Basketball This Week (Done) Quickly

The injuries are really piling up in the preseason for the Spurs, which is daunting in the competitive west.  Still, there's a theory that the team should be better this year than last year, since they're replacing nothing from Kawhi with DeRozan but things don't generally actually work like that.  Also losing Anderson is hard.  Still, it's hard to bet against the Spurs.

More like a thought experiment than a basketball team. Could Marvin Bagley play small forward? Can DeArron Fox hit threes? Is Justin Jackson  a real basketball player? These are all things to think about, and the Kings let you do it.

Going roughly the third year with this basic roster should help them remain in the playoff race, as they won’t have the adjustments many other teams will have in the west this year.  That is sort of the pattern they’ve been using to stay in the playoff mix and I expect it to continue.  They’re a good mid level western conference team, and have the ability to beat a team who doesn’t have their shit together, but likely will go down to the first competent team they face.  Sometimes there are no competent teams, though.

Possibly a huge mess.  Running complicated offense with no point guard.  Ayton looked good in preseason debut at least.  Maybe playing for a midseason trade?  Maybe if Booker is a secret point guard they could improve a bit from last year but otherwise might somehow quite a bit worse.

Chandler was their only signifigant signing and he's already hurt.  They might end up missing Ilyasova, too.  But overall, they're still focusing on the right place, which is their youth.  The Sixers are going to need a few years and the vets are just around to support them.  In a soft East they might take a     Also Jonah Bolden sucks.

I could almost have just re-done my summary from last year.  They added/shuffled some veterans around who should theoretically compliment their young, promising roster.  They'll probably be pretty bad though and mostly irrelevant.

They kept Paul George and theoretically shored up their bench with Schroder and Noel.  Both those players have a suspect track record, though.   For the the Thunder, the real story will of course be health of their starting unit.  If they get a lot out of them, they are a tough matchup in the regular season.  Remains to be seen if it can be effective in the playoffs, though.

They went from an injured Cousins demanding a max to one of the league's best players last year, Julius Randle on a very affordable deal, who does by default what Cousins did to adapt to playing with Davis last year.  I think they actually will miss Rondo's playoff precense, but maybe not miss Rondo the rest of the year.    Basically the question is if their guards will play well enough to allow AD to do this thing.

Knox looks promsing and could certainly help a healthy Porizingis out.  Maybe a change of scenery helps Hezonja?   Alonzo Trier looks great?   In a weak conference everyone has a shot, but this is probably a deep lottery year again for the Knicks. B ut one with some light at the end of the tunnel?

There are a lot of things we are going to find out if they’re for real or not this season with the bucks..  One of those things is NOT Giannis.  We know he’s great, one of the league’s best, and will be in the mix likely for MVP if his team is successful.  Is Mike Budenholzer great?  Is Ersan for real or just a flash?  Is Donte DiVncenzo NBA ready?   If things break right for them, this could be a deep playoff run.