It's still early but this season really feels like a changing of the guard.. the ushering in of a new era.

[Calinks]

Maybe it's just early days and in two months all we be business as usual but this season, even from day 1, just felt like it was going to be different. It seems like we seeing a noticeable shift of the old teams and dominant players losing their stranglehold and new players and teams starting to step into the limelight.

This shift has been going on for a few years, it didn't just start this season, The Denver Nuggets being runaway dominant NBA champions are a clear sign of that. We are seeing regular NBA contenders struggle though. The Warriors, Lakers, Clippers, Bucks have looked shaky at times. The Rockets, Magic, Timberwolves, Thunder seem to have taken major leaps.

Players like Holmgren, Edwards, Fox, Haliburton, Wembeyana, Ball, Fox, are putting up crazy games and taking the league by storm. Some household names like Klay Thompson, Harden, Leonard, are greatly struggling.

Even the zeitgeist of team construction seems to have shifted a bit. The last decade or so has been all about small ball but now we see some teams going big again. Boston, Cleveland, and Minnesota come to mind. Chet and Wemby are two new big time tall problems for the next 10 years and if these teams see some long term success going big I wonder if more teams will start to shift.

The championship doesn't feel like a total between two to three teams like it used to. I'm not sure there is one team that is way better than the rest right now. Things feel really open and transitory, Kind of like the aftermath of an explosion and all of the debris is just settling.

It's exciting. But maybe I'm just getting a little ahead of myself 6 or so weeks into the season.

[lambchop]

I think teams like the Warriors, Lakers, Clippers, Bucks are in that veteran stage where a young team probably still wouldn't like to see them in the early stages of the playoffs. Similar to how the Warriors beat the Kings last year or the Lakers beat the Grizz. As long as they have fresh legs, health and the chance to game plan, those older teams are still a problem.

However, I do agree that they're not nearly as formidable or intimidating as the real contenders. But even those young contenders can simply run into matchup problems and lose. Outside of Denver, of course, who are already a proven team and very well constructed.

[zimpy27]

Early season is for the youngins to come in all fired up.

Vet teams usually start to hit stride closer to playoffs

[cgf]

Don't follow the West very closely, but the East is in a really interesting spot. Boston, Milwaukee, and Philly are the big favorites, but the Cavs, Knicks, & Heat all look better than last year...and with Orlando & Indy leapfrogging the Hawks & Nets, we could end up with each first round series being up a toss up.

[jkvonny]

Early season is for the youngins to come in all fired up.

Vet teams usually start to hit stride closer to playoffs

Suns, Clips, or Bucks will win it all then?

[jkvonny]

Maybe it's just early days and in two months all we be business as usual but this season, even from day 1, just felt like it was going to be different. It seems like we seeing a noticeable shift of the old teams and dominant players losing their stranglehold and new players and teams starting to step into the limelight.

This shift has been going on for a few years, it didn't just start this season, The Denver Nuggets being runaway dominant NBA champions are a clear sign of that. We are seeing regular NBA contenders struggle though. The Warriors, Lakers, Clippers, Bucks have looked shaky at times. The Rockets, Magic, Timberwolves, Thunder seem to have taken major leaps.

Players like Holmgren, Edwards, Fox, Haliburton, Wembeyana, Ball, Fox, are putting up crazy games and taking the league by storm. Some household names like Klay Thompson, Harden, Leonard, are greatly struggling.

Even the zeitgeist of team construction seems to have shifted a bit. The last decade or so has been all about small ball but now we see some teams going big again. Boston, Cleveland, and Minnesota come to mind. Chet and Wemby are two new big time tall problems for the next 10 years and if these teams see some long term success going big I wonder if more teams will start to shift.

The championship doesn't feel like a total between two to three teams like it used to. I'm not sure there is one team that is way better than the rest right now. Things feel really open and transitory, Kind of like the aftermath of an explosion and all of the debris is just settling.

