In the East, my vote would be Brooklyn or Atlanta.
Brooklyn is deep at just about every position. Mikal Bridges is a very good scorer. Cam Johnson a very talented 2-way player. Dinwiddie a solid 2-guard. Claxton is one of the more impressive young centers in the league. A lot rides on Simmons and if he can be 75 percent of what he once was. At the very least, he looks to be in shape entering the season. Brooklyn looks to have a plethora of two-way players. The question is if Bridges can be the main scorer on a contending title team.
Atlanta has Trae Young, who is now flying under the radar as one of the best scoring guards in the NBA, and many solid defensive pieces surrounding him in Murray, Hunter, Capela. If Trae can get a hot in a playoff series, you never know.
In the West, I think it’s Minnesota. On paper, they are loaded with talent. Ant, KAT, McDaniels, Gobert, Reid, Conley and Anderson might be as good of a first 7 you will find in the league today. Of course, the main question is — can Chris Finch make Towns and Gobert work offensively? We saw how tough Minnesota can be in the Denver series last year. With most everyone on their roster now having multiple years of playoff experience in addition to having continuity among their depth chart and coaching staff, they are my sneaky pick to make the West finals this year.
Who is your sneaky pick in each conference to make a deep playoff run? Or do you believe there’s no logical selection?
People say it every year but if the Clippers stay healthy they have a good shot at going all the way. It’s just a monumental “if”
And if that horse breaks a leg will def be taken out back and shot
It’s interesting that folks think replacing Sterling somehow removed the Clippers’ curse…
even if healthy i don’t see them going all the way. pg and kawhi aren’t good passers and eric gordon was really important for them and now he’s gone
Eric Gordon was not important wtf
Kawhi and PG are okay passers and really, that's Russ's job. Eric Gordon wasn't that good for the Clippers either, otherwise they wouldn't just let him go for nothing.
Gordon coming to the Clippers coincided with a Norm Powell injury and then PG injury. That greatly extended the run he got with us.
If Russ is their primary creator then that's kinda just proving the point that they're not that good
Yeah, Russ has always been pretty shit at getting assists...
current russ commits too many turnovers and the assists he does get are offset by his insanely inneficient shooting, he’s also too ball dominant. if they had a simpler pg who could space the floor then they’d be way better
His assist to turnover ratio has actually always been pretty bad. But I see this sub has not yet graduated from "triple doubles go brrrrrr" analysis
One of the greatest playmakers of all time
Even at full health, I don’t see them winning a playoff series against Nuggets/Suns/Celtics/Bucks. There’s still a chance they add Harden to their roster but they still absolutely need Kawhi at 100% to win a title. I think their window has closed.