NBA season preview: who's best in the West?

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Jokic's Nuggets are top dogs, but could the Suns, Lakers or Warriors dethrone them? And watch out for Wemby!

Transcript

00:00 (Casting)

00:20 So it seems like the biggest news of the NBA season would be how the legendary draft prospect

00:27 Victor Wemba Nyama might do. It seemed like last year it was Tank for Wemba, see who would get the

00:32 unanimous number one overall pick out of France. Victor Wemba Nyama, the 7'4" monster who might

00:41 dominate the NBA now and definitely in a few years.

00:45 All my expectations are really to learn how to win as quick as possible.

00:50 It will be difficult for even the top centers to guard him. And they'll have to guard him from beyond

00:55 the arc too, he can shoot for three. Plus he might already be a top five ball handler in terms of

01:00 big men, he can really handle the ball well.

01:02 I know I'm going to live through incredible things and also obstacles. I know I'm forging forever

01:11 memories right now.

01:12 Spurs won only 22 games last season, I think best case scenario they win 40 this year.

01:16 (Music)

01:20 Time and time again have we seen Chris Paul join a team and outperform his projections.

01:25 This is his fourth different team in six years, but he's still been able to put up consistent numbers

01:29 even at his age. And what's nice about joining the Warriors is that he doesn't need to be a major

01:34 scorer, he just needs to be another facilitator for Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson.

01:38 And with a guy like Chris Paul, I wonder if Steve Kerr can continue with the small ball offense

01:44 that led to a dynasty with the Warriors.

01:46 Excited to have him, excited to see what changes and ways we can adapt to him in the lineup and

01:52 different rotations that we can put out there.

01:54 He's one of the smartest guys in this league. When you talk basketball IQ.

02:00 I got a friend of mine, Killer Mike, who always says, when everybody does a little, no one has to

02:05 do a lot. And that's what I hope to bring to this team.

02:08 Chris Paul and Drayton won't matter though if they're not healthy, right? Their main scorers have

02:12 dealt with injuries over the years, most recently Wiggins and Curry.

02:16 They also need to play better on the road. They went 11 and 30 on the road last season and they

02:21 allowed over 120 points per game.

02:23 They do now have Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal, and this team will look to rain jump shots all season

02:32 with Devin Booker. I have no idea how well the three of them are going to play together.

02:36 I don't know if it's going to be a success. I think there's going to be some struggles at the

02:39 beginning. I don't think it's going to be so bad that they don't make the playoffs or anything.

02:43 But to me, there are not enough possessions in the game for all of them to overperform.

02:48 My guess is that Devin Booker and KD will still average over 25 points.

02:53 When we see Bradley Beal get fewer opportunities. I think the Suns won 45 games last season,

02:59 but win more than that. I don't think they'll be the favorites to win the West.

03:05 We'll have to see if this is LeBron's last chance of winning a fifth title in the NBA.

03:11 He has shown no signs of slowing down, though the Lakers were swept by the Nuggets to the

03:15 conference finals. I think it was still surprising that the Lakers made it that far.

03:19 And LeBron played great. He even dropped 40 points in that last game against Denver.

03:24 So I do think he has at least one more season left in the tank and he could make a deep run

03:28 in the playoffs with the talent that the Lakers have.

03:31 LeBron has played more than 60 games in a season just once over the last five years.

03:36 There's got to be a concern about health. Same goes for Anthony Davis.

03:40 If healthy, however, they could possibly do what they did last year.

03:43 They make a run in the playoffs at a lower seed.

03:46 I'm happy to be returning for another season and helping this team,

03:50 hopefully lead this team to the promised land. That's just the goal.

03:53 We have to talk about the champions of last year, of course, the Denver Nuggets.

04:00 Do they have a chance to make it back to the NBA Finals and win again?

04:04 We've gone from being a team that has been hunting the teams in front of us to now we're going to be the hunted.

04:09 And hopefully our guys understand the responsibility that comes with being a defending champion.

04:14 We have Nikola Jokic playing out of his mind. I don't think he's going to stop anytime soon.

04:20 Really see Jamal Murray step up and be a top five shooting guard, point guard in the game.

04:25 Maybe a team figures out their game and style and figures out Nikola Jokic dynamic playing.

04:30 But I still think Nuggets fans that the Denver Nuggets will probably at least make it to the NBA Finals.

04:37 If this team wants to compete, it has to be Donchurch's team.

04:43 It cannot be Kyrie Irving's team. And they still have a good few pieces to at least make the playoffs.

04:48 They didn't even make the playoffs last year. But I think defensively, they're kind of a mess still.

04:53 That goes for both Kyrie Irving and Luka Donchurch. I don't see them as a title contender for sure.

05:00 We came in the middle of the season last year. You know, we didn't have much time. We went straight to playing games.

05:07 It takes time to build chemistry, especially on the court. I think it's going to be way better.

05:11 A few times I think we were being too passive with one another. We're both killers on the court. Everybody knows it. We want to win.

05:17 ♪ MUSIC ♪

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