Biggest Wild Cards of the Season

Moderators: Domejandro, infinite11285, Harry Garris, ken6199, Dirk, bisme37, KingDavid, bwgood77, zimpy27, cupcakesnake

User avatar
PD28
General Manager
Posts: 8,362
And1: 13,414
Joined: Jan 04, 2013
 

Re: Biggest Wild Cards of the Season 

Post#21 » by PD28 » Tue Aug 9, 2016 2:46 pm

For the raptors, can Norman Powell keep steadily improving and will Ross finally get some consistency (probably not). As for the Knicks I disagree, even if health is not a major concern I don't see them as a top 4 team in the east. Bench is no way near competitive.
Image
JazzMan_OS
Sophomore
Posts: 219
And1: 135
Joined: Jul 27, 2016

Re: Biggest Wild Cards of the Season 

Post#22 » by JazzMan_OS » Tue Aug 9, 2016 3:52 pm

Dante Exum - He is such a talented defender. I hope it begins to click for him on offense this season. If he can give George Hill some competition at the point and maybe even take the starting job, then we should be in great shape.

Alec Burks - Dude hasn't been healthy for 2 seasons now. When he's healthy he's a solid slashing guard with a surprisingly good three-point shot and a decent defender on the other end. Only question now is can he stay healthy with his attack-the-basket playstyle. Hopefully the additions of Hill, Johnson, Exum, and Diaw help prevent his reckless style a bit.

Rodney Hood - I truly believe that Hood can make a jump to 20+ PPG this season. He's one of the best isolation players in the league, he's excellent in the pick-and-roll, and he'll benefit from playing with Hill and Exum instead of Neto and Burke. Helps that Joe Johnson, his childhood idle, is now on the squad to mentor him. His game really does remind me of JJ. Just needs to bulk up a little bit and trust in himself. He hit some big time shots last year, I hope he comes into this year with confidence. If he puts up what he did last year, Utah will be a good team. If he gets up to that 20 PPG area, the Jazz will be a top 3 seed in the West.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk
Nowitness
General Manager
Posts: 7,978
And1: 4,439
Joined: Jun 23, 2012
   

Re: Biggest Wild Cards of the Season 

Post#23 » by Nowitness » Tue Aug 9, 2016 4:29 pm

Harrison Barnes and the general health of the team for the Mavs.
Nowitnessing a legend
User avatar
bmurph128
Lead Assistant
Posts: 5,619
And1: 3,610
Joined: May 28, 2015
     

Re: Biggest Wild Cards of the Season 

Post#24 » by bmurph128 » Tue Aug 9, 2016 5:28 pm

For the Cavs IMO it's the backup PG. Will Kay Felder take it over and play significant minutes, or will it end up being Mo Williams most of the year?

Will Love fit in better? Will Kyrie develop his PG skills?

Coaching continuity?

There's a lot at play for the Cavs here, which is why I think we can be a lot better than we were last year.
PKABOOICU
Assistant Coach
Posts: 4,032
And1: 4,128
Joined: Jun 25, 2014

Re: Biggest Wild Cards of the Season 

Post#25 » by PKABOOICU » Tue Aug 9, 2016 5:36 pm

XtotheDeezy wrote:I think for the Lakers it's whether or not Julia will take the leap. He averaged 11/10 in a season dominated by Kobe's retirement tour and Scott's incompetence. I think we'll get a lot more insight this season as to whether the Rodman comparisons are legit.



edit: she


also never heard of the Rodman comparisons, although I have heard Al Jefferson and Zbo being thrown out quite a bit. She's nowhere close to Big Al in terms of offensive skillset. a young Zbo is comparable but Julia has a lot more athleticism to her than Zbo ever did.


anyway, my picks are Jabari Parker and Joel Embiid for wildcard players and the Knicks, Wolves, Jazz and Bucks for wildcard teams to take the next step
jbk1234
Retired Mod
Retired Mod
Posts: 53,258
And1: 31,982
Joined: Dec 22, 2010
 

Re: Biggest Wild Cards of the Season 

Post#26 » by jbk1234 » Tue Aug 9, 2016 5:59 pm

The Celtics. They're coming off a 48 win season and they signed Horford. But, they lost Sully and Turner for nothing and they're still going to struggle to space the floor. This is before you get into does the roster look the same at the deadline as it does today.
cbosh4mvp wrote:
Jarret Allen isn’t winning you anything. Garland won’t show up in the playoffs. Mobley is a glorified dunk man. Mitchell has some experience but is a liability on defense. To me, the Cavs are a treadmill team.
meekrab
RealGM
Posts: 12,128
And1: 8,843
Joined: Dec 15, 2014

Re: Biggest Wild Cards of the Season 

Post#27 » by meekrab » Tue Aug 9, 2016 6:40 pm

How does Rondo work in the starting lineup with Wade and Butler?

