NBA predictions: Can the Knicks cease the Celtics from repeating?

The 2024-25 NBA season suggestions off on Tuesday and FOX Sports activities’ NBA employees is locking of their predictions earlier than the video games get going.

The Boston Celtics will enter the season because the favorites to win the Jap Convention after successful an NBA-record 18th championship final season, however can the New York Knicks cease them from repeating after buying and selling for Karl-Anthony Cities and Mikal Bridges within the offseason?

Let’s have a look at what our consultants needed to say:

1. The Knicks had a busy offseason, including Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Cities in blockbuster trades. How a lot do these additions change the ceiling of this crew? Does the expertise addition make up for the loss in tradition and continuity?

Yaron Weitzman: Continuity and tradition are good, however within the NBA expertise wins. The Knicks with KAT are a extra gifted crew than they had been final season. It is going to be fascinating to see how issues all match collectively, and the way Tom Thibodeau builds a protection round Jalen Brunson and Cities. However with Cities’ spacing and with the addition of Bridges the Knicks are going to be an unbelievable offensive crew. With Bridges and OG Anunoby on the wings, the wager right here is that they provide the Celtics a run.

Melissa Rohlin: That is an thrilling time for the Knicks, who now boast one of many strongest beginning fives within the league in Jalen Brunson, OG Anunoby, Josh Hart, Karl-Anthony Cities and Mikal Bridges. For a crew that hasn’t reached the Convention Finals since 2000, making these aggressive trades places them within the combine to essentially be capable of compete. However are they stacked sufficient and can they’ve sufficient chemistry and cohesion to beat the defending champion Boston Celtics in a seven-game collection? That is questionable at this level.

2. Daryl Morey’s newest try to construct a contender round Joel Embiid entails Paul George, arguably probably the most dynamic star Embiid has performed with. How do you view George’s match with the Sixers? Is he somebody that may hold the Sixers aggressive within the occasion of one other long-term Embiid damage?

Weitzman: George is an ideal match for this Sixers crew. He offers them every thing they did not have, and that Joel Embiid hasn’t had for the reason that crew’s breakup with Jimmy Butler: A giant, dynamic wing who can generate offense and lock down opposing scores. Add that alongside Embiid and the explosive Tyrese Maxey, and you’ve got what might be the NBA’s greatest Huge 3. His presence can even permit the Sixers to offer Embiid extra days off throughout the common season in order that, come playoff time, he is wholesome and recent.

Rohlin: This was the best-possible transfer for the 76ers, who now have an All-Star on the guard, wing and heart positions in Tyrese Maxey, George and Joel Embiid. If Embiid is sidelined due to an damage, Maxey and George ought to be capable of carry sufficient of the load to maintain the 76ers close to the highest of the Jap Convention. And if all three keep wholesome, I might see the 76ers being reputable championship contenders this season.

3. The Bucks are getting into the second season of the Giannis Antetokounmpo–Damian Lillard undertaking and the primary full season below Doc Rivers. Is there a motive for Bucks followers to be extra optimistic about Milwaukee’s championship prospects this season, or ought to we count on extra of the identical?

Weitzman: It would be onerous to think about issues going worse this 12 months. Doc Rivers now will get a full offseason and coaching camp with the crew, and Giannis and Lillard get a full coaching camp collectively. Including Gary Trent Jr. ought to assist the group, too. The query is whether or not Khris Middleton can get wholesome after present process surgical procedure on each his ankles over the offseason. I am doubtful about Milwaukee’s skill to go the Knicks, Sixers or Celtics, however I additionally would not wager in opposition to Giannis.

Rohlin: I count on this crew to be significantly better than final season. Lillard wasn’t the Lillard we all know after getting traded in the course of coaching camp to a crew he wasn’t anticipating to affix. To make issues harder, he was going via a divorce and aside from his kids. Forward of this season, he vowed he was in a greater head house and he confirmed as much as coaching camp in high form. Additionally, Lillard and Antetokounmpo have very totally different kinds and wanted extra time to study and regulate to one another’s play. Now, they’re going to have a full coaching camp below their belt, and so they’ll have stability from the highest below coach Doc Rivers. I count on this to be a revenge 12 months for the Bucks following getting eradicated from the primary spherical of the playoffs final season.

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4. As the remainder of the Jap Convention reset, the Celtics reloaded with the identical championship roster from final season. Ought to they be considered because the unanimous favorites to make it out of the Jap Convention once more this season or will there be some regression?

Weitzman: The Celtics did not simply win the Jap Convention final season, they lapped the sphere. They completed the common season 14 video games (!) forward of the No. 2 seed New York Knicks, and dropped simply three video games your entire postseason. They’re additionally bringing again their whole core. They are going to be with out Kristaps Porzingis for a bit, and the remainder of the convention improved, so issues will not be straightforward for the Celtics this season. However this crew remains to be, very clearly, the favourite to come back out of the convention.

Rohlin: The Celtics aren’t solely the favorites to come back out of the Jap Convention, they’re the favorites to win a championship. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown lastly acquired over the hump collectively and the crew returned its core. Final season, they had been No. 1 in offensive score and No. 2 in defensive score after which they solely misplaced three video games throughout the playoffs. A lot of the league improved over the offseason and so they’re run won’t be really easy this time round, however the Celtics are undoubtedly the crew to be afraid of this season,

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5. Trying on the panorama of the Jap Convention, it is easy to ascertain a high-profile participant asking out earlier than the commerce deadline. Which star or star’s scenario will you be maintaining your eye on because the season develops?

Weitzman: Jimmy Butler. He wished an extension over the offseason, did not get it, and if he declines his participant possibility he is usually a free agent in the summertime. Up to now he is been diplomatic. However we have seen up to now how issues with Butler can go when he isn’t given the contract he desires.

Rohlin: I’ve gotta go together with Jimmy Butler as nicely. There have been no enjoyable shenanigans throughout Media Day, akin to emo Jimmy, which signaled he means enterprise proper now. He did not get a contact extension from the Warmth and he has the power to be a free agent this summer season if he does not train his participant possibility. These are the makings of a really difficult scenario in Miami between the franchise and its celebrity.

Yaron Weitzman is an NBA author for FOX Sports activities. He’s the creator of “Tanking to the Prime: The Philadelphia 76ers and the Most Audacious Course of within the Historical past of Skilled Sports activities.” Comply with him on Twitter @YaronWeitzman.

Melissa Rohlin is an NBA author for FOX Sports activities. She beforehand coated the league for Sports activities Illustrated, the Los Angeles Instances, the Bay Space Information Group and the San Antonio Specific-Information. Comply with her on Twitter @melissarohlin.

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