It's exciting. But maybe I'm just getting a little ahead of myself 6 or so weeks into the season.

Pretty much agree.

[zimpy27]

Early season is for the youngins to come in all fired up.

Vet teams usually start to hit stride closer to playoffs

Suns, Clips, or Bucks will win it all then?

Bucks, Celtics, Philly, Lakers, Nuggets, Suns

One of those teams yeah

[jkvonny]

Early season is for the youngins to come in all fired up.

Vet teams usually start to hit stride closer to playoffs

Suns, Clips, or Bucks will win it all then?

Bucks, Celtics, Philly, Lakers, Nuggets, Suns

One of those teams yeah

Add the Clips and take out the Lakers and I agree!

[Exp0sed]

Early season is for the youngins to come in all fired up.

Vet teams usually start to hit stride closer to playoffs

Suns, Clips, or Bucks will win it all then?

Bucks, Celtics, Philly, Lakers, Nuggets, Suns

One of those teams yeah

Lakers have about 0% chance to win it all
LBJ can't keep this up for a whole season + postseason, he'll be (again) banged up by March and not enough rest in a long playoff run for him. AD is AD, they're a good team but the West is just nuts

these Lakers are essentialy the same team that overachieved getting to the WCF and still was swept by the Nuggets. I doubt a rematch would end differently thi season and tbh I'd be surprised if they even make the WCF again, let alone win a chip

it'll be one of the teams you listed sans the Lakers

maybe i'm overeacting to their hot start but I think Minnesota can go all the way. they are still getting slept on because of prejeduice and well...it's the Wolves but if KAT can keep playing like this (Edwards playing like he has been is more of a given imo) - they can beat anyone in a 7 game series, their starting 5 with Conley, MCdaniels and Gobert is the best starting 5 in the league imo or at least comparable to anyone.

KAT and ANT firing on all cylinders gonna be a problem in the playoffs for anyone, especially with HCA.

[zimpy27]

Suns, Clips, or Bucks will win it all then?

Bucks, Celtics, Philly, Lakers, Nuggets, Suns

One of those teams yeah

Lakers have about 0% chance to win it all
LBJ can't keep this up for a whole season + postseason, he'll be (again) banged up by March and not enough rest in a long playoff run for him. AD is AD, they're a good team but the West is just nuts

these Lakers are essentialy the same team that overachieved getting to the WCF and still was swept by the Nuggets. I doubt a rematch would end differently thi season and tbh I'd be surprised if they even make the WCF again, let alone win a chip

it'll be one of the teams you listed sans the Lakers

maybe i'm overeacting to their hot start but I think Minnesota can go all the way. they are still getting slept on because of prejeduice and well...it's the Wolves but if KAT can keep playing like this (Edwards playing like he has been is more of a given imo) - they can beat anyone in a 7 game series, their starting 5 with Conley, MCdaniels and Gobert is the best starting 5 in the league imo.

KAT and ANT firing on all cylinders gonna be a problem in the playoffs for anyone, especially with HCA.

Lakers hung the best with the Nuggets and they won the championship.

Lakers are better this season.

I don't think an inexperienced team is worth a fight even at full health. Maybe next season

[antonac]

If anything it's now that we're so firmly in the Jokic/Embiid/Giannis/Tatum/Doncic era that we've begun to wonder who's next.

The current guard are absolute locks for 1st or 2nd all-nba for the next 2-3 years and I'm fairly certain the champs will have one of those players on their roster. But we will start to see some of those names you mentioned creep in. I could see Haliburton getting in to the 2nd team this year, Edwards and Banchero aren't bad bets for 3rd team.

[Exp0sed]

Bucks, Celtics, Philly, Lakers, Nuggets, Suns

One of those teams yeah

KAT and ANT firing on all cylinders gonna be a problem in the playoffs for anyone, especially with HCA.

Lakers hung the best with the Nuggets and they won the championship.

Lakers are better this season.

