NBA 2019-2020

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19loveless91
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Slovenia

  • #1
  • Posted: 07/06/2019 22:43
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So with the news of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George joining forces in LA with the Clippers, and most of the rosters for next season starting to take shape, this might be a good time to open a new thread.

What are your thoughts on the Kawhi decision and Paul George trade? And other free agency moves, for example Durant and Kyrie going to the Nets? Who made the best moves?

While it's too early to do predictions, a few things seem clear. The two LA teams will probably be the favourites to win it all. At this stage, it looks to me that the Clippers have the better team around their two stars.
There will be some great teams missing the playoffs in the west, and right now I have no idea who. In general it seems that the west is once again pretty dominant.
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junodog4
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  • #2
  • Posted: 07/07/2019 16:30
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It sucks that the Raps only got Kawhai for one season, but that was the risk they took, and it paid off with a championship. It sounds like Presti in OKC wanted a huge haul for Paul George, and Kawhai would sign with whoever got him. The rumour is that OKC wanted Toronto to take Westbrook as well and any deal included Siakam and 4-5 1st round picks. The Clips gave up a good young player in Gilgious-Alexander & a 20 ppg player in Galliardi + 5(!!!) 1st round picks. It's a tonne. I don't feel bad that the Raps got outbid.

Now - what should they do now? With Lowry, Gasol, Ibaka, Siakam, Van Vleet, etc... they still have a solid team. Do they play out the last year of Lowry, Ibaka & Gasol's contract before rebuilding around Van Vleet & Siakam, or do they try to blow it up now? I figure they keep a contender together this year and rebuild in 2020.

For the rest of league, the West is killer. Both LA teams, Portland, Denver, Utah, Houston, & even Golden State expect to be playoff teams, and Dallas, Memphis, New Orleans, San Antonio could all threaten.

The East is more of a mess. I'd say it's Milwaukee's to lose.

Still loads to sort out. Too early for proper predictions.
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Jasonconfused
If We Make It We Can All Sit Back and Laugh


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  • #3
  • Posted: 07/08/2019 22:08
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Life-long Lakers fan here.

I'm a bit hurt Kawhi didn't want to be part of a historic Lakers dynasty that could have been. I guess the decision fits Kawhi's low key style, and also seemingly set on making champions out of teams that have never won. You'd have to have that mindset, because if he's expecting to have the city give him the love and reception he got in Toronto, it's not going to happen, even if he makes Clippers champions. This is a Lakers town all the way and it would take decades of irrelevance for Lakers to not be the beloved team here. Think Knicks/Nets.

But I agree Clippers seem the strongest team overall. This season will be one of the most interesting and competitive. It would be perfect if Durant and Thompson were healthy. That'd make the Warriors and Nets as competitive as any team.
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mickilennial
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  • #4
  • Posted: 07/10/2019 17:02
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Lebron is well past his peak and his lackadaisical defense in the 2018-2019 season should pretty much confirm this. Even with a stronger team built around him, the Lakers are not the favorite. He’s still a great scorer and passer, but that will only have a certain mileage to it. I predict that the finals will be between the Clippers and the 76ers. Alternatively I could see the Bucks or Pacers in contention for the east, but that's about it.
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LedZep




Croatia (Hrvatska)

  • #5
  • Posted: 09/03/2019 19:16
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Gowi wrote:
Lebron is well past his peak and his lackadaisical defense in the 2018-2019 season should pretty much confirm this. Even with a stronger team built around him, the Lakers are not the favorite. He’s still a great scorer and passer, but that will only have a certain mileage to it. I predict that the finals will be between the Clippers and the 76ers. Alternatively I could see the Bucks or Pacers in contention for the east, but that's about it.
I would actually argue that last season for Lebron was better than 2 previous with Cavs. It's just the injury and average roster that have kept him from looking good. Sure, defensively he's not really trying, but I'd say that that's been the case for a long time now.
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benpaco
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  • #6
  • Posted: 09/03/2019 19:57
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Now that rosters are mostly set (Joe Johnson/Amar'e Stoudemire/Monta Ellis returns or some solid Joakim Noah for Langston Galloway level trades notwithstanding), figured I'd come through with my rankings:

West:

1. Nuggets - a good team got deeper. In addition to a couple very high risk/high reward rookies in MPJ and Bol Bol, I think Grant was an underrated pickup. Malik Beasley is looking to be an interesting player as he develops, and none of their losses should really hurt (Brandon Goodwin, IT, Nick Young, Akoon-Purcell, Lyles, Lydon, and Thomas Welsh does not a winning team make)

2. Jazz - perhaps just the most stable bet. Conley is an upgrade over Rubio, albeit a slgith one imo, and Bogdanovic has really shined in similar situations. Should go from a good team to a good team, and shouldn't be too hard to get the ball rolling right off the bat.

