A Look At the Competition

[irish2u2]

I thought I might take a quick peek at our esteemed opponents starting with the East and our conference.

BROOKLYN

The only free agent of note who went to Brooklyn was Patty Mills who joins the other 100 PGs on the Nets all there to back up the oft injured but Nobel Prize for Peace worthy Kyrie Irving.   The Nets kept Blake Griffin and actually had an excellent draft getting center Day'ron Sharpe and uber scoring guard Cameron Thomas. The strong got a little stronger and if they can stay relatively healthy they should be favored in the East. Can they stay healthy? KD, Harden and Kyrie played a whopping total of 8 games together. 

PHILADELPHIA

Most of the noise was about Philly but not much happened besides the curious signing of Joel Embiid arch enemy Andre Drummond. Philly also had a surprising draft landing center Charles Bassey and guard Jaden Springer. But Ben Simmons is still a 76er. Could it be because Philly wants 4 first round picks and an All-Star in return? For a very tall bricklayer with the yips? 

BOSTON

If the Celtics go looking for their backcourt they now wear orange and blue instead of green. This off season has been an unmitigated disaster for the Celtics but to be fair they have Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown but they did little else besides lose players and add Al Horford. 

TORONTO

I believe the Raptors got better adding Scottie Barnes and keeping Gary Trent, Jr. and having PG Fred Van Fleet mitigates the loss of Kyle Lowry. Barnes has star written all over him and Trent, Jr. turned out to be a good player for the Raptors. Toronto also released center Aron Baynes and have not yet re-signed their other center the under appreciated Khiem Birch. This means a front court of Pascal Siakim, Chris Boucher and rookie Barnes is possible. Interesting especially since Siakim is supposedly available for the right price. 

The two conference opponents who did the most this offseason are Chicago and Miami.

CHICAGO

We all kept hearing Lonzo Ball was going to the Bulls. Lonzo Ball went to the Bulls and as predicted Chicago overpaid for him but maybe they got a steal. Ball is a perfect fit with Zach LaVine (abandon hope all ye who saw Zach in orange and blue) but was Ball's vastly improved 3 point shooting real or a mirage? Last season Chicago added All-Star center Nicola Vucevic and this season they added Ball, former All-Star DeMar DeRozan and Laker favorite Alex Caruso. Together with Laurie Markkanen, Patrick Williams and Coby White the Bulls have a very nice core though I'd have to believe Markkanen is available via sign and trade. Depth and chemistry are the issues but Chicago's 8 man rotation is very impressive. 


MIAMI

But Miami's 8 man plus rotation is even more impressive and given what they paid it should be. Miami is in a win now mode and signing Kyle Lowry is where it starts. Put Lowry with Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, 90 million dollar man Duncan Robinson and ultimately Victor Oladipo and that's a powerful team. They have some bench too with Tyler Herro, PJ Tucker and Markief Morris. Personally I think this is a very good team and very dangerous but a somewhat healthy Nets team and a largely intact Bucks team are still better. 

More notable moves in the East.

Washington traded Russell Westbrook and kept for now Bradley Beal while adding Kyle Kuzma, Montrez Harrell and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. They just agreed with Spencer Dinwiddie but the cost is cloudy now. Thomas Bryant should be back healthy along with Daniel Gafford who was a bit of a surprise last season. To me drafting SF Corey Kispert was huge for the Wizards. They have a logjam at PF with Rui Hachimura, Davis Bertans plus Kuzma and Harrell but they also have trade fodder for what they need. If Dinwiddie comes back healthy this is a dangerous team. Charlotte did well in the draft (James Bouknight and Kai Jones) but little else.

Watch out for Orlando. They didn't make a splash in the free agent market adding just Robin Lopez but they did well in the draft getting future star Jalen Suggs and Franz Moritz. If the Magic can heal their wounded they get interesting. Jonathan Isaac and Markelle Fultz plus Cole Anthony, James Ennis, Terrence Ross, Dwayne Bacon, Gary Harris, Wendell Carter, MCW, and RJ Hampton makes for a deep team. If the offense can generate points the team can generate wins. 

Atlanta didn't do much aside from keeping Trae Young and John Collins.   Milwaukee did even less just re-signing Bobby Portis. Indiana kept TJ McConnell and drafted Chris Duarte and Isiah Washington. Meh. Detroit and Cleveland remain. In my opinion both landed future Hall of Fame level talent in Cade Cunningham and Evan Mobley. Cleveland made a curious move of signing Jarrett Allen to a 5 year 100 million dollar deal AFTER drafting Mobley. Cleveland also traded for Ricky Rubio signaling Collin Sexton is on his way out whenever they can find a deal. Both the Cavs and Pistons are in total rebuild mode but I like how sneaky Detroit was adding bigs Luka Garza and JT Thor. Neither is a star but they could be rotational components for next to nothing. 


