The “Buzz”: Basketball Roundtable is back. We are enjoying the NBA Pre-Season as we wait for the new year, and as always we pose several basketball related questions to our panel of life-long NBA fans for their candid opinions. We invite anyone to participate by answering the same questions in the “Comments” section at the bottom of this article. In this edition, our panel consists of our LWOS basketball experts Matt Fish (@fishcalledmatt), Bryce Warner (@brycewarner1) and Matthew Cardenas (@CardenasMaLWOS).
1) Will we continue to see as big a disparity between the Eastern and Western Conferences as we saw last season. Obviously, the West is still deeper, but can the East close the gap somewhat?
Matt Fish: The Eastern teams are getting better, slowly but surely, but I don’t think we’ll see a real gap closure for another two or three years before some of the conference’s lesser teams become relevant again. Squads like Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Detroit, Orlando and Boston have some good young pieces in place on their current rosters, but they’re all still at some sort of point in the rebuilding process and, as such, will not shrink the gulf between the conferences any time soon.
Bryce Warner: I think it depends on what “closing the gap” means. If it means having similar contending teams, obviously the East is not going to have a number of teams that can contend like the West, or even as deep a playoff field 1 through 8. If it means having a more competitive conference in inter-conference games and all the Eastern playoff teams having records over .500 for the first time since the lockout shortened season, then yes. The likes of Washington, Charlotte, Toronto, Atlanta, and New York probably won’t be title contenders, but the East should be improved.
Matthew Cardenas: The West will continue to have the upper hand, but I can definitely see the East putting up more of a fight. The East will be much more competitive this year with LeBron James returning to the Cavaliers and Derrick Rose coming back from injury. Also, the Washington Wizards, Toronto Raptors and Charlotte Hornets are young teams that are juest starting to earn the leagues respect. I wouldn’t favor most of the teams in an NBA Finals series against the West, but it would definitely be more competitive overall.
2) This is said to be one of the best draft classes in quite some time. Who wins rookie of the year?
MF: Call me unoriginal, but it’s still a toss-up between Andrew Wiggins and Jabari Parker for ROY honors. If I were a betting man, I’d side with Parker, based on the fact that his game is more polished and NBA-ready than Wiggins’ and also that he’ll be one of the Bucks’ main cogs on offense by default. However, Wiggins does play on the better team, so if the Wolves make a playoff push this season and the Canadian kid is implicated in a meaningful way, watch for him to take home the hardware.
BW: I really want to say Julius Randle here, but if the Lakers are going to stick with Carlos Boozer in the starting line-up at the four spot, I don’t think Randle will get the minutes and touches that he needs (a discussion for another time). I think Jabari Parker will be this year’s top rookie. He is one of the most NBA-ready rookies on offense and should be able to contribute in Milwaukee playing starter’s minutes. While his defense will be a work-in-progress, I think he can average somewhere around 18 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 assists this season and edge out Andrew Wiggins for Rookie of the Year honors.
MC: I’m going to have to give the nod to Jabari Parker. Most people would pick Andrew Wiggins or Joel Embiid for this award, but Wiggins isn’t as NBA-ready as Parker and Embiid is going to miss some time due to his back injury. Parker is a solid all-around player with a great offensive game. He’s receiving comparisons to Carmelo Anthony, so he’s got to be pretty good right? Expect Jabari to average around 15 points per game this year and pull out a few more wins for the Bucks. It’ll be exciting to see Jabari Parker play this year.
3) What non-rookie is ready to have a huge breakout year this season? Why?
MF: I’m bullish on Lance Stephenson and the rest of that Charlotte Hornets team. He’ll be given a larger role, more responsibility, and I think he’ll thrive under those circumstances and prove a lot of his critics wrong. He’s a tough cover on offense, is an above-average perimeter defender and could put up All-Star caliber numbers this coming season. With Paul George out for an extended period of time for the Pacers, folks in Indiana might be missing Stephenson a whole lot more than they originally thought.
BW: It would be easy to make an obvious choice here like Anthony Davis, but I’m going to go with DeMarcus Cousins. You could say that it is hard for someone who was in the top ten in points, and top five in rebounds and PER last season to break out, but Boogie’s teams have never had more than 28 wins in a season and Boogie has always been viewed as a bit of a knucklehead and his temper has gotten then best of him at times. His run with team USA at this summer’s FIBA World Cup hopefully helped him mature as a player and teammate. And while Sacramento is far from contending, Boogie can silence some of his doubters by becoming a good teammate. I think he can become an elite power forward and become an all-star in the West this season.
