All-NBA Team of the Week - The Big Pre-Season Show

Goeiedag, enchantée and welcome to this week's episode of Eight 2 Four presents: All-NBA Team of the Week. We break format this week because we are going to dive into our predictions for all 30 teams before the start of the season. To keep things easy, we will use the regular season standings of last season to move through the teams. We’ll go over some of the changes the teams made and how they have improved in comparison to last year. Of course not everyone got better, so we’ll touch on that too. Get ready for your All-NBA Team of the Week!

30. Houston Rockets

Finishing in 30th place last year, the coming season for the Houston Rockets can’t get any worse. Obviously, they started last year’s season by hitting the reset button and trading away Westbrook and Harden, not that they had much choice. Their only mission after that happened was to secure that bottom spot and the highest chances for a high pick in the draft. After all, they needed a top 4 pick to avoid losing their pick to OKC. They ended up with the second pick, drafted Jalen Green and can confidently start their rebuild. Now that they are looking to trade John Wall as well, they could end up with some more young and talented players and potentially a few more draft picks to add to their chest.

All things considered, the future for the Rockets is brighter than it was this time last year. Painted as the big losers after the Harden-Trade, all-of-a-sudden things are starting to take shape in Houston. Look, it is very realistic that they’ll finish last again in the coming season but right now that doesn’t matter. The Rockets will look at building for a few years and only start to get competitive when Green enters his prime. So yeah, the Rockets will be bad next season, but only because they want to be bad. The following year though, is when I see them competing for the Play-In games.

29. Detroit Pistons

Detroit Pistons fans have it rough. Of the five teams in the bottom spots, they are the only ones who didn’t mean to be here on purpose. And it hurts extra that Blake Griffin had to be bought out, only to ball out on a championship-calibre team in Brooklyn. Yes, Jerami Grant showed a lot of promise last season, and getting the number 1 pick Cade Cunningham was really exciting for Motor City. But that is where the good news stops.

The Pistons will be bottom feeders in the Eastern Conference again next year. I would expect that Cade will add a couple of wins on the board in comparison to last season but the reality is tough. This team is probably the worst team in the league right now. Their only advantage is that other teams will try to tank even harder to chase that number 1 draft pick.

28. Orlando Magic

The Orlando Magic decided to completely pull the plug out of their roster at the trade deadline last season. Fan favourites and franchise cornerstones Nikola Vucevic, Aaron Gordon and Evan Fournier were traded away to different teams and the rebuild around their “not-quite-yet-stars” began. With names like Jonathan Isaac, Mo Bamba, Wendell Carter Jr and Markelle Fultz, the current Magic roster is loaded with young players destined to be stars but haven’t had a chance yet to break through. Add number 5 and 8 in this years’ draft, Jalen Suggs and Franz Wagner, and last year’s rookie sensation Anthony Cole, who only just missed out on making the All-Rookie Teams. Together they make up a very interesting roster, to say the least.

Whether or not it will be a good roster, that has to be seen. Jalen Suggs is definitely a quality player who makes everyone around him better and could be the missing piece for a big guy like Mo Bamba. If Jonathan Isaac can successfully return from his ACL injury and stay healthy throughout the season, he could be the difference-maker on the court for the Magic as well. And with a few vets that have been around the block a few times, like Robin Lopez and Terrence Ross, they have some experience to regulate all this potential firework. Po-ten-tial, that’s the keyword here. If things don’t work out, this team will finish on the bottom of the ladder again. And I think that it will take more than one off-season to get this roster competitive, so my prediction for this season is that the Orlando Magic will finish up around the same spot as last season. But with potentially 3 first round picks in the next 2 drafts, the Magic are not in a rush to be competitive anyway.

27. Oklahoma City Thunder

I don’t want to spend too much time on the Oklahoma City Thunder. The big star on this team is not one of the players, even though Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is a superstar in the making. No, it is General Manager Sam Presti. Presti has collected 30 draft picks for the next 6 draft classes, 15 first rounders and 15 second rounders. Based on Presti's recent decisions, he is simply collecting good players with a bright future. Fit and winning doesn’t matter right now. That could mean that we see Shai being moved this season as well, because he is too good to lose every night and you can’t have him sit out the majority of the season on fake injuries.

But if OKC does try to play this season, they have quite a few young and exciting players on their roster next to Shai. Obviously, Dort made a great impression last year, especially on the defensive end. Poku could be a fantastic player, or not, who knows. Josh Giddey was great in the NBL in Australia, like LaMelo was, so hopefully he can show us something. Tre Mann could grow into a decent point guard at some stage but now we’re starting to grasp at straws. This team will finish near the bottom of the ladder again this season, not because they’re not good enough but simply because they have to. Presti is looking for his Durant, Westbrook and Harden through the draft again and won’t stop until he has found them.

