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2018-19 NBA Thread
- Thread starter Celticpride
- Start date
*Is seen trying to swallow a bunch of depression pills*
Ah, fuck. Shit. Damn. I’m exposed. You got me. I only do this stuff to distract myself from the fact that my life and mental health are absolute shit… well at least we can see Golden State wreak havoc again! Who gives a fuck about me?
I know I almost always say the NBA Offseason was huge, but this one was huge. Most notably, LeBron James and Kawhi Leonard switched conferences. The East is wide-open for the first time nearly ten years. This season, we are guaranteed to have a non-LeBron team in the Finals. Meanwhile, the West probably isn’t going to change too much. I know you’re all just dying to hear my views on Los Angeles now that they have LeBron (yes, we’ll get to that in a bit), but the West in the scheme of things is likely to be not too different from last year.
Blah blah disclaimer, it’s difficult to predict injuries, trades, coaching fits, personality fits, etc. These are key factors in why teams make or miss the playoffs outside of offensive or defensive statistics. So, I mostly focus on large-scale trends and ideas.
The rookie class is interesting. It’ll be entertaining to watch Doncic versus Young in the battle of whose organization made the worse move. I do predict Doncic to be the better overall player and feel Atlanta just wanted to sell tickets, but who knows? Maybe Young is still a solid of enough player for it to not matter.
The rookie picks essentially come down to Doncic or Ayton for me. Point-guard scorers don’t strike me as first-year success candidates, so Young is a bit of a reach. Ayton is a solid pick because he’s guaranteed to have the solid individual numbers and highlights. Doncic is more of your coach/system pick because he’s in a better situation to garner wins with more veterans and shooters. I must lean Doncic, but it’s really a matter of whether you trust system or individual stats more this year. I also like that Doncic has already been a past MVP in another league (I know it’s not NBA level talent but experience in general is what I tend to favor in these things).
Defensive Player of the Year? Standard choices are probably Kawhi or Gobert (likely from teams projected to have the best defense this year), but Antekounmpo is a nice sleeper prediction.
My MVP logic last year made sense… for the first month. Antetokounmpo didn’t pull out for me last year, but his numbers were still fantastic. His team simply can’t garner enough wins to put him in voters’ eyes. I feel Milwaukee will make a jump this year; depending on how far that jump is will decide his MVP campaign. They’d need to be a top-three seed for him to even be in the conversation.
You can go ahead and count LeBron out this race. Los Angeles ain’t going to cruise anywhere. I don’t know why experts are so high on him, but my reasons will be… explained in a bit. Kawhi is a solid choice even if he’s had a shaky press the last few months. He’s playing in a wide-open conference where he’s arguably the best player. If Embiid and Antetokounmpo don’t do anything noteworthy? He’s already at least in the voters’ eyes if he’s anything like the Kawhi of old.
I feel if Irving couldn’t maintain that MVP position with the way Boston played last year, he never will. After the way they played in the playoffs last year and now you add Hayward? He’s going to lose a percentage of his possessions and we still know he’s a scorer first. Too much adjustments in the way for me to think about him.
Anthony Davis is interesting. His last half of last season and playoff performance were both great showcases of what he’s capable of doing. He’s just got to get some wins, though. Durant and Curry always seem to cannibalize each other in the race, Harden doesn’t strike me as a back-to-back guy, Westbrook’s dealing with a knee. Overall, who would I favor for MVP? My pick would be Kawhi in a wide-open conference pumped for a bounce-back year, closely followed by an Antetokounmpo offensive resurgence through a coaching change.
Sixth Man is a wide-open one. I refuse to touch that one. Most Improved Player? Ingram is the favorite thinking about his trajectory so far and now playing next to LeBron. You might also want to think about guys like Jamal Murray, Miles Turner, or even sophomores like Fultz or Mitchell.
All right! Let’s start with the Eastern Conference this year!
“I’m a fun guy.” – Kawhi Leonard
“Get outta here wanker.. go watch a movie.” – Steven Adams
“It’s going to be a challenge for me because I’m that small-forward position, after LeBron, of course, and people are going to want to see something new. I’m ready to show them. … For this year, my goal is going to be to make some triple doubles.” – Cedi Osman
The Eastern Conference
(1) Toronto Raptors
(2) Boston Celtics
(3) Milwaukee Bucks
(4) Philadelphia 76ers
(5) Indiana Pacers
(6) Washington Wizards
(7) to (9) Miami/Charlotte/Detroit
First things first, I’m sold on Toronto. They still have that incredibly solid bench unit in addition to a much-improved defense. Here are their wing guys: Kawhi Leonard, Danny Green, Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby, Delon Wright; these are a ton of long, versatile, and athletic wing guys who can tire you out over the course of the game. Consider that this team was already amazing in the regular season and they improve upon DeRozan’s dismissal (he’s worse offensively and defensively than Kawhi, plus Green’s toughness and shooting). I have very little reason to believe they won’t be a one or two seed other than Kawhi crapping out on us again. They have arguably the best player in the conference, the best defenders, a youthful roster, a new coach, and an amazing bench. They’re going to rock the East.
Your second choice should of course be Boston. They’re as versatile and defensively talented as Toronto except with better coaching and an established system… somewhat. There’s a lot of parts coming back, and it may take time to get back to where they were before. They do have just as much of a chance to net the top seed as Toronto. The only reason I put them a smudge below is because I feel Toronto has a higher ceiling and upside with Kawhi. Boston has the advantage of having a bit more depth and stability.