Alternatively, will Tony Snell ever get it together?
User avatar
The Goonibomber
Sophomore
Posts: 203
And1: 96
Joined: May 27, 2011
   

Re: Biggest Wild Cards of the Season 

Post#28 » by The Goonibomber » Tue Aug 9, 2016 7:17 pm

SpreeS wrote:Why D.Green?


I feel like he had an argument for being the most important player on GS, and I certainly don't see him making the same kind of impact with KD around. His decreased role this season is going to be one of the reasons why I don't see the Warriors equaling last year's dominance.

Maybe it's wishful thinking, but somebody has to predict something other than perfection out of these guys.
Att
Senior
Posts: 514
And1: 162
Joined: Jul 08, 2009

Re: Biggest Wild Cards of the Season 

Post#29 » by Att » Tue Aug 9, 2016 7:39 pm

Boarder Patrol wrote:Agree with the Knicks. A healthy starting five of Rose, Lee, Melo, KP and Noah could be pretty good but after that the bench is very unproven and weak overall.

For the league? I'd say Durant fitting in w/ the Warriors but I don't have any doubt he will. I'll say Houston - I could see an insane offensive season getting them in the mix for homecourt or a lotto pick.

The Knicks won't get homecourt advantage even if they are all healthy for the entire season.
Rose and Noah are not the players they once were. Melo and Porz are very good but they still are not as good as that.
User avatar
jazzfan1971
Retired Mod
Retired Mod
Posts: 38,879
And1: 8,043
Joined: Jul 16, 2001
Location: Salt Lake City

Re: Biggest Wild Cards of the Season 

Post#30 » by jazzfan1971 » Tue Aug 9, 2016 8:39 pm

Biggest question marks for me are, embiid, hezonja, and exum. Philly being the biggest team question mark. For coaches I'm keeping an eye on Tyrone lue. He seems in a risky position to me.
"Thibs called back and wanted more picks," said Jorge Sedano. "And Pat Riley, literally, I was told, called him a mother-bleeper and hung up the phone."
User avatar
zeebneeb
RealGM
Posts: 17,323
And1: 10,525
Joined: Jun 30, 2003
Location: ANGERVILLE: Population 1
 

Re: Biggest Wild Cards of the Season 

Post#31 » by zeebneeb » Tue Aug 9, 2016 9:46 pm

jazzfan1971 wrote:Biggest question marks for me are, embiid, hezonja, and exum. Philly being the biggest team question mark. For coaches I'm keeping an eye on Tyrone lue. He seems in a risky position to me.
You know what? I agree with you on Philly. Who knows what that team does in terms of wins, and who starts, or even if all the players now, are on the roster when the season starts.

This is the year for Philly to try and do something solid. I mean how much more of this can Sixer fans take at this point?
vxmike
Head Coach
Posts: 6,026
And1: 3,987
Joined: Sep 24, 2014
 

Re: Biggest Wild Cards of the Season 

Post#32 » by vxmike » Tue Aug 9, 2016 9:51 pm

For the Bulls:

At least one of Mirotic or McDermott has to have a breakout season if they're going to be a top team in the East. This team doesn't have a lot of shooting and needs a breakout season from at least one of them and ideally both to stay on the floor for solid minutes. Pretty much all the other rotation players on the team are known commodities or still 1st or 2nd year players.
User avatar
Prez
Retired Mod
Retired Mod
Posts: 26,304
And1: 41,739
Joined: Jan 26, 2015
 

Re: Biggest Wild Cards of the Season 

Post#33 » by Prez » Tue Aug 9, 2016 10:06 pm

Non homer pick is Porzingis, if he can give NY something like 18/9 with great defense they're going to be a really tough team.

Homer pick is both Giannis and Jabari, I think both are on the verge of exploding and if they do we're going to be dangerous. Very dangerous. Giannis especially, if he takes the next step I think he will, he's going to be a gamechanger.
jswede
Sixth Man
Posts: 1,596
And1: 1,840
Joined: May 11, 2015
Location: South Florida
   

Re: Biggest Wild Cards of the Season 

Post#34 » by jswede » Wed Aug 10, 2016 1:02 am

Maybe not most important in regards to the season, but I'm most curious to see the thrown-together Knicks and thrown-together Bulls. Very little confidence in a prediction for either team. Could go either way.

And also: do the heat win 20? (Kidding. But only a little)
Jon1798
Lead Assistant
Posts: 4,540
And1: 2,476
Joined: Feb 15, 2005

Re: Biggest Wild Cards of the Season 

Post#35 » by Jon1798 » Wed Aug 10, 2016 1:38 am

I think Buddy Heild. Buddy was the best player in college basketball and probably the most NBA ready. If he hits his ceiling, I think the whole league gets to see just how good Jrue Holiday and Anthony Davis really are.
"This post wants out of New Orleans" - Woj
Boarder Patrol
Head Coach
Posts: 7,122
And1: 3,743
Joined: Jun 24, 2013
       

Re: Biggest Wild Cards of the Season 

Post#36 » by Boarder Patrol » Wed Aug 10, 2016 2:49 am

Att wrote:
Boarder Patrol wrote:Agree with the Knicks. A healthy starting five of Rose, Lee, Melo, KP and Noah could be pretty good but after that the bench is very unproven and weak overall.