MC: Jeff Teague is ready to take the next step as one of the league’s premier young point guards. He had an outstanding playoff series against the Indiana Pacers, as the Hawks nearly knocked off the No. 1 Seed. He is ready to build off of that great playoff performance. He can really embrace the leadership role with Al Horford and help lead the Atlanta Hawks to another post-season appearance.
4) Excluding the Cleveland Cavaliers, name one non-playoff team from last year, who gets in this year. Why?
MF: I’ll stay with the Eastern Conference and say that the Knicks get back in this year. It’ll most likely be as a seventh or eighth seed, but I think Carmelo and company can finally figure it out, to a degree, with Phil Jackson at the controls. I also think Derek Fisher, who is a respected guy and known as a great interpersonal communicator, will get the players to put in a consistent effort from night-to-night. Jury’s still out if they’ll be able to stop anyone on defense though.
BW: I’m going to go out on a big limb and go with the Detroit Pistons. This may look like a terrible decision come February and a couple of hot choices here would be Phoenix or New Orleans, but I’m going to go with an Eastern team, where the climb into the playoffs doesn’t look so daunting. The Pistons should improve under new coach/President Stan Van Gundy, and the field in the East is going to give them a chance to win games, while there are at least nine or ten legitimate teams fighting for eight spots in the West. The Josh Smith signing did not work out well, but I think he has potential to regain his all-star form from Atlanta. SVG should be able to get the most out of his trio of Smith, Andre Drummond, and Greg Monroe. Detroit won 29 games last year and I think they can get to somewhere in the 40-42 range to get into the playoffs.
MC: The New York Knicks have a great chance to make the playoffs this year. Last season was filled with drama and ultimately should just be a season to forget. They have made front office changes bringing in Phil Jackson and then bringing in Derek Fisher as head coach. The Knicks were also able to acquire Jose Calderon, Samuel Dalembert, and Shane Larkin from the Dallas Mavericks. These players are better fits in the triangle offense that Derek Fisher is looking to introduce this year. And of course, they were able to keep Carmelo Anthony in New York for five more years. Carmelo seems to be loving the triangle offense, which should help him to thrive. If JR Smith, Amare Stoudemire, and Iman Shumpert are able to put up valuable numbers this season, I can’t see the Knicks missing the playoffs for a second consecutive season.
5) Name one playoff team from last year who drops off and out of it this year.
MF: Oddly enough, I think both Eastern Conference finalists are in much bigger trouble than most people think. Both Miami and Indiana have lost their go-to superstars on offense (George to a severe leg injury, James to free agency) and will have a tough time scoring points in the early stages of the season. A lot will depend on the front court anchors for both teams – Roy Hibbert needs to be a more powerful, everyday threat on the inside and Chris Bosh will be relied upon heavily to pick up a lot of the scoring slack left behind by the King. Luol Deng could be a nice piece for the Heat, but if his health continues to be an issue, Pat Riley’s squad will be back to square one with a boatload of bad contracts to contend with. I think either team’s margin for error, in an Eastern Conference that got moderately better over the summer, is smaller than Rand Paul’s Presidential odds in 2016.
BW: For the Pistons to get into the East playoffs, one team has to drop out, or probably more than one because I’m pretty sure Cleveland will manage to get in.. so I’m going to say that Brooklyn falls out of the playoffs this season. I will always love DWill, but he, an oft-injured Brook Lopez, and an aging Kevin Garnett won’t enough to climb back to the playoffs even with another (suspect) all-star season from Joe Johnson. If Williams and Lopez can return to all-star form and stay healthy, Brooklyn could win some games in a weak Atlantic Division under new coach Lionel Hollins, but I think Brooklyn willl fall below .500 this season and miss out on the playoffs,
MC: The first team that should come to everyone’s mind with this question is the Indiana Pacers. The Pacers have had one of the worst off-seasons I’ve ever seen. Paul George suffered a gruesome leg injury in a Team USA scrimmage, and Lance Stephenson took his talents to the Charlotte Hornets. There are still solid players on this team, but I just can’t see where the offense is going to come from on a consistent basis. Roy Hibbert was awful in the playoffs last season, so I’m not really sure what to expect from him last year. George Hill is really going to have to expand his game and help David West lead this team. But in the long run, I can’t see Indiana making the playoffs. The front office must let Paul George sit out this entire season and just see what happens with the team they have.
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