I don't see Suns or Lakers as that scary to really have a chance against Nuggets. Lakers need shooting bad. And Sun's I just don't think have similar synergy to Nuggets. Warriors it's possible but with the amount of changes hard to say if they match. At this point betting on Nugs.
I don't agree at all that West is hard to predict. Feels a lot easier than last 2 years although I did bet winners right both years.
It's not the same stacking names as it is having a functional team.
Jazz will make it in the play-in. the only reason that they don't last season is that, they decided to tank after the all-star break ang give their assets to help the Lakers and Timberwolves made it to the playoffs.
Nuggets just went 16-4 in the playoffs. The games they lost took absolute outlier performances. Vs the wolves, it took ant being a god + a lucky banked 3 by mike conley and the nuggets shooting poorly and playing no defense just for a 3 point win. Vs the suns, it took a combination of booker going absolutely nuclear, kd dropping 36 and 39, a landry shamet masterclass in the 4th, terrible calls against the nuggets amd again, the nuggets playing mediocre, just to win by 5 and 7, and then the heat shooting 50% from 3 while the nuggets played like the cast of full court miracle, again, to win by 3. Sure, the nuggets lost bruce brown and jeff green. But jamal and MPJ are now a full year removed from major injury, mpj is getting his first full off season where he doesn’t need to rehab, braun 2nd year development, and Peyton watson breaking into the rotation is gonna shock people. Until we see otherwise, the nuggets are easily the safest bet.
I’m just glad you brought up the kings most people sleeping on them. Last year they lacked rim protection and adding McGee and developing Alex len should solve that problem. Plus picking up a catch and shoot player like Sasha could help them out in clutch moments. Whatever happens I’m excited
I don't think there are any teams out west trying to tank apart (from the blazers if they trade Dame and maybe the Spurs) there are no gimme wins anymore thats why i don't think theres gonna be a 60 win team.
Sadly, as a Pelicans fan, I feel like this season is in danger of going off the rails quickly. The reason I say that is the Trey Murphy injury. He probably won't be back until December, and who knows how long it will take him to round back into form. This team badly needs his shooting. Also, at the end of last year he had an absolutely amazing stretch where he averaged like 23 ppg on 50/50/90 or something. I would have loved to see him build on that.
Maybe Zion will actually be healthy and none of this will matter. But as we've seen, that's a big if. I see this as the most important season in Pelicans franchise history, so I really hope I'm wrong and that they can weather the storm.
The Jazz are underrated for their players to take another step forward. They're roster is full of guys entering their prime. Tons of 3 point shooting and rim protection wins in the regular season which the Jazz have too much of both
Denver is as much a favorite to win the West again as any champion from the previous season ever is. No more difficult to predict than most seasons. Far easier than the year before last, or even last year. Denver has and had the best team. The only thing standing in their way is and was injuries.
Tired of everyone saying the kings were one of the few healthy teams when in reality they were one of the only teams who had injuries but powered through them cuz they ain’t bitches SACTOWN WE IN THIS HO!!!! Can’t wait to knock off those crappy thunder kids😈
Everyone in the comments acting like he was talking about who’s the best team in the playoffs when really he was saying which good team will miss the playoffs. Like listen y’all
The west has been so insanly dominant for a long time. Out of the last 25 nba finals the west has won 19 of them. Half of the ECF wins have been from lebron. The last time the east was truly dominant was in the Jordan era.
