Fake Parity: Who is beating LAL/LAC/MIL?

[CptCrunch]

My NBA top 8.

True Contenders

1. Clippers are probably the best team in the league, but they lack that true 1a superstar player. Both PG and Kawhi are 1b or 2a type of players.

Beverly/George/Kawhi/Harrell/Zubac + Lou

2. Houston really has everything except fit. Anyone who thinks CP3 at his senior age is an upgrade to Westbrook is delusional. The only question is fit. On paper, they are the most talented team in the league.

Westbrook/Harden/House/Tucker/Capela + Gordon

'Contenders' in quotes

3. Warriors. I actually think Russell is an amazing playing. A core of Russell, Steph, Draymond will keep the team afloat. Come playoff time, Klay being back (ACL is like nothing) will make them dangerous. They regular season might kinda suck.

Curry/Russell/McKinnie (Klay)/Green/WCS

5. Bucks, they peaked last year as a regular season team. They lost key pieces. As long as Giannis can't shoot, the franchise isn't going anywhere. Paper playoff tigers tbh. But considering they play in the Leastern Conference, they will get a free ride to the ECF likely. Note that their ranking is 5, not 4. They are contenders due to their place in the Eastern Conference.

Bledsoe/Matthews/Middleton/Giannis/Lopez

Pretenders - witnessing a shooting star tier

4. Nuggets are still the Nuggets. People love hyping up their 2nd seed last year, but never mention that second and fifth seed are separated by 1-2 games last year. They have awesome players at every position, but no true take over franchise player. I think of them as a crappier Clippers because at the end of the day, Kawhi and PG are decent finishers. Jamal and Jokic not so much.

Murray/Harris/Barton/Milsap/Jokic

6. 76ers touts a strong starting lineup. Gonna be nice fighting only the Bucks for the ECF spot.

Simmons/Richardson/Harris/Horford/Embiid

Championship not gonna happen pretenders

7. Jazz always play hard. Conley is really going to help them. They have awesome home records every year. No real chance in the playoffs, but they will get a good seed in the West.

Conley/Mitchell/Ingles/Bogdanovic/Gobert

8. Lakers have a 70 year old LeBron and often injured AD who has never lead his team to more than a 6th seed while missing playoffs just about every year as the 12/14th seed. The biggest problem is that the Lakers lacks depth/bench/quality role players. Rondo is washed. Cousins is a loser.

Rondo/Danny Green/James/Davis/Cousins + Kuzma

[NZB2323]

I wouldn’t be surprised at all if none of those three are in the finals. Philly could have an absolutely dominating defense next year. LeBron lead teams tend to get off to slow starts in their first year together and having to win more than one series without homecourt in the West could be a death sentence. And as good as I think the Clippers can/will be, there are legitimate questions about Kawhi and PG holding up for the whole season.

Philly can't shoot, which is going to be a huge problem for them.

Losing Butler and Reddick was massive.

Josh Richardson shot more 3s last year than Butler, and made a higher % of them. Horford is also great for spacing because he can shoot from 3 or make excellent passes from the top of the arch. Harris is also a good shooter.

It’s not like everyone on the Lakers is a deadeye shooter. Rajon Rondo and Javale McGee will probably be in the starting lineup for the Lakers, who need spacing for that Lebron James-AD pick and roll. If Rondo’s man can come over so they can defend the pick and roll with 3 guys it’s not as hard to defend. Also Rondo only tries during the regular season when the game is on National TV and he’ll be 33 next year.

The clippers lost 2 of their best shooters from last year in Harris and Gallinari. The Bucks lost Malcolm Brogdon and added Rolo, who can’t shoot. All of these teams have flaws.

[SK21209]

I wouldn’t be surprised at all if none of those three are in the finals. Philly could have an absolutely dominating defense next year. LeBron lead teams tend to get off to slow starts in their first year together and having to win more than one series without homecourt in the West could be a death sentence. And as good as I think the Clippers can/will be, there are legitimate questions about Kawhi and PG holding up for the whole season.

Philly can't shoot, which is going to be a huge problem for them.

Losing Butler and Reddick was massive.

Josh Richardson shot more 3s last year than Butler, and made a higher % of them. Horford is also great for spacing because he can shoot from 3 or make excellent passes from the top of the arch. Harris is also a good shooter.

