Not really concerned about that. It's all on paper anyway. I'm just thinking of matchups.
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Contributor
Not really concerned about that. It's all on paper anyway. I'm just thinking of matchups.
Loved that 2007-08 team but they had zero depth and basically one half court set you had to defend. Nuggets showed, the next year, how easily length and athleticism could shut them down. This Pels team would absolutely demolish that team.
@mcnamara247
I think a lot of this depends on BI and Zion building better on court chemistry then they previously had. Hopefully Zion will be in shape and Willie will get him playing better defense. I still see us in the 5 to 8 range just because of how good the West is. A healthy Clippers still scares me, and I think the Grizz are for real. The Mavs are also going to be in the top of the conference as long as Luka stays healthy. And obviously the Warriors.
I think the Jazz drop out. I also think the Suns are starting to set. Chris Paul is so integral to what they do, and he started looking his age during the Western Conference semis.
The one team I think will start to rise again are the Spurs. Unless of course they do something stupid. I?m not 100% sure why there were rumblings about a Dejounte Murray trade.
I think 50 wins (+/- 2) is a good goal, if we stay healthy, which should place us near the middle of the playoff pack.
I expect that we will be better the second half of the season than the first, as it takes young teams some time to gel and sort out roles, rotations, etc?
I?d guess first half of season we?ll be about a .500 squad. Second half, with Zion fully integrated, we?ll be a handful and close strong.
This is regular season, not "best teams" and because of that, I think the Pels have a chance to be really high in these rankings. Clippers, for instance, probably have the better team if its playoffs or one game, with everything on the line and everyone is healthy. But Kawhi and PG will rest, miss games, and be replaced by below avg players. Pels could legit have 13-15 guys who wont be a negative on the court, in addition to their top end talent. Not to mention the hunger factor, where other teams will just be going through the motions in the regular season next year, knowing the playoffs are all that matter (like GSW and Dallas).
Teams like the Pels, with the factors I mentioned, seem to overachieve in the regular season. I think 3-6 is the most likely outcome. But I would actually rank 1 or 2 seed higher probability that 7 or 8
Why are you so high on the Mavs?Originally Posted by MichaelMcNamara
CAW CAW!!!
-Founder and valuable member of the Caw Caw Boyz-
^I'd say Mavs have more upside than Nuggets and Suns, and they will have learned an enormous amount from this year's run that will be applied. Look out for shredded cardio-Luka, and they will find ways to get him more help on offense.
That being said, his footspeed will still likely allow guys that should be too big to guard him to continue giving him trouble.
1) Warriors
2) Grizzlies
3) Mavs
4) Suns
5) Pelicans
6) Nuggets
7) Clippers
8) Blazers
9) Wolves
10) Spurs
11) Lakers
12) OKC
13) Jazz
14) Kings
15) Rockets
I think the Blazers are gonna be a lot better than most think. Mostly for the fact that I think they’re gonna have a great off-season. Just have a gut feeling, no reasoning behind it.
Also worried about the Lakers, but for now I kept them in 11th. LeBron is going to be breathing down managements necks on making something happen there, and I don’t know what’ll happen. Won’t be surprised if Kyrie goes there for the MLE.
Hopefully Zion has a clean and healthy off-season/training camp/preseason. If that happens, it’s hard to imagine the Pels are less than 5th.
I have no problem putting the Pelicans as the #1 or #2 seed regular season team. People still are underestimating having 3 elite level scorers all on the same team. Injury is the main concern and it will take a while to get the defense together.
So even by a very conservative measure in my eyes.
1. Clippers
2. Pelicans
3. Mavericks
4. Warriors
5. Nuggets
6. Suns
7. Grizzlies
8. Lakers
9. Wolves
10. Jazz
At this point in time in late June, my top 3 three are somewhat solid. The rest could drastically change by October.
I hate to be the negative one (though I still have us in the playoffs), as of right now I have them as below:
1. Warriors
2. Nuggets
3. Clippers
4. Suns
5. Mavs
6. Jazz
7. Grizzlies
8. Pelicans
9. Wolves
10. Lakers
11. Blazers
12. Kings
13. Spurs
14. OKC
15. Houston
That is as of today though.
Teams we could jump:
Phoenix could lose Ayton
Mavs could lose Brunson
Jazz could implode (until they do though, I find it hard to remove them as have been a regular season juggernaut)
Nuggets/Clippers have significant injury returns, are there restrictions in the regular season?
Grizzlies have traded Melton and have a few free agents - will they bring them back or will they look to trust their draft?
A lot of potential movement, it shows as of today the West is very strong but I think some teams will zag once free agency starts and focus on Wembanyama. If we did this in a month's time I could see the Pels being 4th or 5th for sure.
