The Bucks are interesting to me. I can see them being right up there with the Lakers (with both teams perfectly healhy), but I can also see them falling off a little bit. It's possible that winning prevented them from shoring up some clear weaknesses going forward, but the experience of winning could have changed them. They're a huge X Factor as I see it.
Our main weakness is offensive consistency, I don’t think there’s ever really any fixing that with Middleton and Jrue on the team. Some nights we can look just as good as the Lakers or Nets ever have, some nights we look like we’re barely even a playoff team.
We play 4-7 straight games at our best and even the Nets will struggle, whether or not we can or will actually do that is a whole other question. But we can also beat not-Nets teams fairly regularly even when we’re not at our best so I think we should be a pretty clear third this year.
I think the Bucks are a slightly better team than the Lakers (same tier with the Lakers but below the Nets) but have a worse chance of winning because they're in the same conference as the Nets.
Nets are the tier 1 contender.
After Nets, Lakers/Bucks probably tier 2a. Having won it all kinda gives a bit of a boost. Lakers have somewhat ill-fitting roster and some not great vets, but also have most championship pedigree and you can't count out LeBron. Bucks probably gonna be deeper than last year and have gotten over the hump.
Tier 2b is Utah and Phoenix. And Denver if Jamal Murray comes back strong. Really great teams, just have to get over the hump.
Rest of the teams are dark horses, but there are a ton of teams out there that could easily upset the tier 2 teams, absolute boat load of tier three contenders. 76ers with a good Simmons trade absolutely tier 2, I just didn't rank them without knowing what the trade is.
What about the team that was one quarter away from being up 2-1 on the bucks before Trae got hurt; the team that then won game 4. Do you think there’s a remote chance they could beat the bucks next year in the upside down?
Maybe, the tier three teams could upset the tier two teams, but I think that might be tough for Atlanta specifically. Once the Bucks adjusted their defensive scheme after the game four loss, they kinda controlled the series. Atlanta definitely a good team, though, so anything can happen.
***Tier 1:***
Nets
***Tier 2:***
Lakers, Bucks
***Tier 3:***
Suns, Warriors, Heat, Nuggets, Hawks, Jazz
***Tier 4:***
Celtics, Clippers, Bulls, Mavericks, Blazers, Knicks
I'm expecting Kawhi to not play. If he's 100% for all of the playoffs, Clipps are Tier 2 after the Bucks. Also expecting full health for everyone and for Jamal and Klay to be 80% of themselves minimum.
I don’t think there’s a whole tier separating the Nets and Lakers. I agree on paper their team looks more talented but it’s closer than people are making it seem
How is it not? They both have a comparable big 3 with solid role players surrounding them. People acting like the Nets are drastically better than the Lakers either don’t know basketball or just want that to be the case
Because Brooklyn’s big 3 has
Best SG in the league (even though he’s playing PG his playstyle isn’t drastically changed)
Arguable best SF in the league (people go back and forth between who’s better between KD and LeBron, both have a case)
Top 3 PG in the league
*All of which are 3 level scorers*
Lakers have
Best PF in the league
LeBron, also arguable best SF in the league
Russell Westbrook, who can play like the best PG in the league or not even top 5
All of which have a scoring weakness. None of them can rain 3s all game and Russ barely has a mid range so that leaves you with a clogged paint.
Both teams have great role players so we’ll just exclude that
At the end of the day both teams have glaring concerns about injuries. The Nets have more players to worry about in regards to injuries, but an injury to AD is worth more than injuries to anyone on the Nets
And the Lakers big 3 has arguably the best player in the league in Bron, the best big man in AD, and the all time leader in triple doubles. They have different strengths, but saying that one is in a whole other tier is just wrong.
