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Sure, Free Agency is coming but not a ton of needle movers out there. Assuming minimal changes, how do you guys see the West as of today (projected regular season record). I go
1. Warriors
2. Mavs
3. Suns
4. Nuggets
5. Pelicans
6. Clippers
7. Grizzlies
8. Jazz
9. Wolves
10. Lakers
11. Spurs
12. Blazers
13. Kings
14. OKC
15. Houston
What you all got?
@mcnamara247
The West is STACKED
1. Warriors - the champs who will be "adding" Wiseman, Kuminga and Moody
2. Clippers - They won a zillion games last year without Kawhi and PG. If just one of those guys is healthy, they'll be really difficult to play.
3. Suns - A lot of offseason turmoil, but they were a damn good team last year. Their ranking is too contingent on what happens with Ayton and what they get in a trade.
4. Pelicans - You already know!
5. Grizz - They played over their heads last year and will come down a peg.
6. Mavs - They're gonna lose Brunson to the Knicks. Luka whines too much. Christian Wood is an empty stats guy. I'm not sold.
7. Twolves - I love Antman. I expect another leap for him.
8. Nuggs - I don't know why I ranked them this low. They add a healthy Murray and Porter and they'll be higher.
After the top 8, I dunno.
I really want the Spurs, Blazers, and Kings to have a nice little summer. I dont think they are a threat to us, no matter what they do, but they could be good enough to be better than the Lakers with an injury. One Lebron or AD injury to being a bottom 3 team in the West and possibly giving us a top 5 pick
Pretty similar to you, honestly.Originally Posted by MichaelMcNamara
I think there's a huge amount up in the air that makes it hard to fully determine rankings - it will be clearer later, maybe in August, when FA and therefore trades tend to be more settled. Right now, for example, I agree with you that the Jazz are a playoff team but if they trade Gobert do I still think that? Depends on the return, I guess, but very possibly not. Similarly, do the Suns end up keeping Ayton? That will impact their ranking to me - not enough for them to fall out of the playoffs, but it could take them from 3 to 5 pretty easily.
But yeah I'm quite happy that Warriors, Suns, Mavs, Pels Clips, Nuggets will be playoff teams. I buy into the Grizz enough from last year to believe they're a playoff team though I do think their presentation last season was a bit of a regular-season wonder. Wolves, Lakers, Spurs, Blazers all fighting for play-in spots seems reasonable as well.
Basketball.
1. Warriors
2. Nuggets (if healthy)
3. Clippers
4. Pels
5. Memphis
6. Mavs (I still think that team is Luca and a bunch of meh)
7. Suns (I thinks the wheels fall off. Paul is about washed and if they lose Ayton…)
8. Wolves
9. Spurs
10. Jazz
11. Blazers
12. Lakers
13. Kings
14. OKC
15. Houston
The West is so damn tough. I'm really curious to see what happens with the Sun's in FA but as of today my top 10 are.
1. Warriors
2. Sun's
3. Clippers (if Kawhi and PG are healthy)
4. Nuggets
5. Pelicans
6. Grizz
7. Mavs (I think they take a step back this year)
8. TWolves
9. Lakers
10. Jazz
The AD trade is the gift that keeps on giving
It's actually wild
Lakers to bumble into a top 5 pick and giving us someone like Amen or Ausar Thompson would be incredibly funny
We could be as high as three or as low as eight.
Suns: Paul will be, yet, another year older and Ayton might be out the door. I think their bell-curve is limited and will be short-lived.
Nuggets: Murray pulled a 'Zion' this year (out all year) and Porter Jr wasn't much better. Both will be major question marks enetering the season (Porter, Jr. always will be). (I concede that Jokic will continue to make them relevent for awhile)
Pelicans: What will Zion be when we take the 'bubble wrap' off? The team (after the McCollum trade) proved it could win without him but how much? Zion will determine the Pelican's fate. Further, if Zion can't (or won't) defend, will he be playable late in the fourth quarter?
I think 'Wolves' may be the darkhorse to watch. Halfway through the season, I expect Kessler to become "Joubert-esque" and unleash KAT to the max.
Amen to that fam
1. Warriors
2. Nuggets
3. Clippers
4. Suns
5. Pels
6. Mavs
7. Grizz
8. Wolves
9. Jazz
10. Spurs
11. Lakers
12. Blazers
13. Kings
14. Thunder
15. Rockets
Pels should be somewhere between the 2nd and 6th seeds. No play in this year!
1. Warriors
2. Clippers
3. Suns
4. Pelicans
5. Mavs
6. Nuggets
7. Grizzlies
8. Timberwolves
9. Lakers
10. Trailblazers
11. Jazz
12. Kings
13. Thunder
14. Rockets
15. Spurs
Last edited by Darkhorse985; 07-01-2022 at 03:01 PM.
