[2quick4uParticipant]

 EAST:

1. BOSTON: boston has exeeced expectation and after loosing their best defenders,not only they’ve not regressed but they’ve actually become the best defense in the league. they are struggling a bit in offense but they compensate with their defense resulting with a great 4th "SRS" overall position.

with these collective numbers  they will finish 1st or 2nd in the east.

2.TORONTO: when everyone thought toronto was an expired product, they are quietly becoming the best overall team in the east, and the nominee to end with cleveland’s throne in the east.

if they finish the regular season with the numbers they have (4th "def rtg"+4th "off Rtg"+3rd SRS) don’t be surprise if they finish 1st in the east. Derozan is the 2nd best SG in the league and has to be rewarded.

3. CLEVELAND: their defense last year was already bad,but this year is just atrocious..with the way the team is set, they just can’t compete against the top teams, much less against the warriors.

with these type of numbers (28th "def rtg"+5th "off rtg"+16th SRS) they should be happy if they finish 3rd in RS, but they won’t be in the finals this year.

4. MIAMI: even though their numbers are not very good (10th "def rtg"+23 "off rtg"+20 SRS) somehow they are winning,in big part thanks to whiteside playing like an all-star lately. 

if they rank 4th i guess it’s because their numbers will improve as the season goes, if not, their numbers say they should just fight to enter playoff as a 7-8th seed.

5. WASHINGTON: this team is not meeting the expectiations some people had on them, but truth is their roster is pretty narrow, plus they are not managing the players well. if they want to improve, they should utilize Porter as their PF like at the beginning of the season, so he can really explode as a player.; he is their key.

they have solid numbers, if they keep like this, they won’t go any higher than 4th seed.

6. BUCKS: Anteto has made great improvement, again, becoming a top 5 player in the league, but their collective defense not only has not improve but has got worse than last year´s.

with the numbers they have (25th "def rtg"+10th "off rtg"+19th SRS) they will barely make the playoffs and will finish as high as they are at best.

7. PACERS: indiana is been a nice surprise, even with Turner’s disappointing season but Oladipo has finally explode and will be an all-star.

they have solid numbers and if they keep them, they could fight for the 8th seed. Turner is the key.

8. SIXERS: this is a polarized team and their numbers (5th "def rtg"+22nd "off rtg"+8th SRS) are not reflected in their wins, yet..they are struggling in offense as normal, because of the way the team is set, but their defense is elite and "if" Embiid stays healthy and they keep these numbers, they should start winning more games and could finish as high as 6th, although that´s a big "IF"…and as a polarized team they could be anywhere from 6th to 11th.

REST (with chances of playoff):

DETROIT has pretty good overall numbers and Tobias and Drummond are playing very good basketball, so if they finish with the numbers they have, they should make the playoffs.

NY is right there, but truth is this team is not ready for playoffs yet, something that is reflected in their numbers..but at least they have a franchise player, something they were missing for many years…

HORNETS have begun very slow because of injuries but watch out because if they don’t trade all of their players before, they actually have the numbers to fight for the playoffs so don’t count them out…

WEST: 

1.GSW: even though their defensive numbers say they are a little worse than last year (7th) thruth is their collective numbers are so much better than the rest, and only a catastrophe could deprive them of getting the ring; plus they have the 2 best players in the league and that’s too much advantage..

2.HOUSTON: they started with GSW like numbers, but they are slowly deflating..their defense is becoming average lately and although they still have great overall numbers, they are still far from the warriors..if they have any chance against them (maybe 5%), that will go through their defense so Capela is the key for them.

3.SPURS: what Popovich is doing for this franchise has no name..without their franchise players and with a super old roster, they still manage to be the 2nd best defense in the league and they’ll finish with 50+ wins, again…they’ll go as far as Kawhi goes but it seems this season is not for them..

4.MINNESOTA: they rank 4th and will finally make the playoffs, but truth is that their defense sucks (22nd) so they won’t go far away in playoffs; good news is that Towns is becoming a top 10 player in the league, bad news is Wiggins is lost and can’t play with butler, plus the team is not going far away so…was the trade worth?

5.OKC: i have to admit that i’m not a Westbrook fan at all, and i believe he kills every star around him (PG i think had enough)…but still, their collective numbers are much better than their record shows (3rd "def rtg"+12th "off rtg"+5th SRS) so i would not like to play against this team in playoffs..

6.PORTLAND: this team has made a massive improvement on defense going from 24th last year to 6th this season…still their overall numbers are "just" solid and will have to fight to enter playoffs until the end..seems like they still miss something to be competitive..i think they made a big mistake last draft.

7.CLIPPERS: injuries have been huge problem for them but still, watch out because with just Griffin and Teo back the team is playing great, and they have playoff numbers..they could finish as high as 6th if injuries respect…

8. NOP: even with Davis and Cousins putting up insane numbers, truth is this team can’t find the key to win, as their mediocre numbers show..their defense is awful (24th) and if they make the playoff they should be happy but anyway in 1st round they’d be out, wich means Cousins is out.

REST (with chances of playoff):

DENVER seems like they can’t find their rhythm nor their identity..Harris is playing out of his mind lately and Murray is becoming a Lil’ curry but Jokic is not playing comfortable as he needs more ball..i think Barton doesn’t help here and Millsap won’t neither..they need to find players to fit around Jokic..

still they have the numbers and the potential to fight for the 8th seed, at least.

UTAH has had too much bad luck with injuries…the good news is they have the ROY and with Gobert back they still could make the playoffs..watch out for this team in the future…

 

 

 

 

[Memphis MadnessParticipant]

 The Warrior Triplets (KD, Steph, and Klay) are just too good. Dray is basically a glorified role player now but that might help. If Green’s head had gotten any bigger it would have had its own orbit. The Warriors also need a glue guy to do the dirty work. Some of his shots might go to Klay — a guy who would need them more. The Ringer (ESPN?) mentioned that Iggy’s shooting has fallen off a cliff. Dray needs to play some of that role, as does Jordan Bell. Might not have as much crunch time depth as they did last year but they top of the order is still amazing.  Bell is the next X factor guy — doing some McGee stuff and some Iggy things. I don’t even trust Livingston anymore and, more than likely, at least one of Nick Young and Omri Casspi is a total fraud. But if one of those guys can play (and if McCaw goes Full McCaw) the Warriors repeat easily.

It feels like the wheels fell off LeBron over the past two weeks. Not a good sign for the Cavs. 

Celtics are playing with house money and may have this year’s MVP on the roster. Bamba looks like a great fit on Boston. If the Killer C’s get home court advantage I think they get to the Finals. 

[jerb2011Participant]

 Russell passes too much, he’s a bad decision maker. He decides not to defer, he’s a ball hog. Did the 2014 Cavs get talked about like this when they were 18-20, losing of 10 of their last 12 games going into ASW? No, stfu until April.

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