NBA season preview: who's best in the West?
Jokic's Nuggets are top dogs, but could the Suns, Lakers or Warriors dethrone them? And watch out for Wemby!
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00:00 (Casting)
00:20 So it seems like the biggest news of the NBA season would be how the legendary draft prospect
00:27 Victor Wemba Nyama might do. It seemed like last year it was Tank for Wemba, see who would get the
00:32 unanimous number one overall pick out of France. Victor Wemba Nyama, the 7'4" monster who might
00:41 dominate the NBA now and definitely in a few years.
00:45 All my expectations are really to learn how to win as quick as possible.
00:50 It will be difficult for even the top centers to guard him. And they'll have to guard him from beyond
00:55 the arc too, he can shoot for three. Plus he might already be a top five ball handler in terms of
01:00 big men, he can really handle the ball well.
01:02 I know I'm going to live through incredible things and also obstacles. I know I'm forging forever
01:11 memories right now.
01:12 Spurs won only 22 games last season, I think best case scenario they win 40 this year.
01:16 (Music)
01:20 Time and time again have we seen Chris Paul join a team and outperform his projections.
01:25 This is his fourth different team in six years, but he's still been able to put up consistent numbers
01:29 even at his age. And what's nice about joining the Warriors is that he doesn't need to be a major
01:34 scorer, he just needs to be another facilitator for Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson.
01:38 And with a guy like Chris Paul, I wonder if Steve Kerr can continue with the small ball offense
01:44 that led to a dynasty with the Warriors.
01:46 Excited to have him, excited to see what changes and ways we can adapt to him in the lineup and
01:52 different rotations that we can put out there.
01:54 He's one of the smartest guys in this league. When you talk basketball IQ.
02:00 I got a friend of mine, Killer Mike, who always says, when everybody does a little, no one has to
02:05 do a lot. And that's what I hope to bring to this team.
02:08 Chris Paul and Drayton won't matter though if they're not healthy, right? Their main scorers have
02:12 dealt with injuries over the years, most recently Wiggins and Curry.
02:16 They also need to play better on the road. They went 11 and 30 on the road last season and they
02:21 allowed over 120 points per game.
02:23 They do now have Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal, and this team will look to rain jump shots all season
02:32 with Devin Booker. I have no idea how well the three of them are going to play together.
02:36 I don't know if it's going to be a success. I think there's going to be some struggles at the
02:39 beginning. I don't think it's going to be so bad that they don't make the playoffs or anything.
02:43 But to me, there are not enough possessions in the game for all of them to overperform.
02:48 My guess is that Devin Booker and KD will still average over 25 points.
02:53 When we see Bradley Beal get fewer opportunities. I think the Suns won 45 games last season,
02:59 but win more than that. I don't think they'll be the favorites to win the West.
03:05 We'll have to see if this is LeBron's last chance of winning a fifth title in the NBA.
03:11 He has shown no signs of slowing down, though the Lakers were swept by the Nuggets to the
03:15 conference finals. I think it was still surprising that the Lakers made it that far.
03:19 And LeBron played great. He even dropped 40 points in that last game against Denver.
03:24 So I do think he has at least one more season left in the tank and he could make a deep run
03:28 in the playoffs with the talent that the Lakers have.
03:31 LeBron has played more than 60 games in a season just once over the last five years.
03:36 There's got to be a concern about health. Same goes for Anthony Davis.
03:40 If healthy, however, they could possibly do what they did last year.
03:43 They make a run in the playoffs at a lower seed.
03:46 I'm happy to be returning for another season and helping this team,
03:50 hopefully lead this team to the promised land. That's just the goal.
03:53 We have to talk about the champions of last year, of course, the Denver Nuggets.
04:00 Do they have a chance to make it back to the NBA Finals and win again?
04:04 We've gone from being a team that has been hunting the teams in front of us to now we're going to be the hunted.
04:09 And hopefully our guys understand the responsibility that comes with being a defending champion.
04:14 We have Nikola Jokic playing out of his mind. I don't think he's going to stop anytime soon.
04:20 Really see Jamal Murray step up and be a top five shooting guard, point guard in the game.
04:25 Maybe a team figures out their game and style and figures out Nikola Jokic dynamic playing.
04:30 But I still think Nuggets fans that the Denver Nuggets will probably at least make it to the NBA Finals.
04:37 If this team wants to compete, it has to be Donchurch's team.
04:43 It cannot be Kyrie Irving's team. And they still have a good few pieces to at least make the playoffs.
04:48 They didn't even make the playoffs last year. But I think defensively, they're kind of a mess still.
04:53 That goes for both Kyrie Irving and Luka Donchurch. I don't see them as a title contender for sure.
05:00 We came in the middle of the season last year. You know, we didn't have much time. We went straight to playing games.
05:07 It takes time to build chemistry, especially on the court. I think it's going to be way better.
05:11 A few times I think we were being too passive with one another. We're both killers on the court. Everybody knows it. We want to win.
05:17 ♪ MUSIC ♪