OKC should be clear favorites to win this year

[StrongLurk]

As of now, they have the highest SRS of all time (still a ways to go before end of season). They also have one of the best defensive teams of all time too, AND they have the MVP favorite in Shai, AND they have been missing Chet for awhile. Assuming they finish the year healthy and at the same level of play, when was the last time a team like this DIDN'T win the championship? Probably the 2016 Warriors?

[tontoz]

They are still really young though, and the Cs have a lot of playoff experience. C's are still slight favorites right now.

[Xiao Yao You]

Youngest team in league. Not the usual blueprint. They are way ahead of schedule

[AlternativeAcc.]

Agrees. Shai is so far superior to Tatum or Brown especially in a playoff/finals situation that they have to be favorites with how stacked their roster is.

Celtics got by last year by being the most stacked team of any team they faced so they got away with Tatum shitting the bed in the 4th quarter of finals games. Shai is a legit killer, and OKC is arguably better overall than the Celtics outside of him.

If healthy they are winning it all.

[3ba11]

2009 Cavs

[AlternativeAcc.]

OKC has the best defense in the league (by a massive margin) and one of the best all time... up to this point WITHOUT their 7ft. Unicorn rim protector/DPOY 2nd option.

They fixed their biggest weakness by signing Hartenstwin, signed Caruso, and literally everybody is a year older and better from last year. Plus Shai is having a peak KD like season on offense and is levels above any Celtics player.

They are absolutely winning the title this season, pretending otherwise is just low IQ and being late to reality

[ArbitraryWater]

I dont mind. Worthy winner.


Cs only won last year cause Mavs gave away game 3. Cs absolutely would have choked it otherwise. And cause the Nuggets dropped the ball in game 7.

[Norcaliblunt]

SHOULD BE versus ARE THEY?????

Probably not.

Book it.

[Micku]

I would say that they are the favorites. Things are looking good for them. But you never know what will happen.

[highwhey]

umm what? experience matters

[MMM]

Over the last 7 seasons the team with the best record or SRS haven't made it to the conference finals much less the finals. The only exception last year Celtics but Boston had loads of playoff expierence with being in the Finals and confrence finals over the years. I think some are down playing playoff expierence because the last few finals consisted of teams that at least made their confrence finals in the recent past.

Bos v Dal
Den v Mia
GSW v Bos
Mil v Phx
LA v Mia
Tor v GSW

Outside of Phx and Mia which were covid years it seems like expierence is a precursor to success in the playoffs.

Teams wity the best record
Bos
Mil
Phx
Uta?
Mil
Mil?

Only Bos made tye finalz and one of the Milwaukee teams made the ECF

[ImKobe]

OKC has the best defense in the league (by a massive margin) and one of the best all time... up to this point WITHOUT their 7ft. Unicorn rim protector/DPOY 2nd option.

They fixed their biggest weakness by signing Hartenstwin, signed Caruso, and literally everybody is a year older and better from last year. Plus Shai is having a peak KD like season on offense and is levels above any Celtics player.

They are absolutely winning the title this season, pretending otherwise is just low IQ and being late to reality

Their offense is worse than last year thus far (and it fell off a cliff in the POs in the Mavs series) and I'd hold off on calling their defense one of the best ever when it's not even ASB yet.

One thing going against them is that they're an average 3PT shooting team and they're not stacked in terms of star power. It's still very much just Shai putting up prime Kobe/Jordan numbers while Chet and Jalen Williams haven't completely arrived yet.

[StrongLurk]

Youngest team in league. Not the usual blueprint. They are way ahead of schedule

True, they remind me of the 2015 Warriors in some ways. A young but very talented team that sort of exploded onto the seen, lead by their best player who went from all-star level to MVP level in pretty much three years. I expect OKC to come out of the West but they could definitely struggle some in the finals similar to the 2015 Warriors (who only won due to Kyrie/Love being injured in my opinion).

[jayfan]

And Holmgren & Hartenstein have only played 2 games together this season. Wait til they figure it out.

Looks like they're planning to keep Hartenstein in the starting lineup with Holmgren.




The small ball era didn't last nearly as long as folks thought/feared it would.


.

[Patrick Chewing]

OKC is a fun team to get behind. Sam Presti is a genius for being able to rebuild that team after losing out on that window they briefly had with Harden, Westbrook, and Durant. And they still have a shit ton of draft picks.


No one wants to see the Celtics win another championship. Nothing but chuckers on that team.

[90sgoat]

Depends on the draw, I think Jokic obliterates them.

[iamgine]

I'd say one of the favorites but not clear favorites. Clear favorites are teams like 2017 Warriors, 2013 Heat, 1996 Bulls, etc.

[Lakers Legend#32]

NBA Title is too big a deal for little bumf#ck OKC.

[Axe]

I mean they've improved a lot as a team since allegedly making the playoffs in 2023.

[Hey Yo]

umm what? experience matters

Didn't matter to the 2012 odds makers.

[warriorfan]

Didn't matter to the 2012 odds makers.

bron had a legacy of choking especially after 2011 so they weren’t impressed with him as an opponent and thought he was gonna do another 2007, 2011 Finals performance. Bron lucked out that he played against 22 and 23 year old chokers with no previous finals experience meanwhile he played with a FMVP while their core had 5 Finals under their belt already while compared to 0 to the Baby Thunder.

[3ba11]

Denver and Boston will meet in the Finals

[ShawkFactory]

Denver and Boston will meet in the Finals

Why won’t OKC beat Denver?

[3ba11]

Why won’t OKC beat Denver?


OKC has 2 star guards but Nuggets have 3 good guards with Murray, Westbrook and Braun.. .Meanwhile, Jokic, Porter Jr. and Gordon demolish hartenstien and chet ("bangers").

Then of course there's the brand of ball issue - ball-domination vs ball movement... The latter tends to prevail in a vacuum.