After many long months without NBA basketball, the wait is almost over. With the NBA season getting back underway on July 30, there are many storylines in what is sure to be an NBA season which will not be soon forgotten. Eight “seeding games” will be played before the NBA Playoffs tip-off. The eighth and ninth seeds will play against one another in order to round out the 16 team field.
Where Does Each Team Stack Up in Walt Disney World?
22. Phoenix Suns: While the Suns do technically have a chance of squeaking their way into the playoffs, those chances are virtually non-existent. Phoenix enters the “seeding games” with no margin of error. The team is six games back with only eight games to play. It would be very surprising to see the Suns make the playoffs for the first time since the 2009-2010 season.
21. Washington Wizards: The Wizards, just like the Suns, are fighting an uphill battle in Orlando. The team is sixteen games under .500 and did not deserve a trip to the bubble. The only way their stay in the bubble will last more than eight games is if the Wizards players decide to take a trip to one of the parks at Walt Disney World.
20. San Antonio Spurs: Even one of the greatest coaches in the history of the National Basketball Association, Gregg Popovich, struggled to help the Spurs overcome their glaring deficiencies this season. The team will be without LaMarcus Aldridge in Orlando which will shift their playoff hopes from being on life support to dead on arrival. The 22 consecutive playoff appearances by the Spurs, a North American team sports record, will come to an end this season.
19. Sacramento Kings: The Sacramento Kings have been a surprise of sorts as first-year head coach Luke Walton has the team in contention for the NBA playoffs heading into the NBA restart. Young players like De’Aaron Fox have the Kings on an upward trajectory, but the team is at least one year away from making the playoffs. The Kings playoff drought will be extended to 14 years.
18. Orlando Magic: Even though the Magic will make the playoffs, and will be the team that feels most at home during the restart, they will be no threat in the 2020 NBA Playoffs. Orlando just does not have the firepower necessary to make any noise in the Eastern Conference.
17. Brooklyn Nets: On paper, the Brooklyn Nets seem to be a championship contender for years to come, but that will not be the case this season. Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, and DeAndre Jordan will not be on the floor during the NBA restart. The team struggled mightily this season even with Irving and Jordan on the floor, but now without either one, they have no chance to pull off an upset in the first round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs.
16. New Orleans Pelicans: The Pelicans are only 3.5 games back of the eighth playoff spot in the west, but will run into a top-shelf Western Conference team if they even make the playoffs. The core of Zion Williamson, Lonzo Ball, and Brandon Ingram makes the Pelicans a fascinating team going forward, but they do not have the requisite experience to defeat a top team. Williamson is arguably the face of the league and hopes to be so for years to come, but he will not be enough to carry the Pelicans deep into the playoffs.
15. Memphis Grizzlies: Led by surefire Rookie of the Year Ja Morant, the Grizzlies head to Orlando in the eighth playoff spot in the Western Conference. While Morant is a rising star in the NBA, he does not have the running mates this season to shake things up in the Western Conference. Led by Morant, the Grizzlies are a team to watch going forward, just not in Orlando.
14. Portland Trail Blazers: While Portland is currently on the outside looking in of the playoff picture, they seem to have all the makings of a team that will inch their way up the standings into a playoff spot. Led by the All-Star backcourt of Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum, in addition to future Hall of Famer Carmelo Anthony, the Blazers have a roster full of talented players. The addition of Zach Collins, who only played three games this season, will give Portland an inside presence that will make them a tough first-round matchup.
13. Oklahoma City Thunder: In what has been one of the most surprising developments of the 2019-2020 NBA season, the Thunder find themselves the fifth seed in the Western Conference. Billy Donovan, who deserves serious consideration for Coach of the Year, and future Hall of Fame point guard Chris Paul have been a match made in heaven thus far. While the Thunder have been a great story, their season is poised to come to an abrupt end in the first round of the playoffs. The Thunder will be going against much more talented teams in the Western Conference which will limit how far the team will go.
12. Dallas Mavericks: The dynamic duo of Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis will only be able to take the Mavericks so far. While Doncic and Porzingis will do the heavy lifting for Dallas in Orlando, the supporting cast is not strong enough to put the team over the edge. While Seth Curry and Tim Hardaway Jr. are above-average NBA players, they are not cut out to be part of the supporting cast of a team which ultimately has championship aspirations. The supporting cast will ultimately lead to the undoing of the Mavericks this season.
11. Indiana Pacers: The success of the Pacers in the NBA bubble will hinge almost entirely on the availability of the team’s star player Victor Oladipo. The former All-Star has yet to make a decision on whether he will suit up for the “seeding games” at the time of publication. Even if Oladipo were to play for Indiana, their path to go far in the playoffs would be narrow, but without Oladipo no conceivable path forward exists for the team this season.
10. Houston Rockets: Even though Houston will play out the remainder of the 2020 season in a bubble does not mean the issues which have always plagued them will magically go away. The book on Rockets Head Coach Mike D’Antoni is out and has been so for over a decade now. D’Antoni’s style of basketball, lack of defense and jacking up 3’s, does not work well in the playoffs. Former MVP James Harden also has struggled mightily in the playoffs as of late. The Arizona State product usually wears down as the NBA Playoffs soldier on. Even though there was such a long layoff due to COVID-19, the style of Harden will still not lead the Rockets to anything more than a second-round playoff appearance.
