The Philadelphia 76ers made a major move in the off-season getting Paul George. But now, the pressure is on. Peter Klein looks at the Top 5 Teams in the NBA that are under the most pressure.
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SportsTranscript
00:00The NBA season is right around the corner, and some teams are gonna be feeling the heat,
00:13so to speak, with all of that.
00:15So here are the top 5 teams that are under the most pressure in the NBA this season.
00:22Coming in at number 5, it is the New York Knicks.
00:25When you are the Knicks and you are good, there is always pressure.
00:28When you are the Knicks and you had a seemingly promising playoff run last year, there's a
00:33ton of pressure.
00:34When it was cut short from injuries and you bring some of the key pieces back, even more,
00:38and then you make the two biggest trades of the offseason, it's going to pile up.
00:43The reason I only have them at 5 is because I still think there is the slightest bit of
00:48a honeymoon with this group this season.
00:50Now, if this year doesn't end with, honestly, probably two playoff series wins, then this
00:57team rockets to number one next year.
01:00The pressure is going to build very, very quickly in New York, but I still think there
01:05is a bit of a honeymoon with how good this team is and kind of how out of nowhere that
01:09came.
01:10So I don't think all of that pressure is there, but there is still quite a bit on them.
01:14At 4, it's Miami.
01:16The expectations in Miami aren't as high as they are with the Knicks, but I do think that
01:21with Jimmy Butler's contract coming up, and with, like, everyone was like, heat culture,
01:26heat culture, heat culture.
01:27Well, since that Finals, they haven't done a whole lot.
01:30And I think there is now a little bit of pressure on this team to try to stay relevant.
01:34Because if this season doesn't go well, I think that it could be a little bit—and
01:39I know Miami doesn't rebuild.
01:42They never do.
01:43And they somehow always—they get Dwyane Wade, and off they go.
01:46And they get a Bam Adebayo, and look at that.
01:48And they trade for a Jimmy Butler, and off they go.
01:51But I do think that if this year doesn't go well, we could see just the slightest step
01:55back for the Miami Heat.
01:57At 3, it's the Phoenix Suns.
01:59I think that they have kind of escaped some of the headlines since the postseason, but
02:05now, once this season ramps up, it's going to be like, oh yeah, they did spend a whole
02:09lot of money on this team to go nowhere, and to get just spanked in the first round of
02:15the playoffs.
02:16There aren't the, oh well, they're new, it's whatever, this is now—no no no no no.
02:20You have two of the most talented players in the league, they played together all year,
02:24so I get, like, you know, Beal was there too.
02:28But this has to start working in Phoenix.
02:31They are paying way too much money to get just annihilated in the first round.
02:35Speaking of which, at 2, it's the LA Clippers.
02:38They are spending a ton of money.
02:39They are going into a new arena.
02:41Everything now, from the offseason where they signed that guy, Kawhi Leonard, for those
02:46who are listening, and they made this push knowing that the new arena was coming in 2024-2025,
02:53everything was building up to this moment.
02:57And so far, it hasn't worked.
02:59They had one good playoff run, and otherwise it has been a whole lot of frustration.
03:03And they are still spending mucho dinero on this team, except they let one guy walk, and
03:09so now you are entering this new arena with Kawhi Leonard, who may, you know, walk on
03:15a court at some point this year, James Harden, and basically no other backup plan.
03:19So I think from NBA circles, there isn't a whole lot of pressure on them, because there
03:24is just not a whole lot of expectations.
03:26But given what this buildup was supposed to be, and what this year was supposed to mean
03:31for this team, in kind of branching out on their own, and moving out of mom's basement
03:36as the Clippers at Staples before, and now Crypto.whatever, they need this year to go
03:43well.
03:44And no one thinks it's going to.
03:46And if it doesn't, I don't know what happens.
03:48Probably nothing good with the LA Clippers.
03:51And at number one, it is the Philadelphia 76ers.
03:56Joel Embiid has won MVPs.
04:00You have a team that has won a ton of regular season games, but the playoff success hasn't
04:05been there.
04:06They then won the offseason.
04:07Now they need to win playoff serieses.
04:10This isn't good.
04:11It's not good enough to beat the Raptors, or to beat the whoever's in the first round
04:14of the playoffs.
04:15You need to go out and you need to actually win these series.
04:19And if they don't, like, I don't, I think Joel Embiid has escaped a lot of criticism.
04:27Because A, he's really good, right?
04:29But playoffs, it hasn't been good.
04:30And that, like, everyone's numbers take a dip in the playoffs.
04:33You are facing tougher competition.
04:34That's what it's going to be.
04:35But every year there has been an excuse.
04:38It's, oh, well, Ben Simmons.
04:39Oh, well, that didn't give me enough support.
04:41Which is, I do think something you can poke some holes in a little bit.
04:44Someone commented that on one of the best players in the league videos that we did.
04:49And I, I think we're overstating that a touch.
04:54Because, um, like you've had, I mean, they went out and they got James Harden.
04:58They had Jimmy Butler.
04:59They had to, like, their, their starting five when they lost to the Raptors was actually
05:03quite good.
05:04And now, you've gone out and got Paul George.
05:06Even if you want to use the, well, they didn't really get him anyone.
05:10Well now they do.
05:11Maxie looks like a superstar, and you brought in Paul George.
05:14So now you have a super team here that you need to do it.
05:18So that excuse is gone.
05:20He's saying that we're going to be committed to a championship, so we're probably going
05:22to be load managing this cat a little bit more.
05:25There are no more excuses for Joel Embiid.
05:27I do not see a player or a team that is under more pressure this year to succeed than the
05:33Philadelphia 76ers.
05:35Because if this doesn't work, you guys know I'm not a big blow-it-up guy.
05:39And I don't even think you should out in Philadelphia.
05:41But you're kind of running out of different cards to try to pull to try to make this thing
05:46work.
05:47So the Philadelphia 76ers are the team that is facing the highest expectations in the
05:51NBA this season.