SLAM #80

Originally published in SLAM 80 The 6th Man: Predictions can be a dangerous thing. Bad enough if you’re wrong-Darko Milicic, anyone?-but sometimes even worse if you’re right. Take last year, for instance. In our 2003 Finals predictions, a few of us (including yours truly) correctly divined that the San Antonio Spurs would finish as NBA champions. So when this year’s picks came due, a feeling of supreme confidence settled. I wasn’t so much picking the Lakers as I was confirming the inevitable. I half-expected Gary Payton and Karl Malone to be presented with their rings the second the issue hit the stands. As I type this, the Lakers are down 2-1 to the San Antonio Spurs-whom none of us picked to win it all this year (thanks in part to inconvenient deadlines and a poorly timed late season flat spot). Maybe we should just leave the predictions alone… Which leads us to the cover. Yep, that’s six high school ballers on there. Is this the end of the worl...