2018 NBA Playoffs and Draft Projections

The NBA playoffs are coming up soon and there have been some changes in standings and some injuries. The top 8 teams in the east and west will make it to the playoffs but the regular season still has some games left.

The current ‘top 3’ in the West are the Houston Rockets, the Golden State Warriors, and the Portland Trail Blazers. The top 3 teams in the East are the Toronto Raptors, the Boston Celtics, and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

In the West, the Warriors are in second place with their Point Guard, Stephen Curry, unfortunately being injured with a ‘grade 2 sprain of his left MCL’. Their coach, Steve Kerr says that he will not play in the first round of the playoffs but Steph Curry says he wants to come back as soon as possible.

In the East, Kyrie Irving, with the Boston Celtics, has received a knee injury and he’s now out for the rest of the playoffs. Kevin Durant and also Klay Thompson have been having on and off injuries throughout this Month. The last two spots in the East right now are filled by the Milwaukee Bucks in the 7th seed and in the 8th seed is the Miami Heat. The two last spots in the West are taken by the Utah Jazz in the 7th seed, and the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 8th seed. The East has been different throughout the rankings, the Celtics have been in first and the Cavaliers have also slipped into the lead occasionally, but as of right now the Toronto Raptors are the runners-up for going into the playoffs.

While all this is happening in the East, the West pretty much only has 2 top teams which are the Rockets with a 63-15 record and the Warriors with a 57-21 record. The Warriors are 6 games under the Rockets, while the Trailblazers are 15 games under in third.

Also in news recently Markelle Fultz returned from injury and scored: 10 points, 4 rebounds and 8 assists in his first game back since late October. Along with this, College Basketball players are declaring for the Draft. Some of them are Michael Porter jr, who’s predicted to be the top pick, Deandre Ayton who was the player that was under investigation for being payed to play at Arizona, as well as Trae Young who made it into the tournament but didn’t get past the first round. Mo Bamba from Texas declared. Liangelo Ball also declared for the draft after being under investigation for stealing in a Louis Vuitton in China when he played at UCLA but then left there and went to play Professionally with his 16 year old brother Lamelo Ball in Lithuania. The final big prospect that announced their bid for the draft is Anfernee Simons, who played for a prep school in Florida called “IMG”, and decided to forgo college and go into the NBA draft at only 18 years old.

It seems as though the playoffs are nearly set to happen, but it’s possible for things to change, and might even make bigger waves with the up-and-coming players in the NBA draft.