NBA Season Preview/Predictions 2018-2019

A new season of  basketball is upon us. The leaves are changing colour much like the jerseys of some of the NBA’s best. “The King” heads west to the city of stars, looking to spearhead the resurgence of “Showtime” in L.A. Up north, Kawhi Leonard will look to draw up a new masterpiece on the blank canvas that is the Raptors franchise. What didn’t change however is the looming shadow of greatness that strikes fear into NBA players and fans alike. I’m of course talking about the reigning NBA champion Golden State Warriors. Can anyone hang with the Beasts of the Bay Area? That is where this season preview begins.

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The 2019 NBA champions will be:

The Golden State Warriors. With the addition of Demarcus Cousins, The Warriors have reached a new level of video-gameness (yes I made up a new word) that simply can not be matched. If you created this team in NBA2k it would be unrealistic. The Warriors will three-peat this season and cement themselves as one of the all-time great teams, alongside the 90’s Bulls, 80’s Celtics and 80’s Lakers.

The 2019 NBA MVP will be:

Giannis Antetokounmpo. This was a tough call for me because I believe this years MVP race will be close. LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Kawhi Leonard are all right behind Giannis for me and I expect the end-year voting to be the closest in NBA history. I believe the Greek Freak gets the nod because his numbers will be outstanding once again but at the same time, I think the Bucks have a good year and win around 50 games. History has shown with the Russell Westbrook MVP that you don’t need to be on a great team to win it, you just need the numbers and Giannis Antetokounmpo will be happy to oblige.

The 2019 NBA Rookie of the Year will be:

Deandre Ayton. The number one overall pick is the safe bet but I believe he edges out Luka Doncic in this years ROY race. To me, Ayton is the most polished rookie in this years draft class. Often compared to Joel Embiid, Ayton has a stong, almost old school like post game. A walking 20 and 10 guy seems to be Deandre’s career projection.

The 2019 NBA Defensive Player of the Year will be:

Anthony Davis. “The Brow” is a strong candidate to be the first winner of MVP and DPOY in the same season since Hakeem Olajuwon in 1994. I feel like he will have a borderline MVP season and just miss out on that award so the voters will give him the DPOY instead. Team defense numbers do have some weight in regards to who wins DPOY but usually the guy with the most blocks wins so that’s why I’m going with Anthony Davis.

The 2019 NBA Coach of the Year will be:

Nick Nurse of the Toronto Raptors. Each year this award goes to one of two people: the coach with the most wins or the coach that surprised people with how well their team did. I feel like Nick Nurse will win the award solely on the fact that the Raptors will have a good record and he’s a rookie coach.

The 2019 NBA Sixth Man of the Year will be:

The player who scores the most points off the bench.

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Even though all of us NBA fans know who will be standing on that podium in June, I can still personally find joy throughout the season in the little things. The highlights, the drama and of course the memes.

Please continue to follow my blog for all my HOT takes on the goings on this year.

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The Beasts of the East Battle, Toronto Comes Out On Top

As far as early season games go, this was one of the most hyped. Many believe the Toronto Raptors and Boston Celtics are the two best teams in the NBA’s Eastern Conference, with Philadelphia coming in a close third.

The Celtics are back at full strength again with the return of All-Stars Gordon Hayward and Kyrie Irving. In my opinion they are with out a doubt the deepest team in the NBA. Golden State is the best team but Boston goes 11 guys deep whereas the Warriors can only really go 8 guys deep.

This game went exactly as expected. Two great teams playing to the best of their abilities, resulting in a wire to wire slug fest. Both teams traded momentum swings for the full 48 minutes which resulted in a game that lived up to the hype.

Kawhi Leonard showed up once again looking like a star. Despite his shooting struggles all night, he was consistently great on the defensive end of the floor. The highlight of this game was at the end where Kawhi and Danny Green got a rare double block on a Jayson Tatum lay-up attempt.

These teams will meet three more times throughout this season and NBA fans from around the world hope the next three are as good as this one.

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The Raptors Klaw their way past Cavs

The Toronto Raptors got their 2018/2019 NBA campaign underway last night in the 6 where they took on the LeBron-less Cleveland Cavaliers.