3. Clippers - probably the most talented team in the West, but I have worries about their start to the season with both PG13 and Kawhi coming off injury. Either may be slowed or load managed a lot, and that may stop them from having the regular season they may want - I'd still expect great things in the playoffs.

4. Rockets - kind of hurts me to put these folks this high still, as I feel they're highly overrated. Westbrook/Harden is a great set of guards, Gordon is one of the best 6th men in the league, and Austin Rivers showed he can still overperform from the bench, but this team is almost comically weak at every non guard position. Capela is great but may be weakened a la Adams next to Westbrook, Tucker is a defensive specialist starting to lose his value, House is totally unproven and shoots inconsistently, Clark is pretty worthless, and neither of Chandler or Hartenstein carry much value in my eyes. If one of Harden, Wesbtrook, Capela, or Tucker go down to injury, the Rockets are suddenly running 5 man rotations instead of 6 man rotations, or are forced to play incredibly subpar players. If they can stay healthy and just run 6 or 7 man deep lines, they may overperform this.

5. Lakers - This team is deep in weird ways, as Rondo/Cook/Green/Bradley/KCP/Dudley/Javale are all underwhelming but totally playable, even startable, on the right team. At the end of the day, though, if LeBron goes down to an injury, this feels like a worse edition of last year's Pels, and if AD goes down, it feels like last year's Lakers.

6. Warriors - I'm the first one to say the Warriors are underrated, and I'm probably underrating us here, too. It will take a little time for Curry/Russell/Dray to understand the new power dynamics, and I'm curious how that time will progress. Curry may well be MVP - he may well be injured from having toc arry the team too hard. Our bench is somehow even shallower than last year, and most concerningly, there's no real PG backup other than D'Angelo, so resting Curry for ... Alec Burks? may show off some holes in our game.

7. Mavericks - Health is a question, KP is a question, Doncic in a second year is a question, etc. A lot of guys on roster have a chance to overperform, and have done so in the past - Wright, Barea, Seth, Hardaway, Lee, and Boban could all wow me and I wouldn't be that shocked - but there's too many things up in the air still for me to have too much faith in this bunch.

8. Pelicans - Can Jrue be MVP? I don't think so. Favors/Okafor at C is a worry for me, as is Zion's weight, Ingram's blood, Reddick's age, Hart's consistency, and Lonzo's ego. I'd like to see these folks put it together, and I see them eeking in on depth and talent, but I could easily see this being the Wolves or Blazers instead.

2.

East:

1. Sixers - for a team that could have had far more turnover, losing only Butler is kind of a win. Richardson has a chance to shine, or if not, Zhaire has a chance to be healthy, or if not, Furkan has a chance to prove why he's still in the NBA. SG is a clear weakness among 4 other all-stars, but it's hard to go against a 4 all star team [counting Tobias because I'd expect he will be and he arguably should have been]

2. Bucks - I think the loss of Brogdon hurts this team more than has been discussed, but at the end of the day, still an elite roster.

3. Celtics - not going to sit here and tell you they've improved, but they may have streamlined in some ways. Kemba took an awful Hornets to a playoff spot in a weak East last year - I could easily see him taking an above average team to a home court advantage in an even more open East now. Hayward could always finally make the rebound folks have hoped for, but with Tatum now nursing an ankle injury and Kanter now starting, I could see them slipping below here.

4. Raptors - to say Toronto had a disappointing offseason would be an understatement - one Stanley Johnson does not fix a multitude of holes which have now opened up - but Lowry, FVV, Siakam, Gasol, and Ibaka all showed that last year wasn't all about Kawhi, and I can see them making a push again.