Milwaukee and Philadelphia are the next tier of teams in the East, and I’m shooting for Milwaukee to be the most improved team in the East this year. Budenholzer simultaneously understands how a modern-day NBA offense and defense works in today’s league, and I like what he has done so far in getting guys to move, pass, and help Giannis dominate his one-on-one matches. Giannis even without a new system has boasted new confidence, weight, and abilities. If I seriously have him as an MVP contender, I also must have Milwaukee likely to break 50 wins this year.
Philadelphia is still a solid team. An improved young core and Wilson Chandler could boost them up. Like reasons why I had Toronto over Boston: I just see Milwaukee with higher ceiling potential. Fultz, Simmons, and Embiid could all obviously turn this team into a contender just by talent alone. I just want to see Embiid play 80+ games first, and there’s a lot riding on Fultz’s development.
Indiana and Washington are the next tier. Indiana could be nice this year. They’re returning most of the roster from last year, and their core has decent room for even more improvement. Oladipo, Turner, and Sabonis arguably all haven’t hit their peaks yet. You remove Stephenson’s bench antics and add a guy who’s been a huge plus on the bench as recent as last year in Evans who gives Oladipo a chance to rest more, this team should be great. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if they had a top seed.
Washington hasn’t had a top seed in a long while. Brooks has been coaching this team for two years and their defense hasn’t been better than when Wittman was coaching this team. Chalk it up to chemistry, injuries, or whatever. This team is just a giant question mark where their supposed ceiling is always high and they’re always “slept on” yet my expectations of them being just above borderline playoff tier is always right. You basically must count on them all finally getting it together and Dwight knowing his role after, what, five teams now? They also finally shored up the bench. They have a decent argument for maybe a four-seed but something’s going to happen to this team in some way to make us laugh.
Then the rest of the East is pretty much a blah fest. Charlotte finally has a decent back-up point-guard in Parker so Kemba doesn’t think about becoming a cyborg, and a new coaching change is always interesting. Charlotte’s issues have really always been their dependence on Kemba, Zeller’s absence, and most recently Dwight clamping down the offense. Dwight is addition by subtraction, Parker alleviates at least some pressure off of Kemba (although they still need a solid consistent off-guard), and Zeller will definitely get more time with Howard gone assuming he’s healthy. If Monk can grow or Batum can return to norm, this team has a solid shot at a low playoff spot assuming they maintain the same defense (defense has never been an issue with this team). With a new coach, new veteran, and Howard’s removal, it’s not a stretch to assume the offense at least marginally improves.
Miami is not good but not bad. Will they still get Butler? Who knows, but I’ll share my thoughts assuming this is their current roster. They have a young group of guys who could still improve but do I really expect guys like Winslow and Richardson to take this team to higher heights? Whiteside has become this generation’s Dwight Howard. Spark when ya started but now ya just garbage. He is not good defending outside the paint and that is very common in today’s NBA center as far as a decent defense. His offense and passing are subpar too. They don’t have much flexibility, Dragic is another year older, Waiters can’t play a full season; what does this team have to make me believe they’re anything more than the middle of the East?
Detroit will get their first full season with Blake Griffin under a new coach. Giving Blake a full offseason of rest and training camp with this team as opposed to being traded midseason should make a positive difference. Drummond had a nice early spark last year with his passing, but it’s his defense that brings his team down. He may be like Whiteside in the fact that he will never be able to guard modern-day NBA offenses. Reggie Jackson is the only perimeter player on this team worth of note. Guys like Johnson, Galloway, and Bullock (who is a great shooter, but still, no creator) can’t be expected to be the difference makers for this team. Jackson even when healthy has shown not to be productive to the team’s overall plus-minus. So, when you look at Detroit, you’re essentially banking on Griffin playing at least 65+ games of amazingness, some consistency on the perimeter in some positive way either by Jackson or group effort, and maybe Drummond to show us something. I haven’t even gone over much about Casey, but I’ve never really been impressed with his coaching. Maybe it’ll help?
But those are the three teams I see attempting to scratch their way into the playoffs. Mix-and-match as you’d like. Detroit has the individual talent of Griffin who objectively is the biggest difference maker, Charlotte addressed their problems the best, and Miami just doesn’t suck and have some semblance of consistency.
Brooklyn is interesting maybe? If Russel hits a major jump? Don’t expect me to predict that, though. They still got some nice solid young pieces and didn’t have a half-bad early run last year with their barrage of threes that they bricked. If I were to pick some new exciting blood or last year’s “Pacers”, it’s this team.
All the other East teams suck and are rebuilding. Won’t bother fam. Not this year.
Reporter: "Has the Jimmy Butler situation been mentally wearing?" Derrick Rose: "No, no, man. It's not like he's around the team."
“With the official signing of Michael Beasley, LeThanos has finally completed his Infinity Gauntlet.
Mind: Rajon Rondo - he has the bball IQ to rival the best in the NBA-verse. He’s also real good at Connect 4.
Soul: Lance Stephenson - the heart and soul of this team, his sweet whispers into LeBron’s ears will take him straight to the Ancestral Plane.
Power: JaVale McGee - he’s a big, strong boy.
Time: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope - he did time in jail last season. Of the 14 million possible roster combinations, this was the one LeBron saw had the best meme poten....chance to beat the Warriors with.
Reality: Lonzo Ball - he has his own reality show. Let’s also not understate the fact that his father, LaVar Ball, can literally speak things into existence.