Kawhi Leonard, a.k.a. The Klaw, debuted for the Raptors with an impressive 24 point, 12 rebound effort. The first half was rough for Leonard as he looked noticeably rusty, having not played a real game of basketball in nine months. Not surprisingly at all he stepped it up in the second half and began to hit his jump shot at a great rate. I’m looking forward to see how much better he looks throughout this season as he grows accustomed to his new teammates.

Kyle Lowry also looked great in last nights game. Honestly, I don’t remember seeing him that confident and aggressive last year, maybe in short spurts only. Lowry’s play this year will be so important in how succesful Toronto is. If he plays like a superstar, not just an all-star this year, we could very well be seeing a Golden State Vs. Toronto NBA Finals in June.

The Raptors played last night with a certain confidence and swagger that I thought they may have lost with how their season ended last year, getting swept by Lebron and his Cavaliers. With LeBron now out of the picture in the Eastern Conference, the Raptors can see a clear path to the Finals. A path which doesn’t end with LeBron James staring them in the face.

As a Raptors fan, I can honestly say I haven’t been this excited for a Toronto squad in at least three years. Kawhi Leonard has re-energized me as a fan and I’m hoping he does the same for his team.

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Raptors stop Pelicans from flying to an easy victory!

The Raptors had excuses, a few excuses as to why they should have lost tonight’s game. Their starting centre Jonas Valanciunas was missing due to a back injury and their best option off the bench, Patrick Patterson, was out once again. Toronto was also playing on the second night of a back-to-back so tired legs were a factor. 

The Raps got extremely lucky that New Orleans big man Anthony Davis was out in this one due to a respiratory infection. Davis has been great all season but lately he’s been beasting, making everyone league wide know that he has Hall of Fame potential. 

While the Pelicans were without their All-Star, Toronto had theirs, DeMar DeRozan, who had a game high 31 points. When you play the second game of a back-to-back, you need guys to step up and that’s exactly what DeMar did. 

As a fan, it was hard watching this game because somewhere during the first quarter it seemed like the Raptors had already lost the game. At the end of the first quarter, the pelicans were leading and shot higher than 80% from the field. 80 percent against statistically one of the top defensive teams in the NBA. The Raptors picked up their defensive and offensive energy in the second quarter and had it down to a one point game before halftime.

The Raptors took it 107-100 in the end and showed some of the heart that they’ve been lacking over the last few games. 

A takeaway from this game was the noticeable lack of defensive presence in the paint without Valanciunas. The total number of points in the paint after 1 quarter was 20-2 in favor of the Pelicans. If Jonas was there, just his height and length would have been enough to at least make a few of those shots not go in. Speaking of a lack of defensive presence, Dwane Casey had a pretty funny line-up out on the court tonight, as well as yesterdays game. If I remember correctly, at one point in this game the Raptors had these five players out on the court at  the same time. At point guard, Kyle Lowry. At shooting guard, Nando De Colo. At small forward, DeMar DeRozan. At power forward, John Salmons and Chuck Hayes at centre.

 

Yeah that’s probably a good idea, have John Salmons play power forward, can’t see any problems that might occur because of that decision. Oh and a 6’6″ centre is your big man out on the floor? He’s the rim protection? Nope, I don’t see anything wrong with that. I’m not saying anything new here but Dwane Casey’s rotations are getting a little scary. Sure Valanciunas and Patterson were out but that doesn’t mean you play John Salmons over Tyler Hansbrough at the 4. Casey also plays Steve Novak a lot at PF. Steve Novak! The guy who does nothing but shoot threes, and most games he doesn’t even make one. Why is he out there!? WHY IS HE OUT THERE!?!?!? Thanks be to the basketball gods that Jonas Valanciunas’ injury doesn’t seem severe which will hopefully get him back as soon as possible, maybe even for the next game versus the OKC Thunder.

My prediction for the Raptors next game versus the Thunder is that they lose by double digits in a hard fought game that comes down to the last few minutes. Toronto beat them once before this season so they can do it again but I don’t see it happening this time. 

Raptors VS Jazz tonight in Utah!

