The Stars are Coming Back Out: A Look at the Upcoming NBA Season
October 18, 2018
For basketball fans, it’s the most wonderful time of the year – NBA Opening Week. Brothers, Hoop Fanatics, and Johnny Green Staff Members, Tim and Mitch Feocco, take a look at what you can expect this season.
Can Anyone Catch the Warriors in the West?
The Western conference is a powerful conference. They have powerhouse teams like the reigning champs, the Golden State Warriors. They also have the Houston Rockets, which have the MVP from last season James Harden. They also have the Los Angeles Lakers, they just picked up Lebron James this past offseason. With these teams in the west, it is going to be very hard to get into the NBA finals if you are in the Western Conference.
There are also a lot of good rookies in the western conference like the number one pick Deandre Ayton and the second pick Marvin Bagley. They also have a top pick for rookie of the year in Luka Doncic. They also got former Duke Blue Devil, Grayson Allen who plays for the Utah Jazz with former rookie of the year Donovan Mitchell. The west has a lot of young players with a lot of potential. They got second-year players who are looking to have breakout seasons like Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma, Donovan Mitchell, Dennis Smith Jr, and De’Aaron Fox.
Also in this powerful Western Conference, there is a dark horse team. That team is the San Antonio Spurs; even though they lost Kawhi Leonard they still have potential to do well this season. They have All Star Demar Derozan, they have a good power forward in Lamarcus Aldridge. They have a solid small forward in Rudy Gay. They have rookie Lonnie Walker, but he is injured and will be out for six to eight weeks. They have a very good point guard, Dejounte Murray, who was looking to have a good season and many people thought he was going to have a breakout season but he tore his ACL in preseason and is now out for the year. The Spurs are still a solid team in the west and can still have a good season.
The West is a very good conference, and you should expect it to be very competitive this season and in the playoffs. Who do you think will be the best in the west? Who do you think will win the NBA championship?
Watch out for the Celitcs and Sixers in the East
The Eastern conference is not as powerful as the western conference but they do still have some teams that can compete. The conference had a major disappointment as soon as Lebron James left the Cleveland Cavaliers to join the Los Angeles Lakers. There are only a couple teams that have even a little chance at beating the reigning champions, the Golden State Warriors. Those teams are mainly Philadelphia 76ers and the Boston Celtics. First the Philadelphia 76ers, They have much talent on the team and most are actually young so this team is going to be good for a while. Their team is consisting of the last years rookie of the year Ben Simmons, All-star Joel Embiid, Dario Saric, Markelle Fultz, JJ Redick, and Robert Covington are some of the better player players on the team. The Philadelphia 76ers are one of the key teams. The other key team is the Boston Celtics. The Celtics are going to have a promising year this year with the key players Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Al Horford, Terry Rozier, and Marcus Smart for defense. With those players and if they can stay healthy, they could have a huge year.
The Eastern conference got some good rookies in this past draft. First, the 5th pick in the draft, the Dallas Mavericks picked Trae Young, then traded him for the number 3 pick Luka Doncic. Trae Young is going to look good in his first year. In preseason he is doing very well and he hit a buzzer beater against the Spurs to win. Another rookie to look out for this upcoming season is Mohamed Bamba. Mo Bamba was drafted 6th overall to the Orlando Magic. Bamba is 7 feet tall with a crazy wingspan of 7’10”! Mo Bamba is pretty popular coming into the season as he has a song named after him. Collin Sexton is one rookie that I’m looking out for because he was drafted to the Cleveland Cavaliers that just lost Lebron James. People think he is a good fit for the Cavaliers to go with Kevin Love. Some more rookies that were drafted to the east in the draft in the top 10 are Wendell Carter Jr., Kevin Knox, and Mikal Bridges that could also have some promising seasons.
A team that could have a breakout season is the Indiana Pacers. The Pacers last year did really well in the playoffs with some players that did really well like Victor Oladipo, Domantas Sabonis, Myles Turner, and Bojan Bogdanović. Last year these players did very well. The team went farther than most expected and almost knocked the Cleveland Cavaliers when they had Lebron James. The Pacers could end up having a great season. They recently got the rookie Aaron Holiday which could help the team even more than before. Victor Oladipo won most improved player last year with his breakout season from recently getting traded by the Oklahoma City Thunder with Domantas Sabonis for Paul George. This year can be a full breakout year for the Pacers and they have a possibility to go far in the playoffs this year.
The Eastern Conference might not be as powerful as the Western, but they are getting better. Who do you think will win this year?