Space: Michael Beasley - forget being as high as a kite, Beasley is likely in another dimension right now.
Dread it. Run from it. The Meme Team still arrives and will probably go 41-41 this season. Perfectly balanced, as all things should be.” - EaglesBro
The Western Conference
(1) Utah Jazz
(2) Houston Rockets
(3) Golden State Warriors
(4) Oklahoma City Thunder
(5) Through (10) Portland/ Los Angeles/San Antonio /Denver /New Orleans/Memphis
Oh boy.
I think I’ll start by talking about my boldest prediction: I am going big on Utah. Mitchell’s upside? Extremely promising. Gobert? Clearly makes their defense scary. Remember, last season when their start wasn’t as great because Mitchell hadn’t received significant minutes yet. The record in when they gave Mitchell more minutes is actually very impressive, and it can only go up from there. Utah has all of the reasons in the world to absolutely explode this season. A full season with their acquisitions mid-season last year, Favors re-signing, and a net rating last season that makes Golden State look like chumps.
Golden State and Houston I’m back and forth with, but I feel Golden State after four Finals trips is either mentally tired, physically tired, or both. They’ve played a lot of games and it’s hard for me to see regular season motivation not affecting them. I could be wrong; maybe last season’s second seed will light a fire, but four Finals? A third seed sounds imminent.
Did Houston get better with Anthony? I don’t know, but they’re still a tier above most of the West. Paul may regress a bit as well as the overall defense, so there’s reason to believe they’ll slip from this spot. It certainly wouldn’t surprise me, but the only reason I honestly have them still getting a top seed is because it’s even harder for me to imagine the teams below them grabbing their position.
Oklahoma City is the only other team I’d consider in a top-seed tier for this conference. Their defense with Andre is scary, and Grant certainly will improve with added minutes. Also, Paul George is likely to adjust better with Westbrook’s ball dominance a second time around similar to how the old Durant/Westbrook combo steadily get used to each other.
The rest of the rankings are an absolute crap shoot. I have zero idea. I suppose I should start talking about Los Angeles right now.. that’s what you really want to read about, isn’t it? That’s the entire reason you even opened this up!
Will Los Angeles make the playoffs? … Probably. There’s a chance they won’t. The discussion on them is very hot right now, and I’d say most people are optimistic about them. Folks who think they’re just a tier below Houston and Golden State? Nuh uh, we’re going to shut that noise down right now.
First of all, historically, when LeBron changes teams, the first year is always rough in some way. Think back to the Miami team back in 2010 as well as Cleveland in 2014 when he returned. Those teams had legitimate all-stars and veterans surrounding LeBron in a relatively weak Eastern conference.
Enter an older LeBron in 2018 where the West is much more competitive and his teammates are younger and less talented. Who is seriously an all-star on this team? … Ingram if you hope he improves to that level? It still wouldn’t be enough. Expect this team to have growing pains.
They’re playing at an incredible pace. A pace faster than LeBron has probably ever played and at the four or five positions for major minutes is going to be taxing. Flights in the West are longer too.
The team will run you off the court, but as far as a sustainable regular season success? That remains to be seen, which is why I likely see this team as a bottom-half seed.
Portland got waxed in the playoffs last year pretty badly, but you can still count on them to be here. They still have improved their defense in a major way the past couple of years when it was once thought that it would never happen. Perhaps a second year with Nurkic can at least be interesting; but it’s clear he can’t guard agile centers. Outside of that though? He makes their defense pretty solid. A solid defense with two bonafide perimeter creators is easy to bet on.
Denver’s got potential. What’s holding them back is simply their defense; they’re developing some great talent. Barton, Murray, Jokic, Harris; they were only one game outside of the playoffs with the defense they played, and the games Millsap missed (although the stats show Millsap didn’t make that much of an impact). I believe they can sustain a stronger West much better than the surrounding tier.
New Orleans has a wing issue most notably point-guard. Elfrid Payton I do not care for, and Holiday exceeded off-ball, not as point-guard. For Holiday to be that amazing two-way player, he must play the off-guard spot comfortably. Payton, while still young, has never shown us anything and defensively he is a liability. They can still make it to the playoffs but if they had just got a decent point-guard, I’d easily pencil them in as a fifth-seed. Randle was a great pick-up to not let the loss of Cousins prevent Davis from playing more center. Davis at center was scary in the playoffs last season. Health and wing-depth are really their only concerns, but having the best player playing in his best way gives me more confidence in them than not.
Memphis isn’t getting much talk, but I feel like they should. Conley and Gasol are simply who makes them go. They weren’t world-beaters with Conley last year, but he’s steadily became a reliable go-to scorer over time. Gasol now is at least a threat from three, and some of their younger guys including their acquisitions look interesting. The loss of Evans hurts, though and Parsons has been invisible for so long. I can conceive a scenario they get an eight or seventh seed if everything hits just right. Modernizing their offense just a tad and getting some decent shooting puts them right in the fight.
San Antonio …. I am not afraid to say that I may be slightly biased about them, but they do have a playoff shot here even after Murray’s injury. Listen, they have great arguments for an almost certain decline: Aldridge is another year older, they lost plenty of defense, shooting, and mentorship, the West has improved, and their offense is going to be based on long-twos even more now. The best scenario is that they maintain some average offense and defense while beating the teams they should beat, but that may not even be an enough. Is DeRozan past the age of legitimate upswing or can Popovich work his magic here? That is the most interesting storyline of this team for me. DeRozan has never been a plus defender and his offensive skillset is a dying breed. If San Antonio makes the playoffs, it would be legendary in the Popovich lore.
