23/24 Season Preview - East
@oneniltothearsenal @reelworld @Stobzilla @Dan @Solius @Salt Bailly @hobbers @P-Nut
Two Nil, reelworld II & Stobzilla II - New York Knicks (64-18, Runners up)
If there's ever a time for the current iteration of the New York Knicks to win a championship, surely that time is now. The San Antonio Spurs have beaten them in the last 3 NBA Finals, and while there's no guarantee the Houston Rockets wouldn't have beaten them anyway, it would definitely have been
a bit easier. And now the Spurs are broken up. Ironically that break-up might initially make things even harder for the Knicks trio, given that two former Spurs stars (Nobbers and Sonius) have made their way to the East.
The Knicks are certainly comparable to the team they were last season, with
Stobzilla II showing the toughest decline - though he's 35, so he would, wouldn't he? I suspect he'll be pretty much exactly as effective a player either way.
Two Nil and
reelworld II only change marginally, and the two best non-Cafite players in New York even improved a little. Is this their year?
Lil-Nut - Miami Heat (35-47)
The Miami Heat are basically the same team they were last season, and that season ended with a disappointing 35-47 record and no playoff. So why would we expect anything different this season? For one, there's been marginal improvement basically across the board in the team, which should be enough for a
few more wins, at least. More significantly, however, there's the difference between a 70 rating
Lil-Nut and a 76 rating
Lil-Nut. 76 is proper superstar territory, and even though there are better players around the league, any well-constructed team with a player that good leading it has a
chance. I guess it only remains to be seen if the Heat are well constructed.
Nobbers - Cleveland Cavaliers (27-55)
When you look at
Nobbers' accolades - multiple MVPs, six rings, finals MVP, all league, all star, all defensive, scoring leader, etc - it's hard to imagine a player with less reason to be pessimistic. And yet, I contend that no player is less happy than the green machine. In his defense, the Cavs are
pretty bad. At least they were before he joined, but I honestly suspect they'll be pretty bad still. At least it's only for a season, which I believe is all Nobbers would give Cleveland because $37.37 million is all Cleveland would give Nobbers. I don't think not winning for a single season is going to make or break his career.
Pepper Bailly - Milwaukee Bucks (48-34, 1st Round)
The Milwaukee Bucks actually look pretty decent, on paper. They
were pretty decent last season, both on paper and in reality. Not good enough to make a deep playoff run, perhaps, but plenty good enough to get there. And while the squad has seen both improvement and decline, the equation leans heavily in favour of improvement. Particularly when that improvement partly came for players who were already plenty useful.
Pepper Bailly himself got a bit worse, and also a bit better. The net effect will have to be decided on the court. Certainly playoffs
should be the goal, even in a more challenging East.
Sonius - Indiana Pacers (28-54)
Speaking of a more challenging East, here's half the reason!
Sonius was already good, but now he's even better. He decided to leave the Spurs after many successful years. His new Indiana Pacers are clearly significantly worse than his former team were, but it's a nice new challenge. It's also an opportunity for Sonius to prove that he can be more than just the third wheel. If he can lead the Pacers to success (whether or not that includes a ring), his legacy account will certainly grow. Can they win anything? If the starting 5 stays fit, they can certainly make a fair go at it.
Dan II - Philadelphia 76ers (46-36, 2nd Round)
Dan II is the 3rd, almost 4th, best player on the Philadelphia 76ers.
Dan II is also undoubtedly the best player on the Philadelphia 76ers. I guess that's the sort of paradox you get when you create a player who is really, really,
really good at shooting, and at least initially not that good at anything else. He's taken some massive steps since his entry into the league, though. For one, he actually knows which basket to shoot at now. If there's anything that could sink the 76ers, it's their complete and utter lack of a decent Center.
Up next: the West
️
