He who knows how to wait wins. Just a few months ago, the Celtics won the title after 16 years and went from being perennial losers in recent seasons to being the best team in the world. Boston retained a winning team, but defending the Cup is always more difficult than winning it. The list of those who are knocking on the championship window and those who are willing to knock it down with both feet is, as always, long. The Celts head into the 2024/2025 regular season as favorites, but their back-to-back game could be hampered by several hungry opponents.
Oklahoma Youth
Luguentz Dort, Jaylen Williams, Chet Holmgren and Shay Gilgeous-Alexander, 2023-2024 season
Photo: Michael Reaves/Getty Images
Time is the most valuable resource. And Oklahoma still has plenty. Last season’s most progressive franchise won the regular season of the incredibly competitive West and became the youngest team in history to win a playoff series. The level of rivals in the modern league, like Chelyabinsk, is so tough that in any other year Chet Holmgren would have won the best rookie award and Shay Gilgeous-Alexander could have taken home the MVP. However, Vembanyama’s phenomenal play and Jokic’s usual performances left the Thunder leaders no chance of individual awards.
“Oklahoma” for the new season should improve even more, since it solved the main problems of the last championship. First, Holmgren came together organically, making up for the lack of size on the boards. Fighting for rebounds had been the Thunder’s Achilles heel before this. Secondly, in order to acquire something necessary, it is necessary to give something unnecessary. The postseason showed an inconsistency with the rest of Josh Giddey’s team. It seemed like a strange element and the coaching staff had to hide it in the knockout matches. Therefore, his playing time was reduced by seven minutes, allowing for greater defensive productivity.
The bookmakers’ favorites for the 2024/2025 NBA title
TeamOdds Boston Celtics 4.80 Oklahoma City Thunder 8.50 New York Knicks 9 Philadelphia 76ers 9 Denver Nuggets 9.50 Dallas Mavericks 11
Third, Oklahoma made a specific pick, simultaneously trading two wildly underrated players. Alex Caruso, a tasty bite for any offseason, came from Chicago. Included are championship experience, defensive improvements and a stable career three-point percentage of 38%. After a great season, Isaiah Hartenstein joined the team, who was immediately able to form a reliable partner for Holmgren in the attacking zone.
Additionally, the Thunder are the only team other than Boston to rank in the top 5 in both offensive and defensive ratings. Balance is what wins titles, and Oklahoma has it. Mark Daignault created a team without bias in any direction. Everyone here knows their role, and Gilgeous-Alexander, with two consecutive seasons of at least 30 points per game, has finally secured a place among the league’s top five scorers. In general, Thunder’s motto should look like this: we build it, we build it and finally we build it.
The Knicks are building a monster
Karl-Anthony Towns, NBA 2024 preseason
Photo: Evan Bernstein/Getty Images
The last time the Knicks took the nuts was in 1973. It was a long time ago that Phil Jackson helped them with this. And it’s not the same coach Jackson, who made a couple of threes with Jordan and then won titles with the Lakers. At the time, Phil himself was still playing basketball and was not considered the same Zen master whose aura he later acquired. However, right now, New York enters the season as a top contender for the first time in a long time. According to the bookmakers, the Knicks are among the three favorites. Actually, has this ever happened in our lifetime?
Several factors became the catalyst for the takeoff. Tom Thibodeau is primarily known as a defensive specialist. Do you remember the Boston championship in 2008? Thibodeau, who worked as an assistant head coach, was responsible for the defense there. At the Knicks, the specialist has old methods. In attack, most of the burden falls on the main star, who on a good day is assisted by players of various levels. Jaylen Brunson took on the role of Chicago’s Derrick Rose. As it turned out, it was lucky, because New York flew to second place in the East, and in the playoffs stopped one step away from the conference finals, largely due to a series of injuries.
Jalen Brunson (right), NBA 2024 preseason
Photo: Evan Bernstein/Getty Images
The Knicks are much deeper now. Brunson, Hart, DiVincenzo and Bridges have known each other for a long time and won NCAA titles with Villanova. Donté had to give up his services to close a major deal to attract Karl-Anthony Towns. The Villanova Knicks, as they were immediately nicknamed in the media, also gave away Julius Randle in a trade with Minnesota, but their systematic work in the transfer market must be considered successful. They were able to negotiate a significant discount on Brunson’s contract, re-sign Anunoby, and retain their core with Bridges and Towns.
It is not enough to form a strong team under the direction of a quality specialist. They need to adapt to each other. Thibodeau has already successfully bet on Brunson and his squad has many tenacious defensive players. Yes, skepticism still persists. For example, Tom is not a playoff coach, he is too reluctant to change the rotation and put pressure on the leading players. It will be interesting to see how it goes with Bridges. For a moment, this is the same guy who played 83 of a possible 82 games in one season as a result of the trade. The Knicks already won 50 games in the last championship and they are not going to stop now.
Philadelphia goes for everything
Eric Gordon, Paul George and Kyle Lowry, NBA 2024 preseason
Photo: Mitchell Leff/Getty Images
Apparently, Philadelphia was tired of last year’s play-in, so they’re immediately going all-in. What else can you call the Paul George acquisition? In order not to catch fish again ahead of schedule, the Philadelphia 76ers management caught the biggest fish of the offseason. On paper, George, Embiid and Maxey make a great trio, but even the original great trio of LeBron, Wade and Bosh couldn’t clinch the championship quickly.
