A few days ago we entered December and it is already beginning to notice how the atmosphere at Christmas, the gold in nougat, and champagne, begins to enter our pores. Each new transfer announcement reminds us of when we woke up at dawn on January 6, and because of the fear of running out of gifts, unfounded by our parents – how naive we were, with how well we behaved -, we did not get out of bed until who came to “wake us up.” Well, we can’t go out to enjoy the new season until our “parents”, that is, the Shams Charania and Adrian Wojnarowski on duty, come to get us out of our reverie and confirm that we can once again enjoy the best annual tradition. The start of the Regular Season. And the Christmas parties. Because this course, everything will go together.
And as a good neighbor’s son, I have a list of equipment that, for raising doubts or raising illusion, I have want to see this Regular Season. The possible fit of certain quintets practically formed from scratch, the arrival of pieces that can mean the landing in the next level of teams that were in an intermediate position in the NBA, or the evolution of some players who already left very good feelings. In addition, of course, as an extra wish or absolute bonus, of the management that Adam Silver will carry out of any casuistry related to the virus, since he is no longer in a bubble. Positives, we have already had. And we will continue to have them. The question is to learn to live with him, that phrase that has been said so many times in recent months.
The 5 things I want to see this season
Because the last are always the first, I’m going to start with that bonus track. Load up on the idea of Side B of the vinyls, and start from the front with the “encore”. Adam Silver and the best management in the world of sports. We have seen in the arch-commented bubble how the management of the NBA has established itself as the best in the world, carrying out a season at least impossible, without positive cases once the teams were confined and experiencing a near-revolution in the middle . In addition, the comparison with the NFL, MLB or NHL raises you even more like foam.
The problem, the great test, comes now. Because there will be no more bubbles. Each team will be in its epidemiological context, and the teams will test positive. It has already been announced that the Warriors, for example, will start training later due to two positive cases in the roster. And it is normal. What you have to watch carefully is to see how the league acts when, once the competition begins, the diagnoses accumulate. When the Lakers or the Nets – to give two examples of teams that are candidates for everything – are left without several players on the squad. And if they will be like the Premier and the Bundesliga, or rather like Serie A. We’ll see.
Next, focusing a little more on what it refers to basketball, pure 5 against 5, let’s talk about fit. Of lace. That word that so much flies over our days, the analysis of the media, and that defines the difference between reality, and a simple video game. If what Sam Presti has done with OKC and his eternal Draft rounds resembles the “My GM” mode of the 2k, throw it all away to rebuild on top, the Travis Schlenk thing with Atlanta remember “My Team” for a while. Especially if we see that Newcomer lace doesn’t make much sense. At least, first, without a simple pre-season game in our eyes, and in the starting five.
Because Rondo, next to Trae Young, is a great signing. Veterancy, stripes and defense to fight for the PlayOffs. Good. The Bogdan Bogdanovic thing is also good, again next to Trae Young, if we stick to the offensive section. In defense it already leaves me many more doubts. And if we talk about Gallinari the questions in my mind skyrocket. I don’t know if he will start head-on, if he will be the guide for the second unit, or if he fits alongside Bogdanovic himself. And the problem is that he has been charging to be the owner. I see it difficult to spend more than 20 million a year, for 3 seasons, on a player who has had serious injury problems in the past and who is already in 32 years to substitute him. Lou Williams, in contrast, and as the best 6th man in recent years, has not earned even 10 per course. Like I said with Silver, we’ll see.
Hawks are gonna be fun to watch next season pic.twitter.com/VqMCmK8HiL
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) November 25, 2020
And if we were talking about a quintet re-made from 0 -or a little higher-, that is going to fight to re-enter PlayOffs, with a veteran point guard and more made support players in the NBA, we must take American Airlines and go to his nemesis in the West, the Phoenix Suns. That they have given Ricky Rubio and Kelly Oubre Jr – who are no longer in Oklahoma, Presti- things in exchange for Chris Paul and Abdel Nader. A CP3 that another year will fight to get his team into PlayOffs, spending his last years in the NBA in the lowest seeds of the POs, instead of betting on a contender. Although in the world of NBA transfers, players have little room for action – sure? – and it has ended up arriving in Phoenix. Like Jae Crowder, E’Twaun Moore or Langston Galloway. Rotation players, the last two with less brilliance than the first, who come to fill gaps left in the roster to take the final step, and return to PlayOffs for the first time since 2010. The fifth longest drought in NBA history , which is said soon.
I’m looking forward to seeing how Chris Paul and Devin Booker fit in, the step forward that Deandre Ayton must take in attack – and especially in defense – next to the former point guard from Oklahoma, who comes to raise the competitive level, to toughen up his teammates , and fit between the eyebrows of each of the members of the roster that this year, yes or yes, it has to be their course. And I want to see what Monty Williams does with the foundations established in the bubble, after winning the 8 games they played with solvency, having let Ricky and Oubre go. The Suns will be an interesting team this year, and there will be few. A lot of attention to those from Arizona, who can surprise an established team in the post-season – yes, Houston, I look at you.
