Ty's Midseason NBA Redo

Okay, finally time to do my NBA mid season redo. I definitely got some stuff wrong, but I think I also hit on a few things, mainly how awesome Ja Morant was going to be right away. Let’s get going.

I will start with the East, the JV of the NBA. I will touch on each team very quickly, where I had them preseason, and why I was wrong or right. For the East, the Bucks, like we all thought, sit atop, and share a very comfortable lead. They are clearly the best team in the conference with the most dominant player. The Bucks are good. Now lets see them make it to the Finals. Going from there, the current playoff teams are as follows, the Heat, Raptors, Celtics, 76ers, Pacers, Magic and Nets. I thought the Heat would be good, but not this good this quick. They will be a force to be reckoned with come playoff time. The Raptors are being bolstered by Pascal Siakim taking the next leap, and a really, really good coaching staff. The Celtics are kind of just hanging around, but after what they did to the Lakers last night, they may start climbing up in the conference very soon. The 76ers are worrying me right now. I had them in the Finals, but Embiid is injured yet again, Ben Simmons has only taken 2 threes, Josh Richardson is not a poor man's Jimmy Butler. They need shooting, and they need it now. They can still turn it around. The Pacers are staying in the race, and they soon get Victor Oladipo back. I thought they would be much better, but the fact that guys like Damontas Sabonis and Malcolm Brogdon are playing this well, plus getting Oladipo back, will help this team stay in the hunt. The Magic are okay, but they are in basketball purgatory. They can't trade for anyone, can't lure stars and they have far too many bigs on the roster. They are destined to be a 7 or 8 seed for a long time. And we have the Nets. Man this team was so much fun last year. They are not fun at all this year. I think they will be dynamite when KD comes back, but Kyrie Irving is becoming more and more clear as a locker room cancer. He has destroyed every place he has played, and been super miserable about it. I don't know why I expected something different.

As for the rest of the East, The Pistons, with Derrick Rose being the lone exception, are awful and boring, the Bulls had promise, but they have an awful head coach, and their young talent isn't meshing, the Wizards are better than I anticipated, and Bradley Beal is awesome, but man do they stink on defense, like big time.

Now for the bottom of the bottom, the Hornets just can't figure it out. They started strong, but they have really fallen off as of late. The Knicks are the worst run franchise in sports, and they are a bad basketball team. The Cavaliers have so many problems off the court, and that is compounded by how young, and bad they are as a team. They're not good. And then we have the Hawks. Can they get Trae Young any real help please. He is so good, and so is John Collins, but outside of them, it is rough. Cam Reddish isn't good, Deandre Hunter is up and down, Kevin Huerter cannot hit enough open threes and Vince Carter, while I adore him, is showing his age.

Now to the varsity. The West is so much better, and it shows. I will admit it right now, I was very, very wrong about the Lakers. LeBron is playing at a super high level, AD is a monster and the roster, right now, is really clicking. I thought Dwight Howard would be a problem, he is not. I thought guys like Danny Green and Avery Bradley would struggle, they have not. The Lakers are very good, and a real threat to go to the Finals. The rest of the West playoffs goes like this, Nuggets, Jazz, Clippers, Mavericks, Rockets, Thunder and Grizzlies. The Nuggets are super deep and very well coached. They lose a guy like Jamaal Murray and just plug in Malik Beasley or Michael Porter. They have the goods to take the next step. The Jazz started slow, but they have figured it out lately. They score a ton and play very, very good defense. I will be curious to see how they do when Mike Conley gets back, but right now, Donovan Mitchell is running the show, as he should be. The Clippers are kind of sleep walking right now, but I don't think it really matters where they end up. This is a team made for the playoffs, and when that time comes, they can "flip the switch". Also, they have Kawhi freaking Leonard. The Mavericks have shocked me by how they have played, and by all the wins. Kristaps Porzingis has been a non factor, but Luka Doncic is the real deal. He is legitimately a top five player currently in the league. It helps that guys like Tim Hardaway Jr is hitting threes, and Seth Curry is really stepping up. The Rockets are struggling, and I picked them to go to the West Finals, thinking that Harden and Westbrook would click, but it just isn't working. They don't play defense, they have very lousy shooting nights more often than not and they don't seem cohesive. There's still time, but they look like a first round out right now. The Thunder are my most surprising team. I thought they would be fun, but not good. They are, in fact, both fun and good. Chris Paul has really taken on a leadership role and Shai Gilgeous Alexander is becoming a star. This team is, shockingly, very good and a playoff team. And then we have the Grizzlies, my Grizzlies. I wrote a whole thing about Ja, but this team is so fun, and playing very well right now. I don't know if they can keep this up, but dammit are they an absolute blast to watch.

As for the rest of the West, we have the Spurs, who are now shooting threes, and starting to play like they want to make the playoffs, the Trailblazers, who I assumed would be far, far better, but do not play defense and need someone besides Dame, CJ or Carmelo Anthony to step the hell up, the Suns, who started hot, cooled off and are playing well again recently, they just don't have the depth they need, the Pelicans, who have really turned it around since their awful start, and tomorrow night they get Zion back, and he could be the difference in them making the playoffs or not. We then have the Timberwolves who just cannot figure much out. KAT is all world on offense, but plays no defense, Andrew Wiggins has totally cooled off and they just traded Jeff Teague for scraps to try and get a better player before the deadline. The Kings are next, and I thought they would be so much better. Sure, they have dealt with injury stuff, and that is a bummer, but maybe Luke Walton really isn't a good head coach. This team just doesn't look, or feel, the same as last year. That is a bummer. And finally, we have the Warriors. Well, I don't think any of us expected them to be this bad, but they lost KD, there has been no Klay and Steph got hurt in, like game five of the season. This has to be hard for their fans, after so much success, but just look at this as a lost year, where you will get a super high pick, and then you can come out blazing next season when your core is back.

So at the current moment, if I had to pick conference finals, in the East I will go with the Bucks and Celtics, and the Bucks winning in 5. As for the West, I want to see both LA teams play each other, and that is what I think will happen. And I am going to go with the Clippers to win in 7. As for the Finals, I got Kawhi doing his thing yet again, and bringing a title to the Clippers in 6 games. As for the awards, Ja is ROY. Etch that in stone right now. I think Nick Nurse should be coach of the year considering how well that team has played after losing their best player. Defensive player of the year is Rudy Gobert. Sixth man of the year is Lou Williams. And MVP, it will be Giannis winning it once again. As for Finals MVP, I'm going with Kawhi.

Okay, there is my mid season NBA redo. I'm very excited to see how things play out from here. The NBA rules.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet. 

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.