It’s not like everyone on the Lakers is a deadeye shooter. Rajon Rondo and Javale McGee will probably be in the starting lineup for the Lakers, who need spacing for that Lebron James-AD pick and roll. If Rondo’s man can come over so they can defend the pick and roll with 3 guys it’s not as hard to defend. Also Rondo only tries during the regular season when the game is on National TV and he’ll be 33 next year.

The clippers lost 2 of their best shooters from last year in Harris and Gallinari. The Bucks lost Malcolm Brogdon and added Rolo, who can’t shoot. All of these teams have flaws.

It’s nice having flawed teams again. There is no team in the league that is just going to win if they play their A game, which was the case with the Warriors since at least 2017.

[SK21209]

My NBA top 8.

True Contenders

1. Clippers are probably the best team in the league, but they lack that true 1a superstar player. Both PG and Kawhi are 1b or 2a type of players.

Beverly/George/Kawhi/Harrell/Zubac + Lou

2. Houston really has everything except fit. Anyone who thinks CP3 at his senior age is an upgrade to Westbrook is delusional. The only question is fit. On paper, they are the most talented team in the league.

Westbrook/Harden/House/Tucker/Capela + Gordon

'Contenders' in quotes

3. Warriors. I actually think Russell is an amazing playing. A core of Russell, Steph, Draymond will keep the team afloat. Come playoff time, Klay being back (ACL is like nothing) will make them dangerous. They regular season might kinda suck.

Curry/Russell/McKinnie (Klay)/Green/WCS

5. Bucks, they peaked last year as a regular season team. They lost key pieces. As long as Giannis can't shoot, the franchise isn't going anywhere. Paper playoff tigers tbh. But considering they play in the Leastern Conference, they will get a free ride to the ECF likely. Note that their ranking is 5, not 4. They are contenders due to their place in the Eastern Conference.

Bledsoe/Matthews/Middleton/Giannis/Lopez

Pretenders - witnessing a shooting star tier

4. Nuggets are still the Nuggets. People love hyping up their 2nd seed last year, but never mention that second and fifth seed are separated by 1-2 games last year. They have awesome players at every position, but no true take over franchise player. I think of them as a crappier Clippers because at the end of the day, Kawhi and PG are decent finishers. Jamal and Jokic not so much.

Murray/Harris/Barton/Milsap/Jokic

6. 76ers touts a strong starting lineup. Gonna be nice fighting only the Bucks for the ECF spot.

Simmons/Richardson/Harris/Horford/Embiid

Championship not gonna happen pretenders

7. Jazz always play hard. Conley is really going to help them. They have awesome home records every year. No real chance in the playoffs, but they will get a good seed in the West.

Conley/Mitchell/Ingles/Bogdanovic/Gobert

8. Lakers have a 70 year old LeBron and often injured AD who has never lead his team to more than a 6th seed while missing playoffs just about every year as the 12/14th seed. The biggest problem is that the Lakers lacks depth/bench/quality role players. Rondo is washed. Cousins is a loser.

Rondo/Danny Green/James/Davis/Cousins + Kuzma

Lol so the Clippers don’t have a 1a superstar but the Rockets have “everything except fit?”

[Catchall]

Hopefully, the LA teams will load-manage their way into an earlier round matchup. The Lakers are beatable. The Clippers are less beatable, but aren't prohibitive favorites either. The Bucks have shown they're beatable too.

The Jazz and Nuggets are one move away from being in that upper tier as well.

[trueballer7]

Los Anjeles Lolers about to give us the most enjoyable season in history. Curry about to have a Michael Jordan type of season and set the record straight

[Tor_Raps]

PHI >= MIL

HOU/GSW = LAC/LAL <= UTA/DEN

*GS only if Klay comes back early enough to have ample amount of reps before the playoffs

People really need to check themselves, with their disregard to the Warriors. Once Thompson comes backin February, they aren't that much different than the team that won their 1st title.

They're vastly different. They've lost a ton of their top-level defenders. Also, I think people need to acknowledge that it's very unlikely that Klay will look like himself for at least a month upon his return. Jumpshooters with a long history tend to take some time to get back into rhythm.

You cant say vastly different when your 3 best players are still the same. D'angelo gives them something they didnt have before and should be a much better option than Barnes. I think Looney and Cauley Stein can replicate most of what Bogut gave them.

