2009-10 Standings forecast

New season of NBA is before start and everybody is looking forward to the games. Here are the results of the teams from previous years and forecast for the new season. The forecast is linear regression of team's results from past six years. This method is trying to find the trend in the results. Of course there are some possible inaccurancy because some team has in some season very unusual results due to injuries or other factors (Miami in 2007). On the other side there are team which make break (Boston in 2007) and than the trend is completely different. But in the most cases the is interesting to follow the trends and compare them with real situation. The last column is standings in ESPN Power Ranking before the season.

Rk	Team	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	ESPN
1.	Cleveland Cavaliers	35	42	50	50	45	66	64	4
2.	Orlando Magic	21	36	36	40	52	59	64	2
3.	Boston Celtics	36	45	33	24	66	62	62	3
4.	Los Angeles Lakers	56	34	45	42	57	65	61	1
5.	Phoenix Suns	29	62	54	61	55	46	58	10
6.	Utah Jazz	42	26	41	51	54	48	56	12
7.	San Antonio Spurs	57	59	63	58	56	54	55	5
8.	Houston Rockets	45	51	34	52	55	53	55	22
9.	New Orleans Hornets	41	18	38	39	56	49	55	11
10.	Dallas Mavericks	52	58	60	67	51	50	54	7
11.	Denver Nuggets	43	49	44	45	50	54	53	6
12.	Portland Trail Blazers	41	27	21	32	41	54	47	8
13.	Atlanta Hawks	28	13	26	30	37	47	47	9
14.	Detroit Pistons	54	54	64	53	59	39	46	18
15.	Chicago Bulls	23	47	41	49	33	41	44	13
16.	Philadelphia 76ers	33	43	38	35	40	41	41	17
17.	Charlotte Bobcats		18	26	33	32	35	40	19
18.	Toronto Raptors	33	33	27	47	41	33	40	14
19.	Golden State Warriors	37	34	34	42	48	29	38	23
20.	Washington Wizards	25	45	42	41	43	19	32	15
21.	New Jersey Nets	47	42	49	41	34	34	31	25
22.	Miami Heat	42	59	52	44	15	43	29	16
23.	Milwaukee Bucks	41	30	40	28	26	34	27	29
24.	Indiana Pacers	61	44	41	35	36	36	26	24
25.	New York Knicks	39	33	23	33	23	32	25	26
26.	Los Angeles Clippers	28	37	47	40	23	19	23	20
27.	Oklahoma City Thunder	37	52	35	31	20	23	16	21
28.	Sacramento Kings	55	50	44	33	38	17	16	30
29.	Memphis Grizzlies	50	45	49	22	22	24	13	28
30.	Minnesota Timberwolves	58	44	33	32	22	24	12	27

The competition for the best season record will be very huge and the candidates for the title strengthen their teams. Top candidates are:

• Lakers - will try to repeat the last season and be again the team which is able to repeat the championships. The team is almost the same and the only change was replacement of Ariza by Ron Artest. There is big expectation how will be Artest able to integrate to this team and help to move forward.
  
  
• Boston - is back again with strong triplet: Pierce, Allen, Garnett and in addition is Rasheed Wallace. With dynamic guard Rajon Rondo the Boston's starter roster is maybe the strongest in the league.
  
• Cleveland - Lebron James will try to win the title with help of Shaquille O'Neal. If Shaq will be able to be 20-10 player, Cleveland will be very strong inside and most of the team will have big troubles.
  
• Orlando - The very ambitions team was in the final and goal is clear for this season. Best center in the league Dwight Howard will have new teammate Vince Carter. Question is if Carter will have expected performance and have a big season. Guard Jameer Nelson should be healthy and only player who will be missing is Hedo Turkoglu (to Raptors).
  
• San Antonio - is trying to compete again. The new players Richard Jefferson, Antonio McDyess (from Pistons), Theo Ratliff (from 76ers) make the Spurs one of the most experienced team in the league. Big expectations are from Richard Jefferson, who shoul add 20 points per game.

Behind these favorite teams should be Dallas with huge addition of Jason Kidd (re-signed), Drew Gooden (from Spurs), Tim Thomas (from Bulls), Shawn Marion (from Raptors). Roster is very strong and it will interesting how the team will be cooperate together. The second possible surprise could be Denver with Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups. Denver had very strong series seven games series against Lakers in the last play off.