The Biggest Non-Warriors Storylines To Watch This Season In The NBA

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The 2017-18 NBA season is almost upon us, as opening night tips off in less than a week. A new season always brings excitement, and after a crazy summer, there are more than a few storylines worth keeping an eye on all year.

Fans of each team will have things they want to see at a local level, whether it’s being a contender, battling for the playoffs, seeing young players develop, or even earning a high draft pick. On a national level, some would point to the Warriors’ existence as a bit of a deterrent to getting heavily invested in the results in the NBA this season.

Golden State is, rightfully, considered a nearly unbeatable juggernaut. They will in all likelihood, health permitting, win the championship for the third time in four years and cement their place as the best dynasty of the past two decades, with more likely to be added in the future. Kevin Durant, Steph Curry, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson, and the rest of the Warriors roster will almost assuredly add another ring to their collection in June and, like last year, it could be a pretty easy road to the title, despite the best efforts of their competition.

Even so, there are plenty of reasons to keep a close eye on the rest of the top teams, as well as other interesting up-and-comers, this season even if you’re a fan of another team. Below, you’ll find the most important national storylines to follow in the NBA this season that have nothing to do with Golden State, but will still shape the league’s future for years to come.
LeBron’s Last Stand In Cleveland?

It’s impossible to avoid the elephant in the room in Cleveland, which is LeBron James’ impending free agency. All season, we’ll be closely watching how the King handles his final year under contract with the Cavs and what moves Cleveland makes (or doesn’t make) as the trade deadline comes and goes. We’ve heard rumors all summer about James potentially wanting to go to L.A. and that the Cavs need to make another big move (likely involving the Brooklyn pick) to show their commitment to James.

Without Kyrie Irving, the burden once again falls almost completely on LeBron’s shoulders, but he has his good friend Dwyane Wade along for the ride and he seems pretty excited about the upcoming season. Cleveland’s activity at the deadline could tip their hand as to how confident they are about James staying this summer. If they go out and make win-now moves and shake up the roster to chase a title, it will indicate they think James is staying. If not, and that Brooklyn pick remains there after the mid-February deadline, it will signal that they are at least somewhat concerned he may leave and want to hold onto an insurance policy.

Will The Thunder And Rockets New Star Combinations Work Together?

Houston and Oklahoma City were both mid-seeds in the West last year with top MVP candidates putting up astronomical numbers, but weren’t able to sniff the Conference Finals to even think about challenging the Warriors. So, both teams went out and took big swings on the trade market to bring in more superstar talent with one more year on their contracts, while also locking up their MVP candidates to max extensions.

The Thunder realized having Russell Westbrook doing everything himself, while wildly entertaining to watch, wasn’t a sustainable model for success. So, they traded for Paul George and Carmelo Anthony to try and become the second best team in the West and a true challenger to the warriors. The Thunder certainly want to contend this year, but most importantly they need to play well and show improvement over the course of the year to convince George and Anthony to stick around beyond this season. George will hit free agency, while Anthony can decline his ETO, and that would leave them back at square one — albeit with some serious cap space.

Westbrook’s extension has George hinting at possibly staying, but all of that will come down to how they mesh on the court and how successful they can be.

The Rockets likewise hit the trade market for help and brought in Chris Paul to make a dynamic backcourt pairing. It will be probably more interesting to watch how Paul and James Harden interact on the court than any other new teammate combination in the NBA this season, simply because of all the new combos this one seems the most combustible. They might fit beautifully and combine to be the NBA’s premier backcourt, but they also have very different personalities and it could all go horribly wrong. If the former happens, Paul almost assuredly re-ups in Houston, if not, we’re having very real discussions about the Banana Boat crew trying to get together.
Did The Celtics Make Themselves A Legitimate Threat To The Cavs In The East?

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No team had a more active offseason than Boston, which overhauled most of their roster. Gone are Isaiah Thomas, Avery Bradley, Jae Crowder, Amir Johnson, Kelly Olynyk, and Jonas Jerebko (six of their top 10 scorers a year ago). Stepping into their place are Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward, Marcus Morris, Aron Baynes, Jayson Tatum, Semi Ojeleye, and Guerschon Yabusele. There’s no doubt they added more star power in Irving and Hayward, making for an intriguing trio alongside Al Horford. However, it remains to be seen if the star additions and increased roles for young players like Jaylen Brown, Terry Rozier, and their rookies can replace the sum of the parts that made them the East’s top seed a year ago.

A year ago, Boston was built to dominate in the regular season with a lot of guys that play hard night in and night out, and they took advantage. This year, the Celtics are shifting to the way of the world in the NBA in 2017 by going for star power and banking on having enough top talent to win in the playoffs when rotations get shorter as opposed to being a team built on depth and energy. It’s probably a smart assessment of last year’s squad to notice they didn’t have enough to get past the Cavs.

That said, it remains to be seen how Irving handles responsibilities as the guy as he wanted and meshes with his new star teammates and whether that’s enough to be the first team to get past the East’s final boss that is LeBron James in eight years.

Can The Timberwolves Take The Leap?

The other team in the West that loaded up to this summer to start their ascent into the “real contender” class was Minnesota. After missing the playoffs a year ago, the Timberwolves are suddenly a popular pick to win 50-plus games and earn a potential top-4 seed in the West. That’s because Minnesota absolutely stole Jimmy Butler away from the Bulls at the draft and replaced Ricky Rubio with Jeff Teague in free agency. Adding Teague and Butler brings a veteran presence and steady hand to a team with a pair of budding young stars, most notably Karl-Anthony Towns.

