RealGM

Pretty straight forward topic... who are the guys you are most looking forward to watching this season?

1) Ben Simmons - He provides everything the Nets lacked last season. Very curious to see how he bounces back.

2) Zion - Just want to see his fat ass play with a team that showed so much promise last year.

3) Harden - Will he turn back the clock and become the Harden of old? If so, Philly are legit championship threats

4) Murray/Porter - Both healthy and improved means the Nuggets are legit championship contenders. Really want to see this team at full strength.

5) Gobert - Will his impact that he had on the Jazz mesh with the Wolves? This and how Edwards/Towns continue to develop will determine the Wolves chances of being darkhorse championship contenders.

As a Jazz fan, I'll be more exciting to watch other teams than ours this year

Putting aside the usual "just because they're so good" suspects (Luka, Jokic, Giannis, etc.)...will be interested to see how ex-Jazz stars Gobert and Mitchell fit in with their new teams.

Your mentions of Simmons and Zion are good ones in the "welcome back" category...hopefully Kawhi too.

LeBron, just to see what he can do this stage of his career.

Among rookies, Keegan Murray. I really like this kid; he's among the more NBA-ready freshmen and his team really wants to make the playoffs. Let's see what he's got.

For me it's the sophomores. The 2021 draft was one of the most stacked classes in a very long time headlined by Barnes, Mobley, and Cade.

IMO those three aforementioned names have superstar potential. I'm interested in how they come out this season. Cade and Mobley are probably going to have a chip on their shoulder having missed out on the ROTY award, while Barnes has looked like an absolute monster in the Rico Runs. Which of the 3 takes the biggest step next season? Can Cade propel the Pistons to the postseason? Can Mobley take that next step as an offensive player? Can Barnes end the season as the Raps second best player?

Caleb Henson
Mitchell Mesenbrink
Jaxon Smith
Jesse Mendez
Dean Hamiti
Lucas Byrd
Matt Ramos

All the above, except idk what JimmyPlopper is talking about.

Throwing Paolo, Wiseman, and the Rockets core (Jalen, Jabari, Alperen) in too.

I’m near the point where I won’t watch the NBA too tough without Jimmy or Steph on the floor but I’ll be keeping tabs on Onyeka Okongwu, Herb Jones, and Robert Williams to see if their offense can catch up to their superb defensive profiles. I was intrigued about Chet’s skill and feel for the game but that’s out now.

I’ll also follow a couple veteran role players I adore in Delon Wright and GP2 in new spots.

I don’t get to see Franz Wagner much at all but the first time I did he made a great impression on me with his size, body control, feel, and skill. His stats belie a player who is itching to “break out.” (538 projects his sophomore season to be similar to Jayson Tatum’s. I would hope not, meaning his shot selection would worsen). If he could get out of Orlando it would happen much sooner. For those familiar how has he looked in Euro tournament play?

Ben Simmons and the big 3 for the Nets
Cavs core- Garland/Mitchell/Mobley/Allen
Murray/Trae backcourt
Zion

LoveMyRaps wrote:For me it's the sophomores. The 2021 draft was one of the most stacked classes in a very long time headlined by Barnes, Mobley, and Cade.

IMO those three aforementioned names have superstar potential. I'm interested in how they come out this season. Cade and Mobley are probably going to have a chip on their shoulder having missed out on the ROTY award, while Barnes has looked like an absolute monster in the Rico Runs. Which of the 3 takes the biggest step next season? Can Cade propel the Pistons to the postseason? Can Mobley take that next step as an offensive player? Can Barnes end the season as the Raps second best player?

I really wanna like Barnes. He looked like a 4 year vet when I watched him a few times. Like a skilled Charles Oakley. It’s just his face looks like a Halloween mask and I can’t take people who dress like him seriously.

And when is Boucher gonna actually start eating so he can start somewhere?

lol @ no one else mentioning Hamiti

What I find intriguing for the most part is seeing younger players developing & how good they're becoming (or not) so my list would be mainly that. But there are some players I'm interested to see what they look like back. Some names that pop in my head...

