In the East, my vote would be Brooklyn or Atlanta.
Brooklyn is deep at just about every position. Mikal Bridges is a very good scorer. Cam Johnson a very talented 2-way player. Dinwiddie a solid 2-guard. Claxton is one of the more impressive young centers in the league. A lot rides on Simmons and if he can be 75 percent of what he once was. At the very least, he looks to be in shape entering the season. Brooklyn looks to have a plethora of two-way players. The question is if Bridges can be the main scorer on a contending title team.
Atlanta has Trae Young, who is now flying under the radar as one of the best scoring guards in the NBA, and many solid defensive pieces surrounding him in Murray, Hunter, Capela. If Trae can get a hot in a playoff series, you never know.
In the West, I think it’s Minnesota. On paper, they are loaded with talent. Ant, KAT, McDaniels, Gobert, Reid, Conley and Anderson might be as good of a first 7 you will find in the league today. Of course, the main question is — can Chris Finch make Towns and Gobert work offensively? We saw how tough Minnesota can be in the Denver series last year. With most everyone on their roster now having multiple years of playoff experience in addition to having continuity among their depth chart and coaching staff, they are my sneaky pick to make the West finals this year.
Who is your sneaky pick in each conference to make a deep playoff run? Or do you believe there’s no logical selection?
Kings. Again.
The Knicks have alot of picks and salarys
They are homestly a few trades away I feel especially in the east and if Miami could hopefully take the bucks out again lol
Trae can’t carry the load offensively, not in an East as stacked as we have now. Bucks/Celtics aside, 76ers/Heat/Knicks/Cavs are all distinctly better teams. I can see the Hawks stealing a series from either the 76ers or the Knicks but that’s about it. 2nd round aspirations are the peak of the Hawks’ potential IMO
I agree with Minnesota, depending on Ant’s growth
Whenever Trae is kn the court they are one of the best offensive teams in the league, and now they have proper coaching surrounding him. The only thing Trae should never be questioned on is his undeniable offensive presence.
Kings and Thunder in the West. I really think Giddey-SGA-Jalen Williams are gonna be a handful for a lot of teams.
I don’t think we (Wolves) have the mental capacity to make a deep playoff run. We could win 50 and still bounce in round 1 because of our team’s basketball IQ being pretty bad (still).
Oh tomdawg, ye of little faith
I think everyone has written off the Clippers because they haven’t been able to stay healthy. But both Kawhi Leonard and Paul George have been pronounced "fully healthy.” And it’s possible they will obtain a motivated James Harden before the season is over.
Orlando fookin Magic
Raps baby let’s gooooo
In terms of expectations…
Yeah… Both MIN and ATL could pencil into that “playoffs or bust” category. Not as extreme as, “if you are not clearly in the playoffs by the TD blow it up while you can still get something out of it” territory. More like, you can take the season, but if you don’t meet your goals, this thing as is isn’t going to git er dun.
OKC shouldn’t be surprise to anybody. They can do whatever they want to do. Everybody should be keeping an eye on what OKC does this season. Biggest and most interesting variable in the league.
I would have ORL as the most “advanced” of the young teams, in that they are closer to a playoffs as the goal team than DET, SAS, POR… Definitely going to keep an eye on ORL for any roster consolidation moves, and/or whether they are looking to do something at the TD or not.
Thunder or Kings couod do damage.
Toronto. I sincerely think that after 1-2, the east is wide open. Every team has a lot of ifs. But what I’ve seen preseason looks really good for a team that could push to the second round at least.
Yeah ignore my bias this team is going 2nd round
I like the Knicks. Jalen Brunson was so damn good in the playoffs for the second year in a row. Randle hasn’t been good in the offs but I think he’s better than his relatively small playoff history would say (he was legitimately hurt last year and was over burdened in 20-21). As a second option playing off of Brunson and the rest of the drive and kick game I could see him being a problem.
They have super solid depth at most positions, just need Quickly to get hot and Rj to shoot like he did in the 23 playoffs and they check a lot of boxes.
As a Heat fan I was really impressed with how well they played with Randle hurt and Quick being a negative.
Nobody in these types of threads mentions Dallas. Luka has MVP candidate ceiling. Irving gives him a secondary star power. They made gains in their depth with Curry, G.Williams, & Holmes.
They were in the WCF two years ago and right now nobody is even talking about them as a fringe playoff team.
Plus under the radar guys like Exum and Lively. Very different team than last year.
Its crazy missing PO did that to you
But whatever, its fun being underdog lol
Bullsssssss
Pelicans if Zion is healthy
Minnesota. They might end up in the wcf this year pulling off some unthinkable upsets as a 5/6 seed