NBA Playoff Predictions 2015-16: Knicks surprise, Spurs return to glory

The NBA regular season starts tonight, but let’s look ahead to the future to see who is going to make a run in the NBA Playoffs this spring. 

We have only just arrived at the first day of the NBA regular season, but the stat of the season is basically the start of the countdown until we tip off postseason basketball in April. The 82 games that have yet to be played across the league will give us our first look at how things are going to shake up, but right now is the time to get in your bold predictions and try and foresee how things are going to happen before they actually do in the NBA Playoffs.

And if you’re looking for bold takes, we’ve got you covered.

Mostly everyone is going to be wrong at the end of the year, so it’s pointless to get all trolly about someone like Charles Barkley saying the Knicks are going to make the playoffs. But we’re also far enough out where such a prediction isn’t crazy — even if we’re dealing with a team that has a lot to do before the greater NBA community takes them seriously.

So what will the NBA Playoffs look like this year and what bold predictions might come true — or end up looking really stupid?

First Round

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Observations

• The Warriors won’t win the No. 1 seed in the West, but won’t enter the postseason a team people are sleeping on. There will be two unofficial No. 1 seeds this year, with the Spurs and Dubs spitting the honors a favorites to emerge.
• Cleveland and Chicago are the two best teams in the East, but don’t sleep on Atlanta being a top contender. They won’t win the conference again, but it wouldn’t be shocking to see the Bulls and Hawks flip seeds.
• Miami is going to return to the postseason this year now that they’ll have a full year with Dragic-Wade-Bosh-Whiteside on the floor together.

Bold Predictions:

• The Wolves will make the playoffs. The bottom of the West is tough to make it to the top of with so many good teams trickling down by default, but the Wolves are a young team like the Pelicans were last year with the talent to win — but better.
• I hope there’s room on Knicks Island for one more. New York is going to figure enough things out that they’re going be better than Charlotte, Detroit and Boston to make it into the postseason. They’re not going on a Mets-style run to the Finals, but they’ll at least be in.
• Utah isn’t just going to finally make the postseason, but they’re going to do what the Buck did last year and firmly make the postseason as a seed higher than being the eighth.

Next: Conference Semifinals