2023-2024 NBA Preview:

 

Central: The Bucks have one of the best chances to win the championship due their trading for All-Star/scoring machine PG Damian Lillard to pair with multiple-time MVP PF Giannis Antetokounmpo to form one of the best duos. They also still have core players SF Kris Middleton and C Brook Lopez, plus their role players F Jae Crowder, G Malik Beasley, G Pat Connaughton and F Bobby Portis. One key change will be of course no Jrue Holiday their lead defender/facilitator who was traded for Lillard, but the biggest will be former player/long time assistant Adrian Griffin who will be their HC in place of Mike Budenholzer who was fired in spite of winning a championship. 

This will be year two for the Cavaliers of the pairing of guards in Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland to make a nice trio with PF Evan Mobley as they compete for the playoffs. One question is how far will this team advance which will fall not only on the health of other key players like G Caris LeVert, but how Mitchell/Garland actually play together as both are small guards. They still have a nice shot blocking/rebounding center in Jarrett Allen and SF Isaac Okoro on the wing plus added G Max Strus to bolster the bench. PG Ricky Rubio will be stepping away from the game to deal with his mental health.

The Bulls seem to be fine with standing pat just making the playoffs with the trio of SG Zach LaVine, SF DeMar DeRozan and resigning C Nikola Vucevic, plus not having a PG as Lonzo Ball is out all season again. Their role players are still the same in guards Alex Caruso, Coby White, Ayo Dosunmu, F Patrick Williams, and C Andre Drummond. All they did was add guards in Jevon Carter and Torrey Craig who can play good perimeter defense and shoot the three but this team lacks size and a true starting PG.

The Pacers seem due to be on the rise with PG Tyrese Haliburton leading the way with SG Benedict Mathurin, but seem to be always trying to trade away C Myles Turner and G Buddy Hield. They did extend Turner so hopefully that insurance helps them out and they have SF Bruce Brown, G TJ McConnell and newly acquired big man Obi Toppin as key role players. 

Until the Pistons actually make the playoffs they will still be considered a bad team that is just full of promise as PG Cade Cunningham hasn’t been healthy in either season of his career. They have young guards in Jaden Ivey, Killian Hayes, young big men Isaiah Stewart, Jalen Duran, James Wiseman and Marvin Bagley III, which isn’t smart to have three centers. They also have good role players in Monte Morris, Alec Burks, Joe Harris and sharpshooter Bojan Bogdanovic. The biggest change will be new coach Monty Williams who was wrongfully fired in Phoenix and how he will lead this young group will be the key going forward.

Atlantic: The Celtics keep coming up short in the East/the finals with the duo of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown as they could not do it all on their own. So in is PG Jrue Holiday a premiere defender/facilitator and “the Unicorn” Kristaps Porzingis in their front court, while guards Marcus Smart, Malcom Brogdon, F Grant Williams and often injured big man Robert Williams is out. Instead of breaking up their duo they decided it was time to shake up the rest of the roster thinking more talent is better than depth. They also still have C Al Horford and guards Derrick White/Payton Pritchard. This will also be a full season starting from the offseason with their head coach Joe Mazzulla who didn’t have a full offseason to prep last season when he was promoted. 

The 76ers are still a one man team with the reigning MVP in C Joel Embiid leading this team, the question will be can a different head coach and supporting cast take them further along in the playoffs. Veteran HC Doc Rivers was fired and replaced with Nick Nurse who won in Toronto a few seasons back. They still have G James Harden but he does not want to be there, G Tyrese Maxey who is still growing as a player and overpaid F Tobias Harris who hasn’t lived up to his contract. They did add veteran guards Patrick Beverley, Danny Green, Kelly OubreJr, C Mo Bamba to their bench that still has F PJ Tucker, C Montrezel Harrell and G De’Anthony Melton. 

The Knicks won a playoff series last year when they are usually a good regular season team that can’t win playoff games so the question will be how they will build off that this season. They are still the same core led by PG Jalen Brunson, PF Julius Randle and SG RJ Barrett coached by HC Tom Thibodeau who always runs the team down into the ground with his grind out style. Their supporting cast is mostly Villanova teammates (Brunson too) like Donte DiVincenzo, Josh Hart and Ryan Arcidiacono, plus players from other places like C Mitchell Robinson, and guards Evan Fournier and Immanuel Quickley. 

