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ESPN NBA Predications – Phoenix Suns Will Finish At Ninth Seed…Again

By Mario Hicks

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ESPN have released their Summer Forecast for the Eastern and Western NBA conferences, and the Phoenix Suns are placed at the ninth seed for the second year in a row. Usually very accurate, the forecast has weighed all of the options and taken into account a very busy offseason to make predictions about the frontrunners and the rest of the conference.

As it stands according to ESPN:

  1. Oklahoma City Thunder: 58-24
  2. San Antonio Spurs: 57-25
  3. Los Angeles Clippers: 56-26
  4. Portland Trailblazers: 51-31
  5. Dallas Mavericks: 50-32
  6. Memphis Grizzlies: 49-33
  7. Golden State Warriors: 49-33
  8. Houston Rockets: 49-33

  9. Phoenix Suns: 45-37

  10. New Orleans Pelicans: 39-43
  11. Denver Nuggets: 38-44
  12. Los Angeles Lakers: 30-52
  13. Sacramento Kings: 29-53
  14. Utah Jazz: 26-56
  15. Minn. Timberwolves: 26-56

Analysts have picked the Oklahoma City Thunder to take the cake for the West, with a predicted record of 58 wins to 24 losses. Surprisingly OKC has landed above the 2013-14 NBA Champions, the San Antonio Spurs. Many are still adamant that the Spurs wouldn’t have made it to the Finals if the Thunder’s Serge Ibaka hadn’t missed the first two games of the team’s matchup.

Dallas Mavericks at fifth, Memphis Grizzlies at sixth and Golden State Warriors at seventh, according to the Summer Forecast. The Houston Rockets are placed at eighth, just making the cut for the play offs. Analysts predict the Rockets will go 49-33 this is interesting because the Rockets have lost many of the players they relied on to get them to the playoffs last season. Without Chandler Parsons, Jeremy Lin and Omer Asik the Rockets have some rebuilding to do to remake a cohesive power house team.

The Phoenix Suns are just below the Rockets at the number nine seed. Predictions have the Suns only winning 45 games, which is three less than last season. This also places them at ninth for the second year in a row. As Suns Nation PL says so eloquently, the Suns and the number nine spot are like Romeo and Juliet, inseparable.

I believe that the solution to the curse is sorting the situation with Eric Bledsoe. If the Bledsoe issue is resolved and he plays well for the Suns, they could easily sneak into the playoff, knocking the Houston Rockets off of their number eight seed. With the addition of Isaiah Thomas, T.J. Warren and Tyler Ennis will help the Suns immensely.

Making the playoffs in the West is always a tough task but this year the suns could make the playoffs for the simple fact that almost everybody returns from last season, so the team chemistry will be even better than last season.

What do you guys think about the NBA Forecasts? Will the Phoenix Suns make the playoffs?

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