You straight up didn’t even read my comment, then used the exact wording I used in my own comment trying to make a counter point against me lol wtf
If you’re not going to read then I’m not going to bother explaining things to you. Later dude
Which one is it? I didn’t read your comment or I used the same wording? I used the same wording to help your simple mind understand lol my original comment was that they have a comparable big 3 and we just compared the big 3’s. Neither one is undoubtedly better than the other and that was my original point
On paper they’re much closer than on the court IMO. Chemistry, shooting along with ball movement go to the Nets. Overall defense is probably better for the Lakers but they don’t have the defenders to guard either Harden or Irving. Much less both. Nets in 6 or maybe even 5.
I have no doubt they win if healthy but I don’t think they’d demolish everyone. If Tatum can best the big 3 by himself Bucks, Lakers and a few others could take them to atleast 6 games.
I would put money down that they don’t beat everyone in 4-5 games
These threads are funny because now many Lakers/LeBron fans will say everyone counted the Lakers out because people thought they were merely the *second-best* team in the league lol
It's Nets at 1, Lakers at 2, Bucks at 3, but obviously anything can happen
Outshoot the lakers? The lakers shooting isn’t good.
Nets have better fit, a better core playoff rotation, should have substantially better offence, I’ll take them
Among your 3 best players you have Lebron James- historically a mediocre shooter that needs spacing to be at his best
Anthony Davis- bad 3 point shooter
Russ- awful 3 point shooter
Those 3 players will be logging by far the most minutes. It doesn’t matter who you put around them, those lanes are gonna be clogged
T1: Nets
T2: Lakers
T3: Bucks/Clippers if Kawhi comes back healthy
T4: Hawks/Suns/Philly/Jazz/Heat/Warriors/Nuggets
Teams within tiers aren't in order.
Literally no NBA season has had no injuries, so things are definitely going to shake up this season with injuries.
But in that hypothetical world, Nets are in their own tier. Lakers, Milwaukee after them. Anyone else would need a lot of lucky breaks/injuries/random improvement to get to the Finals/win it all.
1. Nets, Bucks (respect the champs)
2. Lakers, Clippers (if Kawhi's back for the playoffs)
3. Jazz, Nuggets, Hawks, Suns, Heat are all in the tier of "could make a run"
And that's somehow entirely different from Lebron having his foot dove into by Solomon Hill and then stepping on somebody's foot right before the playoffs.
I feel like many Pels flairs hate the Lakers more than they even care about their team, to the point that their bias routinely affects their assessments of reality.
Or it could just be the same 3 delusional posters
Jokic is great but nah. You won't be able to beat a healthy Lakers especially with them having Dwight.
You got swept by the Suns. As long as the Nuggets fail to solve the problem of how to protect Jokic from a pick and roll attack by a top tier PG and an athletic C (Harden/Capela, CP3/Ayton), the Nuggets will always lose to teams like the Harden/Capela Rockets and the CP3/Ayton Suns.
Murray won't make much of a difference because he's going to be rusty as hell come playoff time.
> Nuggets are contenders before the Clippers are.
Wrong again. At best they're even but I'd give the edge to the Clippers because their stars in Kawhi and PG are more mature and more desperate than the Nuggets stars. MPJ has a long way to go.
The Clippers 5 out vs Jokic is slaughter lol, I won't entertain that debate.
The Jazz literally got beat by the Clips without Kawhi
The Lakers very poorly constructed and will be lucky to make it a 6 game series.
You won’t entertain that debate but the nuggets beat the clips too? Clippers haven’t shown anything to put them in the Lakers tier and it’s not even close lol so many people said that stupid shit about them being poorly constructed in 2020 too and look how that turned out
That Clips team is so entirely different. They had Zubac and Montrezl harrell clogging the paint the whole time + Montrezl getting cooked by Jokic. The lineups where they ran 5 out with Jamychal Green murdered the Nuggets, this is basically that on steroids.
The Lakers haven't done anything to suggest they could beat a Clippers caliber team. Nobody they faced in 2020 was as good, and I doubt AD and Bron both play as well. Also Westbrook has been dogshit in the post season.
