The other day, as in before the Lawson trade?? Either way, given how little people actually care about the deal, it leads me to believe that none of the bandwagon morons who vote on SportsNation polls actually even watch basketball. They just watch the 2 minute highlight clips of each game, and think they're an NBA almanac.
The Warriors are the best team in the West and they've essentially maintained status quo going into next season. OKC can be the top team if Durant, Westbrook and Ibaka all have a healthy season, but that's a big if. The three teams that have to work out chemistry are the Clippers, Rockets, and Spurs. The Spurs seem to have brought the best piece in out of these teams with Aldridge and West, but that said, they have way too many players at the PF spot and now do not have Tiago Splitter or Marco Belinelli. Everyone says they had the best offseason, but I'm not sure. There's a lot of team chemistry questions that we will have to wait and see on. The Rockets are in the same boat as the Spurs. They brought in Ty Lawson who is not quite the superstar that Aldridge is, but also could potentially be a conflict with their existing squad. Harden is a ball dominant guard so he will have to adjust his game to play with a playmaking point guard like Ty Lawson. Do they take turns bringing the ball up or do they bring Ty Lawson off the bench? Typically, when Harden doesn't have the ball in his hands, he just sits there and waits until someone gives him the ball at the top. Additionally, Lawson is not the best defender and pairing him with another defensive liability makes things questionable. The Rockets may opt to start Beverly at PG and use Lawson as the 6th man. These are all chemistry issues that the Rockets will need to answer once the season starts. This is all assuming Lawson does not have any behavioral issues as well. The Clippers addressed their bench depth and bench athleticism in the offseason with the addition of Lance Stephenson, Josh Smith, Wes Johnson, and Cole Aldrich. That said, the idea of Stephenson and Smith on the same team could be a huge mess. Fortunately for the Clippers, both Stephenson and Smith are on contract years and are depending on this next season to get paid. Additionally, unlike the Spurs and Rockets, the Clippers will still have their same core of CP3, Blake Griffin, and Deandre so, if there are blowups with the new additions, it doesn't impact their core group which was the best starting lineup in the league last year. In fact, they even replaced their weakest starter, Matt Barnes, with Paul Pierce. Meanwhile, Spurs will be trying to integrate Aldridge as a core player while the Rockets will be doing the same with Lawson. That said, the Clippers, Rockets, and Spurs have a lot of question-marks and any of these teams could either win the west or lose in the first round depending on how things fall. Memphis is also in the mix as well and could be the #2 team behind Golden State since they are essentially bringing the same team back with another year of experience playing with each other. So I'd say the West finish as follows: 1. Warriors 2. Clippers 3. Spurs 4. Thunder 5. Rockets 6. Grizzlies 7. Pelicans 8. Jazz ...but any of the top 6 could either lose in the first round or win the Western Conference depending on how the seeding goes.
I wouldn't consider them a surprise. I think most people have them at about #4 in the East. They actually have a great team on paper assuming Bosh/Wade can play ~65 games: Dragic/Chalmers Wade/Green Deng/Winslow Bosh/McRoberts Whiteside/Anderson That team can win 50+ games. They are a bit light on shooters though.
ahahahha. The Lakers wouldn't reach the playoffs even in the East this year. If Miami is healthy they can reach the ECF and even who knows beat the Cavs. But that's a huge IF. Whiteside also has to keep his head together and not flame out. I'm confident that Bosh will get over his health problem but Deng and ofc Wade not so much.
All rookies are mostly garbage and hype when it comes to on court contributions. Rookies won't win you games, they are there to make mistakes and learn and show some flashes. Wiggins this year had a horrible PER. (Lavine another hyped rookie was the worst nba player in the league by FAR). I think Randle will find huge difficulty translating his game on the NBA, but I am not quick to write him off. Even though I believe he will be a bust.
there should be a rule that it must be a western conference team. A ****ty team can get 3rd or 4th in the East.
I don't know how you can say Russell is hype without seeing him play in a single NBA game. Assuming Kobe can actually stay healthy and Russell and Randle play to their potential, the Lakers can be a very good team next season. There are a lot of questions, but I think a lot of teams have a lot of questions next season: PG: Clarkson, Russell SG: Kobe, Louis Williams, Jabari Brown SF: Swaggy P, Anthony Brown PF: Brandon Bass, Julius Randle, Ryan Kelly, Larry Nance Jr C: Roy Hibbert, Robert Sacre, Tarik Black They have a solid starting lineup with some young talent behind them on the bench for future growth. This is not a team to sleep on and you know if they win a few games, the media will be quick with the headline that the Lakers are back.
I may be biased as a T-Wolves fan, but I think Minny could be good next season. When the veteran starters were healthy last year, Minny was quietly pretty solid and had a decent record. I always found it strange how I would look at the Vegas lines and see the healthy T-Wolves as only like 4.5 point dogs when playing in Memphis or someplace like that. If Rubio can finally step up, that starting 5 of Rubio - Kmart - Wiggins - Towns? - Pek is competitive. Add the fact that Minnesota is incredibly deep with young, improving talent and I don't think the T-Wolves are never an easy win. I don't think it is the type of team that can really compete deep into the playoffs, but I wouldn't be surprised if they contended for the 8 seed.
No one is picking them to be #1 again, but I don't think anyone is thinking they'll be out of the playoffs completely...especially in the weak East. Is there really someone who thinks they'll be out of the playoffs??
