I do not think Cavs are automatically 2nd IMO. Both Kyrie and Wiggins are too young. They do not have chemistry. KLove might change that a little. Wade and Bosh played with him in the Olympics and in various other games. Top 5 team until they can prove they belong to the Top.
1. Spurs They lost almost nothing, I don't see them dropping off much. 2. Thunder Scott Brooks is a problem, but at the end of the day, a team with KD, Westbrook, and Ibaka is just too talented to rank OKC any lower. 3. Clippers Huge fan of this team, I think they should have beat OKC last year. Two stars with a fantastic supporting cast and a great head coach. 4. Bulls D-Rose, Noah, and a great supporting cast. Top 3 coach in Thibs. Elite defense. 5. Cavaliers If they trade for Kevin Love, they move to #2, but as of now they sit comfortably at number 5. Lebron, Irving, and a decent supporting cast of players. David Blatt is still a question mark. 6. Rockets They lost Parsons, but replaced him with a cheaper Ariza. I see this team about the same as last year's squad. Harden and Howard is still one of the biggest one-two punches in the league on any given night. 7. Warriors They will never win a championship as currently constructed. Maybe Steve Kerr can change their iso-ball ways, but Steph Curry is still the most overrated player in the NBA in my opinion. Good shooters will be good enough for the #5 seed out west. Will always play spoiler, but never make it to the big dance. 8. Heat Lost LeBron, but made some solid additions. Enough for #3 seed in the east. 9. Blazers Overachieved in every way last year, but the Lillard-LMA duo will be even better this year and they seemed to upgrade their bench a bit with Kaman/Steve Blake. Good role players in Batum/Matthews. Need to improve their defense to be true contenders. 10. Mavericks This team is being vastly overrated. They got Parsons, Nelson, and Tyson Chandler, but also lost Carter, Dalembert, Blair, Marion, and Calderon. Will not win, but will just make the playoffs as a 7 seed. Could play spoiler with Dirk and shooters.
1. Cleveland 2. OKC 3. San Antonio 4. LAC(assuming CP3 and Doc don't opt out) 5. Chicago (If Rose is fully healthy) 6. Houston 7. Golden State 8. Portland 9. Dallas 10. Indiana
The only reason I put SAS ahead of Cleveland is because they're the champs and they deserve that respect. But I don't see how they can possibly be as hungry as they were this past season. They'll still be good. But Cleveland is my pick to win it all.
Had LMA not returned as soon as he did, they definitely would have missed the playoffs. I think at one point they were a game or two from the 8th seed.
4 of their 5 starters played all 82 games, that is unheard of. LMA is the only one who missed any games and if I remember correctly it was only slightly more than 12 games. If they had even an average amount of injuries throughout the season, they would have missed the playoffs. If they return to the norm, I can easily see them missing the playoffs next year.
1. Spurs - You have to at this point. They might start slow but I have no doubts that by the end of the season they will have a top 2 seed out West. 2. Thunder - A full year with Westbrook healthy and Kevin Durant returning from an MVP season. They added a shooter in Marrow and have the best starting lineup in the NBA. 3. Clippers - Chris Paul and a reinvented Blake Griffin. They have the best role players for their superstars. I love the addition of Spencer Hawes. 4. Cavaliers - If they add Kevin Love, they should be the favorites to win it all. But as of now, past Lebron James, their talent is young and inexperienced. With huge questions marks on several of their important players namely Wiggins, Bennett, and Waiters. 5. Rockets - Might seem a little high but I like what we did this offseason. We signed players known for their defensive mentality something this team need desperately last season. Ariza won't have the numbers Parsons had but he will have way more impact. Losing Jeremy Lin is a wash on this team. Losing Asik hurts the most but if Dorsey can get rebounds and play average defense, it will be okay. Looking for Harden to step up this season. 6. Warriors - If they get Love, they should be in the tier with the Spurs, Clippers and Thunder. They would have the best starting line up in the NBA of Curry - Martin or whoever - Iggy - Love - Bogut. But as of now, that is still a solid team who plays surprisingly good defense with explosive offense. 7. Pacers - We will see how they deal with the loss of Stephenson. It might be a positive for them. I think Hibbert will come back better and more consistent and George will have a great season. 8. Blazers - If people really think the additions of Kaman and Blake are going to make the Blazers better than you really don't know basketball. Kaman is a wash and adding Blake but losing Williams is a wash too, though I think Williams is the better player. Blazers will be good but they were extremely lucky with healthy last season. No way it happens again. 9. Bulls - So much of this depends on Rose's health. And if they get Love they should be favorites to win it all. But right now, they are going to the same hard nose defensive team that got them here. 10. Mavericks - Parsons... Need I say more
Well, because Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd Gilchrist led the team that Terrance Jones was on and Randle led the team he was on. What stat can you dig up that indicates that Jones is better than Randle based on Kentucky impact?
You're right. I missed GS. I put them ahead of the Rockets, but that still means the Lake Show makes the playoffs. Memphis and Phoenix are below next years Lakers.
They finished top 4 this season WITH the freak finish, doubt they drop 7 slots, actually think they come back and have a solid consistent year. 5-8 is my guess.
Referees not calling fouls in the playoffs is a myth. Last season was the only time in his 5 year career that Harden shot fewer free throws in the playoffs than he did in the regular season. Even last year the difference was less than one FT attempt per game (0.8). The reason that Harden shot fewer FTs in last season's playoffs had nothing to do with the referees. The difference was that he didn't drive the ball because Portland kept two bigs in the paint at all times. Ariza has a tendency to slack off after signing new deals? Really? Based on what? This is Ariza's second contract after his rookie deal. So you're basing this tendency off a sample size of 1? Do you know anything about the role that Ariza was asked to play in his prior stint in Houston? Let me make sure that I understand your logic. The Lakers lose 5 of their top 7 scorers, 2 of their top 3 rebounders, and 6 of their 8 leading assist men and they add rookie Randle, Boozer, Jeremy Lin, Ed Davis and 36 year old Kobe Bryant attempting to return from knee and achilles injury and you see that as a 20+ game improvement?
The Lakers last year could have been a borderline playoff team if they stayed healthy. Even without Kobe, they were playing pretty well until the injuries mounted. For about 1/3 of the season, they were playing their third string lineup and even didn't have enough players for one or two games. Assuming they are healthy next year, I would say that they can snag a 7 or 8 seed in a very tough Western Conference. So it's not really a 20+ game improvement if you account for the fact that they would have been a lot better last year if 2/3 of their team wasn't out.
