Knightfall wrote:
They're not better then any of the following teams.
BK
Philly
Milwaukee
Atlanta
NY
Miami
Hello 7th - 10th seeds aka play in teams and teams they may not be better then.
Boston
Indiana
Washington
Toronto (if they're at home this season)
Charlotte.
That is the realistic group that is this teams high standard for the season. That's 11 teams 6 for sure better, 5 of which 3 will most likely be better. But hey, again. When the season ends and if the Bulls are lucky enough that their 3 something gets them to the play in. They hit their ceiling. That may up some trade value for some of these 2nd and 3rd options. To get a real 1st option. I mean, I know you're betting high on the lesser Ball brother. Especially thinking he's better then Ben simmons. Now that is flat out ridiculous.
I don't think the Bulls are a top 5 team in the East either but they can land anywhere thereafter. I really think the 6th -8th seed is going to be such a toss up and also very dependent on health/availibility.
I see all of the below vying for the 6-8th seed but I put them in a rough order I'd expect at this point until the season gets going and we see who's chemistry is coming together or who is struggling with injuries etc:
Milwaukee
Brooklyn
Atlanta
Miami
Philadelphia
---------------
Boston
Chicago
New York
Indiana
Toronto
I'm not buying Charlotte, LaMelo is a stud but the team overall isn't that great and Washington is been below average for years now, they seem to make it when other teams we're tanking AND actually on the back of Westbrook, they'll need to actually show they're a team to reckon with before I give them any relevancy.
As for CHI specifically, I'm not 100% sold that they're a Playoff team -- I mean I favor them and Boston because those 2 have the best talent but other teams I have in that bracket play hard/with a ton of effort , better defensively and have better depth (again health has proven to be critical). The Bulls' defence is suspect at best and that's my greatest question mark for them because sure they can score at a decent clip (not sold either that it's some elite offense either given how iso heavy Zach and DeMar are) but will they be able to get stops?! That doesn't just apply in the Playoffs, there's going to be off nights throughout the season and even the bad teams of the East like DET, CLE etc got a bit better with their picks so a lot of those "gimme" games aren't going to be the cakewalk of last year. It'll be interesting to see how things shake out...