I don't think an inexperienced team is worth a fight even at full health. Maybe next season

I actually thought the Wolves hung the best with the Nuggets last season and they did it without Naz Reid their first big of the bench whose a heck of a player and without Mcdaniels

Lakers are better? how so?
they're better than the Lakers which started last season but after the deadline moves, the team that faced the Nuggets is basically this current team.

the 8 players who played the most mins vs the Nuggets by order of mins played: LBJ, AD, Reaves, Rui. Schroeder, D-lo, Lonnie Walker and Vando

top 8 by total mins played this season: AD, LBJ, D'lo. Reaves, Prince,Wood. Reddish, Rui

Schroeder and Walker are pretty comparable to the newcomers Reddeish, Wood and Prince.
they're slightly deeper (and Vando is coming back) but it's still essentially the same team. they have like the 25h best offense thus far, a Lakers chip ain't happening

as for inexperienced teams, Minny was very inexperienced last season but they also barely played together because of long injuries, KAT only came back at the tail end of the season and they barely played together as a trio

KAT has plenty of experience (including team USA), Gobert has some experience and is a seasoned vet by now, Conley is the super experienced leader and glue guy, ANT got his first taste last season and he played phenomenally in his playoff debut, he's a top 10 player easily rn and is a baller, he'll be fine and he got some team USA under his belt now too

I don't know if i'd call them "inexperienced" and yes, they probably will fall short this year, in part because of playoff experience but they still have a better chance (albeit slim) to win a chip this season than the Lakers, that's all I was saying

btw, the Lakers needed a meltdown and OT to beat the Wolves in the play-in game and the Wolves are now a much better team, with more experience than last season. I stand by by prediction, Wolves are going places this season, not in some distant point in the future

Prime KAT finally playing defense and fully buying into winning, ANT playing like a superstar on both ends, Gobert cleaning everything up, Mcdaniels is a world class wing defender and Conley is aging like fine wine, that's a heck of a playoff starting 5 imo.

[Roy T]

It's about damn time.

I think the league needs fresh contenders like Minnesota, Orlando or Oklahoma. And we need new faces of the league like Banchero, Wembumayama and Holmgren. The second age of the bigs is about to start and I am pretty excited about it.

[druggas]

I think it's more of people buying into "the regular season is meaningless" than anything else. Now the players believe that too.

[Jabroni Lames]

There's never a clear changing of the guard... the old guard just kind of declines and finally goes out one by one, with a whimper. I mean, last 5 MVPs (Giannis, Jokic, Embiid) were already a changing of the guard, of sorts.

[dhsilv2]

I had to check to see if this was written this year or last. I'm not sure what's really changed from last year beyond Gobert and the wolves are clicking and Murray being out has slowed down the nuggets who when healthy look unbeatable. But their depth is a real concern.

[Statlanta]

I hope so. I'm tired of all the legacy talk in regards to Curry, Durant and James. Jokic winning was the start of stopping that talk

[Michael Jordan]

I feel like this is a shift for the worse, though parity is at its best point in a long time, I've become less interested in the NBA for several reasons.

After the pandemic it just hasn't been the same for me.

[cgf]

I think it's more of people buying into "the regular season is meaningless" than anything else. Now the players believe that too.

I don't understand this argument when we've got bad teams competing later into the season than ever before and good teams having to get serious earlier than I can ever remember to avoid the play-in.

[cgf]

I feel like this is a shift for the worse, though parity is at its best point in a long time, I've become less interested in the NBA for several reasons.

After the pandemic it just hasn't been the same for me.

I'm the opposite. I usually enjoy the kind of unreal excellence we saw during the Warriors heyday, but I feel like the parity being driven by the increased talent level and by there being fewer poorly-run franchises than I can remember there ever being, has me more excited about the NBA than I've been in a long time.

Granted, as a Knicks fan, it's not hard to be more excited by this era of Knicks basketball than any we've experienced since the Ewing trade