I'll agree not having Iggy does hurt them defensively and is probably their biggest question mark. Although in recent years he started to become a huge offensive liability as teams would leave him wide open.

[mudsak]

Clippers - I don't think anyone is beating the Clippers. That team is ridiculously STACKED. They are going to cakewalk. 2 MVP candidates. Most elite wing defenders in the league. Shooting, Depth, 2 time 6th man of the year. Good luck beating this team. They'll win multiple championships. Gonna see some new banners strung up in LA, and they're not gonna be purple/gold.

Lakers - I think this team will be a polarizing one. Depth is thin. Injuries could be a huge concern, and even more so as they'll likely need to lean heavily on their stars to compete. Load management might not be an option. One injury could completely impede their ability to compete. They're the team who could beat anyone on any given day, but fall apart just as easily. A game of roulette betting on the Lakers to win.

Bucks - They got worse. Losing Brogdon/Mirotic hurts. On the flip side... I don't think we've yet seen the best of Giannis yet. He's going to keep getting better, and keep getting stronger. This team is still a well built roster, with a great coach. I'd take them over Philly as the team to beat in the East.

Philly - This is the most intriguing team in the league right now imo. Strange roster. Their roster got worse imo, but because they're built so differently they'll probably cause matchup issues for a lot of really good teams. Their lack of shooting was a vulnerability last season, and will be more so this season. As much as this might trigger 6ers fans... Simmons is not built for the Playoffs. He has an enormous exploitable vulnerability in his game, and it is exacerbated by the fact that the teams leading scorer operates from within the paint.

Rockets - Probably one of the most interesting changes in the offseason. Harden/Westbrook/EG/Tucker/Capella... this team is STACKED. If they can manage to leverage Westbrook's talent/skills to be more off-ball the Rockets would be my favorite to actually challenge the Clippers. They have an incredibly talented roster that is probably only 2nd to the Clips imo. If they can't leverage/direct Westbrook... their biggest challenge will be themselves. The chances of Westbrook creating more problems than solutions is an absolute possibility.

Jazz - Probably one of the most well balanced, and deepest rosters in the NBA. Shooting/spacing were huge issues last year. Offensive production was strained as their only creator was a 2nd yr player in Mitchell. The Jazz are very well coached and have a system that produces more open-look 3's than any other team in the league. Now they have shooters, legitimate scorers, and spacing that will open up the offense enormously. Conley is a HUGE upgrade in every department. Bojan is a HUGE addition. The bench unit on this team is likely to be one of the most dangerous in the NBA. I don't think they can beat the Clips, but this roster can compete with any other team in the league.

Nuggets - Basically running it back with the same roster as last season. They struggled with the Spurs, and were defeated by Portland. Meanwhile the rest of the big teams in the West just re-upped to make a contending run. I don't think the Nuggets can beat any of the above teams in a 7 game series.

[spicy6]

If Embiid is 100% and Simmons shows any signs of a jumpshot come playoff time, I love our chances against anyone.

I really truthfully dont see either of those two things coming to fruition no offense. If it does youre right though.

[Roy The Natural]

People really need to check themselves, with their disregard to the Warriors. Once Thompson comes backin February, they aren't that much different than the team that won their 1st title.

They're vastly different. They've lost a ton of their top-level defenders. Also, I think people need to acknowledge that it's very unlikely that Klay will look like himself for at least a month upon his return. Jumpshooters with a long history tend to take some time to get back into rhythm.

You cant say vastly different when your 3 best players are still the same. D'angelo gives them something they didnt have before and should be a much better option than Barnes. I think Looney and Cauley Stein can replicate most of what Bogut gave them.

I'll agree not having Iggy does hurt them defensively and is probably their biggest question mark. Although in recent years he started to become a huge offensive liability as teams would leave him wide open.

I think the Warriors will be pretty abysmal on defense to start the year. They're going to rely on Draymond to be a panacea for them defensively, and while he's a great defender, I don't think he's the type of guy who can erase porous perimeter defense. I think the Warriors are going to struggle pretty badly early in the year.

I also think Klay will take at least a month to round into form upon his return, possibly he won't be the same player until the 2020-21 season. Warriors might sneak into the playoffs, but I don't see them as a contender this year.