Paolo Banchero
Jonathan Isaac
Cade Cunningham
Jaden Ivey
Scottie Barnes (obv)
Anthony Edwards
Jalen Green
Jonathan Kuminga
Patrick Williams
Michael Porter Jr
Evan Mobley
SGA
Shaedon Sharpe
Ben Mathurin
Jalen Williams

As for "storylines"

Donovan Mitchell - of course just how good will he help CLE to be?
Jayson Tatum - can he take the next step to become a truly great player?
James Harden - does his weight loss this summer get him back to looking more like pre-hamstring Harden (not HOU level)?
Kawhi Leonard - will he look like a top 5 player again & if so for how long?
Zion Williamson - how much has he leaned out & can his bones hold up for majority of a NBA season?
Anthony Davis - will he finally step tf up & be anywhere close to the player he was supposed to be?
Jalen Brunson - nah I'm joking lol
Grizzlies - I know it's supposed to be a particular player but I wanna see how high in the West will they be with JJJ out for probably half the season & what IF... LAC & DEN can remain relatively healthy, where do they land also with MIN adding Rudy & possibly Zion back for the Pels
Don't really care about BKN drama tbh, I think they're talented enough that even if there's a lot happening personally for each guy, as a collective they should be fine and while people say they're judging KD, in reality most people aren't actually expecting BKN to win next year, just to see what's the aftermath of this season? That's what I wanna see but that's next year...

I know it's actually a lot lol but those will be (most) of the players & situations I'm intrigued to see next season.

It’s
harden to see how he bounces back and help the Sixers to the finals

Gobert the wolves could be top 4 seed if he fires

Mitchell the Cavs can finish 4 in the east if he lives up to his ability

Anthony Davis can he finally stay injury free and make the lakers his team

Westbrook how he performs most probably new team

Yeah my interest right now is on how the sophmore and rookie class looks

LeBron fair well tour. Potentially passing Kareem for all time scorer

Curry can he defend the title without Durant. And coming into the season as the champion and all that cockyness with all those skills as a 4x champ

Kyrie. He can finally play with the vaccine mandate lifted

Giannis. Is he still the best player.

Zion. Is he ready to ascend. Or is his value coming back down to earth

Simmons. Can he recover. Is he better than ever. Is he worse than ever.

Kawhi. He plays 30% less than Davis but he isn’t called street clothes

Westbrook. Train wreck. Or can he become the 6th man of the year. Contract year.

… so many

it's always luka

Keep up people.



Everybody sleeping on kid splash...

Ben Simmons

At Philly while he was a monster on the fast break and was able to help team-mates get open, It was still Embiid who did his best work in the post and stretching the floor and bringing out the C

Having him Pass to Joe Harris, Patty Mills, Curry Kyrie as an off-ball cutter is insane, Durant

Minumum, Two guys on the court you have to check hard, At worst, You just hope Mills goes 3/12 on open shots

Gobert/Towns

Moving Towns to the full time PF spot and giving Edwards/D'lo a true Lob threat in Gobert, Wolves aggressive defense just lacked a shot blocker, Which, Yeah, Best in the game

John Wall

Good defensive player, no real want to have him scoring, he's an excellent passer and under-rated defensive pest, I think he's perfect to sit next to two massive all NBA level wings. I expect a huge bounceback year

DevinVassell wrote:Keep up people.

Watch on YouTube

Everybody sleeping on kid splash...

I'll keep an eye out, Will he get significant gametime?

It'll be interesting to see:

- What happens with injured guys coming back: Zion, Kawhi, Jamal Murray/Michael Porter, Lillard

- How the Cavs mesh

- If Toronto can build on its year

- Does the KAT-Gobert tandem work

- (Homer) can Bam and/or Herro take that next step?

- Does James Harden get back to being the James Harden of old or does he continue his (relative) decline a la Brazilian football stars

DevinVassell wrote:Keep up people.

Watch on YouTube

Everybody sleeping on kid splash...

how much he finna make in a year?

"Will he get significant gametime?"

Definitely.

He averaged 30mins a game last season. As our veteran core continues to age expect Kerr to rest them as much as possible throughout the regular season. Kid splash can slot in as a SG but will also run the show at PG when Steph sits.