Everthing Championship Season Preseason

[Jclaw]

Schedule is going to be released in a few hours. Let the preseason begin! Anything you are looking forward to other than the dates we already know?

[G__Deane]

1/ Seeing how Pascal and OG respond/develop.
2/ Seeing how/if Kyle, Freddy and Norm step up
3/ Seeing how/if Gasol and Serge can step up/keep up
2/ 1st Clippers game
4/ 1st Lakers game
5/ Seeing how we match up againt the new and maybe improved Bucks, Sixers, Celtics, Nets etc

NOT looking forward to the potential of finishing 4-6 in the conference and bowing out by the 2nd round ....

[KeonClark]

1/ Seeing how Pascal and OG respond/develop.
2/ Seeing how/if Kyle, Freddy and Norm step up
3/ Seeing how/if Gasol and Serge can step up/keep up
2/ 1st Clippers game
4/ 1st Lakers game
5/ Seeing how we match up againt the new and maybe improved Bucks, Sixers, Celtics, Nets etc

NOT looking forward to the potential of finishing 4-6 in the conference and bowing out by the 2nd round ....

To me, we have at least an outside/punchers chance of being the 2nd best team in the east. Philly lost Reddick and Butler but gained Richardson, and Horford, overall I think its a slight step back. Boston also took a step back. Indy improved. Brooklyn improved. Milwaukee will be the head and shoulders favorite.

I don't see us lower than 6th, but hard to see us being better than all those teams. Split it and call it 4th

[inthepaint]

Teams will also have young players making strides in development, as well as having dud seasons. It's fun to try to predict how the pecking order is going to be, but the reality is the development (or lack thereof) of rookies/sophmores/3rd year guys has an impact, and that's the hardest thing to forecast. No one really predicted Siakam as MIP last summer, and guys like OG and Norm are still unknowns as to what kind of season they're going to have, even though we've known them for some time now. I'm particularly curious about how Norm will do with theoretically more minutes, and playing in the backcourt again (his natural position)

[G__Deane]

To me, we have at least an outside/punchers chance of being the 2nd best team in the east. Philly lost Reddick and Butler but gained Richardson, and Horford, overall I think its a slight step back. Boston also took a step back. Indy improved. Brooklyn improved. Milwaukee will be the head and shoulders favorite.

I don't see us lower than 6th, but hard to see us being better than all those teams. Split it and call it 4th

I love basketball so I'm going to watch but not gonna lie, I'll have a harder time getting up for what I see as "split it and call it 4th" team with a likely first or second round bounce. Now I have a taste of real winning, I don't want to settle for what we were ....

[Maury]

Looking forward to seeing Norm start at the two. Like someone said earlier it’s nice to see him back in his natural position. I really hate seeing true 2 guards being forced to play the 3 like Norm here and like Demar in San Antonio. Adding onto Norm, I’m excited to see how Norm/OG/Pascal can work as our wing core moving forward, and if Fred can take the championship experience and use it to be a serviceable starting point guard.

Also, I want Kyle and Marc to have dead cat bounce, throwback kind of seasons. It’s gonna be cool to see Kyle leading the team without s high usage wing bogging him down (obviously he fits beautifully next to a high usage wing but ultimately he is held back).

All of this is about the actual season and not the pre season. Pre season for us isn’t going to be all that eventful.

[Maury]

I love basketball so I'm going to watch but not gonna lie, I'll have a harder time getting up for what I see as "split it and call it 4th" team with a likely first or second round bounce. Now I have a taste of real winning, I don't want to settle for what we were ....

I think this is going to be a no pressure fun season with expectations of competing. It’s a gap year for us but that doesn’t mean it’s a wasted year. I’m looking forward to it. Masai finally has a chance to build a team the way he wants, with mostly a clean slate and a top tier prospect in Pascal. Let’s see how it goes.

[KeonClark]

I love basketball so I'm going to watch but not gonna lie, I'll have a harder time getting up for what I see as "split it and call it 4th" team with a likely first or second round bounce. Now I have a taste of real winning, I don't want to settle for what we were ....

Trust me I agree. This is the first time in years I feel like we have no choice but to punt the ball deep and just play for development. Even with DD and KL the goal was finals, even though we were kidding ourselves.

Its hard to get up for this year but I'm excited to see what Masai does in the next 12 months. What's exciting me is if we can get back to being a top end team without ever bottoming out of the playoffs, a spurs-esque retool

[Jclaw]

Kind of meant schedule related but anything goes. Can’t believe they put our LA games back to back with the Clippers game as the second game.

[The Great One]

Pels have 20 Nationally televised games this year

[inthepaint]

Kind of meant schedule related but anything goes. Can’t believe they put our LA games back to back with the Clippers game as the second game.

Yeah just took a quick look at the schedule and that seems to be the worse b2b. Other than that there's a March b2b against the Jazz on the road, but everything else looks relatively tame (as far as b2b's go)

[JawsGT]

To me, we have at least an outside/punchers chance of being the 2nd best team in the east. Philly lost Reddick and Butler but gained Richardson, and Horford, overall I think its a slight step back. Boston also took a step back. Indy improved. Brooklyn improved. Milwaukee will be the head and shoulders favorite.

I don't see us lower than 6th, but hard to see us being better than all those teams. Split it and call it 4th

Boston is an interesting team to ponder. Talent wise, they have probably slipped. Kemba may actually be a better fit than kyrie and they may re-develop some chemistry. Losing Horford was huge though. If tatum and jaylen improve, as they should, they may actually be better this season. That frontline is thin though. Gonna be interesting to see how it turns out.

[DogeLover1234]

Ive talked myself into firmly 3rd best in the conference with a shot at a competitive eastern finals. Started rewatching the playoff run (highly recommend) and I forgot how good Pascal was. Not only that, but with another offseason to improve strength and a pull up game who knows how good he can be. Gasol and Lowry are pretty much always going to be the smartest players on the floor, and I think they both have another playoff run in them at a high level. Between Norm, OG, Stanley, etc. someone has to take a real step up, right?

[Rudy Bargnani]

Ive talked myself into firmly 3rd best in the conference with a shot at a competitive eastern finals. Started rewatching the playoff run (highly recommend) and I forgot how good Pascal was. Not only that, but with another offseason to improve strength and a pull up game who knows how good he can be. Gasol and Lowry are pretty much always going to be the smartest players on the floor, and I think they both have another playoff run in them at a high level. Between Norm, OG, Stanley, etc. someone has to take a real step up, right?

Yea good points. In the playoffs pascal was guarded a lot by Embiid, Giannis, and Draymond..3 of the best defenders in the world. And he still did well. If he takes another step forward that would be awesome.

[LJ2]

The hope is there, but I'm not expecting much from Norm. I think he's a decent role player that can come up big here an there, but consistency has always been an issue for him. Don't see that changing in his 5th year.