News flash: multiple sources reporting, the Western Conference is still stacked as all hell. Most NBA personalities predict the same eight teams as last year being playoff bound again in 2015. Who can blame them? Nearly all of those teams come back as strong as they were last season and several come into this season even stronger. It feels foolish to assume that any of those teams get knocked out of the playoff picture. While I didn’t make any official preseason predictions, I would’ve hopped right on the 2014 bandwagon along with everyone else. And guess what? I’d probably be wrong.
I refuse to predict which of these teams will fall out. It’s an impossible prediction to make, because if any of these teams do fall out it will almost certainly be thanks to a significant injury. Don’t ask me to be the injury psychic. It feels safe to say that every team, save for the top 3, is in danger of falling out if they sustain a long-term injury to a key player. The question becomes, which team will make the playoffs when the inevitable fall out happens? Here are the legitimate threats to the teams in the bottom half of the playoff picture.
Phoenix Suns
The Suns were the surprise team last season as most predicted what became the 48 win Suns as a bottom three team in the entire league. There won’t be another sleeper team like that this year. The Jazz are too young, the Kings have no direction, the Wolves lost their star, and the Lakers are god awful. Phoenix should at least be right where they were last season. While it’s still difficult to envision the style of play of a team built the way the Suns are, it’s near impossible to doubt Jeff Hornacek’s philosophies after last season. The guy has a vision of how he wants his team to play and that vision wins regular season games. After the initial shock of the Suns drafting Tyler Ennis, signing Isaiah Thomas, and then resigning Bledsoe (all while bringing back Dragic) wore off, the vision started to make sense. This team does two things about as well as any other team on offense; space the floor and run like Forrest Gump playing basketball. It works. Bledsoe will be a good enough defender to be on the floor with any of the other guards. Dragic will build off a career year. Thomas will use his quickness to create space and find the open guy. Ennis will learn from the rest. Teams with such big win differentials from one year to the next typically fall off in the third season, but that seems unlikely with this Suns team. They lost just one key player from last year in Channing Frye, but they have good enough floor spacing forwards to make up for it. The most difficult task for an outsider would be managing minutes between Bledsoe, Dragic, Thomas, Green, and Tucker, but this is Horny’s team and Horny’s vision. Being on the shortlist as a coach of the year candidate in his first year gives confidence that he can manage this task.
The Morris Bros will try to fill Channing Fry’s role of spacing the floor this season.
Denver Nuggets
The Nuggets sneak under the radar of fans year in, year out. The fans in Denver are tired of the team’s mediocrity, but at least the Nuggets make an attempt to put a product on the court to get the fans excited (I’m looking at you, Sam Hinkie). The Nuggets off season consisted of the following: 1) reclaim one of their best players since Melo in trading for Afflalo, 2) re-sign your current best player and the best Manimal to ever exist in Faried, 3) turning one first round pick into two and nabbing their 12th seven footer in Jusuf Nurkic and one of the most exciting players to slide in the draft in Gary Harris, and 4) getting a shit ton of players back from injury. The fourth point will prove to be the most important in the team’s playoff hopes. The Nuggets failed to come close to a playoff spot last season, but if you asked a casual basketball fan if they were a playoff team the season prior, many would immediately shake their head. That team won 57 games! The only key contributors that walked from that team are Iggy and Corey Brewer, but Afflalo will provide a lot of what they missed from those two last season. Parlay that with the hopes of getting back a healthy Gallinari, J.J. Hickson, Nate Robinson, and sporadic minutes from Javale McGee and this team trumps last season’s Nuggets. The big difference from the 57 win Nuggets of 2012-13 to this year’s squad is the coaching. George Karl got fired after an excellent regular season (winning coach of the year) that year and was replaced with Brian Shaw who got a bit of a free pass with all the injuries, but still may find himself on the hot seat after a rough first year in Denver. They’ll have to stay healthy, but this team is no doubt better than last season’s Nugs.
Danilo looks to regain form in his first real action since 2013.
