The 2017/18 NBA regular season is starting from October 17th. The teams have already begun to play warm-up matches before the NBA Regular season starts. Last season, Golden State Warriors clinched their second NBA title in three years.
Celtic Boston still has the ‘most titles’ honor with 17 NBA regular season titles. Two teams, Golden State Warriors, and Cleveland Cavaliers are again likely to play with the dominant force this season. The 2017-18 NBA All-Star game will be played on 18th of February, 2018 at Staples Center in Los Angeles.
According to recent GM survey, over 90 percent have voted in favor of Golden State Warriors to be the Champions of the upcoming season.
Last year, Warriors had 69 percent GM voting to clinch the title, whereas, this year, 93 percent GMs have favored them. Apparently, NBA fans know why the voting figure in favor of Warriors went so high this year. According to the same survey, LeBron James will again be the MVP of the season.
In the survey, General managers responded to 47 different questions about the best teams, coaches, players, etc. except about their team or own team’s personnel. So now, let’s predict the top three contenders of the 2017-18 NBA regular season.
3. Houston Rockets
Houston Rockets won 55 games last season and lost 27 out of 82 matches. Thanks to James Harden and few of his fellow teammate’s consistent performances throughout the season.
Rockets have managed to land point-guard player, Chris Paul from Los Angeles Clippers. This NBA season will be a fresh new chapter for Rockets as they will be back with more strength and depth than last season. Harden-Paul alliance can bring something special this season for Houston Rockets.
After Paul’s departure from Clippers, his former head coach, Doc Rivers said, “He left because he wanted to be with James Harden.
Let's not get that twisted."
Houston players, Clint Capela and Nene can add more to that lethal partnership as they are one of the best rim-runners in NBA.
2. Cleveland Cavaliers
No wonder why Cleveland Cavaliers should be in top-3 contenders. The team will play this season as the runner-ups. The team played an organized and team-game last season.
However, they lost four games in first five matches of finals series. Ultimately they missed the opportunity to defeat Warriors second time in a row in the final.
Cavaliers won 51 and lost 31 matches last season, finishing 5th on the points table of overall NBA rankings. This year they are likely to meet again with Warriors in the finals, as it’s been happening for last three or four seasons.
Acquiring Butler or George would have made more of a difference, but the Cavaliers will do some damage when they use James and him at the 3 and 4. Cavaliers have enough depth in their squad to be there again where they finished off last season.
1. Golden State Warriors
Undoubtedly. This time, players know each other more than the previous season.
Warriors won 67 games last year and clinched the 2016-17 NBA title. As aforesaid, 93 percent GMs have voted in favor of Warriors to be the Champions again. It’s so much likely to happen after all.
Top performances from every player are what a team needs to have if they want to wrap up the season with a triumph. The players performed exceptionally well last season, more specifically in the finals series against defending champions Cleveland Cavaliers.
Warriors outclassed Cavaliers in four games of the finals series. They only lost one game and won the 2016-17 NBA season without playing remaining three games of finals series since they had already won four games out of five.
This season again they have what it takes to lift the NBA trophy.
However, this season they will face fierce competition as other teams have landed top-class players from other teams. Oklahoma, Rockets, Cavaliers, Boston and many other are much better side than the last year.
Overall, It’ll be interesting to see how some tough teams start off the season and eventually where they finish off.