EVERY NBA Contender… RANKED

EVERY NBA Contender… RANKED

Now that we have officially made it to the home stretch of the NBA season past the All-Star break it is time to rank the contenders the teams that actually have the best chance to win the title this year so I have these teams ranked in four different tiers and then I have

Them ranked within the tiers all the way up to the number one team I’m obviously not ranking every single team in the league these are the teams that I could see realistically winning the NBA title this season and that list begins begrudgingly kind of with a one team

Tier the fourth tier of contenders and it is only the Miami Heat honestly they are only here because every single year they are a lower seated team in the playoffs yet they still manage to make the finals anyway or at least get close and I cannot realistically make this

List in the Miami Heat not be on it they are in their own tier they are all the way at the bottom they are the least Contender of any Contender that we have at the moment but because of their history in the postseason they cannot be

On this they cannot not be on this list I should say as long as they’re healthy Jimmy bam all these other guys they’ve made some improvements to the roster they’ve added Hae hakz has been really good as a rookie I cannot discount them and I can totally see them making the

Finals they have to be on the list now we get to tier three these are all the non- Miami Heat contending teams and that tier begins with the Philadelphia 76ers now part of this part of the reason they’re ranked where they are at the bottom of tier three is because I

Don’t know what the future holds for Joel and beid in terms of the end of his season and without embiid they’re just not contenders but because of the possibility that embiid could return and play really well in the postseason they do still have to be on the list but I’m

Not very confident in one him coming back in any kind of real timetable and two being really good and playing at a you know highly successful playoff level he’s had issues in the past playing well in the postseason anyway much less coming back from a major injury while

Everybody else has just been playing games and showing up and immediately being like MVP levels of awesome the rest of the roster is still very good I like Nick nurse as head coach but without a fully healthy ready to go Joel embiid they cannot be higher than this

On my own personal ranking of these contenders next on the list the Cleveland Cavaliers have to be involved here uh I’m surprised that they are here given the fact that Deon Moy and Darius Garland have missed so much time but Donovan Mitchell has been so good and they have been unbelievable leading up

To the all-star break I think they won like 16 or their last 18 games leading into the All-Star break even without Moy and Garland for most of them we still have to kind of see how they reintegrate those guys back into the team uh with

Mobl and Garland now back but I I I can’t really make this like if a team almost wins 18 games in a row basically going in the All-Star break I feel like they have to be on this list of contenders they’re still a great two-way team they added some nice players in the

Offseason like Max dreu that been good for them and Donovan Mitchell has been one of the better playoff performers that we’ve had over the last handful of seasons and so Cleveland has to be on the list next up now in tier three is the New York Knicks another team I did

Not expect to put here maybe you know a month or two ago but since the OG and and Obi trade even though he hasn’t played recently they’ve looked like one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference I totally could see them winning the east in certain circumstances Jaylen brunson’s very good

They’re still waiting on jise Rand to come back they’re of course waiting on OG and nobody to get healthy I would presume that all those guys are going to be healthy by the time we get to the post postseason and with the way that they guard and with as good as Jaylen

Brunson is especially at the end of games New York has to be on the list next up now in tier three again keep in mind these are in order as we go up uh further in the tier I have the Phoenix Suns now some people might make this

List and not include Phoenix at all but I still would be concerned to play against them in a postseason series with Kevin Durant Devon Booker and Bradley Beal they still have plenty of flaws to get figured out but they’ve been better lately certainly since Beal has come

Back for real this time um and I like some of the additions that they made at the trade deadline reyce O’Neal is going to be able to help them they’ve got decent depth now throughout the the perimeter of their roster and obviously it’s all going to depend on Heth these

Guys have to be healthy but I don’t see a team in the west that Phoenix just absolutely can’t beat in a seven game series and so I feel like they have to be on the list I still would be very very afraid of the Suns and then to

Round out tier three is the Milwaukee Bucks now if you guys have watched some of my videos throughout the season you know that I haven’t really been a huge fan of this Buck team even going back to when their record was much much better and they were you know the one seat in

The conference since they brought and Doc Rivers obviously their record has been really bad that’s not really the point of putting them where I have them I don’t think they were particularly good even before they brought in Doc Rivers um defensively they were a bottom 10 team in defensive rating we’ve never

Had a team in the last two years win a playoff series when they were in the bottom 20 of defensive rating much less make it all the way to the finals um but I still have to put them on the list because it is Giannis and it is Dame and

Chris Middleton it’s a talented team and it’s a team that despite you know doc River’s uh you know history as a postseason coach he does have an NBA title under his as does Giannis and I I just I can’t completely take them off the list and I put them at the top of

Tier three here because I could see a scenario where within a couple of weeks they figure some stuff out defensively and all of a sudden they’re really really good and again I I just I would not want to play against dianis in the post season even though I don’t think

Milwaukee as a team overall is like fantastic I do still think they belong in tier three here of these contenders and now we move to tier two it is once again a one team tier and it’s the Oklahoma City Thunder and I selfishly I want Oklahoma City to be higher than

This I want them to be in the top tier contenders they’re one of my favorite teams to watch I probably watch them more than almost any other team throughout the League this season and they are unquestionably a contending level team they have an MVP candidate in SGA Jaylen Williams is a rising star

Chad hren has been awesome this year and they have a really really deep and well-rounded roster and a good coaching staff as well the only reason they’re not tier one is that they’re just a little bit young and they don’t have enough size in the front Court in

