Seth Romsa

The NBA season has come and gone, and we are in the midst of a hectic free agency period.

Kevin Durant has requested a trade, Kyrie Irving is likely to follow,  but a lot of free agents have already found new homes just one day in, as I am writing this on Friday.

Looking back at the 2021-22 season, there was a lot of unpredictability – starting with Irving and his inability to play in Brooklyn for most of the season.

Then came the Ben Simmons saga, and funnily enough, Simmons ended up on the Brooklyn Nets alongside Durant and Irving.

The unpredictability ended up with the Golden State Warriors holding the trophy, and the Boston Celtics making a finals appearance for the first time since 2010.

I made predictions just before the season began, and I wanted to take a look back at how wrong or right I was about some teams.

In the East, Orlando Magic ended up with the worst record and the No. 1 pick, which helped me get off to a good start.

The Washington Wizards, Detroit Pistons and New York Knicks were my next three up.  They all finished in the 11-14 range, respectively, for the season – which also helped my strong start in the East.

I had the Indiana Pacers finishing higher at No. 9, but the organization thankfully decided to blow things up, trade Domantas Sabonis midseason and finish No. 13 overall.

That decision was smart in the long run, so that miss I am OK with.

The Cleveland Cavaliers I had finishing in the No. 10 spot, and they finished at No. 9,
another near miss.

I had the Raptors finishing at the No. 8 slot, but the emergence of Rookie of the Year Scottie Barnes severely outperformed the expectations, and they earned the No. 5 spot in the East.

The only other two spots I am happy to say I was close on were the Chicago Bulls, who I had at seven and they finished sixth; and the Philadelphia 76ers, who finished in fourth, right where I predicted.

That is where the East got jumbled up for me.

The Nets had all sorts of issues from Irving to a Durant injury and James Harden being traded. They finished well below where I felt they were talentwise heading into the season, finishing in seventh when I had them top three in the East.

The Miami Heat vastly outperformed my expectations, earning the No. 1 seed in the East, well above the No. 6 seed that I gave them credit for.

I had Boston at five, and they finished in second while making a strong run to the NBA Finals –  which is a huge success for a relatively young team.

The Milwaukee Bucks fell short of my expectations, finishing third when I felt they were the best team in the East coming off their championship season the year prior.

My biggest miss in the East, however, was the Atlanta Hawks, who I felt could make a jump after a strong playoff run in 2020-21, but they took a step back finishing in the No. 8 spot after I felt they could finish second.

The Western Conference went much, much worse than I expected.

Oklahoma City, Sacramento and Houston finished as three of the bottom four teams, much to my expectations, which started me strong before the chaos ensued.

An injury to Damian Lillard had the Portland Trailblazers in limbo all season, finishing below par in the No. 13 spot,  when I had them finishing top seven.

The Los Angeles Lakers did not work this year.

A team full of veterans had substantial injuries that significantly dropped the team’s value to the No. 11 spot, despite LeBron James averaging 30.3 points per game in 56 games.

That was the team I had winning the West, and things just kept getting worse.

The San Antonio Spurs finished slightly higher than expected, in typical Spurs fashion.

An injury to Paul George had the Los Angeles Clippers held back, and they finished No. 9, which I felt was the right spot heading in, even with George and no Kawhi Leonard.

The Memphis Grizzlies vastly outperformed the expectations I had with a Ja Morant improvement, finishing No. 2 when I felt they would sneak into the playoffs at eight.

The Denver Nuggets finished No. 6 as predicted, with another MVP season by Nikola Jokic.

The Utah Jazz ran into more problems than anticipated, with the Jazz coach leaving at the end of the season after not living up to expectations. I had the Jazz finishing second, well ahead of the No. 5 spot.

The Dallas Mavericks finished in No. 4 as predicted, and the Warriors finished just ahead of my No. 5 prediction for them en route to a title from the third seed.

Phoenix was an incredible regular season team, finishing as the only 60-win team in the league, but fell short in the playoffs and are now rumored to be in the market for Durant.

My end-of-the-year awards predictions were not the best.

Jalen Green did not play strong until the second half of his rookie season, and Alperen Sengun did not impress enough in his first year alongside him.

I feel as if Darius Garland did not get as much love as he should have in the most improved player of the year conversation, but Morant deserved it in the end.

My dark horse was surprisingly the winner in the sixth Man of the Year, as Tyler Herro took home that crown.

Defensive player of the year was a mile off for me, but Marcus Smart was definitely deserving.

I was close with my prediction for Coach of the Year with Billy Donovan in the dark horse race, but a slower second half of the season knocked the Bulls back from the No. 1 seed.

Luka Doncic did not win MVP (yet), and George was injured too much of the season to lead the Clippers.

My champion prediction of the Lakers could not have been more wrong, but my dark horse Warriors salvaged an OK prediction.

That wraps up a wild season and will hopefully lead into a crazier 2022-23 campaign for the league.