My NBA Playoff Predictions

West:

1. Oklahoma City Thunder
2. Los Angeles Clippers
3. Memphis Grizzlies
4. Los Angeles Lakers
5. San Antonio Spurs
6. Minnesota Timberwolves
7. Denver Nuggets
8. Portland Trail Blazers
9. Dallas Mavericks
10. Golden State Warriors
11. Sacramento Kings
12. Utah Jazz
13. Phoenix Suns
14. New Orleans Hornets
15. Houston Rockets

East:

1. Miami Heat
2. Chicago Bulls
3. Atlanta Hawks
4. Philadelphia 76ers
5. New York Knicks
6. Milwaukee Bucks
7. Brooklyn Nets
8. Indiana Pacers
9. Boston Celtics
10. Cleveland Cavaliers
11. Charlotte Bobcats
12. Toronto Raptors
13. Orlando Magic
14. Detroit Pistons
15. Washington Wizards

Best Players in the NBA

Top 50 Players Currently in the NBA:

1. LeBron James, Miami Heat
2. Kevin Durant, Oklahoma City Thunder
3. Derrick Rose, Chicago Bulls
4. Dwyane Wade, Miami Heat
5. Chris Paul, Los Angeles Clippers
6. Dwight Howard, Los Angeles Lakers
7. Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers
8. Kevin Love, Minnesota Timberwolves
9. Rajon Rondo, Boston Celtics
10. Carmelo Anthony, New York Knicks
11. Deron Williams, Brooklyn Nets
12. Tony Parker, San Antonio Spurs
13. Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City Thunder
14. Marc Gasol,  Memphis Grizzlies
15. LaMarcus Aldridge, Portland Trail Blazers
16. Andrew Bynum, Philadelphia 76ers
17. Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas Mavericks
18. Andre Iguodola, Denver Nuggets
19. Blake Griffin, Los Angeles Clippers
20. Amar'e Stoudemire, New York Knicks
21. Kyrie Irving, Cleveland Cavaliers
22. Ty Lawson, Denver Nuggets
23. Danny Granger, Indiana Pacers
24. Chris Bosh, Miami Heat
25. Josh Smith, Atlanta Hawks
26. Rudy Gay, Memphis Grizzlies
27. Tim Duncan, San Antonio Spurs
28. Joe Johnson, Brooklyn Nets
29. Brandon Jennings, Milwaukee Bucks
30. James Harden, Houston Rockets
31. Paul Pierce, Boston Celtics
32. Steve Nash, Los Angeles Lakers
33. Ricky Rubio, Minnesota Timberwolves
34. DeMarcus Cousins, Sacramento Kings
35. Eric Gordon, New Orleans Hornets
36. Monta Ellis, Milwaukee Bucks
37. Manu Ginobili, San Antonio Spurs
38. Zach Randolph, Memphis Grizzlies
39. John Wall, Washington Wizards
40. Roy Hibbert, Indiana Pacers
41. Al Jefferson, Utah Jazz
42. Tyson Chandler, New York Knicks
43. Kevin Garnett, Boston Celtics
44. Anthony Davis, New Orleans Hornets
45. Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors
46. Al Horford, Atlanta Hawks
47. Serge Ibaka, Oklahoma City Thunder
48. Tyreke Evans, Sacramento Kings
49. Greg Monroe, Detroit Pistons
50. Mario Chalmers, Miami Heat

Ranking the Presidents

This is a list, in my opinion after some research, of all the presidents from best to worst. I only wrote an explanation for one because I think that ranking requires some explanation.

1.      Abraham Lincoln

2.      George Washington

3.      Franklin Delano Roosevelt

4.      Ronald Reagan

5.      Theodore Roosevelt

6.      Thomas Jefferson

7.      James Monroe

8.      James K. Polk

9.      Andrew Jackson (most people would probably have him lower because of what he did to the Native Americans. I do think that was horrible but it’s also true that cultural understanding back then wasn’t what it is now. And it did affect my ranking of him, because he’d be number 4 if it weren’t for that with the way he fought corruption. To this day, no president has been as popular or as big a champion for the middle/working class.)

