Indeed, but I was more so talking about the defense, which those two are more accustomed to playing that type of style coming from their former teams identity which is why Udoka wanted them in free agency I feel they will probably miss some games due to their older age, fingers crossed they don't, TBD
What is your call? Give you until opening night per usual. And don't give me a span like astrorule....somewhere from 33 wins to 45 nonsense. I normally go 2 +/- games
Stone could be toast, but highly possible that the Rockets players improve incrementally and still only win 30 games (which nearly 40% more than last year, sadly enough) Only one team in the West got noticeably worse. Last year the conference was much weaker. Those 8 extra wins are not that easy to get.
Our transition defense will pick up 8 games alone. FVV has to be plus 1 or 2 over KPJ. Jabari looks like he will provide at least one more 3 pt shooter. Hopefully Cam can get some run. He is a much better defensive player than either KPJ or KMJ, not to mention the difference between Amen and Holiday as backup pgs instead of Nix.
I'll think about it. I would think a few teams like the (lakers) could drop off. Lebron could end up being a top 40ish player this year. If and when Davis gets hurt they sink to a low level Lebron is not carrying teams anymore. Parity is king right now in the NBA.
Barring injuries I think anything less than at least 10 win improvement will be very troubling and will make seriously doubt if this core can ever win a chip. Replacing Silas with competent coach and locker room psycho and an ass of a point guard with FVV should be good enough for 10 wins in my book. If the kids start showing progress, Brooks looks like he did in Canada uniform, we should be even better. With that being said I expect some serious growing pains. Ime's start in Boston was also slow.
Lakers will be fine. They built to my specs of many wings with size that give you 3;& D switch everything defensively. Nuggets used it last year to help keep MPjr and Aaron Gordon healthy. LeBron and AD get to load manage while still playing as they added Cam Reddish, Taurean Prince, Christian Wood to go along with Reaves and Rui Hachimaru. Gabe Vincent went to the finals last year and provides spacing as well as those wings.....with a much improved D Russell. They will be better than you give them credit to be. Healthier being the biggest factor....as was Denver last year. Losing Jeff Green and Bruce Brown will end up hurting the Nuggets. But I have them 3rd. Suns with Durant, Beal, Booker, EG, Nurkic, Jordan Goodwin (FA target of mine for Rockets), Grayson Allen with be #1 #2 Lakers (see above) #3 Nuggets (see above) #4 Warriors CP3 running that 2nd unit will elevate Kuminga and Moody. Rockets are not the only team with 3rd year players making the leap of improvement. Brandon Podsiemski will contribute. #5 Memphis: Morant misses 25 games but JJJ, Bane, Luke Kennard, Zaire Williams, Xavier Tilman Steven Adams and Derrick Rose doing the Ja Morant same thing will all pick up the slack. #6 Kings: better than last year but get pushed down slightly in seeding. #7 Thunder: adding Chet Holmgren and Bertans helps create some driving lanes. SGA will shine. #8 Clippers: load manage some with addition & steady play of Covington, Kenyon Martin, and Bones Hyland. #9 Mavs: Irving will take things more serious, adding Seth Curry repeats that well efficient offense by the Mavs of 2019. Grant Williams helps with spacing while Dereck Lively helps protect the rim. #10 T-Wolves: as much as I like Anthony Edwards improvement, I still dislike both KAT-Gobert experiment. They continue to regress. #11 Pelicans: Zion probably only plays around 50 games. Ingram, McCollum, Avarado, Herb Williams, Valancunas Trey Murphy can play #12 Jazz: I really like their blend of vets with youth, inside-out game offensively. Inside threats of Jordan Clarkson, Keyonte George, Markkanen, Collin Sexton, Kris Dunn, John Collins, balanced by spacing provided by Olynyk, John Collins, Jordan Clarkson, Markkanen. Walker Kessler patrolling the lane for rim protection. Hawks were using John Collins terribly wrong last year. As a spot up shooter. Use him in PnR more often will open things up for Utah. Steady staple of that makes them a bubble team.
@peleincubus Last year Denver won the West with 53 wins and many teams tanking for Wemby. This season will find many teams beating each other. 51 wins probably gets you top seed.....and many here see 41 to 45 wins. That probably has us 6th seed. Good luck with that.
Out did my expectations for sure. I thought 32-34 wins was the most likely outcome and it’s looking like 40 is there to be had. Hope they build on this and avoid the play in discussion all together next season.
.500 the rest of the way gets them to 41 wins, I expected 37 wins at the start of the year, but for them to exceed that mark even after Sengun went down is impressive.
