Which playoffs team get better this season? Threat to rockets.

Everything looks good on paper

 

The obvious answers in the West are the Lakers and Jazz. In the East, obviously the Nets and Heat got better, but it's a moot point because Durant's still out for a year and the Heat look like a 5-6 seed on paper right now even with Butler. Philly is a team that could legitimately be better next season. Harris will have a full offseason to get acclimated to the team; Embiid and Simmons will be a year older; and Horford just has a way of making those around him better. Plus, I just think Horford fits that roster and team needs better than Butler ever did.

 

You must be kidding me... We're the worst matchup in the league for them and that's largely because of Jokic's deficiencies defensively.... His defense? Harden's defense did get better... He's a much better defender than Jokic.

Yeah we lost in the first round in Harden's first year, but to OKC not Portland.. Also that's largely because Harden's greatness can get any team to the playoffs even if they otherwise shouldn't be good enough to make it.... Jokic and the Nuggets had one good season... Don't be surprised if they regress.

 

I think the seeding will look something like:
1, Jazz
2. Rockets
3. Lakers (assuming they don’t get Kawhi, but either way they will probably not care a lot about the reg season)
4. Blazers
5. Nuggets
6. Thunder
7. Warriors
8. Spurs
Please let us kill GS first round lol. But I think Utah will be a regular season team and I think the rockets will probably cut back this year, definitely rest CP for 25 games and Harden will probably get at least 10 games off. This needs to be the year we rest our guys

 

Not a threat but I hope Nola gets it together.

Way too early, big bum.

 

I would argue that signing Melo, Ennis, and MCW ended up being a worse disaster than doing nothing (which is what we have done so far.)

 

Sixers got better and lengthier. U have to realize JRichardson is a really good player, they’ll have to rely more on Simmons as a ball handler now although Jrich is an excellent ball handler. A team like the rockets will have a lot of issues scoring on Philly.
Raptors will be just as good
Celtics May have lost Horford but they got younger.
Bucks added some more length
Golden state will still be very good. They add depth to a team who was just a Klay Thompson away from beating the raptors
Rockets are the same team as last year biggest wildcard
Denver is the same team but with a young dynamic wing and wild card in bol bol
Lakers got AD and Lebron and some veterans
Portland reshuffled the deck and got better with new depth and scoring.
Clippers added depth
West will come down to 5 teams Den, LA, Houston, gsw, Utah. Anyone of those teams can win the west

 

It all depends on if Horford still got enough in the tank, one of the smartest bigs out there, even alltime.

 

We struggled against teh Pelicans when Davis was playing last year. Pairing him with the LBJ is a a great challenge.

we need to sign Chuck Hayes

 

I want to see some Nasty Zion.

 

The two I’m most worried about are the Blazers and the Jazz. I loved what the Jazz have done so far this summer adding Ed Davis, Mike Conley, Jeff Green, Bojan Bogdanovic, and Mudiay. They are really deep now. As for the Blazers, they traded away Turner and got Bazemore and added Whiteside. They were already a solid team and this sort of cements them as a top 5 team in the west. Meanwhile, the Rockets are standing pat and running it back. Right now, I would put them as a top 4 team in the West but I could certainly see them coming in below that as well.

 

Dallas definitely has a ways to go, but they appear to be making strides. I’m not happy about it. They’ll be tougher to play against this season. Not a playoff threat, not yet, IMO, but working on it.

 

Portland got better as well... Lillard, McCullom, Bazemore, Whiteside, Nurkic very good starting 5.

 

Lakers are gonna make the playoffs no matter what. The NBA will make sure Lebron gets there by rigging every game possible. If they get Kawhi, you can almost guarantee they will win the finals and Adam Silver would love to have Lebron back on top.

Both Portland and Jazz got significantly better. Both might be higher than us in seeding, especially Portland.. they've always been a great regular season team.

Denver got better too and we all know how they did last year in the regular season. Denver will likely be a top 2 seed.

