Who will be the 2020 NBA Champion?

hopefully neither of the Lakers or clippers but it will probably be one of them. amd I wish every team to be healthy. realistically, the formerly 3 best teams in the east all got worse. (Raptors bucks and sixers). it may unfortunately take an injury (lebron/Kawhi) or massive deadline deal (less likely now that free agency has been so prominent) to open things up otherwise, such as the KD injury this year. the best teams get better at the trade deadline a lot of the time. but there's a significant drop outside of the top 10 players as far as being franchise altering players that can win a chip. it's hard to imagine a team winning without one of lebron, Kawhi, PG, KD, Steph, or Giannis.

Los Angeles Pelicans

Dirtball wrote:

My pick would be on the Clippers. They have PG and Kawhi, the 2 best two-way players in the league, as well as one of the deepest benches in the league.

I am not so sure. Many media personnel, supposedly those in the know are predicting Clippers will win. I have seen Paul George play more than a game or two. IMO, Paul George is not an ice in the veins winner. I have never seen Paul George as an Allen Iverson, Kope Bryant or Michael Jordan type athlete. There are over 1/2 a dozen teams in the west which can win.

It won't be LeBron's team, that is for sure!

The Milwaukee Bucks!

... will likely not win the championship. I think this year was their shot. But I can hope.

Clipper or the winner of the Milwaukee Sixers series.

Lakers? Not a chance.

1776ers

I think it'll come down to Lakers vs Bucks.

Lakers: You know Lebron is going to elevate this team in the playoffs. Look what he did with some of the Cavs teams come playoff time in the East, & that was with far less talent. Plus he knows he's aging quickly, so he's going to take advantage of the Lakers having the #1 spot. All these regular season wins that people think are meaningless actually aren't. His new team is learning how to grind out wins & build chemistry each night.

Bucks: They're head & shoulders above any other team in the East. They aren't just beating teams, they're playing around with them, benching/resting Giannis for half the game, & then blowing them out. I can't see the Heat, Celtics, 76ers winning a 7 game series against them, especially with the Bucks having a big home court advantage. Their bench is also extremely deep & strong if the offense is struggling. The "wall" that the Celtics & Raptors used last playoffs against Giannis has been busted with using simple roll plays this season.

Denver Nuggets

Vinter, I like your analysis but feel the games that the Lakers grind out and win might be detrimental to Lebron- he's playing too many minutes.

The Bucks are not only beating teams in the East, they're beating the Western teams easily. Coach Bud is an amazing coach, he makes his players better than they are; with him the whole is much greater than the sum of its parts. Perhaps we took him for granted in Atlanta, were Teague and all the others really all stars?

At the beginning of the year I thought it would be the Sixers coming out of the east or even Boston who can still make a move before the deadline. But I'm so impressed with the simple but effective way the Bucks play.

As always it will come down to who is healthy