If things work out, we might be in contention in maybe four years.
OKC surely will be one of our main foes.
Portland should be on our timeline, if the get enough for Dame (so we might hope for something else) amd Scoot works out.
Who else should we look out for and root against especially in the West?
I don't know if I believe in DET or not yet but hard to ignore that trio core Ivey/Duren/Ausar will be 22-24 years old after 3 years together and intriguing as a team on my radar at the very least despite concerns as to if they can actually mesh as a core and ascend individually or not.
Ausar and Ivey especially have some question marks for sure but the talent potential if they can unlock it could be one to watch.
memphis should still be in good shape assuming Ja is still around. Ja/Bane/Jackson Jr is a good trio
pelicans are another team still in very good shape. zion's health is a big issue but he's still just 23 and they still have some incoming draft capital. they still have 2 firsts and 2 swaps with milwaukee (2024 swap likely wont matter much if at all. 2026 could be different), plus one more first from the lakers
sacramento also seems to be in good condition for that near future as well. sabonis is 27. fox is 25.
the last one that worries me is Utah. they overachieved last year but have a nice group of young players plus a load of draft capital. Kessler, Markkanen look like real players. clarkson is on a nice contract with them for 3 more years. in john collins bounces back, or taylor hendricks becomes the defensive force he's supposed to be, they can be a problem. they could use someone like Herro imo...
portland is too full of unknowns. same with houston.
agree spurraider re: UTH
If Markkanen stays he will be 30 in 4 years as Kessler solidifies and if one of Agbaji, Sesnsabaugh or Keyonte connects on potential plus Hendricks who I believe in, watch out. Jollins, Clarkston possibly round out.
Jazz & thunder are the biggest threats given they're in the West. Out East i'd look at Orlando.
Beyond that, it's whichever superstar joins LA after the AD/ LeBron era
Strange no one is mentioning Dallas when Doncic is only 24. He's good enough I could see him squeaking out a le as the lone allstar like Hakeem in 94, Tim in 03, and Dirk in 11. Presuming they could put a cast of decent role players around him.
If Zion hasn't given a crap enough to get in shape for the Pelicans in his first four years I don't see him doing it in his next four.
I say small market OKC because like us.. they have a pretty good FO that will do what it must to make this work. Also really love what Detroit is doing. We can probably be very good as well. The issue i think is that eventually egos will come into play as will the media, money hungry agents, and the big city franchises. That will cause these great looking young roster to go to . I have a feeling OKC will soon make a big splash and get a top veteran FA and contend.
think its more likely that Luka asks out than it is for the Mavs to become a serious contender
not a believer in kyrie at this point. and past that, hardaway just isnt that good. i do respect the moves they made this offseason. grant williams, drafting lively and prosper. but long shot that all of it comes together for that roster. maybe luka can pull off a hakeem esque run as you alluded to, but thats a big ask even for him
No one saying HOU but hard to ignore
Alperen
Jabari
Tari
Jalen
Amen
Cam
Acknowledging all the toxicity and low Bball IQ compatibility issues the raw talent is there if Ime can sculpt out the bad and shape up the good will be an interesting storyline
eh. sometimes people become en led when they're young and successful and need a kick in the ass. maybe he just cares about the money and doenst love basketball. too early to make that call. its possible that you're right and he never comes around. pretty ty tho. a talent like him at 23 with the at ude of shaq at 33
they're also banking on vets like vanvleet/brooks/green to help shape up the kids. i dont know if Brooks is really the guy for that, but FVV and Green are solid dudes.
on paper they have a lot of young talent... but last year all their kids were healthy all year and played 75+ games and their record was still their record. they werent any better than the spurs who had vassell miss over half the season, sochan missing near 30 games, etc.
could also be attributed to coaching, and they have udoka now. they're not the sure thing to be good that OKC seems to be
Read the post above regarding the next star to join LA.
lol pos player plays no fkn defense, gives up just as much whatever he contributes on the offensive end
plus rest of the roster is pure built around greater
I don't know if he's acting like a got because he doesn't want to be in New Orleans or just because he doesn't give a period. Either way the Pelicans aren't getting a good version of him so might as well trade him. It's too bad they couldn't move him for Scoot at the draft. Can't imagine how pissed Pelican fans are watching him pull a Kawhi on their team.eh. sometimes people become en led when they're young and successful and need a kick in the ass. maybe he just cares about the money and doenst love basketball. too early to make that call. its possible that you're right and he never comes around. pretty ty tho. a talent like him at 23 with the at ude of shaq at 33
Totally agree
Seemed to be a disconnect between the presumed talent on paper and the product on the court in Houston, tanking granted.
Also agree that OKC seems to have arrived with their concept and should start putting down some dominance. I hate to say it but I love that SGA/Giddey/Jalen Will/Chet supersystem. Gonna be a Goliath to get past.
OKC has more than that in the pipeline tbh... micic on the way. cason wallace. and ousmane dieng seems much improved this summer league too. and they still have a truckload of future picks. not even counting swaps, i think they're owed 7 future FRP outright. if dieng becomes good enough they can finally upgrade from Dort
they're gonna be able to trade off some of their guards and still have plenty to work with
Last edited by spurraider21; 07-14-2023 at 07:51 PM.
OKC can also be something of a cautionary tale for San Antonio too as they are slightly ahead of Spurs in the process and have similar scenarios concerning roster capacity, youth movement, future draft asset bottleneck.
Good point about the new class coming in too, especially Wallace who looked sensational in Summer League. Thunder will be an obstacle and hats off to their patience and prudence.
And I still want the E! True Hollywood story on if indeed the Spurs were targeting a move up to select Wallace and the Thunder/Mavs stymied SA by snatching him. If so, that will be bulletin board material for that date on the season schedule.
OKC needs a couple of stars to emerge from their wad of players. They were given SGA outright by Kawhi and Jerry West, plus a huge number of picks. Holmgren likely will be very good. Giddey and Williams might reach that level. Dieng might be good. Unprotected picks by other teams are incoming.
Presti wasn't able to close the deal with players much better than these, but then the upcoming NBA era doesn't look like it has the talented foes those old teams faced.
It was Utah wanting to move up. You're repeating something that is not true.
Boston is contending already, but Tatum and Brown will still be a good duo in a few years in the early period of Spurs hopeful contention, and Denver (well, Jokic) is unlikely to age out as it seems like Jokic's game should age well.
Actual contenders building up from the youth is hard. It'll depend on one of the young dudes on a team really popping, and a decent squad around that. OKC, Houston, Detroit are possible, though it's also possible that Mathurin emerges in Indiana as a second backcourt star next to Hali, or Paolo and Wagner emerge in Orlando, or some team (or, one of the teams mentioned that have a ton of incoming picks from other teams) gets Boozer and/or Flagg to fill out a young core and they rise up.
There is a fairly long line of guys that look like they forced their way out of New Orleans.
Yeah, and I like Udoka. He'll bring the discipline needed for HOU to start playing with more focus and purpose.
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