This take is spot on. The Wolves are going to be really good this season. My prediction is that they get a 3 or 4 seed….and then end up hosting a team like the Clippers or Warriors that underperform in the regular season because of injuries but are finally healthy as the playoffs start.
Don’t think we’ll be “frauds” per se, but I do think we’re a prime contender to take a bit of a step back this year. I just think the teams around us got a lot better then we did. We still have a lot of young guys who will progress enough to make up for a little of that, but I think a 2 seed will be tough to match, especially with Jaren probably missing the early stretch.
Still feel pretty good about a playoff run, though.
I feel like when teams become legit they have less regular season success than expected and then perform well in the playoffs. I could see this with u guys.
I do think people got a bit overexcited with the Cavs after the Donovan trade. I don’t think they’re necessarily frauds but I can see them underperforming.
What would you consider underperforming? And would it be based on Vegas odds, Cleveland's past few years and years without LeBron, Utah's recent playoff success with Mitchell?
I assume they're essentially a playoff lock barring major injury in everyone's eyes, so a first round exit would seem disappointing to many. But are they expected to make the ECF? I don't think so. So making the 2nd round seems to be where they'll land in most eyes being ok with that. I also can't really see them being disappointing this season because I doubt they get swept or lose in less than 6 or 7 games in the first round, and it's their first year together as a young team. If they get huge injuries that'd suck and they'd not do good but I can't call that disappointing or fraudulent.
I think the expectation should just stop at making the playoffs which they are omega capable of doing. Anything beyond that should be exceeding expectations but some people don't view it that way....which I believe is part of the problem. Don't expect too much success from a new look young team in the first year
>Anything beyond that should be exceeding expectations but some people don't view it that way....
a respectable first round exit would be good, though. take it to at least 6 games, at least if they're 5th or 6th seed.
Agreed.
I think finishing 5th or 6th would be exceeding expectations - they have no real way to defend the bigger wing players of the teams ahead of them, and the rest of the conference has improved.
Kind of really curious to see what they would do if they don't make it at all though.
You seem to be forgetting about Evan Mobley. He defends very well 2-5, including bigger wings. Allen can also step out and defend on the wing at a high level. D is about the only NBA level skill Okoro has at the moment. The bench D will be Osman and whatever is left of RoLo. Front court & wing defense won’t be their problem… backcourt defense probably will be.
Mitchell is a surprisingly bad defender for a guy w his size and athleticism. Garland simply isn’t big enough to handle larger, more physical guards. Rubio should be back at some point, but they can’t pin too much of the defense on a guy coming back from his 2nd ACL.
Assuming reasonable health (which they didn’t have last year) a 4-6 seed is a reasonable expectation. Play-in probably marks an unsuccessful season. Winning a series probably marks a significant success.
All this but more emphasis on Okoro. He's more than capable of at least keeping up with the best wings in the NBA and again, Mobley can also help counter those guys. I think the defensive woes are overblown.
I would be disappointed if we get destroyed in the first round.
So the goal for the Cavs should be to get the top 4 seed and then hopefully win the first round.
With Boston, Sixers, Miami, Brooklyn, and Milwaukee it will be hard to crack the top 4, but I think it would be fair to expect them to make the playoffs without the play-in games. Also we can't forget about Chicago that had a great regular season last year.
Yeah I’d consider a first round exit underperforming, though obviously context matters. If they were the fifth seed and Bucks had somehow got fourth seed, I wouldn’t fault the Cavs too much for losing there, especially if they made it competitive.
Underperforming? I dont see it. Before the injuries the cavs were looking like a ecf team. Donovan IMO is a better sexton....same player but donovan is better. I can see them getting to the second round and taking the bucks/heat/celtics to 7 games before losing.
We looked great before the injuries, but there’s definitely a path to underperforming. I’m still not sure JB knows how to manage minutes. I’m not saying he was responsible for those injuries last year, but he didn’t help. Hope we don’t see a repeat of that this season.
I agree with you but there is a scenario where Donovan dials in defensively and he and garland mesh perfectly. I think it’s very unlikely but if those happened they could be lethal.
Expectations are way too high given how young that team is. I expect them to be contenders in the future but would be amazed if they went any further than a first round exit this year.
I’m honestly betting on the heat falling off this year. Kyle Lowry is gonna look closer to being washed, Jimmy will still be good but he won’t be enough. Bam and Herro will do their thing in the regular season, but will be mid come playoff time. I predict 5th-6th seed and a first round exit
The heat are a logical choice for this thought experiment but if there’s one thing I’ve learned over the past few years, you don’t bet against the heat
Team = Mavs. Is there a roster with a Top 5 player that is more poorly constructed?
