Atlanta’s defense is gonna be top tier this season...

So why is it that nobody expects Miami’s young guys to get any better. Pelle Larson may very well be their 3rd-4th best player by mid season. Davion doesn’t turn the ball over, can get to the rim at will(fast as hell), shoots 40% from 3 AND has been going crazy this offseason. They were a middle of the pack offense with virtually no main ball handler/playmaker lead by Norman Powell. You substitute that for GANNIS?? Like you said in the beginning, don’t over think this. The defense will be at least top 3 because there isn’t one player besides THJ that isn’t a plus to great defender who can all guard multiple positions. Good luck scoring on them late game. 3-4 seed incoming

I live in Charlotte , I still can’t believe we traded lamelo but I do love our front office!

Klay Thompson is one of the most underrated defenders ever... especially in the GSW championship years he was one of the most consistent defensive players in the league.

All due respect Jason & great video- Kyshawn George will likely start at the 3 for Washington, with Dybantsa as a jumbo 2.

You are underestimating Orlando some. They won 45 games with Franz missing 50 games. If Franz is healthy last season they win 50+ easily and are in the 2nd round and your outlook is different.

Let's go bucks!

MAILBAG: quick run down on how the 76ers will be played against on the defensive side Spurs, OKC, Raptors, etc teams that match up well with them in a playoff series.

Hornets will surprise. I agree they don't have the alpha to take over, they are hoping Millers handles improve enough to be him.. and he needs more strength. Steady Kon will learn how to takeover as well, it may be more in a crafty way than athletic blow by you way. But the mix of vets / youth is good offensively.
I do think there are some defensive plans to tackle the other teams alpha.. the offseason focus was agility and strength, hopefully that results in improvement.

MAILBAG

Jason i appreciate your analysis but i thought i noticed you overlooking the same key factor twice recently, both with respect to my favorite team, the spurs.

First, on the best player in the world discussion: i agree with you that as of the end of last season you could make an argument for any of the top three guys.  but isn’t the obvious tiebreaker now who is likely to improve the most over the summer?  that might usually be a wash if all the best players are late 20s or early 30s.  but wemby is 22. he is still in the very steep improvement curve of his career and should be expected to improve much more than sga, let alone jokic.  so if the question is who is the best player as this season begins, the most plausible answer seems to me to be wemby.  and while it it is not a perfect metric of course, i do think i have some empirical support in the fact that wemby is a clear mvp favorite.  

then you said you were leaning toward thunder over spurs this year.  but it’s the same thing! let’s say last year was basically a tie bc of thunder playoff injuries (though spurs outplayed them in the regular season). but the spurs second and third best players are even younger than wemby!  there is no way the thunder can get the same kind of internal improvement.

very curious for your thoughts .

Nah, Atlanta cooking everyone ths season.

Get ready to learn the name Pelle Larson

Orlando been the go to for your odd team out especially how the offseason went. They dont give us the benefit of the doubt, nor the outlook that Franz will be healthy, which is somewhat weird especially when there are other players who are coming back from injuries as well. not to mention alot of people dont like how the team play. they be wanting them to do what they think they should. Paolo being inconsistent is straight hyperbolie. He shows up in the Playoffs but they shrug it off based on his regular season. and turn around and do the opposite to Jalen Duren. then its well he was terrible last playoff run lol. like they pick n choose. and they decided Paolo will be held to this crazy standard they dont hold no one else to. People exect them to lose and if They lose its the end of the world trade Paolo or Franz. they win its well there suppose to win they not surprised. so im confused. I really believe its a narrative to push to extract talent from Orlando. People criticize both players but will turn around in trade scenarios said either player will turn the team trading for them into Championship contenders. lol. They want Orlando to be a farm team where people can come pick whatever they need from team. acting like Paolo or Franz is mid is crazy. put some respect on their name.

Saying orlando has a chance at knocking out Indiana is massively disrespectful lol. We are talking about a first round exit dysfunctional offense compared to a consistent deep playoff run team that has the best playoff offense in the league. We saw the pacers go seven games against a WAY better defense in OKC and that was with myles turner being a nonfactor from three that just got upgraded to zubac. I dont even want to hear about Haliburtons health here because he already wasnt healthy in the okc series and still pushed that WAY better team to the brink.

Holy shit, Rhone? No wonder you're so high on the Jazz lol. Respect, I guess free speech is paid speech these days.

I get spending less time on teams that didn't change much, but wow. Half your vid was the Heat and it seened like just seconds zipping through Hawks and Magic, two teams that could beat the Heat.

@ 6:30 ... I'm sorry Jason, but I'm going to have to disagree with the notion that all those players you named our superior ball handlers than Miami's. There superior ball handlers are there stars and superstars for the most part. Payton Pritchard and other players like him you named are on the similar level of the Heat players that are not the stars/superstars. 76ers are obviously the exception for this example.

Orlando is a to 3 in the east with health only.  Vooch makes the bench way better ECF for real.  You guys are going to hear Let's Play That Song a lot 🎵🎵 Let's Go Magic!!

i have a feeling that this is not gonna go well... the cliff is aproaching fast for the greek and if he get´s there it´s over for him... go-go-gadget is one of the purest athletes to ever step foot in the league but on the other hand he is maybe the worst pure basketball-player to have ever reached such a level of superstardom... if you have to create the perfect basketball player in the lab, your creation would have his measurements. the length of his arms and legs relative to the size of his torso is absolutely unique. absolutely insane... but if there is one single foundational thing to the game of basketball it is with no doubt the jumpshot...

Orlando Magic will be better than Boston this year book it. We massively underrating Jaylen brown impact