The Toronto Raptors continue their road trip tonight to take on the Jazz.

After being snubbed for the All-Star game, Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry has been named the Eastern Conference player of the week. Tonight he is matched up against a very good rookie point guard in Trey Burke so look for Lowry to try and send a message to the rook.

DeMar DeRozan and the Raptors lost a heartbreaker to the Portland Trailblazers on Saturday night, being down as much as 19 but somehow came back and almost took it in the end. DeRozan had 30 points and 10 assists in the SECOND HALF from a total of 36 points and a career-high 12 assists. That statline was somewhat tarnished when he got the ball at the end of the game and lost it, costing his team the potential victory. You have to look at it from both sides though. DeRozan did turn the ball over for the second time this season in crunch time but the Raptors are battling the Blazers at the end of the game only because of DeMar. You just have to take the good with the bad.

A fun matchup tonight will be between two young centers in Jonas Valanciunas and Enes Kanter. Kanter was the third overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft and Jonas was the fifth overall pick that year so both these guys have the potential to be top big men in the NBA. I read a very surprising stat about Jonas Valanciunas recently. Apparently, when he gets the ball more in positions where he can score and actually touches the ball more than ten times in a game, his scoring and rebounding numbers increase. I hope head coach Dwane Casey and Jonas’ teammates have heard this.

My predictions for this game are as follows. The Raptors win the game 106-97 and are never in trouble of losing. DeMar DeRozan scores 27, Kyle Lowry has a near triple double and Valanciunas gets another double double. I also predict that after this game is over, the Raptors will officially have 26 wins on the season.

Let’s Go Raptors!!!

Raptors vs Clippers tonight in the T-Dot

The Toronto Raptors take on the Los Angeles Clippers tonight in Toronto.

The Clippers will be without their All-star starter point guard Chris Paul once again which is great news for the Raptors. Ever since Paul went down, Blake Griffin has started to play like the superstar he’s been billed as, averaging 26.3 points in his last 17 games. The athletic freak duo of Griffin and Deandre Jordan will always be a problem for opposing teams and tonight will be no different. Expect Jordan and Griffin to throw down a couple of highlight reel dunks and maybe even get a Raptor in a poster (hopefully not).

Speaking of the Raptors, Toronto point guard Kyle Lowry is coming off of his fourth career triple double in the Raptors win last night versus the Philadelphia 76ers. Lowry always plays well in his hometown and last night was no different, scoring 18 points, dishing out 13 assists and hauling down 10 boards. DeMar DeRozan also had another great game, scoring 34 points and grabbing 9 rebounds in the process. DeRozan scored a career-high 40 points in the game before last versus the Dallas Mavericks. It might be a stretch but I believe both Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan should be All-Stars but I also believe only one will get in unfortunately.

Tonight’s game versus the Clippers will be a tough one. I predict the Clippers win 104-98 while Lowry, DeRozan and Griffin all have All-Star type games. The three will be key tonight, the Clippers will hit more and that will be the biggest difference maker in the win. I also predict Jonas Valanciunas will have a double-double and some Raptors fans will call him a bust.

GO RAPTORS! BEAT THE CLIPS!

There’s a new sheriff in town (maybe)

       

