A New NBA Season Awaits
By Aidan R. and Issaiah T.
This NBA off season has been one for the books. With Lebron James, Jaylen Brown, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Ja Morant, and Kawhi Leonard all joining new teams. But as they gain closer to the start of the season, what people are questioning is who will take home the Championship.
Some of the most notable off season moves have been Lebron moving to the Sixers. He played his first game in Madison Square Garden against the Knicks where he spoiled their Ring ceremony winning the game 106-100. What Lebron said about playing his first game in Madison Square garden was, "I've dreamed about playing well in this building. To get a standing ovation at the best basketball arena in the world, it's one of the best things that's ever happened to me." according to ESPN.
Another amazing player who has switched teams is Lemelo Ball getting traded to the Timberwolves this season. Before Lamelo Ball got traded he was in a six year tenure with the hornets. Lemelo Ball would usually shoot 21 points on average each game. This is why people are excited this season to see how Lamelo Ball is going to play alongside Anthony Edwards. With these two massive names in NBA history playing together we can hopefully see how the Timberwolves will play this season. All the players have high hopes coming into the season "A lot of joy," Wolves veteran center Rudy Gobert says as he observes the practice environment.
Another is Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard returning to the Raptors who previously won a championship with their organization back in 2019. Making that the Raptors first championship. Pairing Kawhi Lenonard with new faces like Scottie Barnes who is an all star and Rj Barrett. The Fans are excited for his return to Toronto and they believe they have a shot to make it out of the eastern conference this year based on Leonard's return.
The last notable move this off season for the Sixers was adding Jalen Brown to the roster. Jalen Brown is known for his insane agility when it comes to playing onto the court. He is also ranked 4th in the NBA. This trade suspects people to belive that the sixers will play better they season.
Predictions made by ESPN got the Thunder winning it all this year: “Oklahoma City has the league's top-ranked defense by a significant margin the last two seasons. The departure of Dort is a hit, but the Thunder still have a trio of recent All-Defensive selections (Wallace, Williams and Alex Caruso) to harass opposing perimeter stars. Holmgren is the most dominant defensive force in the league other than a certain Frenchman in San Antonio. The Thunder's ability to create turnovers fuels Oklahoma City's offense, and that aspect of the game should be upgraded with an increasing role for Wallace, last season's steals leader, and Williams' return to health." This is what makes the Thunder so capable of winning it all.
Some of the other notable rankings is the defending champs the Knicks at number 3 because of Mitchell Robinson going to the Celtics this off season who helped the Knicks win the Championship last year: ”Losing Mitchell Robinson to Boston is a big blow to New York's rim protection and offensive rebounding, as he had his fingerprints on more than a few wins in critical situations last year." With the consistency of how good the NBA is getting each year the Knicks despite being the Champions last year fall out of the race to be favored to win it all this year.
The last notable stat is the Nuggets falling to 8 in the power ranking, who have a projection to win 48 games this year. The Nuggets last year got knocked out of the playoffs last year by the Minnesota Timberwolves; they lost in 6 games. This off season they lost one of their best defenders on the team they lost Peyton Watson. This offseason, Watson was the biggest roster casualty, as Denver ended up trading the young swingman they'd so carefully drafted and developed, rather than match the offer sheet he signed in Cleveland. None of this will help the devastating on/off splits that plague the Nuggets every time Jokic comes off the floor. Last year had an elite plus-10.8 net rating with Jokic, but a minus-6.5 net rating when he was off the court
Overall with the new picks and trades, this upcoming NBA season has a lot to offer for us.