Warriors may have lost Klay but he's expected to be back by the playoffs. I think people are way underestimating them. Dlo will play point while Curry runs around like Klay and shoots all the 3s. Their players will have a huge chip on their shoulder since losing the finals. I doubt they are anything below a 6th seed. They added WCS as well who wants to prove himself on a vet min deal.

I think Mavs will be the 8th seed or fighting for it, provided KP is healthy. I hate the Mavs but Luka is something else.

Kings got better too, they lost a big whiney WCS (who wanted more playing time over Bagley) but they added Ariza and C. Joseph, both solid defenders and vets. I still don't see them making playoffs though unless Fox and Hield play at an all-star level this year.

Wolves are going to be Wolves.. fringe playoff team at the best. Towns is soft and Wiggins a bust.

Grizz are still rebuilding, they've done a good job so far though considering they are a small market. They won't be in the playoffs but depending if they buyout Iggy or not, that could shift the balance in the West.
I predict he will join the Lakers after buyout.

Pelicans aren't going anywhere, Zion is in year 1 but it will be fun to watch him play in the NBA.

Suns will be the worst team in the west. I said they should've traded for CP3 and put a legit PG beside Booker but their management are idiots. They might be the only team in the league that can afford to trade for CP3 and significantly improve. They've been tanking for half a decade now and are still going nowhere.

Spurs and Clippers will miss playoffs. Spurs are done. Clippers won't make playoffs if they lose out on Kawhi.

tl;dr

Denver, Jazz, Lakers, Blazers
Rockets, Warriors, Thunder, Mavs

I see us taking a step back since we don't improve and CP3/PJ gets another year older. If Harden starts to realize the finals window is closed, he's going to want out by next FA and Tilman probably ends up firing Morey.

Lakers 1 or 2 seed if they get Kawhi (I have doubts about them getting #1 because of load management)

The West is extremely stacked like usual. I bet the media will use this for Lebron Jame's MVP arguement this year where they never used it for Harden vs Giannis.

 

Rockets overrated here............because Rockets are not even same team as last season as of now....-Nene -Faried -Shumpert without anyone to backup... -quarrel between Harden/Paul....-angry EG/CC/PJ...CP3/PJ got one year older....no Power Forward..but hope Rockets improve by adding tall, athletic PF/SF.

 

I’d argue they have generally been underrated on how good they were last year and should be this year because of the disappointing ending.

Been checking daily and Vegas has been pretty high on us.

Now alone as 2nd highest title odds in the West.

https://tablet.betonline.ag/sports/contests?ct=NBA Futures

 

Y’all talking Denver and Portland are being silly. I’m not near as high on the Jazz as others are. We will still have the best player on the court. Lakers are lock to be top favorite in West, by a large margin, if Leonard goes there, if not they should probably be the slightest of favorites over the rockets.
Here’s the final standing provided Leonard stays east

Houston
Lakers
Utah
Denver
Okc
Portland
Dubs
Spurs


Clippers
Mavs
Pelicans
Kings
Wolves
Grizzles
Suns

 

Portland is worse.

Out : Aminu, Turner, Harkless, and Seth Curry....
In: Bazemore and Whiteside

Nurkic will miss a big chunk of the season.. And he likely won't be back to himself this season if he does play.

Whiteside is an overrated pickup... Low ball IQ... Foul prone big... Definitely a step back.

 

Harris, Horford and Richardson can alll shoot. Harris has shot 40.5% on his last 800+ three's. Horford over the last 4 seasons makes 37% on 3 attempts. Richardson is a career 36.8% 3PT shooter and shot 35.7% on 6 attempts last season. That is considered no shooting?

 

Clippers made the playoffs with the same team without Kawhi that they are going to the season with, except they got rid of Bradley who was bad for them. SGA should be better. Wouldn't count them out with or without Kawhi.

Murray is back for the Spurs, they got counted out last year too, and while they won't contend, Pop knows how to win regular season games. They should be a tough defense.

Without accounting for injury, there should be a lot of teams in the running.