By Well it’s been a long time since my last entry here on attack the glass, a lot happen during that time had quite the medical scare here around end of march beginning of April that honestly its quite amazing to be able to write this when there was a moment or two it didn’t look like I would be able to do this again. With that said I want to thank everyone who was supportive during that crazy time which ironically happened along with the world, our lives and sports being on hold for quite a while. COVID-19 has done quite the number in 2020 and sports has taken its share of the punishment, particularly basketball.
After Kobe and Gianna Bryant’s untimely death earlier this year this pandemic hit and the worst time for the NBA, as season was ending, and the playoff were rounding into form before it came to a screeching holt. But after some waiting, experimenting in a bubble in Orlando recently with scrimmages the NBA season is back today and finally a piece of normalcy returns to our lives. Here are a couple of things to look forward to, look out for and some predictions for abbreviated season.
The Philadelphia 76ers: The 76ers are a team of mystery to say the least, and this break is going to show us one of a few things. Either this break help them with some their offensive woes, hurt them where no one took the break seriously or improved which you can say for all the teams in Orlando or it will show us that it is time to finally blow up the process and start new.
Of course, the success of the sixers comes down to their young stars Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons. Hopefully Embiid’s conditioning improved so last year’s playoff drop off does not happen again and Ben Simmons shooting issues are resolved so he can be more effective in the offense with Embiid on the floor. Although it has been just scrimmages Simmons has shown a bit more of initiative to shoot which is a good sign for Philadelphia but anything less than a competitive conference finals series along with consistent play the supporting role guys will be a failure and big changes will happen in the city of brotherly love.
2) The Denver Nuggets: Another team that can is right on cusp of something is the Nuggets. With so much young talent lead arguably the best center in basketball Nikola Jokic, this team can cause a lot of teams fits in the west. Hopefully young upcoming players like Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Jr and Bol Bol who was grossly overlooked in last year’s draft fell to Denver in the 2nd and has been amazing in the scrimmages showing his talent and will be the possible x-factor for this team’s success. However, experience is where this team may suffer again in the postseason but hopefully, they will be a competitive opponent for either LA team late in the playoffs.
3) Forgotten Champions: As a Toronto Raptors fan it does not surprise me that many basketball fans have forgot that the raptors are the defending world champions! Although Kawhi Leonard left to play at home in Los Angeles with the Clippers, the rest of the group is still there and were playing well and shockingly under the radar before the pandemic. The next man up mantra continues to work with this team as young breakout talents like Chris Boucher, Terrance Davis and Matt Thomas were contributing with Pascal Siakam and Kyle Lowry’s leadership should be enough to hopefully defend their title in bubble.
4) Time to Fear the Deer: The Milwaukee Bucks are one of the odds-on favorites to win the championship and were steamrolling opponents before the break handily. With reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo leading the team, the bucks are extraordinarily strong favorite to knock off the raptors get their revenge from last year’s conference finals and make to the NBA finals now that they got a probably well-timed break.
5)King of L.A.: Finally, the hot button debate of this season has been who will win the west? Who will win the title? And who will win Los Angeles? The Lakers and Clippers have been neck and neck all season before COVID-19 so we will see who the better team is now that their both rested, reloaded and ready to start the season!
6) The Wild Cards: With this Bubble season there are some teams that absolutely shake things up and shock us with their performance because they have a chance to compete. The teams that everyone should keep an eye on during this run are the Boston Celtics, Dallas Mavericks, Miami Heat and the New Orleans Pelicans will not only be entertaining but can possibly shake up the title picture entirely.
REJOICE! The NBA is back where we are in for quite an interesting finale of this season and I cannot wait to see what unfolds during this shorten season.