Minnesota is the only team I confidently leave out of the hunt. It’s not solely because I predict they likely lose Butler; this entire team and organization is in dysfunction. I do not trust dysfunction especially in a strong conference. Wiggins shows signs of peaking, and Towns strikes me as a guy who while he has a ton of upside, would require the type growth that would make him MVP-Caliber to make this team compete night-in-and-out. Can he be a huge two-way star in dysfunction? With Thibodeau at the helm? I don’t think so.
The other Los Angeles team would be a tempting pick if not for Harris being your first offensive option. I will admit they are made of some tough guys… Beverly, Gortat, Bradley; this team will rough up some folks, but the loss of Jordan and Rivers is going to hurt. I really like Teodosic and he could totally take this team to some places. If this team’s healthy, they’re still borderline, but a lot must come together for them to win. Their room of error is simply shorter than the others because they lack proven superstar and all-star talent.
I don’t care too much for teams not obvious in playoff contention. Phoenix might put a scare, Sacramento is … whatever. Go Buddy Hield. Dallas will be fun to watch because of Doncic and likely be the team you don’t want to play for playoff position even though they’re obviously not going to get playoff position.
Ah, fuck. Shit. Damn. I’m exposed. You got me. I only do this stuff to distract myself from the fact that my life and mental health are absolute shit… well at least we can see Golden State wreak havoc again! Who gives a fuck about me?
I know I almost always say the NBA Offseason was huge, but this one was huge. Most notably, LeBron James and Kawhi Leonard switched conferences. The East is wide-open for the first time nearly ten years. This season, we are guaranteed to have a non-LeBron team in the Finals. Meanwhile, the West probably isn’t going to change too much. I know you’re all just dying to hear my views on Los Angeles now that they have LeBron (yes, we’ll get to that in a bit), but the West in the scheme of things is likely to be not too different from last year.
Blah blah disclaimer, it’s difficult to predict injuries, trades, coaching fits, personality fits, etc. These are key factors in why teams make or miss the playoffs outside of offensive or defensive statistics. So, I mostly focus on large-scale trends and ideas.
The rookie class is interesting. It’ll be entertaining to watch Doncic versus Young in the battle of whose organization made the worse move. I do predict Doncic to be the better overall player and feel Atlanta just wanted to sell tickets, but who knows? Maybe Young is still a solid of enough player for it to not matter.
The rookie picks essentially come down to Doncic or Ayton for me. Point-guard scorers don’t strike me as first-year success candidates, so Young is a bit of a reach. Ayton is a solid pick because he’s guaranteed to have the solid individual numbers and highlights. Doncic is more of your coach/system pick because he’s in a better situation to garner wins with more veterans and shooters. I must lean Doncic, but it’s really a matter of whether you trust system or individual stats more this year. I also like that Doncic has already been a past MVP in another league (I know it’s not NBA level talent but experience in general is what I tend to favor in these things).
Defensive Player of the Year? Standard choices are probably Kawhi or Gobert (likely from teams projected to have the best defense this year), but Antekounmpo is a nice sleeper prediction.
My MVP logic last year made sense… for the first month. Antetokounmpo didn’t pull out for me last year, but his numbers were still fantastic. His team simply can’t garner enough wins to put him in voters’ eyes. I feel Milwaukee will make a jump this year; depending on how far that jump is will decide his MVP campaign. They’d need to be a top-three seed for him to even be in the conversation.
You can go ahead and count LeBron out this race. Los Angeles ain’t going to cruise anywhere. I don’t know why experts are so high on him, but my reasons will be… explained in a bit. Kawhi is a solid choice even if he’s had a shaky press the last few months. He’s playing in a wide-open conference where he’s arguably the best player. If Embiid and Antetokounmpo don’t do anything noteworthy? He’s already at least in the voters’ eyes if he’s anything like the Kawhi of old.
I feel if Irving couldn’t maintain that MVP position with the way Boston played last year, he never will. After the way they played in the playoffs last year and now you add Hayward? He’s going to lose a percentage of his possessions and we still know he’s a scorer first. Too much adjustments in the way for me to think about him.
Anthony Davis is interesting. His last half of last season and playoff performance were both great showcases of what he’s capable of doing. He’s just got to get some wins, though. Durant and Curry always seem to cannibalize each other in the race, Harden doesn’t strike me as a back-to-back guy, Westbrook’s dealing with a knee. Overall, who would I favor for MVP? My pick would be Kawhi in a wide-open conference pumped for a bounce-back year, closely followed by an Antetokounmpo offensive resurgence through a coaching change.
Sixth Man is a wide-open one. I refuse to touch that one. Most Improved Player? Ingram is the favorite thinking about his trajectory so far and now playing next to LeBron. You might also want to think about guys like Jamal Murray, Miles Turner, or even sophomores like Fultz or Mitchell.
All right! Let’s start with the Eastern Conference this year!