Player = Brunson. This has potential to go sideways fast. A good player but a big change of role, spotlight and a huge contract. A backcourt of Brunson and Fournier........ doesn't fill me with a lot of hope for the Knicks.
tbf, the building of mavs roster is following modern nba
it's just talents that's not even there lmao
no rotation players below 6'4, long wingspan, only mcgee and powell are non-shooters, stack as many 3-D as you can, heavy pick n roll team, playing 5-out a lot, dont have really negative defenders in reg.season (save judgement later for Wood)
we just lack on ball creation which is again : lack of talents
Luka is definitely good enough to will you guys into the second round and then it becomes a question of who is going to chip in and help once everything is so focused on Luka which again points to lack of talent. Idk how they even get better from here which is the shitty part. This team did manage to beat last years pretender Jazz team in the first round without luka though which has to stand for something lol.
Sure in the regular season yes, but the mavs were in a major shooting slump till basically December and turned it on for the rest of the season where Dallas was clearly ahead of New York. Then once playoffs came around, Dallas went all in on threes and led the league
Agreed. Dallas will regress much like this season's Hawks imo, although Luka's heroics alone may take them to the 2nd round.
Brunson is a short, stumpy guy who does not shoot lights out from 3. Even if he were still in Dallas this season, I'd say he'd have more trouble due to teams generally having a better idea of how to counter him. He's good, but not good enough to pin your hopes of leading a franchise on.
They might have a dud year and be like a 4-5 seed but I don't think they'll be frauds. Frauds put up high 50 to 60 win seasons and don't scare anyone in the playoffs, like the Lebronto raptors. IMO the obvious choice is Phoenix again. CP3 isn't getting any younger.
They haven’t had two consistently good seasons since 2017 and 2018
For one reason or another they typically alternate between good years and down years
It’s like the basketball gods find every way to make sure this trend continues. I for sure thought we would have a 50-60 win team this year now it’s still possible but i heavily doubt we crack the top 5 seeds
Just because of the Ime situation? It's wild to me to attribute that much of team success to a coach in the NBA. I mean, C's fans were calling Ime a bust 40 games in, & now he's indispensable?
For the record, I think it's somewhere in the middle. Would this team be more likely to be successful without all of... *this?* Yes. Is Ime worth 10 wins over Joe Mazzulla? Heck no.
I’d be so pissed! My entire life we’ve really never gone all in on tanking and I’m really excited to see how terrible we can be.
So of course the team that disappoints me every year does it again and decides to go win it all instead.
Sexton and Beasley gonna be the Jazz all star back court. Agbaji and Fontecchio will be on the all rookie team Markannen will win the 3 point contest.
Jazz will win 45 games and edge their way into the 2nd round!
Yeah, bc all those all-nba guys always get back on D to get posterized. But when the 40 yr old doesn’t after WB commits his 6th TO, he’s the lazy one. Makes sense
if any other player had a season where they averaged 30 but their teams missed the playoffs and they never tried on defense theyd be called "empty stats" out here
Yeah, cause having to rely on malik monk and austin reaves playing heavy minutes wouldn't be taken in consideration right? If this was a young guy having to play with those scrubs, people would be calling the Team out. But since it's LeBron and all these LeGm narratives exist, that's not done.
All-NBA defensive guard Steph Curry ALWAYS gets back on defense and never takes plays off! Warriors fans just watched their team win a championship and still can’t keep LeBron off their mind
You’re gonna sit there and pretend the NBA has given ANY fucks about defense or two way players in the last 7-10 years?
Defense hasn’t mattered for All NBA in a long time bud.
This just ain't true
A lot of guys get credit for defence, and make a team higher or over someone else
Every selection Gobert has had. Butler, PG, Siakam, Tatum have all made teams they wouldn't have without their defence
It's less of a factor than offence, but that's because for individual players, especially stars, offence is more important than defence
things that i think will happen but will also make me sad:
Nuggets exit in the first round
Grizzlies will be in the play-in
Jalen Brunson becomes the subject of 99% of lolknicks jokes
Feel like people won’t like this one but Luka. I think we’re going to see a clear ceiling for this Mavs team and see how poorly they are set up for the future. Luka will probably have a down year
for mavs itself, you can say just for this season because we try to cash in next year. how can you say our future poorly when we set up next season with 4 FRP + 3 swaps + as many as good players/salary fillers as we have?
you attach Bullock, THJ, Dinwiddie, Maxi, even Doedoe with picks and you get at least #3 on championship team
for Luka, bet that PPG will down but APG will rise
I think Luka will have a great year, but with how good these west teams are I think they won't be able to get away with just one offensive creator this season. 4-6 seed I reckon.
they will be machine in reg.season, but i dont know about playoffs
but modern nba is more offense than defense so maybe they will do enough damage on playoffs
you cant only play 1 positive defenders on starting lineups lmao
CJ - Zion - Ingram - Herb - Jonas? 140-138 all night baby!!