I'll do the West later but honestly this what I see in the East.


Brooklyn
Milwaukee
Miami
New York
Philly
Atlanta
Chicago
Boston


LOTS of possibilities between 3-6 but I obviously love what Rose and the Knicks have done. 

[daglazer]

Aug 5, 2021 8:33:20 GMT -5 irish2u2 said:

I thought I might take a quick peek at our esteemed opponents starting with the East and our conference.

BROOKLYN

The only free agent of note who went to Brooklyn was Patty Mills who joins the other 100 PGs on the Nets all there to back up the oft injured but Nobel Prize for Peace worthy Kyrie Irving.   The Nets kept Blake Griffin and actually had an excellent draft getting center Day'ron Sharpe and uber scoring guard Cameron Thomas. The strong got a little stronger and if they can stay relatively healthy they should be favored in the East. Can they stay healthy? KD, Harden and Kyrie played a whopping total of 8 games together. 

PHILADELPHIA

Most of the noise was about Philly but not much happened besides the curious signing of Joel Embiid arch enemy Andre Drummond. Philly also had a surprising draft landing center Charles Bassey and guard Jaden Springer. But Ben Simmons is still a 76er. Could it be because Philly wants 4 first round picks and an All-Star in return? For a very tall bricklayer with the yips? 

BOSTON

If the Celtics go looking for their backcourt they now wear orange and blue instead of green. This off season has been an unmitigated disaster for the Celtics but to be fair they have Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown but they did little else besides lose players and add Al Horford. 

TORONTO

I believe the Raptors got better adding Scottie Barnes and keeping Gary Trent, Jr. and having PG Fred Van Fleet mitigates the loss of Kyle Lowry. Barnes has star written all over him and Trent, Jr. turned out to be a good player for the Raptors. Toronto also released center Aron Baynes and have not yet re-signed their other center the under appreciated Khiem Birch. This means a front court of Pascal Siakim, Chris Boucher and rookie Barnes is possible. Interesting especially since Siakim is supposedly available for the right price. 

The two conference opponents who did the most this offseason are Chicago and Miami.

CHICAGO

We all kept hearing Lonzo Ball was going to the Bulls. Lonzo Ball went to the Bulls and as predicted Chicago overpaid for him but maybe they got a steal. Ball is a perfect fit with Zach LaVine (abandon hope all ye who saw Zach in orange and blue) but was Ball's vastly improved 3 point shooting real or a mirage? Last season Chicago added All-Star center Nicola Vucevic and this season they added Ball, former All-Star DeMar DeRozan and Laker favorite Alex Caruso. Together with Laurie Markkanen, Patrick Williams and Coby White the Bulls have a very nice core though I'd have to believe Markkanen is available via sign and trade. Depth and chemistry are the issues but Chicago's 8 man rotation is very impressive. 


MIAMI

But Miami's 8 man plus rotation is even more impressive and given what they paid it should be. Miami is in a win now mode and signing Kyle Lowry is where it starts. Put Lowry with Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, 90 million dollar man Duncan Robinson and ultimately Victor Oladipo and that's a powerful team. They have some bench too with Tyler Herro, PJ Tucker and Markief Morris. Personally I think this is a very good team and very dangerous but a somewhat healthy Nets team and a largely intact Bucks team are still better. 

More notable moves in the East.

Washington traded Russell Westbrook and kept for now Bradley Beal while adding Kyle Kuzma, Montrez Harrell and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. They just agreed with Spencer Dinwiddie but the cost is cloudy now. Thomas Bryant should be back healthy along with Daniel Gafford who was a bit of a surprise last season. To me drafting SF Corey Kispert was huge for the Wizards. They have a logjam at PF with Rui Hachimura, Davis Bertans plus Kuzma and Harrell but they also have trade fodder for what they need. If Dinwiddie comes back healthy this is a dangerous team. Charlotte did well in the draft (James Bouknight and Kai Jones) but little else.

Watch out for Orlando. They didn't make a splash in the free agent market adding just Robin Lopez but they did well in the draft getting future star Jalen Suggs and Franz Moritz. If the Magic can heal their wounded they get interesting. Jonathan Isaac and Markelle Fultz plus Cole Anthony, James Ennis, Terrence Ross, Dwayne Bacon, Gary Harris, Wendell Carter, MCW, and RJ Hampton makes for a deep team. If the offense can generate points the team can generate wins. 

