Eastern Conference:
1.Philadelphia 76ers: I can't pretend like there aren't several very legitimate concerns surrounding this 76ers team. Brett Brown isn't a great coach, their bench is practically nonexistent and despite the recent apocalyptic event of him actually hitting a 3 in a game, Ben Simmons is still an incredibly limited offensive player that has a bad habit of disappearing in crunch time situations. However, none of these red flags are going to stop me from hoping aboard the 76ers express. Adding Josh Richardson and Al Horford to their starting lineup gives them the freedom to stretch the floor further on offense as well as create more pressure for their opponents on defense, Tobias Harris should take a big step forward now that he's had a full offseason to acclimate to his role as the team's primary wing scorer and Joel Embiid is a game-changing force that might be the best player in this conference besides Giannis. I'll accept any and all insults if they don't at least make it to the Conference Finals.
2.Milwaukee Bucks: The casualties of choosing to re-sign Khris Middleton to a max deal and Eric Bledsoe to a $70 mil extension last March weren't significant in terms of numbers, but Malcolm Brogdon was arguably the 3rd most important player behind Giannis and Middleton on their tremendous run a season ago. While bringing in Kyle Korver and Wesley Matthews definitely softens the blow of losing a 42.6% 3-point shooter, they can't make up for the hard-nosed defense, underrated ability to create his own shot and generally smart, efficient play that Brogdon brought to this team. That massive loss aside, the Bucks remain a very talented squad with enough depth and continuity to contend for a trip to the Finals-especially in a decimated Eastern Conference.
3.Brooklyn Nets: Outside of the moves both LA teams made, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving's arrivals in Brooklyn were the biggest additions of the offseason. While it's entirely possible that Kyrie decides to dog it with Durant likely sidelined for the entire year and a talented young roster/coach combo that bears a striking resemblance to the Celtics team he so gleefully departed, his ability to take over a game at any given time paired with his usual good behavior during the inaugural year of his tenure with a new team makes the Nets a good bet to rise to the top tier of the Eastern Conference.
4.Boston Celtics: 12 months after they were anointed the frontrunner in the East, the Celtics are facing an uncertain future without Kyrie Irving, Al Horford and several other key veterans that were in their locker room last season. While their title odds have gone down significantly following those losses, the Celtics can take solace in the fact that they were able to land a quality replacement for Irving at point guard in Kemba Walker, still have exciting young talent (Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Robert Williams) and are all but guaranteed to have a stronger chemistry than they did a year ago. If everything clicks, Brad Stevens and co. could end up surprising some people like they did back in the Isaiah Thomas/Avery Bradley/Jae Crowder days.
5.Toronto Raptors: Losing Kawhi puts the Raptors back in the middle of the pack of the East. Pascal Siakam is a budding star that certainly contributed heavily to their title run, but outside of him, an aging Marc Gasol and a couple of new veteran bench additions that haven't done a whole lot of winning in their careers thus far (Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Stanley Johnson), they're back to trying to rely on the same corps (Kyle Lowry, Serge Ibaka, Fred VanVleet, Norman Powell) that helped established the culture of postseason choking that existed prior to Kawhi's arrival. I believe in Siakam and Nick Nurse enough to put them at #5, but it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if they slipped down further.
6.Indiana Pacers: The high likelihood that Victor Oladpio is a shell of himself when he returns to the floor later this season is the only reason I'm not all in on the Pacers as a top 3-4 team in the East. Nate McMillan is a damn fine coach with a track record of maximizing the output of his personnel, Malcolm Brogdon is a MASSIVE addition for a team that lacked a player who could regularly contribute at both ends of the floor at the guard spot and the front office made a ton of savvy moves (T.J. Warren, Jeremy Lamb, T.J. McConnell, Justin Holiday) that bolstered their depth at nearly every position. They should be a fun team regardless, but they would be a sleeper to make it out of the East if Oladpio was healthy to start the year.
7.Miami Heat: After a couple of years being the 1B to young players in Minnesota and Philadelphia, Jimmy Butler appears set to return to his calling as a pro athlete: Single-handedly dragging an otherwise mediocre team to the playoffs. He'll more than likely be an All-Star, his heroics should be enough for the Heat to win a couple games in the 1st round without depriving of him the long vacation he's grown accustomed to and with 12 guys on the roster younger than him, he's in a great spot to make somebody cry after relentlessly bullying them in the practice before the end of the season. Truly a dream scenario for Mr. Jimmy G. Buckets.