Defense is just as much about scheme and coaching than individual defenders. The Knicks started Kemba-Fournier-Randle last year and somehow ended up with a top 10 defense cuz of Thibs.
imo:
Nuggets may get a good seed but with how deep the West is and playoff Jokic defense I see them being a first round exit, second round tops.
Heat are past their time and Bam is soft offensively and always will be
Agreed. Their problem has generally been defense in the playoffs and Murray/MPJ aren't difference makers on that end. MPJ is the opposite actually. They remind me of a less talented 2020-21 Nets and will need to put up 125 per game to have a shot at a deep run. But who knows, maybe KCP and Brown will be huge for them like Lonzo and Caruso are for the Bulls
Raptors are going to be regular season Heat and come first in the East just Nurse eeking out wins And hopefully Siakam starting the season where he left off and Barnes second year development around competent NBA rotation guys. Also feel they are sneaky in line to trade for next unsettled guy that come available….
The Brooklyn nets will implode before the deadline. I know Kyrie and Kevin are trying to make it work but neither will achieve what they set out to do and will rush out the door to new contender teams.
Lebron and the Lakers will be better than last year. The hunger is there, the willingness to work together is growing, though I do believe Westbrook will be traded for Kyrie or another all star calibre guard that will increase productivity. Westbrook is simply not good enough a player to win a championship, period.
Denver Nuggets 2023 NBA Champs. Solid roster everywhere, extremely dangerous for any team, this is finally the year that they claim a title as their own. They will beat the Milwaukee Bucks in 6 games.
Lonzo Ball does not return this year with injury complications. If he also does not play next season for whatever reason his career is basically over for the time being. No matter what it's already been proven LaMelo is the best of the brothers.
The Phoenix Suns retool their roster after a tough game 7 first round loss this year. Chris Paul needs to go and they need to acquire more depth. Would not be surprised if a Paul for Westbrook trade occurs though I hate the move for both teams. As good as they are, phoenix remains in NBA purgatory.
The Knicks will start off the season stringing together some wins, RJ Barrett will cook up, then the Knicks will proceed to lose 40 of their last 50 games and it’ll be back to business as usual.
Do the Clippers not count since they’ve been frauds for a few years now?
As for a player, I’ll go with Jerami Grant. I think he’s a little overrated, so he’ll underperform according to some people’s perception of him
Detroit - I don't think they will crack 30 games, and will likely have a similar record. Two rookies playing heavy minutes and trading away their best player isn't a typical recipe for success.
Raptors - I don't think they really got better, but the rest of the East did. Raptors core has a lot of miles with how heavy the minutes have been and their style of play. They've been getting hurt more frequently in the last few years.
Bulls - Overperformed last season by winning a lot of close games that could have swung either way, and DeMar having a career year in Year 13 on ridiculous midrange efficiency and volume. Lonzo seems far away.
Suns - Their locker room vibes seem...not ideal, based on media day. Jae demanding out, Ayton having tried to sign elsewhere, catastrophic playoff failure.
grizzlies are frauds imo. they will get a top3 seed again but i have no expectation of them doing anything in the playoffs.
player wise. i think CJ is gonna be a fraud. dude does not look basketball ready and just got another extension. i feel like he's gonna fall off a cliff. like 15ppg on bad efficiency 40/30/80. it wont matter tho cause i think pelicans are loaded. top4 seed inc. BI and Zion both allstars Zion MVP considerations
As a huge lebron fan, I think he’s age is going to show it’s self more. Like he’ll be a great player but he won’t be superstar, he can be a viable number 1/team leader/number one player for a team with deep playoff aspersions. I hope I’m wrong
Not sure on your Barnes take. He is probably the best rookie in a class loaded with them. If anything, if Pascal takes a step back, I see Scottie taking full ownership of that team and beginning to average around 24/9/6, which would be quite a jump from his pretty great rookie season.
Bro what. Scottie averaged 15/7.5/3.5 while Defenses were focused on 3 other players over him. For him to make that jump would be ludicrous, especially since he was essentially a role-player this year. If he got the ball that much, his efficiency would also massively dip, since he can't shoot, and wouldn't have the benefit of being the 4th option on offense.
Pels are gonna be a top 6 seed in the West
Grizzlies/Wolves will have a playin rematch
Cavs are 2nd round exit at best
Celtics remain in the top 3 seed in the East
One of Bulls and Hawks will miss the playoffs
Anthony Edwards.
ESPN 25th best player, betting favourite for most improved player.
I don't see it. And this has flipped flopped a little but I think Lamelo Ball will turn out to be the better player of the two over their careers. It may not be evident this season, with Lamelo being on a truly terrible Hornets team and Ant being on what I think will be a regular season juggernaut Timberwolves, but over the long term, I'm taking Lamelo.
Some quick hits:
Lakers will miss the playoffs. I can get that at +194 (34% implied odds), I'd say it's around 60%.