“I’m a fun guy.” – Kawhi Leonard
“Get outta here wanker.. go watch a movie.” – Steven Adams
“It’s going to be a challenge for me because I’m that small-forward position, after LeBron, of course, and people are going to want to see something new. I’m ready to show them. … For this year, my goal is going to be to make some triple doubles.” – Cedi Osman
The Eastern Conference
(1) Toronto Raptors
(2) Boston Celtics
(3) Milwaukee Bucks
(4) Philadelphia 76ers
(5) Indiana Pacers
(6) Washington Wizards
(7) to (9) Miami/Charlotte/Detroit
First things first, I’m sold on Toronto. They still have that incredibly solid bench unit in addition to a much-improved defense. Here are their wing guys: Kawhi Leonard, Danny Green, Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby, Delon Wright; these are a ton of long, versatile, and athletic wing guys who can tire you out over the course of the game. Consider that this team was already amazing in the regular season and they improve upon DeRozan’s dismissal (he’s worse offensively and defensively than Kawhi, plus Green’s toughness and shooting). I have very little reason to believe they won’t be a one or two seed other than Kawhi crapping out on us again. They have arguably the best player in the conference, the best defenders, a youthful roster, a new coach, and an amazing bench. They’re going to rock the East.
Your second choice should of course be Boston. They’re as versatile and defensively talented as Toronto except with better coaching and an established system… somewhat. There’s a lot of parts coming back, and it may take time to get back to where they were before. They do have just as much of a chance to net the top seed as Toronto. The only reason I put them a smudge below is because I feel Toronto has a higher ceiling and upside with Kawhi. Boston has the advantage of having a bit more depth and stability.
Milwaukee and Philadelphia are the next tier of teams in the East, and I’m shooting for Milwaukee to be the most improved team in the East this year. Budenholzer simultaneously understands how a modern-day NBA offense and defense works in today’s league, and I like what he has done so far in getting guys to move, pass, and help Giannis dominate his one-on-one matches. Giannis even without a new system has boasted new confidence, weight, and abilities. If I seriously have him as an MVP contender, I also must have Milwaukee likely to break 50 wins this year.
Philadelphia is still a solid team. An improved young core and Wilson Chandler could boost them up. Like reasons why I had Toronto over Boston: I just see Milwaukee with higher ceiling potential. Fultz, Simmons, and Embiid could all obviously turn this team into a contender just by talent alone. I just want to see Embiid play 80+ games first, and there’s a lot riding on Fultz’s development.
Indiana and Washington are the next tier. Indiana could be nice this year. They’re returning most of the roster from last year, and their core has decent room for even more improvement. Oladipo, Turner, and Sabonis arguably all haven’t hit their peaks yet. You remove Stephenson’s bench antics and add a guy who’s been a huge plus on the bench as recent as last year in Evans who gives Oladipo a chance to rest more, this team should be great. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if they had a top seed.
Washington hasn’t had a top seed in a long while. Brooks has been coaching this team for two years and their defense hasn’t been better than when Wittman was coaching this team. Chalk it up to chemistry, injuries, or whatever. This team is just a giant question mark where their supposed ceiling is always high and they’re always “slept on” yet my expectations of them being just above borderline playoff tier is always right. You basically must count on them all finally getting it together and Dwight knowing his role after, what, five teams now? They also finally shored up the bench. They have a decent argument for maybe a four-seed but something’s going to happen to this team in some way to make us laugh.
Then the rest of the East is pretty much a blah fest. Charlotte finally has a decent back-up point-guard in Parker so Kemba doesn’t think about becoming a cyborg, and a new coaching change is always interesting. Charlotte’s issues have really always been their dependence on Kemba, Zeller’s absence, and most recently Dwight clamping down the offense. Dwight is addition by subtraction, Parker alleviates at least some pressure off of Kemba (although they still need a solid consistent off-guard), and Zeller will definitely get more time with Howard gone assuming he’s healthy. If Monk can grow or Batum can return to norm, this team has a solid shot at a low playoff spot assuming they maintain the same defense (defense has never been an issue with this team). With a new coach, new veteran, and Howard’s removal, it’s not a stretch to assume the offense at least marginally improves.
Miami is not good but not bad. Will they still get Butler? Who knows, but I’ll share my thoughts assuming this is their current roster. They have a young group of guys who could still improve but do I really expect guys like Winslow and Richardson to take this team to higher heights? Whiteside has become this generation’s Dwight Howard. Spark when ya started but now ya just garbage. He is not good defending outside the paint and that is very common in today’s NBA center as far as a decent defense. His offense and passing are subpar too. They don’t have much flexibility, Dragic is another year older, Waiters can’t play a full season; what does this team have to make me believe they’re anything more than the middle of the East?
Detroit will get their first full season with Blake Griffin under a new coach. Giving Blake a full offseason of rest and training camp with this team as opposed to being traded midseason should make a positive difference. Drummond had a nice early spark last year with his passing, but it’s his defense that brings his team down. He may be like Whiteside in the fact that he will never be able to guard modern-day NBA offenses. Reggie Jackson is the only perimeter player on this team worth of note. Guys like Johnson, Galloway, and Bullock (who is a great shooter, but still, no creator) can’t be expected to be the difference makers for this team. Jackson even when healthy has shown not to be productive to the team’s overall plus-minus. So, when you look at Detroit, you’re essentially banking on Griffin playing at least 65+ games of amazingness, some consistency on the perimeter in some positive way either by Jackson or group effort, and maybe Drummond to show us something. I haven’t even gone over much about Casey, but I’ve never really been impressed with his coaching. Maybe it’ll help?
But those are the three teams I see attempting to scratch their way into the playoffs. Mix-and-match as you’d like. Detroit has the individual talent of Griffin who objectively is the biggest difference maker, Charlotte addressed their problems the best, and Miami just doesn’t suck and have some semblance of consistency.
