2018-19 Western Conference Playoff Race

[THE J0KER]

Even if Butler made some big mistakes, I doubt he will repeat it in the new team, and shoot himself in the foot ruining his reputation for next summer FA market. Players which change their teams recently with some "drama" (Durant, George, Irving, Bledsoe, Kawhi...) seems loyal and not destructive to their current teams, so I can't see Butler being a big exception. But I doubt he will be available till December 15 anyway.

[The Rebel]

HAve to bring up the elephant in the room, does anyone want a taslented player who has forced his way off TWO young teams ??

Love the talent Butler brings but I don't want the drama that goes with him. I.T. is a potential time bomb himself, really don't want to throw some nitro in with it.

Depends on how you view what is going on with Butler. Reportedly he thinks that KaT is soft and Wiggins does not want to put in the effort to be the stars they could be, now his methods re more old school and people today may not like it, but it appears that the Twolves have been trying to get these guys to work on it and it has not worked. This Nuggets team is full of guys who were not drafted in the top 5, our best player is a mid 2nd round pick, our 2nd best was the 19th overall, we have guys who want to work and put in the effort, and I think that a vocal leader that is known for wanting his guys to outwork everybody may not be a bad fit in the lockerroom.

Even Paul George said that what Butler was trying to do was the right thing for the young Twolves, not his fault after a year it has all come to this.

So how would you feel when Butler goes after Jokic for his defense ?? or Murray ? I can see their work ethics being lauded but bringing in a guy who has simply put, created animosity in both locker rooms he's been in ....well that is a HUGE red flag to me.

I hope that Murray and Jokic handle it as we all hope. I hope they compete harder and work as hard as they can to take the next step. That is what the young future champions do, if they fold like KAT seems to have, than you want to know that as well. Worse case he wears thin and a year from now he is gome and we create max cap space to go after a young defensive PF like Turner.

[THE J0KER]

I checked again, and Will Barton is available for deals only since January 15, not December, which makes eventual Butler/Denver deal even less possible.

Here is the Nuggets schedule for the first 30 days of the season. In these opening 15 games, only 5 are on the road where only Lakers are the playoff-level opponent. OK, home matches include GSW and HOU, but still, our start of the season MUST be very strong, at least 10 wins in the opening 15 games.

Oct-17 @LAC
Oct-20 PHO
Oct-21 GS
Oct-23 SAC
Oct-25 @LAL
Oct-29 NO
Oct-31 @CHI
Nov-01 @CLE
Nov-03 UTA
Nov-05 BOS
Nov-07 @MEM
Nov-09 BKN
Nov-11 MIL
Nov-13 HOU
Nov-15 ATL

According to me , in the first 15 games of 2018-19 season, we are must-win favorites in 6 games, should-win in another 6, and opponent have better chances only in 3!

[NuggetsWY]

I checked again, and Will Barton is available for deals only since January 15, not December, which makes eventual Butler/Denver deal even less possible.

Here is the Nuggets schedule for the first 30 days of the season. In these opening 15 games, only 5 are on the road where only Lakers are the playoff-level opponent. OK, home matches include GSW and HOU, but still, our start of the season MUST be very strong, at least 10 wins in the opening 15 games.

Oct-17 @LAC
Oct-20 PHO
Oct-21 GS
Oct-23 SAC
Oct-25 @LAL
Oct-29 NO
Oct-31 @CHI
Nov-01 @CLE
Nov-03 UTA
Nov-05 BOS
Nov-07 @MEM
Nov-09 BKN
Nov-11 MIL
Nov-13 HOU
Nov-15 ATL

According to me , in the first 15 games of 2018-19 season, we are must-win favorites in 6 games, should-win in another 6, and opponent have better chances only in 3!

I'm OK with our roster as it is for this season and except for center, we are deep enough to handle two injuries at any one position (although some of those will hurt).

I'd rank our first 15 games as 7 that we should be expected to win and those are the ones that are most critical. For the last few years, we have lost far too many games against teams that we should have beaten. That's going to happen of course - even the best team in the league loses a few games even when favored in every game. However, if we are going to make the playoffs in the west, we can't afford to lose more than 3 or 4 of those games during the entire year.

[THE J0KER]

Paul Allen, famous Portland Trail Blazers owner has died today at 65.

He makes this basically small-market team very relevant in past three decades. During Paul Allen era (since 1988) Portland misses just 7 times playoff. This must be a big shock for this franchise.

[TunaFish]

Another projection with the Nuggets in the playoffs. Spurs and Blazers out.

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2019-nba-predictions/

They have Denver as the eighth best team in the NBA.

[THE J0KER]

ESPN writer Zach Lowe made some interesting predictions about the upcoming season. In the couple of them he mentioned Denver:

- Nikola Jokic makes his first All-Star team
- Denver declines its team option on Paul Millsap and re-signs him for less
- Denver hosts a first-round playoff series
- The eight West playoff teams if Minnesota trades Butler - Golden State, Houston, Oklahoma City, Utah, Denver, Lakers, New Orleans, Portland
- The eight West playoff teams if Minnesota keeps Butler/everyone doesn't murder each other - Golden State, Houston, Oklahoma City, Utah, Denver, Lakers, New Orleans, Minnesota

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/24988629/zach-lowe-crazy-predictions-2018-19-nba-season

[skywalker33]

ESPN writer Zach Lowe made some interesting predictions about the upcoming season. In the couple of them he mentioned Denver:

- Nikola Jokic makes his first All-Star team
- Denver declines its team option on Paul Millsap and re-signs him for less
- Denver hosts a first-round playoff series
- The eight West playoff teams if Minnesota trades Butler - Golden State, Houston, Oklahoma City, Utah, Denver, Lakers, New Orleans, Portland
- The eight West playoff teams if Minnesota keeps Butler/everyone doesn't murder each other - Golden State, Houston, Oklahoma City, Utah, Denver, Lakers, New Orleans, Minnesota

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/24988629/zach-lowe-crazy-predictions-2018-19-nba-season

Those don't sounds so crazy to me...