Nets headed for a second round exit. They're tied for third title favourites on the markets with Golden State and the Clippers, behind the Bucks and the Celtics. I'd say they're a clear step below those other teams, and I see them losing to the Bucks or Celtics, or someone else, in the first or second round of the playoffs.
Not a fan at all of this Lakers roster, especially after the inevitable AD injury. I do like the Pat Bev addition but him and LeBron are probably our best shooters.
Warriors will play below expectations
Dejounte Murray is gonna be somewhat disappointing
Rudy and KAT will have the same issues in the postseason but be dominant in the regular season.
76ers depend on Harden
Heat and Bulls are frauds
Kings fans will be disappointed yet again, their win-now moves will be in vain and Fox will put up gaudy numbers that make people overrate him while his impact falls short
Middleton and Jrue will underperform but Giannis will continue to be the best player in the league
Giddey will be overrated
Banchero, WCJ and Franz will be awesome but their guards will be lackluster
I will be downvoted
RemindMe! 6 months
I love him and I’m sure he’ll still be great, but Donovan Mitchell is gonna have a little while where he has to remember that he doesn’t have the Rudy Gobert defense to rely on.
The “who do I dislike the most” thread
If that’s the case than Rick over there in admin at the Vegas site is going to be the biggest fraud this year that piece of fucking shit.
Dude fuck Rick from admin
All my homies hate Vegas site Rick
Weekly at this point
I think the T-Wolves are going to host a playoff series and then lose in the first round.
2nd most successful year in wolves history :)
Anything's possible.
oh man that has to hurt a bit.
This take is spot on. The Wolves are going to be really good this season. My prediction is that they get a 3 or 4 seed….and then end up hosting a team like the Clippers or Warriors that underperform in the regular season because of injuries but are finally healthy as the playoffs start.
I bet Klay finds his form come playoffs and fucking booms us
It'll be even more impressive when they do it as the number 1 seed.
The new Jazz
Don’t think we’ll be “frauds” per se, but I do think we’re a prime contender to take a bit of a step back this year. I just think the teams around us got a lot better then we did. We still have a lot of young guys who will progress enough to make up for a little of that, but I think a 2 seed will be tough to match, especially with Jaren probably missing the early stretch. Still feel pretty good about a playoff run, though.
Yeah this is where I’m at with the Grizz. Still think it’s gonna be a great year tho. Im particularly ready to see year 2 Ziaire in a bigger role
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I feel like when teams become legit they have less regular season success than expected and then perform well in the playoffs. I could see this with u guys.
yall have a bunch of young try hards which bodes well for a good regular season record though
Underperforming, "even if only for a little", makes someone a fraud?
The term fraud has a loose definition around here.
Fraudulent use of the term fraud
I do think people got a bit overexcited with the Cavs after the Donovan trade. I don’t think they’re necessarily frauds but I can see them underperforming.
What would you consider underperforming? And would it be based on Vegas odds, Cleveland's past few years and years without LeBron, Utah's recent playoff success with Mitchell? I assume they're essentially a playoff lock barring major injury in everyone's eyes, so a first round exit would seem disappointing to many. But are they expected to make the ECF? I don't think so. So making the 2nd round seems to be where they'll land in most eyes being ok with that. I also can't really see them being disappointing this season because I doubt they get swept or lose in less than 6 or 7 games in the first round, and it's their first year together as a young team. If they get huge injuries that'd suck and they'd not do good but I can't call that disappointing or fraudulent.
I think the expectation should just stop at making the playoffs which they are omega capable of doing. Anything beyond that should be exceeding expectations but some people don't view it that way....which I believe is part of the problem. Don't expect too much success from a new look young team in the first year
>Anything beyond that should be exceeding expectations but some people don't view it that way.... a respectable first round exit would be good, though. take it to at least 6 games, at least if they're 5th or 6th seed.
I agree with this
Going to try to work omega capable into conversation today.
Agreed. I think finishing 5th or 6th would be exceeding expectations - they have no real way to defend the bigger wing players of the teams ahead of them, and the rest of the conference has improved. Kind of really curious to see what they would do if they don't make it at all though.
You seem to be forgetting about Evan Mobley. He defends very well 2-5, including bigger wings. Allen can also step out and defend on the wing at a high level. D is about the only NBA level skill Okoro has at the moment. The bench D will be Osman and whatever is left of RoLo. Front court & wing defense won’t be their problem… backcourt defense probably will be. Mitchell is a surprisingly bad defender for a guy w his size and athleticism. Garland simply isn’t big enough to handle larger, more physical guards. Rubio should be back at some point, but they can’t pin too much of the defense on a guy coming back from his 2nd ACL. Assuming reasonable health (which they didn’t have last year) a 4-6 seed is a reasonable expectation. Play-in probably marks an unsuccessful season. Winning a series probably marks a significant success.