26. Cleveland Cavaliers

The Cleveland Cavaliers love big guys. Throughout last season they had guys like Andre Drummond, JaVale McGee, Larry Nance Jr, Jarrett Allen, Isaiah Hartenstein, Thon Maker, Kevin Love and some more big men on their roster. It seemed like they were slowly fixing this problem by moving some of these players on or buying them out and by the start of free agency, they only had Jarrett Allen, third pick in the draft Evan Mobley, Larry Nance Jr and Kevin Love left. Fantastic work from the front office that could now focus on the backcourt and adding depth to the roster.

Fast forward 2 months to the start of training camp and guess what? The front office replaced versatile big Nance Jr with not-so-versatile big Lauri Markkanen, and added the tallest player in the NBA Tacko Fall to their roster. And what about their backcourt and depth? Well, besides Ricky Rubio, nothing has really changed. The Cavaliers’ offseason has been so bad, that they don’t even have a potential trade package to throw at Philly to get Ben Simmons. I do like the Sexland backcourt, especially Darius Garland is an exciting prospect but it is not enough. The only reason this team won’t finish on the bottom of the ladder is because there’s a few other teams that are better at tanking than the Cavaliers. They can’t even get that part right. The front office has a lot of work ahead of them.

25. Minnesota Timberwolves

In true Timberwolves-fashion, the franchise starts the new season with a bombshell. A week before the start of training camp, the owner Glen Taylor, who is transitioning out to make room for new owners Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore, sacked GM Gerrson Rosas. League-insiders reported that the Timberwolves have been looking for an excuse to get rid of Rosas for a while, and they finally got it when news came out about an inappropriate relationship with a staffer. Not only did he make life impossible for the people around him, he is also being held responsible for failing to trade for Ben Simmons. His replacement, Sachin Gupta, has only one task: get Ben to Minnesota.

And that might be a problem because the Timberwolves don’t really have a package to offer Philly. Any valuable trade would have to include D’Angelo Russell and I don't believe that Philly would want Russell on their roster. Besides Russell, the Wolves do have some decent role players on their roster like Malik Beasley, Patrick Beverley and Taurean Prince and of course youngsters like Anthony Edwards, who just missed out on Rookie of the Year, Jarred Vanderbilt and Jaden McDaniels. Karl-Anthony Towns has a promising roster around him and if they are not in the mix to fight for a Play-In game, their season should be considered a failure. Of course, if they do get Ben Simmons, who knows where they'll end up.

24. Toronto Raptors

After a long season of away games, the Toronto Raptors can finally head home. Playing in Tampa, which in hindsight was a really strange decision, really took its toll on a team that ended up underperforming all year long. Pascal Siakam struggled to repeat his All-Star season the previous year, Fred Van Vleet was not as lethal from deep, OG Anunobi missed almost half the season, they traded Norm Powell for Gary Trent Jr halfway through the season and he needed some time to fit in. We can keep going down the list.

Only Kyle Lowry was his usual self for the majority of the season, but rarely played after the trade deadline expired. It was clear he was leaving at the end of the season, and ended up in Miami in a sign-and-trade during this offseason. This season will likely be another difficult season for the Raptors who have to replace Lowry and will likely be missing Siakam until Christmas. But they do have a nice core of good, young players like Anunobi and Precious Achiuwa, who came over from Miami. I’m not expecting them in the Playoffs this season but they will definitely be fighting for those Play-In game positions.

23. Sacramento Kings

The biggest storyline for the Sacramento Kings franchise this season will be whether or not they will make it to the Playoffs. By missing out on the Playoffs last season, they have now tied the record for longest streak of seasons without Playoff basketball. They share this record with the Clippers, who set the record between ‘77 and ‘91. They were close to making it to the Play-In games last season, only folding after losing against the Spurs 6 games before the end of the season and finished 3 wins outside the top 10. In saying that, if they did make it, they would have had to play against the Grizzlies in the first game, who they just lost to twice at the end of the regular season.

I think we can all agree that they wouldn’t have been able to make it to the Playoffs last year, but this season could be a different story. The franchise has had a good offseason, holding on to all their key players so far and adding Davion Mitchell through the draft and Tristan Thompson via trade. Considering they’re pretty stacked at the guard position, with De’Aaron Fox, Tyrese Haliburton, Buddy Hield and Mitchell, there is another trade that could be made there. If their front court can get it together this season, and coach Luke Walton can keep his job, King-fans could be in for a surprise. I see them finish higher than last season and potentially slip into that 10th spot. And once they’re in the Play-In game, all they need to do is win twice. Easy, right?

22. Chicago Bulls

The Chicago Bulls were one of the busiest teams during the offseason. After adding Nikola Vucevic at the trade deadline during last season, they successfully traded for Lonzo Ball, DeMar DeRozan and Alex Caruso. And with Patrick Williams and Coby White, they have two more youngsters developing in the background. The main reason for this complete overhaul is, of course, to keep their star Zach LaVIne happy. LaVine’s contract is up at the end of the season and he will be an unrestricted free agent. Zach LaVine is ready to start playing with the big boys so Chicago needs to step up their game if they want to keep him.