The nba needs to get rid of conferences and just make a tournament style bracket.
my predictions for the 8 teams that make the playoffs in the west are: 1.) grizzlies or nuggets 2.) nuggets or grizzlies 3.) mavs 4.) OKC 5.) Kings 6.) timberwolves 7.) Lakers 8.) Suns
The problem is the amount of very young and talented teams which is very high. We're taking another step in the new generation of talents and move past Steph-KD-LeBron-Harden era. To me there are a couple of factors: first there is experience and secondly there is size. Nuggets, Lakers and Warriors have experience of winning but only Nuggets and Lakers actually have size. Any other team has a big question mark on weather for injuries or chemistry, i do believe Sacramento will be 2nd or 3rd seed, yes, but i don't know how okc will do because Chet has yet to play and integrate in the team. Memphis without Ja and Brooks isn't that competitive, Wolves are a team with 0 basketball IQ, Dallas should change game and Luka is injured, Clippers are injured and have no bench, Suns have no bench nor size, Portland is just bad with or without Dame, Pelicans… ahah is Zion still a thing? I dunno, maybe the Spurs might get a .50ish record and sneak into the play-in tournament… who knows
clippers 6(contract year production w harden and the two wings) they could fall off tho
minnesota 7
golden state 8
pelicans 9 (injuries)
dallas 10 maybe
okc 11 maybe
rockets 12 out
spurs 13 out
jazz 14 out
portland 15 out
playin: minnesota (if they have chemistry) pelicans (if zion is healthy(most likely))
losers: gsw(age, steph mileage over the season, and lack of size & depth) dallas(they not stopping zion, minnesota has more depth and size)
okc still has 3pt shooting concerns to solve, but they could very well usurp dallas at least. i see them being the best in the west after jalen williams establishes himself as an offsensive force. right now okc has just 2 things established: mad defence and shai
golden state would end up being the lakers of 2011 & 2012. they are good, but too old and lack depth, hence losing early. maybe they get better if they trade for offsensive depth but right now, only curry is beating playoff defenses, and thats not feasible. CP3 aint doing nun in the postseason/playin lol.
Injuries will play a huge factor. Memphis is already losing Ja for 25 games, but if Curry, AD, Shai, Luka, Kawhi or someone goes down for an extended period, that could wreck the season for a team. I agree though that 11 teams are really good. I have no idea who the 3 teams on the outside are.
Hey Connor, thanks for posting this overview. I would have loved to have you go into the teams with a little more detail, maybe you can do that on the podcast with Ryan?
Don't be afraid to post your playoff predictions. Yes, it might upset some people, but with it being just a prediction based on what you know, it is always going to be completely different from what other people believe (based on what they know). And ofcourse, there is always a bias there. This is perfectly fine, it merits discussion. As with this video, that basically states there are 11 teams that are great and could be in the playoffs and even the outside teams mentioned are possibly a ton better and could surprise. It is all a big unknown, which makes it fun, but so much harder to predict than ever before.
Honestly warriors is interesting to think about cp3 starting lol Steph at Sg Klay Sf Wiggins Pf draymond C . Kerr really want to go small ball after being obliterated at FIBA ?
Nuggets fans all over the comment section seem to be very sure they will repeat. I don't think a fanbase that is actually that confident seeks out videos saying they might not win just to comment that they will. 👀
45 Comments
I don't see Suns or Lakers as that scary to really have a chance against Nuggets. Lakers need shooting bad. And Sun's I just don't think have similar synergy to Nuggets. Warriors it's possible but with the amount of changes hard to say if they match. At this point betting on Nugs.
I don't agree at all that West is hard to predict. Feels a lot easier than last 2 years although I did bet winners right both years.
It's not the same stacking names as it is having a functional team.
Safest option rn is to say the nuggets are getting out, but I lowkey see the suns
YESS CONE UPLOAD bro u acutally made my night I love watching these videos and especially with school thank you 🙏 ❤️
What do you mean "It's coming back here"? it doesnt make sense
Jazz will make it in the play-in. the only reason that they don't last season is that, they decided to tank after the all-star break ang give their assets to help the Lakers and Timberwolves made it to the playoffs.