[Official]

Which other team relies as much on a 35 year old player that has as much mileage as him?

Who is going to play more games next year Lebron or Leonard?

Well Kawhi played more in the playoffs this year so..

You did not answer the question.

For 2019-2020:

1) Is Kawhi Leonard going to play more regular season games than Lebron?

2) Hell, is Kawhi Leonard going to play more regular season games than AD?

[GHOSTofSIKMA]

i think its cute how everybody thinks the bucks got worse because we let two guys walk who either sucked or were injured in last years playoffs. pretty much the only thing we needed is what we gained and that's veteran experience. even our two offseason acquisitions helped in that regard

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

MIL shouldn’t be on the list. They’re “fake” championship contenders. Only good during the regular season and they lost Mirotic & Brogdon.

Mirotic only played 14 regular season games and 14 playoff games. He was bad enough to not be playable during the playoffs. Not sure he is a huge loss when comparing last year's team/results to this year's team.

Brogdon loss hurts but he missed a lot of games the past 2 years. Hoping Matthews and player development can replace Brogdon and we come back with a similar caliber team as last year.

[Tor_Raps]

They're vastly different. They've lost a ton of their top-level defenders. Also, I think people need to acknowledge that it's very unlikely that Klay will look like himself for at least a month upon his return. Jumpshooters with a long history tend to take some time to get back into rhythm.

You cant say vastly different when your 3 best players are still the same. D'angelo gives them something they didnt have before and should be a much better option than Barnes. I think Looney and Cauley Stein can replicate most of what Bogut gave them.

I'll agree not having Iggy does hurt them defensively and is probably their biggest question mark. Although in recent years he started to become a huge offensive liability as teams would leave him wide open.

I think the Warriors will be pretty abysmal on defense to start the year. They're going to rely on Draymond to be a panacea for them defensively, and while he's a great defender, I don't think he's the type of guy who can erase porous perimeter defense. I think the Warriors are going to struggle pretty badly early in the year.

I also think Klay will take at least a month to round into form upon his return, possibly he won't be the same player until the 2020-21 season. Warriors might sneak into the playoffs, but I don't see them as a contender this year.

Fair enough. They might have the worst perimeter defense in the nba until klay gets back. I see curry green and russell being able to keep the team afloat until klay gets back.

Will be a fun season to see how all these new dynamics will work.

[MagicBagley18]

those 3 can be the favorites...but when you have a playoffs where the jazz, the sixers, rockets, could all make the finals including those teams and win it- that's 6 teams with a legit chance.

it is literally unknown who will be playing in the finals. last 4 year it was who is gonna get thumped by the warriors. the nba will never have true nfl style parity but having 6-7 teams who can win it all is pretty damn good.

[contestedlayups]

Boy, this is interesting. Some pretty hot takes out there. Here's one:

The West has more parity than any conference, ever.

I see a legitimate 7-8 teams that can win the conference, and injury history has to be factored in especially with Kawhi and PG13 coming off of shoulder surgery. The reality of sports is that injuries are a major part of each game, and when injury prone players or players coming off of major injuries are a teams best players, they will effect how the team goes.

Also, chemistry is by far the most underrated aspect of anything that is talked about in sports media, since no one can quantify it. In seasons where so many players change teams, teams that have established chemistry will be doing more winning than losing in the early part of the season. That's why Denver, Golden State, and San Antonio are going to be so tough to beat early on, while the Clippers, Lakers, and now the Rockets will have to find ways to acclimate their new players/coaches.

[Cactus Jack]

The disrespect towards Golden State.

[bleeds_purple]

Even if you assume three contenders, that's more parity than we've had in years. And I would not count out Philly or GS.

[jrask]

My NBA top 8.

True Contenders

1. Clippers are probably the best team in the league, but they lack that true 1a superstar player. Both PG and Kawhi are 1b or 2a type of players.

WHAT in the sweet F____!!

Both Kawhi and PG are bonafide superstars ...... 1a+ without question

[bleeds_purple]

the nba will never have true nfl style parity

You could have parity if you did things like remove max contracts and implement a hard cap. I doubt most fans or teams would want that though. The NFL forces parity because you literally cannot keep all your players every year. Eventually you have to start letting guys go. That coupled with the fact the NFL career lengths (other than QB and K/P) are so short.