Brooklyn is interesting maybe? If Russel hits a major jump? Don’t expect me to predict that, though. They still got some nice solid young pieces and didn’t have a half-bad early run last year with their barrage of threes that they bricked. If I were to pick some new exciting blood or last year’s “Pacers”, it’s this team.
All the other East teams suck and are rebuilding. Won’t bother fam. Not this year.
Reporter: "Has the Jimmy Butler situation been mentally wearing?" Derrick Rose: "No, no, man. It's not like he's around the team."
“With the official signing of Michael Beasley, LeThanos has finally completed his Infinity Gauntlet.
Mind: Rajon Rondo - he has the bball IQ to rival the best in the NBA-verse. He’s also real good at Connect 4.
Soul: Lance Stephenson - the heart and soul of this team, his sweet whispers into LeBron’s ears will take him straight to the Ancestral Plane.
Power: JaVale McGee - he’s a big, strong boy.
Time: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope - he did time in jail last season. Of the 14 million possible roster combinations, this was the one LeBron saw had the best meme poten....chance to beat the Warriors with.
Reality: Lonzo Ball - he has his own reality show. Let’s also not understate the fact that his father, LaVar Ball, can literally speak things into existence.
Space: Michael Beasley - forget being as high as a kite, Beasley is likely in another dimension right now.
Dread it. Run from it. The Meme Team still arrives and will probably go 41-41 this season. Perfectly balanced, as all things should be.” - EaglesBro
The Western Conference
(1) Utah Jazz
(2) Houston Rockets
(3) Golden State Warriors
(4) Oklahoma City Thunder
(5) Through (10) Portland/ Los Angeles/San Antonio /Denver /New Orleans/Memphis
Oh boy.
I think I’ll start by talking about my boldest prediction: I am going big on Utah. Mitchell’s upside? Extremely promising. Gobert? Clearly makes their defense scary. Remember, last season when their start wasn’t as great because Mitchell hadn’t received significant minutes yet. The record in when they gave Mitchell more minutes is actually very impressive, and it can only go up from there. Utah has all of the reasons in the world to absolutely explode this season. A full season with their acquisitions mid-season last year, Favors re-signing, and a net rating last season that makes Golden State look like chumps.
Golden State and Houston I’m back and forth with, but I feel Golden State after four Finals trips is either mentally tired, physically tired, or both. They’ve played a lot of games and it’s hard for me to see regular season motivation not affecting them. I could be wrong; maybe last season’s second seed will light a fire, but four Finals? A third seed sounds imminent.
Did Houston get better with Anthony? I don’t know, but they’re still a tier above most of the West. Paul may regress a bit as well as the overall defense, so there’s reason to believe they’ll slip from this spot. It certainly wouldn’t surprise me, but the only reason I honestly have them still getting a top seed is because it’s even harder for me to imagine the teams below them grabbing their position.
Oklahoma City is the only other team I’d consider in a top-seed tier for this conference. Their defense with Andre is scary, and Grant certainly will improve with added minutes. Also, Paul George is likely to adjust better with Westbrook’s ball dominance a second time around similar to how the old Durant/Westbrook combo steadily get used to each other.
The rest of the rankings are an absolute crap shoot. I have zero idea. I suppose I should start talking about Los Angeles right now.. that’s what you really want to read about, isn’t it? That’s the entire reason you even opened this up!
Will Los Angeles make the playoffs? … Probably. There’s a chance they won’t. The discussion on them is very hot right now, and I’d say most people are optimistic about them. Folks who think they’re just a tier below Houston and Golden State? Nuh uh, we’re going to shut that noise down right now.
First of all, historically, when LeBron changes teams, the first year is always rough in some way. Think back to the Miami team back in 2010 as well as Cleveland in 2014 when he returned. Those teams had legitimate all-stars and veterans surrounding LeBron in a relatively weak Eastern conference.
Enter an older LeBron in 2018 where the West is much more competitive and his teammates are younger and less talented. Who is seriously an all-star on this team? … Ingram if you hope he improves to that level? It still wouldn’t be enough. Expect this team to have growing pains.
They’re playing at an incredible pace. A pace faster than LeBron has probably ever played and at the four or five positions for major minutes is going to be taxing. Flights in the West are longer too.
The team will run you off the court, but as far as a sustainable regular season success? That remains to be seen, which is why I likely see this team as a bottom-half seed.
Portland got waxed in the playoffs last year pretty badly, but you can still count on them to be here. They still have improved their defense in a major way the past couple of years when it was once thought that it would never happen. Perhaps a second year with Nurkic can at least be interesting; but it’s clear he can’t guard agile centers. Outside of that though? He makes their defense pretty solid. A solid defense with two bonafide perimeter creators is easy to bet on.
Denver’s got potential. What’s holding them back is simply their defense; they’re developing some great talent. Barton, Murray, Jokic, Harris; they were only one game outside of the playoffs with the defense they played, and the games Millsap missed (although the stats show Millsap didn’t make that much of an impact). I believe they can sustain a stronger West much better than the surrounding tier.
New Orleans has a wing issue most notably point-guard. Elfrid Payton I do not care for, and Holiday exceeded off-ball, not as point-guard. For Holiday to be that amazing two-way player, he must play the off-guard spot comfortably. Payton, while still young, has never shown us anything and defensively he is a liability. They can still make it to the playoffs but if they had just got a decent point-guard, I’d easily pencil them in as a fifth-seed. Randle was a great pick-up to not let the loss of Cousins prevent Davis from playing more center. Davis at center was scary in the playoffs last season. Health and wing-depth are really their only concerns, but having the best player playing in his best way gives me more confidence in them than not.