The Nets are now fully clear of superstars like Harden, Durant, Irving, but still are on the hook to pay Ben Simmons who is never healthy or interested in playing. What really matters with this team is the continued growth of SF Mikal Bridges, G Cam Johnson, F Dorian Finney-Smith, G Lonnie Walker and C Nic Claxton. They also have veteran PGs Spencer Dinwiddie and Dennis Smith Jr. and HC Jacque Vaughn will get a full season of coaching without distractions hopefully. 

The Raptors did make the play in game last year but it will be tough again to even do that because you have F Pascal Siakam your best player which is nice but not great as they lost Fred Van Fleet to free agency. OG Anuoby, SF Scottie Barnes, F Precious Achiuwa, C Jakob Poeltl, G Gary Trent Jr. and F Justise Winslow are nice young, tall and long athletic players but none scream star. Veterans F Thaddeus Young, G Garrett Temple, PG Dennis Schroder, F Otto Porter Jr. and F Chris Boucher could all be flipped at the deadline as Nick Nurse was fired and replaced with an unknown HC in Darko Rajakovic.

Southeast: The Heat are the only good team in this division and again everyone including myself will count them out for the finals because of their roster but yet will somehow piece it together and prove us wrong. Jimmy Butler can’t keep putting his team on his back without real help which is why they wanted to trade for Lillard/Holiday but both didn’t happen so it will be C Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro to help him. Veterans PG Kyle Lowry, F Kevin Love and C Thomas Bryant, but lost a lot of their depth like Straus, Gabe Vincent and Victor Oladipo this offseason. The non veterans they still have are Duncan Robinson and Caleb Martin, brought in Josh Richardson for a second time and added RJ Hampton as well. 

The Hawks seem to keep being a good regular season team but don’t do much in the playoffs as they are still led by PG Trae Young but always keep changing the pieces or the HC around him. Last season they traded for G Dejounte Murray who didn’t seem necessary as he plays the same position as Young and still have SF De’Andre Hunter, C Clint Capela and G Bogdan Bogdanovic. They made smart moves to get SF Saddiq Bey at the deadline last year and rushed to hire Quinn Snyder who probably would have been hired by another team midseason and now has a full offseason to work with this core. Adding veteran guards Patty Mills and Wesley Matthews are the role players you want on a young team with F AJ Griffin and Jalen Johnson to name some but traded PF John Collins. 

Michael Jordan has finally sold the Charlotte Hornets and maybe PG LaMelo Ball will finish a season healthy to lead this team to at least get to a play in game because this team has some nice young talent around him. That young talent needs their leaders when it counts so F PJ Washington, rookie F Brandon Miller, F Cody Martin and G James Bouknight plus veteran guards Terry Rozier and Frank Ntilikina can play well. If F Gordon Hayward also stays healthy that will be key but the biggest if is when will F Miles Bridges, the young forward, play after not playing last year due to his domestic violence off the court drama. 

Well the Wizards are now finally starless after the past few seasons being bad but not trading away SG Bradley Beal till now. The question will be how will the mix of young players and veterans gel together this season. G Jordan Poole who they got for Beal and SF Kyle Kuzma who they resigned are both scorers who need the ball in their hands to be effective, plus former 1^st round pick F Deni Avdija is a point forward who is best when he has the ball in his hands. The other names on this team are veterans  F Danilo Gallinari, G Mike Muscala, G Delon Wright and G Landry Shamet who could help contending teams. PG Tyus Jones was a key player for Memphis who should start at PG but will have the ball in his hands and still have C Daniel Gafford as well. 

The Magic will still be a bad team but have a nice set of young players in guards Cole Anthony, Markelle Fultz, Jalen Suggs, forwards Jonathan Isaac, brothers Moritz/Franz Wagner and the reigning rookie of the year Paolo Banchero. They added veteran F Joe Ingles to be a leader/scoring to help G Gary Harris on the bench and still have C Wendell Carter Jr.as well.

