All The Things I Was Wrong About In Round 1

Jeff Teague almost led the Hawks over the Pacers. I never saw it coming.

By Jeremy Conlin (@jeremy_conlin)

The first round of the playoffs is supposed to be the easiest to predict, right?

So much for that idea.

Of the eight series, I only picked the correct winner in five of them, and in four of those five series, I predicted them to end in four or five games, when in fact they went to seven. The only series I nailed exactly was Miami over Charlotte in a sweep. Everything else I was moderately to incredibly wrong about (For all of my complete picks, with the case for each team to win the series, check the sidebar to the right). Here’s where I messed up:

NBA Quarter Pole Power Poll (Part I)

With Derrick Rose out for the season, where do the Bulls stack up?

By Jeremy Conlin (@jeremy_conlin)

(Un)officially, we have reached the one-quarter mark of the NBA season. With New Orleans and Sacramento playing Wednesday night, every team has played at least twenty games (Boston leads the way with 24 games under their belt). So, for the first time this season, we (and by "we," I mean "I") write way too many words about each and every NBA team. Today's half will run teams ranked No. 30 through No. 17. Tomorrow's will have the top 16 teams.

The Isiah Thomas Division

30. Utah Jazz 

It's rather mind-blowing how much better they look with Trey Burke on the floor. After starting the season 1-13, they've actually resembled a pro basketball team over the last few weeks - they're 4-6 with Burke in the starting lineup. And Burke hasn't even been that spectacular - even including a shockingly low turnover rate, he's been barely a league-average point guard. But considering John Lucas and Jamaal Tinsley had previously been seeing the lion's share of minutes at point guard prior to Burke's return to the lineup, league-average play is a gargantuan upgrade.

Even still, the fact that Richard Jefferson has started all 24 games (as opposed to, you know, been framed for a crime to get him off the roster) compared to three starts from Alec Burks is nothing more than management malpractice. I understand that the team isn't (per se) trying to be competitive this year, but Ty Corbin has been an unmitigated disaster coaching the team over the last four years.

29. Milwaukee Bucks

The Way-Too-Long NBA Preview (Part II)

Chris Paul is ready to lead the Clippers to Los Angeles relevance.

By Jeremy Conlin (@jeremy_conlin)

I began the end of the SuiteSports 2013-2014 NBA Preview yesterday with Part I of the Way-Too-Long Preview. This is Part II, the final installment.

Because the season starts today.

All the previous publishings can be found on the sidebar on the right-hand side, or you can just plow ahead with the 15 teams I didn't cover yesterday. Again, there is no secret code to be unlocked to derive meaning from the order. I pulled them out of a hat and then made sure my Finals pick was at the end. That's it. Now read it.

Because it's basketball season.

Los Angeles Lakers
2013 Record: 45-37
Over/Under Wins: 36.5
Odds to Win Championship: 40/1

Scouting Report: The Lakers’ odds to win the championship are hysterically funny. Compared to, say, the Pistons, their over/under line for wins is actually four lower (Pistons are at 40.5), but their odds to win the title are significantly lower (Detroit is at 75/1). This basically means that people are still betting on the Lakers to win the title in greater numbers than those betting on Detroit or other teams projected in that win range, like New Orleans (39.5; 100/1) or Atlanta (39.5; 150/1). Lakers fans, man. Gotta love ‘em.