And they did, at least they tried. Chicago has a much better roster than last season and will finish higher on the ladder, but there are a couple of questions that remain. How well will these guys play together and where do they sit in comparison to the other Eastern Conference teams? I don’t believe they can compete with the Nets, Bucks, Philly or even Miami and Atlanta. Are they good enough to fight for the 6th spot? Yes, along with the Knicks, Boston, the Wizards and the Pacers. That doesn’t leave much room for error because if you happen to be the worst of these teams, and with the Bulls that is always a possibility, you can find yourself fighting for the 10th spot with teams like the Hornets and the Raptors. So even with a stronger roster, the Bulls could finish in the same spot as last season. But if this roster works well together, and I expect they will, the Bulls could jump straight into that 6th spot and get to the Playoffs. But will it be enough to keep Zach LaVine? Watch this space!

21. New Orleans Pelicans

The New Orleans Pelicans. Where do we begin? I suppose we have to go straight to the core issue, their front office doesn’t know how to look after their stars. Zion is not happy, and it shows in different ways. Last season, in Madison Square Garden, he dropped a hint that he would rather play in front of that crowd every night. His family made it very clear they’re not impressed by the Pelicans’ front office And the way the franchise handled his injury in his rookie year was questionable at best. And now we find out that Zion had foot surgery during the offseason that no-one knows about. He will sit out training camp and preseason but should be available for the start of the regular season. I can’t believe how they kept this quiet all this time, especially with NBA insiders reporting every player's move at any given time. It makes me wonder if the Pelicans knew Zion had surgery. Did he even have surgery? Or was this an off-the-cuff excuse to skip training camp? I doubt Zion would have lied about an injury but something is fishy about the whole situation. I wonder if we’ll ever know the truth.

At the end of this season Zion will be eligible to sign his rookie extension, a 5 year contract that could see him earn over $180 million US. That is a lot of money to leave on the table, no matter who you are, so I fully expect Zion to sign the extension. The interesting part will be the outcome of the Ben Simmons situation in Philly. If he can force his way out in year 2 of his rookie extension, why would Zion not be able to do the same thing. Take the money and run. I hate to say it but this is all people will talk about when it comes to the Pelicans. They have not improved their roster, in fact, I believe they have gone backwards. Neither Devonte’ Graham or Tomas Satoransky are an improvement on Lonzo Ball. They’re both good players but not starting guards on a fringe contender. And that is where the Pelicans need to be to be able to keep Zion. Similar to Dallas with Luka. It is going to be a long season for Pelicans fans, that will more than likely end in heartbreak. Even IF Zion signs the extension.

20. Charlotte Hornets

The Charlotte Hornets were one of the most exciting teams to watch last season, mainly because of rookie LaMelo Ball who managed to surprise everyone in the league with his level of play. Going into this season, it is clear that the front office have decided to go all-in on LaMelo, and traded away Devonte’ Graham without really replacing him. Yes, they did draft James Bouknight but he’ll need some time to get decent minutes in the rotation. The starting backcourt should be LaMelo alongside Scary Terry Rozier, the man who made Charlotte forget Kemba.

It is hard to gauge where Charlotte will sit among the other teams in the East, mainly because they drew the card of the younger players. Ball, Bouknight, Miles Bridges, PJ Washington and even Kelly Oubre Jr, who is still only 25. These guys are going to be the core of the team, surrounded by experienced players like Gordon Hayward, who I expect to be an outside for an All-Star spot, Mason Plumlee and Ish Smith. I expect this team to fight for a Play-In game position but the season is long, and they’ll need their players to stay healthy, especially Hayward. But even if they miss out on the Play-In games, this team will definitely sit on top of the league-pass rankings.

19. San Antonio Spurs

The San Antonio Spurs have now officially entered a rebuild. After buying out LaMarcus Aldrigde last season, they traded DeMar DeRozan to the Bulls during the offseason. Those two players were the last connections to the mighty Spurs of the first decade of the 2000’s, even though neither one of them actually managed to bring back those glory days. The biggest question hanging over the Spurs now is: “How long will Pop hang around for?” Will he go all-in one more time and try to build another dynasty-worthy roster? Or are these his last days for the franchise? Either way, it will be important for the team to get some clarity on this because if they start this rebuild half-heartedly, they’ll have to start again as soon as Pop walks out the door.

Besides the coaching future of the Spurs, the franchise will heavily rely on their core of young players. Guys like Dejounte Murray, Derrick White, Lonnie Walker and Keldon Johnson will need to fill the gap that Aldridge and DeRozan have left. And Devin Vassell, starting his second year and rookie Joshua Primo will need to step up now and show people what they can do. The Spurs made it into the Play-In tournament last season but I’m not expecting them to repeat that. They’ll be competitive, that’s for sure, and a difficult away fixture for most teams in the league. But in the standings in the West, they will end up somewhere between the 10th and 13th spot.

