Each offseason Tim Bontemps polls a group of NBA coaches, scouts and executives on quite a lot of subjects. This time he collected 18 entries, so the outcomes are removed from common, however they do give a superb cross-section of the league vibes. (Facet be aware: I’m wondering if anybody is monitoring how correct these items are after the top of the season.)
Half 1 | Half 2
I discover these polls to be attention-grabbing throughout the board, however I admit to having a Boston Celtics bias, so let’s give attention to the outcomes associated to the NBA Champs.
Who had the NBA’s greatest offseason?
Most voters went with the 76ers or the Knicks, however the Celtics really obtained 2 votes on this class. Boston did re-sign or prolong nearly all their free brokers and extension eligible gamers (some on discount offers). Positive they locked in an enormous tax invoice, however that’s value of getting one of the best roster within the league.
The Sixers definitely grabbed the highlight by nabbing one of the best free agent of the offseason. Given Paul George’s age and harm historical past, will probably be attention-grabbing to see how lengthy it takes for that contract to look extra like a legal responsibility than an asset. Nonetheless, they’ve a brief window to compete with Joel Embiid they usually obtained him one of the best teammate he’s ever performed with.
The Knicks made their very own headlines by opening a NYC Villanova Alumni Affiliation chapter of their stadium. After all the price of these strikes was shedding standout middle Isaiah Hartenstein to the Thunder (extra on them quickly).
Who’s the NBA’s greatest participant proper now?Who would be the NBA’s greatest participant in 5 years?Who would be the 2024-25 NBA MVP?
I’m grouping these all collectively as a result of they’re all type of alternative ways of asking the identical basic query. Neither Jayson Tatum or Jaylen Brown obtained any votes for the primary two classes however Tatum did get 2 MVP votes.
Jokic obtained far and away essentially the most votes for greatest participant with 15. Victor Wembanyama obtained 12 of the votes for greatest participant in 5 years. Each are very logical decisions and no person else obtained any greater than 2 votes. It might be very laborious to make a case for Tatum being higher than Jokic proper now and all indicators level to Wemby taking on the league sooner fairly than later. So I don’t put an excessive amount of inventory into Tatum not displaying up in both checklist.
The MVP race may very well be attention-grabbing. SGA obtained 7 votes, Doncic obtained 5, then 3 gamers tied with 2 every (Tatum, Anthony Edwards, and Jokic). Facet be aware: No Giannis???
From Bontemps:
Tatum picked up votes on the power of Boston’s title and the expectation he’ll proceed to be one of the best participant on the league’s greatest group, whereas these selecting Jokic are voting for a historic MVP run. A fourth award in 5 seasons would transfer him into an especially unique group — solely LeBron James and Invoice Russell have completed it.
Tatum has completed the whole lot he can to earn the respect of voters and followers, together with doing the one main factor they stated he couldn’t by successful the NBA title. No one can take that away from him and he deserves each victory lap he takes. Nonetheless, it looks like there’s nonetheless extra he has to show to the league earlier than he’ll be thought-about Most Useful.
This in all probability deserves its personal column, however it’s attention-grabbing that Tatum can’t appear to “win” right here. He’s confirmed earlier than that he can put up big stats for a contending group; however he obtained knocked for not successful all of it. Then he does the suitable factor by sacrificing stats to place his group excessive to win the title; then he will get knocked for not being dominant each night time.
I can see a path to Tatum successful MVP. The Celtics have already got the shine of being the defending champs. They’ll be with out Porzingis for a superb portion of the season, so maybe Jayson can be leaned on extra closely. He additionally carries a heavy playmaking load when groups are forcing the ball out of his arms. If he can simply hit a better proportion of his 3 pointers, he might bump up his scoring whereas sustaining all the opposite good issues he does on the court docket (rebounding, defending, making the suitable subsequent play, and so forth.).
Then once more, voters are fickle people and who is aware of what narrative they’ll gravitate to this coming season?
Which group will win every convention in 2024-25?
The Celtics obtained 13 of the 18 votes. No one else obtained greater than 2. Nearly everybody appears to know that Boston is one of the best group within the East. I’m simply going to imagine that the 5 different voters are haters or biased towards the Celtics.
Who will win the 2024-25 NBA title?
The Celtics obtained 8 votes, beating out the Thunder that obtained 7 (no person else obtained a couple of). I do know that the Nuggets misplaced a key performer and Jamal Murray doesn’t look fairly proper not too long ago, however I’m a bit shocked at how shortly they’ve been written off. Additionally, I do know that the Mavericks represented the West within the Finals, however that appeared a bit flukey to me personally.
I can definitely see the logic behind the Thunder. They tied for essentially the most wins within the West final 12 months they usually added key items in Caruso and Hartenstein. Plus their youthful gamers are a 12 months older with playoff expertise underneath their belts. They’ve a deep, hungry, gifted group that performs with poise. I might definitely see them popping out of the West and giving the Celtics a run for his or her cash.
Nonetheless, …Celtics in 6.