Embiid enters the new season with the highest level of talent of his entire career. Maxi continues to improve. He took home the Most Improved Player award and his stats speak for themselves. Every year, Tyrese scores more goals than the year before. George is an ideal second offensive option and a reliable defender. Don’t underestimate the financially lucrative signings of Caleb Martin and Gershon Yabusele. Overall, Philadelphia is determined to play here and now.
However, for a championship-contending franchise, this has many downsides. Embiid constantly gets injured at the most crucial moments. The Sixers are giving him a boost, but in the last five regular seasons, Joel has played 275 games, while George has only 263. On the one hand, Philadelphia managed to combine three great players who play different positions. On the other hand, in basketball there is still only one ball, and how they will divide it is also a big question. Someone will definitely have to give up their possessions. When you have an MVP, a multiple All-Star who clearly didn’t come for that, and a rising star, it’s going to be very difficult to do this without pain.
However, the Sixers have definitely become more interesting. This is evidenced by expert reports, bookmaker quotes, a stellar roster, and the fact that 33% of NBA general managers rated their offseason work as the best in the league.
Don’t count out Denver
Nikola Jokic and Aaron Gordon, NBA 2024 preseason
Photo: AArón Ontiveroz/Getty Images
There are three pieces of news for Nuggets fans: good, neutral and bad. Let’s start with the last one. Denver is among the 10 teams with the highest luxury tax next season. At the same time, the Nuggets performed poorly on the market and did not improve their best player situation in any way. It is a mistake to think that only great basketball players achieve great victories. Of course this is true, but without the contribution of supporting elements it is much more difficult to achieve success. After the 2022-2023 championship season, the Nuggets lost important player Bruce Brown. The franchise suffered the same exact blow a year later, failing to reach an agreement on an extension with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Time passes, but its composition does not strengthen.
A neutral moment that can easily be painted in both positive and negative tones is the acquisition of Russell Westbrook. In seven years, Russ has aged noticeably and from MVP he has become a ring hunter, a player who chases the title in different clubs. He failed in the Lakers, he deliberately faded into the shadows in the Clippers, but he did not achieve success there either. In Denver, he will likely fill the role of backup to Jamal Murray. By the way, the agreement with the Canadian was extended, which is also not entirely clear. In the lost series against Minnesota, the point guard looked like a pale shadow of himself and would like to quickly forget the disastrous Paris Olympics.
Still, Denver can’t be ruled out. Because? Because Jokic. Nikola won his third MVP in four years and is undoubtedly still the strongest player on the planet for at least the last five years. Not even Michael Jordan has won three awards in a row, so the Joker has nothing to worry about. He doesn’t worry, because he is always much more focused on the team’s success than on personal statistics. The center led the Nuggets to the fifth-best offensive rating in the league last season, and in the postseason he was second only to the Timberwolves, who were built to counter him with a physical first line. In the new dispute for the title, Nikola and Denver, who recently won the championship, remain highly valued.
“Dallas”, maybe we can do it again?
Derek Lively, Jason Kidd and Luka Doncic, WNBA match – 2024
Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images
Luka Doncic already has six full seasons in his career abroad. In each of them, the Slovenian genius took home the award for best newcomer or finished in the top 10 in the MVP voting. His collection is still missing an MVP and a championship trophy. In the last playoffs, Doncic was closer to the title, but in the finals he was weaker than the Celtics, obviously more balanced. In reality, Luka contains both the pros and cons of the Mavericks’ game model.
“Dallas” adheres more clearly than others to the heliocentric scheme, according to which there can be only one Sun in its Universe. In the NBA, the term heliocentrism began to be actively used five years ago. These are teams in which the role of the leader and main star is elevated to absolute. Doncic’s usage rate last season was 35.9%. Spoiler alert: that’s a lot. In the postseason, Luka played as hard as he could and spent 41 minutes on the court.
Luka Doncic, NBA Finals 2024
Photo: Adam Glanzman/Getty Images
The nuance is that when things are not going well for a Slovenian, his teammates are not always able to support him. The Mavericks have proven fighters at their disposal, but not all of them are entirely reliable characters. When Kyrie Irving is fit and wants to play, it’s hard to stop him. But this does not always happen. Klay Thompson is the all-time leading scorer since Steph Curry, but he went 0 for 10 from the field in his last game in a Warriors jersey and started 0 for 9 in his first game in a Dallas jersey. He’s only been in the league one season and will be taken much more seriously now, and Jason Kidd appears to have no other stars. However, the way the Texans played in the elimination games and the way they adapted to each opponent suggests that Doncic and company will have a chance to reach another Finals.
Less obvious candidates for the Larry O’Brien Trophy include nearly half the league. “Phoenix”, “Lakers”, “Timberwolves”, “Bucks”, who know how to surprise the “Warriors” and “Heat”, ready for the return of Ja Morant “Grizzlies”. The reality is that for six seasons the NBA has had a different champion every year. While Boston is the favorite, this is understandable; The Celts didn’t just win the regular season and turn the screws. However, everything could change in the next playoffs. This unpredictability is why we love the NBA.
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