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?
Thunder or Kings couod do damage.
I am not buying into the Thunder stock. I think at best they are gonna be what cavs were last year. Which is still a pretty massive improvement from last year so thats not a bad thing.
Thunder making playoffs would be big for them.
Kings aren’t it
Kings play a beautiful brand of efficient basketball. They the real thing. Don't just look at star power (which they still do have with 2 AllNBA players, just underrated).
The Kings are for real, or at least they could be. Fox and Sabonis are learning on the fly but I think there’s potential to grow. But the NBA is deeper than it’s ever been, so whether that’s enough, I dunno. Nuggets, Suns, and Warriors all have potent lineups - Grizzlies probably too, but let’s see that back court this winter.
OP said 'could do damage', not getting the entire thing. As a contender? Yeah, Kings can very well be a contender. The Nuggets sure are. Suns have to wait and see with their injury hist and no defense. Warriors are getting old. Everybody is already counting the Grizzlies out after Adams today, you're late to the party. Lol.
But yeah, Kings can definitely 'do damage' for sure. They already did last seasn (Top 3 seed, then should have beaten the Warriors).
Yeah I missed Adams, ouch. Miss me with the rest of that though
Yeah, with Ja out 27 games too, they got a mountain to climb. would still be playoffs/playins but Grizzlies not enough games to be a Top few seeds.
Typical underrating of the Kings, no issue there. You just gotta wait and realise while they light the beam.