NBA Preview: Bucks can repeat, but they'll get some tough competition from both East and West
New York, New York - The 2021-22 NBA regular season opens tonight, and rarely has a championship seemed more up for grabs.
If last season proved anything, it was that a team doesn't need a trio of superstars to raise a championship trophy. While
A team with right roster of players and a coaching staff that came together can go on a legendary run to a somewhat surprising championship win.
That team was the Milwaukee Bucks, who hadn’t won an NBA crown in 50 years prior to that magical day in July.
And as long as last year’s Finals MVP, Giannis Antetokounmpo (26), continues on from where he ended last season, there's no reason the Bucks can't become the first back-to-back champs since the Golden State Warriors in 2017-18.
Eastern Conference contenders have the Bucks in their sights
Out of the Eastern Conference, the Hawks came up short in six games of the East Finals to the eventual NBA champs, the Bucks.
No disrespect to Atlanta, but it doesn't really seem like the Hawks will be getting that close again next June – at least not with point guard Trae Young as the only serious weapon that the team has in its arsenal.
Sure, they made easy playoff work of the Knicks, but NY has had that first-round exit on their mind all offseason, using it as motivation to climb higher in this new season.
But it won’t be long before a team like the Sixers, who fell to Atlanta in the second of last year’s playoffs, will get the better of the Hawks.
Philly does have what it takes to seriously contend all season long, as they are still projected by many to get farther than they did last year. The only issue they might have going into this season is whether one of their core players, Ben Simmons, will actually return to the team after having a breakdown of sorts during their shocking postseason implosion.
Everyone else is returning, hoping that this is the year that "trusting the process" gets Philly its first title since 1983.
And speaking of the return of a core player, the Brooklyn Nets are heading into this season so far without Kyrie Irving for half of their games, since he won’t get vaccinated. But neither Irving, nor the other members of Brooklyn’s big three, will automatically win a championship.
Ask Dirk Nowitzki how he feels about taking on three superstars on one team in the Finals.
The West is where most of the stars will shine
The Western Conference seems to be yet again, where much of the league’s talent lies.
Many are already writing in the LA Lakers as the team to beat out West as LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and new teammates Russell Westbrook and Carmelo Anthony have all (some would say finally) banded together for a run at this season’s NBA title.
Providing all four of these eventual Hall of Famers can stay healthy during the season, and especially come playoff time, they’ll definitely be the team to beat.
And who else will definitely give chase? The Phoenix Suns for one. They couldn’t complete their run to the franchise’s first NBA championship last year after the Bucks beat them in six games, leaving them with probably the mother of all chips on their shoulders coming into this new season.
But don’t count out the Clippers, or at least give them a chance to prove themselves once again.
Sure, they’ll likely have to play in their all-too-common shadow of their city rivals, but they made it to last year’s Western Finals – the furthest the franchise has ever been in their postseason history – so that’s something that can push them to go even further.
The Nuggets can't be overlooked either, especially after getting surprisingly swept out of the playoffs by the Suns last season.
The Jazz will also make things tough for everyone on their side of the Mississippi. Utah finished last season with the league’s best record and comes into this season with the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, Rudy Gobert, at center. But after being sent home early in a postseason upset at the hands of the Clippers, Utah still has a lot to prove.
The NBA season starts tonight with the defending champion Bucks hosting the Nets, followed by the Warriors starting things off out West in LA against the Lakers.
Cover photo: IMAGO/ZUMA Wire