2014-15 NBA Season Preview: Lottery Rankings, League Pass Stay-Aways, and First Coach to be Fired

There's been too much positive energy around here at ThePicknPopcast.blogspot.com.  Let's get negative. Let's get dark. Just kidding. In all seriousness, last night's Julius Randle injury (my ROY pick down already) slapped all of us NBA addicts across the face with a dose of reality. Things aren't all rainbows (I added 15 pounds of muscle in the off-season...Legally, I swear.) and butterflies (I can shoot three's now!) people.  

Let's get real, having the ability to watch every single NBA game on a Wednesday night can sometimes be as much of a curse as a burden. I mean, Philadelphia is opening it's season against the Pacers tonight. Who is voluntarily going to watch that game with 11 other choices tonight? To start, a continuation of our Playoff picks from earlier this week, The Lottery Rankings:

(These rankings will go from worst to first. As in, if you're in the lottery and you don't have the first pick, you're the worst.  Right Detroit?)

Chris' Picks                                 Paul's Picks

14. Phoenix                                          14. Denver

13. Nets                                              13. Phoenix

12. Detroit                                           12. New Orleans

11. New Orleans                                   11. Milwaukee

10. Denver                                          10. Detroit

9.   Knicks                                            9. Indiana

8.   Bucks                                             8. Utah

7.   Jazz                                               7. Sacramento

6.   Kings                                             6. New York

5.   Celtics                                            5. Minnesota

4.   Timberwolves                                  4. Boston

3.   Lakers                                            3. Orlando

2.   Magic                                             2. LA Lakers

1.   Sixers                                            1. Philadelphia

Top 3 League Pass Stay-Aways:

Chris:

Pacers

Paul George, Lance Stephenson, David West, George Hill, C.J. Watson, and possibly Rodney Stuckey. The Pacers could be without all of those players on opening night (Stuckey will likely play, but still). I actually picked them to be in the playoffs before the string of injuries to West, Hill, and Watson. I thought Hibbert and Vogel would keep them an exceptional defensive team and some of the offense would be supplemented. It’s looking worse and worse every day though.

Nets

I promise, I’m not trolling Paul. I think this is just personal, but I’m just not intrigued by any player on this roster except maybe KG and that’s just sad to watch. Not a participant in the Deron Rejuvenation Project or the Brook Lopez Rejuvination Project. You could talk me into watching a stretch of Joe Johnson taking over a 4th quarter, but other than that, I’ll find something else.

Knicks

Sorry Carmelo. There is some intrigue here around seeing how Carmelo and the rest of these players do picking up the Triangle and some curiosity about how Fisher does as a head coach, but they’ll be on National TV enough to quench my curiosity and then some (starting tonight). I can just go without watching this team and I think by December that’ll be even more true... unless Rondo gets traded there, then all bets are off.

Paul:

76ers

Duh doi. It’s not just because the roster has maybe three NBA players on it (two of which are Alexey Shved and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute), or that their best player (Joel Embiid) might not play this year, it’s because Sam Hinkie is turning Philadelphia 76ers fans into co-dependents. Save your money and your time, you’re worth more than that. Michael Carter-Williams, when healthy, is a fascinating study of the “good stats on a bad team” phenomenon, and he flat-out stole the Rookie of the Year award from Victor Oladipo in 2013-14, based on the teams’ performance in that one month to start the season when Evan Turner and Spencer Hawes were decent. Positives: Nerlens Noel, Brett Brown, and Tony Wroten in “DGAF-mode”.

Pistons

Sorry, Stan Van, but as long as Brandon Jennings and Josh Smith are involved, I’m out. I’ve had a “Pistons ban” in effect ever since they fell off, partly due to bad teams but mostly due to their public address announcer and his “And-1 Mixtape” shtick. Great, now I want to watch old And-1 mixtapes… #FreeGregMonroe #ExileBrandonJennings

Chicago Bulls

This is, hands down, the most watchable version of Thibodeau’s Bulls in his tenure, with legitimate offensive weapons in Pau Gasol and Nikola Mirotic, and no more Carlos Boozer screaming fits (speaking of “And-1”). Joakim Noah is an amazing player to watch, as long as you’re without rooting interests, and his interior passing with Pau will result in a lot of easy buckets for Taj Gibson. Otherwise there’s still Kirk Hinrich, Mike Dunleavy Jr., Jimmy Butler, and Aaron Brooks around to take ugly shots, plus Derrick Rose’s return for announcers to incessantly discuss. Miss me with those narratives about humility or work ethic, I just want to see a point guard run an offense and not go 1-on-5 in the half-court. There’s only room in my heart and DVR for one selfish, awe-inspiring point guard this season, and that’s Russell Westbrook.

First Coach to Be Fired

Chris

My go to for this question was Monty Williams, but then this happened last night and I just can’t run the risk of having previously recorded gems like this have to be shelved because Monty is no longer part of the organization. I have to switch gears then. I can’t nominate Flip Saunders right? I suppose he’ll have to really upset himself to fire himself. Okay, I’m going to go with Jacque Vaughn. Without Oladipo to start the season the Magic are going to struggle. They are also starting Kyle O’Quinn.

Paul

Monty Williams. The Pelicans aren’t talented enough to make the playoffs and that seems to be the goal for Williams this season, despite how impossible it may be in this Western Conference. If the team starts well (a win over Orlando doesn’t count) and hangs around .500, we could go without a head coach fired this season. Orlando isn’t trying again this year and conservative ownership should give Jacques Vaughn until at least next summer, while every other lottery team basically hired new coaches before last season. Flip Saunders could move back upstairs to the general manager spot full-time if Glen Taylor decides to hire a head coach, but expecting Minnesota ownership to make a smart move is akin to assuming the Philadelphia 76ers could finish #1 in the East.