Topic: 2019 NBA Pre-Season - page 464. (Read 903557 times)

The Lakers are not likely going to make it to the NBA Finals again, as they haven't significantly upgraded their lineup. They were swept by the Nuggets, so it's hard to expect that they will beat the defending champions next season. Yeah, you have a point. I think the Phoenix Suns have a good chance of beating the Nuggets because if they could maximize Bradley Bell, he will certainly score like Booker. And, of course, we have to hope that these three offensive players are going to be healthy, as the Suns cannot afford to lose either one of them.



I would love to give the benefit of the doubt. Kyrie came late in the season, so there's probably some chemistry problem, and I'm hoping they have fixed that already in the off-season. However, if at the beginning of the season, Dallas is still struggling, then maybe I would believe that they'll end up like the mess they were last season.

It was Bron's influence that brought Westbrook into LA right? Anyways, he did bring a ring already. Heading to the next season, the Lakers are becoming a better team IMO so they are pretty sure in the playoffs again if AD is healthy. Although I still doubt they will reach the conference finals. The west is getting more competitive with the Phoenix Suns adding a 4th big star in Bradley Beal and of course, Denver after the championship experience will have more confidence than ever.

The team that I felt disappointed is Dallas. That team will be doomed since the arrival of Kyrie Irving. A good player but toxic, and injury prone and I just don't think his style is a good fit for Luka.

No matter what happens to them in the Lakers this season, they have already done their job and won the championship because that's just all that it matters when you are with the Superteam trying to be a contender in the NBA league. It will be more amazing when they can get back to the NBA playoffs this season because they easily made a great run last season and also beat the defending champion easily. The worse thing they did was signed Westbrook despite having multiple stars that can help them with the championship again last season.

We already see how Booker and Durant play together they work well since Durant can adopt to his teammates. The question is Beal if he can adjust on his role and he can accept that he cannot handle the ball all the time since he have 2 superstar teammate to share. But for sure they already talk about this since they have goal set and that is to win a championship this season.

To many to wait for this team since for Beal's addition to this team Suns became a title contender again and for sure many fans would love to see how their rotation works or if they cam create a good chemistry together.

Lakers is considered to be a dark horse as well, if I'm not mistaken, of course some of the core is back but still, a ageing Lebron and then injury prone AD? Still not sure how far the Lakers can go in this season.

And for sure the talk about the West is the defending champions and then a upgraded Phoenix Suns. And the Dame saga still continues, obviously, he wanted to go to the East so it's going to be a good conference to look at with Boston and Sixers and the Bucks.

With acquisition of Beal before the season start, they can build good chemistries with a given time frame of working together,
my doubt is the leadership when they are all inside the floor.

All 3 superstars are mostly wants to have the ball and control the offense, there's a need of stepping down with your usual type of game.

Both Booker and Beal need to find that way to adjust to how KD plays the game, if they can duplicate that support that the splash
bro provide for KD when he's still playing with them, that kind of chemistries is what the Suns need to bring success to the franchise.

The Pistons will be tanking as well, the Wizards will have an awful season like always, and I expect that the Hornets will be having a terrible season still even though they got Brandon Miller.

Lakers, Nuggets, Heat, Celtics, Suns.
Lakers - I don't expect them to be tanking either so I agree with what you said. I don't expect Lebron to let his team tank knowing that he's in the final years of his basketball career already, so I expect him to play at his best in order to get that title again.
Nuggets - With Bruce Brown getting traded, I expect their defense to go down at least because he's a good defender. The Core is still intact, so I expect the team to play like almost the same as they was last season.
Heat - If Dame will not land on the Heat, I expect nothing from them. Take note that they gave 2 key undrafted players in Vincent, and Struss, so the Heat have nothing right now at least. They need to get Dame to at least be a title contender.
Celtics - With the loss of Smart, and Grant Williams, I expect them to be worse than what they was last season TBH. Unless they will have role players that will be focusing more on the defense, they will be a lot worse now. Take note that the Celtics have been known to be one of the best defensive teams 2 years ago, and that's because of Grant, and Smart.
Suns - Watch out for them. They have Beal already plus they have better role players right now. They are for me one of the favorites next season in winning the title.

Where's the Warriors?
I mean they already filled up the things that they're lacking last season. They got better role players now, they also have an amazing coach, and take note that they still have the core of Dray, Steph, and Klay. Maybe let's add CP3 in the list as well. I expect them to be a title contender for the next 2 years or even more, and they will be better in the upcoming season compare to last season.

And the chemistry should be created now off-season. They do not have much time if they want the championship now and I think the Suns' management has that goal that's why they spend a lot of money to get players that would best suit Booker. A fully offensive weapon that will be difficult to stop. Expect 120-130 total points for this team and they will match the Nuggets who had a long win record with 120+ on their scoreboard. I mean let's face it, the Nuggets are not actually a defensive team but they rely on accurate offense whenever they try to attack back and that is why they can win games.
When these two teams face each other, we might see mostly an offensive performance.

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FIBA World Cup will tip off is near. August 25, 2023.
Here is the NBA tracker for who will play in the event.
https://www.nba.com/news/fiba-world-cup-roster-tracker-2023
I will just highlight the USA roster here.

If you want to discuss the FIBA Basketball World Cup, I created a thread, especially for it.
Here is the link.
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.62625683

Well, let's see if the Phoenix Suns are now a "finals" type of team, because the last time I remember the Denver Nuggets told the media that their toughest opponent in the 2023 playoffs was the Minnesota Timberwolves, I really feel like it, they just need more team chemistry and add some depth with their roster. Honestly, I still doubt the Suns roster this year, even with the Bradley Beal acquisition. I'm not hating because they are desperate, but they kept building and finding that chemistry while the Nuggets are solidifying it, make it more way ahead of any teams in the NBA right now. I don't have any clue why they let Bruce Brown go away with a different team, but all I know is that the Denver Nuggets were trying to build a new dynasty. That trade they made just before they won the championship was the first step towards it.   