New Orleans Pelicans
The N’awlins Pellies literally made one move this off season, and that move said, “We want to make the playoffs now.” Acquiring Asik is a great acquisition forming the scariest defensive front court in all of basketball, but that alone doesn’t turn a 34 win team into the 50 win team that the Western Conference requires. What does give them hope to become a playoff team is possibility of their superstar big man Anthony Davis becoming an MVP big man this season. The only way that they’re going to turn that corner from lottery team to playoff team is if Anthony Davis makes that leap and carries the team on his back. The guy is quickly becoming an NBA icon and making me want to learn how to grow a uni brow. While The Brow’s progression is far beyond damn near anyone’s expectations when he came into the league, it’ll take a team effort for this team to have any playoff hopes, and that’s the most difficult part. The return of Ryan Anderson will add a key player to the rotation, but how Jrue Holiday, Eric Gordon, and Tyreke Evans can coexist is the big question mark. Each of these players had the talent to be a franchise changing player coming into the league, but none of them play for their original franchise. The Pels overpaid in trading for Holiday, as well as giving Evans and Gordon their big paydays. Moving forward, the question becomes can they find takers for Evans or Gordon in a trade, but the immediate question becomes whether or not they can play within themselves to help New Orleans sneak into the playoffs? It’ll take Anthony Davis playing at an MVP level and everyone else recognizing their roles for this feat to happen, but it’s certainly within reach.
The Pelicans hope their shot blocking tandem is enough to be playoff bound in 2015.
It will be tough for any of these teams to make the playoffs, but history suggests it unlikely that the same eight teams as last year will get in. Which team do you think has the best chance to wreak havoc in the wild wild West?
Anthony Davis is the biggest quadruple-double threat since the 90’s
In what would seem like an early season candidate for a top ten stat line of the season, Anthony Davis made it look effortless. Falling a block short of getting a triple-double, Davis reminded basketball fans of his ability to light up the stat sheet on day one of the season. Putting together a stat line of 27 points, 16 boards, 9 blocks, and 3 steals on the first night of the season is just a sign of what’s to come. The near double digit shot blocks by Davis was enough to tie a career high, but that won’t be the case for long. Davis is sure to hit the double digit mark this season. Having Omer Asik (5 blocks himself) behind him to protect the rim allows Davis to take more weak side gambles as a shot blocker without losing much in terms of team defense. In last night’s game Davis showed he can run the fast break as well as any big man in the game by getting completely behind the defense several times after stealing the ball. It was a complete Unibrow highlight reel In his quest for getting a quad dub, the biggest challenge will be getting to double digit assists (or can you imagine steals) on a night that he reaches the plateau in blocks. His current career highs in those categories are 5 assists and 6 steals. However, as Davis becomes the team leader, it seems very plausible that the offense will start to run through Davis in the high post. This will allow him to become more of a distributor finding his streaky guards cutting to the basket and dishing the ball off as he draws double teams. The scariest part? He’s only 21 years old and on pace to get a hell of a lot better.
Welcome to the league, rookie.
The Chandler Parsons contract looks laughable
Once upon a time, before LeBron James stole the show in the off season with his well-timed letter that proclaimed he was taking his talents back home, there was Chandler Parsons. When the clock struck midnight on July 10th, Parsons was famously found signing his max contract extension at the club with Mavs owner Mark Cuban. This put the Rockets on the clock to match the contract, which they would have done had Bosh agreed to join forces to build an instant contender. In the end, Bosh chose to stay in Party City, and the Rockets ultimately decided to allow Parsons to head to their Texas rivals in Dallas. In a spin of irony, the Rockets chose his replacement to be the guy that they awarded his first big contract in 2009 in Trevor Ariza before jettisoning that contract to New Orleans the following summer.
Fast forward to opening night. Parsons, $16,000,000 richer is wearing blue taking on the Spurs, and Ariza is back in Rockets red making roughly half the money that Parsons signed for. In his first game making big money Parsons put up a stinker hitting just 2 of 10 shots to score 5 points with no assists. With the chance for redemption with two seconds left, Parsons found himself wide open for the game winning three, but failed to convert. His defense wasn’t as atrociously bad as the Harden-like reputation that he’s started to garner, but he’s out there to add offense which he did not do in his debut. Meanwhile, Ariza put up a nice game statistically against the Lakers hitting 5 of 8 from deep, but also provided perimeter defense on Kobe that the Rockets haven’t had since Parsons rookie year when he actually put forth effort on defense.
