The Official (Way Too Long) SuiteSports 2014-2015 NBA Preview: Part IV - The Playoff Contenders

Stephen Curry has Golden State ready for the season. But are they ready for the Finals?

By Jeremy Conlin (@jeremy_conlin)

With the season starting tomorrow, we're really getting down to the nitty-gritty. Part III on Friday covered the first stretch of Eastern Conference playoffs teams and the last stretch of Western Conference lottery teams, which means every team left is one I'm picking to make the playoffs.

Through the first three sections, the teams have been sequenced in ascending order based on record. This is the section that will start to deviate from that. While each team listed here in this section will have more wins than the team listed before it, there will be teams in tomorrow's final section (the six Finals contenders) who have fewer wins than some of the teams listed here. But we'll get to them tomorrow. Let's just focus on the playoff teams for now.

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Houston Rockets
2014 Record: 54-28
Over/Under Wins: 49.5
Odds To Win Championship: 30-1

It’s a bit tough to place Houston this season because of two factors that would generally be considered to be in conflict with each other. They are:

(A) With the losses of Chandler Parsons, Jeremy Lin, and Omer Asik, the team is undoubtedly less deep than it was last year.
(B) A team with James Harden and Dwight Howard is going to be pretty good regardless of players 3-12.

With how closely-knit teams 4-10 in the Western Conference might be this year, any step backwards could send the Rockets tumbling out of the playoffs. But on the other hand, it’s really hard to imagine a team with two top-10 players in the league missing out.

I Like This Team - A Glass Half-Full NBA Preview (Part II)

With Derrick Rose back in action, the sky is the limit for the Bulls.

By Jeremy Conlin (@jeremy_conlin)

After spending most of last week being mean, we turned the tables on Friday and started to say nice things about every team. This continues the Era of Good Feelings (or were those in the 1820s - I can never remember), and I explain how and why each of these teams has a shot at the postseason (or better) this season. This group has the last few lottery teams from last year, and the first group of playoff teams. It also includes the first two teams (one from each conference) with a semi-realistic shot (or better) of reaching the Finals.

New York Knicks

And underrated part of the trade that sent Ray Felton and Tyson Chandler to Dallas in exchange for Jose Calderon and Samuel Dalembert (and other spare parts) is that it reunites Calderon and Andrea Bargnani. Back before he got hurt in 2012, Bargnani was enjoying the best offensive season of his career, thanks in large part to a robust foul rate, and was doing most of his best work when he shared the floor with Jose Calderon. In 2013, Bargnani was injured and Calderon was traded mid-season and they never really clicked. But now they have another chance.

Your NBA Team Sucks - A Glass Half-Empty Season Preview (Part II)

Uh-oh. Not again.

By Jeremy Conlin (@jeremy_conlin)

Welcome to Part II of Your Team Sucks - explanations for why each team in the league is comically worse than you think they are. If you missed Part I yesterday, you can find it here.

Part I covered the 10 worst teams in the league last year (save for Cleveland, who we'll save for Part III tomorrow), so this will cover the 10 teams in the middle, including our first batch of playoff teams from a year ago. But we start with a few more lottery teams first.

New York Knicks

They were 24th in defensive efficiency last season. In order to improve this, they traded Ray Felton for the one point guard in the league who might actually be worse defensively - Jose Calderon. They also dealt their only serviceable defensive player in the same deal - Tyson Chandler went back to Dallas and all they got in return was Samuel Dalembert. This means that New York’s big man rotation is Dalembert, Amar’e Stoudemire, and Andrea Bargnani. There’s no possible way that they improve defensively.

West Round 1 Preview: (1) San Antonio Spurs vs. (8) Dallas Mavericks

Manu Ginobili's health is a key for San Antonio's success this postseason. He's seen here discussing his health with his doctor.

By Jeremy Conlin (@jeremy_conlin)

By the Numbers:

San Antonio:
62-20 (32-9 Home, 30-11 Road)
PPG: 105.4 (6th); PPG Allowed: 97.6 (6th)
+7.7 Average Scoring Margin (1st)
Off Rating: 108.2 (6th); Def Rating: 100.1 (4th)
+8.1 Net Efficiency Rating (1st)

Dallas:
49-33 (26-15 Home; 23-18 Road)
PPG: 104.8 (8th); PPG Allowed: 102.4 (20th)
+2.4 Average Scoring Margin (12th)
Off Rating: 109.0 (3rd); Def Rating: 105.9 (22nd)
+3.1 Net Efficiency Rating (11th)

Season Series: San Antonio 4-0
San Antonio 116, Dallas 107 (December 26)
San Antonio 112, Dallas 90 (January 8)
San Antonio 112, Dallas 106 (March 2)
San Antonio 109, Dallas 100 (April 10)

Points in The Paint: November 21

Paul George is shooting his way into the NBA's elite. (Flickr)

By Jeremy Conlin (@jeremy_conlin)

Here are some storylines from the last week of basketball:

The Atlantic Division Is A Dumpster Fire

On Wednesday night, the 5-7 Philadelphia 76ers squared off against the 4-7 Toronto Raptors. Toronto won the game and took over possession of first place in the division. At 5-7.

