Looking forward though, none of that matters as both players go into this season surround by a new starting 4.

Shaquille and Miami aside, next biggest story will be how 5 of 8 playoff teams from East may be below .500. We expect quality basketball to be hard to come by in East. Your two other top teams will be Detroit and Indiana. We expect Isiah Thomas to make things interesting in New York, Lebron James to make highlight reels in Cleveland, and Toronto to be Charlotte’s 2nd rival (after New Orleans) as they will be battling to stay out of cellar.

The Sun may set in West, but we feel that this team is on rise, and ready to take next step forward. The Kings, Timberwolves, Lakers and Spurs will be hard pressed to keep them out of top 4 this year. With possible exception of Seattle, every team should be fun to watch this year.

Here are our predictions for final standing this season

Eastern Conference

Atlantic

Boston Celtics New York Knicks Philadelphia 76ers New Jersey Nets Toronto Raptors

Central

Detroit Pistons Indiana Pacers Milwaukee Bucks Cleveland Caveliers Chicago Bulls

Southeast

Miami Heat Orlando Magic Washington Wizards Atlanta Hawks Charlotte Bobcats

Western Conference

Southwest

San Antonio Spurs Houston Rockets Memphis Grizzlies Dallas Mavericks New Orleans Hornets

Northwest

Denver Nuggets Minnesota Timberwolves Utah Jazz Portland Trailblazers Seattle Supersonics

Pacific

Phoenix Suns Sacromento Kings Los Angelos Lakers Golden State Warriors Las Angelos Clippers

Another day I was fishing alone, in water I know like palm of my hand. And was getting skunked. Fishing all my usual water, using all my usual techniques I couldn’t even get a strike. Yet I knew I could and did catch fish in this spot, lots of fish. I kept at it, until I heard a fish jump behind me, in a riffle I hadn’t fished in years. I turned around and cast right at head of riffle, and nailed what was to be first of many beautiful trout I caught that day.

If I hadn’t been confident in my abilities, and in water holding fish, I would have stopped long before. That was an instance where confidence led to perseverance. But other two days, it seemed to be confidence only, that led to more fish being landed. Maybe there was something subtle in presentation of confident angler, something that can’t be taught. Like way some quarterbacks always seem to win. Or maybe like in other endeavors confident people just seem to do better. At any rate only way I know of to develop confidence is through repeated success. And in fishing only way to catch fish is to do more fishing.

If you are thinking this is all a stretch, I bet you can come up with very similar stories that have happened to you. Especially if like me, you have been fishing since you had a Leave it to Beaver lunch box. Give yourself possibility that confidence in your fishing ability does play a role, in your catch rate. And end result will be you spend more time fishing. And if that is end result of you reading this article, then it was time well spent. Now let’s go out there and build up our fly fishing confidence!