Northwest: The Nuggets are the reigning NBA Champions which is something that is hard in all of sports but they proved they were not just a regular season team but finally a contender every season to take seriously. They will have another season of health underneath PG Jamal Murray and SF Michael Porter Jr. which means there is room for improvement from them. Also C Nikola Jokic is helping bring back the big man position and will prove again that he is MVP worthy as he could have won three in a row. HC Mike Malone is still one of the best coaches in the league; they have F Aaron Gordon playing to his full potential, FKentavious Caldwell Pope, G Reggie Jackson and C DeAndre Jordan as key role players too. 

The Timberwolves seem to keep being such a tease with such a talented roster that keeps either missing the playoffs or just sneaking in despite having C Karl Anthony Towns and G Anthony Edwards. They said goodbye to PG DeAngelo Russell at the deadline and replaced him with a veteran leader in PG Mike Conley so he will have a full season to lead this team. They did the two center experiment last year with trading for C Rudy Gobert which did not go well but they will try it again because both of them are signed long term so is the other C Naz Reid. They do have good role players too in SF Kyle Anderson, guards Troy Brown Jr, Nickeil Alexander Walker, Shake Milton and PF Luka Garza. 

In a tough west the Thunder made the play in game despite them always trying to lose/trading away players to keep stockpiling draft picks because of the rise of G Shai Gilgeous Alexander as an all star. They also have up and coming players in G Josh Giddey, F Jalen Williams and are getting last year’s first round pick F Chet Holmgren who missed all of last season with an injury. They also have good role players in F Davis Bertans, guards Lu Dort, Tre Mann and Aaron Wiggins. 

The Jazz were not trying last year and it turned out to be good as some of their young players had great seasons like F Lauri Markkanen being an all star. C Walker Kessler made the all rookie team, guards Collin Sexton and Talen Horton Tucker also seemed to be better in a new environment. They also got better by getting F John Collins to form a quality starting five and their bench still has a former 6^th man of the year in G Jordan Clarkson, G Kris Dunn and C Kelly Olynyk. 

The “Dame Time” era is officially over in Portland for the Trailblazers as he was so loyal and everyone was like he needs to be traded until he only wanted to go to one team- well he is gone now. It is full rebuild mode for HC Chauncey Billups as they will turn the reins over to rookie G Scoot Henderson and other guards Anfernee Simons and Shaedon Sharpe. They also moved off the contract of Jusuf Nurkic who was never healthy but re-signed Jerami Grant to a long term deal so again people will say trade him as he is on a bad team like when he was in Detroit. In the Lillard/Holiday trades they got two young centers in Robert Williams/DeAndre Ayton and G Malcom Brogdon plus added G Matisse Thybulle.

Southwest: The Grizzlies jumped from lower tier playoff team to a top 2 seed last season but it will be tough to play without JA Morant again for awhile(he has missed time with injuries/last year’s suspension) who has a 25 game suspension. They still have a top tier front court duo in Steven Adams and the reigning defensive player of the year in Jaren Jackson Jr., plus backup Brandon Clarke. To fill the hole at PG created by Morant/Jones trade will be veterans who will also mentor Morant in Marcus Smart and Derrick Rose. Their other key players are G Desmond Bane and sharpshooter G Luke Kennard but will they start together because they don’t have a starting SF. They could go with a three guard lineup, giving young players Kenneth Lofton Jr. or Ziaire Williams minutes there. 

The Mavericks are one of the most confounding teams in the NBA because they have one of the best players G Luka Doncic, who handles the ball as a point-forward and has had sharpshooters around him. They gutted their team to get another ball dominant player in the controversial/injury prone/coach killer/overrated PG Kyrie Irving to pair with them at the deadline/resigned, and they missed the playoffs after making it the three previous seasons. They also are very small as their other key players are all guards like Seth Curry, Tim Hardaway Jr., Grant Williams (who they signed) and brought in Richaun Holmes who is a nice backup, Derrick Jones Jr. who is undersized, still have Dwight Powell/Markieff Morris who are also undersized and Maxi Kleber another backup. HC Jason Kidd has his work cut out for him to get back to the playoffs. 

The Pelicans will only be a real contender when F Zion Williamson stays healthy/in shape which hasn’t happened yet and their other key player F Brandon Ingram himself can’t stay healthy. Their other all star player G CJ McCollum cannot be your lead guy in every game so they need all three to stay healthy. They do have some nice solid role players in guards Herbert Jones, Trey Murphy and big men Jonas Valanciunas, Cody Zeller and Larry Nance Jr. Their biggest hole is at the PG spot as Jose Alvarado is a nice lifetime movie story but he is a backup. 

