GatewayRedbirds.com

Figured it was time to get past the offseason thread since they're playing pre-season games.

Anyone got some bold predix? I'll give a few.

Big breakout year for CJ McCollum. He's one of three guys (Splash Bros are the other two) to average 20+ PPG while shooting over 40% from behind the arc in each of the last two years. He's damn near a 50/40/90 guy and those are pretty special--Durant, the league's best scorer, has only done it once. And CJ's just entering his prime. I look forward to seeing what he can do this year. He led the league in FT% last year, hoping to see him get to the line more often this year.

Wizards go to the finals. If Thomas never heals and Lebron is tired from shouldering the team all year while Boston suffers from dealing off all their depth this has a very real chance of happening. John Wall gets MVP votes. He doesn't win (I'll take Durant, then James) but he's up there in the voting.

I like Julius Randle as a good Most Improved candidate working off Lonzo in a ball-movement heavy offense.

Anthony Davis wins the scoring crown.

Another big breakout year: Devin Booker. Kid's not old enough to drink yet and has a 70-point game under his belt and averaged 22 last year. I think PHO could be fun this year. Big Sauce can ball, Bledsoe and Booker are both incomplete but great at what they do, Jackson gives them a dynamic two-way player, Warren is a solid wing, Chriss is getting better, Ulis showed some promise after they sent Bledsoe home for the year last spring. They could be...interesting, at least, this year. There's a lot of ceiling on the roster.

Since there's not (thankfully) a LaVar Ball or BBB thread, I'll put this here.

LaVar Ball pulls his youngest kid from high school.

LaVar cites problems with the coach and the administration at the school. The kid has two years of high school left. He's going to play on LaVar's traveling team. There were already rumblings that he'd skip college to train with his dad. This could be a way of getting around the challenges with the kid's NCAA eligibility--he has a signature shoe (as a freaking junior in HS) with BBB and that could cause him to be ineligible for the NCAA. LaVar said:

“‘Oh, he better go overseas.’ Why? All he gotta do is be faster and be stronger and when it’s time to prepare, we can sit out for as long as we want. If they’re going to give him a chance, they’re going to give him a chance.”

...and that's a load of hooey. Doncic is going to be the 1-1 pick next year because he has an advanced feel for the game along with a big toolbox. Playing competitive basketball that's not overlorded by your dad protecting you from criticism and coaches he doesn't like is no way to prepare anyone for the NBA. You gotta get a feel for the game. Lots of high draft picks with big time tools and no feel for the game bust. Kendrick Brown, Ed O'Bannon, Tyrus Thomas, every NBA team has a lottery pick that's busted out when awesome raw tools didn't translate.

The middle kid is going to be meh at UCLA this year and probably never see the NBA except as an observer.

*I like the Wiz to the Finals as a BOLD PICK. If I remember right, they still don't have a ton of depth, but it won't matter.

*I predict the Bulls will have the worst record, though that's probably not going on a limb.

*D'Angelo Russell as the big breakout guy.

*I'll play five games of DFS, get pissed and quit.

lets talk some real basketball news.

no more east/west in the all star game. fans will pick captains who will then pick their team regardless of conference. NOW IT COUNTS!

I like where you're at on the Russell thing, should be a big year for him.

As a NBA junkie and a dyed-in-the-wool name-on-the-back fan, I've become a Wiz fan the last couple years. Love the players, especially Wall and Beal and Otto. The below, from Game Six in Atlanta last year, pretty much sealed it for me and I'm 100% on board this year.




For the culture.
Dat way.

Do you feel Porter will live up to the contract?

Yes he's incredibly efficient and Wall is a perfect facilitator for what Otto does best.

I don't really have a bold prediction because the NBA is probably my 3rd favorite league at its peak, but I'm hoping my Pels can get into the playoffs (and I think they can.) Getting a 6 or 7 seed would be great if only to avoid the Dubs sweep, but I'd take that even. Unfortunately, there are a lot of teams in that grouping. My not so bold prediction: if the Pels make the playoffs, Boogie signs a max deal in New Orleans; if they don't, he signs a max deal somewhere else.

Farewell Friends wrote: *I predict the Bulls will have the worst record, though that's probably not going on a limb.

I hope you're right, but they'll probably play their way to like the 9th pick by Lavine scoring 23 a game inefficiently and Markkanen being good.

I wouldn't be shocked if Boogie is elsewhere by the trade deadline