I thought you had a couple hundred thousand subs. Keep hustling but remember God
Nuggets just went 16-4 in the playoffs. The games they lost took absolute outlier performances. Vs the wolves, it took ant being a god + a lucky banked 3 by mike conley and the nuggets shooting poorly and playing no defense just for a 3 point win. Vs the suns, it took a combination of booker going absolutely nuclear, kd dropping 36 and 39, a landry shamet masterclass in the 4th, terrible calls against the nuggets amd again, the nuggets playing mediocre, just to win by 5 and 7, and then the heat shooting 50% from 3 while the nuggets played like the cast of full court miracle, again, to win by 3. Sure, the nuggets lost bruce brown and jeff green. But jamal and MPJ are now a full year removed from major injury, mpj is getting his first full off season where he doesn’t need to rehab, braun 2nd year development, and Peyton watson breaking into the rotation is gonna shock people. Until we see otherwise, the nuggets are easily the safest bet.
I’m just glad you brought up the kings most people sleeping on them. Last year they lacked rim protection and adding McGee and developing Alex len should solve that problem. Plus picking up a catch and shoot player like Sasha could help them out in clutch moments. Whatever happens I’m excited
I don't think there are any teams out west trying to tank apart (from the blazers if they trade Dame and maybe the Spurs) there are no gimme wins anymore thats why i don't think theres gonna be a 60 win team.
warriors are getting too old, I don’t think they’ll make the playoffs
Didn’t we just see a team run threw the west easily.
Sadly, as a Pelicans fan, I feel like this season is in danger of going off the rails quickly. The reason I say that is the Trey Murphy injury. He probably won't be back until December, and who knows how long it will take him to round back into form. This team badly needs his shooting. Also, at the end of last year he had an absolutely amazing stretch where he averaged like 23 ppg on 50/50/90 or something. I would have loved to see him build on that.
Maybe Zion will actually be healthy and none of this will matter. But as we've seen, that's a big if. I see this as the most important season in Pelicans franchise history, so I really hope I'm wrong and that they can weather the storm.
Lakers year
Lakers Making The Playoffs
The Jazz are underrated for their players to take another step forward. They're roster is full of guys entering their prime. Tons of 3 point shooting and rim protection wins in the regular season which the Jazz have too much of both
This might sound crazy. I don't see the Warriors making the Playoffs. Maybe the Play-in.
nuggets, clippers, suns, warriors, lakers, thunder make playoffs
mavs, pelicans, wolves, grizzlies in play in
Denver is as much a favorite to win the West again as any champion from the previous season ever is. No more difficult to predict than most seasons. Far easier than the year before last, or even last year. Denver has and had the best team. The only thing standing in their way is and was injuries.
The west is often stacked so I wish they’d change the playoff format to the top 16 instead of East vs West.
west will never be wide open as long as the Nuggets have their 5 healthy.
U should go back to ur predictions videos from last year and see how right u were LOL
The wolves aren't gonna make no noise
Tired of everyone saying the kings were one of the few healthy teams when in reality they were one of the only teams who had injuries but powered through them cuz they ain’t bitches SACTOWN WE IN THIS HO!!!! Can’t wait to knock off those crappy thunder kids😈
it back
I’m just ready for the okc thunder to draft Bronny and sign lebron for the vet min and then begin the Thunder dynasty to run the 2025-2030
Nuggets
Suns
Clippers
Kings
Grizzlies
Lakers
Warriors
Mavericks
Tyus had to go he one of the worst playoff players in the league
Watch Denver repeat without any issues
Everyone in the comments acting like he was talking about who’s the best team in the playoffs when really he was saying which good team will miss the playoffs. Like listen y’all
The Suns win the West.
The west has been so insanly dominant for a long time. Out of the last 25 nba finals the west has won 19 of them. Half of the ECF wins have been from lebron. The last time the east was truly dominant was in the Jordan era.
The nba needs to get rid of conferences and just make a tournament style bracket.
pls make a vid about the east too. Never sleep on the east as well. They dominated the west last season.