8.Detroit Pistons: The fact that Blake Griffin is already banged up going into his age 31 season is definitely a bit disconcerting. However, I still think they'll be able to get enough out of him, double double machine Andre Drummond and their new collection of offensive-minded veteran role players (Derrick Rose, Markieff Morris, Tony Snell, Tim Frazier) to squeak back into the playoffs for the 2nd straight season.
9.Orlando Magic: Head coach Steve Clifford defied the odds in his 1st season on the job by getting the Magic back to the playoffs after a 6-year drought. So what lies in store for his 2nd season? Probably more of the same. While they have the advantage of having a largely unchanged roster (all 5 starters from a year ago are returning, wing Al-Farouq Aminu is the only veteran newcomer) and there's a solid chance that the likes of Aaron Gordon and Jonathan Isaac take another step forward, the arrival of Jimmy Butler in Miami and the (arguably) deeper roster of the Pistons could leave them on the wrong side of the playoff bubble.
10.Washington Wizards: It's not a fun time to be a Wizards fan. John Wall's freak Achilles injury has left them with a huge void in their starting lineup for the foreseeable future and thanks to his absurd $200+ mil supermax deal, they don't have the financial flexibility to find a viable replacement. Adding to this unfortunate predicament is that the sheer starpower of Bradley Beal should be enough to keep the team from completely imploding. In other words, they're stuck in the NBA's "too weak to contend, too good to tank" no man's land, and there's nothing they can do to escape it unless they trade Beal-which now appears highly unlikely after they inked him to an extension last week.
11.Chicago Bulls: It's pretty much groundhog day with the rebuilding Bulls. This team is a collection of intriguing yet oft-injured youngsters (Zach LaVine, Lauri Markkanen, Wendell Carter Jr, Kris Dunn) paired with a couple of older guys (Otto Porter Jr., Thaddeus Young) saddled with reluctant mentor roles that will play next to no defense, but has enough scoring ability to win some track meets. Barring some kind of unexpected jump, I'd be surprised if Jim Boylen was still the head coach at the conclusion of this season.
12.Atlanta Hawks: Lloyd Pierce has the Hawks playing frantic, offensive-minded basketball that is perfectly equipped for the modern NBA. The copious turnovers and erratic shooting that comes with having a youth-driven team embracing a Mike D'Antoni-esque philosophy of "blow your opponents out of the gym with speed and outside scoring" means they are still at least a couple years away from producing a ton of wins, but for the moment, the Hawks are easily the most entertaining bad team in basketball IMO.
13.New York Knicks: James Dolan insisted that a lot of big names were interested in joining the Knicks in free agency this past summer and like his tremendous blues band, he once again proved he was a straight shooter by amassing a super team that will make their opponents tremble with fear on a nightly basis. The mega star power of Julius Randle, Taj Gibson, Marcus Morris, Elfrid Payton, Bobby Portis, Reggie Bullock and Wayne Ellington are bound to restore glory to a franchise that has been suffering for the better part of the last 3 decades.
14.Cleveland Cavaliers: Longtime University of Michigan coach John Beliein probably wishes he never left the college ranks after he looked at the Cavs roster. His starting backcourt (Darius Garland, Collin Sexton) is 19 and 20 respectively, his bench is full of guys (John Henson, Brandon Knight, Matthew Dellavedova, Tristan Thompson) who are lucky to get to the arena without sustaining an injury and at 31, de facto best player Kevin Love's best days seem to be behind him. At least they'll likely win more than 19 games this season!
15.Charlotte Hornets: Kemba Walker is gone. Nicolas Batum, Marvin Williams, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Bismack Biymbo are still here. Newly-signed Terry Rozier might be their best player. This is a long way of saying that these poor souls in Charlotte might fuck around and be the worst team in the NBA.