Atlanta didn't do much aside from keeping Trae Young and John Collins.   Milwaukee did even less just re-signing Bobby Portis. Indiana kept TJ McConnell and drafted Chris Duarte and Isiah Washington. Meh. Detroit and Cleveland remain. In my opinion both landed future Hall of Fame level talent in Cade Cunningham and Evan Mobley. Cleveland made a curious move of signing Jarrett Allen to a 5 year 100 million dollar deal AFTER drafting Mobley. Cleveland also traded for Ricky Rubio signaling Collin Sexton is on his way out whenever they can find a deal. Both the Cavs and Pistons are in total rebuild mode but I like how sneaky Detroit was adding bigs Luka Garza and JT Thor. Neither is a star but they could be rotational components for next to nothing. 


I'll do the West later but honestly this what I see in the East.


Brooklyn
Milwaukee
Miami
New York
Philly
Atlanta
Chicago
Boston


LOTS of possibilities between 3-6 but I obviously love what Rose and the Knicks have done. 

I am not sure that Lowry has much left. Chicago has no D and their players do not exactly have a history of sharing the ball outside of Lonzo. Atlanta should be better this coming season with the playoff experience a full season of Nate McMillen as head coach and all of that shooting if healthy. Philly is still very dangerous in the regular season. So I would have it as:

Brooklyn
Milwaukee
Atlanta
Philly
New York
Miami
Boston
Washington

Chicago does not have the kind of scoring power that Brooklyn does that can overcome a lack of defense. I see them as 9th in the conference.

The reality is that the East is a solid 7 deep of talented rosters with Orlando, Washington and Chicago fighting for the 8th seed.

[rxmeister]

Great summation, Irish, but you finished it looking at the standings with your blue and orange tinted glasses! Although the Knicks are improved, I can’t see them better than Philly, and it will be touch and go with Boston, Atlanta and Chicago. I can easily see them seventh but way more capable than last year of knocking out a higher seed in the playoffs.

[irish2u2]

Aug 6, 2021 10:08:39 GMT -5 rxmeister said:

Great summation, Irish, but you finished it looking at the standings with your blue and orange tinted glasses! Although the Knicks are improved, I can’t see them better than Philly, and it will be touch and go with Boston, Atlanta and Chicago. I can easily see them seventh but way more capable than last year of knocking out a higher seed in the playoffs.

New York already has a stellar defense. Offense was the issue and adding Kemba and Fournier addresses a lot of the issues with the Knicks. Plus both these guys move and shoot and they hit high percentages from beyond the arc. So a team loaded with good 3 point shooters adds two more who can get those shots at will. The court gets spread more and the offense flows smoother especially with Walker and Rose as the primary PGs. The Knicks kept the core guys of their team, added two more that fit the needs perfectly and they get Mitchell Robinson back who certainly helps defend the rim. 

Atlanta added nobody. They did not improve their team preferring to stay status quo. They kept the guys they needed to keep while the Knicks fully addressed the weaknesses the Hawks exposed in the playoffs. The Hawks are indeed very, very good and they added key guys last year but I believe the moves the Knicks made in the draft and in free agency over the past week strongly counter the defense that stymied the Knicks in the playoffs. The Knicks played fairly even with the Hawks when Rose was playing because he could create his own offensive opportunities. Our 3 point shooting, a strength during the season, was negated because our shooters, especially Bullock and Burks, were fairly stationary and easy to defend. I don't think defending Randle's left hand slowed him down as much as Julius trying to do too much as evidenced by his nearly 5 turnovers per game. This year's team will have Walker and Fournier able to get their shots, spread the floor and create mismatches inside and outside. 

I also think the Knicks drafted McBride for a reason. 

Miami added Lowry. A 35 year old Lowry. A bold move and it should help them but Oladipo isn't due back till February and the word is he won't be as athletic as he was a few short years ago. Still I think the Butler, Adebayo, Lowry, Robinson and ultimately Oladipo quintet is a very strong starting 5. I like Morris and Herro off the bench but I like our bench a lot and Obi and IQ should be better.

Boston got much weaker and Brown is coming off a serious injury. I like what Chicago did but they also revamped their whole team. Let's see what happens with Markkanen who has demanded a trade. 

That brings us to Philly. They added Andre Drummond in one of the more curious offseason transactions. Embiid is great and with Jokic is 1a or 1b amongst NBA centers but he misses a lot of games including 21 last season. I love Tobias Harris and while I think Doc Rivers is overrated I do think he is a good coach. A good coach with a HUGE 6'10 problem in Ben Simmons. Embiid sort of threw him under the bus after the playoffs and that locker room isn't as warm and fuzzy as ours. 

Maybe I do favor orange and blue glasses but chemistry, defense and upgrades makes me think this Knicks team is much better than last year's team. I also factor in the growth of Robinson, RJ, IQ and Obi as none of them is older than 23 Orr has more than 2 years in the league. However there is just enough volatility in the East that almost anything can happen.