Metal Sludge Gossip Board

Out West:
Golden State gets revenge against the LeBron's. They also sign Ray Allen.
Doc is getting fired in some capacity after the Clips succumb to GS in round two. Blake Griffin gets traded.
The Blazers are going to morph into Coors Light Golden State and make it to the Conference Finals before bowing out in 6.
Blazers/Spurs is the best beef that no one is talking about and it's going to be great come playoff time.
OKC will be mediocre despite Russ getting MVP honors.
The Rockets, Grizz and Mavs continue their journey to irrelevancy.
The Jazz and Wolves will be better than last year. The latter sneaking in the playoffs at the end of the season.
Boogie gets traded and Sacramento cleans house.
The Nugs will be very bad too. Same with the Suns.
The Lakers will also be bad. But they'll be fun bad.

Out East:
The LeBron's are headed back to the Finals because the East is bad.
The Celtics will give them a run for the money in the Conference Finals.
Toronto turns back into a pumpkin and goes out quietly in round two.
The Hawks will get one season of Dr. Howard before he mails it in as Mr. Dwight. He'll also have his lunch money taken from him by Andre Drummond.
SVG finalizes the blueprint for a potential contender. Detroit is going to make some noise.
Point Giannis is going to wreck some shit. The Bucks will be good and fun to watch. Especially when Middleton gets back.
Larry Bird fucked up by firing Frank Vogel. Paul George is going to go bananas but the Pacers will be meh.
The Bulls and Knicks will both be dumpster fires. The Bulls have better players but the Knicks have a better coach.
The Hornets will be mediocre because Jordan sucks in a position of power.
The Wiz are going to give Sacramento a run for the money as far as dysfunctional franchises go. Wall gets traded.
Miami will go as far as Whiteside takes him. Which will be down and out because Whiteside is a human technical foul.
The Nets and the 76ers will be awful. Nerlens Noel gets traded. Linsanity makes a brief comeback.
The Magic are a weird team in a conference that made plenty of weird moves. They could make the playoffs or they could lurk as a 10th seed.

Standings:
1. GS
2. Spurs
3. Blazers
4. Clippers
5. Thunder
6. Grizz
7. Mavs
8. Wolves
9. Jazz
10. Houston
11. Pelicans
12. Kings
13. Nugs
14. Lakers
15. Suns

1. Cavs
2. Celtics
3. Raptors
4. Pistons
5. Hawks
6. Bucks
7. Heat
8. Knicks
9. Bulls
10. Magic
11. Indiana
12. Charlotte
13. Wizards
14. Nets
15. Philly

I predict the following:

-The Knicks will struggle mightily with the triangle variation mixed with Hornacek's up-tempo offense. Not to mention, the chemistry with Rose and Melo, Noah and Porzingis will be questionable as they all play complete different styles of ball.

-Cleveland will coast through the regular season, pounding teams at will, dropping easy games at will, then turn the gas on in April for a Finals run.

-The LA Lakers will experience heavy growing pains with D'Angelo Russell being at the helm of the ship. Sounds like Walton is dedicating the whole preseason to "teaching" the young lads. Outside of that, the team has junk for a bench. I'll put them at 27 wins for the year.

-The Timberwolves will be the surprise of the season winning well into 40 games. The poor kids have no idea what they are in for with Thibs coaching them.

-Miami will be a patchwork level of grease fire lacking true leadership with Wade and Bosh out of the mix.

-Memphis and Portland are my sleepers for the year.

Cavs paper champion bunch of games will be played that don't matter

Warriors win 4-0 in finals. The Queen still rules butt ugly Ohio...all hail Mr 1-3 Cav

Its too bad James Dolan can't be removed from ownership. The Knicks have been a dumpster fire for damn near two decades. I love Joakim Noah. I think he got shafted out of the MVP award when he drug the Bulls to the second round against Miami. But he's a mummy now. Guys like Drummond and Biyombo are going to eat him alive. It still baffles me that he got paid this summer and Dion Waiters didn't. One is a shell of himself. The other is the best basketbawful I've seen since JaVale's run on the Nuggets.