The NBA is back tonight with the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks getting their rings before facing the Brooklyn Nets in the early game. Then the Golden State Warriors face the Los Angeles Lakers in the night game. The Boston Celtics begin their season tomorrow night in New York against the Knicks.
Here’s the Eastern Conference preview, now here’s a quick look around the Western Conference and quick thoughts about each team to get you ready for the return of the NBA.
DALLAS MAVERICKS - This might be Jason Kidd’s last chance to be the head coach of a team. He bombed in Milwaukee and Brooklyn, so now he’s giving it a go with the team he earned a ring with in 2011.
The only question in Dallas is how does everyone fit with Luka Doncic. That’s the only thing that matters. From the new coach to Kristaps Porzingis and everyone else on the roster, it’s the fit with Doncic that will drive the team’s success.
Doncic is an extraordinary, franchise-changing talent. If the Kidd hiring doesn’t work, then Dallas will be at risk of losing a cornerstone player.
DENVER NUGGETS - To borrow a phrase from Ime Udoka, we know what Denver has in reigning MVP Nikola Jokic. But will this be the year the help around him is ready to compete for a championship?
Jamal Murray’s return from an ACL injury will be part of that answer. He could return just before the end of the season, meaning there’s a chance he could be a difference-maker in the playoffs.
The other part of that answer is up to Michael Porter, Jr, a supremely talented offensive player who needs to be more consistent and complete to rise to the level of third star for the Nuggets. If he can give them anything defensively, he can become an All-NBA level player and push the Nuggets to the top of the West.
GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS - The Warriors are wildly interesting. They can be a dangerous title contender or a team struggling to avoid the play-in. They have a few questions, the answers to which could dramatically re-shape the West playoff picture.
When is Klay Thompson coming back from his achilles injury, and can he return to form by the playoffs?
Can Jordan Poole make the leap people seem to think he can make, and will that be impacted by Thompson’s return?
How do they use this year’s lottery picks Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody?
Where does James Wiseman fit in all of this?
Will the Warriors go for a big splash by the trade deadline?
Steph Curry is still a god, and he along with Poole, Andrew Wiggins and Draymond Green can hold their own for a while until that other stuff gets sorted. Thompson and a big trade could turn the West upside down.
HOUSTON ROCKETS - Another bottom of the barrel team trying to figure out its talent situation, but Houston could be a fun watch because of Jalen Green. He’s a massively talented and brash scorer who might be the early Rookie of the Year favorite.
He’s not the only tantalizing young guy on the team, though. Kevin Porter, Jr. has a lot of potential as well and Christian Wood is one of the young darlings of the NBA. That could be an explosive trio that adds the Rockets to your League Pass list. Toss in Alperen Sengun, the talented Turkish big man from this year’s draft and Houston has some intriguing talent.
LA CLIPPERS - The biggest question facing the Clippers is whether they can stay afloat during Kawhi Leonard’s absence due to an ACL injury. There’s no guarantee he’s even coming back, but if he does it could be during the playoffs to boost the Clippers championship hopes.
This brings Paul George and his ability to carry a team on his own into play. He is phenomenal when he’s the focal point of the team, and we could actually see George have an All-NBA caliber season.
How he does depends on his teammates and whether guys like Reggie Jackson and Nicolas Batum can continue their resurgence. The newly extended Terrance Mann can be a wild card for them as well. It’s hard to tell where the Clippers land this year. They are a high-variance team that could finish at the top or bottom of the standings.
LA LAKERS - We’ve heard the age jokes by now, but they’re warranted. The Lakers are the oldest team in the league by far, so the first obvious question is whether they’ll be able to hold up all season. The Lakers could very easily be a team that floats along around the sixth or seventh seed for much of the season and then ramps it up heading into the playoffs to preserve their old legs. Their seeding doesn’t matter, just as long as they avoid the play-in.
The even bigger question is how Russell Westbrook will fit with LeBron James and Anthony Davis. If Davis is willing to play center and stretch the floor while Westbrook is playing, then it might work out pretty well. If he isn’t and the Lakers are playing Dwight Howard with Westbrook on the floor, then forget it. Throw in the end-of-game scenarios where he has historically taken ill-advised shots and the Westbrook/Lakers dynamic has the chance to be pretty volatile.
MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES - This is an exciting team that could be ready to make some noise. The fate of this franchise falls on the shoulders of Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson, Jr. These are two guys who love getting to the rim, and if the Grizzlies can get some floor spacing from Desmond Bane and De’Anthony Melton, this will be an explosive team. This will be especially true if JJJ can get back to what he was before his meniscus tear.
The biggest question for me is how Steven Adams fits into all of this. He’s not a spacer, so I do wonder if he’s going to get in the way.
MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES - Their logo should be a guy with a comically large fold-out map looking confused because they have lacked direction for a long time. Their most recent misstep was the Gersson Rosas debacle, leading to the departure of the executive who had run the entire offseason before being dismissed.