Never forget the Lakers, they had a good offseason and bring back some good players plus got some solid addictions to their roster. If LBJ and AD stay healthy they can definitely make a deep run as well. Phoenix looks nice on paper but that is only scoring, the problem will be defence. About Boston I am also not convinced, they always seem to be strong but the final touch is missing somehow.
Denver of course will be a force again if they stay healthy. They lost Bruce Brown and Jeff Green, but added some ok bench players.

I wonder who the dark horse will be, maybe some team nobody is talking about will surprise the league.

At the start of the season, there is still enough time for each team to prepare players and play strategies or better positioning of players.
If we talk about trading, we can see that in the future some players will be traded in order to have what should be able to add strength to the team itself.
But it seems true what you said that Boston, Phoenix, Milwaukee, and the Denver Nuggets will be the dominant competitors later when there is no movement whatsoever before next season begins.

I agree Lebron James should stay silent for now upon reviewing the case of their son Bronny James sure this is really hard for them in knowing the true condition of Bronny James it will surely be hard for Lebron James to accept what could be the condition of his son, but they still need to open this up to the public because this could have a negative impact on Bronny James' career aswell,


This is giving much pressure on both sides, but surely because of the filed contract he can not do something about it but get along with the terms, and right now that the Miami Heat is getting some space on their team to likely sign another superstar they can not do such a thing because they want Damian Lillard, but because Dame can not make outs to Portland Trailblazers this means the Miami Heat will likely need to acquire another superstar for them to be more efficient they are now out of time waiting for Dame to be traded,


I agree! Of the most trade that they did, this is the most clever one, and even though Kyrie Irving is a superstar in his own right there is a lot of issues involving him that many dislike when they announce that they will get Kyrie Irving, I really don't know what Mark Cuban is thinking but maybe he is not thinking at all, and just make a trade without even thinking the possibility for his team, for surely many will still be interested with the Luca Doncic and Kyrie Irving tandem but it is really too late if they could also get Clint Capela,

Lakers are another year older for theor main stars I can't see them putting any real pressure up top.  Suns if healthy will certainly push Denver.  The 2 wild cards are okc and Sacramento.  Sacramento was a pice or 2 away with some of theor stars getting into theor prime.  Okc shoukd start to reap the benefits of all their draft picks as well as sga going into his prime.  In the end, I'd still take Denver to win the west.

Expect that, Nuggets still have that same core, and with the way they are playing the game,

I still see that they've got the chance to keep that championship spirit, just need to have both Jokic and Jamal healthy
and the rest would be playing alongside with them.

I like to see Warriors and Lakers, not sure about Suns as having Beal might be a liability as they already have both Booker
and KD who are really a good scorer, adding another might be depends on how they'll going to jibe with the chemistries.

And we also need to see that the Denver Nuggets have a line up change, I mean their core is still intact, but I think losing Bruce Brown who did contribute to their championship run in both defense and offense, could be missed by the Nuggets as well.

So let's see any team in the West that will challenge the Nuggets at least in the first half of the season. Suns has upgraded with the Beal acquisition and so is the Warriors and then the Lakers too. So very tough Western conference and there will be a lot of challenge for the defending champs.

I agree. Wemby is surely a lottery star because of what he can do to the team and the Spurs was indeed lucky to get him, but since NBA is a different league, we cannot say yet that the Spurs will have a good run this upcoming season because first, Wemby is still a rookie and definitely needs more time and experience before he can keep up with the stars in the league and second, we can expect that Wemby is going to have a lot of struggle because he will be a live target specially after he made a statement where he said that "it's not as physical compared to European basketball". The kid shouldn't have said that because he's just inviting the unwanted visitors in his rookie years.

I am not sure about who will be tanking, but I can easily say that any team that went ahead for a chance to win it all, could always be contending. I am guessing that Lakers will not be terrible, but Nuggets and Heat and Celtics looks to be great and they will probably still be around, obviously we will get Suns who will have a decent team as well, and that's going to end up with something that has a good entertainment for us.

Nuggets vs Suns at the west finals, Heat vs Celtics on the east finals, and whoever wins gets to meet at the finals and the winner gets the ring. I believe that's going to be how it is like but of course we can't know for sure right now. Miami getting Dame would make their place more permeant there.

Before all of that, Boston Celtics should make sure first that they are the strongest team in their conference and not just finishing the first seed during the regular season because the real game starts on the playoffs season. We surely thought that they would make another appearance in the Finals because it seems that they are doing well but when they faced the unexpected underdog, the Miami Heat, everything had changed as they were even on the brink of getting swept.

And another thing, it will be a huge challenge to them specially the Celtics if the Heat can sign the Portland's star, Dame Lillard, and we know that the competition will be a lot tougher afterwards.

True, at the end of the day this is all about business and what's going to be profitable on Portland's side and what Miami sees being part of them. And if nothing happens with any deal that's being offered to Portland then Dame remains to be one of them.

Most of them will have the need for a big man if they're looking to Nuggets. But the game isn't just all about the big men and they've just recognized how it is really a huge advantage if a team has got one. Not just about the natural height advantage but also not a sloppy one and upgraded with shooting skills.

The Dallas Mavericks are a mess. Now they’re targeting Clint Capela to be their center… I’m not sure what Mark Cuban is doing over there. It seems like maybe he’s lost touch with his team with all the other stuff he’s doing. The one good thing they had was Luka, and I think the Kyrie trade not only decimated their team’s roster but it may have also destroyed Luka’s career.