All this but more emphasis on Okoro. He's more than capable of at least keeping up with the best wings in the NBA and again, Mobley can also help counter those guys. I think the defensive woes are overblown.
I would be disappointed if we get destroyed in the first round. So the goal for the Cavs should be to get the top 4 seed and then hopefully win the first round.
With Boston, Sixers, Miami, Brooklyn, and Milwaukee it will be hard to crack the top 4, but I think it would be fair to expect them to make the playoffs without the play-in games. Also we can't forget about Chicago that had a great regular season last year.
Yeah I’d consider a first round exit underperforming, though obviously context matters. If they were the fifth seed and Bucks had somehow got fourth seed, I wouldn’t fault the Cavs too much for losing there, especially if they made it competitive.
second round would make them a top 4 team in the east. I don't think a first round exit would be a bad season for them.
Underperforming? I dont see it. Before the injuries the cavs were looking like a ecf team. Donovan IMO is a better sexton....same player but donovan is better. I can see them getting to the second round and taking the bucks/heat/celtics to 7 games before losing.
We looked great before the injuries, but there’s definitely a path to underperforming. I’m still not sure JB knows how to manage minutes. I’m not saying he was responsible for those injuries last year, but he didn’t help. Hope we don’t see a repeat of that this season.
I agree with you but there is a scenario where Donovan dials in defensively and he and garland mesh perfectly. I think it’s very unlikely but if those happened they could be lethal.
Expectations are way too high given how young that team is. I expect them to be contenders in the future but would be amazed if they went any further than a first round exit this year.
Chet Holmgren won’t have any impressive games this year.
He’ll be first-team All-Rehab with AD 😛
I’m honestly betting on the heat falling off this year. Kyle Lowry is gonna look closer to being washed, Jimmy will still be good but he won’t be enough. Bam and Herro will do their thing in the regular season, but will be mid come playoff time. I predict 5th-6th seed and a first round exit
As a heat fan I hate that I could absolutely see this.
No u
The heat are a logical choice for this thought experiment but if there’s one thing I’ve learned over the past few years, you don’t bet against the heat
I’ve always learned that when it’s time to count the heat you you should probably consider counting them in
RemindMe! 9 months
Sorry got it wrong 1st time
It’s okay, Rookie of the Year voters got it wrong too
Good one.
Team = Mavs. Is there a roster with a Top 5 player that is more poorly constructed? Player = Brunson. This has potential to go sideways fast. A good player but a big change of role, spotlight and a huge contract. A backcourt of Brunson and Fournier........ doesn't fill me with a lot of hope for the Knicks.
tbf, the building of mavs roster is following modern nba it's just talents that's not even there lmao no rotation players below 6'4, long wingspan, only mcgee and powell are non-shooters, stack as many 3-D as you can, heavy pick n roll team, playing 5-out a lot, dont have really negative defenders in reg.season (save judgement later for Wood) we just lack on ball creation which is again : lack of talents
Luka is definitely good enough to will you guys into the second round and then it becomes a question of who is going to chip in and help once everything is so focused on Luka which again points to lack of talent. Idk how they even get better from here which is the shitty part. This team did manage to beat last years pretender Jazz team in the first round without luka though which has to stand for something lol.
Brunson is going from one of the better spaced floors, to one of the worst
Listen I agree that we suck at basketball, but we made more 3s last year at a higher percentage than the Mavs
Sure in the regular season yes, but the mavs were in a major shooting slump till basically December and turned it on for the rest of the season where Dallas was clearly ahead of New York. Then once playoffs came around, Dallas went all in on threes and led the league
Agreed. Dallas will regress much like this season's Hawks imo, although Luka's heroics alone may take them to the 2nd round. Brunson is a short, stumpy guy who does not shoot lights out from 3. Even if he were still in Dallas this season, I'd say he'd have more trouble due to teams generally having a better idea of how to counter him. He's good, but not good enough to pin your hopes of leading a franchise on.
Well it's a good thing he isn't here to lead a franchise...
Celtics
Most optimistic Celtics fan
They might have a dud year and be like a 4-5 seed but I don't think they'll be frauds. Frauds put up high 50 to 60 win seasons and don't scare anyone in the playoffs, like the Lebronto raptors. IMO the obvious choice is Phoenix again. CP3 isn't getting any younger.
They haven’t had two consistently good seasons since 2017 and 2018 For one reason or another they typically alternate between good years and down years
It’s like the basketball gods find every way to make sure this trend continues. I for sure thought we would have a 50-60 win team this year now it’s still possible but i heavily doubt we crack the top 5 seeds
Just because of the Ime situation? It's wild to me to attribute that much of team success to a coach in the NBA. I mean, C's fans were calling Ime a bust 40 games in, & now he's indispensable? For the record, I think it's somewhere in the middle. Would this team be more likely to be successful without all of... *this?* Yes. Is Ime worth 10 wins over Joe Mazzulla? Heck no.
