BY: DONOVAN HOLDEN
5. KNICKS
Coming off a 21-45 shortened season, the New York Knicks will still have their hands full in an Eastern Conference that seems to get better by the day. And will surely be last in their division yet again. The problems that are still evident with the Knicks is that they have a surplus of young semi-talented forwards/centers, and they don’t have a true identity.
The Knicks front office did a good job trimming some of the fat at the power forward position by parting ways with veteran Taj Gibson and Bobby Portis. By selecting Obi Toppin 8th overall in the draft, the Knicks fill the roles of Gibson and Portis with a more talented player than both those guys already and has a much higher ceiling. Toppin is one of the most explosive players in this year’s draft and will be a great pairing with the third year, 7-footer Mitchell Robinson under the basket. The issue here is they also have Nerlens Noel, Julius Randle, and Kevin Knox rostered. A lot of talented guys who should not share the court for most of the game.
This franchise hasn’t really had a true identity since the days of Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire, but this team’s future certainly looks bright, and they may be a thrilling team to watch for the next few years. Duke product RJ Barrett averaged just over 14 ppg in his rookie season with the Knicks and is expected to make another big jump in year two. The Knicks also brought in a solid backcourt mate and proven scorer in Austin Rivers to play alongside Barret.
The way this roster is shaping out, it really leaves a lot of opportunity for the Knicks to be a fast-paced, explosive team that likes to score early and get out in transition. Make no mistake, they will probably find themselves hovering around the bottom of the East again. However, fans can anticipate a more exciting roster that should have a larger win total than the last few seasons.
4. RAPTORS
After winning a championship in the 2018-2019 season, the team in Toronto has seemed to get slightly worse each of the last two offseasons. Last year was an obvious downgrade losing their Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard in free agency, and this year they lost the bulk of their interior presence from the past two seasons, losing both Serge Ibaka and Marc Gasol.
Though getting worse, the combination of bringing back Fred VanVleet and still having guys like Kyle Lowry, Pascal Siakam, and OG Anunoby should be enough to stay within the upper half of the Eastern Conference. Nick Nurse and this “next guy up” styled Raptors squad proved last season that they could make adjustments on the fly, but I am not sure holding the No. 2 seed in the east for most of the regular season like they did last year is realistic.
The replacements made for Ibaka and Gasol were the Raptors bringing in Aaron Baynes and Alex Len for some size underneath. One could argue the Baynes for Gasol swap is an upgrade based solely on their performances from a season ago, but Len for Ibaka is a serious downgrade. Ibaka was such a pivotal piece of this team on both ends of the court and will be very hard to replace.
A lot of pressure will fall on guys like Siakam and Anunoby to step up both defensively and offensively, and if you are a Raptors fan you are really hoping Siakam steps up his level of play that he was showing towards the end of last season’s playoffs, where he slowly fizzled out in that 7-game series with the Celtics.
The Raptors should still be in the playoff hunt, but will need to rely on their unique style of play where the next guy steps up, and they can make fast adjustments as they are needed. Opposed to being able to rely on a talented roster much like they could in years past.
3. 76ERS
With both Joel Embid and Ben Simmons staying put in “the city of brotherly love” (for now), the 76ers did a great job building around them this offseason. Brett Brown clearly was not cut out for this coaching job, and bringing Doc Rivers was an obvious upgrade for Philly. Fans of this team can expect Doc to simplify this offense and keep Embid on the block.
Bringing in more shooting, adding Seth Curry and Danny Green to this roster will compliment both Simmons and Embid’s game immensely. Not to mention Doc could be a future father in law to Seth Curry, because Curry is currently dating Doc’s daughter. Maybe this type of connection helps some of those very evident locker room problems from a season ago.
