Look at what we have here — August NBA content! The 2019-2020 NBA Playoffs are here, and for a tenth straight year, I am slangin’ the Bandwagon Report. I shouldn’t even be doing this! For several reasons! 1
This is not a prediction item. If you wanted predictions, that was what the Lightweight Report is for. The 2019-2020 version of the NBA Lightweight Report, released in October, had 14 of 16 playoff teams correct! In the West, I had the San Antonio Spurs and Sacramento Kings making the playoffs instead of the Dallas Mavericks and Oklahoma City Thunder. I got the entire East field.
Now as you all mostly know, this season was interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic and restarted in central Florida. Because of this, a play-in was instituted this year, and the Portland Trail Blazers outlasted the Memphis Grizzlies 126-122 in what I’m calling a postseason exhibition game. Round Zero.
My role here every April is to help all you folks who are wondering how these teams made it to this point find a squad for at least the next couple of weeks, and perhaps the next couple of months. Teams earn bandwagon fans! Some bandwagons are at or near capacity, and some are quite vacant. We’ll take a look at all of them!
(Rankings are for entire season, records are the three 16-game splits through 48 games, then the games after until the hiatus, then the eight seeding games):
EASTERN CONFERENCE
| #1 – Milwaukee Bucks (8th offense, 1st defense) [13-3, 14-2, 14-2, 12-5, 3-5] This team finished the regular season with the best record, and I picked the Bucks to win Game 7 of the NBA Finals back in October. But what do I know. All you need to know is that Giannis Antetokounmpo is in his seventh season, and he is likely to repeat as the NBA MVP. And people are more interested in his possible next team if the Bucks follow up last year’s blown 2-0 lead in the conference finals with an early exit in 2020. Sounds like LeBron James in 2010, no? Anyway, this is the best defense in the league and despite the mid performance in the seeding games, the whole team is mostly healthy. A rare top-seed bandwagon with room! |
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| #8 – Orlando Magic (23rd offense, 11th defense) [6-10, 8-8, 7-9, 9-8, 3-5] The Magic bandwagon was looking interesting when it became clear that Orlando-area was going to be the site of the NBA restart. They’re the 8th-seed with the only homecourt advantage! But nah. My preseason Defensive Player of the Year pick, SF Jonathan Isaac, missed most of the season with a left knee injury before tearing the left ACL two games into the restart. As great as it is to see former first overall pick PG Markelle Fultz get his career on track, he’s still splitting time with journeyman PG DJ Augustin. And this team never plays offense and defense well at the same time. For most of the season, they struggled to get to the line (a typical issue when C Nikola Vucevic is the best scorer). Recently, their improved offense has been compromised by a defense that doesn’t force turnovers. And the Bucks destroyed them during the season. If you only want to stay on a bandwagon for a week, this is the one to choose. |
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| #4 – Indiana Pacers (19th offense, 6th defense) [10-6, 11-5, 10-6, 8-9, 6-2] This team can never enter a postseason in one piece. Last year, they lost All-Star shooting guard Victor Oladipo to a major quad injury in January. This year, Oladipo “decided” to play, but All-Star PF Domantas Sabonis has a foot injury, while SG Jeremy Lamb tore his ACL just as Oladipo was returning from injury. And yet, the Pacers persist, finding new ways to be good and ignored. This time, it’s PF TJ Warren getting buckets and causing people to wonder what got into him that wasn’t there before. Unfortunately for the Pacers, they are matched up with a Miami team that dominated them this season. Once again, Indiana will likely play hard but wind up bowing out after the quarterfinals. |
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| #5 – Miami Heat (7th offense, 12th defense) [12-4, 12-4, 9-7, 8-9, 3-5] The Heat overachieved in the first half of the year. And it wasn’t token overachievement; they were expected to be better after acquiring All-Star SF Jimmy Butler, but they skipped a step and played elite basketball for the rest of 2019. But the league may have caught up to them a bit just as Miami made a couple of moves to get some veterans on the team (PF Jae Crowder, SF Andre Iguodala) to go ahead with their young core (All-Star C Bam Adebayo, starers PG Kendrick Nunn and SG Duncan Robinson, rookie SG Tyler Herro). The Heat shoot at a high clip, and Butler and Adebayo draw fouls at a high rate. They also might be a tough matchup for the Bucks (we already know Butler won’t let Indiana or TJ Warren be great). But while the ceiling is high for Miami, they were just inconsistent enough to give pause to any potential bandwagon fans from committing fully. |