For the league? I'd say Durant fitting in w/ the Warriors but I don't have any doubt he will. I'll say Houston - I could see an insane offensive season getting them in the mix for homecourt or a lotto pick.

The Knicks won't get homecourt advantage even if they are all healthy for the entire season.
Rose and Noah are not the players they once were. Melo and Porz are very good but they still are not as good as that.


Oh I'm on the same page with the Knicks - guess I don't agree wholly with OP. I think even a healthy Knicks squad is behind Cleveland, Toronto, Boston and Detroit at the very least. Probably a 6-8 seed with good health, 8-12 if poor.
User avatar
Scalabrine
RealGM
Posts: 17,431
And1: 7,276
Joined: Jun 02, 2004
Location: NorCal
     

Re: Biggest Wild Cards of the Season 

Post#37 » by Scalabrine » Wed Aug 10, 2016 4:55 pm

Att wrote:
Boarder Patrol wrote:Agree with the Knicks. A healthy starting five of Rose, Lee, Melo, KP and Noah could be pretty good but after that the bench is very unproven and weak overall.

For the league? I'd say Durant fitting in w/ the Warriors but I don't have any doubt he will. I'll say Houston - I could see an insane offensive season getting them in the mix for homecourt or a lotto pick.

The Knicks won't get homecourt advantage even if they are all healthy for the entire season.
Rose and Noah are not the players they once were. Melo and Porz are very good but they still are not as good as that.


If KP can make the jump to an efficient offensive play and continue his elite defense then I don't think there's a better second option in the East, and he'd be the best player Melo has ever played with. We were the 4th rated defense when he was on the court and the 27th when he was off.

Noah averaged 11/13/5 per 36 last year. He was a productive player he just didn't get the opportunities and then he got hurt. When healthy he is still a top 10-15 center. I think he is going to be huge for the Knicks and KP this season. Rose is definitely the bigger question mark but even if he plays like the average starting point guard he has been, and continues to get into the paint, it will be a massive improvement over Calderon. We were last in the NBA in fast break point and points off penetration, Rose averaged nearly as many points per game in that stat than the entire Knicks team. It was severely needed. If we had a below average starting point guard we would have been a playoff team.

I think our bench should be alright. I'm a little concerned with our backcourt because 1 injury and we become extremely thin but that's why I said it's the biggest wild card...


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM Forums
Go Knicks!
sonictecture
Retired Mod
Retired Mod
Posts: 12,564
And1: 1,081
Joined: May 26, 2002

Re: Biggest Wild Cards of the Season 

Post#38 » by sonictecture » Wed Aug 10, 2016 5:14 pm

lakerhater wrote:As a GSW fan Kevon Looney is at the top of this list. His health is in question but he's added weight/strength and is up to 245 lbs. If his body can hold up he can be a factor for GSW this season.

He won't define the W's success but he has a lot of skills that could help their strength in numbers concept and he brings things to the table other W's bigs don't (3 Pt shooting and ball handling)

It's unlikely but possible Looney (far) exceeds expectations and provides the W's with yet another weapon.

This comes off as the most snide wild card I've ever read in one of these threads. Like the only question your team has is whether Kevin Looney is going to be healthy.

You are reminding me of Laker fans during the Kobe era. SMH.
Mystical Apples
Assistant Coach
Posts: 4,393
And1: 1,349
Joined: Jul 06, 2015
 

Re: Biggest Wild Cards of the Season 

Post#39 » by Mystical Apples » Wed Aug 10, 2016 5:46 pm

I'd say Rose is anti-wild card. Few players have been as consistently bad with a knowable outcome from his large, 4 most recent seasons sample size. Whatever untapped reserve people think remains was wiped out by injury + he's 28 now, which wouldn't be nearly the same problem if he could shoot, pass, defend, or had a usage < 28%.

Plus the Knicks will have dreadful shooting and passing so it's hard to see how Rose provides anything above replacement level. Noah is a talented passer but besides Lee he'll be surrounded by a collection of high usage scorers who don't space the floor and need the rock. Not to mention Noah's presence will slide Porzingas and Anthony down a position and compound the traffic jam.
geometry
zzaj
Head Coach
Posts: 7,497
And1: 2,500
Joined: Jul 12, 2006
 

Re: Biggest Wild Cards of the Season 

Post#40 » by zzaj » Wed Aug 10, 2016 7:23 pm

Biggest "Wild Card"?

Injuries


Seriously though, even if I have no rooting interest, I'm looking forward to seeing Embiid's effect on the 76ers if he ends up healthy.

Return to The General Board