Playoffs In July?

First off today there was an issue that occurred in early morning hours that rendered the Jack Armstrong Interview unplayable. I have fixed the problem and apologize to anyone that was not able to listen to it. You can hear it now here is a link to it.Thanks to a number of readers that made me aware of this problem. It has been a big couple days for the blog and thanks to all of you that have made that happen.

I have no guest today it is just me. Maybe I should interview myself? That would be odd wouldn't it? Something you might see in say the WWE? I admit that I totally forgot about Shaq hosting Raw on Monday night. But I was able to see the highlights yesterday. It was classic Shaq and I got some chuckles but WWE is not what it use to be. But the line of the night was not said by Shaq. It was said by Chris Jericho.

Jericho- " When I heard we were having the most dominant player in the NBA(As guest host of Raw) I naturally assumed it was Kobe Bryant "

Shaq could only respond by calling Jericho... Christina. That was pretty old and dated. WWE writers have gotten old and predictable. Same might be said for Shaq himself. No doubt the big man will be in the spotlight playing Robin to Lebron James as Batman. Will it work? That is one of the bigger questions heading into this NBA season.

In fact all top 4 teams in the East have made moves that they hope will upgrade their talent. Orlando has Ex-Raptor Vince Carter. Who I was reading the new NBA Live 10 when it comes out will get booed by Toronto fans in video game as well. Truly EA tries to live up to there motto of "If It's in the Game, It's in the Game". Rasheed Wallace is going to be a Celtic. Boston has had a number of trade rumours still buzzing so it is clear Danny Angie is not done. The Atlanta Hawks also have added Jamal Crawford to the mix. I think it is safe to say all 4 of these teams make the playoffs again unless something goes drastically wrong.

So that leaves 4 spots that last season were held by Miami, Chicago, Philadelphia and Detroit. All of which have done very little in terms of getting better this off-season with exception of Detroit. Philadelphia has a new coach in Eddie Jordon. But they have lost there point guard Andre Miller. Miami has not exactly been loading up to keep D-Wade happy have they? Chicago lost Ben Gordon to the Pistons and he was a big part of what they did in the playoffs. Gordon along with Charlie Villianeuva are now Pistons. But really will this help the Pistons be better? The are former teammates at UConn.

Bottom line of all of it is for Raptors to make playoffs it takes one of these teams to fall back for them to get in. Truth be told you could make a case that all 4 of these teams could miss the playoffs. If I was going to rank who is most likely going to miss out it would go like this. With most likely team at top and least likely at the bottom.

Philadelphia (Sorry Jason Kapono and Eddie Jordan)
Chicago (Sorry Chuck Swirsky)
Detroit ( Joe Dumars prays I am wrong)
Miami ( D-Wade on his own can save the Heat )

I could see easily that 3 of the 4 may not make the playoffs. If that is true who the heck moves into those spots? Well here are my 3 picks to fill out the playoff field.

Toronto Raptors ( Seriously with all the moves if they don't it is a disaster of an epic nature)
Charlotte Bobcats ( Young and up coming Bobcats. Tyson Chandler might push them over top)
Washington Wizards ( Subject to Gilbert Arenas making it to opening night )

So what will it look like (Subject To Change)

1. Cleveland
2. Boston
3. Orlando
4. Atlanta
5. Toronto
6. Washington
7. Charlotte
8. Miami

Remember when people laughed about the the Southeast Division? 4 teams in the playoffs can that be right? It could be. Washington and Charlotte have a very small margin of error for me. Detroit and the Bulls should be teams right there if they should slip. This is just a snapshot thought and things can change. As for the Raptors being 5th? It seems the right place for them. They are not better than any of the top 4. Atlanta maybe is the closest with the other 3 miles ahead.

If I change my mind on this over the summer I will let you know. If you want to doubt this hey by all means. Predictions are subjective. I will point out though that I did predict the NBA Finals last year prior to the season. Not to many folks had the Orlando Magic playing the L.A Lakers did they? I got to brag about it now because really can I successfully call it 2 years in a row? That would have some long odds I am thinking.