The NBA season starts next week and everyone here at Quad Culture is quite relieved to have the association back and dare I say better than ever. After a tremendous offseason of player movement and olympics it feels like the league is in the best place it’s been in from a competitive standpoint. So, here it is, the definitive preseason ranking of all 30 teams along with what to expect from them this upcoming season.
30. Wizards
The Wiz likely know they're going to loose, they except that but at least the hope at the end of the rainbow is the prize that is Cooper Flagg.
29. Nets
The Nets are all about the assets right now and by assets I mean draft picks, with guys like Johnson and Schroder expect the Nets to continue to be sellers and let Cam Thomas cook.
28. Hornets
The Hornets could easily be higher on this list if they find a sense of peace between Miller and Ball. If they can find that this team can really push for the play-in.
27. Blazers
The Blazers are the easy pick for the worst team in the West but they have a lot of nice young talent. Expect the Blazers to develop at their own pace and maybe upset here and there.
26. Jazz
Will Hardy and Danny Ainge deserve all the trust in the world from me but I truly don’t know what the vision is here. This team is wack and underwhelming. Expect that.
25. Pistons
Maybe this team fundamentally doesn’t work or maybe Monte Williams didn’t work as the coach. A big year of development is ahead and maybe the play-in.
24. Bulls
The guard rotation of Giddy, White, and Ball is kinda nasty but the rest of the team is not. Sadly another year in the middle for the Bulls fans.
23. Raptors
The Raptors are full of interesting young talent of which none of them seems like a one, so let the battle for mediocrity begin?
22. Rockets
The Rockets might be a lot better in the East but the wannabe western conference contender Rockets are more suited for fringe play-in fare out west.
21. Hawks
Trae Young got the backcourt all to himself, and the Hawks will be just about the same as they always are for it.
20. Clippers
Kawhi is out indefinitely and James Harden is running the show. 5 years ago this was enough to be a top team in the west but those Harden centric days are long gone.
19. Heat
The Heat were not great last year and they did nothing to improve so I expect them to wander the regular season and hope Jimmy Butler still has magic in him come postseason.
18. Warriors
Steph Curry can play with anybody but this team looks rather thin to be a real threat in the west past the former unanimous MVP.
17. Cavaliers
Mitchell and Garland have never really worked. Allen and Mobley have never really worked. That’s the Cavs, talented but won’t really work.
16. Pelicans
The Murray trade makes this team interesting but this team only goes as far as Zion and that’s a coin flip at best and look where they landed at number 16.
15. Spurs
Wemby. Wemby. Wemby. As long as Castle can play and Paul can get him the ball this team is out of cellar status.
14. Lakers
The Bronny pick looks worse every day but yet Redick seems like a competent coach and they have Lebron, so competitive and improving but not contenders.
13. Kings
Fox, Sabonis, Derozen, Monk, Murray. Can they play defense? No! But they can score the basketball which will win them some games and get them a playoff berth.
12. Pacers
The Pacers eastern conference finals trip was early due to attrition. They will settle back into budding eastern conference contender status.
11. Mavericks
The finals appearance was right for all matchups all the way till the Celtics. This team is good but vastly overrated
10. 76ers
The 76ers might very well hold up the trophy or be in the play in like their players, their future is breakable.
9. Nuggets
Jokic could drag any half decent team to a top 5 seed in the west any day but this team is really stretching it.
8. Suns
Coach Bud can coach a top tier regular season team expect nothing less than that from the Suns this season.
7. Grizzlies
Oh how soon we forget about what the Grizzle’s were before the Ja stuff and this team might be even better than that one that had so much potential.
6. Bucks
This team is obviously better than last year right? Right?
5. Magic
I’m tired of the Magic hate mark my words this team is gonna shock and shatter all expectations this year just you wait.
4. Knicks
I don’t like the KAT trade. I just don’t but even with that this team will play hard all season and is good enough to snag the 2 seed in the East.
3. Timberwolves
It’s gonna look a bit different this year but to be honest they made a lot of moves that just make them a better team than they were.
2. Thunder
So you're telling me the best team in the west that is young and hungry added two of the best role players in the league, why aren’t they number 1.
1. Celtics
The Celtics ran through the regular and postseason without so much of a scratch I expect this season to be no different since they basically just said “run it back.”
Kaleb Unger
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