Warriors having to deal with some injuries now. They're going to lose a couple more for sure. Bogut needs to come back soon for them
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>The Clippers, who started 1-17, now lead by 16.</p>— Chris Palmer (@ChrisPalmerNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/ChrisPalmerNBA/status/548357530397581312">December 26, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Like every year, things will shake out and 2-3 teams will emerge as favorites by late season as the others slide and injuries bite. My thought so far: Clippers: Seem to lack the magic. They will end up with a very good record and possible top 4 seed, but something isn't quite right with them. Blazers: Don't have enough depth. I don't consider them a Finals contender. Grizzlies: Never thought they were a contender. Nice team that will win a lot of games. Mavs: Never thought they were contenders and the Rondo trade isn't working out so far. Maybe Carlisle figures it out and they become dangerous. I doubt it. OKC: I wonder if they are played out as is and will go stale. A below average coach hamstrings them. Won't rule them out just yet. Spurs: It mainly rests on Kawhi Leonard getting healthy and into form and how much TD & Manu decline. Who knows? Warriors: If Bogut is healthy, they are legit IMO. Don't let their current skid fool you. Rockets: Didn't think they were legit when the season started, but Harden has gone to another level and their defensive improvement is incredible. I expect Josh Smith will blend in well. Rockets are legit and if Dragic joins, they become WC favorites.
Chuck: (Best teams): Chicago - East | Portland - West They solidified their bench. I'm telling you, obviously this is fluid, the Rockets just got Josh Smith. We might get good Josh or bad Josh. Rondo in Dallas. It's fluid. Right now, I might take Portland. I like them over Memphis. Not sold on LA. Not tough enough. Not mentally tough enough. Blake does not impose his will. Got a little guy guarding him, he gotta punish him. We call it shooting over a chair. He gotta shoot over the chair. GS is a jump-shooting team. It's early. Still 2014. I don't like jump-shooting teams. They're a big guy away. Very good regular season. Like OKC, until they develop low post scoring, just a good regular season team. Jump shots can't take you all the way. We keep saying the same thing every year about Bogut. He's never healthy. He gets hurt every year. Kenny: Thing they have going for them is only Memphis plays inside out. All the teams in the West are jump shooting teams. Chuck: Other than Memphis, who has best low post scorer? Spurs (& Portland) Kenny: Rockets
Basically they said it remains to be seen what version of Smith we get. Same applies to Rondo and the Mavs
So stoked for Sages! Worth the watch. Thread worthy for sure, but I'll leave it here. <iframe width="640" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/KddnBXixIHI?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I think the trade season might be more interesting than usual this year. There is no clear front-runner team for the title and a number of teams will probably think that they are at least close to having a realistic shot at the title, which means they should try to make an upgrade to put themselves ahead of several competitors, or at least fill a hole in the roster to improve their playoff matchups. Dallas already made a deal for Rondo and who knows how that works out. Houston (by some stroke of luck) just added Josh Smith at a very low cost. Cleveland (currently with the best betting odds for the title at about 3-3.5 to 1 on gambling sites) looks like they need to fix something about that roster. Golden State, the West leader, can use some Bogut insurance and some bench offensive perimeter offensive punch (look at their stats with Curry sitting). And the list goes on.
The frontline injuries are bringing the Warriors back to earth. They need Bogut to be healthy as much as we need Dwight to be. Chicago is rounding into form. I think they truly take off when Noah is fully healthy. I'm a Mirotic fan officially. I don't know why Thibs don't play him at 3 sometimes.