The Raptors win was the first win by any team in the division since last Friday (when Brooklyn beat Phoenix by two). Since then, teams in the division have lost seventeen straight games when not playing each other. I'm not quite sure how it's possible.

As a matter of fact...

The Eastern Conference Is A Dumpster Fire

I Like This Team - A Glass-Half-Full NBA Preview (Part II)

The Return of Derrick Rose has Chicago thinking Championship.

By Jeremy Conlin (@jeremy_conlin)

We're continuing with our optimistic NBA preview after dolling out 30 helpings of hate last week with Your Team Sucks. If you missed Part I of I Like This Team, you can find it here. In Part II, we're covering the middle of the standings from last season, including a handful of teams that many would find it hard to be optimistic about. But not me! My rose-colored glasses don't discriminate here. Let's start off with a bleak one so you'll get what I mean:

Philadelphia 76ers

They actually have a future! They could end up with two lottery picks next year (their own and New Orleans’), and they have two lottery picks from the 2013 draft (Nerlens Noel and Michael Carter-Williams). It’s basically impossible to have four lottery picks in two years and whiff on all of them. Someone in there is going to develop into an All-Star caliber player or close to it. If they can keep Thaddeus Young invested in staying in town, and if they can continue to develop Evan Turner, they’ll have the makings of a future playoff team.

Best-Case Scenario: Nerlens Noel recovers from his ACL injury by mid-February, giving him an opportunity to get NBA game experience, but it's so late in the season it doesn't really affect Philadelphia's spot in the standings (or, more importantly, the lottery). Michael Carter-Williams takes his lumps but slowly develops, and Thaddeus Young continues to do Thaddeus Young things. With a former San Antonio assistant as the head coach, those three players (along with Evan Turner) use their length and quickness to plant the seeds of a future lockdown defensive squad. 

Your NBA Team Sucks - A Glass-Half-Empty Season Preview (Part II)

Kobe Bryant. Not pictured - Kobe Bryant's Achilles injury.

By Jeremy Conlin (@jeremy_conlin)

This is Part II of our Your Team Sucks series, previewing the worst parts of every NBA team for the upcoming season. In Part I, we covered the 10 worst teams from last season, and tomorrow we're covering the 10 best teams from last season. That means today, we've got the middle 10, including our first batch of playoff teams.

Toronto Raptors

In the first draft of this series, I didn’t write a section about the Raptors because I forgot to add them to my list. That’s how much they suck. I forgot they existed.

First of all, their “star” is Rudy Gay. The same Rudy Gay that had negative offensive win shares at the time he was traded from Memphis to Toronto last season. The same Rudy Gay that attempted almost 17 shots per game last season and sported a true shooting percentage 1.3 points lower than the lowest-ranked team in the league.

Rounding out the squad is Kyle Lowry (who is in a contract year and is surely bolting after the season), DeMar DeRozan (who is somehow even more inefficient than Gay), and Jonas Valanciunas, who is still at least two seasons away from being anything other than just a solid big man.

Worst-Case Scenario: Gay decides what has been holding him back from true superstardom over the last handful of years is positional flexibility, so he insists on playing point guard "like LeBron does." He averages six turnovers per game. Terrence Ross continues to come off the bench until Dwyane Casey realizes he can neither dribble nor shoot, at which point he is inserted into the starting lineup, just to play a joke on DeMar DeRozan. The Raptors begin to tank right after the All-Star break, justifying Aaron Gray's employment.

Philadelphia 76ers

Thaddeus Young, Evan Turner, Spencer Hawes, Jason Richardson, Lavoy Allen, Kwame Brown, Royce White, Arnett Moultrie, James Anderson, Tim Ohlbrecht, Tony Wroten, Darius Morris, Nerlens Noel’s knee injury, and Michael Carter-Whoops I Threw It To the Wrong Team. That’s 14 members of a 15-man NBA roster. Unless the 15th man is LeBreem-Abdul O’Nealajuwon, this team ain’t winning 15 games.

Worst-Case Scenario: Against better judgment, Nerlens Noel returns to the lineup after New Years, and his rebounding and shot-blocking presence vault Philadelphia back towards the middle of the lottery instead of locking up the worst record in the league by the All-Star break. 

Good Moves; Bad Moves in NBA Free Agency

The acquisition of Doc Rivers was integral to keeping Chris Paul in Los Angeles (flickr)

By Bennett Corcoran

As the July moratorium approaches and NBA free agency officially kicks off, let’s take a quick look at some teams that have already committed to verbal agreements with prominent free agents on the market as they attempt to improve next season. Aside from the obvious good moves like Dwight Howard to the Rockets or even Andre Iguodala to the Warriors, there are plenty of other moves out there that require a little more analysis.