Post#56 » by Godymas » Tue Aug 12, 2025 12:54 pm
1. OKC Thunder - no reason for their regular season dominance to end, even if they chose to slow down a little, they should be a lock for top 2
2. Houston Rockets - another team that was good in the regular season, except they just upgraded for a guy that brings a new dimension to their offense and has been a #1 option on multiple #1 seeds, they have a shot to take the 1 seed from OKC
3. Denver Nuggets - they have an outside chance to dethrone either of the other 2 teams which results in a Jokic MVP, but imo they are over the regular season and just want to win in the playoffs. The added depth will make things easier for them, and Jokic is obviously going to be in the MVP race.
4. Los Angeles Clippers - depth, this team has so much depth, depth carries the regular season. Forget about their age, and even if you look at the age, no one has had any concern in their age except Kawhi. Harden and CP3 are the biggest floor raisers in the NBA for the regular season, except now CP3 is backing up Harden which means stellar PG play on the floor at all times. John Collins is such a massive acquisition for this team. Trae Young had Collins averaging 21 a few years ago, now he gets 2 better guards plus he can stretch the floor.
5. Los Angeles Lakers - the floor of a Luka team imo, this is just betting on Luka carrying the roster with some assistance from LeBron and the somehow overrated Reaves. Obviously having Ayton helps, but I have a hard time betting on a team with so many clear weaknesses to be much higher. Every team above is so much more complete across the board. Who knows, maybe they sneak a few wins but I don't see them going past the 3 seed.
6. Minnesota Timberwolves - Seems like a consistent machine at this point. They know what they are, they have the same guys, they will play out the regular season well. Ant is what he is, which is a borderline top 5 player in the NBA. Hopefully they can pull Rob Dillingham a bit more because the age concerns on Conley are real. Reasons to have them this low are, Gobert is older, he seems worse offensively, Conley is obviously older, the team is at risk of stagnation.
7. Dallas Mavericks - A lot of overrating with this team. First of all Kyrie is OUT, he's OUT for most the year, a team missing $40 million in All NBA player salary never fills that gap effectively. Second of all, a rookie almost never comes in and fills a gap to take a team to the playoffs, rookies are barely efficient. Most ROTY winners get it done off volume or are playing into a system that limits their volume to keep the #s good. Also AD's health is always a concern
8. Golden State Warriors - It's crazy to see a team with a core of Curry/Butler/Draymond this low, but Curry has declined in recent years, he isn't the same scoring machine. Butler is not a guarantee in the regular season. The rest of this team is alright, but they lack the freshness of teams above them. Maybe some of the older teams above here get injured, imo their ceiling is the 4 seed.
9. San Antonio Spurs - Biggest wild card right now in the West, no clue what the expect from this group of guys. Wemby could propel himself to top 3 MVP this year with a DPOY lock and they might end up much higher in the standings, or they could be consistent, but have growing pains integrating the young guys and testing an inexperienced coach. Hard to say. They could somehow end up the 4 seed, but a play-in seems like a safe bet.
10. Memphis Grizzlies - Another wild card team, objectively they got worse with the loss of Desmond Bane. The idea is a mini reset to continue the Ja/JJJ era of Memphis. Injury concerns for Ja remain a real thing. Getting Ty Jerome is a nice touch, hard to see this team breaking into the top 6 without some MVP level heroics out of Ja.
11. Sacramento Kings - DeMar and Zach LaVine are so comfortable on play-in teams, specifically LaVine who dreams of being on a play-in team every year with his uninspired play. It's hard to be more optimistic for this team, but maybe they sneak up to the coveted 7 seed with a re-inspired LaVine out of Bulls purgatory. In all honesty, this is a team that I could see just being a flat out lower seed too, there is very little to be optimistic about. Fun fact, Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan played better next to Valancunas as far as line-ups were concerned.
12. Portland Trailblazers - Last years surprise story, I don't see a reason for them to be better, but maybe they sneak into the 10 seed. Scoot might actually be NBA ready at last, Deni is underrated. Jrue might play in a Blazers jersey, and obviously Dame is chilling in street clothes. Hopefully the Yang Hansen hype is real.
13. Phoenix Suns - Booker back in his sweet spot, this is what happens when Booker doesn't have a top 75 all time player who is playing at an All NBA level next to him. The roster is a dumpster fire and has millions on the books due to Beal. No clue what a Green and Booker back court is supposed to be, I don't have high hopes. A rookie center and the yet to be on a good team Mark Williams that somehow got nixed due to injury concerns in a Knecht trade. Imo this team tries to sell high on Dillon Brooks at the deadline, realizes they are screwed and Ishbia celebrates by giving fans free hotdogs for every ticket purchase just to keep the city happy.
14. New Orleans Pelicans - No clue what to make of this team, obviously the CJ era is over, the Ingram era is over, it's a soft reset with Jordan Poole who was very comfortable this low in the standings during his years in Washington. Zion is entering "what if" territory at this stage of his career as the injuries always pile on. Maybe something clicks, this is a team that everyone should be low on, but I could see an argument for them going as high as the 8 seed.
15. Utah Jazz - team sucks, just got worse in the off-season, also their last 2 lottery picks look like busts, sorry Utah.
, place your predictions first and Bring it On!. Bump thread end of season 
