cavaliers | Warriors | Cavaliers | Nov. 25 | Jan. 1 | Tyrone White |
AK | 50-54 | Kevin Durant | Anthony Davis | Cavaliers | Spurs | Spurs | Dec. 1 | April 20 | Toure' Murry |
Darren Yuvan | 55-59 | Anthony Davis | Rudy Gobert | Cavaliers | Spurs | Spurs | Dec. 29 | Oct. 27 | Tony Bishop |
Xiane | 58-60 | Stephen Curry | Rudy Gobert | Cavaliers | Rockets | Cavaliers | Dec. 7 | Jan. 15 | Denzel Livingston |
Tom Martin | 58-60 | Kevin Durant | Rudy Gobert | Cavaliers | Rockets | Cavaliers |
Feb. 14 |
April 20 | Sam Dekker |
Joshua Reese |
58-60 | James Harden | Serge Ibaka | Cavaliers | Spurs | Spurs | Nov. 2 | They won't | K.J. McDaniels |
Kevin Nesgoda | 60 | James Harden | Kawhi Leonard | Bulls | Rockets | Rockets | Nov. 2 | Jan. 11 | Jaron Johnson |
Alykhan Bijani | 55-59 | James Harden | Anthony Davis | Cavaliers | Warriors | Warriors | Dec. 13 | Feb. 21 | Will Cummings |
Danny Emerman | 50-54 | Anthony Davis | Rudy Gobert | Cavaliers | Spurs | Spurs | Dec. 10 | Oct. 31 | Chris Walker |
Colin Ainsworth | 55-59 | Kevin Durant | Anthony Davis | Cavaliers | Warriors | Warriors | Dec. 29 | Oct. 29 | Sam Dekker |
Eric Nielsen | 50-54 | James Harden | Kawhi Leonard | Cavaliers | Spurs | Spurs | Nov. 27 | Dec. 27 | N/A |
Nikhil Bontha | 60 | James Harden | Rudy Gobert | Cavaliers | Rockets | Rockets | Nov. 1 | April 20 | Sam Dekker |
Eric Spyropoulos | 55-59 | Stephen Curry | Kawhi Leonard | Cavaliers | Thunder | Cavaliers | Dec. 10 | Dec. 20 | Toure' Murry |
A few things I was surprised by:
- Only three of us picked the Rockets to win the title. We're supposed to be homers! Or at least, that's what Twitter tells me. I'm sure the comment section will tear us apart for picking the Rockets at all, because we're all insanely superstitious folks.
- Not a single person chose LeBron James as his MVP. Considering he's been the odds-on favorite for the award for about a decade, his absence is kind of jarring.
- No one picked Draymond Green for defensive player of the year. That's actually not so surprising, I'm just so goshdarn proud.
- Lol 420.
- Holy crap do we have a big staff. And that's not even all of them!
Here's the consensus: Cavs win the East (only one dissenter), Spurs win the West and the title, James Harden wins his first MVP, Kawhi and the Stifle Tower split the DPOY vote, the first report of Clippers locker room dysfunction surfaces any day now and the Mavs will either tank or all get high. Also Sam Dekker shows the D-League what a first-rounder can do, just like the Swiss Roll did last year.
Leave your own predictions in the comments.