Each week the PBT writers sit at a virtual roundtable, just like the knights of King Arthur, drink mead and discuss the NBA topic of the day. This week’s question:
Kurt Helin: There are a few candidates here, but after seeing them in person opening night I will say the Clippers (and I picked them to come out of the West this season). Yes, the Lakers loss was one flukey night, yes they picked up a win in Game 2 and Chris Paul looked great, but there are some real issues to fix over the next 80 games. Some those seemed tied to Blake Griffin — Doc Rivers praised DeAndre Jordan and called out Griffin about defense after the first game (as he did his guards, who were atrocious, particularly Darren Collison). For me it has always come back to the Clippers defense, and that’s going to be more of a project for Doc Rivers than maybe we anticipated — in both games so far they have given up 109 points per 100 possessions. Small sample size, but watch them defend and Rivers has a lot of work to do.
Dan Feldman: The Knicks, always the Knicks. My only reservation about picking the Knicks is I still don’t understand how they were so good last season, so it’s tough to be so sure they’ll regress this season. The Clippers, a team I also picked to win the West, are a fine choice, too. I don’t want to overreact to one game, but that’s all we have right now. They certainly underwhelmed against the Lakers.
DJ Foster: The Cleveland Cavaliers. This roster looks great on paper, doesn’t it? Kyrie Irving, Anderson Varejao and Andrew Bynum? Woo boy, that’s some Popovich brand nasty right there. Unfortunately, the injury histories of each of those players are, well, the other kind of nasty. It would be shocking if the Cavs stay at full strength for long, but even if they do, I still have my reservations about the wing play on both ends. Teams are going to sit in the paint, collapse on Irving, and beg someone else to beat them. I don’t know that anyone else can.
Rhett Anderson: I’ll go with the Nets. Made headlines in the offseason picking up KG, Pierce, and the Jet, but I don’t think Brooklyn’s substance deserves the level of attention they’ve been getting. Of course it’s still too early -- however, judging by the offseason and by what they’re bringing back, Garnett’s and Pierce’s age mean that Deron Williams and Brook Lopez will have to shoulder most of the load to make a deep playoff run. I wrote they’re longshots to challenge the Heat in the East, and I believe that is still the case, but in the end I feel it’s just a little too much attention for expected future results.
Brett Pollakoff: After opening night, it would certainly be easy to go with the Clippers, and it would be especially easy for me considering I was the conductor of the “Eric Bledsoe is overrated” train last season. But I’m going with the Thunder, whose third threat has gone from James Harden to Kevin Martin to ... Reggie Jackson? And people have this team making the Finals? It’s possible that Kevin Durant turns in a monster of an MVP-caliber season to make that happen, but given the uncertainty surrounding Russell Westbrook’s return from injury and the rest of that roster, I just don’t see it.