10.  Woodrow Wilson

11.  James Madison

12.  Dwight D. Eisenhower

13.  John F. Kennedy

14.  Bill Clinton

15.  Harry S Truman

16.  Howard Taft

17.  Calvin Coolidge

18.  William McKinley

19.  Benjamin Harrison

20.  John Adams

21.  Chester A. Arthur

22.  Warren G. Harding

23.  Grover Cleveland

24.  George H.W. Bush

25.  Ulysses S. Grant

26.  Gerald Ford

27.  Martin Van Buren

28.  Richard Nixon

29.  John Quincy Adams

30.  Lyndon B. Johnson

31.  Andrew Johnson

32.  Rutherford B. Hayes

33.  Millard Fillmore

34.  Herbert Hoover

35.  Jimmy Carter

36.  John Tyler

37.  Franklin Pierce

38.  James Buchanan

Cannot (Yet) be Ranked:

·         George W. Bush (I suspect he'll be towards the bottom of the middle)

·         James Garfield

·         William Henry Harrison

·         Barack Obama (I have no idea bout his ranking yet. His first 4 years saw a struggling economy but I do think Obamacare has a chance to be hugely successful)

·         Zachary Taylor

Actors' Best Performances

Robert De Niro:

1. Raging Bull (1980)
2. Taxi Driver (1976)
3. The Godfather Part II (1974)
4. Awakenings (1990)
5. The Mission (1986)

James Stewart:

1. Vertigo (1958)
2. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
3. It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
4. Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
5. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)

Daniel Day-Lewis:

1. There Will be Blood (2007)
2. Gangs of New York (2002)
3. In the Name of the Father (1993)
4. The Crucible (1996)
5. Last of the Mohicans (1992)

Leonardo DiCaprio:

1. Romeo + Juliet (1996)
2. The Aviator (2004)
3. Titanic (1997)
4. Catch Me If You Can (2002)
5. Blood Diamond (2006)

 Johnny Depp:

1. Ed Wood (1994)
2. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
3. Blow (2001)
4. Edward Scissorhands (1990)
5. Donnie Brasco (1997)

Kevin Spacey:

1. American Beauty (1999)
2. The Usual Suspects (1995)
3. L.A. Confidential (1997)
4. Horrible Bosses (2011)
5. Margin Call (2011)

 George Clooney:

1. Up in the Air (2009)
2. The Descendants (2011) 
3. Michael Clayton (2007)
4. Ocean's Eleven (2001)
5. The American (2010)

Matt Damon:

1. Good Will Hunting (1997)
2. The Informant! (2009)
3. The Bourne Identity (2002)
4. The Rainmaker (1997)
5. The Departed (2006)

Paul Newman:

1. Cool Hand Luke (1967)
2. The Hustler (1961)
3. The Verdict (1982)
4. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
5. The Sting (1973)

Tom Hanks:

1. Forrest Gump (1994)
2. Big (1988)
3. Cast Away (2000)
4.  Road to Perdition (2002)
5. Saving Private Ryan (1998)

Kenneth Branagh:

1. Henry V (1989)
2. Hamlet (1996)
3. My Week with Marilyn (2011)
4. Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
5. Much Ado About Nothing (1993)

Clint Eastwood:

1. Gran Torino (2008)
2. Unforgiven (1992)
3. Million Dollar Baby (2004)
4. The Good, the Bad & the Ugly (1966)
5. Dirty Harry (1971)

Bill Murray:

1. Lost in Translation (2003)
2. Groundhog Day (1993)
3. Ghostbusters (1984)
4. Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
5. What About Bob? (1991)

 Diane Keaton:

1. Annie Hall (1977)
2. Manhattan (1979)
3. The Godfather (1972)
4. The Godfather Part II (1974)
5. Love and Death (1975)