9. Utah Jazz: The Jazz are a team that no one in the Western Conference should take lightly. Led by Donovan Mitchell and assisted by Mike Conley and Rudy Gobert, the Jazz should expect a long stay at Walt Disney World. The Jazz have all the makings of a team that can punch their ticket to the Western Conference Finals, and quite possibly even shock the basketball world by representing the Western Conference in the NBA Finals.
8. Miami Heat: Head Coach Erik Spoelstra has his team in prime position as they head up to the Orlando Bubble. The addition of Jimmy Butler in the offseason in addition to the bursting on the scene of Bam Adebayo makes the Heat a threat in the Eastern Conference playoff picture. Butler can be counted on in the playoffs, but the question that comes to mind is who else on this Heat team will be able to help shoulder the load. Players like Duncan Robinson, Tyler Herro, and Goran Dragic will all need to step up for the Heat if the team wants to make the most out of the great position they now find themselves in.
7. Philadelphia 76ers: The 76ers have always been an enigmatic team, and NBA fans should not expect that to change in the Orlando bubble. On a nightly basis, it is nearly impossible to predict which team will show up. While Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons provided the Sixers with one of the most formidable one-two punches in the league, the team was still very inconsistent before the season was shut down. The Sixers were one of the best teams at home, but one of the worst in the league away from home. The lack of chemistry between the team’s two biggest stars will continue to limit their potential. Sixers fans should expect a complete overhaul by the time next season rolls around. It will become abundantly clear in Orlando this iteration of the Sixers will not lead to a championship.
6. Denver Nuggets: The Nuggets have championship aspirations, but will have their work cut out for them if they want to represent the Western Conference in the NBA Finals. Nikola Jokic is one of the best players in the NBA, and the Nuggets will only go as far as he is able to take them. The Nuggets have a solid supporting cast consisting of Paul Milsap, Jamal Murray, and Will Barton, but the team is another star player short of being a true threat in the top-heavy Western Conference. The Nuggets will be hard-pressed to even advance to the Western Conference Finals.
5. Boston Celtics: The health of star point guard Kemba Walker’s knee will determine how far Boston will make it in the playoffs. Walker was limited in the months leading up to the shutdown, and no one is quite sure how his knee will hold up during the Celtics playoff run. While Jayson Tatum has come into his own this season, he along with Gordon Hayward and Jaylen Brown will not be enough to take the Celtics to the promised land. The health of Walker will either sink or swim the Celtics season.
4. Toronto Raptors: The Raptors look to repeat as champions as they gear up for the NBA restart. Head Coach Nick Nurse has himself firmly in the pole position in coach of the year consideration, and the Raptors will be playing deep into the playoffs. Led by many of the same players from last year’s championship team, mainly Pascal Siakam and Kyle Lowry, the Raptors should be expected to advance all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals. Whether or not the Raptors are able to represent the Eastern Conference for the second consecutive year will hinge upon how the first few rounds of the playoffs go for the top teams in the conference.
3. Los Angeles Lakers: Before the NBA season was shut down, the Lakers looked poised to win their first title in ten years and LeBron James was on track to win his first title in four seasons. The Lakers are a much different team than they were four months ago, and they are a much weaker team in Orlando. The decision by wily veteran Avery Bradley to opt out of the NBA season, and a hand injury to point guard Rajon Rondo, which will keep him out 6-8 weeks, will cause the Lakers to fall short of the NBA Finals. The Rondo and Bradley subtraction has been countered with the addition of Dion Waiters and JR Smith. Both of those players will be unable to fill the shoes of Rondo and Bradley. The Lakers are one of the oldest teams in the NBA, and the supporting cast will let James down late in the playoffs. If it was not for James, the Lakers would not even be a playoff contender. Even for arguably the greatest player of all time, it is too tall a task to drag this team to a championship.
2. Milwaukee Bucks: The success of the Bucks this postseason will not hinge upon MVP candidate Giannis Antetokounmpo, but Khris Middleton. Antetokounmpo has shown that he can carry the Bucks to great heights, but he will only be able to take them so far if he does not get a meaningful contribution from Middleton. Middleton struggled to find his footing in the 2019 playoffs. He averaged a shade under 17 points-per-game on nearly 42% shooting from the field during last year’s playoffs. Both of these figures were far below those Middleton put up in the 2019 regular season when he was named an all-star. Center Brook Lopez and point guard Eric Bledsoe also need to play well if the Bucks want to be crowned 2020 NBA champions, but Middleton is the one player that will have the most impact on the playoff fate of the Milwaukee Bucks this season. The Bucks will end up coming just short once again because Antetokounmpo’s supporting cast will come up small when it matters most.
1. Los Angeles Clippers: The Clippers are the clear-cut favorite to be crowned the 2020 NBA champion. The team has a top-flight coach in Doc Rivers, two of the top 15 players in the world, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, in addition to the deepest team in the entire league. Before the restart, the Lakers and Clippers were the class of the Western Conference, and the same will hold true in Orlando. The two L.A. teams look to be on track for a collision course of epic proportions in the Western Conference Finals, but the Clippers will prevail. The Clippers roster has been crafted to defeat the Lakers, and mainly match up well with LeBron James. Leonard, George, Marcus Morris Sr, and Montrezl Harrell will all be thrown at James in order to slow him down. The Clippers will be too much to handle for the Lakers, and they will then dispatch the Bucks in six games to be crowned champions. By the time all is said and done, Leonard will win his second consecutive championship, and a championship parade will once again take place in the “City of Angels.”
Comentários