Philly win total is two digits and starts with 3. Same for Lakers.
Indy implodes and Paul George gets traded. Same with Chicago and Rose.
Brooklyn makes the playoffs.
Milwaukee takes a major step up and is the 2 seed in the East.
Dallas makes the playoffs.
Detroit is the worst team in the East. Phoenix is the worst team in the West.
Fascinating.
Our opinions diverge quite a bit on pretty much all of these teams, haha.
I actually like what Indy is doing, provided they don't make Paul George defend big men too often.
The Sixers will defend well and scrap for wins like they did last year, but I just don't see how they'll score enough to not end up with a win total in the low 20s.
The Lakers are the opposite. Just can't see how they'll defend anybody well enough, plus how do you cobble an effective offense out of so many ball-hog chuckers?
I've argued for Brooklyn being better than we all hope they'll be. I think the playoffs are conceivable. But that seems like a 30 win team to me.
Dallas could make the playoffs, I guess, but I think that'd take an amazing resurgence from Deron, Dirk, and Sam Dalembert to make it happen, plus the health of Wes Matthews and Chandler Parsons. That seems . . . unlikely.
I also think Detroit and Phoenix, while both a bit of a mess, will be a good distance above the very worst in their conferences. Denver and Minnesota look like they'll hold down the bottom out West, and Philly has it covered in the East, unless Brook Lopez suffers a season ending injury.
The Bucks . . . I like the Bucks, but I think they're still a year or two away from ascending.
