NBA offseason thread

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Am I the lone obsessive NBA fan here?

Anyone else have any premature preseason rankings, here's mine:

East:

Cavs
Celtics
Raptors
Heat
Bucks
Wizards
Hornets
Pacers

Wez:

Warriors
Rockets
Thunder
Spurs
Wolves
Trailblazers
Pels
Nuggets

Could be underselling a few teams like Pels, Spurs and Bucks but so far I like it

Another over here! Your list looks pretty reasonable.

Awesome! Ms.Kdm, you should post your list so I won't be the only one unconsciously and shamelessly bumping my own thread with basketball chit posts til' the regular season

LOL

Honestly, there have been so many moves that I'd be hard pressed to make predictions. My teams are OKC and the Cavs, who both have changed up their roster significantly. I'm just looking forward to see how all the craziness plays out this year.

Oh that's cool. Those two specific teams have changed a lot this summer

I think Isaiah Thomas, if he's healthy, will be better for you guys than Irving was... Schematically. He won't be as good of an iso killer in the playoffs but he can definitely be proficient. Also think Dwyane Wade would be a better buyout candidate for OKC than CLE based on team make-up. As a Heat fan I've longed for the day that Westbrook and Wade could share the same space and think he'd be a much better fit on OKC's bench than CLE's

I know there's a chance that you don't follow the sport close enough to kno exactly what I was just ranting about but thought it would be better not to assume

I was also happy for the Isaiah trade. Kyrie was always my least favorite of the big three. While I loved his shot-making abilities, including in the clutch, he was never one of the best tactical decision-makers. I know LeBron does iso a lot, too -- but at least when LeBron does, he has the court vision to make extraordinary passes at the right time. In Kyrie's case, too often, many of his passes and assists are just desperation throws to bail out of a forced possession.

Apparently Isaiah played AAU ball with Kevin Love and is friends with him and his family, so that's good chemistry to be bringing to the team, as well.

I've heard Wade's name pop up with Cleveland, undoubtedly due to Banana Boat and his connection with James. Haven't heard anything about him related to OKC, though. That would be a big boost for the Thunder if he went there. Even at his age, he's an improvement over the likes of Waiters and Oladipo that we've had to suffer through.

Yea' always have said Love is and has been underrated in his role. I think him and Isaiah will be better with LeBron off the court than Love/Kyrie was

I've heard Wade's name pop up for CLE but I think it would be a mistake. Rose, Wade and Jeff Green are all negative defenders and bad 3 point shooters, having that trio come off the bench would be terrible. Cavs supporting cast has always been a mix of shooters and defenders, while I can see the need for an extra distributor, Rose and Wade together is a bit too redundant for me.

I would love Wade back on the Heat too but there just isn't much of a need for him, I think he'd serve more of a purpose on the bench of a team like OKC. Fits a lot of team needs for that team, George can play predominantly off ball on offense with Russ/Wade facilitating and focus on defensive assignments while Russ gets another savvy scorer/vet to help him lead the team. Fit-wise, it's the equivalent of Melo to Hou imo

https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/911637746124558336

Thunder have major offensive firepower now! Can't wait to see how this new unit plays out.

I don't believe they're going to fare well at all. There's only 1 ball on the court and Westbrook, George, and especially Anthony all like to be the guy handling it. Sure they're as talented as GS now, in fact Houston and even the Cavs have been at similar talent levels to GS, but what makes GS different is that each of their talented players don't think twice about passing to an open teammate, and they've all bought into the system. As a Colorado native I watched plenty of Anthony on the Nuggets and as physically talented as he is, he's equally as disruptive to team cohesion. They would have been better off just picking up George and letting Anthony rot on the Knicker roster.

Yea' that's a lot of fire power but I'm not sure how, together, they will fare. I like the idea of George being a second option because he's an inconsistent 1st option but Melo as a 3rd option on a team without a good system feels like an open-ended problem, which is why I thought he would've been a good Rocket.

OKC's a top 4 team regardless though, really interested in seeing a revamped OKC death line-up of Russ-Roberson-PG-Melo-Patterson.

I believe Donovan has a pretty good system on offense; it's defense where I think he's been considerably weaker than Scott Brooks. That being said, I can understand questions about how Melo may fit into a unit where there are already two other high scorers. I'm hoping he can make the necessary sacrifices and look at the situation as one where a load can be taken off him, but we'll see how it works. It can be a challenge to add two superstars to the mix -- I remember the ups and downs of the 2014-15 Cavs season, for instance -- but I'm hoping for the best. If nothing else, Westbrook at least won't have to shoulder an immense load anymore.

Anthony is cancer. Yes, he makes highlight reel plays, but he also holds onto the ball way too long which interrupts the entire flow of the offense around him. It's the same criticism he faced under George Karl here in Denver, and if you'll notice it was the same criticism Phil Jackson levied at him in NY. It's an issue that will never change. Add in that he's a spectator on defense more often than not, he rarely looks for open teammates even when double teamed and his actual play has never really risen to the level of hype around him (which in all honesty is fan hype from the highlights, not hype from coaches or GM's). All that said, his teammates tend to like him and he does provide instant offense if you want to slow the game down and do iso/post-up. But in all honesty, if the guy's giving up 10-14 points a game on uncontested shots and missing 10-14 on easy assists, those 25-30 points a game are more like 15-20 with his actual impact. I do however wish you guys the best of luck in OKC, the western conference is stacked so the games this side of the Mississippi should be entertaining.

On a side note, Dwayne Wade signed with the Cavs today which should help the team stay elite while Thomas recovers from his hip injury and he'll add depth when Thomas gets back. The Cavs should coast to the eastern conference finals again. They're still more solid than the Celtics even with the addition of Irving and Hayward, but if they meet in the playoffs I believe that series is more of a toss-up than it was last year, although I still think the Cavs will win. Obviously the season hasn't been played yet and things can change, but that's my prognosis right now based on the play from last year.