Moving on from Houston, which although it raises doubts will completely dispel them when it is known what they really want to do with James Harden, we are going to a possible team of his in the future. Well the Nets, which have a new coach -and coaching staff, in which Nash will delegate a lot during the course of the games-, and of which he has not yet seen a minute with Durant and Irving on the track at the same time, they are a time bomb waiting to explode at any moment. Like when you fill a glass of water up to the limit, fearing that any slight movement will break the artificial tension of the liquid, and everything will be thrown overboard. And that there have already been threats of an explosion on the other side of the Manhattan Bridge. Like when it leaked that Durant would welcome Harden’s arrival, but not Kyrie. And there are people – myself included – who wouldn’t be too surprised if the Nets decided to include Irving in a trade with the Rockets for the Beard. But they are just guesses, clearly.
“People around the league are saying Durant wants Harden, and Kyrie does not.”
– Chris Broussardpic.twitter.com/OcWhGMA19L
— Top Ball Coverage (@TopBallCoverage) November 17, 2020
A palpable fact is that Durant is recovering from an Achilles tear, the most difficult injury to get out of if you are an NBA player, and that he has not played a professional basketball game since June 2019. That is to say, 18 months have gone by. My great concern. And that is a machine to produce questions and exclamations in equal measure. Fear and illusion. What the Nets do, in short. A team that can win the ring if everyone synchronizes their motivations and attitudes, but that can also end up being a poor “first round exit” like the diarchy that Sean Marks has mounted in the Nets locker room is spoiled by nonsense like, to imagine a bit, transfer rumors that do not directly involve them.
A team that, on the other hand, seems already very established, and that arrives with few questions and many affirmations are the Denver Nuggets by Mike Malone. A Malone who was on the verge of dismissal – coming to sound for the Pacers – with the 3 to 1 that the Jazz placed against him, and in the end he ended up putting the franchise in an unexpected Conference Finals. With another 3 to 1 lifted to the Los Angeles Clippers. Living, among other things, the definitive explosion of Jamal Murray as a star of the league, a candidate for the MIP this year as well as his partner Michael Porter Jr., who obviating statements that are not very questionable, and statements that tarnish the image that is had of he on the field, is more than prepared to demonstrate why his election two years ago is a firm candidate for the 2018 Draft Robbery. An alleged # 1 on election night, which overcame the physical problems that so distressed the rest of the teams, and he’s ready to ring the bell.
The few questions that the Nuggets leave are completely related to the arrivals, and their departures. Because Plumlee and Jerami Grant have left, two differential players in Malone’s competitive discourse in recent years, and Facundo Campazzo, JaMychal Green, Isaiah Hartenstein, via FA, and RJ Hampton and Zeke Nnaji via Draft have arrived. A broader rotation, with the money somewhat more divided, but perhaps with less grit at the start. So one of the things that leave me the most doubts about Denver is seeing how his second unit will perform, and the minutes that Bol Bol will receive having already signed a guaranteed contract in the NBA and without Plumlee ahead. In theory, and if what we saw in Orlando serves as a guideline to follow, it will have more and more prominence. Shams Charania already said that in Colorado they are enthusiastic about its evolution.
Last but not least, I want to see the Clippers de Kawhi Leonard. And yes, also from Tyronn Lue. That they have run out of JaMychal Green, Landry Shamet or Montrezl Harrell, but they have been saved from receiving ugly comments about their bland offseason by getting at a very good price with Serge Ibaka, Nicolas Batum and the minimum of veteran, and Luke Kennard on the night of the Draft. A healthy rotation, with the Staples windows wide open so that the dressing room can be aired, but it exudes a very bittersweet feeling.
The possible Clippers quintet, with Pat Beverley, Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, Marcus Morris – to whom they have given more than 60 million – and Serge Ibaka is very powerful, and promises to be tough and rabid on defense, but the bench has lost depth, as expected. The current 6th Man of the Year winner has gone to the Lakers, Green reinforces another rival for the first three places in the West, and you have sent a confirmed shooter as Shamet in exchange for a Kennard who has not been seen him play in a year, and he’s also never been in a context like the Clippers. What a coin is in the air. It can be a luxury booster, or an understatement. One of the aspects to take into account when analyzing the “seconds” of Los Angeles, as well as the role and performance that Lue manages to get out of a very run-down Paul George.
Definitely, la NBA will be this course -like every year, actually- a constant “coin toss”, a fight to the head of many teams against themselves, who will try to survive the complications of the virus, future internal fights, or the savagery that the middle zones of each Conference have taken over. Especially if your franchise is west of Eastern Standard Time. That is, the Western Conference.