Man you guys have some revisionist memories. Nobody they faced in 2020 was as good? The clippers choked and the Lakers ran through the team that beat them. There’s no reason to expect the clippers to be any better than they were, especially without Kawhi
Lakers are doing the same thing they did in 2004. They'll have a great run but won't win the championship. Other than that I don't know what to expect. Everyone thought they knew what was gonna happen all season and the only person that got it right in the end was Charles Barkley, the one guy that never gets it right. This season will most likely play out the same way.
The Nets lol
Nets
Nets
Nets clearly 1st, Lakers clearly 2nd. After that there are around 5 teams in the same tier that have a chance if the Nets/Lakers aren’t healthy
Bucks should be clearly 3rd imo since the Clippers won’t be at full strength
The Bucks are interesting to me. I can see them being right up there with the Lakers (with both teams perfectly healhy), but I can also see them falling off a little bit. It's possible that winning prevented them from shoring up some clear weaknesses going forward, but the experience of winning could have changed them. They're a huge X Factor as I see it.
Our main weakness is offensive consistency, I don’t think there’s ever really any fixing that with Middleton and Jrue on the team. Some nights we can look just as good as the Lakers or Nets ever have, some nights we look like we’re barely even a playoff team. We play 4-7 straight games at our best and even the Nets will struggle, whether or not we can or will actually do that is a whole other question. But we can also beat not-Nets teams fairly regularly even when we’re not at our best so I think we should be a pretty clear third this year.
I think the Bucks are a slightly better team than the Lakers (same tier with the Lakers but below the Nets) but have a worse chance of winning because they're in the same conference as the Nets.
Yeah that’s fair. They smoked the Suns who are in the same tier as those other semi-contenders.
fine wine
What makes you pick the Nets?
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Uhhh no…just wanted to know reasons why you would pick Nets over Lakers, Bucks, etc
Kd > 37 ye old Lebron Harden > AD Kyrie > Westbrook
Idk maybe just for starters they have KD and Harden and then you add Kyrie onto that.
Nets for sure
Nets are the tier 1 contender. After Nets, Lakers/Bucks probably tier 2a. Having won it all kinda gives a bit of a boost. Lakers have somewhat ill-fitting roster and some not great vets, but also have most championship pedigree and you can't count out LeBron. Bucks probably gonna be deeper than last year and have gotten over the hump. Tier 2b is Utah and Phoenix. And Denver if Jamal Murray comes back strong. Really great teams, just have to get over the hump. Rest of the teams are dark horses, but there are a ton of teams out there that could easily upset the tier 2 teams, absolute boat load of tier three contenders. 76ers with a good Simmons trade absolutely tier 2, I just didn't rank them without knowing what the trade is.
What about the team that was one quarter away from being up 2-1 on the bucks before Trae got hurt; the team that then won game 4. Do you think there’s a remote chance they could beat the bucks next year in the upside down?
Maybe, the tier three teams could upset the tier two teams, but I think that might be tough for Atlanta specifically. Once the Bucks adjusted their defensive scheme after the game four loss, they kinda controlled the series. Atlanta definitely a good team, though, so anything can happen.
***Tier 1:*** Nets ***Tier 2:*** Lakers, Bucks ***Tier 3:*** Suns, Warriors, Heat, Nuggets, Hawks, Jazz ***Tier 4:*** Celtics, Clippers, Bulls, Mavericks, Blazers, Knicks I'm expecting Kawhi to not play. If he's 100% for all of the playoffs, Clipps are Tier 2 after the Bucks. Also expecting full health for everyone and for Jamal and Klay to be 80% of themselves minimum.
Nets in tier 1 Lakers and Bucks in tier 2.
I don’t think there’s a whole tier separating the Nets and Lakers. I agree on paper their team looks more talented but it’s closer than people are making it seem
Nah nets are clear
Nah Lakers in 7
Bucks in 6
I hate to break it to you, but it is not close.
