I predict that everyone will predict hawks and cairns for bottom 2.

Perth-strong team with inclusion of Neville
Melbourne-Mills in team will do well.
New Zealand-will be around again but not strong to win flag
Gold Coast-If imports preform they be up higher
Adelaide-will be there when balls and import in team
Sydney-wont finish bottom this year.
Townsville-strong 5 weak bench
Woolongong-depends on 2nd import
Cairns-not as strong as last year,wooden spoon.

Thats my view

Very difficult to seperate the teams. I think any team can beat anyone, home court advantage will be huge this season. At this stage I would say maybe Perth, Melbourne, Adelaide and Gold Coast

Perth have no reason not to be minor premiers. The competition is so close that the gap from 2nd to bottom gets down to execution of the plays, injuries and luck.

3 point shooting % will be one thing that defines a good or bad team. The other key factor is defence. Teams with sloppy defence will be taking an early shower.

Observer is pretty close:
Perth-strong team and probably won't drop a game at home
New Zealand-should get most home games, not so good on the road
Gold Coast - The smokey.
Melbourne-Mills will see them improve on last year.
Adelaide-Injury free, should be up there. Need to finalise the last spot and get Ballinger fit, or a good fill in.
Townsville-stronger with the Diddy. Why isn't Schench dominating?
Sydney-Madge to be a star
Wollongong-Gordie is a magician, but some are a wakeup to his tricks
Cairns-decimated, $20 says wooden spoon.

My predictions usually end up somewhere between bad and shouldn't have bothered so I'm not making one. BUT, I do believe the 36ers will make the finals. Won't say we'll win our 5th championship (though I hope we do) but I'd put money on us having a big improvement.

Only teams I would predict to be locked in for finals:

Wildcats
Tigers

This is where it gets tricky, seperated by a game or two:

Blaze
Breakers
36ers
Sydney

And then a few more games below:

Crocs
Taipans
Hawks

I think this will be even closer than last season. The bottom of the top 4 will be very close. The last 4 wont be as far away as last year. I feel odd putting Crocs and Taipans down the bottom after they made the finals but cant see them getting close with stiffer competition this year and not a great off season. Same with the Hawks, they always seem to be in the thick off it but not sure if they will be this year.

Wildcats will be hard to beat. Sydney and adelaide to rise. Blaze probably the only team that could stop Perth. Tigers to fall in a hole when mills leaves early/ won't perform in this league anyway. Bogut won't dominate nbl either if he did sign but could get the crowds up

Perth - Are a team that play without egos but will be intersting how Nevill fits in to the rotation as he camps a lot and this will make it hard for Redhage to do his thing.(One of the reasons Big Red played limited minutes in Perth)
Gold Coast - Think last year injuries just killed them but they really need to gel early or they could slip down again.
New Zealand - Have a core group of players that have played and trained together for a while.
Melbourne - Not completely sold on them think they will be better when Mills departs as the team line up will be more balanced.
Adelaide - Unlike many others like what Clarke is trying to do with the roster and make it very similar to the way Perth plays but they lack a consistent scorer unless the new import becomes one.
Wollongong - Geordie is a great coach that always has his team competitive but injuries could see them fall further down.
Sydney - Not sold on the imports but they looked good last year when they fed the ball to Jules and I think their shooters are stronger this year with the addition of Bose.
Cairns - Thought they had a weak bench last year but they still made the GF this year their Starters also look a little weaker and older.
Townsville - Gill looks like a baller but one team always falls away and I think Crawford is in decline and Big Red's back isn't strong enough to carry the whole team.

I'm gonna be a contrarian and say:

Perth
Townsville
Gold Coast
Woolongong
Adelaide
Sydney
Melbourne
Cairns

Perth
GC
Melbourne
Sydney
Wollongong
Adelaide
NZ
Townsville
Cairns

Perth
Melbourne
NZ
Adelaide
GC
Townsville
Wollongong
Sydney
Cairns

I would like to think Adelaide will press for a finals berth, but don't think we can make it.

Perth
NZ
Gold Coast
Sydney
----
Melbourne
Adelaide
Wollongong
Townsville
Cairns

But you really could throw a blanket over positions 3 to 8 in my view.

For what its worth sportsbet has the betting up for who will win the title which is sort of in a Ladder prediction.

Perth Wildcats 3.25
Gold Coast Blaze 4.00
Melbourne Tigers 5.50
New Zealand Breakers 9.00
Adelaide 36ers 13.00
Wollongong Hawks 13.00
Sydney Kings 13.00
Townsville Crocs 17.00
Carins Taipans 21.00

I assume the Cats won, but are the Shanghai Sharks really that good at the moment? Would hope the Sixers have a little bit more to throw at the Cats than the Sharks do!

Might as well put my predictions in too...

Wildcats
Blaze
Tigers
Breakers

Kings
Sixers
Hawks
Taipans
Crocs

Edit: switch the Kings with the Breakers. Bogut will give the Kings a nice boost and the Breakers backcourt really has been decimated this season.

Gold Coast and Perth top 2.

The rest is an uncertainty.........

Key player losses/injiuries for Townsville, Cairns, NZ - but all should still be thereabouts.

Tigers have plenty of stars; but maybe too many stars. Already some tension there.

And then there's the Adelaide, Sydney and Wollongong.

Incidentally, the Blaze/Taipans preseason match in Cairns went something like 78/68 to the Blaze. Taipans were in it until the last quarter. No Crosswhite, Loughton or Rychardt. Wilson injured but played. Drew Warren and Brad Hill lack lustre. Good game by Dowdell. Deba George - excellent game. Very physical and fiery encounter. All in brawl in final quarter - one of the Blaze players ejected from the game. Blaze looked very good defensively - Taipans very poor in defence.

Hey Snake 5, any word on how Crosswhite is travelling? What is it that is keeping him out of the pre-season games?

Crossy has a calf muscle strain. He had a compression bandage on Friday night, but is otherwise saying that it isnt too serious. He pulled up very sore after training last week.
I believe he will be back for the 1st round. I hope so. We missed his size under the basket last week!

If Wade Helliwell does a hard screen on Luke Nevill
and Nevill loses his cool , Martin Clarke will sit Hellwell down and we're a bit short.