Name your 2 breakout players and teams

[Arizona_Sting]

The Suns traded half their team away for a 2nd round pick in order to get a player they never got and never had a chance in getting in the first place.

Then their consolation prize was Tyson Chandler

And you think you have a shot at the playoffs? Give me a break!

A backup SF that's facing felony charges, a washed up Granger that has already been waived, and Reggie Bullock = half the team?

And Chandler wasn't their consolation, they signed him before recruiting LMA. Derpppp

 

[HurricaneDij39]

The Suns traded half their team away for a 2nd round pick in order to get a player they never got and never had a chance in getting in the first place.

Then their consolation prize was Tyson Chandler

And you think you have a shot at the playoffs? Give me a break!

Marcus Morris was in danger of falling out of the Suns rotation with the emergence of T.J. Warren. The fact the he is starting in Detroit is a reflection of the complete lack of talent on the Pistons roster (outside of Drummond). If that team is competitive at all Stan Van Gundy should win Coach of the Year.

 

[Jakology]

Celtics and Pelicans will be even better than they were last season.

 

[Arizona_Sting]

Pick one player and one team from each conference you think will surprise and why.

East:

Player- Aaron Gordon: Think he could end up the third best sophomore next year behind Wiggins & Parker. Orlando could surprise some people with all that young talent this year.

Team- Orlando… going with that core of Oladipo, Vucevic, Harris, Gordon, Payton, Hezonja, Frye, etc. I think this could be the year things start to come together for them. Maybe not playoffs this year, but by next year at the very least I think they're gonna make that jump. This year they're going to establish an identity to build up to that level.

West:

Player- CJ McCollum: Portland will start him and they're gonna need scoring outside of Lillard so I can see him putting up 16+ PPG and winning most improved player of the year this season easily. Most of you might say "who"? But when this thread pops up in April you'll be like damn Sting is smart.

Team- Suns (jk not really) I'm going with the Jazz. Gobert and Favors is one of the best big man duos in the NBA and Hayward is on the verge of becoming a star, I really like that team. Burks was out all of last year basically and now he'll be back to add some shooting. Lack of a veteran could cost them & with Exum out for the year they may struggle to get that 8th seed but I give them a slight edge over my beloved Suns at the moment.


So Utah and Orlando are the next wave of young teams to take that next step this year imo.

CJ McCollum making me look smart so far. TWENTY EIGHT POINTS AT HALF TIME….

 

[CitySushi]

CJ McCollum making me look smart so far. TWENTY EIGHT POINTS AT HALF TIME….

Good call. I drafted him on my fantasy team because I thought he would have a nice year too.

So far so good on my predictions as well. Marcus Smart had a real solid game. 13 pts, 5 assists, 2 boards, 2 steals, 1 block, 3 3-pointers and only one turnover. He was also the only starter to have a positive +/- and he was +22. Orlando put up a good fight against the Wizards.

Denver was my sleeper team pick and killed Houston on the road. TJ Warren had a bit of a rough night, but it seems like most of the Suns did.

Too early to tell on the Bust picks, but both teams I thought would struggle lost.

 

[HurricaneDij39]

Good call. I drafted him on my fantasy team because I thought he would have a nice year too.

So far so good on my predictions as well. Marcus Smart had a real solid game. 13 pts, 5 assists, 2 boards, 2 steals, 1 block, 3 3-pointers and only one turnover. He was also the only starter to have a positive +/- and he was +22. Orlando put up a good fight against the Wizards.

Denver was my sleeper team pick and killed Houston on the road. TJ Warren had a bit of a rough night, but it seems like most of the Suns did.

Too early to tell on the Bust picks, but both teams I thought would struggle lost.

My pick Brandon Knight was decent in the blowout loss, but still had more turnovers than assists...

Marcus Smart will be key in my title hopes in our fantasy league at the top of this NBA Forum's page. Reached for him in the 8th round.

 

[The Derski]

Aaron Gordon
Derrick Williams

 

[HurricaneDij39]

@CitySushi Looks like you got me on the Suns' backcourt depth (or lack thereof). Archie Goodwin, especially, looks like a prime example of why the NBA needs to raise its age limit.

 

[CitySushi]

@CitySushi Looks like you got me on the Suns' backcourt depth (or lack thereof). Archie Goodwin, especially, looks like a prime example of why the NBA needs to raise its age limit.

Yeah, in a guard dominated league you need another serviceable guard off the bench to be a nightly contributor. The Warriors didn't take that next step until they got Jarrett Jack, which then lead to Shaun Livingston and Barbosa.

Booker still has potential and he's the youngest player in the NBA I believe right now. He's got a lot of room to grow.

 

[Arizona_Sting]

I was so wrong about Indy & Dallas. Both have tremendous coaches.

Indy has looked really good, didn't think small ball would work out for them and had no idea PG13 would light the world on fire so soon after his injury.

 

[Arizona_Sting]

Surprisingly bad in each conference:

West: Mavs- They're gonna suck.

East: Pacers- Gonna rely on PG13 too heavily and have zero bigs. Ellis was a nice pickup and Hill is a solid role player but that team won't make the playoffs this year. UNLESS PG13 plays out of his fucking mind and Myles Turner finishes top 5 in ROY.

At least I did add this bit, so technically I'm not wrong.

 

[CitySushi]

TJ Warren has had a good year so far and is making a solid case for a starting role.

The Nuggets are 8-14 without Chandler and Nurkic(so far) for the entire season. Faried has also missed some time due to injury. I thought they were going to make some noise, but again that would have been with a full roster. Now that Chandler is gone for the year, they don't have a shot at the playoffs. Still 8-14 in the West isn't that bad when you consider they are missing 40% of their starting roster and their best big out multiple games due to injury. They've also had a relatively tough schedule to start, having to face the Warriors and Spurs twice and the Bulls and Thunder once each also.

Marcus Smart was looking good until he got injured. Now that Avery Bradley has gone crazy, it will be interesting to see if Smart gets back into heavy minutes once he's back from injury.

Orlando has played well and is in contention for a playoff spot at 12-10.

My two disappointments were Charlotte and Phoenix.

Looks like I was wrong on Charlotte. Charlotte has been playing really well so far this season. Batum has had a great season so far. Marvin Williams has had a really strong season as well. Jeremy Lin and Jeremy Lamb have been giving them great bench production. Don't think they'll make any noise in the playoffs but they should at least get there this year.

Phoenix has struggled as I had thought. What I didn't account for is that they've actually played some good basketball at times, but they're just not consistent for the full 48. They have a massive hole at the back up positions in the backcourt, but their front court depth has been good. I still really think Chandler's signing was a mistake and that eventually Morris will need to go as well.