It looks like a Cavs / Warriors Finals rematch for the next two years (or three if Father Time is kind to LB).

I figure Boston and San Antonio are in the best position to contend with them.

Thoughts?

agree

Spurs

I disagree, respectfully, with the premise.

Golden State is on their own level, clearly superior to any other team.

Cavs are a team in decline, IMO. Was very surprised so many picked the Cavs to win: GS was healthy, a much better team, and had home court advantage. Cavs only won 51 games this season. 29th ranked defense post All Star game. Swept Indiana, but won games by 1 point, 6, 5 & 4. Then got 9 days of rest. Their cap situation is a mess, and unless they trade Love are basically restricted to signing FAs at the vet minimum.

Lebron was great in playoffs, better than I expected, but his defense is not near what is was a few years ago. Approaching 52,000 minutes played, shows that he plays so much better in 1st Q than 4th Quarter. Kyrie is great, with Lebron on the court. When Lebron is off, he pounds the ball for 15 seconds and then takes a bad shot. Kyrie and Love are poor defenders.

Anyway, I could go on, but point is I think next year is the year the good teams in the East catch up with the Cavs. Wizards would have been a better match up for the Cavs than the Celts this year with an injured Isaiah. But Celts will be better next year with Fultz, and have the cap flexibility to sign a good FA. Toronto could finally make the next step.

So my prediction is the Cavs don't make it back to the finals.

(06-14-2017 09:20 AM)Tigx Wrote:  I disagree, respectfully, with the premise.

Golden State is on their own level, clearly superior to any other team.

Cavs are a team in decline, IMO. Was very surprised so many picked the Cavs to win: GS was healthy, a much better team, and had home court advantage. Cavs only won 51 games this season. 29th ranked defense post All Star game. Swept Indiana, but won games by 1 point, 6, 5 & 4. Then got 9 days of rest. Their cap situation is a mess, and unless they trade Love are basically restricted to signing FAs at the vet minimum.

Lebron was great in playoffs, better than I expected, but his defense is not near what is was a few years ago. Approaching 52,000 minutes played, shows that he plays so much better in 1st Q than 4th Quarter. Kyrie is great, with Lebron on the court. When Lebron is off, he pounds the ball for 15 seconds and then takes a bad shot. Kyrie and Love are poor defenders.

Anyway, I could go on, but point is I think next year is the year the good teams in the East catch up with the Cavs. Wizards would have been a better match up for the Cavs than the Celts this year with an injured Isaiah. But Celts will be better next year with Fultz, and have the cap flexibility to sign a good FA. Toronto could finally make the next step.

So my prediction is the Cavs don't make it back to the finals.

You make very good points. However, LB is still the best player in the game and I think he will be rested more than in the past henceforth in the near meaningless (for the Cavs) regular season. I also think Love is trade bait.

where Paul George, Chris Paul and Gordon Hayward end up may tip the scales a bit also

(06-14-2017 09:27 AM)Tiger1983 Wrote:  

(06-14-2017 09:20 AM)Tigx Wrote:  I disagree, respectfully, with the premise.

Golden State is on their own level, clearly superior to any other team.

Cavs are a team in decline, IMO. Was very surprised so many picked the Cavs to win: GS was healthy, a much better team, and had home court advantage. Cavs only won 51 games this season. 29th ranked defense post All Star game. Swept Indiana, but won games by 1 point, 6, 5 & 4. Then got 9 days of rest. Their cap situation is a mess, and unless they trade Love are basically restricted to signing FAs at the vet minimum.

Lebron was great in playoffs, better than I expected, but his defense is not near what is was a few years ago. Approaching 52,000 minutes played, shows that he plays so much better in 1st Q than 4th Quarter. Kyrie is great, with Lebron on the court. When Lebron is off, he pounds the ball for 15 seconds and then takes a bad shot. Kyrie and Love are poor defenders.

Anyway, I could go on, but point is I think next year is the year the good teams in the East catch up with the Cavs. Wizards would have been a better match up for the Cavs than the Celts this year with an injured Isaiah. But Celts will be better next year with Fultz, and have the cap flexibility to sign a good FA. Toronto could finally make the next step.