18. Indiana Pacers

The Indiana Pacers went through a lost year last season. Lots of injuries, big trades and a bad coaching appointment set the Pacers back further then they had hoped. They played the whole season without TJ Warren, who had a breakout moment in the bubble the year before, Victor Oladipo started really well, allowing the front office to include him in the Harden-Trade and get Caris LeVert in return. But, he turned out to have a tumor and couldn’t play for the majority of the season. The team as a whole saw a major drop-off in quality of play after the All-Star Break, something that was caused, we found out later, because of the new coach Nate Bjorkgren. He came highly lauded as assistant of Nick Nurse with the Raptors, but was fired less than a month after missing out of the Playoffs. No love lost between players and coach and the Pacers hit the reset button hard this offseason.

Their biggest move was, without a doubt, hiring new head coach Rick Carlisle. It will be Carlisle’s second stint as head coach for the Pacers, and if he can repeat the successes of the first one, the future will be bright in Indiana. If it wasn’t for the Detroit Pistons and especially for Malice at the Palace, he might have won an NBA title with the Pacers back in ‘04-’05. But that’s not the memory that Carlisle wants to be linked to. He is starting fresh, with a more than decent roster, led by Malcolm Brogdon and Domantas Sabonis. If they can recuperate Caris LeVert and TJ Warren early in the season, this team will be strong, relentless and productive. Carlisle wants to bring the Pacers back to the top, and even though that might take a few years, I am expecting to see the Pacers in the Playoffs this season.

17. Washington Wizards

In my humble opinion, the Washington Wizards are the clear winners of the last 2 offseasons. They managed to trade John Wall’s untradeable contract and turn it into 3 overqualified and underpaid role players in Kyle Kuzma, KCP and Montrezl Harrell, and at the same time, benefitting from a year of having Russell Westbrook on the roster and holding on to most of their future draft picks. The roster is still not capable of competing with the best teams in the league but there is a clear path for the Wizards now, to give Beal what he needs to be able to win. And two years ago, that was unthinkable.

Last year, the Wizards snuck into the Playoffs after an up-and-down season. Beal looked really unhappy in the beginning and it took Westbrook a while to find his form. But towards the end of the season, having played less games than almost every other team, the team started rolling and making up ground in the standings. They made it into the Play-In tournament, and snagged the last Playoff spot by beating the Pacers in a must win scenario. I believe that the Wizards are better than last year, but if they’re not, they have the tools to get better before the trade deadline, but they will be one of the teams in the East that will be better but with a worse win percentage, simply because most teams in the East have gotten better. There are 5 teams that will fight for that 6th seed, the last spot to qualify immediately for the Playoffs. And the Wizards will struggle to top these 5 teams, with a new roster and a new head coach. But they’ll make it into the Play-In games, and can sneak into the Playoffs that way.

16. Boston Celtics

The Boston Celtics are embarking on one of the most important seasons in recent history. In the last 5 years they made it to the Eastern Conference Finals 3 times, no other team does better. Granted, most of those were the Kyrie years and the rookie seasons of Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum but the third time the Celtics made it, the team was led by Tatum and Brown, supported by Kemba, Hayward and Kanter. A difficult season last year saw them almost missing the Playoffs and tumbling out in the first round. They are now in danger of being one of those teams that were too good, too quick and never able to really build around their young stars. Tatum is now entering his fifth year in the league and I put him among the ten best players in the Eastern Conference. The Celtics need to be competitive this year to ensure Tatum stays happy and confident he can win a ring in Boston.

The Celtics have made some changes in their front office as well, Danny Ainge stepped aside as GM, after nearly 20 years of calling the shots in Boston. He is replaced by former head coach Brad Stevens, who has very little experience in that role. But you can expect that Ainge has prepped him thoroughly and his number would be on Stevens’ speed dial. The coaching role was handed to Ime Udoka, who was one of Pop’s assistants during the Spurs’ 2014 Championship run. This is the first time Udoka is head coach, so we’ll have to wait and see how hands-off Brad Stevens will actually be. Either way, the Celtics have tried to surround Tatum and Brown with quality role players. Al Horford is back, Josh Richardson came over from Dallas, Marcus Smart got a contract extension and with Dennis Schroder, they have the cheapest 100 million dollar point guard in the league. I see the Celtics finish around the same spot as last year and get to the Playoffs through the Play-In tournament. But I can imagine that the front office won’t be happy with anything under the 6th seed and will make changes during the season to get there. And who knows, if Tatum makes another jump as a player this year, they might even be able to fight for a top four spot.

15. Memphis Grizzlies

Will they or won’t they? The Memphis Grizzlies are on the verge of becoming one of the most promising teams in the Western Conference. Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr are the future of this franchise and ready to make their mark on the league. Especially Ja, who always feels like he has something to prove. In his rookie season, he was sensational and undoubtedly the rookie of the year but last season, even though he still was incredibly important for Memphis, he wasn’t talked about as much. Like Chris Vernon likes to say, he wasn’t the new toy anymore. I’m convinced that Ja has used that this offseason to get even better again.