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| #3 – Boston Celtics (4th offense, 4th defense) [12-4, 12-4, 9-7, 10-6, 5-3] On one hand, this team has the most championships (and they won them all in the same city!), so it’s easy to bandwagon this team. On the other hand, it’s Boston, only one of those rings came in the last 33 seasons, and people only care about this franchise when they reach the Finals and the Lakers are involved. No one needs that right now. This isn’t about nostalgia, it’s about choosing a bandwagon right now. Fortunately, the Celtics happen to be good. They got an All-Star PG in 2019 free agent Kemba Walker, and PF Jayson Tatum became an All-Star as well. They are well-balanced on both ends of the floor, and unlike last season, they actually like each other! They’re top heavy, and lack considerable bulk. That’s probably going to be an issue in every round, starting with Philadelphia. But they’re too well-coached to get beat in the first round, and they could give every team problems. |
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| #6 – Philadelphia 76ers (14th offense, 8th defense) [11-5, 11-5, 9-7, 8-9, 4-4] Disclaimer 1: I’m from Philadelphia. Yes, I spent most of my days on various playgrounds where I was born and mostly raised. Disclaimer 2: I’m not here for your location-based fan association. I don’t have a team. And I especially don’t claim this one. Many of you poor souls concluded the 76ers had to be at the top of the East with Milwaukee because they still had two clear-cut All-Stars in C Joel Embiid and PG Ben Simmons. Well, Embiid was good, not great. And Simmons is hurt. This team never got better as the season went on. But they’re not bad! Just really disappointing. It’s almost sad. If that’s your kind of bandwagon, then go right ahead and hold on. |
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| #2 – Toronto Raptors (13th offense, 2nd defense) [12-4, 10-6, 12-4, 12-4, 7-1] The reigning, defending, undisputed CHAMPIONS. This team lost the 2019 NBA Finals MVP in free agency after his only season there — and they got better. What they lost in offensive firepower they have made up for with superb coaching and diabolical defensive production. PG Kyle Lowry seems to draw a charge multiple times a week, while PF Pascal Siakam is a high volume matchup problem. Being competent defending champs were enough for the Raptors, as they seemed to get better after New Year Day and played the best of any team that actually made the playoffs in Florida (sorry, Phoenix.). I don’t know how there’s room on this bandwagon, but if there is, you might as well hop on. |
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| #7 – Brooklyn Nets (22nd offense, 10th defense) [8-8, 8-8, 5-11, 9-7, 5-3] No Kevin Durant. No Kyrie Irving. No DeAndre Jordan. No Taurean Prince. No Spencer Dinwiddie. They changed head coaches midseason. Enter: #TheReplaceNets! Led by converted PG Caris LeVert, Brooklyn minimized turnovers and maximized the professional skills of the motley crew of players who aren’t guaranteed anything on this team next season. We’re talking about a full roster of potential trade chips, free agents, fringe camp invitees, etc. They probably won’t give the Raptors much trouble. But being on this bandwagon now enables you to stick around for when the theoretical talent upgrade is underway for next season! |
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WESTERN CONFERENCE
| #1 – Los Angeles Lakers (11th offense, 3rd defense) [14-2, 11-5, 12-4, 12-3, 3-5] I’ve already said enough about this team. Did you all enjoy the previous six seasons? How about the season before that, when the Lakers were swept in the quarterfinals? Did you notice the NBA Finals without LeBron James? Well if you needed them, the Lakers are back in the playoffs. And they have James, a bandwagon unto himself. Los Angeles’ reward for missing the playoffs after James made eight straight Finals was to get PF Anthony Davis. To top it all off, the Golden State Warriors dynasty is no more (I told you that would happen in October, but I could understand the bandwagon needing the entire season of lozenges to face that reality). Naturally, the Lakers fans who needed to hate on James while he was in Miami and Cleveland 2.0 and be adjunct Warriors fans have returned home, and with the usual pack of bandwagon fans that accompany a team that won five championships without a shot clock in Minnesota. Speaking of shooting! It completely abandoned most of the Lakers in Florida. Objectively — this team is not losing to Portland. It might go seven, but they’re not losing to any Western Conference team. The defense is too good, and their personnel won’t have to adjust much to the mostly lackluster defenses they will face. Imagine that — a Lakers bandwagon fueled by defense. |
