Welcome to the 2010-2011 NBA season preview from Maddux Sports.\u00a0 This season we decided to post the preview onto the blog instead of the website.\u00a0 This will make it easier for people to search our website\u00a0that aren’t viewing this main preview page.\u00a0 Listed below you will find links to all 30 teams sorted by conference and the division they play in.\u00a0 All teams are listed in alphabetical order,\u00a0not order of finish.<\/p>\n
On\u00a0each team preview you can get a look at each projected starter and\u00a0their stats from last year.\u00a0 We also provided some team specific stats in terms of what teams did well at as well as what they didn’t excel at.\u00a0 We will give our prediction in terms of where they will finish in the division and a range to where they should fall in the conference and if they are going to make the playoffs or not.<\/p>\n
While our website is handicapping related there isn’t a ton of betting specific information since plenty of non gamblers do read our previews each year because they are well written, provide quality information, and fairly accurate predictions.\u00a0 With that being said there are little nuggets of information in there that handicappers can use in terms of a handful of teams that we feel are overvalued or undervalued to start the season.<\/p>\n
There are also some stats in there that many of you may have never heard of.\u00a0 We will explain a few of the common ones we use here.<\/p>\n
Offensive Efficiency is\u00a0points scored per 100 possessions.
\nDefensive Efficiency is points allowed per 100 possessions.
\nPace Factor is the number of possessions per 48 minutes by a team.
\nPER is Player Efficiency Rating which is a per minute rating of a player.<\/p>\n
Why do we do this you ask?\u00a0 Because teams play at different speeds, using points scored and points scored is a flawed method to judge if a team is good at scoring the basketball or playing good defense.\u00a0 All of our stats and ratings of teams are based on the number of possessions which normalizes the league putting everyone on a level playing field.\u00a0 A good example of this is the Portland Trail Blazers who averaged 98 points per game last year which would put them as\u00a0the 21st highest scoring team in the league.\u00a0 A lot of people would think the Blazers offense wasn’t any good, but when you dissect this further you see that Portland games only averaged about 90 possessions per game which is\u00a0about 5 less than the league average.\u00a0 After adjusting for the slow pace of Portland games you can figure out that Portland actually had the 7th most efficient offense in the game.<\/p>\n
Hopefully that helps explain things now lets get onto the previews.<\/p>\n
EASTERN CONFERENCE<\/strong><\/p>\n ATLANTIC DIVISION<\/p>\n Boston Celtics<\/a><\/p>\n New Jersey Nets<\/a><\/p>\n New York Knicks<\/a><\/p>\n Philadelphia 76ers<\/a><\/p>\n Toronto Raptors<\/a><\/p>\n CENTRAL\u00a0DIVISION<\/p>\n Chicago Bulls<\/a><\/p>\n Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a><\/p>\n Detroit Pistons<\/a><\/p>\n Indiana Pacers<\/a><\/p>\n Milwaukee Bucks<\/a><\/p>\n SOUTHEAST\u00a0DIVISION<\/p>\n Atlanta Hawks<\/a><\/p>\n Charlotte Bobcats<\/a><\/p>\n Miami Heat<\/a><\/p>\n Orlando Magic<\/a><\/p>\n Washington Wizards<\/a><\/p>\n WESTERN CONFERENCE<\/strong><\/p>\n NORTHWEST\u00a0DIVISION<\/p>\n Denver Nuggets<\/a><\/p>\n Minnesota Timberwolves<\/a><\/p>\n Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a><\/p>\n Portland Trail Blazers<\/a><\/p>\n Utah Jazz<\/a><\/p>\n PACIFIC\u00a0DIVISION<\/p>\n Golden State Warriors<\/a><\/p>\n Los Angeles Lakers<\/a><\/p>\n Los Angeles Clippers<\/a><\/p>\n Phoenix Suns<\/a><\/p>\n Sacramento Kings<\/a><\/p>\n SOUTHWEST\u00a0DIVISION<\/p>\n Dallas Mavericks<\/a><\/p>\n Houston Rockets<\/a><\/p>\n Memphis Grizzlies<\/a><\/p>\n