Just before the first game of the 20/21 season, how do we match up with your pick to come out of the East in the Finals?

[joeblow]

It'll be interesting to check back here after the season plays itself out, but assuming the Lakers make it to the Finals, how do we match up with your pick for the East Coast champion? I'll say it will be the Nets, and here's how I see the comparison.

~~~~~

Best player:
Lebron vs. Durant. After some impressive pre-season work on the court, I'm comfortable saying that Durant is already back to being top three in the league.

Compared to Lebron in the Finals, I'm going to say they will have roughly the same overall impact on the game. No major advantage either way (except in certain specific stats).

Second best player:
Davis vs. Kyrie. Obviously AD is better, especially after factoring in defense, but are the Nets able to challenge Davis defensively more than the Lakers can contain Kyrie defensively?

That will be something to watch out for because I honestly can't see the Nets beating the Lakers in seven games if Irving is not putting up crazy numbers in at least three of them (it worked for Jimmy Butler to get two wins).

Third best player:
Here's an interesting comparison. Currently, the Lakers still don't have a clear third best player... Schröder? Kuzma? Gasol? THT?

If it ends up being, say, Kuzma, how does he match up with Levert on the Nets? I'm impressed with the Net's guard who is in his prime and is highly talented. Still, Kuzma's main issue is consistency on both ends of the court, and I feel he's made progress in his biggest area of defense. They are roughly tied for overall game impact.

Role-player depth overall:
Potentially another tie? I love my Laker backups to the main superstars of Lebron and AD, which are Kuzma, Gasol, Schröder, Wes, KCP, THT, Caruso, Harrell, and Morris... that's a HIGHLY legit 11-man deep roster!

Still, I don't scoff at the depth behind KD and Kyrie on the Nets: Joe Harris can shoot lights out, D.Jordan is a defensive rim protector that the Lakers no longer have if AD plays PF, I gave props to Levert above, Dinwiddie can be an effective offensive pest/play-maker, J.Allen is a nice young center playing for a big contract this summer, and Shamet (former Clipper) is a capable outside shooter.

Not bad at all for Brooklyn, though I still give the edge to the Lakers who can try out sooooo many combinations before they get it right.

Coaching:
Kyrie says the Nets don't need a coach, so I guess that's that . But hypothetically speaking, if they were run by someone like, say, Steve Nash in his first job as HC, there's no reason to think he'd be as good as a proven coaching champ like Vogel, let alone better than him.

Team Offense:
Our Lakers have improved in their outside shooting on paper (and in the pre-season). That's a tremendous plus. We are also much deeper in the number of offensive creators on the squad in that while we lost Rondo, we still have Caruso, we added Schröder, Gasol and Wes Matthews, all of which can be decision makers with the ball in their hands.

I mean, even THT shows great promise in this area, and Kuzma dished out some nice dimes in the pre-season. What we lost a bit though was consistent lob targets in the paint (goodbye Dwight and McGee), so hopefully we can still impose "bigness" on other teams by dominating the paint scoring like last year.

Compared to the Nets, we should still have enough to edge them out in scoring, though they are very versatile in the number of players I listed above that can put the ball in the hoop.

Team Defense:
Again, the Lakers lost something when two of our impact centers left the team (Dwight and McGee), but in the end, they were specialists since there were games and series where one or even both saw limited minutes when we slid AD to the center spot.

In the Finals against the Nets, that may be our strat once again (Laker "small" ball), so the absence of those two may not be a major issue. I really like what I see in ability/effort/D.IQ of Caruso, THT, Wes, KCP, and Morris. Kuzma and Schröder were solid defensively in the pre-season, and Gasol will play smart D even though he's lost some athleticism. Lebron is Lebron, and AD may win defensive player of the year.

With that said, by way of comparison I am not overly impressed with the Nets' defensive prowess on paper. KD is legit, Levert is capable, but all the other non-centers seem to be lacking in this area. I like their centers (Jordan and Allen), but not enough to make up for the lack of ability by Kyrie, Dinwiddie, Harris, and Shamet.

~~~~~

Lakers in six. Who do you guys think comes out of the East, and how do we match up with them?

[Inspector Gadget]

Don’t underestimate the Sixers, they have valuable added championship experience on the roster with Danny Green and Dwight Howard on the Sixers they have 3pt snipers in Seth Curry and Korkmaz, Doc Rivers is a upgrade over Brett Brown.

[teddyblue0902]

[activeverb]

[epic_]

I'm just waiting for kyrie to get jealous of KD and implode the team.
But they look good for quarter 1.
They have the talent to make the finals.
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💜💛 🏆 👀 🍖 #18!!!

[Halflife]

If both teams are healthy we would kill them. Our defense is too good

[epic_]

[Aeneas Hunter]

I have no idea who will come out of the East. If we are healthy and clicking, we’d beat any of them.
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Internet Argument Resolved

[Treble Clef]

Lakers vs Nets would look like this Nets vs Warriors game.