Hoop's Pre-Preseason Power Rankings

[Hooper]

Eastern Conference

Contenders:

1. Miami Heat
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Is it finally the Heat's year? CPU-pre would certainly suggest it. The Heat lose Rubio at PG but return the rest of their roster while they add defensive specialist and former champion Rudy Gay, along with sharpshooting backup guard JJ Redick to round out the rotation. I don't think there is too much left to be said here. An aging Heat team who was almost dismantled last year has what might be their final chance at a championship run, and they look to be a head above almost the entire field.

2. Chicago Bulls
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The BSL's latest blockbuster brings Kawhi the most help he's had in his career. Reigning champion Celtics move in a new direction as they send the league's top big man in Dwight Howard and wing running mate Evan Turner to Chicago for picks and Bull role players. What the Bulls lack in depth, they make up for in star power as Kawhi, Dwight, Turner, and Klay Thompson make up what is likely the most star studded team in the league. The Heat are solidified as juggernauts and deserve the top spot in our power rankings, but the Bulls are worthy adversaries. Absolutely a team threatening to win a championship this coming season.

A Step Below:

3. Washington Bullets
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Bullets have made a lot of moves recently gearing towards a re-tool, getting younger, and accumulating picks. Out is all Nick Young and defensive specialist Emeka Okafor, and in are homegrown talents such as Steven Adams and the freshly paid Buddy Hield. The Bullets are a deep team backpacked by top 3 player Stephen Curry, but with all the turnover of the last couple of seasons and the accumulation of picks, the Bullets have taken a step back from their recent status of near dynasty. It looks like it'll be one step back and two steps forward as the Bullets are in prime position to make a major acquisition whenever they feel like doing so, but to start the season they remain a bit behind the top two teams.

4. New York Knicks
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The Knicks have a sweet young team, but will TC growth be enough to put them over the top? Dame and Brook Lopez are established top players at their respective positions, but the future of NYK rests in the hands of #TwoBoostWigs and his partner on the wing Mikal Bridges. These are two players who have not quite lived up to their ratings quite yet, but look poised to make a major leap in terms of production any season now. If those two players pop, the Knicks could make a sustained run at the eastern conference for many seasons to come.

5. Toronto Raptors
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Hokey has a very solid, very sustainable team right now. We saw that they are a playoff threat last season, and with Jokic (22), KCP (24), Klep (26) and Greg Monroe (27) we can expect pretty steady growth from the Raptors core for quite awhile. My personal opinion is that this Raptors team quietly has a lot of upside with all that room to grow, and I actually really like the Delon Wright signing for them as well. Raptors may lack picks to get moves done, but they have tons of really promising youth to make a consolidation move if the opportunity presents itself. Although known as a lower tier GM, Hokey did a really nice job with this roster.

6. Detroit Pistons
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The Pistons ceiling could be much higher than this, but as a newcomer team I took the conservative approach ranking them. Jason has been heavily criticized at many points since he has joined, but it's really hard to argue that he hasn't put a really nice team around Mega-Star KAT this season. Although CP has been winning the "Hoops most overrated" award for about 5 seasons in a row now, I am much more comfortable with him in the current situation where he is his team's third most important offensive player. Paul George has absolutely popped off with recent TCs, and the combination of star power with one of the league's deepest frontcourts puts the Pistons in position to battle with anyone in the post season this year.

7. Orlando Magic
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I might be underselling the Magic with only a 7 seed here but if you know Hoop then you know I am all about star power. The Magic have done such a nice job recently making value moves across the board and putting together a really nice, deep rotation that they can lean on for seasons to come. In CPU pre they finished below .500, but DRose, Doug, and Jonas have more than proven themselves to be a playoff caliber team in a difficult eastern conference. Magic are positioned with a young core and financial flexibility to make a trade to easily slide them up this list.

