Indiana is one of the teams with the highest variability- I could see them being as high as 3rd even. I just see a lot of flaws as well. Myles Turner will be really special, but I think it might be asking too much of him to replace Ian Mahinmi's defense right away. In general the defense will be a ton worse, both with the new personnel and the loss of Frank Vogel. They have a lot of 1v1 shot creation but not a ton of good passing or efficient players, and PG13 is really their only true 2-way player right now (well Thaddeus Young is mediocre on both ends so I guess that counts).

EDIT: all that being said, paul george is so good that I would not at all be surprised if he just carried them to a 4th seed or something

the celtics were already at 47 wins last season, and they had a point differential that was solidly better than their wins- I think it was a 49 or 50 win point differential. al horford is an enormous upgrade, and a lot of their young players are projected to improve, like marcus smart. factor in how much time kelly olynyk, who would probably be included in their best lineups that don't involve playing super small, and the time jae crowder missed, and I think they'll be really good last season.

there's also no way the raptors will be as good from a regular season wins perspective as they were last season.

when I was first starting out as a main caller I was convinced that mids involving extremely quick double soldier bombs were theoretically the best, and called them almost every time

the problem is, while one tactic might be best in theory, executing it 100% perfectly every time is not possible, and therefore you need at least 2-3 mids you're really comfortable with on most maps so that the other team doesn't know exactly what you're going to do

I do still believe that, if everyone does their job perfectly and the timing is flawless, double soldier aggression mids are still the ideal, but that's not the best standard to use

way-too-early playoff predictions based on my seeding

warriors > thunder
spurs > grizzlies
clippers > rockets
jazz > blazers

warriors > jazz
clippers > spurs (I think that if they stay healthy, the clippers could be a better PLAYOFF team than the spurs this year)

warriors > clippers

cavs > pacers
celtics > hawks
raptors > wizards (although I wouldn't be at all surprised if the raptors lost here)
pistons > hornets (I predicted the pistons for lower wins cuz reggie jackson is out to start the season, but I think they're the 4th best team in actuality)

cavs > pistons
celtics > raptors

cavs > celtics

finals: warriors > cavs

in tier form:

west:

tier 1: warriors
tier 2: spurs, clippers
tier 3: jazz
tier 4: blazers, rockets, grizzlies
tier 5: thunder, timberwolves
tier 6: nuggets, mavericks, pelicans, kings
tier 7: suns, lakers

east:

tier 1: cavs
tier 2: celtics, raptors
tier 3: hornets, pistons, wizards, hawks, pacers (MAYBE the hornets and pistons good enough for their own tier, not sure)
tier 4: knicks, magic, bulls
tier 5: heat, bucks
tier 6: 76ers, nets

rip ArtsySnartsy

real talk win predictions time:

west:
warriors- 70
spurs- 57
clippers- 54
jazz- 49
blazers- 46
rockets- 45
grizzlies- 44
thunder- 43
timberwolves- 41
nuggets- 39
mavericks- 38
pelicans- 36
kings- 35
suns- 27
lakers- 23

east:
cavs- 59
celtics- 52
raptors- 51
hornets- 46
pistons- 45
wizards- 44
hawks- 43
pacers- 42
knicks- 40
magic- 39
bulls- 38
heat- 36
bucks- 33
76ers- 25
nets- 24

I did not add this shit up to make it work mathematically, I did these on the fly

a TON of teams will be ~35-45 wins this season imo

havent raptors fans been hoping jv blows up for like 50 seasons in a row

tfw im not a top 9 IM demo 8'^{[~

first ever finals trilogy

do a whole list fen rir if u dare!!

all medics suck so its ok

maybe if ex applies himself again he'll be a bigger beast by playoffs

but I do not subscribe to the theory that better team = all 6 players better than everyone else

any1 else wanna give it a stab

or are yall afraid to put ur REAL thoughts out there??

I'll start (not including my own team obv)

demo:
1. mae
2. campy
3. jarrett
4. vaati
5. moy
Hon mention: max, safrix, maybe rdj?
pocket:
1. trippahahahaha
2. froot
3. asianriceguy
4. deathy
5. kryptonite
Hon mentions: dagger, mirrorman, sideways whoopi godberg
roamer:
1. rekuso
2. megaboy
3. glider
4. phorofor
5. jaaay
Hon mention: mostlybacon
medic:
1. meyy
2. skye
3. screwb? fabulous? Idk meds all suck
Hon mention: LoL
scout:
0. muffinz
1. phlps
2. yimi
3. vari
4. micah
5. demoted
6. catface
7. spamfest
8. jynx
9. ex
10. dflame
Hon mentions: midas, bwelp, ed, Saturn, keith, rockmonkey

not super happy with the scout list, after like 4th or 5th place it gets super close

the rest are easy tho