It’s been a long time since my last post because sadly the Raptors haven’t been apart of the playoffs. However, despite not being in the playoffs, the Toronto Raptors have been making the headlines from a front office standpoint. It all started off about a month ago when speculation that Bryan Colangelos demise was soon to be at an end. If that didn’t get Raptors fan excited enough, rumors than came out saying that Phil Jackson could be the man to take his place. The only reason this was ever a rumor is because Phil knows the newly appointed President and CEO of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Tim Leiweke from his days in Los Angeles. I for one was on the fence about Phil Jackson coming to Toronto. He might very well be the greatest coach in any sport of all time but he has zero experience in running a franchise from a general manager perspective, At that point I was just excited to see Bryan Colangelo no longer the GM of the Raptors so I probably would have been happy with anyone else. The Phil Jackson rumors died down and the search was on for a new GM in Toronto. Within the last week, it was made official that Bryan Colangelo would not be returning as general manager of the Raptors but would instead be appointed the team president. It was a very confusing move for most Raptors fans and anyone else who knows of the situation because IT IS CONFUSING! The only bright spot to B.C remaining with the team is that it seems like his role as president will mostly consist of growing the game of basketball in Canada and he won’t be making any decisions on the roster. It now seems like Masai Ujiri will be taking the job in Toronto, a place where he called home for two years as the assistant general manager to none other than Bryan Colangelo. It seems very similar to “The Office” in that Masai is like Dwight Schrute, the assistant to Michael Scott who is Bryan Colangelo. Masai then becomes the general manager much like Dwight did. Another parallel to “The Office” is Bryan Colangelo making Michael Scott-esque moves in his tenure as the GM in Toronto. Who else but Michael Scott would sign Landry Fields to an almost nineteen million dollar for three year deal? I have really high hopes for Masai if he in fact does become the next general manager of the Raps. He made a great deal with New York when he traded away Carmelo Anthony, a time where stars were getting let go for nothing. He has a pretty solid track record for not a lot of experience. Most recently he won the Executive of the year award which proves why he is so highly touted. Expect to hear this news become official maybe sometime this week. I for one am glad the B.C era is over, even if he is the President now, or whatever it is. 

My Thoughts On the Final Game of the Season: Boston

That’s all she wrote. The Raptors finish off the 2012-2013 season with a win over Boston and a 34-48 record. Kevin Garnett didn’t play in this one and Paul Pierce didn’t play in the second half so the Raptors took care of business against a team they should have beat. DeMar DeRozan finished off the year with another solid game, he had twenty four points. Rudy Gay had nineteen points and nine rebounds; hopefully his play as of late is a sign of things to come next season. Kyle Lowry had nine points and eight assists. I think he is starting to feel more comfortable playing with everybody on the team and I really hope he keeps up his level of play next year. Jonas Valanciunas finished off his rookie year with an impressive game. He scored eighteen points and grabbed seven rebounds to go along with three blocks in only twenty eight minutes. It seems as though this guy was the player Bryan Colangelo thought he was going to be when he drafted him. He missed twenty games this year, eighteen with a broken hand and still ended up averaging nine points and six rebounds on the year. I can’t wait to see how much he improves over the offseason and how well his career goes in the future. Some rumors came out recently saying that both Dwane Casey and Bryan Colangelo should be back next year. Personally I think that the Bryan Colangelo era should end as this season ends. Just because he had a great year right from the start, doesn’t mean he should be rewarded for the next six years, many of those without playoffs. As for Dwane Casey; he really seems like a nice guy, his personality is one you would want around your players. However, this year he made a lot of bad calls, mostly from a rotation standpoint. Early on, Jonas Valanciunas almost never played in fourth quarters because he was too young I guess. Dwane went with veteran Aaron Gray down the stretch and that lost the Raptors so many games. Jonas is already a better player than Gray but Dwane Casey felt that Aaron Grays veteran experience would be better late in games; he was wrong. I understand what DeMar DeRozan said recently on how he just wants to have one stable coach and not have a new one every year. I totally agree but if you can go out and get a coach who has playoff experience and a better track record, then you have to do it. This offseason might not be the most entertaining for the Raptors because not much is expected to happen. Hopefully Andrea Bargnani will be traded at some point during the next few months. I think it would be best for both Andrea and this franchise to move away from each other; he’s worn out his welcome and the once starter and “future franchise player” is no longer needed in Toronto. It will be great to stop thinking about the Raptors for a while and focus on some good teams who are playing in the playoffs. I think I will write some blog posts on some playoff games but I don’t know when and what games they will be. Also If some Raptor news happens during the next little while, I’ll more than likely write some posts about said news. Well it’s been a weird and crazy season this year; more downs than ups but overall this has been a weird season. Here’s hoping the Raptors do something significant in the offseason and come back strong next season with a team built to at least make the playoffs. I predict the Heat win the title this year, probably against OKC. 

