One of these teams mathematically has to be eliminated in rd 1 this year

I'd bet that it's Chicago unless they draw Cleveland

Assuming everyone is full strength I would say Chicago, but I think it's more likely Brooklyn gets knocked out between Simmons being a spineless bitch, Durant coming off an injury and Kyrie being weird, one of them is likely to fuck it up.

KD is good enough to solo teams like Cleveland, Chicago, Boston, Toronto, Charlotte IMO

if KD is healthy and even gets a few games of support from Kyrie or Simmons, they would only get eliminated by Philly, Miami, or Milwaukee

therefore, seeding and coaching is very important for Brooklyn if they want to avoid complete disaster

Bulls cant beat good teams
They don't have all their guys though

Chi

Bulls are going to get past the first round as long as they stay 1-2 seed.

Brooklyn is ass everyone thinks Durant coming back will magically make them unstoppable but I mean Nash can't coach a team that doesn't ever play together. Nets also got weaker replacing Harden with Seth Curry.

The Heat are my only other wildcard in that list they could fade come playoffs like they did getting kicked first round last year.

Likely Nets or Heat imo

From this list? I'd say the Bulls are most likely.

Then again if the Nets can't get everyone out there playing they'll be gone first round.

this

It’s really tough. I hate to say Bulls, but it’s very possible. Their defense since all their Covid woes and injuries has gone downhill. But once, assuming he can, Lavine is back to himself that should help scoring and take some of the pressure of Demar.

But back to the point of defense. Before losing Lonzo and Caruso the Bulls defense was very swarming and tenacious. Not as good as Miami but able to do so much more than they can now. Lonzo was slapping from 3 as well. I really think the team approves with those 2 guys coming back on defense and offense.

They need to run the offense through Vucevic more, but in the proper way. He’s really abandoned scoring down low and is relying way to much on his mid range and deep shot. But a lot of that is because their offense isn’t hitting those passes down low in time. They just don’t see it. Hopefully another thing that improves with Lonzo and Caruso.

I’m curious to see come playoff time Tristan Thompson’s role with the team. Cause I think it can only help the team for him to see more minutes. His offensive rebounding is huge and he attacks down low. He def has plenty of basketball left at this point. Having him on Vucevic in the games together, especially against a team like Cleveland, may be vital.

This Bulls team as they are now is getting eliminated. But at strength, and assuming they have enough time to mesh before the playoffs, I think they can compete with everyone

This post was edited by EmericAn on Mar 1 2022 12:05pm