{"id":7288,"date":"2019-10-11T13:47:52","date_gmt":"2019-10-11T18:47:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/?p=7288"},"modified":"2019-10-12T00:29:21","modified_gmt":"2019-10-12T05:29:21","slug":"76ers-and-clippers-atop-my-pre-season-nba-rankings-will-okc-make-the-post-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/?p=7288","title":{"rendered":"76ers and Clippers atop my pre-season NBA rankings….Will OKC make the post-season?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Paul, Adams, Gallinari’s time in OKC is key for a playoff run for Thunder<\/h2>\n

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Using my crystal ball that I purchased many moons ago at the once TG&Y store in Oklahoma City, the favorites in my pre-season rankings are solid to make the playoffs, with two teams that I consider NBA Finals worthy.\u00a0 In the west, with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George moving over to the left coast, the Los Angles Clippers seem to have the strongest case to win out the tough Western Conference.\u00a0 In the east, the Philadelphia 76ers, with a talent laced group, will fight off the Boston Celtics to get the nod to play the LAC in the Finals in 2020.\u00a0 My rankings as the season begins, with the perspective of how I think the teams will end up after the regular season.<\/span><\/h6>\n

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Western Conference (top 8 make the post season playoffs)<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h5>\n

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    \n
  1. \u00a0 Los Angeles Clippers<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. \u00a0 Denver Nuggets<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. \u00a0 Los Angeles Lakers<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. \u00a0 Utah Jazz<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. \u00a0 Houston Rockets<\/span><\/li>\n
  6. \u00a0 New Orleans Pelicans<\/span><\/li>\n
  7. \u00a0 Portland Trail Blazers<\/span><\/li>\n
  8. \u00a0 San Antonio Spurs<\/span><\/li>\n
  9. \u00a0 Dallas Mavericks<\/span><\/li>\n
  10. \u00a0 Oklahoma City Thunder<\/span><\/li>\n
  11. \u00a0 Golden State Warriors<\/span><\/li>\n
  12. \u00a0 Sacramento Kings<\/span><\/li>\n
  13. \u00a0 Minnesota Timberwolves<\/span><\/li>\n
  14. \u00a0 Phoenix Suns<\/span><\/li>\n
  15. \u00a0 Memphis Grizzlies<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

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    Some observations:\u00a0 If OKC trades any of the three of Steven Adams, Chris Paul, or Danilo Gallinari, the Thunder will push the bottom with the Grizzlies and the Suns.\u00a0 If Sam Presti (Thunder GM) does not deal the three, look for OKC to have a legitimate chance to play in he first round of the NBA playoffs.\u00a0 <\/span><\/h6>\n

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    Houston could be limited early if Russell Westbrook does not play in November and their season record will take a hit.\u00a0 Golden State will have the biggest drop-off, with OKC, as the Warriors do not have Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson and much of their bench of last year.\u00a0 The Pelicans are a team on the move up, and I can see them making a significant run in the regular season.\u00a0 Los Angeles Lakers, in my opinion, are a puzzling team, but with Lebron James they should also be one really good team.\u00a0 <\/span><\/h6>\n

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    <\/h6>\n
    These Western rankings and also the Eastern also, will change week to week as of the play during that seven day time frame, but when all is said and done, the top eight to make the playoffs from the west should look like what I have listed.<\/span><\/h6>\n

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    Eastern Conference\u00a0 (Top eight make the post season playoffs)<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/h5>\n

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      \n
    1. \u00a0 Philadelphia 76ers<\/span><\/li>\n
    2. \u00a0 Boston Celtics<\/span><\/li>\n
    3. \u00a0 Milwaukee Bucks<\/span><\/li>\n
    4. \u00a0 Miami Heat<\/span><\/li>\n
    5. \u00a0 Indiana Pacers<\/span><\/li>\n
    6. \u00a0 Toronto Raptors<\/span><\/li>\n
    7. \u00a0 Orlando Magic<\/span><\/li>\n
    8. \u00a0 Detroit Pistons<\/span><\/li>\n
    9. \u00a0 Atlanta Hawks<\/span><\/li>\n
    10. \u00a0 Chicago Bulls<\/span><\/li>\n
    11. \u00a0 Brooklyn Nets<\/span><\/li>\n
    12. \u00a0 Washington Wizards<\/span><\/li>\n
    13. \u00a0 New York Knicks<\/span><\/li>\n
    14. \u00a0 Cleveland Cavaliers<\/span><\/li>\n
    15. \u00a0 Charlotte Hornets<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

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      Realistically, the East will be weaker than last year, as of Leonard moving to the LAC.\u00a0 And judging the teams by talent, only the Sixers, Celtics, and Bucks are good enough to challenge for the NBA title.<\/span><\/h6>\n

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      Milwaukee will try to improve on their league leading record in 2019-20, and that might happen.\u00a0 Atlanta and Detroit are going to be better, both on what they can put on the floor and record wise.\u00a0 Currently, the bottom group of the Bulls, Nets, Wizards, Knicks, Cavaliers, and Hornets are terrible teams and will again have losing seasons.<\/span><\/h6>\n

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      <\/h6>\n
      <\/h6>\n
      <\/h6>\n
      MVP for 2020:\u00a0 Kawhi Leonard, LAC<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n
      <\/h6>\n
      All NBA<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n

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      First Team:<\/strong><\/span><\/h6>\n
      Kawhi Leonard<\/strong><\/span><\/h6>\n
      James Harden<\/strong><\/span><\/h6>\n
      Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/strong><\/span><\/h6>\n
      Lebron James<\/strong><\/span><\/h6>\n
      Nikola Jokic \u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/h6>\n
      \u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/h6>\n
      <\/h6>\n
      Second team:<\/strong><\/span><\/h6>\n
      Paul George<\/strong><\/span><\/h6>\n
      Russell Westbrook<\/strong><\/span><\/h6>\n
      Donovan Mitchell<\/strong><\/span><\/h6>\n
      Damian Lillard<\/strong><\/span><\/h6>\n
      Stephen Curry<\/strong><\/span><\/h6>\n

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      <\/h6>\n
      Third team:<\/strong><\/span><\/h6>\n
      Draymond Green<\/strong><\/span><\/h6>\n
      Jimmy Butler<\/strong><\/span><\/h6>\n
      Joel Embiid<\/strong><\/span><\/h6>\n
      Ben Simmons<\/strong><\/span><\/h6>\n
      Kembra Walker<\/strong><\/span><\/h6>\n

       <\/p>\n

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      Feature photo:\u00a0 NBA.com<\/p>\n

      Secondary photo:\u00a0 NBA\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

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      <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Paul, Adams, Gallinari’s time in OKC is key for a playoff run for Thunder  …<\/p>\n

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      <\/path><\/svg><\/i> \"Loading\"<\/p>\n

      <\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7291,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,4,7,9],"tags":[597,1446,326,604,178,513],"class_list":["post-7288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-home","category-latest","category-nba","tag-chris-paul","tag-danilo-gallinari","tag-kawhi-leonard","tag-nba-basketball","tag-sam-presti","tag-steven-adams"],"a3_pvc":{"activated":true,"total_views":136,"today_views":0},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7288"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7288\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7299,"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7288\/revisions\/7299"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}