Early Finals Prediction (Who Do You See Coming Out The East/West)

[sillent]

76ers are still up in the air right now on my opinion in where they rank. So for top 3 in the East I have the Nets, Bucks and Hawks with Hawks coming out on top.

Miami is a consideration and so is Chicago but one team is too little (Heat) and one too one sided (Bulls).

The Nets also don't have defense going for them which I think will be their Achilles heel.

The Bucks may have a championship hangover and even if they don't... We have the team, want and will (revenge) to get us over the hump. We weren't scared of them then. We were shimmying and throwing allies off the back board on Bucks and Nets for that matter.

We are young but hungry and every individual coming back just a little more better makes us an even potent team. 

Hawks in the East.

 

The West gets a little trickier for me because less focus of course.

The top teams I see coming out of the West right now are Phoenix, Lakers and Utah.

Nuggets would be my sleeper but biggest question is health and defense.

The Lakers have the know how and desire. Do they have the gas and fire though to make it all the way to the finish line?

Phoenix in my opinions best chance to win it all was last playoffs. Will they internally improve enough to get back to where they were? It might be harder than our route because although they have youth many of their players have lower ceilings than ours and could regress.

Utah I thought was us looking in an older mirror (deepest teams). They did nothing to change my mind this offseason. They made some sneaky good moves. Donavan Mitchell has been some how getting better and better still each yr.

I could easily see the Atlanta Hawks and the Utah Jazz in the finals this up and coming season.

Question is do I want to see Utah??? Honestly no but I think it'll be more entertaining than the names would suggest at this time.

Their defensive tours and Mitchell would be their advantage but our wing defense and and shooters would be ours. 

Who do y'all predict will be there?

It would be fun to check out our predictions come playoffs/finals.

 

[marco102]

Little known fact, Chicago had the 11th rated defense last season. 

East - Nets, if healthy.  Otherwise Hawks .

West - Phoenix or Utah.  If healthy, I would probably put Denver ahead of both teams. The Lakers will be starting the corpse of Dwight Howard or Marc Gasol at center.  Good luck with that. 

[sillent]

5 hours ago, marco102 said:

Little known fact, Chicago had the 11th rated defense last season. 

East - Nets, if healthy.  Otherwise Hawks .

West - Phoenix or Utah.  If healthy, I would probably put Denver ahead of both teams. The Lakers will be starting the corpse of Dwight Howard or Marc Gasol at center.  Good luck with that. 

Yeah that is a little surprising about Chicago's defense. I know Thaddeus Young had a good amount to do with it but maybe they will surprise me on that end.

Ball, Derrick Jones Jr might help too.

[niremetal]

Long story short--I think a rematch of this year's Finals.

East - Bucks

I'm trying to temper my expectations for the Hawks this year. Last year's playoff run was magical and the temptation for a team with such a young core is to say that they'll likely take the next step. But it just takes one bad matchup in the postseason or a cold streak by Trae (the risk of an offense as heliocentric as ours) to end that in a hurry.

Even if the Nets are fully healthy, I'm skeptical that team can mesh as well as they need to, and defense will be a concern. Also worth noting that Harden will be 32 this year and KD 33 (Irving is 29). A bit of regression is likely. Add to that the fact that they already were defensively meh and the question of how well Harden will do this year if his foul rate goes down significantly, and I'm not sure they are the juggernaut people expect even if fully healthy.

But Giannis will be Giannis. I expect his confidence at the line to be higher this year with a ring under his belt and that pressure off. I think Grayson Allen and Rodney Hood were sneaky good acquisitions for them.

No one else in the East strikes me as a threat to win 3 straight playoff series.

So yeah...Bucks.

West - Suns (with very low confidence)

Definitely not the Mavs. Not the Clippers, assuming Kawhi is out or not at 100% in the playoffs. I'm biased, but I think the Blazers will be better than people expect. Not enough to win the conference, though.

Probably not the Jazz, same as ever with this core. I just don't like having a 6'1 combo guard as my best offensive player and leaning on a non-switchable Rudy Gobert to anchor my defense in the playoffs.

I think the Lakers have the widest confidence interval--I could see them either winning 60 games or hovering around .500. But I think their lack of defense and deep threats in their front 6-7 (Ellington is the only plus 3-ball shooter) is going to be killer in the playoffs.

But am I really gonna predict a Bucks-Suns Finals rematch? 

Yeah, I think I am. I think there's a decent chance Booker and Ayton both improve to clear All-NBA Second Team levels this year. And I think Paul definitely has one more All-Star caliber year left in him. And Monty Williams is the perfect coach for that squad.

Denver takes the next-most-likely spot for me. I think the homegrown core of Jokic, Porter, and Murray is as good as any Big 3 in the league when healthy because of how perfectly their games fit each other. 

The last team I could easily see making it are the Warriors. I just can't imagine the Klay who returns this year will resemble the one who we saw pre-2019, but Curry proved late last year that he's still the most explosive scorer in the league when he's healthy, and they have a fascinating collection of young and veteran talent around him.

Edited August 30, 2021 by niremetal

[Diesel]

I have three matchups...

1.  Hawks/Bucks vs. Lakers 

2.  Hawks/Bucks vs. Nuggs

3.  Hawk/Bucks vs. Warriors. 

I think you really have to consider what injury did to teams last season. Do the Suns get there is Denver has all of it's players?  Do the Suns get there if the Lakers are 100%.  The Clipps are a possibility but with Kawhi out a considerable part of the season, I don't see them being there.   I don't think Utah did anything to improve. 