Parsons will play better, but the Mavs need him to play about $15,000,000 better than he played last night.
While it’s far too early to call Parsons a complete bust on his new contract, he is past the point where he can have a free pass. The problem isn’t that he got paid. He’s a very good player and deserved to get his pay day. The problem is that he got paid like he’s a franchise cornerstone to build upon. When he signed that contract, Rockets GM Daryl Morey saw it as crippling, preventing any further roster moves. You only match that contract if you think that Parsons is the kind of guy that can put you to contender status. The Rockets did not. Now the Mavericks will have to hope that their big free agent signing can start to produce at an all star level, because Dirk is not getting any younger.
The Kobe vs Dwight feud is alive and well
It didn’t take long for Kobe to get into it with another ex teammate. In Howard’s first game playing against Kobe since leaving LA a late game altercation involved Kobe trying to slap away a Dwight rebound, while down 25 points in the final quarter. Howard tried to clear space which ended up with Kobe taking an elbow to the mouth. The two had to be separated as words were exchanged. The exchange went something like this.
According to sources other words were exchanged as well with Howard saying, “You’s a pussy, dog,” (which I’d assume means, “You’re CatDog”) and Kobe shouting at the bench, “You a bitch ass n-word.” Although the Rockets dominated this game from start to finish, the exchange was particularly intriguing. Comments from Lakers fans across the internet would lead one to believe that Howard is under investigation for raping someone in Colorado with all that was thrown around about the minor exchange. And the scenario was just that, a minor incident. The reason that the incident intrigues me is that it adds further fuel to the fire that Kobe chased Dwight out of Los Angeles in free agency with his demanding personality, and the, “Let me show you how to be a winner,” shenanigans in the free agency meeting while trying to recruit him back to LA.
All in all, it was a minor incident that got way overblown, but it’s still worth discussing because it adds further drama to their next meeting and as NBA fans we all secretly love a little bit of drama.
After a long hiatus, I’m back for the NBA season. Following a painfully annoying wait after the off season buzz in July, there is real… actual… true… GENUINE… AUTHENTIC regular season basketball to talk about. You know what else is annoying? When someone starts something, but doesn’t finish it. For those that have been asking about the point guard and shooting guard rankings, the truth is, they’re nowhere. I didn’t do them. I’m sorry. Life got a little bit busy, work got a little bit stressful, and every time I sat down to do them that tiny little brain in my head shut itself off. So they won’t be coming. What is coming is much more updates on this site. Just in time for the season I’ve changed up my work schedule to allow me to watch hoopsketball all season long. So thanks for those of you who are still visiting this page after me not updating it for several months.
I’ll start off with a regular Tuesday segment (and something that no website, blog, or basketball publication has ever done before), weekly power rankings. With that, let’s jump right in and get it started.
1. San Antonio Spurs (62-20)
Did I have to make the first one so obvious? The NBA champions were an easy pick for the top spot starting the 2014 season. They bring back the same team as last year and I think it’s safe to say by now that their players don’t age. This could have been more of a question mark had they not locked up their hall of fame coach to an extension, but with Pop coming back there is no doubt that they are the early season favorites.
2. Cleveland Cavaliers (33-49)
While it may take sometime for the stars to fully figure out how to play together, the Cavs will have one of the biggest jumps in NBA history from one season to the next. After a 33 win season in which they were going all out trying to make the playoffs, Dan Gilbert’s team lucked themselves into missing the playoffs, winning the draft lottery, Lebron’s sudden remembrance that he’s in love with Ohio, and a superstar power forward ready to walk to a contender. Meanwhile David Blatt walked into a dream job for a first time NBA coach (don’t give me that crap people gave Spo about how he’s in a tough position to figure out how to make all that talent work… any coach would take two top ten players and an all star point guard).
3. Los Angeles Clippers (57-25)
One of the league’s deepest teams, the Clippers are ready to compete once again for a spot in the Western Conference Finals. Entering the fourth season with their tandem of Griffin and CP3 in tact, anything short of the conference finals would be considered a disappointment, but they’ll have their work cut out for them as the conference isn’t getting any easier to compete against.