So my prediction is the Cavs don't make it back to the finals.

You make very good points. However, LB is still the best player in the game and I think he will be rested more than in the past henceforth in the near meaningless (for the Cavs) regular season. I also think Love is trade bait.

Lebron is amazing. I'm not his biggest fan, but man is he good. Passing and shooting are better than ever. Cavs need help on D. Tony Allen would make sense. And a rim protecting big. Cavs keep trying to patch with over 30 vets like Bogut, Korver (gave up this year's first for him), Deron Williams, Jefferson . . .; just not working.

Love to Indiana or back to Minnesota makes a lot of sense. Would need an athletic big man next to him to cover for his poor D, especially his P&R D.

Theres nothing any team in the league can do this off season to compete with GS other than maybe the Spurs getting Chris Paul and Melo. Barring injury or some kind of internal turmoil they are about to win at least the next 3 championships

(06-14-2017 11:02 AM)Dynamos Wrote:  Theres nothing any team in the league can do this off season to compete with GS. Barring injury or some kind of internal turmoil they are about to win at least the next 3 championships

Yup!
If Spurs can get CP, then things might get interesting. But otherwise, I do see them winning 3 straight barring injuries.

Boston. Anybody who says otherwise doesn't know any better. They're in best position to take over East when Cavs decline starts, which may be next summer. Boston has the #1 this year and Nets pick next year (which will fall in the top 3 unless Billy King curses them again.) Boston seen as favorite for either Griffin or Hayward. Trade for George also possible with the two picks assuming Indiana wants to build around Turner instead of George. It's going to be Boston in the East.
In the West you just have to pray you get lucky in the draft. Only way GS falters is if they can't find enough money to pay their guys. Starts really with Durant. If he accepts less than the max, they have more money to offer Livingston and AI. They're the top dogs in the West for three more years. By that time, they'll have to try and keep four max guys on contract or trade one away, Klay being the most likely.
Spurs could challenge if they sign Chris Paul though that doesn't necessarily put them over the top. It might, we'll never know how the series would've turned out this year with Leonard getting hurt. If San Antonio was real smart, they'd sign Chris Paul.

(06-14-2017 11:02 AM)Dynamos Wrote:  Theres nothing any team in the league can do this off season to compete with GS other than maybe the Spurs getting Chris Paul and Melo. Barring injury or some kind of internal turmoil they are about to win at least the next 3 championships

cap issues and one injury could also do them in. Celtics signing Gordon Hayward and their draft pick being great this year could aslo challenge.

But golden state is just ridiculous. It honestly kind of kills the fun of the league for me.

Sure, they're a great team but whats the point for teams like the grizzlies when all these other superstars keep bouncing to form super duper teams

Get back to me after free agency.

Griz are screwed if George goes to the Clippers. Minnesota getting better. Jazz might take a step back. Probably the biggest summer in team history. If I had to put money on it today, the playoff streak is gonna come to an end.

(06-19-2017 01:43 PM)fishman6581 Wrote:  Griz are screwed if George goes to the Clippers. Minnesota getting better. Jazz might take a step back. Probably the biggest summer in team history. If I had to put money on it today, the playoff streak is gonna come to an end.

Yep. I can see the Twolves putting us out of the playoffs next year

(06-19-2017 02:33 PM)Dynamos Wrote:  

(06-19-2017 01:43 PM)fishman6581 Wrote:  Griz are screwed if George goes to the Clippers. Minnesota getting better. Jazz might take a step back. Probably the biggest summer in team history. If I had to put money on it today, the playoff streak is gonna come to an end.

Yep. I can see the Twolves putting us out of the playoffs next year

We shall see

IMO they will be out of the POs 14th year in a row

(06-19-2017 02:55 PM)tiger1016 Wrote:  

(06-19-2017 02:33 PM)Dynamos Wrote:  

(06-19-2017 01:43 PM)fishman6581 Wrote:  Griz are screwed if George goes to the Clippers. Minnesota getting better. Jazz might take a step back. Probably the biggest summer in team history. If I had to put money on it today, the playoff streak is gonna come to an end.