Grit and Grind is back in Memphis and how can we not be excited about it! The Grizzlies have a deep roster, with lots of interchangeable players and young guys who are hungry. Desmond Bane proved in Summer League that he is ready to replace Grayson Allen, who was traded to the Bucks, and it is Steven Adams’ mission to make Memphis forget about Jonas Valanciunas. Brandon Clarke is looking for a huge third season after struggling a bit last year and guys like Dillon Brooks, De’Anthony Melton, Kyle Anderson and Tyus Jones are ON, all the time. It will be very interesting to see how one of their rookies, Zaire Williams, will fit into this roster, but let’s face it, this Grizzlies team has very few weaknesses. Will they fight for a top four spot? I doubt it, but they’ll definitely make a run towards that 6th spot in the West. And if they don’t get there this year, who cares, because the future looks bright in Memphis anyway.

14. Golden State Warriors

For most people, the success of the Golden State Warriors this season will depend on how Klay Thompson will return from injury. Klay injured his knee in the NBA Finals in 2019, against Toronto, at the same time that KD injured his achilles. They were supposed to be out for more or less the same amount of time but just as Klay was about to return, he tore his achilles, adding another 12 months to his rehab. He has been out since June 2019, by the time he hits the court, which will hopefully be around Christmas, that will be 30 months since he has played basketball at the highest level. I’m not saying he won’t be ready, Klay is a beast and news is going around that he is working hard on his return, but we might not see the Klay from before his injuries. But even a Klay at 80 or 90% will still be lethal on offence.

Whether or not Klay returns at the top of his game, I believe that the Warriors have armed themselves enough this season to fight for a Playoff spot. They missed out last season by losing in the final Play-in game against the Grizzlies after a rough season. But Steph and Draymond have a lot more help this season than last year. Wiggins has been vaccinated and can play, Wiseman will be a year older, they’ve added veterans like Iguodala and Avery Bradley to surround promising rookies Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody, but more importantly, they have the number 1 candidate for Most Improved in their ranks with Jordan Poole. If Poole can maintain the level he showed in the G-League, Summer League and now pre-season, he will be the main man next to Steph. That would give Klay all the time he needs because really, he just needs to be ready before the Playoffs.

13. Miami Heat

The Miami Heat have signed Kyle Lowry. That is by far the biggest move of the season. Many teams have tried but Miami made it happen and they now have the 3 biggest fighters in the NBA on their roster. With Lowry, Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, the Heat are very confident they will make it to the Playoffs and I assume that they would be aiming for a top-3 finish. Beating the Bucks and the Nets might be a bit of a push but they’re definitely on par with Philly at the moment, as long as they can't work out what to do with Simmons. For most teams this season, the trip to Miami will be a nightmare. First of all, the visiting teams like to party at South Beach, hindering their performance on the court, and with Kyle, Jimmy and Bam, the Heat have 3 guys who never stop playing, they never give up. The franchise has gone back to the roots of Heat-Culture.

Not only did they sign Kyle Lowry, they managed to hold on to their two young stars, Duncan Robinson and Tyler Herro, who is due for a massive third season after a rough second one. And they still have Victor Oladipo walking around as well, who they signed on a one year contract. If he can return to the level he was before his injuries, he will be a steal. If he doesn’t, they have an expiring contract they can trade before the deadline. Win-win for Miami and Victor gets another chance to prove himself. They brought in PJ Tucker, who was quite important for the Bucks last season and Markieff Morris, who won a championship with the Lakers. And, of course, Udonis Haslem signed on for another year with the Heat. He is the highest paid assistant-coach in the league because he won’t be playing many minutes. I don’t believe this team has an actual chance at the title but they will sure as hell fight for it.

12. New York Knicks

The New York Knicks were the surprise of the season last year. Finishing in 4th in the East, they did something many people didn’t believe they were capable of. I didn’t believe they were capable of it. Thibs has really turned this roster around and brought out the best of these guys on the court. Julius Randle became an All-Star and won Most-Improved last season. RJ Barrett finally started to show flashes of what he is capable of and Immanuel Quickley proved to be the steal of the draft. And Thibs’ old favourites like Derrick Rose and Taj Gibson were the perfect extensions of the coach on the court. The hard part for the Knicks this season is that they need to be able to repeat it, confirm that last season wasn’t a fluke and with so many teams in the East getting better, that will be a hard task.

But the Knicks themselves got better too. Adding Kemba Walker to the roster was a great move because even though he has weak knees, Kemba was up to recently one of the best point guards in the Eastern Conference. He will have less pressure to perform playing for the Knicks than he had in Boston, and hopefully he will be able to show Madison Square Garden more than the occasional flash of what he did in Charlotte and Boston. Besides Kemba, the front office added Evan Fournier as well, who had a great Olympics with the French team. They kept their young core together and drafted really well. They might not finish in 4th again this season, they might even drop back to the Play-In game positions, but the Knicks will do everything they can to get into the Playoffs.

