2023-24 Standings Predictions

[fbalmeida]

Alright, let's get it out there.

Western Conference

1 - Golden State Warriors
2 - Los Angeles Lakers
3 - Minnesota Timberwolves
4 - Denver Nuggets
5 - Dallas Mavericks
6 - Memphis Grizzlies
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7 - Phoenix Suns
8 - New Orleans Pelicans
9 - Sacramento Kings
10 - Oklahoma City Thunder
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11 - Los Angeles Clippers
12 - Portland Trail Blazers
13 - San Antonio Spurs
14 - Utah Jazz
15 - Houston Rockets

The Lakers will depend on Lebron's health. I think they could easily drop if he falls off. But they are rather deep, and I can see them handling themselves.
Suns: Beal is overrated, and Durant is 35 years old. And Nurkic? I don't like their chances.
Ultimately, the west is really balanced, and I don't see much separation between the 3rd and 11th seed.

Eastern Conference

1 - Milwaukee Bucks
2 - Boston Celtics
3 - Toronto Raptors
4 - Indiana Pacers
5 - Atlanta Hawks
6 - New York Knicks
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7 - Miami Heat
8 - Philadelphia 76ers
9 - Cleveland Cavaliers
10 - Brooklyn Nets
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11 - Chicago Bulls
12 - Orlando Magic
13 - Detroit Pistons
14 - Washington Wizards
15 - Charlotte Hornets

I totally expect the Bucks to dominate the East.
I think the Celtics' bench is worrisome, but their top 3, Jrue, Jaylen, and Jayson, should be good enough to propel them fairly high.
Raptors baby: I like our chances. If Barnes's 3pt shooting is a thing (5-11 in the pre-season), he'll be very difficult to stop. Also, our bench looks fairly stacked right now. To the point where, even with Koloko out, neither Boucher or Thaddeus have a role to play.

Haws: expecting a breakout season from AJ Griffin, to improve the Hawks from last year.
Heat: reliable bench, but I don't see a starting 5 there that can improve upon last year.
76ers: I fully expect the Nurse tenure in Philly to be a total catastrophe. PJ is an old man. Embiid won't handle Nurse's schemes and the stop-gap Bamba is about as low IQ as they come. Oubre is likely getting Nurse's "nope nope nope" dog house treatment. A few losses and a sub-par record, and my guess is that Embiid will be sharing his thoughts about his personal misery on twitter before Christmas.
I don't see the Cavs making their gig work unless Mobley brings on the juice and takes it to another level.
Nets: hard to gauge but I can see them taking a relative step back with the Hawks and Pacers improving.

[WaltFrazier]

I saw Denver at 4th and tuned out

[Los_29]

Surely this can’t be for this season? These predictions are wild. Lol.

[hyper316]

Turrible list

[fbalmeida]

Denver had 53 wins last year. Having lost Bruce Brown and Jeff Green, and add a slight drop in post-championship hunger, I can see them losing 5 more games. In the West that's likely enough to drop them to 4th.

[YogurtProducer]

We the 3rd?

Seems ambitious. But the over on 37.5 wins for us is free money IMO

[HumbleRen]

Wow, those are bold predictions lol.

These are mine.

Eastern conference:

1. Boston Celtics
2. Cleveland Cavaliers
3. Milwaukee Bucks
4. New York Knicks
5. 76ers
6. Atlanta Hawks
7. Indiana Pacers
8. Miami Heat

9. Toronto Raptors
10. Orlando Magic

11. Chicago Bulls
12. Brooklyn Nets
13. Charlotte Hornets
14. Detroit Pistons
15. Washington Wizards

Western Conference:

1. Denver Nuggets
2. Phoenix Suns
3. Minnesota Timberwolves
4. LA Lakers
5. Golden State Warriors
6. New Orleans Pelicans
7. OKC Thunder
8. LA Clippers

9. Dallas Mavericks
10. Sacramento Kings

11. Memphis Grizzlies
12. Utah Jazz
13. Houston Rockets
14. San Antonio Spurs
15. Portland Blazers

[VanWest82]

Toronto 3rd? Cleveland 9th? Denver 4th? Warriors 1st? Pacers 4th?

There's almost too much I disagree with here to know where to respond.

[WuTang_CMB]

1. Boston
2. Bucks
3. Philly
4. Cavs
5. Heat
6. Toronto
7. Knicks
8. Hawks
9.BRK
10. Bulls
11.Pacers
12. Magic
13. Hornets
14. Detroit
15. Wizards

[2019nbachamps]

OP's predictions are turrible.

West is between Nuggets, Clippers, Suns.

East is between Celtics and Bucks.

Everyone else is a pretender. Lakers and Heat didn't really improve this summer. Adding CP3 doesn't make the Warriors better.

[ItsDanger]

3rd? Confirmed MLSE employee. I respect the optimism but c'mon.

[Yeezus_]

EAST
1. Boston Celtics
2. Milwaukee Bucks
3. Cleveland Cavs
4. Philadelphia 6ers
5. Toronto Raptors
6. New York Knicks
7. Miami Heat
8. Chicago Bulls

9. Indiana Pacers
10. Brooklyn Nets

WEST
1. Denver Nuggets
2. Phoenix Suns
3. Sacramento Kings
4. Dallas Mavericks
6. Golden State Warriors
7. Memphis Grizzlies
8. New Orleans Pelicans

9. LA Lakers
10. LA Clippers

West is literally a guess, all these teams can be from 3-10.

[Duffman100]

I’m bullish about this team but 3rd is just fantasy.

[Steelo Green]

Probably the worst list in the history of lists.

[metafisical]

Probably the worst list in the history of lists.

Half of this board: "hold my beer..."

[KL78192020]

How do you have the injury prone Lakers and Warriors above the Nuggets, as well as the mediocre Wolves lol.

[ItsDanger]

Denver winning % last 5 seasons: .646, .585, .653, .630, .659. The lowest was season without Murray/MPJ. Yet Brown leaving will cost them 5 wins? Horrible logic and complete disrespect to MVP Jokic.

[Potential]

Idk about standings but here's the top 3 best teams in each conference:

Denver
Lakers
OKC

Boston
Milwaukee
Indiana

[Badonkadonk]

Denver had 53 wins last year. Having lost Bruce Brown and Jeff Green, and add a slight drop in post-championship hunger, I can see them losing 5 more games. In the West that's likely enough to drop them to 4th.

Yeah but minutes are a zero-sum game. Brown was great, but Christian Brawn looked really good last year and looks like he's ready to swallow many of those minutes. Reggie Jackson and Justin Holiday are legit rotation guys. They couldn't even find time for Julian Strawther last night, who looked like this year's version of Christian Braun in pre-season.

I don't think they miss a beat.

[OakleyDokely]

East:

1. MIL
2. BOS
3. CLE
4. PHI
5. MIA
6. NYK
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7. ATL
8. TOR
9. IND
10. CHI
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11. ORL
12. BRK
13. CHA
14. WAS
15. DET

West:

1. DEN
2. PHX
3. MEM
4. GS
5. SAC
6. NO
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7. LAL
8. LAC
9. MIN
10. DAL
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11. OKC
12. UTA
13. HOU
14. POR
15. SA

East Final: MIL over BOS
West Final: DEN over PHX
NBA Finals: DEN over MIL