pepe1991 wrote:They entered season as favorites to win ( not just according to me, but pretty much all betting houses, it was either them or Celtics).
They won whooping 68 games in regular season . Tied for 4th best season of all time. 7 teams won 68 games or more in history. 5 of them won title.
They won championship.
We can debate how dominant they are. But clear cut favorites ended up winning.
from Pacers and injuries POV.... Man... it's finals and every player wants to play. But once you are hurt, playing through is accident waiting to happen.
It will be interesting to see how teams from East view pathway for a title. East is open, Pacers / Celtics probably won't be that good as Tatum/Hali can't return fast enough.
Will somebody like Hornets and Raptors push chips? Raptors have solid team on paper, and all of their picks. Hornets didn't have good season in ages, but have all the picks and cheap payroll.
Nets don't have talent to do anything, but have $100M in cap.
Bulls are below salary's floor.
Yeah...I was thinking of a new "predictions" thread and TOR did occur to me as a real threat to take a leap forward. They draft Maluach and hide him behind Poeltl for a year and they just added Ingram. Quickley missed a ton of time with injuries...they could still make a big trade or just keep RJ as a flamethrower off the bench...this is a real threat and we are not the only team to be optimistic about making a leap.
We just made our big "all-in, the East is wide open" move...others will likely still be coming. Never count on a desperate MIL either. Last time that they were worried about losing Giannis, they went and got Jrue and won a ring. Giannis is an unstoppable force - MIL is facing limitations (like Lillard) but they recognize their desirability as a FA destination and act accordingly aggressive on the trade market when needed. It's certainly needed now - I don't think they move off Giannis. I think they make one more valiant effort to surround him with a winner again, knowing how much he alone can do to carry a team.
It's also quite possible that DET isn't satisfied with their progress and makes another bold move - they have a lot of cap space and it's presumed that they spend a lot of it repaying Beasley and THJ for their underpaid prior service...I don't see that and wouldn't be surprised if they make a big move for another star next to Cade and the return of Ivey, who appeared to be making a personal leap before his injury.