Griffin and Paul will have plenty to smile about this season.
4. Chicago Bulls (48-34)
After a nice preseason, the Bulls are sure to compete for the top spot in the East. This team is always health permitting, but Rose has looked good in preseason after shaking off some of his rust by competing in the FIBA World Cup this summer. The team added key rotation players in Gasol, Mirotic, and Dougie McBuckets this offseason while keeping the rest of the core together (Boozer’s corpse doesn’t count). If Rose can be even close to his former self, this could very well be a 60 win team.
5. Golden State Warriors (51-31)
Steve Kerr already has this team clicking in the preseason and after a disastrous run in Phoenix as GM, he’s ready to prove that he is one of the great basketball minds in the world. This offense will pick up right where they left off with Curry and Thompson now getting help from Shaun Livingston to become an even better back court. The defense should be much of the same despite losing Mark Jackson who preaches defense as long as Bogut and Iggy can stay healthy. Yes, I was trying to make a pun there about Mark Jackson and religion.
Kerr is happy to takeover a team that’s already been built to compete.
6. Portland Trail Blazers (54-28)
The big concern with the Blazers is their lack of depth and it didn’t get much better this season after losing Mo Williams and acquring… ahem… Chris Kaman. While I suppose that Kaman counts as a real acquisition, because of the lack of quality centers in basketball he’s been irrelevant since his all star season in 2010. I guess he at least exists (I think that’s a verified fact). Still, the Blazers bolster one of the league’s best starting line ups and if they continue to play rougly 3,000,000,000 minutes together per season this year they should be just fine.
7. Oklahoma City Thunder (59-23)
Can we stop pretending that the Thunder are going to go 2-16 without their MVP, Kevin Durant? I understand that the context of MVP has the words “most” and “valuable” in it, but this is still a very good basketball team despite losing the most valuable guy of last season (and he WILL be back). Westbrook will take the reigns until he returns giving the role players plenty of opportunity to find their niche until he’s back.
8. Houston Rockets (54-28)
The Rockets have fallen off most people’s radar because of who they didn’t get this off season more so than who they lost. Yes, losing Asik hurts, but they still have two superstars, and one of them is one of the league’s best rim protectors. Daryl Morey has a knack for finding a gem player that makes a bigger impact than anyone would guess. Ariza is an upgrade over Parsons in the Rockets system, bringing some much needed perimeter defense. The cornerstones of this team (“everyone else is a role player”) have a full year under their belt playing together and they’ll look to prove their worth this season.
9. Dallas Mavericks (49-33)
Yes, the Mavs are ranked below the Rockets. They had a nice off season, catapulting themselves from the 8th seed last year into being a middle of the pack playoff team, but still have some holes. They severely downgraded at point guard, losing Calderon and Larkin to bring in Raymond Felton and Jameer. Parsons will be an upgrade over Vince Carter and Tyson Chandler is an upgrade over Dalembert but he’s not the Tyson Chandler that he was on their 2011 championship team. This team will be good, but they have a teeny tiny window to have any chance at another championship.
10. Toronto Raptors (48-34)
The Raptors had a quiet off season in terms of bringing in new talent, but were able to bring back all the guys that made them relevant for the first time since the Bosh days last season. Canada actually has something to get excited about that is not hockey. This team will be very good, but it will need one of their key players to make a significant leap to have any shot at getting to the conference finals.
11. Memphis Grizzlies (50-32)
The Grizzlies defense will be as strong as always with Gasol as the anchor. The question mark remains the offense and whether or not they have enough fire power. Every season that I count the Grizzlies out of the playoffs they remind me just how tough of a mentality they have in Memphis, so all indications would seem that they’re prime for another low playoff seed and first round exit.
12. Washington Wizards (44-38)
The Wizards have one of the best back courts in basketball, but they’ll have to wait to see it in action as Beal continues to rehab an injury. Swapping Ariza for a declining Pierce is far from a wash, but he’ll see plenty of play time this season. According to the general manager poll, one GM had the Wizards going to the conference finals (I wonder which GM that was), but if this prophecy is going to come true, Wall is going to have to carry the team on his back. He’s already one of the league’s to point guards, but a conference finals appearance seems a bit too hopeful.
