The-Power wrote:Interesting. I thought they were fairly close last year and went out to add Caruso and Hartenstein, in addition to another year of development from Chet, J-Dub and some others. To me, they are the best team on paper outside of Boston. Especially if you believe in SGA as a top-tier star, I don't see how this isn't a ridiculously stacked and modern roster.
Yeah, the D is good, but they were fairly unimpressive on O during the playoffs, and that's the part which concerns me. As far as "don't see how," they don't have scoring support. Williams was highly inefficient in the postseason and Holmgren wasn't doing anything remarkable at all. If and when they grow beyond that, then there's something to talk about there, for sure.
Fair enough. I will say, though, that I can see the 76ers winning a round – or even two if they have a lucky draw – in the playoffs with Embiid out or hobbled now that they have George. In the end it's primarily about health for them, though.
Yes, I can see them winning a round or maybe even sneaking into the ECFs as well, if everything clicks for them. They're still pretty good even when they're going half-speed with all that talent.
Hm, that sounds more like the definition of a fringe contender tier to me. But then you listed them as one of only four teams and actually used the term ‘headline’ in your post. So naturally I assumed you had them as a clear contender and that's where I'd disagree.
Yeah, I should have used a different word. I only meant they are the group that come to mind most quickly for me.
I'm not KAT's biggest fan either but on a defense-oriented team as the second scoring option he's pretty intriguing. NYK also had their playoff run without Randle. In essence, the Knicks replaced DDV and Hartenstein with Mikal and KAT in their playoff rotation from last year and that's a clear improvement in terms of individual level (if it indeed translates to team improvement remains to be seen).
We'll see. KAT is a bit of a bitch, so I remain skeptical, but in the RS, it should work out well enough at least. And perhaps in a new environment, he'll thrive.
I understand being skeptical about the Knicks. That was an awesome team last year – let's see if just adding more individually talented players actually helps them. And health is a concern for them as well. But a line-up featuring Brunson, Mikal, OG, Hart and Towns looks pretty damn potent in a playoff setting.
I mean, yeah, I don't expect them to go out in the first round. I am just interested in waiting and seeing before I start to talk title. Last year, we learned the lesson again that mid-athleticism little guards have trouble scoring effectively in the playoffs unless they just bomb from a distance, and that was a problem. So it's nice that they're going to have scoring support around Brunson, because he isn't that guy as a focal volume scorer. But as a low-20s guy within a distributed offense, he's going to thrive in the playoffs. And he'll likely have an easier time of it in the RS, too.
So yeah, we'll see. It IS nice to be able to speak of the Knicks in a way other than dismissing them as irrelevant garbage, though. I love having them as a villain, as a Toronto fan. xD It's much less satisfying when they aren't any good, and no franchise deserves the depths of folly they endured for a long time.