Well the Spurs have been missing the playoffs for a few seasons/tanked last year and it paid off as they won the draft lottery for French big man 7’3 Victor Wembanyama, as the “Wembymania” has started. This means HC Greg Popovich isn’t retiring anytime soon since he has a once in a generation player like he did with Tim Duncan/David Robinson. They did trade away a good amount of talent so it will take awhile to build a contender around Wembanayama but still have guards Doug McDermott, Cedi Osman, Keldon Johnson, Tre Jones, Devonte Graham, Devin Vassell, and big men Zach Collins and Jeremy Scohan. 

The Rockets have been trying to lose for awhile after they traded Harden a few seasons ago and have a very young team led by G Jalen Green and PF Jabari Smith Jr. They also found a gem in C Alperen Sengun to be a part of this young core plus spent money in free agency on some useful veterans in G Dillon Brooks and PG Fred Van Fleet. Their bench has veterans C Boban Marjanovic, guards Reggie Bullock, Aaron Holiday, Victor Oladipo and F Jeff Green. It was an interesting decision by their new HC Ime Udoka to rush to take this job when playoff teams had openings if he had waited longer.

Pacific: This is the best division in all of the NBA as all five are playoff teams. The Warriors should never be counted out even if they are not a top seed as they will make the playoffs and go far as they have guards Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, F Draymond Green and HC Steve Kerr. They also still have key role players F Andrew Wiggins, G Gary Payton II both of whom missed time last season and C Kevon Looney. The hope is for the continued development of F Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody which might be easier without Jordan Poole’s scuffle with Green last year, and getting Chris Paul a top 10 PG of all time to make them better. They also added veteran guard Cory Joseph who will fill minutes for Paul/Curry and a great pickup in F Dario Saric who was stuck in OKC/Phoenix doing nothing when he was a stretch five. 

The Suns traded for F Kevin Durant at the deadline so this will be a full season of him with G Devin Booker forming a great trio but guess what? They added G Bradley Beal this offseason as well shipping out Paul but who will be the ball handler/PG with this starting lineup? We all thought by them firing Monty Williams and replacing him with Frank Vogel who has been great with centers would be good for Ayton but he was traded and they got Jusuf Nurkic who will fit in better. With three max guys/a center on a long term deal the other issue was how they were going to fill their bench -well they did. They got guards Eric Gordon, Grayson Allen, Yuta Watanabe, Damion Lee, Nassir Little, forwards Josh Okogie, Drew Eubanks and Bol Bol. 

The Kings finally made the playoffs last year as a top seed since 2006 due to the combo of C Domantas Sabonis and PG De’Aaron Fox. Plus the growth of F Keegan Murray and G Davion Mitchell so there is room to grow.  They also had F Harrison Barnes, G Malik Monk, F Trey Lyles and G Kevin Huerter as key role players to make up the core. They also got better by adding young G Chris Duarte and C JaVale McGee, but will be tougher to sneak up on the West now that people know how good they are.

The Clippers will always be a good team but the big issue as always is if Paul George and Kawhi Leonard are actually out there to play or are they doing load management. The front office/HC Tyron Lue have built a very deep team because they are missing their two key players by having F Nicolas Batum, F Robert Covington, guards Terrance Mann, Norman Powell, Bones Hyland who they got at the deadline and PG Russell Westbrook who never misses games. They also still have a solid front court with C Ivica Zubac, Mason Plumlee, Marcus Morris and added Kenyon Martin Jr. as well. 

The Lakers snuck into the playoffs via the play in game, upset the young Grizzlies, upset the Warriors before losing to the defending champion Nuggets, so you cannot count out a team that has an aging F Lebron James and injury prone C Anthony Davis. After all the deadline maneuvering they did to get better continued in the offseason as they kept F Rui Hachimura, G Austin Reaves, F Jarred Vanderbilt and PG D’Angelo Russell. They added big men Jaxson Hayes and Christian Wood to let Davis play PF more, saved F Cam Reddish from not playing in New York, veteran F Taurean Prince and G Gabe Vincent from Miami. They could be the best last place team.