Credit:@GoldenStateWarriors
By Vincent Pensabene
The end of one of the most nomadic off-seasons has reached as the NBA has gone into its preseason. This leads to one thing, predictions about where your favorite team’s season will end or if your favorite player will play well enough to collect some hardware (for length reasons, this will only include playoff seeding).
With the Eastern Conference looking subpar compared to the West, will LeBron James have a cakewalk to his eight straight finals appearance? Is Lonzo Ball going to be able to bring the Lakers to the playoffs like his father promised on live television? Is the Western Conference going to have enough All-Star slots for their team?
The Western Conference is the most stacked it has ever been, with the West doubling the East in combined All-Star Game selections (141 to 67). ‘Superteams’ are being assembled to dethrone the reigning champion Golden State Warriors in Oklahoma City and Houston. With the champs keeping the same roster, except for acquiring Nick Young, the rest of the NBA seemed to be in a frenzy. Chris Paul was traded to the Houston Rockets for almost half of Houston’s roster while both Paul George and Carmelo Anthony were traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder to team with reigning-MVP Russell Westbrook. The San Antonio Spurs added veteran Rudy Gay to their team as they look to win 50 plus games for a record nineteenth consecutive season and be a force in the postseason. The Minnesota Timberwolves added Jimmy Butler on draft day with a huge trade with the Chicago Bulls to add to Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins. This is how the Western Conference playoff picture will end up:
- Golden State Warriors
- San Antonio Spurs
- Oklahoma City Thunder
- Houston Rockets
- Minnesota Timberwolves
- Memphis Grizzlies
- New Orleans Pelicans
- Portland Trail Blazers
The Eastern Conference is very top-heavy with 66 percent of the All-Star appearances remaining in the East belonging to either players of the Cleveland Cavaliers or Boston Celtics. The Boston Celtics have practically overhauled their team this offseason returning only four players from last year’s roster, which is the first time in NBA history only 4 players returned after the team made the conference finals the previous year. Their key acquisition was Kyrie Irving from Cleveland after Irving demanded a trade to “become a true point guard”. The Celtics acquired Gordon Hayward by way of free agency and solid role players like Aron Baynes and Marcus Morris as well. The Cleveland Cavaliers have arguably gotten better than last year’s team that lost to Golden State in the finals in five games. The Cavaliers acquired Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, & the Brooklyn Nets’ first-round draft pick for Kyrie Irving as well as signing former MVP Derrick Rose and Dwayne Wade. The Nets first-round pick is projected to be very valuable and the Cavaliers will be faced with an interesting decision to either keep the pick and draft a player next year or trade the pick to a team for a big-time player, which can shift the entire league. The rest of the conference either stayed put or has gotten worse through the offseason so here is the Eastern Conference playoff picture:
- Boston Celtics
- Cleveland Cavaliers
- Toronto Raptors
- Washington Wizards
- Milwaukee Buck
- Miami Heat
- Charlotte Hornets
8.Philadelphia 76ers
There are a lot of sports analysts that will differ from some teams chosen on this playoff picture. One popular one is the 76ers making the playoffs after tanking the previous handful of seasons. The tanking will pay off as 76ers are ready to bring playoff basketball back for the first time since 2012. Another team is the Los Angeles Lakers, people need to remember that the team is coming off getting the second pick in the draft last year and playing in a stacked conference, in the East they would easily walk in the playoffs. Rookie Lonzo Ball will have a good season and compete for the eighth seed but nothing more.
The playoffs will lead to the conference matchups of the Cleveland Cavaliers vs Boston Celtics in the East and the Oklahoma City Thunder vs Golden State Warriors. The Cavaliers will advance to the NBA finals to play the Oklahoma City Thunder after a brutal seven-game series as Russell Westbrook gets the upper hand on Kevin Durant. The Cavaliers will eventually win the NBA title in 5 games with LeBron James becoming the third player in NBA history to win the regular season and finals MVP in the same season multiple times (Larry Bird and Michael Jordan).
Other regular season awards will be Rookie of the Year given to Lakers’ Lonzo Ball as he has Brook Lopez to give the ball to in need of assists as well as some formidable shooters. Sixth Man of the Year will be given to the Rockets’ Eric Gordon, who won the trophy last season as well. Coach of the Year will go to the Thunder’s Billy Donovan for their success in the regular season.