Western Conference:
1.Los Angeles Clippers: A roster with perhaps the greatest collection of role players in the league already in place (Lou Williams, Patrick Beverley, Montrezl Harrell, JaMychal Green, Landry Shamet, Ivica Zubac) added two of the league's best two-way players in Kawhi Leonard and Paul George this offseason. If that's not the formula to buck the Clippers championship futility, they might overthrow the Detroit Lions for the title of the most cursed franchise in North American sports.
2.Los Angeles Lakers: Unlike the Knicks, the Lakers name was enough to get high-end players to overlook their immense internal dysfunction. LeBron and Rich Paul's scheme to get Anthony Davis to LA succeeded and unlike last season, they brought in a number of solid veteran role players (Danny Green, Jared Dudley, Avery Bradley, Troy Daniels) to give LeBron the trusty shooting/defense blanket that he needs to take half the season off. The questionable durability of James and Davis will be a dark cloud hanging over them all season long, but they should be a wagon if both of their stars are able to stay healthy.
3.Denver Nuggets: DO. NOT. SLEEP. ON. THE. NUGGETS. Gary Harris appears to be healthy after an injury-plagued 2018-19, their deep, versatile bench (Will Barton, Monte Morris, Mason Plumlee, Malik Beasley, Juan Hernangomez) received another injection of talent with the addition of Jermai Grant in the offseason and Nikola Jokic is an all-around phenom that still doesn't seem to have reached his ceiling quite yet. If they can keep the always fearless yet mostly inefficient Jamal Murray from taking 89 shots in big games, they're as strong of a bet as any to spoil either of the LA's teams finals bid.
4.Portland Trail Blazers: For better or worse, the Blazers are bringing back most of the same personnel that was with them for their unlikely run to the Conference Finals a year ago. Sadly, the conference got much deeper over the summer and I don't think swapping out Enes Kanter, Evan Turner and Al Farouq-Aminu for Hassan Whiteside, Kent Bazemore and Mario Hezonjia as running mates for their prolific backcourt tandem (Damian Lillard, C.J. McCollum) will be enough for them to keep up in this truly insane arms race.
5.Golden State Warriors: Klay Thompson's absence for at least most of the season is a potentially fatal blow to the Warriors chances of returning to the finals. He's a remarkable player on both ends of the floor and as he's proved time and time again over the remarkable run they've been on the past 5 seasons, the most clutch player on their roster. While new acquisition D'Angelo Russell should make for a solid running mate for Steph Curry on the offensive end, the lack of a healthy Thompson appears set to royally screw up their outside shooting efficiency as well as the defensive DNA that's defined the Warriors throughout Steve Kerr's tenure.
6.Houston Rockets: I'm sorry, I just can't buy into the James Harden and Russell Westbrook dynamic working. These are two players who need the ball in their hands as much as humanly possible to thrive and couldn't co-exist in Oklahoma City when their egos weren't nearly as large as they are now. They'll score enough points to remain afloat, but the high probability that their two star players could start snipping at each other at any moment puts them at the bottom of the deep logjam of top contenders in the West.
7.Utah Jazz: The front office did a tremendous job of further building around Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert this offseason. Mike Conley ran a deliberately-paced offense like this beautifully while he was with the Grizzlies and Bojan Bogdanovic gives them another elite outside shooter to slide next to Joe Ingles. Will these moves help the Jazz ascend from being more than just the gritty, well-coached defensive juggernaut that the powerhouses would prefer not to face in the early rounds? Probably not, but they'll likely take another step forward this season.
8.San Antonio Spurs: Talent-wise, the Spurs shouldn't be in the mix in the West. 35-year old LaMarcus Alridge can't be relied on to play the way he did last season on a consistent basis, DeMar DeRozan fades away whenever the lights shine brightest and their bench is headlined by middling veterans such as DeMarre Carroll, Trey Lyles and Marco Belinelli. That being said, I'll never doubt Gregg Popovich's ability to lead a team to the playoffs under any circumstances until proven otherwise.
9.Sacramento Kings: The arrow is pointing up for the Kings. De'Aaron Fox is quickly becoming one of the most prolific two-way point guards in the league, free agent additions Dewayne Dedmon and Trevor Ariza gives them a pair of reliable, staunch defenders that can also drain 3's when called upon and perhaps most importantly, they avoided pissing off sharpshooter Buddy Hield by inking him to an extension earlier today. Despite all of these positives, I'm too much of a superstitious weirdo to believe that the Kings are suddenly going to buck their deep-rooted curse and return to the playoffs for the first time since 2005-06.
