So much to love about this team.  They draft well, they have some fun players that are on the come up.  They might have a hard time sustaining winning over 72 games due to their youth, but I expect them to bring it every night, and to be a lot of fun.  I expect them to at least be in the play-in range, maybe better if teams expected to take a step back take a step back.

The Lakers definitely made themselves over from the team that won the title last year.  They went from being a team primarily focused on defense, to at least having a bench that is a little more defensively oriented.  The theory is that Vogel will be able to make good defenders out of those offensive players.    Time will tell if that was a good decision.  At the very least they should be able to weather the storm when LeBron sits.more this season.  I don’t expect LeBron to do a ton of load management this year, for better or worse, by the way.  And of course, the team will still ultimately need AD to bring it often to have a great season. 

The team is pretty similar to last year’s team.  Replacing Montrez with Serge is a great idea if you really believe Serge is still a great defensive presence.  I’m a bit skeptical.  Batum also looks super cooked. But it doesn’t really matter at all if Kawhi and Paul George are healthy and around and everyone is on the same page.  They still hplayers who are theoretically among the best two-way players in the league.  Throw in a solid bench, and it should be easy to win basketball games, the rest of the pieces aside.  In practice it hasn’t worked out like that.  But maybe this year is different. 

It’s hard to really understand what Indiana is doing.  Why’d id they fire their coach if they weren’t going to make any moves?  The team did fine.  The talent is what it is.  Do they think the coach has a special fix for it?  I again expect Indiana to be in the middle of the pack of the East with a chance of a first round series win. 

Klay’s injury was obviously devastating.  It’s debatable how high their ceiling was with him, but kind of pointless to speculate at this point.   It’s an interesting team.  I will admit I don’t have a strong bead on where they will end up.  It’s a pretty bad team on paper.  And yet when I watch them, it kind of works.  And Steph looks good.    I dunno.  I know they aren’t a contender or a team likely to compete for home court, but I wouldn’t be shocked to see them in the middle of the playoff mix.  I also wouldn’t be shocked to see them completely wash out and finish with the worst record in the league.  I’m surprised anyone is able to take a firm stance on this team.  

This looks to be a development year for the Pistons.  I think Jerami Grant as a number one option may not work out too well (certainly looks pretty bad in preseason), but they w ill be happy to have him if they get a good draft pick this year.  With that being said, Blake Griffin, Derrick Rose, Wayne Ellington, and Grant finding his way certainly could compete for a spot in the East play in game.    Dark horse candidate for a Harden trade, although not one Harden would be very happy about. 

The Jerami Grant loss obviously hurts, but their core is still present and that playoff experience had to help.  I think MPJ is set to take another step though and he can definitely make up for some of that production.  I know some Nuggets fans were hoping for Bol Bol contribution, and it’s certainly possible, although I think he’s a player who could really have used a second summer league and a full training camp to really prepare him.

Kind of a weird offseason, but I do think they got better.  Josh Richardson and James Johnson will help improve their overall talent level, and Wes Iwundu was born to play for Rick Carlisle.  Ultimately though their fate probably rests on how quickly Porzingis recovers, which I feel like I say every year. 

So many guards!  This honestly could get pretty dark.  Maybe it'll be okay though.

A good draft.  Garrett Temple is an all right addition.  Overall I’m not sure what the direction is.  The trick may be their new coach managing to make the most of the talent that the last two coaches could not.   Ironically they actually probably could have used Kriss Dunn’s defense if they’re serious about the playoffs.   I dunno doesn’t seem like they did much.