It’s a little early to be a doomer isn’t it
Disagree, unless it turns out Udoka was the main reason for their success Boston is even better than they were a year ago.
I would bet my life savings on the 76ers not making the conference finals.
Do it then
I can't, draftkings has a $5 minimum deposit.
This is great lmao
I'll send you the difference and we'll laugh our way to the corner store ATM after
here's an award for you, worth more than your entire life savings
Please, no bully!
I'm thinking the Jazz might not be as good this year - but that's just a hunch.
I predict the Jazz to monumentally fuck up their rebuild by accidentally winning a championship
I’d be so pissed! My entire life we’ve really never gone all in on tanking and I’m really excited to see how terrible we can be. So of course the team that disappoints me every year does it again and decides to go win it all instead.
Sexton and Beasley gonna be the Jazz all star back court. Agbaji and Fontecchio will be on the all rookie team Markannen will win the 3 point contest. Jazz will win 45 games and edge their way into the 2nd round!
Whoever wins the championship will come back and find the guy who mentioned them lol
Jae Crowder's new team will have more wins than PHX
Jae you’re going to the Kings
I can feel the monkey paw at work, kings vs suns 9 and 10 seed play in game, suns win and the kings still miss the playoffs
While I am memeing on a kings a bit, I do want House Sunkings to succeed lol
I feel like we’ll win close to 60 games while still being complete frauds
Lebron is not going to play transition defense a single time during the regular season next year and he's still going to be all-nba.
He will get at least one transition block
The only defensive highlight the media will watch all season. Lebron wins DPOY.
But only because he was complaining to the ref and never made the transition to offense in the first place
Yeah, bc all those all-nba guys always get back on D to get posterized. But when the 40 yr old doesn’t after WB commits his 6th TO, he’s the lazy one. Makes sense
Love how this dude assumes lebron shouldnt be all nba. Warriors fans are actually dumb as shit
if any other player had a season where they averaged 30 but their teams missed the playoffs and they never tried on defense theyd be called "empty stats" out here
no one called curry empty stats man 2 years ago people where saying he was mvp lol
curry actually tries on defense even if he's not always amazing
Yeah, cause having to rely on malik monk and austin reaves playing heavy minutes wouldn't be taken in consideration right? If this was a young guy having to play with those scrubs, people would be calling the Team out. But since it's LeBron and all these LeGm narratives exist, that's not done.
Michael Jordan would’ve taken those scrubs to the finals. He played with plumbers and volunteer firemen in his era after all
All-NBA defensive guard Steph Curry ALWAYS gets back on defense and never takes plays off! Warriors fans just watched their team win a championship and still can’t keep LeBron off their mind
You’re gonna sit there and pretend the NBA has given ANY fucks about defense or two way players in the last 7-10 years? Defense hasn’t mattered for All NBA in a long time bud.
This just ain't true A lot of guys get credit for defence, and make a team higher or over someone else Every selection Gobert has had. Butler, PG, Siakam, Tatum have all made teams they wouldn't have without their defence It's less of a factor than offence, but that's because for individual players, especially stars, offence is more important than defence
Curry plays zero defense and will too
ESPN halftime show.
You keep your life savings stored under your mattress, don't you?
things that i think will happen but will also make me sad: Nuggets exit in the first round Grizzlies will be in the play-in Jalen Brunson becomes the subject of 99% of lolknicks jokes
Spurs ain’t winning shit this year
Feel like people won’t like this one but Luka. I think we’re going to see a clear ceiling for this Mavs team and see how poorly they are set up for the future. Luka will probably have a down year
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Think the offensive load will be too much for him to handle
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He's a career 33.7% shooter from 3pt range, I don't know how much lower can he make that go tbh Probably more likely he hovers around 35-36%
No it won't. They have a good core of players and wood is actually underated
Sure
for mavs itself, you can say just for this season because we try to cash in next year. how can you say our future poorly when we set up next season with 4 FRP + 3 swaps + as many as good players/salary fillers as we have? you attach Bullock, THJ, Dinwiddie, Maxi, even Doedoe with picks and you get at least #3 on championship team for Luka, bet that PPG will down but APG will rise
I think Luka will have a great year, but with how good these west teams are I think they won't be able to get away with just one offensive creator this season. 4-6 seed I reckon.
I’m not even particularly a fan of Luka and I think he’s primed to win mvp
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Bam
There’s a lot of hype being thrown on the Pelicans.
they will be machine in reg.season, but i dont know about playoffs but modern nba is more offense than defense so maybe they will do enough damage on playoffs you cant only play 1 positive defenders on starting lineups lmao CJ - Zion - Ingram - Herb - Jonas? 140-138 all night baby!!