Memphis isn’t getting much talk, but I feel like they should. Conley and Gasol are simply who makes them go. They weren’t world-beaters with Conley last year, but he’s steadily became a reliable go-to scorer over time. Gasol now is at least a threat from three, and some of their younger guys including their acquisitions look interesting. The loss of Evans hurts, though and Parsons has been invisible for so long. I can conceive a scenario they get an eight or seventh seed if everything hits just right. Modernizing their offense just a tad and getting some decent shooting puts them right in the fight.
San Antonio …. I am not afraid to say that I may be slightly biased about them, but they do have a playoff shot here even after Murray’s injury. Listen, they have great arguments for an almost certain decline: Aldridge is another year older, they lost plenty of defense, shooting, and mentorship, the West has improved, and their offense is going to be based on long-twos even more now. The best scenario is that they maintain some average offense and defense while beating the teams they should beat, but that may not even be an enough. Is DeRozan past the age of legitimate upswing or can Popovich work his magic here? That is the most interesting storyline of this team for me. DeRozan has never been a plus defender and his offensive skillset is a dying breed. If San Antonio makes the playoffs, it would be legendary in the Popovich lore.
Minnesota is the only team I confidently leave out of the hunt. It’s not solely because I predict they likely lose Butler; this entire team and organization is in dysfunction. I do not trust dysfunction especially in a strong conference. Wiggins shows signs of peaking, and Towns strikes me as a guy who while he has a ton of upside, would require the type growth that would make him MVP-Caliber to make this team compete night-in-and-out. Can he be a huge two-way star in dysfunction? With Thibodeau at the helm? I don’t think so.
The other Los Angeles team would be a tempting pick if not for Harris being your first offensive option. I will admit they are made of some tough guys… Beverly, Gortat, Bradley; this team will rough up some folks, but the loss of Jordan and Rivers is going to hurt. I really like Teodosic and he could totally take this team to some places. If this team’s healthy, they’re still borderline, but a lot must come together for them to win. Their room of error is simply shorter than the others because they lack proven superstar and all-star talent.
I don’t care too much for teams not obvious in playoff contention. Phoenix might put a scare, Sacramento is … whatever. Go Buddy Hield. Dallas will be fun to watch because of Doncic and likely be the team you don’t want to play for playoff position even though they’re obviously not going to get playoff position.
Good stuff btw
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2 Things:
1)
Warriors 3 rings in a row
2)
If any of the stars on the Warriors are leaving next year, it would be Klay. There are a bunch of reasons for him to go to LA. KD just got a new house in SF and he was the only star there for the opening of Chase.
1)
Warriors 3 rings in a row
2)
If any of the stars on the Warriors are leaving next year, it would be Klay. There are a bunch of reasons for him to go to LA. KD just got a new house in SF and he was the only star there for the opening of Chase.
Was going to do a Sideline Spice post with our composite pre season power rankings, but people were shit at giving me their team blurbs, so instead I'll just give you my rankings, conference by conference. Note that I did these two weeks ago.
East:
Boston
Philadelphia
Toronto
Indiana
Milwaukee
Washington
Miami
Detroit
Charlotte
Chicago
Orlando
Brooklyn
Atlanta
New York
Cleveland
West:
Golden State
Houston
Utah
LA Lakers
Oklahoma
New Orleans
Portland
Denver
Minnesota
San Antonio
Dallas
LA Clippers
Memphis
Phoenix
Sacramento
East:
Boston
Philadelphia
Toronto
Indiana
Milwaukee
Washington
Miami
Detroit
Charlotte
Chicago
Orlando
Brooklyn
Atlanta
New York
Cleveland
West:
Golden State
Houston
Utah
LA Lakers
Oklahoma
New Orleans
Portland
Denver
Minnesota
San Antonio
Dallas
LA Clippers
Memphis
Phoenix
Sacramento
I wonder how many more times Klay has to say that he’s staying before people drop this stupid narrative.538 are pretty good with their stats but Spurs still got a decent shot. DeRozan needs to improve defensively but his issue could just be coaching. Anyone got preseason notes on them?
I don't usually project standings, but the West will be more fun than ever now to predict, so here goes.
East:
Celtics
Raptors
Sixers
Bucks
Pacers
Heat
Wizards
Nets
---
Pistons
Cavs
Hornets
Bulls
Hawks
Magic
Knicks
West:
Warriors
Rockets
Jazz
Thunder
Pelicans
Nuggets
Lakers
Spurs
---
Grizz
Wolves
Blazers
Mavs
Clippers
Suns
Kings
East:
Celtics
Raptors
Sixers
Bucks
Pacers
Heat
Wizards
Nets
---
Pistons
Cavs
Hornets
Bulls
Hawks
Magic
Knicks
West:
Warriors
Rockets
Jazz
Thunder
Pelicans
Nuggets
Lakers
Spurs
---
Grizz
Wolves
Blazers
Mavs
Clippers
Suns
Kings
You can't get more defense out of DeRozan, all you can do is hide him with a good defensive scheme.
Beasley and Zu have been disappointing in preseason, which is tough because they're the ones pegged to get the backup C minutes.
Also, Indy up 23 on the Grizz despite Oladipo having 1 point lmao.