11. Atlanta Hawks

The Atlanta Hawks are the deepest team in the NBA. They have quality players on every position, including those down the end of the bench. The hardest part for coach Nate McMillan will be to keep everyone on this team happy and avoid locker room rumblings. But getting to the Eastern Conference Finals last year will have shown most guys on this roster that, if they play their part, it is possible to go all the way. If Brooklyn and Milwaukee stay healthy, it will be hard to repeat their little stunt from last season but it is possible. I see Atlanta fight with Miami and Philly for the last 2 home court Playoff spots.

Even though it was mostly ceremonial, the most important part of the offseason for the front office was to sign Trae Young to his rookie extension, which he did. He is now standing to make 207 million dollar over 5 years, a massive amount of money. But Trae is worth it. The 23-year old nearly averages a double-double over his career and now that the rules have changed he might look at lifting his assists in a game a bit more instead of looking for those fouls. Trae made a huge leap in his third year but wasn’t rewarded for it at all. He missed out on the All-Star game, did not get picked for any of the All-NBA teams and wasn’t even mentioned in the MVP race. He will have a huge chip on his shoulder, ready to embrace the NBA-villain stamp he received at Madison Square Garden in the Playoff series against the Knicks.

10. Portland Blazers

It seems that the future for the Portland Trailblazers is very much linked to the future of Ben Simmons. The only realistic trade that is out there right now is CJ McCollum for Ben, but right now Philly is holding off that boat. You would imagine that, if this trade were to go ahead in the future, CJ might not be too pleased that Philly didn’t really want him. Anyway, I digress. The Portland front office had one mission this offseason, keep Dame happy. At the end of last season, after a sour Playoff loss against an injury-riddled Denver team, he expressed that with this roster, they would not be able to be competitive. And if they would not be competitive, he might look elsewhere to get his shot at a ring. This sent a shockwave throughout the league, because Dame is the most loyal superstar on this planet.

So, armed with that information the front office set out to improve their roster. And they came back with some major acquisitions, like Larry Nance Jr, Cody Zeller, Tony Snell and Dennis Smith Jr. Don’t feel bad if you’re not impressed, neither am I. This whole situation feels eerily similar to what is happening in New Orleans. The superstar asks for reinforcements and the front office goes and does the opposite. Of course, Nance Jr is a good player and will be valuable to the Blazers and if Tony Snell can keep shooting 3’s at 57% like last season, he’ll be a great addition to the team. But I can’t help but think that these are not the guys Dame was waiting for. To his credit, he seems keen to start the season and see what they can bring to the table. But something tells me that they are waiting for Ben Simmons in Portland, and that they want to pair him up with Dame.

9. LA Lakers

The LA Lakers have turned themselves into the retirement village of the NBA with an average age of almost 31 years old. Two years older than the next team, the Miami Heat, who have Udonis Haslem on their roster and he is older than pretty much the whole league combined. The Bucks are third, on average 3 years younger than these Lakers. Realistically, there are only 3 players younger than Anthony Davis, who is 28, that will get decent minutes on this team: Kendrick Nunn, Malik Monk and Talen Horton-Tucker. Everyone else is over 30.

But we’re not an ageist podcast and are happy to assume that all of these guys are still capable of playing at a high level. LeBron James has not shown any signs of slowing down, Carmelo Anthony has already changed his game to suit his capabilities when he was at Portland, Russell Westbrook will keep running until he simply can’t run anymore, and Howard and Rondo already showed they can play in this Laker team. The biggest question mark is if all of these guys can play together. I think they can but their success will depend on Anthony Davis and his ability to carry this team. It is not even a discussion about where he needs to play, this is more about how he needs to play. This is the year that he has to become the number 1 on this team, and if he does, LeBron will make sure that all the other guys will work in perfect harmony around him. If Davis has another average season, like last year, the Lakers will struggle to make a deep run in the Playoffs.

8. Dallas Mavericks

The Dallas Mavericks had a good season last year. Completely relying on Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis, the front office was happy to see where the ship stranded. The year before, Luka really impressed in the bubble and in his third year, he confirmed that he is going to be an absolute superstar in the league. Dallas finished last season in fifth position, beating Portland and the Lakers in the final push to stay out of the Play-In games, but things could have been different if they played in a different position. But it was a great result, considering Luka didn’t have a lot of support. KP is still not the unicorn from New York, Tim Hardaway Jr has flashes of greatness but is not regular enough, Maxi Kleber is a reliable big man but no superstar, and we can keep going.