Certain matchups like most of the other teams on this list you can kind of figure out a way with might be okay in certain matchups I don’t think Oklahoma City has nearly as many options especially in the front court against teams like Denver for example or like Minnesota for example teams that we’re

Going to be talking about here in a second that those are just unbelievably difficult matchups for them and obviously they have you know plenty of matchup issues for the other team to deal with as well with how good they are offensively and overall their defensive rating this year has been really good

But chat long like all the time at the five against some of these bigger teams and not really having a true four out there either just makes me nervous and Oklahoma City is very very good there are really good uh you know two-way team and certainly I do think that they are

Contenders but they’re not quite despite their record all the way on the top level speaking of the top level these are your top four contending teams for me right now post All-Star break starting off in that tier one is the LA Clippers now to be honest I think the

Clippers are much closer to the best team in the league right now than they are the fourth best team in the league but I can’t in good conscious put them that high when we all know that they are one or two injuries away from this thing completely collaps in and one that’s the

Casee for every team but and the possibility of that injury occurring is much more likely for them than pretty much any other team that is even on the list in general so if you tell me right now that the Clippers are fully healthy for the entirety of the postseason I

Would be very tempted to put them either one or two on this list the only reason they wouldn’t be one would be because i’ be a little bit nervous about what James Harden looks like in the playoffs but strictly from a roster perspective how well they’ve played after the first

Handful of games of the Harden trade if they are healthy I think they’re one or two of the best teams in the entire league but I put them four here because of the possibility of injuries they are very very good they can beat any team on any night and since they really figured

Out the hard and stuff their offense has been unbelievable and they have so much Siz defensively tyou is a great coach as well I really hope we get a healthy Clippers team because they are truly truly a top tier contender in my opinion next in this tier I’m going to put the

Minnesota Timberwolves now they have had an unbelievable regular season and I truly think that they could win the title this year I think they could uh make the finals I think they could beat any team in the Western Conference absolutely 100% okay the only reason that they’re three is because of one the

Two teams ahead of them and two Carl Anthony tals is going to have to be a big part of whatever they do in the postseason and they have just been one too many times for me where Carl Anthony towns makes extremely questionable decisions in the postseason whether it

Be because of foul trouble or otherwise uh crazy shot selection not playing particularly well in a given game and then of course we have some of those issues um with Rudy goar in the past as well getting played off the floor all that different kind of stuff and I think

Minnesota’s play style works really really well in the postseason they’re going to be able to rebound extremely well they they match up really well with a lot of these different teams especially Denver who we’re going to talk about in a second but it’s a little bit of the like young team stuff with

Anthony Edwards and cat but I’m not really worried about Anthony Edwards I am worried about Carl Anthony towns and because of that uncertainty I do put them at number three here by the way still incredible Minnesota fans that this is a team that I think is the third

Best contending team in the entire league right now that’s definitely not a negative thing I just despite how good they are and how good their record is I can in good conscience put them ahead of the next team on the list here the defending Champion Denver Nuggets now

The Nuggets haven’t really been getting a ton of attention this season because they already won the title last year and they haven’t done anything extraordinary this year but they’re basically exactly where they were last year from a record standpoint all the numbers all the metrics basic basically match up pretty

Much exactly with where they were last year and then again keep in mind last year towards the end of the year they really didn’t play particularly well going into the postseason and so given the fact that they’re the defending champs and given the fact that they have

Who I think is going to be the MVP Nicole yic they’re still very good and I’m not going to count them out in any postseason series and if you think that the nuggets are on the same level as an overall team Talent perspective as you know Oklahoma City Minnesota any of

These other teams in the west if you think that then you kind of have to give them the edge because of their Championship experience because they won the title last year and because in my opinion they would have the best player in the series as well in niic so it

Might sound interesting and fun to put Minnesota Oklahoma City over Denver but I think that would be an overestimation of how good those teams have been this year relative to your expectations and maybe just getting a little bit bored of Denver I think they’re the best team in

The Western Conference or the second uh Contender on this list for me and the number one Contender on the list for me is the boss of Celtics and honestly I don’t feel that good about it um there are times when I watch Boston and I’m

Like um I don’t I don’t get it I don’t get why Jaylen Brown randomly goes two for 15 on a given night um I don’t get why they’re taking as many threes as they do when they could just get to the rim there’s a lot of things about Boston

That I just don’t understand but here’s what I do know the playoffs by and large are about two things one it’s about your best players playing well when they really need to and two having a fiveman unit that starts and finishes games that is better than the other teams okay and

Boston has the star power and Jason Tatum Jaylen Brown more so Tatum than Brown and also their fiveman unit if they are healthy of brown Tatum Drew holiday Derrick White and Chris JS porzingis if those five guys are on the floor and they’re healthy there is no

Other unit in the league including units that include you know niic Jola beid there’s no other fiveman unit in the entire league that can touch what those guys can do on both ends of the floor especially if they’re making threes and that’s the thing that gives me full

Confidence in Boston yes they’ve had some weird games this year they blown games that they shouldn’t have and they rely too much on the three-point shot and there’s a lot of variance in that but also so I just can’t bet against a team that has as much talent as they do

And as long as porzingis is healthy which I know you can’t especially count on but if porzingis is healthy I think they’re the best team and even if he isn’t I think they’re very very close depending on how you know some of the variance works out with some of the

Three-point shooting so as long as Tatum’s really good and as long as they’re healthy I think they’re the best team in the league and that’s that right now is how i’ would rank the contenders going into the post All-Star break uh kind of era of the NBA season

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