2012-13 NBA Preview

It's hard to believe, but the NBA season is starting next week, so it's time to take a look at what we can expect to see from each team as they get back to working a full 82-game season. I've analyzed each move made during the offseason and looked at how each team performed last season including the playoffs and used it to determine my preseason rankings. I've also analyzed each team's schedule for this season and predicted their final regular season record and playoff results. Here are my preseason rankings, with teams grouped by similar projected performance levels, and final 2012 ranking, record, and 2012-13 projected regular season record in parentheses.

TW. (LW) Team (Record) 2012 Result (Projection)
1. (2) Miami (46-20) Won Finals (70-12)

2. (1) San Antonio (50-16) Lost R3 (64-18)

3. (3) Oklahoma City (47-19) Lost Finals (58-24)

4. (6) Boston (39-27) Lost R3 (54-28)
5. (4) Chicago (50-16) Lost R1 (54-28)
6. (12) New York (36-30) Lost R1 (53-29)
7. (10) LA Clippers (40-26) Lost R2 (54-28)
8. (14) Dallas (36-30) Lost R1 (53-29)

9. (8) Indiana (42-24) Lost R2 (52-30)
10. (13) LA Lakers (41-25) Lost R2 (51-31)
11. (9) Atlanta (40-26) Lost R1 (50-32)
12. (5) Philadelphia (35-31) Lost R2 (49-33)

13. (16) Utah (36-30) Lost R1 (48-34)

14. (7) Denver (38-28) Lost R1 (46-36)
15. (11) Memphis (41-25) Lost R1 (45-37)
16. (15) Phoenix (33-33) #10 West (44-38)
17. (18) Milwaukee (31-35) #9 East (43-39)
18. (22) Toronto (23-43) #11 East (42-40)
19. (19) Orlando (37-29) Lost R1 (42-40)

20. (25) Washington (20-46) #14 East (32-50)

21. (24) Minnesota (26-40) #12 West (30-52)
22. (26) Detroit (25-41) #10 East (29-53)
23. (28) Brooklyn (22-44) #12 East (28-54)
24. (27) Sacramento (22-44) #14 West (27-55)
25. (23) Golden State (23-43) #13 West (27-55)

26. (20) Portland (28-38) #11 West (23-59)

27. (21) New Orleans (21-45) #15 West (21-61)

28. (17) Houston (34-32) #9 West (19-63)

29. (29) Cleveland (21-45) #13 East (12-70)

30. (30) Charlotte (7-59) #15 East (7-75)

Playoffs

Conference Finals

Heat over Celtics
Spurs over Thunder

Finals

Heat over Spurs

What happens when you take the NBA champions and add the greatest 3-point shooter in history? You have the makings of an historically great team. The Miami Heat kept every player from last season's rotation, then added Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis to spread out the defense and give Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade more room to work inside. They also have one of the 10 greatest players of all time on the roster as well, in case you've forgotten about LeBron. If this team stays healthy, they could challenge Chicago's 72-win record.

New York lost a couple of fan favorites in Landry Fields and Jeremy Lin to free agency, but they did a very good job replacing them. Ronnie Brewer is a much better defender than Fields, and Raymond Felton and Jason Kidd add great experience at the point guard position, while Kurt Thomas and Marcus Camby will give them defensive toughness in the middle behind Tyson Chandler. If Amare and Carmelo can co-exist, the Knicks could be a very scary team.

The Lakers have been a popular topic this offseason because of the additions of Dwight Howard and Steve Nash, and many are even picking the Lakers to compete for the Western Conference crown. I don't see things being quite that rosy for Los Angeles. The Lakers had to give up Andrew Bynum to get Dwight Howard, who was basically his statistical equal last year and is a year older. Bynum may have caused some problems off the court, but Howard has not been a model teammate either. And don't forget, Kobe and Nash are both entering their 17th NBA season, so the championship window is nearly closed.

After finishing just 2 games out of the playoffs last season, the Rockets decided to blow it up and start over, getting rid of nearly every player from last season's roster, including two strong point guards in Kyle Lowry and Goran Dragic, and the biggest name they brought in was Jeremy Lin, who is probably a step down from either of last year's floor generals. Without a single proven NBA player on the roster other than Kevin Martin, where are the Rockets going to get their points this year?