5. Nets - good lord the East is weird to predict. A good team last year just added Kyrie, and even if KD doesn't play a game, Kyrie/LeVert/Harris/Prince/DJ with bench options in Dinwiddie, Temple, Kurucs, and Allen is not too bad.

6. Magic - it's the east, and that makes Augustin/Fournier/Isaac/Gordon/Vuc/MCW/Ross/Aminu/Fultz/Bamba a very real potential for as high as a 4 seed. What a mess.

7. Pistons - last season with a healthy Blake and an NBA quality 3, I think the Pistons are the 6 seed with a shot to push for the 5 seed. Kennard, Brown, and Svi offer some young talent with another year of development under their belts, and while neither of Snell or Morris are exactly sparkplugs, they're upgrades from GRIII and Leuer. Rose and Frazier seem like upgrades at bench guard from Ish and Calderon, and a mediocre team, while still mediocre, should be a little better this year in my eyes.

8. Wizards - my hot take of all hot takes, I think Miami sputters and crashes under their own weight, potentially with Butler requesting a midseason trade, Indiana's injury riddled core struggles to get off to a good start to the season due to a Brodgon/Lamb/Warren/Sabonis/Turner starting lineup, that the Bulls fulfill their curse of disappointing annually, and that the Hawks fail to develop, and that Washington sneaks into the playoffs with a losing record. Ish Smith is a totally serviceable guard, Mr. Average, his combined PER since 2016 is almost exactly 15, good for league average. IT is risky but probably fine as a backup, and both will allow Beal to be the one really shining. SF is an obvious weakness, but I wouldn't be surprised if one of the mess of backup calliber guys they have surprises, or if they try sliding Bonga (4% of career minutes) or Bertans (4% of career minutes) into the 3 as an experiment, or even Rui into the 3 as he has played there in international ball. Really, Rui is what carries this pick for me - in my opinion, the number 2 talent in the draft behind only Zion, whose weight and injuries are more concerning than Rui's lack of high tier play in my opinion. Hachimura and Beal give them two stars in my eyes - question is if the mediocre to average Ish, IT, Brown Jr, Miles, Bonga, Bertans, Bryant, Mahinmi, and Wagner can pull together just enough to surprise.


Playoffs wise I'd say Nuggs over Pels, Jazz over Mavs, Clips over Dubs, Lakers over Rockets, Nuggs over Lakers, Clips over Jazz, Clips over Nuggs

Sixers over Wiz, Bucks over Pistons, Celtics over Magic, Nets over Raps (if Durant is back for playoffs), Nets over Sixers, Bucks over Celtics, Bucks over Nets

Clippers over Bucks, let's say in 6

Biggest things that could change these rankings - Heat overperform, Harden/Russ gel quicker than I'd expect, Rui underperforms, KD returns early or doesn't return at any point, Klay returns early, potential trades, Jokic injury, or Stanley Johnson shoots 40% from 3
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mickilennial
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  • #7
  • Posted: 09/04/2019 23:33
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You really think the Wizards are going to be good? That IS a hot take. I mean they aren't as bad as Charlotte right now, but man.
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benpaco
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  • #8
  • Posted: 09/05/2019 00:09
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It's really just that I think the East is bad and that Hachimura and Beal is a powerful duo surrounded by mediocrity. If Wall can come back for the last 10-15 games even, that could carry them into a solid 39-43 8 seed imo
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Romanelli
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  • #9
  • Posted: 09/05/2019 01:07
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benpaco wrote:
It's really just that I think the East is bad and that Hachimura and Beal is a powerful duo surrounded by mediocrity. If Wall can come back for the last 10-15 games even, that could carry them into a solid 39-43 8 seed imo



My personal opinion...no team with a losing record should make the playoffs. Even if it means the top seed gets a bye. Which they may as well be getting anyway...
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CA Dreamin



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  • #10
  • Posted: 09/05/2019 01:16
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Romanelli wrote:
My personal opinion...no team with a losing record should make the playoffs. Even if it means the top seed gets a bye. Which they may as well be getting anyway...

Agreed, hockey and basketball playoffs are too inclusive. Over half the league makes the playoffs, and every year mediocre and crappy teams get in, only to wiped out in the first round. What's the point? Oh right, money.

By the way, why the hell are we talking about basketball? Wrong time of year, people. It's baseball and football time! Also the US Open.
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