There is a very good chance that we miss the playoffs. I don't think you truly grasp how good the west is. All the teams that made the playoffs last year are still right there and I expect massive improvements from rockets, spurs, mavs and blazers. Not only could we miss the playoffs but we could have a solid season with great player development and still be in the bottom 3 of the west.
Huh?
Twolves aren’t going to improve. That Towns/Gobert experiment didn’t work. Conley is only older. And did we forget Gobert trying to punch out Slo Mo?
Clippers aren’t going to improve. At this pt, I’d want to play them in the playoffs. Chances are they’ll be missing at least one if not both their stars at the end of the year.
Dallas isn’t going to improve significantly. They have Kyrie, the destroyer of franchises. I don’t care who they draft or sign. There’s one ball on the court and as long as you have Kyrie and Luka fighting over it, their ceiling will be limited.
Golden State might take a step back, they’re only aging. Poole was a very good player.
Lakers aren’t going to improve. And King James is only getting older.
And I actually look for the suns to finally just implode. They hate their center and KD is a walking injury. They have zero depth.
Most of those teams were in the playoffs.
I think it’s Denver and a bunch of other pretty decent teams in the west. But nothing too scary. If I’m the Jazz, my main concerns are injuries. Keep this team healthy? They have the talent to compete with most in the west. I think we’re a lock for the playoffs (Q string injuries).
Hell, had they not shut things down, they’re easily a 7 or 8 seed this past year. And potentially even winning depending on the matchup. I think we would’ve beaten the Clippers and Twolves this year.
Do we have enough to beat Sacramento or Denver in a 7 game? Yeah, I don’t know about that.