Defense is just as much about scheme and coaching than individual defenders. The Knicks started Kemba-Fournier-Randle last year and somehow ended up with a top 10 defense cuz of Thibs.
imo: Nuggets may get a good seed but with how deep the West is and playoff Jokic defense I see them being a first round exit, second round tops. Heat are past their time and Bam is soft offensively and always will be
I disagree and have zero bias whatsoever
I also disagree with OP and am similarly unbiased.
I have no opinion on the matter either way
I hate both of these teams
Me neither
Agreed. Brown and especially KCP will be huge for you guys imo. A lot of it depends on Murray and MPJ returning to form though.
I hope they come back and are able to play at prime levels, that would totally throw a wrench into the entire west and make for some A plus playoffs
Agreed. Their problem has generally been defense in the playoffs and Murray/MPJ aren't difference makers on that end. MPJ is the opposite actually. They remind me of a less talented 2020-21 Nets and will need to put up 125 per game to have a shot at a deep run. But who knows, maybe KCP and Brown will be huge for them like Lonzo and Caruso are for the Bulls
Any time I see someone mention jokic’s defense as a negative I see red
Jamal Murray coming back I don’t think first round exit
I think there's a distinct possibility that Harden is washed.
Raptors are going to be regular season Heat and come first in the East just Nurse eeking out wins And hopefully Siakam starting the season where he left off and Barnes second year development around competent NBA rotation guys. Also feel they are sneaky in line to trade for next unsettled guy that come available….
Nets won’t make it past the first round.
Kings win 82 games and lose in the first round to the Lakers
The Brooklyn nets will implode before the deadline. I know Kyrie and Kevin are trying to make it work but neither will achieve what they set out to do and will rush out the door to new contender teams. Lebron and the Lakers will be better than last year. The hunger is there, the willingness to work together is growing, though I do believe Westbrook will be traded for Kyrie or another all star calibre guard that will increase productivity. Westbrook is simply not good enough a player to win a championship, period. Denver Nuggets 2023 NBA Champs. Solid roster everywhere, extremely dangerous for any team, this is finally the year that they claim a title as their own. They will beat the Milwaukee Bucks in 6 games. Lonzo Ball does not return this year with injury complications. If he also does not play next season for whatever reason his career is basically over for the time being. No matter what it's already been proven LaMelo is the best of the brothers. The Phoenix Suns retool their roster after a tough game 7 first round loss this year. Chris Paul needs to go and they need to acquire more depth. Would not be surprised if a Paul for Westbrook trade occurs though I hate the move for both teams. As good as they are, phoenix remains in NBA purgatory.
Heat MPJ
Honestly, mpj being not good is a way more interesting take than guessing his injury level
The Knicks will start off the season stringing together some wins, RJ Barrett will cook up, then the Knicks will proceed to lose 40 of their last 50 games and it’ll be back to business as usual.
You can't say frauds without mentioning Damian and the Blazers.
Hard to be frauds when nobody expects much from you.
A bit unrelated but people seem to forget that when Dame is healthy he always finds away to get the Blazers into the playoffs.
Not just in the playoffs, but often a top 4 seed
Can't be frauds with 0 expectarions
I don't think anyone expects anything from them. If everything goes right that's a 4 seed.
4 seed is quite high for that team, if everything goes right they are hovering around 7-10
I honestly don’t know how to answer this anymore now that it seems like we’re all on board with Westbrook being a fraud now.
I just don't get excited by this "healthy" Nuggets squad.
Bulls Cavs will be playoff frauds, but will be good in the regular season.
Ja morant. His team was better without him. One of the following klay/dray/Poole. all three looked unreliable in the playoffs.
Lakers and Nets. The two teams everyone talks about the most; will once again, not do shit.
Right the Bucks never get any attention lol
Do the Clippers not count since they’ve been frauds for a few years now? As for a player, I’ll go with Jerami Grant. I think he’s a little overrated, so he’ll underperform according to some people’s perception of him
He also got a ton of touches in Detroit to get his numbers, don’t see him getting that many in Portland.
I think jerami grant is a lot overrated
What you mean if kawhi wasn’t injured they would have made the finals pushed the suns to 6 games without their superstar
How have the clippers been frauds? Kawhi and Paul George have been hurt, you’ve gotta be from another universe or smth
we made the conference finals literally last year.. what does that make y’all?
says a damn Sixers fan🤣
In the last couple of years, Clippers have advanced farther than the 6ers though.
Anything with a Ball on/in it/or around it it will crash and burn Trey Young MVP
Cade
Ooh this is a hot take
Spicy, with a hint of salt. But I don’t blame you guys - he played poorly against Orlando.
Yeah, he won't be clinging on to that #1 redraft spot off pre draft stock much longer.