[NuggetsWY]

ESPN writer Zach Lowe made some interesting predictions about the upcoming season. In the couple of them he mentioned Denver:

- Nikola Jokic makes his first All-Star team
- Denver declines its team option on Paul Millsap and re-signs him for less
- Denver hosts a first-round playoff series
- The eight West playoff teams if Minnesota trades Butler - Golden State, Houston, Oklahoma City, Utah, Denver, Lakers, New Orleans, Portland
- The eight West playoff teams if Minnesota keeps Butler/everyone doesn't murder each other - Golden State, Houston, Oklahoma City, Utah, Denver, Lakers, New Orleans, Minnesota

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/24988629/zach-lowe-crazy-predictions-2018-19-nba-season

Those don't sounds so crazy to me...

Not so crazy, except:
Jokic - All-star? Looks likely
Denver re-signs Millsap for less --- depends on how Vanderbilt/Lyles/Porter do - but seems likely
Denver hosts 1st round? and Eight west playoff teams lists Denver as 5th - one of these is wrong! (Maybe both?)

[THE J0KER]

Short Western Conference scanning after opening night games:

Golden State - bad game, but enough to win
Houston - very bad day vs strong opponent
Portland - not played yet
Oklahoma - Schroeder is now more useful than Melo!
Utah - opponent was too weak
New Orleans - a team of the day, and their big-man rotation Davis-Mirotic-Randle were 87-34-14. Credit to Payton too for triple-double.
San Antonio - they should lose tonight, but KAT was fouled out, playing just about 20 minutes
Minnesota - good game, they almost beat Spurs on the road, but KAT screw it
Denver - a win is a win
L.A. Clippers - not playoff contenders definitely
L.A. Lakers - not played yet
Sacramento - it seems this year is going to be breakthrough for Fox
Dallas - without Barnes and Nowitzki they are an easy target
Memphis - not playoff contenders definitely
Phoenix - with good point guard ceiling of this team is high

[Lala870]

1. GS
2. Utah
3. Houston (despite the horrible debut, they will beat most teams on harden alone)
4. LAL
5. OKC
6. SA
7. Den
8. Portland

7-9 will be a tossup IMO. I dont see san Antonio missing playoffs... NO could easily jump den or Portland

[NuggetsWY]

1. GS
2. Utah
3. Houston (despite the horrible debut, they will beat most teams on harden alone)
4. LAL
5. OKC
6. SA
7. Den
8. Portland

7-9 will be a tossup IMO. I dont see san Antonio missing playoffs... NO could easily jump den or Portland

Not sure I'd rank LAL that high (but they are a wild card). I certainly wouldn't rank SA that high with all the players they lost to retirement/trade/injury. Love Utah, but not sure they rank ahead of Houston - but this week they do.

[skywalker33]

Lakers lose tonight, taken out by POR. Good effort by PDX to honor Paul Allen.

[skywalker33]

HOU at LAL on Sat, looks like someone is going 0-2. My money is on Lakers coming up short, their shooting was horrid vs POR.

[skywalker33]

Good nite for the Nuggets last evening, the Clips took out the Thunder and the Warriors got a buzzer beater to upset the Jazz at home !! Now we need to take advantage of that and beat the Suns tonight, I'll be there rooting on the home team.

Go Nuggets !!!

[THE J0KER]

OK, we wanted for this season same offense like last season, but with better defense. 107-98 and 119-91 opening wins suggest we are close to our goal. Also, we wanted early Jokic triple-double as early proof that he running our offense since the early start of the season, and we got it already on Game#2.

But Barton hip injury against Suns, if it is bad as it seems, can make real damage to our season start. SF is our weakest spot anyway, but without Barton, it would be our real Achilles Heel. Tomorrow vs GSW maybe we should use that Lyles-SF experiment which Malone once mentioned.

[skywalker33]

Big melee in the Lakers/Rockets game, Rondo/Paul/Ingram ejected. Watching it I'm betting Ingrams gets multiple game suspension for blatantly throwing punches, Paul and Rondo will get suspensions too.

[THE J0KER]

Big melee in the Lakers/Rockets game, Rondo/Paul/Ingram ejected. Watching it I'm betting Ingrams gets multiple game suspension for blatantly throwing punches, Paul and Rondo will get suspensions too.

3+ games suspensions and Ingram/Rondo will not be available for Thursday game vs Denver. At least some compensation for our missing Barton, IT and MPJ.

[THE J0KER]

Its official, Rondo and Ingram will not play vs Denver next week.
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2802094-report-chris-paul-rajon-rondo-brandon-ingram-suspended-for-roles-in-fight

The NBA suspended Paul two games, Rondo three games and Ingram four games Sunday following their brawl during Saturday's showdown at Staples Center, via Howard Beck of Bleacher Report:

[THE J0KER]

After the first week of the 2018-19 season, the only two teams with all 3 wins are Denver and Toronto!