This brings the total to four general managers and four head coaches for Karl Anthony Towns since he was drafted in 2015. At least current head coach Chris Finch is highly-regarded around the league. Maybe they finally have that figured out.
Once again, the TWolves will try to press forward with promising talent in Towns and Anthony Edwards while trying to figure out if the Towns/D’Angelo Russell pairing will be good enough to make noise in the West.
The Wolves could also be poised to be players in the trade market, so they’ll be a team to keep an eye on.
NEW ORLEANS PELICANS - Everything bayou basketball revolves around Zion Williamson and his foot fracture. This has been a comedy of errors for the Pelicans, from not announcing that he’d undergone the surgery, to downplaying the severity of it, to now saying it will extend into the regular season.
Zion is a megastar in the making, but that can quickly be derailed if he has lingering foot issues. He’s a big guy who tends to get bigger if he’s not careful, and that’s not a good formula for avoiding things like foot fractures.
The Pels also had an interesting offseason, adding Jonas Valanciunas, Devonte’ Graham, Tomas Satoransky, and Garrett Temple. They also moved on from Stan Van Gundy and hired Willie Green as head coach.
This means nothing if Zion isn’t healthy. If he is, then we’ll get to see if the fit with everyone else is as weird as it looks on paper.
OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER - The only real question about the Thunder is whether they’ll turn in the worst season in NBA history. This is full Hinke process-level tanking. Keep an eye out to see if they’ll take it to an extreme and trade Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
PHOENIX SUNS - A lot broke right for the Suns last year, so there is still some level of “can you do that again?” brewing in the valley. Can Chris Paul make it through another deep playoff run (he barely held up last year). Can Devin Booker rise up to the next level of superstardom? Can the role players who were so important last year keep playing above their heads?
And maybe most importantly is the most recent development of DeAndre Ayton not getting a contract extension. He’ll head into restricted free agency next season, where the Suns more risk losing Ayton mentally than actually seeing him walk. Sure, a creative contract could hurt the Suns if they decide to match, but alienating their young star center could eventually put him on a path out of Phoenix.
How will that impact his play? Will he be too selfish as he guns for a contract? Will he be amazing as he tries to prove that restricted free agency should be avoided? Or will he struggle with the weight of the business side of things on his shoulders?
PORTLAND TRAILBLAZERS - The Damian Lillard saga has faded into the background as Kyrie Irving and Ben Simmons take over the sports pages, but that still lingers over the Blazers in a critical season for the franchise.
They moved on from Terry Stotts and brought in Chauncey Billups. They tried adding to the supporting cast by bringing in Larry Nance, Jr. and Cody Zeller. Can the new coach and new bench be enough to support Lillard, CJ McCollum, and Jusuf Nurkic? Will that be enough to keep Lillard from making a trade request, or will the Blazers have to blow it up?
SACRAMENTO KINGS - Luke Walton’s seat is hot in Sacramento, and it will take a serious playoff run to save him. The Kings drafted Davion “Off Night” Mitchell, who lived up to his awesome nickname in Las Vegas when he forced Payton Pritchard into an uncharacteristically subpar performance.
The Kings are another team that look like players in the trade market at some point. The who and when of that could be the story of the Kings season.
The immediate emergence of Tyrese Haliburton last season was a welcome surprise in Sacramento, and the Haliburton, Mitchell, De’Aaron Fox trio could be a fun one for a while. If Marvin Bagley can find himself, which is a long shot, the Kings could make some noise.
SAN ANTONIO SPURS - At some point, Gregg Popovich has got to step down, right? The Spurs might finally have to pivot towards a full rebuild and a new direction.
When will that be, and will it lead to the hiring of Becky Hammon as the first female head coach in NBA history?
The Spurs have some good young talent in Dejounte Murray, Derrick White, and Keldon Johnson. Devin Vassell came in as a rookie and looked good. Lonnie Walker had a nice third season.
The Spurs will have to spend this season figuring out who to keep and who to trade in order to properly move forward -- unless Popovich is hellbent on trying to Spurs his way into another improbable playoff run.
UTAH JAZZ - It’s the same, tired old question for the Jazz -- yeah you look great in the regular season but what can you do in the playoffs.
Quin Snyder did a remarkable job reshaping the offense into a 3-point heavy, high ball movement style of play. Now he has a bigger challenge of trying to find ways to involve Rudy Gobert in the offense more in an effort to negate the dropoff when teams try to go small against him in the playoffs.
Gobert is a regular season monster who gets pulled out of position against small lineups, so the Jazz have three options:
Find someone other than Gobert to take those small-ball minutes.
Find someone who can properly help Gobert when he has to help guards who get burned on the perimeter since he’s not fast enough to help and recover.
Get Gobert more involved in the offense so whatever he gives up is negated when he punishes the smaller opponent on the other end.
Teams get away with going small against Utah because Gobert doesn’t make them pay for it on the other end. If Utah can figure out how to make that happen, then Gobert can stay on the floor.