We haven't seen the Warriors with a healthy Klay.   If Klay is the beast that people are alluding to, then it's going to be a long day in the West. 

It's Flukish how we didn't make the finals last year.   I think the Chemistry in BK will be an issue this year.  IF BK can overcome their Chemistry (Kyrie) then they will definitely be in there.   

Philly is a strong team but until they have solved the issue with Simmons, they can't be trusted to win the East. 

I really like some of the moves that Chicago made but I don't think that their moves elevates them to NBA Finals. 

[macdaddy]

Nets / Lakers.   Book it.

[Diesel]

3 hours ago, macdaddy said:

Nets / Lakers.   Book it.

That's what the league and the pundits want. 

I wonder.. can the Lakers beat the Nuggs or the Warriors?  I wonder can the Nets hold it together. 

 

[macdaddy]

5 minutes ago, Diesel said:

That's what the league and the pundits want. 

I wonder.. can the Lakers beat the Nuggs or the Warriors?  I wonder can the Nets hold it together. 

 

Nuggs and Warriors?   Did either of those teams get better in the offseason?  Just Klay coming back isn't going to do it.   I have more faith in Suns and Clips than those two.  

As long as the Nets are healthy i don't see any one stopping them.   Heck KD almost beat the Bucks by himself.   

Hawks have the best chance of taking down a healthy Nets team actually because we can try to keep up with their scoring.  

[Diesel]

20 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

Nuggs and Warriors?   Did either of those teams get better in the offseason?  Just Klay coming back isn't going to do it.   I have more faith in Suns and Clips than those two.  

As long as the Nets are healthy i don't see any one stopping them.   Heck KD almost beat the Bucks by himself.   

Hawks have the best chance of taking down a healthy Nets team actually because we can try to keep up with their scoring.  

Why not??  Klay is a HOF player. 

Clipps may not have Kawhi at all this season.  They may trade PG13 because of the window.

Suns...  Don't have the fire power to beat a healthy Nuggs team... Not to mention a healthy GS team. 

 

[macdaddy]

18 minutes ago, Diesel said:

Why not??  Klay is a HOF player. 

Clipps may not have Kawhi at all this season.  They may trade PG13 because of the window.

Suns...  Don't have the fire power to beat a healthy Nuggs team... Not to mention a healthy GS team. 

 

I honestly don't know who the Warriors added but it didn't seem like they did much.  maybe i'm wrong but they were severely lacking in talent last  year.   Klay hasn't played a basketball game in 2 years and is 30+ years old.   

Who wasn't healthy the the Nuggs when they got swept?  Murray?   He's good but is he the difference between getting swept and winning against the Suns?   

What i don't understand is the idea that with Klay back and Murray back the Warriors and Nuggets become contenders but folks are skeptical about the team that will be adding Harden and Kyrie to KD.   

[niremetal]

39 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

I honestly don't know who the Warriors added but it didn't seem like they did much.  maybe i'm wrong but they were severely lacking in talent last  year.   Klay hasn't played a basketball game in 2 years and is 30+ years old.   

Who wasn't healthy the the Nuggs when they got swept?  Murray?   He's good but is he the difference between getting swept and winning against the Suns?   

What i don't understand is the idea that with Klay back and Murray back the Warriors and Nuggets become contenders but folks are skeptical about the team that will be adding Harden and Kyrie to KD.   

I think Murray is definitely that much of a difference maker. Murray is just a perfect complement to Jokic and Porter offensively. And when he's on, he's one of the most unstoppable scorers in the whole league. He averaged 21ppg last year on great efficiency.

I doubt Klay comes back good as new, but I think his floor is Kyle Korver. The Warriors were quietly an elite team defensively last year, so the addition of a bit more scoring is just what they needed. The mere presence of Klay stretching the floor (thus taking pressure off Curry) makes the Warriors a lock for the playoffs in my eyes. Admittedly, if it were just Klay returning, I'd be skeptical of the Warriors as legit title contenders. But I also think we're going to see leaps from Poole and Wiseman this year.

[macdaddy]

7 minutes ago, niremetal said:

I think Murray is definitely that much of a difference maker. Murray is just a perfect complement to Jokic and Porter offensively. And when he's on, he's one of the most unstoppable scorers in the whole league. He averaged 21ppg last year on great efficiency.

I doubt Klay comes back good as new, but I think his floor is Kyle Korver. The Warriors were quietly an elite team defensively last year, so the addition of a bit more scoring is just what they needed. The mere presence of Klay stretching the floor (thus taking pressure off Curry) makes the Warriors a lock for the playoffs in my eyes. Admittedly, if it were just Klay returning, I'd be skeptical of the Warriors as legit title contenders. But I also think we're going to see leaps from Poole and Wiseman this year.

I'm a believer in Curry but the few games i saw of the warriors last year wasn't pretty.  I do like Wiseman though.   I'm just skeptical they have the right pieces.

Denver i kind of hope does well but I"m still in wait and see mode with them.  They had a great run in the bubble but Murry/Jokic don't have much else in terms of playoff success but i guess if Porter breaks out more then that helps.

Last year was encouraging that we can have different teams win in the NBA but injuries played a pretty major role.   

[sillent]

On 8/30/2021 at 8:42 AM, macdaddy said:

Nets / Lakers.   Book it.

I like the confidence but we'll see...