I sort of expected a couple of big moves in Dallas to surround Luka with better talent, and perhaps moving KP along to avoid any conflicts in the locker room. But not much happened, the decision was made to run it back. Looking at Slovenia in the Olympics, Luka is capable of taking a team almost all the way on his own. And as he gets older, he will only get better. I don’t believe that Dallas has any expectations for their roster this season, except for finding some answers about how to surround Luka best. The biggest question is if KP and Luka can be that lethal duo that everyone thought they could be a couple of years ago. If they will be, this team is destined for greatness. If they can’t, we’ll find out this season what their ceiling is.

7. Milwaukee Bucks

It will be incredibly difficult for the reigning NBA Champions to run it back. The Milwaukee Bucks were deserved winners last season, even though they really struggled against Brooklyn in the second round of the Playoffs. But once they cleared that hurdle, the team changed, matured in front of everyone’s eyes. Giannis is now officially the best player in the league. He already was MVP twice, but there always were rumours that he didn’t deserve them until he won a title. Now he has won a title, and a Finals MVP. He signed an extension earlier in the season in Milwaukee and he said he wanted to win in Milwaukee and he did. Flanked by Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday, this unheralded big three now wants to take this to the next level, a Bucks dynasty.

But to do so, they will have to be able to get past Brooklyn, this year and hopefully many more after that. I believe that we are heading towards some epic clashes between these teams. Brooklyn and the Bucks are the two strongest teams in the league and hopefully we see them battle it out in the Eastern Conference Finals. The Bucks haven’t changed much to their roster and trust in their main guys to be able to run it back. The loss of PJ Tucker is quite substantial but not irreplaceable and adding Grayson Allen adds that little bit of extra on offense. But the biggest move the Bucks can make is to help Giannis get a better shot. I’m not talking long range, but just free throws. In the Finals he showed us how lethal he can be if he makes his free throws. We just need to see it in almost every game now.

6. LA Clippers

Without Kawhi Leonard, the LA Clippers will have a bit of a weird year. I mean, their roster hasn’t really changed since last season so in reality they should be fine in the regular season. This is a team that claims to be a title contender when everyone is fit, so even without Kawhi, they should still be competitive. Especially in the Western Conference where a lot of teams have question marks around them. I sort of expect the Clippers to finish somewhere in the top 4, if they can keep the rest of their roster healthy. If they manage to do this, and can recuperate Kawhi for the Playoffs, this won’t be a lost year after all. But I see them struggling to make it into the Play-In just as easy. This roster is very unpredictable.

That can happen when one of the stars on your team is the pinnacle of unpredictability. Paul George, an absolute superstar who sometimes plays like the new kid on the block. You never know what Paul George you will get. He really struggled in LA in his first season, and heading to the Bubble for the Playoffs didn’t help his narrative at all. We all still remember the three against the side of the backboard. But last year was better, he was showing flashes of who he can be but he still wasn’t quite at the level to get the Clippers their first NBA title. He did step up when Kawhi got injured, which is encouraging for the coming season because he will have to carry this team throughout the whole season. Whether they finish 4th or 10th, that will mainly be up to PG.

5. Denver Nuggets

Another team that will be hampered by injuries are the Denver Nuggets. With Jamal Murray out, the Nuggets are missing their number 2 piece alongside Nikola Jokic. Mind you, last season the Nuggets proved that they are still a good team even without Murray, winning 13 out of 19 games without him. But they are better with him, much better. Before Murray got injured, the Nuggets were on pace to be the absolute favourites to win the West. They had won 8 games in a row after trading for Aaron Gordon, and had climbed to the fourth place in the Western Conference after a difficult start to the season. In the bubble the season before, the Nuggets had unlocked that extra level in the playoffs with Murray going toe to toe with Donovan Mitchell for 50 almost every night in the first round and they came back from being 3-1 down twice. We’ll never know if they would be able to repeat that in last year’s playoff but it would have been nice to watch.

But anyway, the Nuggets are good even without Murray. Nikola Jokic was the deserved MVP, even though most of his competitors dropped out of the race due to injury woes, Gorden fit in nicely but mostly, Michael Porter Jr took a massive step forward. We already knew he was a beast on the offensive end of the floor, capable of scoring from anywhere. Basically he is a taller version of Steph Curry, or at least, that could be his ceiling. But he couldn’t back it up on the other end of the floor, leaving the Nuggets pretty much defending teams 4 on 5. In the Playoffs, it was obvious he had improved defensively. He is not turning into Ben Simmons or Dejounte Murray anytime soon but if he can hold his own defensively as well, he will be the wildcard for Denver this season. If they can cruise to the Playoffs and then recuperate Murray, the Nuggets will be a strong contender to come out of the West this year.

4. Brooklyn Nets

The Brooklyn Nets are my absolute favourite to win it all this year, even if it has to happen without Kyrie Irving. I won’t mention why he is not part of the team right now, because that will make it difficult for you to find this clip but I’m sure you all know why he isn’t playing. But with Kevin Durant and James Harden, the Nets have 2 absolute superstars of the game on their roster and 2 potential MVP candidates. They are surrounded by heaps of experienced veterans like LaMarcus Aldridge, Paul Millsap, Patty Mills, Blake Griffin and plenty of young talent like Bruce Brown, Nicolas Claxton and rookie Cam Thomas. This roster is stacked with talent and should be able to give KD and Harden some rest during the regular season so they are ready when the Playoffs come.

