Atlantic Division

Thoughts about the upcoming NBA season

Boston Celtics

Boston this season made a splash in FA signing Kemba Walker. Walker is not a better player than Kyrie Irving of course but he is a better player for Brad Stevens system and he will not be a diva in the locker room and destroy team moral. Walker will be a good fit in this Boston team, he will not be on the ball as much as in Charlotte and Celtics have really good sets for its point guards with a lot of screens, flare screens, and down screens happening to get open shots. Walker will like playing for this Boston team, they use a lot of pick and roll sets aswell (like every other team) horns is a regular set they run for Irving where he will come of the dribble and pull from three or midrange for a clear view at the basket. Kemba was top 3 in using pick and roll in the NBA last season and shooting of the dribble. Like I said he will be a good addition for Boston even if he’s a general downgrade from Kyrei.

Jayson Tatum will be another key player for this team. Can he put this team on his back at times? If he stops thinking about himself and his numbers they will be a better team than last year. Last season Tatum took a lot of stupid long twos with a hand in his face which ended up in a lot of missed shots for him. Tatum is a good player, he has a scorers instinct but he stopped doing the things he was so good at his rookie season, going to the basket hard. Tatum chose to take long twos and pull up jumpers instead of going to the rim for layups and get foul calls. This needs to change, they are plenty of people that say the midrange is dead or dying but this is not true you need to find effective shots like Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum. If Tatum wants to progress he needs to stop thinking he needs to shoot midrange shots like Kobe, there is only one Kobe. Look at McCollum, screen, two dribbles, gets to the elbow area and gets his shot of with no one near him and he gets a good open look. Not like Tatum who took a half a step in and shot the ball with a hand in his face and it bricked like crazy. He’s going to get his looks in this offense he needs to find the patience and let the offense create the open looks for him.

Celtics lost Kyrie to the Nets and Al Horford to the 76ers in FA this summer. This is of course bad for the team, especially Horford as Boston has not filled his abscents on the court or the things he brought to the team. Horford did the little things 100% of the time. Screens at the offensive end to create space for himself or others in the pick and pop, good footwork on the defensive end of the ball, he was a defensive anchor for this team and a big part why Boston did so good defensively. They brought in Enes Kanter for Horford this summer who is a black hole on defense and it will be hard for this team to stop anyone in the pick and roll with Kanter on the court for these 82 games the turk will play + playoffs. He’s something else on the offensive end of the floor. He will be a good rebounder for this team, he’s active on the O-boards and can get tip ins and extra points for his team. I got a hard time seeing how the Celtics will do good inside the painted area with Kanter this season, sure they have not been a overly good rebounding team with Horford on the floor but he gave them comfort in the paint and trust that it would be hard for the opposition to score when he was there. With Kanter it won't be like that. It will be interesting to see how they will cover up Kanters weakness, if the weakside rotation will be fast enough to get there in time.

This Celtics team will have it tough if they don’t can’t find a way, fast, to get this offense going. They have athletic players on the defensive end who does the job on a high level like Brown and Smart but offensively they have problems, not getting along and know what they are going to do. Will Tatum, Hayward and Brown know what to do and know who has the best look or will it be like last season when they fought to take shots? If Tatum and Hayward starts to get better shots and be more effective and better movement on offense they will have a good time. If they only think about them self and what they want it’s going to be loooong season for this Boston Celtic team.

Brooklyn Nets

Nets wants to do big things, mostly for next season when KD comes back after his injury. Of course Nets want to repeat the playoff berth from last season. They got Kyrie Irving alongside Durant and they got rid of D’Angelo Russell who now is in Cali and Golden State Warriors. What does this do for the Nets? Irving is one of the best point guards in the league but his way in the locker room is in question, and this is from his Cleveland days as well and we saw his behavior last season in Boston. Will he show Durant and all of us that he has changed and can become a leader for this team? What made Nets so good last season was their chemistry, everyone knew what to do on the court and they had a good allround team, they knew who to trust in crunch time and so forth. Irving replaces Russell in the way that he’s going to have the ball in his hands a lot in the clutch alongside Spencer Dinwiddie. Will Nets keep shining like they did last season or will Irvings ego be a distraction even for them?

Nets this year will want to replicate last seasons success, can they get it done with only Irving as their superstar? Kyrie by himself has never taken a team to the playoffs as the guy on the team, he has always had Lebron James or the Celtics team as a whole helping him. It will be interesting to see if he can come forth and become a man, in a sense that he takes responsibility for his actions on the court and in the locker room and not whine in the media everytime he gets the chance.

I think the Nets will have a difficult time at the start of the season as they need to work on getting the team to gel. They got players who want to create something, have the ball in their hands and make plays like Irving, LeVert and Dinwiddie, it’s good that they have players like Joe Harris who can come of screens or spot up for shots. Harris will make use of Irvings gravitation going to the basket for his spot ups and I think Harris will be happy playing with Kyrie. Nets defense and rebounding has been heavily criticized for many years now, Jarrett Allen has been a shot blocker for them and this has given Nets something to build on. DeAndre Jordan, new for this season is known for his shot blocking ability and rebounding. He’s a big body in the paint and this will give a boost to the Nets defense even if Jordan is getting a bit older.

