Contender or Pretender

[perks-a-beast]

Give me your contender or pretender list for this season.

Celtics. Contender. Best chance to win it all since 2010 barring injuries.

Heat. pretender. Have gotten worse since last year with less depth. Not really set up to make an impactful trade.

Bucks. Contender. Arguably the favorites to win it all.

76'ers. pretenders. Already facing injuries. No faith in Harden or Rivers.

Cavs. Contenders. Their 1-4 is really really good. Mitchell trade seems to be a home run.

Hawks. Pretenders. Seem to play better without Trae Young this year..whats their deal?

Raptors. pretenders. Gritty team but not enough offensive fire power to make a real run.

Not even worth mentioning: BKN, CHI, NYK, all other teams.

Warriors. Contenders. They're just coasting right now. They'll be fine come playoff time.

Suns. Pretenders. Cant look at this team the same way ever again after their meltdown vs. Luka last year. CP3 is too old now.

Grizzlies. Contenders. They'll be lethal is JJJ comes back healthy. I Can see Ja willing this team to the finals a la 2001 Iverson.

Nuggets. Pretenders. I know its early, but Murray looks like a shell of himself, and they have questionable depth.

Mavs. Pretenders. Luka is the best player in the game, but there's just not enough around him to seriously compete.

Blazers. Pretenders. Not good enough.

Pelicans. Have been inconsistent so far, and don't really know who their best player is yet.

Clippers. Pretenders. Have no faith in Kawhi.

Not worth mentioning: MIN, UTA (sorry), all other WC teams.

Only real contender I got are Boston, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Golden State, and Memphis. Who you got?

[Who]

I thought there would be 4 contenders in the East this season with Boston heading the group followed by a trio of MIL, PHI and BKN. I expect PHI and BKN to do better as the season goes on but both teams have looked more like "close but not quite there" rather than genuine contenders. So I am leaning more towards two title contenders in the East with Boston (favourite) and Milwaukee. PHI and BKN darkhorse candidates.

Not convinced by anyone else in the East.

[Phantom255x]

In the East I got three teams. Milwaukee, Cleveland, Boston.

Everyone else is a pretender or just bad/mediocre IMO

[Who]

The West has been pretty disappointing.

The Warriors young guys have struggled badly and as a result their bench has sucked. I haven't seen DEN yet. Sucks to hear Murray doesn't look right post injury. I had high hopes for that team. Clippers was another possible contender but Kawhi is out again.

Dallas do not have enough talent around Luka. Phoenix have missed their window. They are a regular season team. Regular season contender playoff pretender.

New Orleans have a sneaky talented team but they are too immature to take their chances. I expect them to continue to underachieve. The Grizzlies are good but not that good. Yet, the West could end up being so wide open that they are right there come end of season.

So I guess I have one soft contender with GSW, two big question marks in DEN and LAC, and one darkhorse in MEM. Nothing too convincing really. It is possible the West ends up being terrible at the top this season if those injuries & GSW youth do not pan out. If those things do work out, the West has some serious squads there. Too many "ifs" in the West. Underwhelming.