8. Milwaukee Bucks​

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't more optimistic than this about our roster this year, but I think it is fair to be skeptical about where the Bucks stand until we see them in action. Bucks have one foot in the present and one foot in the future, as top-3 player Kyrie Irving leads the charge into the season next to backcourt running mate Jamal Murray and second overall pick Deandre Ayton. Jamal and Ayton look to be the rare productive players on their rookie scale contracts, but are still only a shell of what they may one day become. Outside of these 3 guys are the question marks though, as the rest of the rotation is made up of aging journeyman bigs and Buck legends such as Ludovic Vaty and Kyle Hines. We will see if the Bucks made a mistake not capitalizing on their current window, or if they will be a solid playoff team in an impossible eastern conference.

9. Boston Celtics
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GB is such a level headed and patient GM, so it was surprising to see that Dwight Howard and Evan Turner didn't return more of a haul than they did. The Celtics come off a championship and make a decision to retool around the leagues best big man "prospect" in Anthony Davis, who has effectively elevated himself out of the prospect tier and simply into a player who might be the league's best big man. Personally, I think the Celtics will take some lumps this season as they move off a championship winning core, but I do agree that building around the Anthony Davis window was the right way to go, and GB has more than earned the right to make risky plays without criticism. Celtics still have a physical; defensive minded roster, and will be in the mix for a playoff spot. But something has gotta give.

On the Outside, Looking In:

10. Atlanta Hawks
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Hawks were a playoff team in CPU-pre and have 15 guys on the roster, but I just don't think that Trae, Dlo, and Book are getting their team as currently constructed into the playoff picture. Hawks have an enormous amount of cap and some valuable young pieces to make some moves and better their position for this season, but without their own draft picks, Player will have to decide how much of his future to leverage to put together a better assimilation of players now.

Philadelphia 76ers
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The Sixers are caught where no one really wants to be as currently constructed - not good enough to compete, yet not bad enough to tank. After a disaster end of a build by now disgraced former GM Jon, Catdude pushed his team to a finals appearance and went all in the next year. It didn't work out as he planned, but the Sixers were able to acquire all of their owed first round picks back except their 2019. Now they are in a situation with a giant Lebron contract and their pick this season, on the outside looking in, but in position to rebuild. It will be interesting to see the route they take as they move forward.

The Rest:
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Hornets, Pacers, Cavs, and Nets are all tanking. We're not going to dig deep on these rosters as they don't project to be in playoff contention.

Western Conference

The Favorite:

1. Phoenix Suns
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Frank crushed his rebuild and is back in the fold as the favorite in the western conference this season, and moving forward. While the Suns really made their bread (Baker Frank reference) with the late round STEALS that blossomed into ridiculous superstar Marko *checks notes for spelling* Guduric and Casey Walden, the rest of the rebuild came together with opportunistic high value trades for upper echelon players like Angelo, Harrellson, and newly acquired rookie Greg Oden. Awhile ago, this appeared to be Jabari Parker's team. But now with their highest pick only having to be a third fiddle, the Suns look like a powerhouse in the western conference again.

Competitors:

2. Minnesota Timberwolves​

NC and his TWolves always just seem to get it done when the time comes in the postseason. However, I still believe at some point something has to give with an aging Wolves roster. Draft steal Talor Battle was sent out to a conference rival in the offseason, and age is finally catching up with the eternal Yao Ming. Even still, the wolves present a road block in the way of the newcomers in the west, and have seasoned veterans who are used to winning together still on the roster. Telfair remains a top point guard in the league, and the Wolves frontcourt is arguably still top of the class in the West. We will see if someone can knock them off the run they are on this season.

3. Sacremento Kings
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The Kings are built up of such a unique assortment of players that all just seem to mesh together to form one of the best teams in the west. Jason Thompson and Zach Randolph stand as one of the conferences most formidable front courts, while wing scorers Bogdanovic, Budinger, and Wilson Chandler provide the scoring punch. The Kings do it without a true superstar, but collectively, they appear to just have the right pieces to put the puzzle together.

