In the East, my vote would be Brooklyn or Atlanta.
Brooklyn is deep at just about every position. Mikal Bridges is a very good scorer. Cam Johnson a very talented 2-way player. Dinwiddie a solid 2-guard. Claxton is one of the more impressive young centers in the league. A lot rides on Simmons and if he can be 75 percent of what he once was. At the very least, he looks to be in shape entering the season. Brooklyn looks to have a plethora of two-way players. The question is if Bridges can be the main scorer on a contending title team.
Atlanta has Trae Young, who is now flying under the radar as one of the best scoring guards in the NBA, and many solid defensive pieces surrounding him in Murray, Hunter, Capela. If Trae can get a hot in a playoff series, you never know.
In the West, I think it’s Minnesota. On paper, they are loaded with talent. Ant, KAT, McDaniels, Gobert, Reid, Conley and Anderson might be as good of a first 7 you will find in the league today. Of course, the main question is — can Chris Finch make Towns and Gobert work offensively? We saw how tough Minnesota can be in the Denver series last year. With most everyone on their roster now having multiple years of playoff experience in addition to having continuity among their depth chart and coaching staff, they are my sneaky pick to make the West finals this year.
Who is your sneaky pick in each conference to make a deep playoff run? Or do you believe there’s no logical selection?
Kings and Thunder in the West. I really think Giddey-SGA-Jalen Williams are gonna be a handful for a lot of teams.
I don’t think we (Wolves) have the mental capacity to make a deep playoff run. We could win 50 and still bounce in round 1 because of our team’s basketball IQ being pretty bad (still).
Oh tomdawg, ye of little faith
Sorry, how the hell are either of those teams “dark horses” to make the playoffs? The Kings were literally in the playoffs last season, and pushed the Warriors to 7 games. Barring serious injuries, they’re 100% going back to the playoffs.
And the Thunder are stacked as hell and have a ton of great young dudes on the team. Again, barring serious injury, they’re essentially a shoe-in.
These are not risky bets or dark horses in any way.
Your T-Wolves are definitely more of a dark horse. I’m hoping to see them in the postseason, but you can never tell with those dudes.
making the playoffs ≠ making a deep playoff run
The Kings and OKC are nowhere near 100% locks to make the playoffs. Outside the Nuggets and Suns I don’t think anyone in the West is a lock to make the playoffs.
How are the Thunder a shoe-in for the playoffs but the Wolves are a dark horse? I don’t get the logic behind this statement everyone keeps making.