Towns was an absolute monster last year and only got better as the season wore on, averaging 25.1 points and 12.3 rebounds per game with legitimate range to the three-point line, shooting 36.7 percent from deep. Towns, entering his third season, is already one of the NBA’s most formidable offensive big men. Adding Jimmy Butler as a legitimate wing scorer and a quality point guard in Jeff Teague who can knock down spot-up jumpers when Butler is acting as primary ball-handler means Minnesota ought to have one of the NBA’s top offenses.

The questions for the Timberwolves are almost all on the defensive side of the ball, and it is there that their status as a contender will be decided. It’s strange to see a Tom Thibodeau coached team with serious questions on that end, but the Wolves struggled at that end last year. Adding Butler helps, but the Wolves need to see improvement from Towns and Andrew Wiggins, who are both capable but have yet to prove themselves as good team defenders. If the Minnesota defense makes a major improvement and can find itself in the middle of the pack in the NBA, this team can absolutely be a threat in the West. If not, the Timberwolves’ takeover will again be delayed.

Will The Process Finally Yield Results?

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This is the season Philadelphia is expected to make The Leap™ and go from perpetually competing for the No. 1 overall pick to competing for a playoff spot in the East. This is the year all of their young players are supposed to hit the court together, with Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons healthy and Markelle Fultz joining the squad to go along with Dario Saric and free agent veteran signing J.J. Redick. The pieces are all there in Philadelphia, but all of them, with Redick as the exception, are still very young, very unproven and all still have some question marks.

For Embiid, everything comes down to health, and, to be honest, if he’s healthy and able to play 70-plus games this season that just might be all they need in the East. That’s still a very big if, one big enough for the Sixers to write in language into his new extension that allows them to get out at a reduced cost should foot or back problems continue to hamper his ability to play. Simmons is a super talented player with injury questions of his own, but mostly we don’t know exactly how he’ll fare in the NBA as a rookie. Fultz is dealing with a shoulder injury that has forced him to change his free throw stroke, which has Brett Brown a bit worried, but he, like Simmons, is a super-talented rookie at a position that is rarely kind to rookies.

In the East, it’s more than reasonable to expect a relatively healthy Sixers team to challenge for a playoff spot. However, it’s hard to win a lot with a team this young, and it often takes a year of frustrations and close calls before they can truly become a playoff contender — just ask Minnesota last year. If nothing else, whether they’re winning 40-plus games or stuck in the 30s, this is going to be a highly entertaining team to watch.

How Will The Beginning Of The Lonzo Ball Era Go?

The Lakers are back! Well, at least as far as being a team that will be genuinely interesting for non-Lakers fans. Outside of Philly, there’s not a team with a more intriguing collection of young, relatively unproven talent than the Lakers. Lonzo Ball is obviously the headliner, but how Brandon Ingram and Julius Randle improve this season will also be of importance to the Lakers’ success and how intriguing they’ll be to free agents in 2018.

With LeBron James and Paul George hitting the market, the Lakers have their eyes on landing a pair of superstars to accelerate their rebuild and immediately become a contender. However, they’ll need an on-court product that can excite those players beyond simply the appeal of coming to L.A. If Lonzo looks the part of a stud point guard and Ingram can become a consistent threat as a stretch big, then the Lakers might just be an interesting free agent destination. If they struggle, as young players have a tendency to do, it will be a harder sell for veterans. The preseason is never a good judge of actual talent, but from what we’ve seen early on, the Lakers ought to be fun if nothing else.

Who Will Win And Lose The Races For The Top 8?

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The first round of the playoffs will, in all likelihood, not be very competitive. What will be far more interesting is the final playoff push down the stretch run of the season in both conferences for different reasons. In the West there are too many good teams to all find their way into the playoffs. A couple of teams will find themselves in the lottery rather than in a playoff series and, depending on how far back they finish, force some conversations to be had about the team’s direction for the future.

The Warriors, Spurs, Thunder, and Rockets are locks and the Wolves are pretty close to it, but the final three seeds (and maybe four, depending on the Wolves) will be six teams fighting for three spots. The Blazers, Clippers, Jazz, Grizzlies, Pelicans, and Nuggets all have strong rosters, but legitimate questions. Should one fall well behind the pace by February, it wouldn’t be surprising to see them pivot into sellers at the trade deadline to start a rebuild early. Even if that happens, you’re looking at a four or five team race to the finish for those final three spots and it ought to be awfully fun to watch.

In the East the problem is the opposite of the West as there aren’t enough good teams to fill all eight playoff spots. The Cavs, Celtics, Wizards, Raptors, and Bucks are the five playoff teams from last year that seem like near locks to return this year. The Hawks and Bulls will almost assuredly find themselves out of the playoffs and the Pacers also could take a significant step back but will be in the conversation. The Heat, Pistons, and Hornets are pretty much running it back with the same teams that just missed out last year and are hoping that’s enough to leap-frog those teams that are dropping out.

Meanwhile, the Sixers are hoping to charge forward, while the Magic are, well, a basketball team.

The race for the final three spots in the East will also be a five or six team race, but unlike the West it will likely be a race to 38-to-40 wins that earns that eighth spot. It will be especially interesting if one of those teams trying to rebuild accidentally finds itself in the hunt and front offices start wheeling and dealing to ensure that’s not the case. The East is going to be ugly, but it might be ugly enough to make it kind of fun and oddly competitive in the most mediocre way possible down the stretch.

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