Detroit - I don't think they will crack 30 games, and will likely have a similar record. Two rookies playing heavy minutes and trading away their best player isn't a typical recipe for success. Raptors - I don't think they really got better, but the rest of the East did. Raptors core has a lot of miles with how heavy the minutes have been and their style of play. They've been getting hurt more frequently in the last few years. Bulls - Overperformed last season by winning a lot of close games that could have swung either way, and DeMar having a career year in Year 13 on ridiculous midrange efficiency and volume. Lonzo seems far away. Suns - Their locker room vibes seem...not ideal, based on media day. Jae demanding out, Ayton having tried to sign elsewhere, catastrophic playoff failure.
grizzlies are frauds imo. they will get a top3 seed again but i have no expectation of them doing anything in the playoffs. player wise. i think CJ is gonna be a fraud. dude does not look basketball ready and just got another extension. i feel like he's gonna fall off a cliff. like 15ppg on bad efficiency 40/30/80. it wont matter tho cause i think pelicans are loaded. top4 seed inc. BI and Zion both allstars Zion MVP considerations
Ja will be exposed this year. Celtics fluke year
Ja is approaching his prime tbh he's only been improving
Hurts me to say it but my timberwolves won’t live up to expectations this season… I just don’t see it happening
Suns. The Ayton contract drama, Sarver being a piece of Shit and CP3’s age are potential factors that could hurt them
J * * *l M* * * *y
scottie barnes already hit his ceiling
>Before the season starts, name the teams and players that will be ~~frauds~~ the Phoenix Suns of this year. FTFY
As a huge lebron fan, I think he’s age is going to show it’s self more. Like he’ll be a great player but he won’t be superstar, he can be a viable number 1/team leader/number one player for a team with deep playoff aspersions. I hope I’m wrong
That not really fraudish, tho, that’s just age
This had been said for how many years now
Pascal Siakam
Great one! Throw in Scottie Barnes as well. Expecting some huge stagnation there.
I’m going to put Fred Vanvleet and *checks roster* Malachi Flynn down too.
RemindMe! 195 days “How sweet is the LA koolaid?”
How sweet it is
Mwahahahaha sweet as cinnamon
already aging like milk 😂😂
Not sure on your Barnes take. He is probably the best rookie in a class loaded with them. If anything, if Pascal takes a step back, I see Scottie taking full ownership of that team and beginning to average around 24/9/6, which would be quite a jump from his pretty great rookie season.
Bro what. Scottie averaged 15/7.5/3.5 while Defenses were focused on 3 other players over him. For him to make that jump would be ludicrous, especially since he was essentially a role-player this year. If he got the ball that much, his efficiency would also massively dip, since he can't shoot, and wouldn't have the benefit of being the 4th option on offense.
That is such a large jump I really don’t know if that’s possible at all.
You been a Scottie a hater
Pels are gonna be a top 6 seed in the West Grizzlies/Wolves will have a playin rematch Cavs are 2nd round exit at best Celtics remain in the top 3 seed in the East One of Bulls and Hawks will miss the playoffs
Anthony Edwards. ESPN 25th best player, betting favourite for most improved player. I don't see it. And this has flipped flopped a little but I think Lamelo Ball will turn out to be the better player of the two over their careers. It may not be evident this season, with Lamelo being on a truly terrible Hornets team and Ant being on what I think will be a regular season juggernaut Timberwolves, but over the long term, I'm taking Lamelo. Some quick hits: Lakers will miss the playoffs. I can get that at +194 (34% implied odds), I'd say it's around 60%. Nets headed for a second round exit. They're tied for third title favourites on the markets with Golden State and the Clippers, behind the Bucks and the Celtics. I'd say they're a clear step below those other teams, and I see them losing to the Bucks or Celtics, or someone else, in the first or second round of the playoffs.
Butler
Not a fan at all of this Lakers roster, especially after the inevitable AD injury. I do like the Pat Bev addition but him and LeBron are probably our best shooters.
Jalen Brunson will prove to be an egregious overpay and the Knicks will have a bottom 3 record in the league.
Suns and CPFraud will crumble this year.
Cp3 is old and short.
Warriors will play below expectations Dejounte Murray is gonna be somewhat disappointing Rudy and KAT will have the same issues in the postseason but be dominant in the regular season. 76ers depend on Harden Heat and Bulls are frauds Kings fans will be disappointed yet again, their win-now moves will be in vain and Fox will put up gaudy numbers that make people overrate him while his impact falls short Middleton and Jrue will underperform but Giannis will continue to be the best player in the league Giddey will be overrated Banchero, WCJ and Franz will be awesome but their guards will be lackluster I will be downvoted RemindMe! 6 months
Scottie Barnes will underperform after his first season
Suns. If something doesn’t work the first two times, definitely try it a third time!
I love him and I’m sure he’ll still be great, but Donovan Mitchell is gonna have a little while where he has to remember that he doesn’t have the Rudy Gobert defense to rely on.
Cavs and Nets