This upcoming NBA season has been one of the most anticipated in a while. This year's draft class was arguably the best class and had the most depth since 2003 when LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, and Dwyane Wade were all selected as top five picks. For the first time in league history, the NBA Summer League sold out almost every night in Las Vegas. The new stars like Lonzo Ball, Markelle Fultz, and Jayson Tatum have seemingly added promise to the future of the league and fans are eager to pay more than ever to watch as many NBA games as they can.
The likelihood of seeing a Cavs-Warriors finals again is as slim as it has been over the last few seasons after Kyrie Irving recently demanded a trade request. However, if he does end up sticking it out for the season or if the Cavs can get a nice deal in return for him, Cleveland will still be the favorites to return to the chip.
Also, this offseason CP3 teamed up with James Harden and the Rockets and Paul George teamed up with reigning MVP Russell Westbrook and the Oklahoma City Thunder. Both are expected to make the road for Golden State a bit tougher this season with their new additions. The Boston Celtics are expected to do the same with the Cleveland Cavaliers after they were able to persuade all-star Gordon Hayward to sign with the team this summer.
Rookie of the Year
The Rookie of the Year award will be as tough to call this year than last year's MVP race. With so many talented players, it is likely any one of the top 15 picks can take home the ROY award. Also, last year's No. 1 overall pick Ben Simmons will be included in the race after missing what was supposed to be his first NBA season due to injury.
With Simmons being added in the mix, it will make the race much more competitive than it would have been without him.
LaVar has already gone on to say his son Lonzo will win the ROY award and the way he showed out in the Summer League, there is little doubt that Ball can certainly pull it off. He will have the primary ball handler for the Lakers and his ability to take over a game and also make everyone around him better gives him an edge over most of the other prospects.
His all-around game gives him the advantage to be an absolute stat sheet stuffer.
To say he will lead Los Angeles to the playoffs this season in a highly competitive Western Conference is too early to call. One thing that is for sure is that Ball will bring the excitement back to the Lakers franchise and sell out seats while doing it.
The revival of the 76ers
When it comes to the ROY award, Philly fans will be expecting either Fultz or Simmons to take home at the end of the season. Last season, fans felt they were robbed with both Joel Embiid and Dario Saric losing to Malcolm Brogdon of the Milwaukee Bucks. Embiid had the best numbers out of the three by averaging 20.2 ppg and 7.5 rebounds. However, due to injury, Joel was held to just 31 games.
Saric was right behind his teammate with an average of 12.8 ppg and 6.3 rebounds. Still, the league decided to give the award to Brogdon, who only had an average of 10.2 ppg and 4.2 assists.
Now with the addition of this year's No.1 pick Markelle Fultz along with its' core of other players, Philly is expected to finally return to being a playoff team. With Embiid only playing in 31 games and Simmons sidelined to injury, they still were able to win 28 games. You can only imagine with a healthy Embiid, Simmons, and Fultz the 76ers will be able to add at least 15 more games to last year's total. The talent the team has added makes Philly one of the most anticipated teams to watch this season.
