After an uncanny off-season, there have been a number of teams that have improved significantly. Obviously, the Golden State Warriors improved with the addition of Kevin Durant. But, there were teams in the Eastern Conference that made a big splash as well. As it's been known since he pretty much stepped foot on the hardwood, the mission for teams in the East to create a team in pursuit to dethrone "King James."
A few teams made some improvements to their roster including the Boston Celtics, New York Knicks, Chicago Bulls, and the Indiana Pacers. For the most part, the Toronto Raptors and Atlanta Hawks either remained the same, or lost some key pieces.
With that being said, the team that may pose the biggest threat the reigning NBA Champion Cleveland Cavaliers -- is the Indiana Pacers. Due to the Raptors and Hawks failing to improve their roster, that basically
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But, believe it or not under new head coach Nate McMillian, the Pacers are adapting to the modern style of basketball. On May 5th, team president Larry Bird decided not to retain former head coach Frank Vogel. His new vision for the Pacers is to push the tempo and create more opportunities at the three-point line.
Bird received a ton of criticism for the move since McMillian didn't seem to fit that plan at all. In fact, when McMillian coached the Seattle SuperSonics (2000-2005) and the Portland TrailBlazers (2005-2012), he ran the complete opposite style of basketball.
We've seen it year in and year out. The teams that go the deepest in their roster are the ones that win it all. Two years ago with Golden State, and last year with Cleveland. The Pacers have the nucleus to contend in the East this season. Led by rising star "PG 13", Jeff Teague, Al Jefferson, Turner, C.J. Miles, Rodney Stuckey, Thaddeus Young, and company this team has a legit first and second unit that can both defend and
Golden State will take advantage of Whiteside great inside presence to toughen up their interior defense which they badly needed since Andrew Bogut left the team last summer. He can protect the rim, have a good mid range jumper and can give a triple-double performance every
Just having LeBron James – the biggest name and superstar in the NBA – come back to Cleveland after leaving for Miami four years ago was a big boost, not just emotionally but also economically for the city. But the deeper the Cavs’ run in the postseason went, the better
It’s clear that the Sacramento Kings are in a transformative stage. This offseason, they have added eight free agents as well as signing two draft picks, including the lengthy defensive stopper, Willie Cauley-Stein. They traded away power forward Jason Thompson and fan favorite Nik “Sauce Castillo” Stauskas to the Philadelphia 76ers to accommodate their plethora of new talent.
The Toronto Raptors, while not to be confused for a title contender just yet, once bolstered a defensive unit capable of shutting down the league's elite, finishing 2013-14 ranked ninth in efficiency at 102.4.
The Heat brought back 11 players from last season and is hoping to build off of the second half of last season 30-11 record success.
Larry Bird changed the NBA as a player. Larry Bird’s playing style. Larry Bird always looked to pass before shooting. “ Most of Bird’s coaches believed he liked passing more than scoring himself.” (C) When Larry Bird played basketball, most of his Celtic games would be sold out because everyone wanted to watch how he played.
The following two years the Warriors level of play dropped terribly and they placed last 5 out of 9 seasons the next few years. In the 80’s the Warriors became known for new head coach Don Nelson’s up tempo style. It had relied on smaller players and an emphasis on scoring over defenders. The era is best known for the 1989-90 season and nicknamed RUN T.M.C. They were called that because the first high scoring trio featuring Tim Hardaway the speed demon, Mitch Richmond, and Chris Mullin. Although this team didn’t make it past the second round of the playoffs they were still a great team.
Game familiarity might be the single biggest reason why7 McMillan is being promoted to be the team’s head coach. McMillan could be a good fit and has a deep relationship with team president Larry Bird.
The Golden State Warriors' recent NBA title will prove to be a turning point in basketball's evolution. While the game has been steadily drifting away from the Goliath vs. Goliath monotony of center-oriented post play, league-MVP Stephen Curry & Co. shattered several prevailing NBA myths when they finished off Lebron James' Cleveland Cavaliers 105-97 in Game 6.
As the summer winds down and the NBA season is upon us, the Golden State Warriors are planning for their fight to claim another championship ring. Last season, the Warriors won the most games in a single season in NBA history (73), but fell just short of winning back-to-back championships. Having recruited superstar Kevin Durant, who joined the team this summer, seems to have made Golden State even more frightening than it already was. However, past experiences have shown us that a cluster of superstars on one team doesn’t necessarily mean an automatic ring.
The Cleveland Cavaliers entered Thursday night’s matchup with the Milwaukee Bucks with the best record in the Eastern Conference and the third-best record in the NBA, all while missing their starting backcourt for every game so far this season. However, according to LeBron James, the Cavs needed to “play better ball”.
What is the next step? Some say it is to make a charge and beat LeBron James now and form your own "super-team" by cashing in on your assets. Others say to do a minor tear down to prepare for LeBron's eventual downfall. What is certain though, is that the Celtics are poised to meet this Cavaliers team repeatedly in the coming years, armed with the potential to get infinitely better, along with a genius young coach and confident general
Alright fantasy basketball fans it’s time to for my latest installment of my GF2 team previews. In my latest NBA preview we’re going to take a closer look at a very intriguing team, the New Orleans Pelicans. New Orleans made waves last season and are expected to be even better this year. Star power forward Anthony Davis is by far my favorite guy this year for fantasy, so we’ll stray away from discussing his absolute greatness. We’re going to look at three guys who I have rostered over the last few years who all have tremendous upside.
The era of "Big Three" in Miami was over and with this all happening to the team, could this mean that the Heat is on the verge of going down? Although they got one of the most promising center and future All-star in Hassan Whiteside can he single-handedly carry the team? A recent report says that the Heat is still looking for the trade market for a possible deal.
2016 was the year that the craziest free agency signing happened in NBA history. Kevin Durant decided to join the Golden State Warriors. This is the team that had just broke the record for most wins in a season and after that season they add the second-best player in the NBA. His decision to sign with them put a huge target on his back, because a lot of NBA fans including myself considered the move weak. Some fans even said that it was the same thing LeBron did in 2010; leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers to sign with the Miami Heat. There are a few things that are similar between the two, but I completely disagree with the people who think that it’s the same. Kevin Durant signing with the Warriors is worse than LeBron signing with the Heat.