My Thoughts On Last Nights Game: Atlanta

It was the first time the Raptors had been on national TV in the U.S in almost a decade and they made the most of it. The Raptors beat the Hawks 113-96 in a game that was shown on TNT in America. Toronto made the most out of this exposure and won this game pretty easily. Despite the usual disrespectful comments going the Raptors way from commentators and analysts alike, there were still some nice compliments on the future of the franchise. I’m not saying they should praise the Raptors like they’re some amazing team because they’re not. It would just be cool to not hear the jokes about how they don’t even know who these guys are (referring to the Raptors) or Ernie Johnson just flat out saying this game was horrible. It wasn’t the best game but they could have at least said some good things about the Raptors and how they played rather than just saying the entire game was horrible. The Raptors have been the joke of the NBA for years now, sometimes warranted and sometimes not but I would just like to see them be treated like any other franchise. Just because they’re based in Canada doesn’t mean they should automatically be treated like the red headed step child of the NBA. I’ll stop my “ranting” for now so I can talk about the game and how the Raptors played. The good play of the Raptors wings has become a trend. For the second straight game DeMar DeRozan had thirty points which came in only twenty eight minutes. The key to his success has been the ability to start making three pointers, something he said he will be working on a lot this offseason. Rudy Gay also had a nice game, scoring twenty two points to go along with five assists and four rebounds. It seemed like Rudy and DeMar couldn’t miss last night; who knows if it was because of the exposure on TV or if they were just feeling it. Jonas Valanciunas made his return after missing two straight games with an injured neck. There was a point in the third quarter where Kevin Harlan on the TNT broadcast said his stat line and I thought it was wrong. To me it seemed like Jonas didn’t have the best game but I believe it was because of how well Rudy and DeMar were playing. He ended up with thirteen points and eight rebounds to go along with three blocks; a very solid game to return with. It was nice to see the Raptors play on TNT but I won’t try and get used to it. I imagine they won’t be on TNT again for a long time if ever  so I’ll just enjoy the memories from this one. The Raptors have won four straight games, four games where I predicted they would lose. For their final game of the season, the Raptors take on the Boston Celtics in Toronto tonight. At this point I don’t know the availability of the Celtics players so I don’t feel very confident in picking the Raptors in this one. Despite my hesitation, I’ll go with the Raptors in this one. They’re playing great and are looking to make John Hollinger look sort of wrong. Now the VP of basketball operations for the Memphis Grizzlies, John Hollinger predicted at the start of the year that the Raptors would win 33 games which DeMar DeRozan responded by calling him a clown on Twitter. They can get their 34th win tonight and make John off by only one game which doesn’t prove much but as a fan it would be nice to see the Raptors get as many wins as possible. It’s a little frustrating seeing the Milwaukee Bucks make the playoffs with 37 wins, with one game to go. If the Raptors won half of those 17 games where they lead going into the fourth quarter, then this Toronto team is in the playoffs. None of that matters now as the season ends tonight against Boston. I’ll go with the Raptors in this one; I’ll see if predicting they win won’t backfire on me. Here’s hoping the Raptors pull off the win tonight and end the season on a high note.

My Thoughts On Yesterdays Game: Brooklyn

This is the third game in a row where I predicted the Raptors would lose and they end up beating the better team; I guess I know what I’ll be doing next season. The Raptors had full control of this game from the very beginning getting off to a 14-2 run. This game was one again all about the wing players for the Raptors. DeMar DeRozan had one of his best career games where he scored thirty six points and grabbed five rebounds. He was aggressive from the start and it really helped that his jump shot was going down at a good rate. Rudy Gay also had himself a nice game with twenty six points to go along with ten rebounds. The Raptors were without rookies Jonas Valanciunas and Terrence Ross once again and who knows if we’ll see them for the remaining two games of the season. It’s become a rather sad tradition for me to get very excited because the playoffs are only days away but then realize that the Raptors are not in them again. Who knows what will happen during the off season this year but I hope that the Raptors can finally put together a team that can at least make the playoffs; I think the Toronto fans deserve it. Next up for the Raptors are the Atlanta Hawks Tuesday in ATL. I don’t know if Atlanta will rest their players in this one but I still think the Hawks will win it in a very close game. Here’s hoping I’m wrong and the Raptors pull off the victory.