Majority of the general managers (GMs) in the National Basketball Association (NBA) believe the Miami Heat will win a third consecutive championship, according to a poll conducted by the league’s official website.
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In predicting the winner of the 2014 NBA Finals, 75.9% of the league’s GMs picked the Miami Heat, according to the results published Tuesday night.
Miami was also the overwhelming favorite last season, when 70% of NBA GMs predicted that they will win the title. The Heat indeed went on to repeat as champions, but not before being pushed to the brink by the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals, and again by the San Antonio Spurs in the Finals.
No NBA team has won three consecutive championships since the Los Angeles Lakers accomplished the feat from 2000 until 2002, with Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal at the helm.
Indiana and San Antonio both received 6.9% of the GMs votes, while the Chicago Bulls, the Los Angeles Clippers and the Oklahoma City Thunder also received votes.
The Heat were also the favorite to come out of the East, with 86.2% of the GMs predicting that they will win the conference. Indiana received 10.3% of the vote, while Chicago received 3.4%.
In the West, three teams received significant votes. San Antonio was picked by 40% of the NBA GMs, but Oklahoma was not far behind, with 36.7% of GMs predicting that the Thunder will win the West.
The Clippers received 20% of the votes, while 3.3% of the NBA GMs believed the Houston Rockets will win the conference.
Majority of NBA GMs picked the Brooklyn Nets to win the Atlantic Division ahead of the New York Knicks, while 51.7% predicted that Indiana will win the Central Division, with Chicago receiving 48.3% of the vote. Miami received 100% of the GMs’ votes in the Southeast Division.
Seventy percent of the NBA GMs picked San Antonio to win the Southwest ahead of Houston, while Oklahoma City was the overwhelming favorite in the Northwest Division. Nearly 90% of the GMs picked the Clippers to win the Pacific, with Golden State receiving 10.3% of the vote.
According to John Schuhmann of NBA.com, the general managers were not permitted to vote for their own team or personnel in the annual survey. Percentages are based on the pool of respondents to each question, rather than all 30 GMs.
It is the 12th year that the NBA had polled its GMs prior to the start of the regular season.
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