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You're assuming something that has not been shown. The only poster I saw that said anything remotely like what you assumed was RCDrunkford, and he's been known to be sarcastic on occasion.
The thing that will kill both LA teams and the GSW are the new no-rest protocols.
You're assuming something that has not been shown. The only poster I saw that said anything remotely like what you assumed was RCDrunkford, and he's been known to be sarcastic on occasion.
That's all most people are saying, that there's a chance.
Portland will be tanking out of the gate. Houston will be much improved. They have some talent and with Ime coaching he will get them playing defense. Also they won't be sitting their best players in the 4th quarter of close games this year. I see the top 3 teams being New Orleans, Denver and Phoenix. Zion will be healthy this year and be in the MVP conversation. I expect him to be top 3 in the voting. The next tier I see is Memphis, Sactown, GS, and lakers. Battling for Play In Clips, OKC, Dallas and Houston. Bringing up the rear Utah, SA and Portland. No one will win 60 games or lose 60 games in the West this year.
Houston - getting rid of KPJ is a major boost. It looks like a team that still makes no sense. Giving the ball to FVV is better than Jalen Green. They're both inefficient but at least one will pass the ball. There's a lot of faith that Udoka is actually a good coach, and the only time he coached was an already established team. It's hard to believe they will be truly compe ive much less buy into team much less defensive principles.
New Orleans - they were bad without Zion and he has major issues. Just dunno with them. The tall skinny stoner SF, forget his name, he ain't the guy. Even if Zoin was serious about basketball, he'll get hurt again. I think their window has already closed.
Phoenix - they got destroyed the last two playoffs and I don't see that changing. Durant is a negative asset as a leader, and Beale has been overrated for a very, very long time. They actually won the summer imo due to the cheap pick-ups they got. They could make noise. Ultimately I don't believe in their stars, but then the whole West stinks.
Memphis - already a team on the down ramp from their glory two years ago and Ja is a major headache now. Seem to have real chemistry problems, or something, although getting rid of Brooks will help. They're not surprising teams anymore and could easily fail to make the PO without Morant.
Minnesota - hard to tell with them. Will Edwards live up to his promise? They need to move on from KAT but don't know if they will. The roster is teetering on actually not that great.
Clippers - will just be wrecked by injuries again.
Lakers - supposedly won the summer, but I don't see why. They retained who they should have retained and picked up... Mo Bamba? As always this team depends on Anthony Davis giving a and not playing like a ninny. If he just settles for being the fourth best player, they're going to struggle with mediocrity like always. It all depends on how LeBron's illegal drug regimin holds out.
Warriors - The CP acquisition will boost them but they were very much a team in decay. The team that won two years ago was imo the worst championship team we've seen in decades. Can Paul replace the decline in Thompson and Draymond? I don't think so.
Good point, I completely forgot about that.
Lakers, Clippers, Warriors and Suns are all close to their expiry date.
I'd say that at least two of those rosters are about to have their last attempt to win a(nother) ring.
Odds of all four staying healthy this season are really low, imo.
Mavs, NOLA and even Memphis have internal issues. Kings and Wolves ceiling is too low to win it all.
We just need to be patient for one more season. Then in two years West will be completely different.
We're going to have to disagree on this one. He has never, and likely will never be either of those things.
Lakers, Clips and GS will struggle with the new no-rest protocols.
People (and the press) get excited that the Lakers made the WCF but somebody had to. Dallas got there the year before. Both teams got absolutely destroyed by the eventual WC winner.
Of Phoenix, Clips, Lakers, Warriors, it's the Warriors who will remain the threat here and they almost lost out to an inexperienced Sacramento team before losing to a mediocre Lakers team.
Not saying the Spurs definitely make the play-in, but this is hardly a murderer's row of teams out there. In two years, all these teams are going to be in full rebuild and it may happen sooner than they think.
The reason I made the post was to see if someone is willing to commit and come forward. It wasn’t for anyone in particular. Seems doubtful they would now
I have no problem with clarifying a post like we’re doing right now. Maybe when the seasons begins and the roster is fully set someone should make a poll.
The lakers will always be a threat as long as they have reaves
Italy shut him down, so maybe not so much.
that's really a good point, the configuration of the West could allow a Wemby lead spurs team to be a force in 2-3 years already. Remains to be seen how durable Jokic is. Looks like he could ball in his 50s the way he plays but not sure his diet would agree.
Ludicrous commentary in this thread. These teams are seemingly being analyzed in relation to championship likelihood, as opposed to whether they can be clearly better than a team that was terrible last season, with no reason to expect them be more anything more than incrementally better (at least standings wise) this one.
Presuming relative health, they only even have a chance of being better than, in order, the Trail Blazers, Rockets, Jazz.
This is a much better team, one that should be capable of surviving without Davis or James for a decent amount of time.
Lakers without Lebron last season: 13-14.
8-18 two seasons ago, 12-15 three seasons ago.
Lakers without AD last season: 12-14.
16-26 two seasons ago, 19-17 three seasons ago.
No matter what mainstream media wants you to believe, without one of their two stars they're not even a .500 team.
As already said, they made WCF because noone else was good enough.
Current versions of both Lakers and Warriors are severely overrated.
Warriors also had losing record when one of their stars got hurt.
You think that additions of Gabe Vincent, Taurean Prince and Christian Wood are good enough to keep them afloat if Lebron or AD go down?
Just to be clear, current Spurs are still a long way from playoff picture, I'm just saying that those teams are old and injury prone.
Them being at full strength all season long isn't a given.
I don't think so ... 32 wins ...
I've read that Zion stayed in New Orleans almost the entire off season. He is in the best shape of his life and is lighter than he has ever been in the NBA. Sure, he may still get injured, but I believe he has finally taken everything seriously and is really working toward staying on the court which I don't believe was ever a priority for him in the past.
Largely irrelevant when the team changed significantly at the trade deadline and to a lesser extent the off season.
They morphed into essentially an ensemble cast offensively (which is what they need to be with an ancient James). Davis would be a bigger blow, because he props up their defense and they've always been much better on that end in this era.
Still, they should have enough to survive 15-20 games without either and be easily better than the Spurs even if it's more (within' reason).
Lakers were better after the trade deadline. Have to put the stats without James or AD after the trade deadline to get an accurate picture of what the Lakers are today.
Folks really hanging their hats on Rui Hachimura here.
^ Again, this type of talk is seemingly in relation to championship bona fides . . . which is not the topic.
I definitely wasn't sarcastic with that one. I think the entire team will take a leap while adding Wemby and actually trying to win games, plus a lot of the other reasons posters here were mentioning, like a lot of NBA star players aging etc. will make the Spurs a play-in team and a low tier playoff team by old standards (8th seed).
Fluke conference finals runs can lead to teams being overrated. Recently we've seen that from the Blazers, Mavs, and Hawks. I think the Lakers have serious bust potential.
Every year they say this, and it's never been true.
Zion was wrecking his toddler knees in college and he's just fatter now.
I'm here for it.
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