Interesting question to be asked considering we had to watch the very last day of the regular season to find out if we finished above the 8th seed to avoid Golden State.
The Clippers were the only western conference playoff team with a worse record than ours and they're tied with Toronto as the highest Vegas odds to land Kawhi Jordan.
Golden State will be without Durant next year and Klay will possibly be out until March/April. Curry will be the favorite to win MVP knowing he'll have the greenest of lights.
Utah has the lowest probability to miss the playoffs out of the two previous teams mentioned since their defense will always be among the best in the league with Gobert as the anchor. They've targeted Conley in years past and with the arrival of Ja in Memphis, will be interesting to see if they'll finally get their wish.
It's too early to say. LA doesn't have enough yet but, after they spend their cap space they should be fine (unless they get players that don't fit like last year), the bigger problem is NOLA, if they can move the #4 for the right player they could be a playoff team too. We could very well be looking at two teams getting knocked out of the playoffs.
If they get Jimmy Butler they are a solid 6th seed.
Warriors do not have enough offense next year to make the playoffs IMO.
Utah
lmao what?
Spurs should make significant improvement with returning Murray and improved White andcWalker who could all make big jumps. Poetl should show improvement too. I think they're safe.
If i'm the Dubs i'm tanking next season.
With Davis' lack of durability and James' age, if they're not able to surround them with quality depth (no sure thing when you're as thin as they now are), they're not locks.
The real answer is, it's too early to say though, but the Warriors could easily be in trouble. No flexibility/youth, another year older Curry, Green, Iguodala. From perennial finalists to having to kill themselves just to get in, with no chance of contending. I question how motivated they'll be.
If S bag signs with the Clippers, Spurs will again be a popular pick to miss, but their continuity/depth/stability should serve them well in the regular season. The flipside to having to wait until game 82 to avoid 8th is, they never had their starting PG, had 8 new players, started 11-14, but finished 37-20 once they began to figure things out.
In a couple of months I was going to start a "Is this the year the streak ends?" Thread.
Warriors tbh
Spurs or warriors. I'm guessing Spurs because the warriors can make the playoffs work Curry, Green, and Iggy. But if they trade the latter two, the Spurs have a chance at the 8 seed
Ad is injury prone
James is older lots of mileage
Easily could do a Durant soon
You also have to remember Dallas could move up with KP joining their team. That being said Could Houston miss? Paul and tucker a yr older. They also were struggling towards the end. I think Denver will make it but dont see them getting much better as their players are all in their early prime. Early ranking I would do Portland, Denver, OKC, Lakers, Spurs, Dallas, GS, Houston. If Kawhi goes to Clippers I would put them at 2 and bump everyone down 1. This can obviously change due to draft/FA/injuries and just me not being able to see the future.
Just start it now, tbh
Can't believe the third world country hater is from just did you in smh... but hey; Qatar won't know what hit them
The better question is who are the locks to make the playoffs from the west next year (barring any additional injuries)? Denver, OKC (unless Westbrook continues falling off a cliff) and Portland should be there. Houston could implode
spurs should be better than last year with dejounte back and a summer of development for white, who went from g-leaguer to one of our most important players midway through the season
hater is from Bolivia, tbh.
the Spurs spot if they don't improve the roster. We were already the 7th seed, now LA got AD, Utah might get Conley or Russel, Mavs are looking for a 3rd piece to add to Doncic/Porzingis, Nephew will join the Clippers and the Spurs think about signing Bojan Bogdanovic, but don't have cap space. This better be the year where they finally decide to get rid of the wombat or else this team will not see the postseason. You can't just stand pat after 2 years of getting bounced in the first round and barely making the playofffs, putting your hopes on a 22 year old coming off an ACL tear
Spurs are going to have to improve beyond just Murray and Walker. If their goal is just to make the playoffs, they don't have to do a ton. Upgrading the fifth starter from Forbes and especially the fourth starter from Poeltl probably gets it done. Ideally you have a rotation of:
White, Forbes
Murray, Walker
DeRozan, (Point-SF)
(3/D PF), Gay
Aldridge, Poeltl
Thing is, I think they could legit draft someone who could fill at least that bench blank. This is a great front court draft, maybe the best I can think of in terms of possible depth. I don't want to see the Spurs piss it away chasing a minor upgrade.
This is what I propose:
Mills, Metu, Belinelli and Bertans and 19 for Batum, 12 and two future seconds.
Batum's a terrible contract, but with the Spurs getting rid of Mills, he's only $10 Million in extra money. That's worth the jump in draft stock. Batum can come off the bench and had some ball-handling, and if the Spurs draft Doumbouya at 12, Nic would probably be a good mentor to have. Then you draft Wyndler at 29 to be that shooter you can plug in if the guys can't space the floor (very possible) and as a potential successor to Gay or Batum. Then you use 49 on Matthews, Okeke or Porter or a guard who can eventually rise up to replace Forbes. Then in free agency, you give Gay a two-year deal totaling about $28 Million. Then you try to pry Aminu over for a two-year MLE deal. You also sign a vet PG to platoon in case the young guards can't handle it. Round out the roster by signing on Eubanks, and that leaves:
White, Forbes, Vet PG
Murray, Walker, (Second-Round Pick)
DeRozan, Batum, Windler
Aminu, Gay, Doumbouya
Aldridge, Poeltl, Eubanks
That feels like a very well-balanced club. Just sign another big and guard as two-way depth. They can afford to wait on a guy to heal up for 2020. They'll still have some mildly tradeable contracts if they want to make a win-now trade, and if they fail and decide to blow it up, they still have a future. They do all that, and they stay under the tax. Here's the Capulator link: http://www.shamsports.com/capulator?...34576339348682
Qatar is Japan level good I think. So its not a given Messi would beat Qatar
Spurs definitely have to move Mills and one of Bertans/Belinelli if they want to improve the team
1. Golden State
2. Denver
3. Portland
4. Rockets
5. Jazz
6. Thunder
7. Spurs
8. Clippers
--------------------------
Lakers
Mavs
Kings
Tempted to say OKC drops out; PG-13 can't and couldn't sustain his MVP level performance and they finished with 49 wins. If George is closer to regular Paul George and Westbrook continues to decline they could be in serious trouble, they also really don't have ways to improve beyond trading Adams.
GSW would also be a strong candidate; teams are going to hound Curry and dare the other non splash brother scrubs to hit a shot. Their offense will be significantly worse as well as their D without KD and Klay. Looney who was their best center defensively may get signed away so they could really struggle on that end.
Think the Clippers are on the bubble too, they had a great year but I think they took teams by surprise last year and lack of an all-star caliber player is going to hurt them in a crowded west.
It's settled then. The Spurs championship for 2020 is edging out the ex-champs Golden State for the 8th seed.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