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| #8 – Portland Trail Blazers (3rd offense, 27th defense) [5-11, 9-7, 7-9, 8-10, 6-2] Alright, if I’m gonna flame one team, I have to flame them all. Energy will be kept the same! On one hand, Seeding Games MVP PG Damian Lillard has always done his part and more, consistently lifting this mediocre team to victories an actual quality team wouldn’t have to sweat through. C Jusuf Nurkic has overcome significant adversity (physical and otherwise) to re-assert himself as a real difference maker. SF Carmelo Anthony is a shot maker. Gary Trent Jr. looks like The Weeknd. And SG CJ McCollum’s midrange game is a worthy offensive complement to Dame Time. Key word there is offensive, because that’s all you’re going to get from the Trail Blazers. The Seeding Games showed how powerful this team’s offense is, but it also invalidated any argument that this team would be able to stop a nosebleed. It’s gonna be a fantastic quarterfinals, and it’s going to end like all of these Portland postseasons have for most of the last decade: with the masses praising Lillard’s efforts while simultaneously conspiring to break his bond to Rip City. |
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| #4 – Houston Rockets (6th offense, 15th defense) [11-5, 11-5, 8-8, 10-6, 4-4] Folks love to hate this team, mostly because of their commitment to pushing the analytical envelope both on and off the court. The Rockets were the team that finally got some of you to appreciate Chris Paul — which is unfortunate that so many disliked the point god to begin with, but more on that later. Let’s focus on the fact that they flipped Paul and the future for All-Star PG Russell Westbrook… only to wind up having to flip C Clint Capela for C Robert Covington. The Rockets are committed to microball now, and while their only defensive weakness is their lack of rebounding, it is a severe weakness that is only made up for if they force turnovers. And now Westbrook (quad) is hurt, so it’s mostly All-Star SG and annual MVP snub James Harden surrounded by an average but certainly voluminous corps of shooters. The Rockets are certainly unlike any other team here, so if that’s enough for you to jump on their bandwagon, go right ahead. They could win two playoff series or none, and it wouldn’t shock anyone. It also wouldn’t stop the anti-analytics shade that they get every year upon their elimination. |
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| #5 – Oklahoma City Thunder (17th offense, 7th defense) [6-10, 11-5, 11-5, 12-4, 4-4] I didn’t have this team making the playoffs because it seemed like none of the veterans were going to be around after February. And for the first month of the season, that narrative was right on track; it seemed like they were heading for a 50-loss season that kickstarted a rebuild flush with other Western Conference teams’ draft picks. But PG Chris Paul stayed healthy (infuriating for those who followed him with the Clippers and Rockets, but staying healthy is always the ideal), the veterans did not get traded, and the first post-Westbrook Thunder team looked awesome after Thanksgiving. Now, the offense isn’t good until late in the game, when Paul teams up with SF Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and backup guard Dennis Schroder to take over in clutch time. So if they can hold avoid getting blown out by the Rockets through three quarters, they have a chance at getting by them; especially since they defend without fouling. This Thunder team has made everyone feel strange about basketball at some point this season, which is mostly a good thing. It also means they should be a popular bandwagon pick this month. |