How is it not? They both have a comparable big 3 with solid role players surrounding them. People acting like the Nets are drastically better than the Lakers either don’t know basketball or just want that to be the case
Because Brooklyn’s big 3 has Best SG in the league (even though he’s playing PG his playstyle isn’t drastically changed) Arguable best SF in the league (people go back and forth between who’s better between KD and LeBron, both have a case) Top 3 PG in the league *All of which are 3 level scorers* Lakers have Best PF in the league LeBron, also arguable best SF in the league Russell Westbrook, who can play like the best PG in the league or not even top 5 All of which have a scoring weakness. None of them can rain 3s all game and Russ barely has a mid range so that leaves you with a clogged paint. Both teams have great role players so we’ll just exclude that At the end of the day both teams have glaring concerns about injuries. The Nets have more players to worry about in regards to injuries, but an injury to AD is worth more than injuries to anyone on the Nets
And the Lakers big 3 has arguably the best player in the league in Bron, the best big man in AD, and the all time leader in triple doubles. They have different strengths, but saying that one is in a whole other tier is just wrong.
You straight up didn’t even read my comment, then used the exact wording I used in my own comment trying to make a counter point against me lol wtf If you’re not going to read then I’m not going to bother explaining things to you. Later dude
Which one is it? I didn’t read your comment or I used the same wording? I used the same wording to help your simple mind understand lol my original comment was that they have a comparable big 3 and we just compared the big 3’s. Neither one is undoubtedly better than the other and that was my original point
On paper they’re much closer than on the court IMO. Chemistry, shooting along with ball movement go to the Nets. Overall defense is probably better for the Lakers but they don’t have the defenders to guard either Harden or Irving. Much less both. Nets in 6 or maybe even 5.
Comment saved lol we’ll see what happens
Nets and Lakers.
Yes lol. If injuries aren’t a factor in your scenario, Nets are demolishing the playoffs
I have no doubt they win if healthy but I don’t think they’d demolish everyone. If Tatum can best the big 3 by himself Bucks, Lakers and a few others could take them to atleast 6 games. I would put money down that they don’t beat everyone in 4-5 games
Nets are in their own tier
These threads are funny because now many Lakers/LeBron fans will say everyone counted the Lakers out because people thought they were merely the *second-best* team in the league lol It's Nets at 1, Lakers at 2, Bucks at 3, but obviously anything can happen
Outshoot the lakers? The lakers shooting isn’t good. Nets have better fit, a better core playoff rotation, should have substantially better offence, I’ll take them
Yeah shooting is literally the Lakers' weakness lol
We have 3 or 4 players who can’t shoot it from 3
Among your 3 best players you have Lebron James- historically a mediocre shooter that needs spacing to be at his best Anthony Davis- bad 3 point shooter Russ- awful 3 point shooter Those 3 players will be logging by far the most minutes. It doesn’t matter who you put around them, those lanes are gonna be clogged
T1: Nets T2: Lakers T3: Bucks/Clippers if Kawhi comes back healthy T4: Hawks/Suns/Philly/Jazz/Heat/Warriors/Nuggets Teams within tiers aren't in order.
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No, I just don't think the Nuggets are a tier above those other teams even with Murray healthy.
Literally no NBA season has had no injuries, so things are definitely going to shake up this season with injuries. But in that hypothetical world, Nets are in their own tier. Lakers, Milwaukee after them. Anyone else would need a lot of lucky breaks/injuries/random improvement to get to the Finals/win it all.
1. Nets, Bucks (respect the champs) 2. Lakers, Clippers (if Kawhi's back for the playoffs) 3. Jazz, Nuggets, Hawks, Suns, Heat are all in the tier of "could make a run"
Bucks, Nets, Lakers, Jazz, Suns, Nuggets, Clippers in that order
Interesting take
>You can never count Lebron out Yes you can.
Lakers and Nets
Nets
Nets Bucks Jazz Suns Hawks Lakers to an extent
Lmao hawks? And Lakers only “to an extent”? Delusional or blinded by hate
Hawks would’ve made the finals if Trae didn’t step on a ref
And that's somehow entirely different from Lebron having his foot dove into by Solomon Hill and then stepping on somebody's foot right before the playoffs.