Trading Al Horford and getting rid of his nearly $27 million a year was a fantastic move for the organization. Horford did not produce like the 76ers had hoped he would have, and when Embid was not on the floor last season there was a transparent issue with a strong interior presence. Adding Dwight Howard on a cheap deal could prove to be a very successful addition. Howard’s deal is nowhere near the money they had to pay Horford and Howard proved last season when helping the Lakers win a championship that he still has some of that “Superman” play left in the tank.
Although this franchise did a lot right this offseason, the duo of Ben Simmons and Joel Embid is still running out of time where they can prove to make it work. For now this team looks great on paper, but we will have to see the success on the hardwood to really trust this new look Sixers team. Expect a middle of the pack finish for them in the East this year, unless a drastic personnel change is made.
2. CELTICS
After a deep playoff run for this group, it is really up for debate whether or not the Boston Celtics got better or worse this offseason. There were so many changes made to a team who were really a few blown games away from making it to the Finals inside the NBA Bubble. The biggest change to this roster would be Gordon Hayward heading to the Charlotte Hornets on a huge new deal after three short, banged up seasons with the Celtics.
Other subtractions from the Celtics roster would be rebounding expert Enes Kanter who makes his way back to the Portland Trailblazers in free agency. Also underrated bench scorer Brad Wannamaker who led the league in free throw percentage a season ago. Although the green team lost some notable players, Danny Ainge did a good job of filling the void by adding two experienced veterans in Tristan Thompson and Jeff Teague. On top of the two vets the Celtics drafted one of best shooters in the entire draft in Aaron Nesmith out of Vanderbilt at 14th overall.
Tristan Thompson is someone who can join this squad and immediately impact the team’s rebounding struggles and defensive toughness under the basket. Jeff Teague is a player who has been a floor general and flat out scorer his entire career, and will bring a lot of that to this team whether he is starting in place of injured Kemba Walker, or running the bench unit.
The reason the Celtics will still be atop the Eastern Conference as well as this Atlantic Division is simply because of their core of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart and Kemba Walker. Tatum and Brown will be under the most pressure of both their young careers, where they will be expected to take yet another big leap both defensively and offensively.
Kemba Walker will begin the season on the bench for the Celtics for at least a month because of the stem cell work he had done on his injured knee this offseason. The league should anticipate Jayson Tatum to be competing with the rest of the league’s best players and to seriously be involved in the top ten discussion. Possibly even have his name mentioned in the MVP race. With Tatum doing his thing and Brown looking like one of the best two-way playing wings in the entire NBA last season, this Celtics team should continue their success in the Eastern Conference.
1. NETS
The Brooklyn Nets should easily finish atop this Atlantic Division and ultimately have zero excuse to not make it to the NBA finals with the team they have moving into the 2020-2021 NBA season. The NBA will finally get to see the highly anticipated duo with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant fully healthy. Although there were several trade rumors circling about James Harden possibly being traded to Brooklyn, that now seems unrealistic and out of reach.
James Harden most likely will not end up in a “Bed-Stuy” jersey, but the Nets did make some notable additions this offseason. They added bench scoring with Landry Shamet, Tyler Johnson, and Jeff Green. And were also able to bring back one of the best shooters throughout the entire league, re-signing knock down shooter Joe Harris on a 4-year deal worth up to $75 million.
Not only do the Nets have one of the best duos across the league and a lethal shooter, but their complimentary players are not lacking by any means. Players like Spencer Dinwiddie, Caris Levert, Jarret Allen, and Deandre Jordan all kept the Nets relevant last year without their two superstars and are now the supporting cast that can make this Brooklyn team championship contenders.
This team has an overwhelmingly talented group of players, and they also blew up the coaching staff, and brought in one of the best basketball minds in the history of the sport, Steve Nash. He will be their Head Coach, and Mike D’Antoni was also brought in as an assistant. Unless we see an attitude problem from the outspoken superstar Kyrie Irving or there is a serious injury that happens within this roster, there is really no reason they shouldn’t AT LEAST make the Conference Finals.
The Sports Desk can be reached at editorialtrainwrecksports@gmail.com
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