Right before the season began, on the episode of my podcast about big Vegas underachievers (episode 24), I made some predictions for the current NBA season. Let's see how I've done so far.

Award picks

Here were my award picks from the episode:

MVP: Joel Embiid I thought Embiid would be able to close the gap after receiving 26 first-place votes to Jokić's 65 last season, but Jokić is having anoter spectacular season, so he may 3-peat as MVP. I did also consider Luka Dončić as an option for this, and per RotoWire, he is the current favorite.
Finals MVP, Giannis Antetokounmpo Right now, it doesn't look like the Bucks will win the title, so this is wide open. They are 4-6 in their last 10 games, but I'm sure they'll break out of this slump.
Rookie of the Year, Paolo Banchero Paolo is a lock for Rookie of the Year barring injury.
Most Improved Player, James Wiseman NOPE! (This was a homer pick— I did some work for the Memphis Tigers the season that he was briefly on the team.) Shai Gilgeous-Alexander currently leads the field.
Coach of the Year, JB Bickerstaff The Cavaliers are great, but Jacque Vaughn and Joe Mazzulla are currently in the lead.
6th Man of the Year, Jordan Poole In a normal season, Poole would be running away with this because he's averaging 20 points per game, but the Lakers' recent success with Russell Westbrook coming off the bench has Westbrook taking a lead over Poole.
Defensive Player of the Year, Bam Adebayo Bam's certainly not having a bad season on the defensive end, but this award is Jaren Jackson, Jr.'s to lose right now and Brook Lopez's to gain. That's about it.

So, I'm going to give myself a 1.5 out of 7 on that one, the half-point being Poole's since he actually has a shot to win it still. I'm not very good at this, huh?

Over/unders

Here were my over/under picks and notes for why I was making that pick:

I stand by the reasoning for this pick (Robert Williams III's injury and the Udoka/Mazzulla situation), but the Celtics will probably go over. 0/1

Maybe not 56, but it does look like this will be a slight over as of right now. 1/2

Mid-to-low 40s is probably closer to the truth, since they're 22-21 right now. Kawhi has played 19 games so far and Paul George has played 30. 2/3

Devin Booker's injury has done more damage to the Suns than any ownership stuff. I don't think the over will be realistic by the time he gets back. That 1-9 stretch that just ended is a killer. 3/4

They will most likely go under due to their injury struggles and horrid start to the season. 3/5

Hopefully Kevin Durant comes back from injury soon, but this team looks great. They'll go over unless they completely fall apart without KD. 4/6

They're looking like a slight over, even with a 5-7 start that looked like the beginning of the end for Doc Rivers and weathering injuries to Joel Embiid, James Harden, and Tyrese Maxey. 5/7

Easy over. 6/8

I've got to stop doubting my own favorite team. They're looking like they're going to be a top-3 seed in the West and they have the presumptive Defensive Player of the Year on the roster. Hell yeah. 6/9

This may end up being correct. I'd peg them at 46 today as well. 7/10

Jimmy Butler is still very good at basketball but Kyle Lowry is certainly getting older. This will go under. 8/11

I didn't anticipe Karl-Anthony Towns getting injured and I really didn't anticipate Rudy Gobert getting worse. I knew the trade was going to be bad in the long run, but I thought this season would be the one happy year before everything went off the rails. They should have kept Patrick Beverley. 8/12

I was right! I love this Cavs team and they'll win 50+ games this season. They've weathered Darius Garland missing some time well and they have the second-best defense this season. 9/13

Yep. The Hawks are so uninspiring this season. Maybe they can hire a better coach before Trae Young jumps ship. 10/14

Everyone could see this one coming from a mile away. They're not horrendous, but they're still probably going to be around the 10th seed. Maybe Anthony Davis can come back and they can win a bunch of games before he gets injured again. 11/15

Well, they're definitely going under. I didn't see them completely imploding like this. 12/16

If Zion were going to be healthy the entire season, I'd agree with the top-2 seed thing, but still, they're going over. This team is STACKED. 13/17

They have been on a pretty good run lately-- they're 8-4 in their last 12 games-- but that's still got them under .500. They're going to miss the playoffs. 14/18

They may actually go over on this, but things really aren't looking good right now. They're 19-21 and on a 4-game losing streak. They're on pace for 39 wins right now, so I'll grade this as me being right so far, but I don't feel good about it. 15/19

The Knicks are fun again! Jalen Brunson is very good at basketball. Unless they shoot themselves in the foot somehow, they'll go over. 16/20

They're on pace for 34, so like the Blazers, they may wind up going over if they get hot at any point, but man, what a bland team this is. 17/21

I have never been so happy to be wrong. This is the best Kings team in forever. They're going to be in the playoffs and will probably bypass the play-in. As of right now, they're the 5th seed and on pace for 45 wins. LIGHT THE BEAM! 17/22

Another uninspiring team. They're on pace to go way under this number. If LaMelo had played the whole year, the same thing may have still happened. 18/23

Any chance of that happening went out the window with Cade Cunningham's injury. I do like this team, though - they've been fun to watch. 18/24

They're 16-26, so they might actually go over on this one. This team has got a ton of talent, like I said, and they're a fun watch. They're fun, have a bright future, and will still get a high lottery pick this summer. That's a great position to be in. 19/25

I certainly didn't see their hot start coming, but it's statistically impossible for them to go under at this point. 20/26

Who needs to tank when you've got Tyrese Haliburton and Bennedict Mathurin?? They'll go over in the next couple of days. 20/27

They're going to go over their win total soon. The Thunder aren't going to get Victor Wembanyama, most likely, unless they get some crazy lottery luck or they shut down Shai Gilgeous-Alexander once again. 20/28

Low 30s isn't going to happen, but I stand by what I said about their talent. This isn't their year, but they'll figure out how to win eventually. I doubt they go over, though. 20/29

The Spurs are on track for 26 wins right now, so unless something changes, they'll likely go over. It's really tough to pick over-unders for tanking teams. 20/30

So, it looks like I'll get 20 of the 30 picks right. I guess that's not too bad, that's better than flipping a coin. I was doing really well until we got to the worst teams... Anyway.

Playoffs

My playoff picks were: -The Clippers would defeat the Warriors in the Western Conference Finals -The Bucks would defeat the Nets in the Eastern Conference Finals, and -The Bucks would defeat the Clippers in the NBA Finals.

The West is way off, but I can still see the Milwaukee-Brooklyn matchup in the ECF happening.

I'll check in on this again at the end of the season.