Items 6-10 on the NBA in 2015

Okay, so here's the next five things to be on the lookout for in 2015. Sorry for the delay in posting!

1. Stan Van Gundy will be a serious COY candidate. 

I whole-heartedly think that Stan the Man will be in contention for Coach of the Year at the end of the '14-15 season. Listen, the Pistons got off to an awful start only winning five games between the beginning of the season and the Josh Smith waiver. Since then, the team is a perfect 5-0. Now, being 10-23 almost halfway into the season is far from worthy of COY consideration BUT I sincerely believe that the Pistons are on a roll and should squash the bottom feeders in the NBA for the rest of the year. I seriously think they can go 30-19 in the rest of 2015 and squeak into playoffs barring any unforeseen injuries. Heck, Stan Van should be GM of the Year at that point too.

2. Carmelo will sit out after ASG.

The Knicks have won five games all year. Even the Pistons separated themselves from the ire that is the Knicks with their recent five game win streak giving them ten wins on the year. I have little faith in the Knicks organization and I believe they will shut Carmelo down after the All Star Game. With the game in NYC it would be crazy for Melo not to play in HIS city. He's already sat out a handful of games so I see no additional reason for a team with no playoffs hope and 12 players coming off the books at the end of the season to try for anything..except a top three draft pick. That's right Knicks fans. If Melo sits welcome to Tankapalooza. In all seriousness, I'm a Celtics and Rondo fan, my season was ruined when he tore his ACL in January a couple years ago and I think letting Melo sit will be best for everyone. I don't wish that on any player or fan base and I think he needs to rest his body while he can. Rest assured fans, next year will hopefully be a BIG year for you. 

3. The Clippers will trade for Jeff Green.

Straight up, they have to. They have to, have to, HAVE TO. I'm sorry but Matt Barnes will only get you so much in playoffs and you can't rely on a Paul, Reddick, Crawford lineup in crunch time against the Mavs, Blazers, or Thunder, let alone Grizzlies or Rockets in my opinion. Green has an expiring contract, he plays his best ball as a third option, and has experience with Doc. Win-win. Plus Danny Ainge only trades with his buddies so it all works out. 

4. This will be an active trade season compared to last year.

The trade deadline isn't what it used to be. The past two years have been quieter at the deadline partially due to regulations in the new CBA and also due to big name trades happening earlier in the season for teams that wanted to integrate new player sooner rather than later for playoff berths. We saw that with Rudy Gay a couple years ago and with Rondo this year. Still, I think Rondo will have been the biggest star traded this year so get ready for role player galore by the trade deadline this year. The Nuggets are practically a team full of roleplayers like Mozgov, Chandler, and Javale McGee who are all highly expendable if you ask me (the young C, Nurkic, is a BOSS!) The Thunder NEED Chandler and the Cavs just need a C, anyone at this point. Look for the Nuggets, Thunder, and Cavs to be active this trading season. 

5. Barring injuries, the Cavs won't see the Finals for two years. 

Think about it. To win the East you have to go through either Gasol/Noah/Gibson or Nene/Gortat. Unless the Wiz bottom out and face the Bulls in the first round (not gonna happen anyway) the Cavs will have to face one, if not both, of these teams. And that's not giving credit to what's going down in Atlanta. I'm just thinking of bigs here let alone guard play and team defenses. In those respects ATL has been top notch. The Bulls and Wiz will be smart and keep their bigs around as long as the Cavaliers continue to play at LeBron's whim and only employee his buddies as teammates, let alone replace Varejao with a C capable of playing minutes in the playoffs. Man...thinking about the Cavs not having a playoff C in the East actually makes me feel bad for them. I say two years because I believe within two years they will certainly have a capable C or at least better C rotation moving forward.  

That's all for today everyone. Thanks for the read. Head over to my twitter @AlexanderMoylan if you feel like sharing my post. I'll be tweeting the link there. Scroll down a couple posts for the first five things to look for in 2015!