The Nets finished second in the Eastern Conference last season, behind the Sixers but in front of Milwaukee. I’m expecting another high finish for the Nets in the regular season again, but I don’t believe they will be chasing the number 1 seed. KD and Harden are both in their thirties now and I’m sure they value going into the Playoffs healthy over positioning in the standings. It is that health that stopped them from making it all the way last season. With Kyrie and Harden both injured, KD nearly willed the Nets on his own past the Bucks but his big toe got in the way. If they can keep this team healthy this year around, I don’t see who can stop them. Except for maybe Giannis.

3. Philadelphia 76ers

The best move the Philadelphia 76ers have made in the last 2 years is signing Daryl Morey to be their GM. Obviously, at the time, nobody knew how things would play out with Ben Simmons but looking at the situation now, Morey is probably the only GM in the NBA stubborn enough to refuse to find a quick solution and trade one if his star players on pennies on the dollar. His stare-down with Klutch Sports has taken an ugly turn with Ben forced to fly back to Philly with his tail between his legs. This doesn’t mean he will play but at least he is back with the team for now. And if you can believe the stories, everyone is happy to have him back. But for how long?

In reality, the Sixers don’t need Ben to finish high in the regular season. They’re probably just underneath the Bucks and the Nets, but they can battle for that third spot with Miami. The biggest question mark for Philly will be what comes after. Chances that Ben is still with the team at that point are slim, so if Morey can trade him for another star, or even something better than what is out there now, Philly should be a difficult opponent for either the Bucks or Nets in the second round of the Playoffs. But that’s as far as they’ll get to, I think, unless that other star turns out to be Dame, of course. That would change everything.

2. Phoenix Suns

The Phoenix Suns were the biggest contenders for the Knicks as biggest surprise of the season last year. It all started in the Bubble, where, all of a sudden, this young team was beating everyone. Nobody expected it, and everybody assumed it was because of the unique situation in the Bubble that the Suns were good all of a sudden. Then in that offseason, they signed Chris Paul. An older point guard, on his way out maybe, at the very least he can help Booker grow as a leader. No-one expected that Paul would still be playing at MVP level. Chris Paul makes every team he plays for better, and the Suns were no exception. All of a sudden, this team that would barely make it past the 10th spot in the Western Conference for years, was fighting for the top seed. And in the Playoffs, they pushed past LeBron and the Lakers, Jokic and the Nuggets and Paul George and the Clippers. In the Finals, the Bucks and Giannis were just too strong for these guys but what an impressive run it was.

The Suns haven’t made many changes to their roster, meaning they are confident they can run it back. With Booker and Paul, they have one of the strongest backcourts in the league right now and Deandre Ayton is finally proving why he was the 2018 number 1 pick. This year he will be playing for his contract, so expect him to take another step forward. This big 3, because that’s what they really are, are surrounded by quality role players and have a good chance to make it out of the West again, especially if we are looking at a similar season as last year where they can stay healthy and most others can’t. These are the Phoenix years, let’s hope they don’t waste them, like the Barkley- or Nash-eras.

1. Utah Jazz

If someone would have told me at the start of last season that the Jazz would have been the best team in the regular season, I would have laughed. And yet, chances are that they will repeat this feat this season as well. This team is built for the regular season. They are deep, with high-quality role players and everybody knows their role and is happy to do whatever it takes to win. The collective before the individual. In an age of player empowerment and highlight reels, that is very difficult to achieve but the Jazz did. Donovan Mitchell is an absolute star in this league, and as he gets more experience, he will find a way to get a chip, I’m sure of it. Rudy Gobert has been Defensive Player of the Year 3 times so far in his career and if he plays at the same level again this season, I don’t see anyone that will keep him off a fourth one. Mike Conley is one of the most reliable point guards in the league, Bojan Bogdanovic is a fantastic scorer and with Jordan Clarkson and Joe Ingles, they had the top 2 Sixth Man contenders on their roster as well.

The Jazz haven’t made many changes, but 2 new names on their roster catch my eye: Rudy Gay and Eric Paschall. Gay was always important for the Spurs coming off the bench and could do the same for the Jazz and Paschall was the reason that the Warriors didn’t lose every game they started in the season without Curry and Klay. I think the Jazz have made their second unit even stronger, which will help Mitchell rest during the season and be ready for the Playoffs. I find it difficult to place them among all the other top teams in the West, but I have a feeling that they could be the ones sneaking into the NBA Finals for the West this season, if the dice fall their way.

This is our All-NBA team of the Week. Please share our podcast and give us 5 stars. If you have any questions, you can contact the show on eight2fouroffice@gmail.com. Thank you for listening, ballers out!