Beasley and Zu have been disappointing in preseason, which is tough because they're the ones pegged to get the backup C minutes.
Also, Indy up 23 on the Grizz despite Oladipo having 1 point lmao.
1 week avatar bet that Lakers finish ahead of the Thunder?
My predictions
B(W)est:
Warriors
Rockets
Lakers
Jazz
Pelicans
Thunder
Blazers
Wolves if Butler stays, Spurs if he doesn't
---
Nuggets
Grizzlies
Mavericks
Suns
Clippers
Kings
East:
Celtics
Raptors
Pacers
Sixers
Bucks
Heat
Wizards
Hornets
---
Pistons
Cavs
Nets
Bulls
Knicks
Magic
Hawks
B(W)est:
Warriors
Rockets
Lakers
Jazz
Pelicans
Thunder
Blazers
Wolves if Butler stays, Spurs if he doesn't
---
Nuggets
Grizzlies
Mavericks
Suns
Clippers
Kings
East:
Celtics
Raptors
Pacers
Sixers
Bucks
Heat
Wizards
Hornets
---
Pistons
Cavs
Nets
Bulls
Knicks
Magic
Hawks
B R A I N L I C K E R
Banned deucer.
I will take this bet if he doesn’t??!!!!!!
LMAO Fultz got a standing O for hitting a three the defense dared him to take. Solid draft pick.
B R A I N L I C K E R
Banned deucer.
You not loving the old Pistons-esque scorelines?
Soooo will the Lakers be able to shoot or nah? Find out next time.
I wonder how many games rondo and paul will get suspended. Ingram dangerous because he shows no emotion and then bam just does something stupid with no wsrning
Okay everyone knows I'm a Big Ballers Lakers fan, so I'm trying to be as neutral as possible on this, but here's my take:
Rewind earlier in the quarter, Lakers were clearly upset that James Ennis III only got a flagrant one for the unnecessary and excessive contact on this play on Josh Hart:
But anyway, part one of the play is here and part two here.
So tension was already building, in a close game that both teams are trying to win. I see the Rondo/Ingram/Paul/Harden incident as two incidents. Ingram was clearly frustrated with Harden selling the contact on the foul. There's just no need to flail like that if you're Harden but he's done this for years. Ingram comes back and shoves Harden, gets a tech, and Lance the peacemaker pulls him away and that's that. Ingram and Harden walk away, end of the whole thing as it is related to those two.
Meanwhile, Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony start talking to the ref, asking for the shot to be counted, I guess? Rondo says a few words to Chris Paul, they exchange words, Chris Paul isn't even talking to the ref anymore and randomly pokes Rondo in the eye. He later claims Rondo spat in his face, but I see no evidence of that. In fact, Rondo wasn't even facing Paul just before Paul wipes his face of the alleged spit as we can see at 0:33 of the video here. It takes some real skill to be able to spit out the side of your mouth if that were the case. And as World Wide Wob says, you'd think Chris Paul would at least flinch because he's not Kobe. It takes some winding up and preparation of a bullet load of saliva that Chris Paul should 100% have seen it coming.
But if you look carefully, Chris Paul was wiping the left side of his face. You know who was facing Chris Paul on his left hand side as he was hit by the alleged spit? That's right, Carmelo Anthony. He even licks his lips after the alleged spit occurs. Looks like Melo was the culprit and Rondo took the blame.
Oh, then Ingram flies in for a punch when it was absolutely unnecessary. Dumb move there, but he's still my son.
I think Paul gets one game for poking Rondo and escalating the incident, Rondo gets one game for the punch, and Ingram gets three because he wasn't even involved in that and flew in against a defenceless Paul.
Rewind earlier in the quarter, Lakers were clearly upset that James Ennis III only got a flagrant one for the unnecessary and excessive contact on this play on Josh Hart:
But anyway, part one of the play is here and part two here.
So tension was already building, in a close game that both teams are trying to win. I see the Rondo/Ingram/Paul/Harden incident as two incidents. Ingram was clearly frustrated with Harden selling the contact on the foul. There's just no need to flail like that if you're Harden but he's done this for years. Ingram comes back and shoves Harden, gets a tech, and Lance the peacemaker pulls him away and that's that. Ingram and Harden walk away, end of the whole thing as it is related to those two.
Meanwhile, Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony start talking to the ref, asking for the shot to be counted, I guess? Rondo says a few words to Chris Paul, they exchange words, Chris Paul isn't even talking to the ref anymore and randomly pokes Rondo in the eye. He later claims Rondo spat in his face, but I see no evidence of that. In fact, Rondo wasn't even facing Paul just before Paul wipes his face of the alleged spit as we can see at 0:33 of the video here. It takes some real skill to be able to spit out the side of your mouth if that were the case. And as World Wide Wob says, you'd think Chris Paul would at least flinch because he's not Kobe. It takes some winding up and preparation of a bullet load of saliva that Chris Paul should 100% have seen it coming.
But if you look carefully, Chris Paul was wiping the left side of his face. You know who was facing Chris Paul on his left hand side as he was hit by the alleged spit? That's right, Carmelo Anthony. He even licks his lips after the alleged spit occurs. Looks like Melo was the culprit and Rondo took the blame.
Oh, then Ingram flies in for a punch when it was absolutely unnecessary. Dumb move there, but he's still my son.
I think Paul gets one game for poking Rondo and escalating the incident, Rondo gets one game for the punch, and Ingram gets three because he wasn't even involved in that and flew in against a defenceless Paul.