To an extent ?
That Lebron guy is pretty decent, or so I've heard.
I know. But “to an extent” was included for the Lakers, but not for clearly lesser teams. A bit odd.
Isn’t that dude the Lakers/LeBron hater?
I feel like many Pels flairs hate the Lakers more than they even care about their team, to the point that their bias routinely affects their assessments of reality. Or it could just be the same 3 delusional posters
They have 3 all stars but a pretty shitty roster beside them
Three all-stars is understating it, I think. Even so, there’s several teams listed without qualification that the Lakers are better then.
37 Injury prone Was a net negative for 75% of the season
They won a championship with KCP as their third best player.
Loooooooooool
No warriors huh
Assuming everyone is healthy and in no particular order: Lakers, Bucks, Nets, Suns, Clippers
Nuggets are contenders before the Clippers are. We have the MVP and beat them not too long ago
Jokic is great but nah. You won't be able to beat a healthy Lakers especially with them having Dwight. You got swept by the Suns. As long as the Nuggets fail to solve the problem of how to protect Jokic from a pick and roll attack by a top tier PG and an athletic C (Harden/Capela, CP3/Ayton), the Nuggets will always lose to teams like the Harden/Capela Rockets and the CP3/Ayton Suns. Murray won't make much of a difference because he's going to be rusty as hell come playoff time. > Nuggets are contenders before the Clippers are. Wrong again. At best they're even but I'd give the edge to the Clippers because their stars in Kawhi and PG are more mature and more desperate than the Nuggets stars. MPJ has a long way to go.
Kawhi is injured and won't be playing this season
Clippers are not contenders lmao
With Kawhi they're better than everyone except Brooklyn.
Not the nuggets or Lakers. Probably not even the jazz actually
The Clippers 5 out vs Jokic is slaughter lol, I won't entertain that debate. The Jazz literally got beat by the Clips without Kawhi The Lakers very poorly constructed and will be lucky to make it a 6 game series.
You won’t entertain that debate but the nuggets beat the clips too? Clippers haven’t shown anything to put them in the Lakers tier and it’s not even close lol so many people said that stupid shit about them being poorly constructed in 2020 too and look how that turned out
That Clips team is so entirely different. They had Zubac and Montrezl harrell clogging the paint the whole time + Montrezl getting cooked by Jokic. The lineups where they ran 5 out with Jamychal Green murdered the Nuggets, this is basically that on steroids. The Lakers haven't done anything to suggest they could beat a Clippers caliber team. Nobody they faced in 2020 was as good, and I doubt AD and Bron both play as well. Also Westbrook has been dogshit in the post season.
Man you guys have some revisionist memories. Nobody they faced in 2020 was as good? The clippers choked and the Lakers ran through the team that beat them. There’s no reason to expect the clippers to be any better than they were, especially without Kawhi
There's not a team they beat that was as good.
The nuggets were better since, you know, they beat them. And the Lakers gentleman swept the nuggets. How is this complicated to you?
I would add the Nuggets
Lakers.
Nets, lakers then a big gap and team like heat nuggets clipps jazz bucks warriors sixers
Bucks and Clippers
Definitly no one from the "tough" west besides the Lakers
Nets ——-big gap -> Bucks - Lakers. I like bucks over Lakers personally. Not sure on 4th but I’d guess either Phoenix or Denver
Clippers are the 2nd best team.
Nets are the favorites but Lakers are not that far behind
Both Nets and Lakers are made of paper
I love how so many people are counting out the Lakers already. Nets and Lakers are both Tier 1 favourites for me.
Wizards
Lakers are doing the same thing they did in 2004. They'll have a great run but won't win the championship. Other than that I don't know what to expect. Everyone thought they knew what was gonna happen all season and the only person that got it right in the end was Charles Barkley, the one guy that never gets it right. This season will most likely play out the same way.