Beal and Wall will look to enter the discussion of the league’s best back court, but it’ll have to wait.
13. Charlotte Hornets (43-39)
Assuming that I can mentally separate the mindgasm of who plays for the Hornets and who plays for the Pelicans, the Hornets are going to be improved over last years playoff team. Big Al took his game to an unfathomable level last year, and the additions of Lance Stephenson and rookie PJ Hairston will make them even better. Vonleh will be more of a project player, but with plenty of potential. And apparently MKG developed a normal looking shot if you dare to believe it.
14. Miami Heat (54-28) The Heat had the best basketball player in the world walk this off season. Okay, let’s get over that. In a quick decision, Miami nixed the idea of tanking and decided to remain competitive. The cute pick from NBA analysts has been to drop them out of the playoffs, as a team that seems to be a damn near lock. They’re still a damn near lock, trust me. Despite Wade’s health always being questionable, the Heat still have a true star player in Chris Bosh and one of the league’s best all around guys in Deng. The rest of the roster is still filled out nicely enough for them to finish between the 5 and 7 seed.
15. Phoenix Suns (48-34)
I considered dropping the 48 win Suns further, but how can you really? The only big loss from last season is Channing Frye, and his spacing was very valuable to them, but they still have two excellent space creating bigs in the Morris twins. I can’t for the life of me figure out why they need so many point guards (Bledsoe, Dragic, Thomas, and Ennis), but Bledsoe can be on the court with any of those guys at the same time with his tremendous defense. This team will creep close to the playoffs again and probably barely miss again, but they’ll be a hell of a fun team to watch regardless.
Plenty of smiles, but just one basketball for these four to distribute.
16. Denver Nuggets (36-46)
The Nuggets have the toughest team to figure out mostly because we barely got to watch them play together last season being bombarded with injuries. They’ll hope to have Gallinari take the floor for the first time in over about a year and a half. Nate Robinson will return to action as a back up scorer. Afflalo returns to the Nuggets and will be a key piece as well. The Nugs will have a hard time getting to the playoffs considering the strength of the West, but they’ll certainly be competing for a spot until the very end.
17. Atlanta Hawks (38-44)
The Hawks could be swapped with any of the three teams above them and I’d have almost no gripes about it. The reason that they lose love in my rankings is A) their injury history and B) they can afford to lose key players less than any of the three teams above them. As long as Horford stays healthy this is almost a surefire playoff team. Their depth worries me a bit, but they have some interesting rookies that could help to get them more depth than many expect.
18. Detroit Pistons (29-53)
In Stan We Trust. That will be the motto bounced around between Pistons fans as they enter this rebuilding process. They already have interesting pieces in starting to build a team that’s actually relevant and SVG has a proven pedigree. Stan has made it clear that the rotation will be a lot different than last year which should allow their plethora of big men to play more within their style of basketball. And if there is anyone that can get Josh Smith out of his terrible habits, it’s gotta be SVG… doesn’t it?
Fist bumps for everyone.
19. Brooklyn Nets (44-38)
I might not be giving the Nets enough love as they’ll have Brook Lopez return (assuming he’s not completely broken at this point) and have an intriguing rookie coming over in Bojan Bogdanovic, but this is a team that looked flat out bad for the better part of last season. They lost Pierce, which was the only half decent piece left from that horrendous trade made last off season (can you believe how bad that trade looks now!?). While I like Lionel Hollins, bringing in a new coach means learning a new system, so this season may start much like last season started.
20. New Orleans Pelicans (34-48)
It hurts to rank the Pellys this far down, because they have a legit MVP candidate in Anthony Davis if they can bolster themselves into the playoffs. That said it’ll be a tough feat. Asik will but this team into legendary status as far as rim protection goes, but how the rest of the team fits together remains questionable. Jrue Holiday will need to prove a healthy season for them to have any shot at the playoffs, and they’ll have to find some kind of solution for how to play Tyreke and Gordon together (or better yet, find a solution for how to trade one of them).