1 Clippers
2 Warriors
3 Suns
4 Grizz
5 Nuggets
6 Lakers
7 Wolves
8 Blazers
9 Pelicans
10 Mavs
Still way too early. But roster for roster if the Clips stay healthy(huge if) they are the most talented roster in the association IMO and they still can get better. Mavs are completely overrated mostly got lucky last year and Wood isn't a better player than Porzingis and Brunson may leave and you could argue he's there 2nd best player. Like the Clips if health can be assumed the Lakers will get a playoff spot. I think Grant to the Blazers is way more important than Wood to the Mavs. I could see Pels as high as 7 but I trust the KAT and Dame more than I do Zion as of right now.
Last edited by da ThRONe; 06-26-2022 at 07:10 AM.
The hottest of takes. This makes your Drummond over AD take seem mild in comparison. Cant wait to see the reactions!!
Seems fairly wild to me but hey, at least you stuck to your guns.
Basketball.
What did I miss what "guns" am I sticking to?
For someone who doesn't like to be reminded of all the things they've gotten wrong you sure like to bring up things that other gotten wrong a lot.
1. I actually don’t. First time I can remember bringing up anybodys past in a while. Feel free to show any other post if you disagree. Should be easy to do since I do it “a lot”
2. No issue with others bringing up my past incorrect takes. I actually bring them up quite a bit and often say I don’t know things because I don’t have info on the intangible things
3. I wasn’t putting down your past incorrect take as much as saying that was bold and you didn’t back down and I was looking forward to seeing you not back down from this hot take
I don’t remember you being this sensitive, but I will be sure not to risk offending you again in the future. So sorry
Stuck to your guns as in, you didn't read everyone else's takes and modify what you thought, you just went with what you thought.
As to what those particular guns would be, I mean things like ranking the Clippers 1st when most other people have them ranked no higher than 3rd, placing the Pelicans out of the playoffs entirely and in a play-in situation, and listing the Lakers are a non-play-in-playoff spot. Those are all slightly unusual takes, imo, and despite them being in the minority in the thread you stuck with them anyway. Even if I think they're bad takes, I appreciate that you went for it.
As high as 7 lmao
It just confuses me.
We were the 9th seed last year with no Zion, no CJ for the first half of the year, Ingram missing almost 30 games, but we're going to be no better in the standings (again, assuming health) with CJ the entire year, Ingram for the full year, and Zion? It seems absurd to me. Even granting the 7th seed, the difference last year between 9th and 7th seeds was only 10 games. Assuming we'll be at most 10 games better despite also assuming health is strange. I get it if you think Zion isn't going to play more than 20 games or if you're predicting 20+ missed games from Ingram again, but we're granting health here; if we're not granting health, you also have to assume AD misses 40 games and Lebron sits 25 out, in which case having Lakers 6th is pathological.
I mean, to be fair, I bet that when the National prognosticators do it, the Pels will be between 7-9 in almost every single pre season prediction. The thinking will be that Clips and Nuggets will be better, most other teams stay about the same and Zion isn’t that additive because he is just adding the thing that the team already does well
So, prepare now because it is coming. Almost every person will predict that Pels will be in the play in game
Sure but who cares about what Kendrick Perkins or Stephen A Smith thinks? You see them make a ridiculous comment and you just move on, whereas here I can actually talk to daThrone and ask what's going through his head when he makes that ranking assessment, knowing that it's his legitimate ranking assessment from someone who has actually watched the team last year. So there's a discussion there.
Vegas will have us at between 7th and 9th in wins in the WC too. The fans on this board will be the outliers, not DaThrone
Yes but, to repeat, daThrone is here on the board so we can talk to him and have a discussion. Which is part of the fan experience: talking about the team with other fans. Don't actually care what Vegas says, it adds nothing to my fan experience, whereas getting an explanation from daThrone about his perspective lays the grounds for some conversation.
Pels went 33-30 after the 3-16 start. A majority of those games you did not have BI and Willie was incorporating his system, so I believe you can write those off. Then acquired CJ and Nance while diminishing Temple minutes. Now you add in Zion, Daniels, an extra year of development for Trey, Herb, and Jose. Would be extremely disappointing if we finished lower than 8th
I wont speak for him, but the logic is pretty simple. There were 8 better teams than them last year and none of them figure to get significantly worse. At least two figure to get significantly better through return from injuries, and while Zion has showed he is good when he plays, it is also true that he - a) doesnt play often b)doesnt make others better when he does play
In fact, Ingram was often significantly worse and so was the defense as a whole. You simply have 8 more known entities ahead of them, and while you can guess how the variable named Zion will impact winning, you really have no NBA evidence that it does. Now, with all that said, him listing the ultra thin Blazers and the Lakers ahead of the Pels is kinda crazy, but I have little to no doubt that the consensus amongst all non-Pelicans fans and writers and media and Vegas, will be that they should place 8th or 9th in the West. And those people are not always right, even Vegas, but it does provide a non-fan baseline for expectations.
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