Nuggets will be the no.1 seed. But I got the lakers win it all or Boston ⏳😤………
my predictions for the 8 teams that make the playoffs in the west are:
1.) grizzlies or nuggets
2.) nuggets or grizzlies
3.) mavs
4.) OKC
5.) Kings
6.) timberwolves
7.) Lakers
8.) Suns
play in teams are
9.) gsw
10.) rockets
The problem is the amount of very young and talented teams which is very high. We're taking another step in the new generation of talents and move past Steph-KD-LeBron-Harden era. To me there are a couple of factors: first there is experience and secondly there is size. Nuggets, Lakers and Warriors have experience of winning but only Nuggets and Lakers actually have size. Any other team has a big question mark on weather for injuries or chemistry, i do believe Sacramento will be 2nd or 3rd seed, yes, but i don't know how okc will do because Chet has yet to play and integrate in the team. Memphis without Ja and Brooks isn't that competitive, Wolves are a team with 0 basketball IQ, Dallas should change game and Luka is injured, Clippers are injured and have no bench, Suns have no bench nor size, Portland is just bad with or without Dame, Pelicans… ahah is Zion still a thing? I dunno, maybe the Spurs might get a .50ish record and sneak into the play-in tournament… who knows
suns 1
denver 2
lakers 3
memphis 4
kings 5
clippers 6(contract year production w harden and the two wings) they could fall off tho
minnesota 7
golden state 8
pelicans 9 (injuries)
dallas 10 maybe
okc 11 maybe
rockets 12 out
spurs 13 out
jazz 14 out
portland 15 out
playin:
minnesota (if they have chemistry)
pelicans (if zion is healthy(most likely))
losers:
gsw(age, steph mileage over the season, and lack of size & depth)
dallas(they not stopping zion, minnesota has more depth and size)
okc still has 3pt shooting concerns to solve, but they could very well usurp dallas at least. i see them being the best in the west after jalen williams establishes himself as an offsensive force. right now okc has just 2 things established: mad defence and shai
golden state would end up being the lakers of 2011 & 2012. they are good, but too old and lack depth, hence losing early. maybe they get better if they trade for offsensive depth but right now, only curry is beating playoff defenses, and thats not feasible. CP3 aint doing nun in the postseason/playin lol.
My West looks somewhat like:
1. Suns
2. Nuggets
3. Thunder
4. Kings
5. Timberwolves
6. Lakers
7. Mavericks
8. Jazz
9. Warriors
10. Pelicans
11. Clippers
12. Grizzlies
13. Trail Blazzers
14. Spurs
15. Rockets
I feel like the tanking teams are not going to be tanking as hard as last season so the league is going to be very competitive
Injuries will play a huge factor. Memphis is already losing Ja for 25 games, but if Curry, AD, Shai, Luka, Kawhi or someone goes down for an extended period, that could wreck the season for a team. I agree though that 11 teams are really good. I have no idea who the 3 teams on the outside are.
Hey Connor, thanks for posting this overview. I would have loved to have you go into the teams with a little more detail, maybe you can do that on the podcast with Ryan?
Don't be afraid to post your playoff predictions. Yes, it might upset some people, but with it being just a prediction based on what you know, it is always going to be completely different from what other people believe (based on what they know). And ofcourse, there is always a bias there. This is perfectly fine, it merits discussion.
As with this video, that basically states there are 11 teams that are great and could be in the playoffs and even the outside teams mentioned are possibly a ton better and could surprise. It is all a big unknown, which makes it fun, but so much harder to predict than ever before.
Honestly warriors is interesting to think about cp3 starting lol Steph at Sg Klay Sf Wiggins Pf draymond C . Kerr really want to go small ball after being obliterated at FIBA ?
The West runs through Denver. Stop the 🧢 and give them their due. Jokic is inevitable
Nuggets fans all over the comment section seem to be very sure they will repeat. I don't think a fanbase that is actually that confident seeks out videos saying they might not win just to comment that they will. 👀
Feel like the East is similar, just maybe a bit weaker at the top.
Okc will be a top 5 seed