10.Dallas Mavericks: Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis have a real chance of becoming one of the most electrifying tandems in the NBA. They're stupid athletic playmakers who routinely make the impossible look easy and getting to watch them light up highlight reels together is going to be awesome. The problem is that the secondary talent (Tim Hardaway Jr., Dwight Powell, Seth Curry, Boban Marjonovic, Delon Wright, J.J. Barea) behind their prolific European duo doesn't seem like its strong enough to elevate them above the other teams competing for the final few playoffs spots in the West.
11.Oklahoma City Thunder: The surprising trades of Russell Westbrook and Paul George have officially launched a long-needed rebuild in OKC. They're probably going to be stuck with the bloated contracts of Chris Paul, Danilo Gallinari and Steven Adams for the time being-which will prevent them from full-on tanking- but they're are a very strong bet to unload even more pieces (Dennis Schroder, Andre Roberson and Terrence Ferguson seems like the most likely candidates) by the time the deadline rolls around to try and increase their odds of plummeting down the standings.
12.New Orleans Pelicans: Landing Zion Williamson after losing Anthony Davis seems like divine intervention. His game is clearly limited from an offensive standpoint at the moment and the torn meniscuses he suffered is a tough break out of the gate, but it's hard to not get excited about this kid. The inhuman strength in the post he displayed during the preseason paired with the excellent mentoring he'll receive from the several consummate professionals (Jrue Holliday, J.J. Redick, E'Twuan Moore) the Pelicans currently have in the building and the rare opportunity of getting to develop alongside a group of high-upside young players (Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart-all acquired in the Davis deal) gives him a superb chance of succeeding in the pros.
13.Minnesota Timberwolves: New head coach Ryan Saunders has earned the respect of a lot of shot callers in league circles and Karl Anthony-Towns is a dynamic talent that has been quietly dominating while his teams stack up 35-38 win seasons, but as long as Andrew Wiggins' god awful, unmovable contract is on the books, they're going to be facing an uphill battle to break out of this vicious cycle of mediocrity.
14.Memphis Grizzlies: It's going to be weird as hell to watch a Grizzlies team without Mike Conley and Marc Gasol on it. As painful as losing those mainstays will be from a sentimental standpoint, Swiss Army Knife big Jaren Jackson Jr., rookie dish machine Ja Morant and underrated veteran center Jonas Valancunas should deliver a welcome shot of electricity and long-term optimism that wasn't present while the Grizzlies struggled over the last few seasons of Conley and Gasol's tenure with the team.
15.Phoenix Suns: Even the most casual of basketball fans are aware that the Suns are as good as dead in this slaughterhouse of a conference, so I'm going to use this time to say some positive things to the 48 people who still care about this team. Ricky Rubio is a legit NBA point guard that should do an excellent job of facilitating on an offense that desperately needed a strong passer, Aron Baynes should be able to introduce a concept called "protecting the rim" to his teammates and last year's top draft pick Deandre Ayton will probably improve dramatically if new coach Monty Williams utilizes a system where he actually gets the ball.
Playoff Predictions:
Eastern Conference:
Quarterfinals:
76ers over Pistons
Bucks over Heat
Nets over Pacers
Celtics over Raptors
Semifinals:
76ers over Celtics
Bucks over Nets
Conference Finals:
Bucks over 76ers
Western Conference
Quarterfinals:
Clippers over Spurs
Lakers over Jazz
Nuggets over Rockets
Warriors over Trail Blazers
Semifinals:
Clippers over Warriors
Lakers over Nuggets
Conference Finals:
Clippers over Lakers
NBA Finals:
Clippers over Bucks
Year-End Awards:
MVP: Kawhi Leonard (Clippers)
Coach of the Year: Doc Rivers (Clippers)
Defensive Player of the Year: Rudy Gobert (Jazz)
Most Improved Player: Josh Richardson (76ers)
Rookie of the Year: Ja Morant (Grizzlies)
Sixth Man of the Year: Spencer Dinwiddie (Nets)
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