I would say the Utah Jazz, but I don't think they are much of a surprise being that they had a really good second half. My guess is that they make the playoffs this year. The more longshot surprise has to the the Sacramento Kings. They are a complete mess as far as personalities are concerned and likely team chemistry will tear them apart, but they do have a group of talented players on their roster.
I don't think Milwaukee will take a step forward this season but they will be about the same. Jabari returns in January and will be rusty and there is no depth at forwards. There need to be more moves made in the roster. Hopefully adding Kpap and not Copeland. Utah will take a step forward but it is no surprise to those who have been paying attention. If only Exum can play a little better and not like he's scared they can make the playoffs. My pick for surprise team will be Sacramento. They have talent and depth and a good coach. But they also have the most potential to implode with so many personalities. If they can find some kind of chemistry though they can make the playoffs and surprise everyone. Orlando will be the cinderella story of the year because Skiles will force everyone to play defence but he will also sell off some of the young talent in February. Not sure if they make the playoffs. As for negative surprise it will be the Bulls. They have all the ingredients neccessary to fail this year. New rookie coach that has a horrible defensive system, relying on very old vets, bad depth at the wings, players broken down and with injuries already. No way they win 50 games.
i think chicago will benefit greatly this year when they're playing a faster pace and getting out in the open court. Although they've had a solid defense for the past few years they suffered greatly from that grind it out, half court offense where they use up the entire shot lock and limit the possessions. it'll be good change for chicago imo
Houston is underrated. We made WC finals last year and have good chance to go further this year but are being talked about as bottom half of playoff teams. Think we are being dramatically underrated at this point.
idk where that's coming from but anyone who thinks the rockets are a bottom half playoff team after getting lawson has no idea what they're talking about and shouldn't be taken seriously
They were being talked about as lower half but this was b4 the lawson trade. I think Josh Smith will be a lot bigger of a loss then many think but I also expect rockets to finish in the top 4 this season as long as Lawson can clean up his crap and his punishment from the league for 2 DUI's in half a year.
To me a lot of people are overestimating his loss only bc of what he did in game 6 of the clips series. Smith is a solid player and did a lot of good things for us dont get me wrong but he is still way too inconsistent to be considered such a huge loss that some may believe. Now if dmo and tjones are both not healthy, yes it'll be a significant loss but between those two and the young bigs the rockets have, they'll be fine.
He also killed my mavs hahahaha but yeah he could def be considered inconsistent. I just hope my mavs get kenneth and Mcgee like I have been hearing the last few days.....maybe make us decent again (not good lol just decent)
I can see... Milwaukee finishing as a top 3 seed in the East Orlando getting the 6 or 7 seed in the East (I like Payton, Oladipo, Hezonja, Harris Vujevic alot) In the West it is hard for me to pick b/w Phoenix and Sacramento to squeak into the playoffs
I really think Miami might surprise us this coming year. Could even get to the middle of the eastern playoff pack.
Sports nation had a poll the other day saying "who is the best team in the west?" The four teams were: Clippers, Spurs, Grizzlies, and Warriors. Completely disregard the 2nd best team in the west. By media, we are underrated
Watching Phoenix, Utah, New Orleans, Sacramento, and Portland duke it out for the final couple of playoffs spots is going to be really entertaining.