4. Vancouver Grizzlies
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The Grizz have lost some key pieces to their championship run recently as Roy Hibbert and Romeo Travis have signed elsewhere in the past offseasons. However the core of the Grizz rebuild - the born and bred Kemba Walker, Gordon Hayward, and Jan Vesely all remain. As is always true, this team will go as far as top 3 player Kemba Walker can will them, but with a weaker roster depth wise than we have seen from the Grizz in the past, will it be enough to get by the new threats in the suns, Kings, and Jazz - along with the old guard TWolves

New Kids on the Block

5. Utah Jazz
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The Jazz rebuild officially comes to an end with the Talor Battle acquisition, as the Jazz have no first round picks left to trade and move forward with what they got. Superstar number 1 pick Joel Embiid leads the charge, next to Michael Beasley, the newly acquired Battle, rookie (redacted) and Kyle Lowry. The Jazz may need a few sims to work themselves into their true form as the team familiarizes with themselves, but with Embiid's growth as a 2 way player, the Jazz enter the picture as a threat to compete and are definitely in the playoff hunt.

6. Golden State Warriors​

The warriors are coming off an uncharacteristically long rebuild that saw them draft pseudo-star players like Derrick Williams and Zach Lavine. Now, with the offseason acquisition of signing reigning NBA champion Deron Williams away from the Boston Celtics, the Warriors move forward as a hungry young core. With how youthful this current roster is outside of Williams, I don't quite think they will be ready as the lights turn up in a deep playoff run, however they have some really nice young players who will continue to develop, and the Warriors should be able to grow organically over time as the seeds of the tank continue to flower and blossom.

Wellllllll.....

7. Denver Nuggets
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Hank can call it whatever he wants, but we all know he missed FA sim 1. Due to this, his Nuggets are a bit depleted than usual. However though with all Hank teams, he looks like he's gonna have enough to at worst hover right outside the playoffs, and likely will sneak in. The team is lead by a Capela / Love frontcourt, and gets some additional scoring from the Jefferson / Nunn / Sloukas backcourt trio. Hank always just finds a way to squeeze production out of these guys, and even when he overpays salary wise, it never seems to cost him too badly. There is something to be said for that. I'd love to see Hank take a full rebuild approach at some point and go scorched earth on our asses, but I'm not sure it's in play

8. LA Lakers
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Lakers are such a fucking oddball team for an oddball GM. John Wall has insane ratings but puts up mostly miserable stat lines - and yet this Lakers team was winning 50+ games last season. I have to just go with my gut and put them in this tier as I expect some return to the mean with a roster like they have, but at the same time at a certain point you just have to accept reality. I might be underselling the Lakers a bit, but it's hard to say. They just find ways to get production out of lesser known guys similar to Hank, and last year they went on a 25-6 run at one point. I am actually probably really underselling them, but it is what it is. Can't make sense of this one.

9. LA Clippers
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This is another team I can't make sense of, but for the opposite reason. The Clippers roster actually has some really nice players. Smart and West are a Celtics fan's wet dream in the backcourt (literally), and former number 2 pick Boogie Cousins, former 4 pick Dario Saric, and rookie Kyle Kuzma round out the starting rotation for the Clips in preseason. I really think the talent is there for this team, but for whatever reason it hasn't quite clicked yet. We'll see what Donk has in store and if any moves are made, because this is a roster that is right on the fringe of having the talent to compete with some of the big boys out west.

10. Seattle Supersonics
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Last season, the Sonics won 40 games, and I expect to see about the same result this year. A lot of western teams suffer from not having a sure fire star to lead them, and the Sonics are another example. I might be underselling this squad a bit due to the CPU pre performance, as Nick Young and Tobi Harris should be able to carry the load offensively to a better record this year than the last. However, if Swaggy P's production dips and he can't provide the spark he was meant to light for the Sonics, they could be in for a rough couple of seasons until they get their own picks back. Still suffering from the mess Daulten made, honestly.

The Rest:
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Spurs and Blazers are harcore tankers. Not sure what the Mavs are doing, but at least they have SHERILL. Swope will tank but has some moves to make. Goodbye

 

[Cloud]

5M

 

[Swope]

Lazy no rockets write up smh

 

[Swope]

-2m