21. New York Knicks (37-45)
Oh how fast things can change. It’s hard to believe that this was a 54 win team just two seasons ago. Fast forward to last season where they won 17 games less. Bringing in Phil allows them to rebuild with a strategy in mind instead of just throwing players out on the floor together and hope it works out. That said, they’re still at least a year away from the crippling moves that have been made the last several seasons.
Time to turn this ship around.
22. Los Angeles Lakers (27-55)
Even if Kobe Bryant is fully healthy it’s hard to imagine the Lakers being anything but a bottom ten team. Seeing as they barely scraped into the playoffs in Kobe’s last healthy season with Dwight Howard, Steve Nash, and Pau Gasol on the roster, this team seems to be doomed until they get out of salary cap hell. Their power forward glut makes them a few wins better and prohibits their top pick Randle from getting the development he deserves on a bad team.
23. Indiana Pacers (56-26)
I wanted to rank the Pacers higher, but watching this team last year makes me think this might be a generous spot. A team that was terrific on defense last year and abysmal on offense lost their two best perimeter scorers in Paul George and Lance Stephenson. Looking at their roster makes it difficult to imagine where any of their offense comes from and how it gets created in the first place. The creators were George and Stephenson last year. This basically translates to Stuckey and George Hill have a lot on their plate.
24. Sacramento Kings (28-54)
The Kings have thrown together a roster that is loaded with talent, but have been trying to put it all together for far too long. Cousins is one of the most talented big men in basketball, and they’ll hope that Coach K knocked a bit of on court sense into him during the FIBA World Cup. After another difficult off season, though, this team wreaks of “What the hell is their long term plan?” odor.
25. Milwaukee Bucks (15-67)
The Bucks are still a few years away from being competitive, but with them being my go to team in NBA 2k, I’ve noticed that they are deep as hell from a standpoint of having rotation worthy guys. They’ll need Jabari to be elite immediately to have a chance at making a playoff run, but they should be able to help a contender looking for that additional piece in a trade. For those that didn’t watch the Bucks last year because they’re the Bucks here’s a breakdown. Khris Middleton is a terrific wing, Giannis Antetokounmpo is oozing with potential but still a bit raw, and Larry Sanders was nowhere close to living up to his monster contract extension. This will no doubt be a League Pass team to watch this season.
26. Minnesota Timberwolves (40-42)
The Wolves still have plenty of veterans worthy of play time, but in order to accomplish a successful rebuild they’ll be better off finding takers for the like of Kevin Martin, Chase Budinger, and Corey Brewer in a trade to let the young guys play. Wiggins is just happy to be on a team that wants him, and Bennett will have an ample opportunity to prove that he’s not as awful as he looked last year.
27. Utah Jazz (25-57)
The Jazz have a ton of young guys worth watching, but will get beaten up in the tough West, at least this season. Exum has shown flashes of Kobe-esque brilliance in preseason and will quickly become a fan favorite in Utah. Burke and Burks will be a nice tandem, and Gordon will help them win more games than they want as they head back to the lottery. They should start off slow, but will continue to be good at home in the high altitude, and could become a team that strings together more wins as it gets late in the season.
These press conferences will be a delight, because who doesn’t love an Australian accent?
28. Boston Celtics (25-57)
The Celtics nod edge out the bottom two teams here because Rondo has a chance to be Rondo again. Still, this team will be headed back to the lottery. Their starting line up looks atrocious and their bench isn’t much to write home about either. The outside shooters are nonexistent throughout the lineup. This team will draw enough fan appeal with two fun rookies in Smart and Young, but they won’t sniff the playoffs.
29. Orlando Magic (23-59)
The Magic would probably a few spots higher up, but they’ll be without their star player for the first month of the season with a face injury (yeah, I had to check that my eyes didn’t deceive me the first time I read that too). This is another one of the bottom of the barrel teams that fans will tune into watch to see how their rookies Elfrid Payton and Aaron Gordon fare this season, but there won’t be much reason to watch beyond that.
30. Philadelphia 76ers (19-63)
Umm yeah I really don’t even want to write anything about this team. Operation Tank is in full force and that’s all that really needs to be said.
Thanks for reading and look forward to power rankings every Tuesday. The season power rankings will be a much shorter read.
Dropping Dimes 