The offseason flew by with the blink of an eye, and the 2020-21 NBA season is almost upon us.
In less than three weeks the league will have its opening night on Dec. 22. With that, it will embark on another unprecedented season that almost certainly will be impacted by COVID-19. Making that journey even more difficult will be the decision to play without a bubble, as the league did to safely conclude its 2019-20 season.
Hopefully, the full season can be played because it's set to be a pretty interesting year. Will the Los Angeles Lakers repeat? What team will win the Cade Cunningham (draft) lottery? Will the league actually be able to finish out the season? There are a lot of questions, and as always with the NBA, a lot of intrigue.
Here are some random thoughts about the upcoming season:
-- For starters, the NBA is in a good position to finish out the season amid the second, third or fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Beyond a vaccine being on the horizon, the league was able to learn from how things went for the NFL and MLB. In commissioner Adam Silver we trust.
-- The "snitch hotline" again has been put in place for players to report others for violating COVID-19 protocols, but it wasn't a big storyline in the bubble. We really only heard of one player getting busted at Disney World that way, but sincerely hope some more funny stories come out of an entire season with the hotline.
-- The season hasn't even started yet but James Harden already has violated COVID-19 protocols. And he incriminated himself before he could even get caught, posting pictures of him partying with rappers Lil Baby and Meek Mill. Surely, more egregious violations are yet to come, but this has set the bar high -- unless or until Lou Williams makes his way back to that Atlanta strip club for wings.
-- Speaking of Harden, what are the chances he actually finishes the season with the Houston Rockets? We've heard the rumors of him wanting a trade to the Brooklyn Nets, and the ones about the Rockets not being willing to part ways with him unless a team meets their gigantic asking price. Based on how things already are going this season, it seems like Harden's time in Houston is soon coming to an end. The Rockets just haven't realized it yet.
-- Can you imagine the dynamic that would be created by a Harden trade to Brooklyn actually happening? Sure, he, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant are all good friends, but either Harden or Irving surely would have to take a backseat to one another in terms of handling the ball.
-- With or without Harden, there is so much intrigue surrounding the Nets season. We were robbed of the opportunity to watch Durant and Irving lead a team last season with each of their respective injuries, but the ceiling for Brooklyn is high as long as they it remain healthy the rest of this season. Will Durant be the same player after his achilles tear? Will injuries continue to nag Irving? We'll see.
-- Now that we've transitioned to the Eastern Conference, long gone are the days where the West reigned supreme over the East aside for whatever team LeBron James is on.
-- The Washington Wizards instantly have improved with the addition of Russell Westbrook. But they've also brought a lot more pressure on themselves. Westbrook is now 28 and his window to be the star of an NBA champion is starting to close. We're not sure Bradley Beal is the co-star to help him get it done, but Wizards games will be worth watching.
-- The Miami Heat got better, too. Pulling in Avery Bradley after Jae Crowder left in free agency improves their defense and will make them a stronger contender going into this season than the last. We think they're the Milwaukee Bucks' biggest threat in the East.
-- The Bucks have offered Giannis Antetokounmpo a supermax extension that he's yet to take them up on. And it really seems like the future of this franchise rests on him staying. Literally, though, because the Bucks traded a ton of draft picks for Jrue Holiday in order to entice the reigning league MVP to stay. As good as it would be for the league and small-market teams everywhere, it's just so hard to see a superstar of his caliber wanting to live in Wisconsin. No offense.
-- Speaking of the supermax, Jayson Tatum could be making up to 30 percent of the Boston Celtics' payroll with the extension he signed if things go as planned this year. Making an All-NBA team last season made him eligible, so his performance in 2020-21 will determine how high his potential earnings are. Is another All-NBA season in store?
-- Sticking with the Celtics, the debate over whether they got better with Gordon Hayward's departure is ongoing. But regardless of which side you take, it's undeniable that attaining the No. 3 seed certainly will be more difficult this year than the last. Even if Tatum and Jaylen Brown continue to make these jumps.
-- The Philadelphia 76ers fired their coach. They brought in Doc Rivers to try and give Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid and company a spark. So while we won't make any harsh conclusions after Rivers' first year in Philly, this season will say a lot about what the Sixers' issues actually have been in recent memory.
-- Memphis Grizzlies star youngster Ja Morant managed to win Rookie of the Year over Zion Williamson, but in his sophomore season, we see the New Orleans Pelicans forward living up to all the hype he entered the league with. With one season under his belt and all the time he missed during it rehabbing from surgery in the rearview as well, we see Williamson coming into his own in the NBA.
-- Luka Doncic experienced a similar jump to the one we anticipate for Williamson in his sophomore season. So as the Dallas Mavericks guard enters his third year in the league all eyes will be on him to see if he could become the youngest league MVP since Derrick Rose.
-- The Atlanta Hawks really feel like they're going to end their playoff drought. They haven't made the postseason since 2017 but had a lot to be excited about as Trae Young continues to grow in this league. Now, he gets to learn from Rajon Rondo and Kris Dunn while Bogdan Bogdanovic should be a nice addition to that lineup. The Hawks will be fun.
-- The Phoenix Suns are another team we're super excited about this year. After the team became one of the Cinderella stories of the NBA bubble, winning eight-straight games and shocking the world, they took a lineup led by Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton and brilliantly brought in Chris Paul. Having the presence of a future Hall of Fame veteran like him will make the Suns a really interesting team out West.
-- The Denver Nuggets and Suns also were thrilling to watch in the bubble, but in a conference dominated by powerhouses like the Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers, and with a Rockets team likely to be strong again despite all their drama entering the new season, we wonder if either will fare better than last year.
-- Basketball is better when Golden state is relevant, and we hope that's the case for the Warriors this season. Steph Curry apparently is healthy again, but he and Draymond Green will have their work cut out for them carrying the team as Klay Thompson misses his second straight season.
-- Despite their earlier-than-expected exit from the playoffs in the bubble, the Clippers addition of Serge Ibaka should compliment the likes of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George nicely, and we see them as the Lakers biggest threat in the West standing between LeBron James and another NBA title. But who are we kidding, the title is the Lakers for the taking.