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| #3 – Denver Nuggets (5th offense, 16th defense) [13-3, 10-6, 10-6, 10-7, 3-5] The Nuggets have been steadily building and improving their team over the last five seasons. This year, it paid off offensively — everyone appreciates the multi-layered talents of All-Star C Nikola Jokic — and they got an added bonus this summer with the delayed breakout of new starting SF Michael Porter Jr. But Denver mostly cruised after a strong start to the season, and then they got to Florida and upset head coach Michael Malone by being the absolute worst defense of the restart. They give up all the 3s, and no moment was more indicative of that issue than when their bench unit had one of the most baffling mistakes of the summer, letting Los Angeles backup Kyle Kuzma get free for a game-winner. Lakers fans Twitter-wide turned into video coordinators that night, and it was all Denver’s fault. Maybe it’s the loss of the altitude, but I’m not confident that the Nuggets will respond the way they need to in order to make a deep run into the playoffs. They did catch a matchup break in the quarterfinals, so I can’t see an upset coming, though. There’s nothing wrong with getting on this bandwagon; after all, the Nuggets on paper were the best team in the conference outside of California both this year and last year. |
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| #6 – Utah Jazz (9th offense, 13th defense) [11-5, 9-7, 12-4, 9-7, 3-5] Most people think of Denver when it comes to the Rocky Mountains, but the Jazz were the Mountain Time team with the rockier season for sure. The good news was the first-time All-Star selections for offensive star SG Donovan Mitchell and defensive star C Rudy Gobert to go along with the offseason acquisitions of PG Mike Conley Jr. and SF Bojan Bogdanovic. And here therein lies almost all of the bad news: Conley struggled to adjust in his first season out of Memphis; Bogdanovic established himself as the team’s best shooter only to not make it to Florida due to season-ending wrist surgery; and Mitchell and Gobert had to address a feud that was elevated due to Gobert’s behavior around the time he tested positive for coronavirus. Conley also will miss the start of the postseason due to paternity leave, which puts even more pressure on Mitchell. But Gobert has a lot of pressure to keep a formerly elite defense together. The Jazz were a hot mess this year and underachieved overall. So there’s plenty of room on this bandwagon, if you are inclined to see how they go about filling their numerous holes. |
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| #2 – LA Clippers (2nd offense, 5th defense) [11-5, 11-5, 11-5, 11-5, 5-3] People don’t like their trains being late. The train that has never been late the previous 49 seasons (41 in Southern California!) is how the LA Clippers of Los Angeles (soon to be INGLEWOOD) have never won more than one postseason series in the same year. No championships while sharing a market with the Lakers, no conference finals appearances. But Lakers fans wanted SG Paul George in 2018 and SF Kawhi Leonard in 2019. Back then, those two were from L.A. Now they’re from Palmdale and Riverside. Trolls will be trolls, but do you believe this Clippers team is getting past the Lakers (or anyone else) to win a championship? I’m not expecting them to even get to the Lakers. The Clippers were arguably the most consistent team in the league this season, and they stacked the roster with starter-level depth. However, they were consistently good, and never great. The ceiling is high due to so much offensive talent and defensive versatility, but the continuity and chemistry seems to be lacking. Even that has been a model of consistency in head coach Doc Rivers’ time with the Clippers — they have never exceeded expectations in the postseason, mostly due to extenuating circumstances. Well, this entire restart is an extenuating circumstance. Something weird and unfortunate is going to happen to this team, and the fallout will be insufferable. Hop on this bandwagon at your own risk. |
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| #7 – Dallas Mavericks (1st offense, 18th defense) [11-5, 10-6, 8-8, 11-8, 3-5] I didn’t have this team making the playoffs, let alone being the best offense in league history by points per 100 possessions. PG Luka Doncic became an All-Star in his second season and did whatever he wanted to defenses — but my biggest question was C Kristaps Porzingis. I wasn’t sure Porzingis was going to be a plus player coming off a year-long layoff following knee surgery and a trade out of New York. Porzingis started the season slowly, but has been an elite producer since the turn of the new year. Doncic is surrounded by capable shooters who don’t make mistakes offensively. But Dallas’ defense is as vanilla as it gets, and this team’s offense was notorious for going in the tank when the game is close late. They’re going to stress the Clippers out, but this bandwagon is all about Doncic and the future. |
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– 1SKILLZ