I wouldn't overthink it. Odds get temporarily taken off the board all the time for a variety of reasons.
Philly is likely off because it's becoming clear that Harden may indeed make a shitshow of this season for the Sixers. I'd buy the Heat as a potential landing spot, but not the Thunder.
What specific year are you talking here? I think that matters a lot - I could possibly built a case for a specific year or two, but I do think it would be tough.
Even during his later career when most of the top NBA players were aging and on the decline, you'd still have to argue Jordan over a Shaq/Robinson pairing.
In the 80's no fucking way.
but these preseason numbers don’t mean shit.
Agree and disagree.
Porzingis is not going to shoot 62% from 3 on the season, obviously. However, the fact that he's seeing wide open looks for the first time in his career does indeed mean a lot. We all know Porzingis is a good shooter already, but we now also know that the Celtics are going to use him effectively. So the "how well is he going to fit in?" question is already looking answered.
Celtics realistically. You'd still have a starting lineup including Jrue, Porzingis, White, and Horford.
Peak Melo was better than all of current Lillard, SGA, Butler, and Booker.
It varies by book, but it's pretty dead even overall:
https://www.vegasinsider.com/nba/odds/futures/
Regardless, it's not anybody's "to win" when you're neck and neck with another team.
I'm sorry, but you can all doubt the Heat again, I'm not falling for it. I was on the Heat train all last year when they sucked and briefly got off when they were still .500 like 80% of the way through the season. Play-ins started and I hopped back on the train. This year, you aren't getting me off this train at all. I'm not doing it. 6th is way too low.
Counterpoint - The Heat were a 34% 3-point shooting team in the regular season, and then shot 45% from deep in their series against Milwaukee and Boston. That's it. That's why they won those series. It happens, tip of the cap, but it's an anomaly.
To put it into perspective how insane shooting mid-40's in a series is - The Warriors 3P% in their NBA Finals wins - 37% vs Boston, and 38%, 38%, and 36% in the 3 Cleveland series.
The Heat realistically were what they were all year - a solid but unspectacular team. And then they shot the 3-ball at an EXTREME aberration in two series against better teams.
The Heat will be in the mix of playoff teams and they're totally capable of beating a Knicks or Cavs caliber team. But I think expecting a deep playoff run again is just fear of the boogeyman more than anything.
These are terrible, and they still might be the best part of the season for Philly.
Seriously though - I actually like the colors a lot but the font selection and layout for "City of BROTHERLY Love" is wretched. It's stunning that professional designers created and endorsed that.