link Looks like ESPN has us under the radar again, which I personally don't mind. Let them jinx the Spurs, Clippers, & Thunder. All their moves Stein assumes will automatically work out perfectly. Love it. Never mind KD's re-occurring foot issues or a completely new coach. Never mind the J Smoove - Lance Stephenson 'bonehead combo' nightmare. Never mind how Duncan Aldridge and West are all PFs. This will be fun to monitor...
He says "Now imagine if James Harden cedes some of the playmaking to Ty Lawson without complaint" Uhhhh Did you not hear when James said we needed another playmaker? Idiot.
I guess I'm okay with ESPN's fools always underrating us. Like ranking James Harden #9 last year and the Rockets #8 in the West.
Cannot fault 6th place with some question marks, but Clippers clearly overrated by everyone due to ESPN LA and nut hugging LA in general.
I don't think top 8 is under the radar, folks. Makes sense to put Spurs over us, given their off-season. Maybe OKC is a stretch, but Durant is apparently fully back to form, so that's not an insult to us either. I agree the Clips are overrated again, but even there you can understand the argument. They had us on the ropes until Josh Smith went crazy in Rockets Red, and now... um. Yeah, he walked down the court to their bench. So I don't think this is a slight at all. Hopefully, Lawson meshes well, we stay healthy and, as they rightly say, we could be pretty scary for everyone else. Really, really sad (and accurate) that the east has only one team in the top 8. Yikes.
Is there ever a bigger indictment for getting rid of the conferences? This is what the 2nd round of the playoffs should look like. So this will be the 1st year that each conference's 8 teams with the best records will seed accordingly, doing away with divisions. But I think this year's conference disparity will really put it on the NBA to do something. I don't think they ever will do anything, but it will show again how all the competition is in the West. And a few elite teams in the West will get nixed in the 1st round, while you have something like the Bucks in the 2nd round on the other side.
I hear about that a lot but no one (outside Clutchfans) ever mentions were were missing our starting PG and starting PF.
I would put us at third. I think the OKC Thunder are a timebomb waiting to happen. Durant's injury, new coach, impending free agency, Kanter is just not very good. Cavs are always overhyped. And we just beat the Clippers.
I strongly disagree with Clippers being that high up, but other than that, the rankings seem pretty fair to me. Much better than last season when they had us at either 8 or not even making the playoffs. That said... it IS BPSN so who gives a **** what they say?
This is a fair point although its worth noting Monty Williams was a terrible coach for the Pels last year - Gentry ought to be a real improvement for a team that gave the Warriors as much trouble as anyone else last year - which unfortunately is forgotten because of some truly awful end of game coaching.
That's BS that they really think the clippers are a better team after their complete and embarrassing meltdown in the playoffs.. The Ty acquisition is a way better pick up than lance josh and an ancient paul pierce put together. They have to get all those guys acclimated to that headcase roster. good luck... KD in OKc is still a mystery who knows how he come back from this major injury again plus they have a new coach. spurs i guess bc they are always in the mix. but imo we are better than OKC who didnt even make the playoffs and the clips.
I mean, the Warriors did really well last season while Gentry was there as an assistant. But they were pretty loaded. Gentry is 60 years old and has been a coach in the NBA for 26 years. He's been a head coach for 12 seasons with a career record of 335-370. Of those 12 seasons, he's made the playoffs 2 times, and failed to reach the playoffs 10 times. He's only had TWO winning seasons. The best record a team he's coached has had is 54-28... the 2009 Phoenix Suns when Steve Nash and Amar'e Stoudemire were in their primes. He's been a good assistant with the Clippers and Warriors... but his head coaching record has been less than stellar. I'm not sure why people expect it to be different this time.
First of all these powerrankings are worthless. We didn't even have preseason games. I don't mind the the top but my Bucks are wayyy overrated in this list. Also NOP will be better but for this year, and at this point of the "season" they should absolutely be under Miami , Chicago and Atlanta.
doesn't help when even Rockets' fans (ie you) consider it a Clipper meltdown. not Rockets resiliency, depth or heart. from the perspective of 'Clipper meltdown' they're saying the starters were worn down due to a lack of depth. Clippers are deeper this year ... thus