A lot of people talk about Nets getting Kyrie and Durant but if we look at the bench for this team it does not look as good as it did last season in my opinion. They have lost good players to other organizations, players that do the little things and have a good +/- ratio. Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, DeMarre Carroll, Ed Davis and Allen Crabbe have been really good players for the Nets but they are a bit in the background, Nets have lost a lot of depth with these players gone and it’s going to be a harder task to get to the playoffs without them. I think Brooklyn will be around the 8-6 spot but I won’t be surprised if they fall down below the playoff spots this season.

New York Knicks

Knicks believed in a big splash this summer in FA, it didn’t work out that way really. They got a future piece in RJ Barrett who alongside Mitchell Robinson, Kevin Knox and Allonzo Trier can have a impact on this Knicks team for a long time. Instead of Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard and so on the Knicks got Julius Randle, Bobby Portis, Taj Gibson and Marcus Morris, not as great a players as they wanted but I like the acquisition of Marcus Morris as he’s a consistent player and can get you 12-13 points on a regular basis. Knicks don’t really have plan for this season or the players they have acquired this summer, they went all in on the superstars but got their plan B, C, D and all the way to Z. No big changes in expectation for this team this season as they don’t really have plan on getting out of the lottery spots. Barrett will get his minutes and they will want to develop him as much as they can that’s they only thing Knicks can hope for this upcoming season.

Morris and Portis will be in trade talks come December-February, they can get a few good picks for them and hopefully a young player with okey potential.

Knicks have a couple of good players but no one who can put the team on his back for the whole season. Some of the players will have standout games and play really good but the team as a whole will have it difficult.

Just a note: It’s a really weird rotation going on in the PF position, they got Morris, Gibson, Portis and Randle. The minutes will be jumbled around between all these players with no consistency…

Philadelphia 76ers

76ers this season has probably the top 3 best starting five in the league. Al Horford has come to the team in FA to team up with Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid, the team is really good at both ends of the floor and it will be interesting to see how they will play with all the firepower they have got offensively. Harris is also in the conversation to go off, he is a dangerous player all over the court offensively. Phillys biggest problem is how they will handle Simmons unwillingness to shot. When this is done and they have a plan for him then we can talk winning a championship, 76ers will not get a ring as long as they have this problem. Sure, they have gotten him pieces to have around him but as long as the other team can play 2 on 1 against his teammates they will have a difficult time getting out of the East to the finals in a 7-game series.

Philly will have a great defense this year on paper, two really good inside defenders in Horford and Embiid, Simmons with his length and big body will stop point guards on the perimeter and Josh Richardson who is a ball hawk in the passing lanes will give grey hairs to the other team under 48 minutes. It will be fun to see how Horford and Embid will play togheter, Emiibid likes to be everywhere on defense Horford will unload responsibility for Joel so he can concentrate being his best on the offensive end. Spacing will be a question mark for this team going forward, a lot of players want the ball and Simmons being on the floor minimizes the space on the floor for his teammates. Coach Browns has a big decision to make regarding Simmons in the clutch, he has problems producing in clutch moments because of his lack of shooting and on the freethrow line he’s even worse as he only shots 50-60% from there.

It will be fun to see what gameplan the 76ers have going forward, and if they are not topp 3 in defense this year I will be surprised.

Toronto Raptors

The champions have lost their best player in Kawhi Leonard, he has gone to LA. How will this team fair without him and will they be top 5 in the East? The positive thing is that Pascal Siakam will take over the role of the main man for the Raptors and hopefully he can keep developing this season. Even if Kyle Lowry is a bit of a choker in the playoffs he is still a good player for this team, he is an allround player, good at the defensive end, can shot the three has around 7 assists a game. Marc Gasol elected to stay in Toronto for this season, he’s getting up in age but he’s still a good player and can make big things happen when he’s on his game, he’s got vision and passing ability from the high post, post up game is still effective and he can shot the three.

Even though Raptors lost their best player they are still a good team in the regular season. The backbone of the team is still there and they got one of NBA’s best benches with Fred VanVleet in the forefront. A team with a lot of different types of players and a core who hasn’t changed much and a coach in Nick Nurse who knows the team is vital. Raptors can be a team who will be underrated at times because do to the losses of good players but I believe they are still a good team. The thing that can stop this team from getting to the playoffs again are injuries and how the season will progress we will see. If the injuries would be to much to handle they will opt to tank and get rid of outgoing contracts like Lowry, Gasol, Ibaka and VanVleet. Rebuild with players like Siakam, Anunoby and Powell and get as much assets as possible.

The best thing in this Raptors team is their length on the defensive side of the ball, they’ve got players who are disciplined and they can make a lot of problems happen for other teams. Disadvantages for this team are a lack of spacing, they lost Danny Green, a good veteran and rotation player alongside Leonard of course, Green gave them spacing and a threepoint shooter on a high level.

How the season will progress for this Raptors team is up to how they start the season and up to December and if they are struggling GM Masai Ujiri will put players on the trading block or try and strengthen the team for a playoff push.

// @jalsjalley