Yep. I can see the Twolves putting us out of the playoffs next year

We shall see

IMO they will be out of the POs 14th year in a row

That young talent is going to explode at some point. All they need is a few more vets

(06-19-2017 02:55 PM)tiger1016 Wrote:  

(06-19-2017 02:33 PM)Dynamos Wrote:  

(06-19-2017 01:43 PM)fishman6581 Wrote:  Griz are screwed if George goes to the Clippers. Minnesota getting better. Jazz might take a step back. Probably the biggest summer in team history. If I had to put money on it today, the playoff streak is gonna come to an end.

Yep. I can see the Twolves putting us out of the playoffs next year

We shall see

IMO they will be out of the POs 14th year in a row

I agree. Most picked the T'Wolves to make the playoffs last year, and many picked us to miss.

Took Kris Dunn with 5th pick, 4-year college player was supposed to be NBA ready, and he was terrible. 8.1 PER and 28% from 3, and 60% FT shooting. Not good. KAT is great, but don't see how they get much better without several roster moves.

(06-19-2017 03:07 PM)Dynamos Wrote:  

(06-19-2017 02:55 PM)tiger1016 Wrote:  

(06-19-2017 02:33 PM)Dynamos Wrote:  

(06-19-2017 01:43 PM)fishman6581 Wrote:  Griz are screwed if George goes to the Clippers. Minnesota getting better. Jazz might take a step back. Probably the biggest summer in team history. If I had to put money on it today, the playoff streak is gonna come to an end.

Yep. I can see the Twolves putting us out of the playoffs next year

We shall see

IMO they will be out of the POs 14th year in a row

That young talent is going to explode at some point. All they need is a few more vets

Maybe...remains to be seen. They had KLove for a while and missed out on the POs. The West is deep. If the Wolves make the POs, it'll probably be over the Blazers. I don't see our PO streak coming to an end next season.

(06-19-2017 03:27 PM)tiger1016 Wrote:  

(06-19-2017 03:07 PM)Dynamos Wrote:  

(06-19-2017 02:55 PM)tiger1016 Wrote:  

(06-19-2017 02:33 PM)Dynamos Wrote:  

(06-19-2017 01:43 PM)fishman6581 Wrote:  Griz are screwed if George goes to the Clippers. Minnesota getting better. Jazz might take a step back. Probably the biggest summer in team history. If I had to put money on it today, the playoff streak is gonna come to an end.

Yep. I can see the Twolves putting us out of the playoffs next year

We shall see

IMO they will be out of the POs 14th year in a row

That young talent is going to explode at some point. All they need is a few more vets

Maybe...remains to be seen. They had KLove for a while and missed out on the POs. The West is deep. If the Wolves make the POs, it'll probably be over the Blazers. I don't see our PO streak coming to an end next season.

I do because we're about to pay for the lackluster trades this FO has made in the last five years.

(06-20-2017 10:13 AM)fishman6581 Wrote:  

(06-19-2017 03:27 PM)tiger1016 Wrote:  

(06-19-2017 03:07 PM)Dynamos Wrote:  

(06-19-2017 02:55 PM)tiger1016 Wrote:  

(06-19-2017 02:33 PM)Dynamos Wrote:  Yep. I can see the Twolves putting us out of the playoffs next year

We shall see

IMO they will be out of the POs 14th year in a row

That young talent is going to explode at some point. All they need is a few more vets

Maybe...remains to be seen. They had KLove for a while and missed out on the POs. The West is deep. If the Wolves make the POs, it'll probably be over the Blazers. I don't see our PO streak coming to an end next season.

I do because we're about to pay for the lackluster trades this FO has made in the last five years.

Prepare to be disappointed

Either the Blazers or Wolves will miss out again. We still have enough talent to get into the POs. Folks have been saying this about the Grizz every year now for the past 3-4 years. Unless those bottom teams upgrade significantly, they ain't doing $hit.