Ty's 2021-2022 NBA Preview: Celtics, Suns, Jazz, Lakers

Welcome to day seven of my 2021 NBA countdown. This is it. These are the best of the best. These are the teams that can truly win it all. They are not at the level of my top two teams, which get a full blog tomorrow, but they have the goods to win it all.

At number 6 I have the Boston Celtics. I do not like the Celtics, I never have, and their offseason was weird, but they have a very good team. This team was in the East Finals in the Bubble. Jayson Tatum is on the verge of becoming a super star. He has it all, and he is still very young. He has had COVID, I think he is now vaxxed and that will only help him stay on the floor. He is great. Marcus Smart, who was just suspended for some unknown reason, is one of the best perimeter defenders in the league. He is also becoming a better, not reliable, but better three point shooter. Jaylen Brown is coming off an injury, but he was an all star before he got hurt. He is a very, very good basketball player. And watching the playoffs last year, seeing him so nervous and angry that he couldn't play, that made me like him even more as a player. I like the Dennis Schroeder signing. He messed up by not taking the deal with LA early in the season, but now he is on a one year "prove it" deal, and he is a very skilled player. Al Horford is back, and while he is older, he is still a solid defender and can stretch the defense. I loathe Payton Pritchard, I have since he was at Oregon, but the dude is a good role player. Robert Williams has the talent to be a very good center, he just has to stay on the floor. I like the toughness of the bench that Bruno Fernando brings. Enes Kanter is still a top level offensive center. Jabari Parker played well in spurts. Grant Williams took a little step back, but he is still a rock solid defender. And Romeo Langford and Aaron Nesmith bring youth and athleticism to this squad. I actively root against the Celtics, but they have the talent to make a deep run. Last season was definitely an anomaly.

At 5 I have the Phoenix Suns. They were in the Finals last year. They had a 2-0 lead. They looked really good in getting that lead. And they return pretty much the exact same roster. Chris Paul is back, and he just continues to be one of the best point guards the NBA has ever seen. He is so good at running an offense and making a young team grow up real fast. Devin Booker is an elite shooter, he is starting to get super star calls and his offensive game is lethal. The way he cuts and hits that mid range jumper is impressive. He even got a little better on D last season. Deandre Ayton needs to be more assertive, but he is a highly skilled big and is going to be a double double machine. I wish he had a bit more anger to his game, but maybe that will come with time. Mikail Bridges is like Spiderman on defense, and he hit some big shots in the playoffs. Cam Johnson is great off the bench. Jae Crowder is not afraid of any moment or any player. He is a perfect fit next to CP3. Cam Payne looked better than he ever has in the league as a backup. I like the addition of Javale McGee for defense. I like the acquisition of Landry Shamet. He is a good shooter off of the pick and roll. Elfrid Payton doesn't bring much to their offense, but he is a solid perimeter defender. Dario Saric fits in nice there. And Frank Kaminsky flashed a few times in the Finals. The Suns are a very good team, and if this core can stay together, they are going to be a problem in the West for the next decade.

At number 4 I have the Utah Jazz. The Jazz are the NBA's version of the Seattle Mariners with more success. They were the one seed in the West last year. They dominated the regular season. And then they blew a 2-0 to the Kawhi less Clippers. Donovan Mitchell is awesome. He is a budding MVP candidate. He is a scoring machine. He is better than Luka Doncic and Trae Young. He is legit. Rudy Gobert is the best defensive center in the league. He swallows up drivers and makes it next to impossible for centers to score on him. They should use him more in the pick and roll on offense. Joe Ingles is an ass, but the dude can stroke it. He is a very good shooter. Jordan Clarkson is an electric bench scorer. He is amazing on offense. I really like the additions of Eric Paschall and Rudy Gay. Gay adds a veteran with real postseason experience and Paschall is a very skilled post player. Royce O'Neal is their second best defender, and he takes on the perimeter's opposition best player every night. Udoka Azubuike should get a few more minutes, and I think he will add a nice little bench element at center. And their rookie Jared Butler shot lights out at Baylor last season. The Jazz will be a top 3 seed again, they just have to make a real playoff run for me to take them real seriously.

The final team for today, at number 3 I have the LA Lakers. They have LeBron James. He is the second best player to ever play in the NBA. He is an amazing basketball player, an even better person and he seems as locked in as he has been since the Bubble. He is awesome and I will never count a team out that he plays on. They also have Anthony Davis. The dude simply cannot stay healthy, but when he is on the floor he is amazing. At both ends of the floor. AD could be one of the top 5 players in the league if he could not get hurt. Then the roster gets real weird. They have Russell Westbrook. He is as athletic a player as I have ever seen, but he is older. He is coming off injuries. He got COVID. He is a turnover machine and he shoots way too much for a guy that isn't a great shooter. I love Russ, I am a big fan, always have been, but he is on the other side of the cliff in his career. They also have Carmelo Anthony. Melo looked fine in Portland, but he got to play how he wanted. In LA he is going to have to buy in on defense, which he has never done, and he is going to have to come off the bench, which we all know he doesn't like. Dwight Howard and Deandre Jordan are their picks for center. Howard looked pretty bad last season in Philly, but he looked great in the Bubble with the Lakers. Deandre Jordan didn't see the floor in games that mattered in Brooklyn last year, and he doesn't have the lift he used to while with the Clippers. I like that they got Malik Monk and Kendrick Nunn for the mid level exception. Monk has never been as good a shooter in the NBA as he was his one year at Kentucky, and Nunn lost a ton of minutes last season in Miami. Time will tell with those two. Rajon Rondo is back, and unless he returns to playoff Rondo, I do not see him taking real minutes from Russ. Kent Bazemore was a good addition as a shooter, but he is also older and on the back end of his career. Talen Horton Tucker is young and skilled. He'll need minutes, but he also just got injured and will miss some weeks. Trevor Ariza is also older and hurt. Wayne Ellington used to be good, we will see here. The Lakers have the names. They have former MVP's and all stars on this team. They have LeBron and AD. But they are old, not too rich at shooting guard and will have a tougher time on defense. They will still be a very good team. But when the rubber meets the road, when they need a big three or a defensive stop, I'd be reluctant to say that they have the guys to do it. The playoffs will be the true test of this roster construct.

That is it for today. Come back tomorrow for my top two teams.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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