Solid order.
I'd probably swap Clips & Pels IF KL and PG13 stay healthy. Massive "if" though, so I think you are pretty spot on.
This past season really couldn't have gone any perfectly for me; all my wishes came true (apart from Zion staying healthy). Pels not only made the playoffs, but didn't get swept, GS won the chip (been a huge fan since I was a lad the 90's), Lakers/Lebron/AD/Westbrick didn't even make the playoffs lolol, Nets/Kyrie got swept, Harden's team lost.
For next season: keeping Zion healthy and making it out of the first round... Maybe, dare I say it, the conference finals with some luck on our side. They are still probably not experienced enough to go all the way even with enormous luck on our side, in which case, love to see GS get their 5th chip.
I think putting a stamp that we are decidedly the new young guns to be feared in the league and not Memphis or the Timberwolves is the statement we need to make. And I even think we SHOULD be competitive in games against Dallas....
Pels should be above Nuggets. We lost a game last year in their arena because Jokic cried to the refs. We outplayed them..without Zion...in their house. Add Zion to the mix, more team chemistry, no Garrett Temple minutes.
Cant just give your favorite team the benefit of the doubt and not the opponent. They get two guys (Murray and Porter) back too.
The refs will also be back next year as well. That's their ace in the hole.
The karmic irony of that would be incredible. Or better yet, why not shoot for Scoot, or Victor himself.
Going into the draft, I have both Thompson twins above Scoot and below Victor. Scoot rocks though, so don't think I'm downplaying him.
Well on their way this this group of players. Thanks dummies!
Most amazing thing ive ever watched
1. Grizzlies (They'll play regular season to win homecourt. The teams below them will prioritize rest and health.)
2. Warriors
3. Clippers
4. Mavs
5. Nuggets
6. Pelicans
7. Suns
8. Wolves
9. Spurs
10. Jazz
11. Lakers
12. Blazers
13. Kings
14. Houston
15. OKC
Already looking forward to Grizzlies v Wolves again in 1st round, and Mavs v Nuggets.
I can also imagine the Clippers and Warriors really jockeying down the stretch to avoid the Pelicans. But 4-5-6-7 probably aren't separated by a ton of games all season, and the Pels could easily fall into the play-in at 7 or string together runs and move up to 4 or 5.
I'm banking on us being able to say that.....pundits are actually talking about us in positive ways, we have very likable and marketable players/coaches.....I think we should be getting some of that Supastar NBA treatment im the future.
BI, Zion, and CJ had a net rating of +3 when on the court together. BI and Zion had a +13.4, BI and CJ had a +13.2, Zion and CJ was just +5.4.
BI and Zion worked. BI and CJ worked. It was CJ and Zion and all three together that didn't work.
Obviously this is a bit premature because there's a lot of time before the season starts and even if there are no major changes to the roster, there's always the possibility of tweaks and shifts somewhere in the lineup and of course, god forbid, risks of injury and such.
However, looking over the thread it seems like there's a general consensus of where the Pels will end up. NMThree says 6th seed, SoCal says 6th seed, MM says 5th seed and I'm inclined to agree, Kenna says 5th, Darkhorse says 3rd, ULSaint and Upperdecker both say 4th, PelicanProf says 5th.
So it seems like generally 3rd-to-6th works as a rough area of expectation for the board, with people generally inclining towards the middle of that range rather than the extremes.
My question, then, is how many wins you think that should equate to. Last season 4th and 5th seeds were 52 and 49 games won respectively, and the season before, 47 and 42 got into those same slots (with a reduced number of games). It looks, therefore, like we're really looking at about 50 wins in order to make that kind of territory and I personally think that's a fair expectation.
If Zion is back and healthy for the majority of the season; if Ingram plays up to the standard we know he can; if CJ can be more like his regular season self than his playoff self; if Herb, Trey, and Jose can continue the momentum they were building at the end of the year and into the playoffs, etc, then it seems very plausible. We know, based on the one season he did play a majority of, that the advanced statistics seem to think that Zion is worth about 8 wins. If you believe that, then him alone being healthy should take us from a 36 win team to a 42 win team. Add on to that the general growth of youth like Trey and Herb, as well as hopefully a bounce-back season from 3 with Ingram, I don't see why 47-52 wins isn't a realistic territory.
What do you think?
Contributor
Hm. A comment on Twitter got me wondering. Which team would win a 7 game series? This current Pels squad or the 2007-08 Hornets squad? We didn't do so well against a well past his prime Chris Paul. What about him as good as he's ever been?
I think in general the standard of play today is higher than it was even 10 years ago, let alone 15+ years ago. That said, this current Pels team has played 0 games together so far as a complete unit and the 07-08 Hornets won 20 more games than we did last season, so I wouldn't bet too hard against the team that actually has a track record of putting together victories.
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