Loaded Chicken Sandwich

Some fun teams to keep an eye on who will be really good would be the Clippers, Nuggets, Blazers and 76ers. Clippers have the best bench in the NBA. Put up 60 points against the Lakers in their first game. Lou Williams had 21 himself compared the Lakers 19 bench points. The Nuggets are just a team that is deep as you could ask for in the NBA. They play as a team and have a superstar on their team in Nikola Jokic. The Blazers have arguably the best guard in the league and have changed up their roster yet again and are looking for a repeat and better of last season. Dame Lillard is just a fun player to watch. The 76ers will be in the running for best in the East AND best in the league. A bit more showtime than the Bucks so some more fun. As for teams to just watch for that could sneak into the playoffs with some luck or could just be really fun to watch, the Chicago Bulls, Atlanta Hawks and the Sacramento Kings. The Bulls have a Top 3-4 power forward in the league in Lauri Markkanen. Kid is a beast on the offensive end. Coby White will be starting a PG here soon. And Zach LaVine can still dunk. The Atlanta Hawks have a young core that’s arguably the best in the league. Trae Young, Cam Reddish, DeAndre Hunter, John Collins and Damian Jones starting and Kevin Huerter and Bruno Fernando on the bench. They also have Vince Carter who is still somehow playing and I’m not really sure how. The Kings have the pieces to make the playoffs in the West if it will just click finally. De’Aaron Fox should be a Top 5 PG this season. Marvin Bagley should be a Top PF. That to go along with Buddy Hield, Harrison Barnes and Bojan Bogdanovic with some vets in Trevor Ariza and Cory Joseph, should be a team to at least give some teams trouble. This NBA season is about the duos as it seems the Big 3 era has ended and there are plenty of great duos and some young star duos. LeBron/Davis, Simmons/Embiid, Kawhi/George are 3 of the biggest ones. But there are some young ones really worth paying attention to. Doncic/Porzingis, Young/Collins, Fox/Bagley, Booker/Ayton and then the youngest is Sexton/Garland as Cleveland tries to go for the Dame Lillard/CJ McCollum approach. One storyline I think will be in Miami and seeing Kendrick Nunn continues to perform. It’ll be a fun season and I actually hope to rank all 30 teams best duos here soon. Plenty of fu teams, a very wide open league at the top and among fringe playoff teams. There is more talent now than ever before. Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners mobile app

ESPN picks the worst people. Especially for the NBA. Now I have to listen to Jay Williams with Paul Pierce and Jalen Rose? Garbage. Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners mobile app

Yea... that’s totally why I had Indiana winning last week and the week before... Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners mobile app

Nebraska 31 Indiana 17 Ramsey just isn’t able to lead this team to scoring drives like he should be able to by now and this defense is bad. Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners

Forwards play on the wing. Smith plays on the wing. That is what best fits him. Why? Because you can’t be Karl Malone and be considered a slasher. And remember, Malone was a forward. What’s so hard to understand about the role of a slasher? Was Shaq a slasher just because he caught some passes down low and dunked it? When did Shaq ever start at the 3 point line and backcut for a jam? Malone? Duncan? Ewing? Never. Does Justin Smith fit into the same role and category of player as any of them? Or does he fit into a role like Mo Harkless, Andre Roberson or evening Luc Mbah a Moute? All 3 are wing players on offense. Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners mobile app

I had Davidson on my list. I originally wrote down 46 teams to look at for the Top 25. Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners mobile app

Well Romeo and Juwan were pretty good scorers. Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners mobile app

Archie can coach offense? Is that why so many of his teams haven’t been great offenses? Crean could coach an offense. We saw that. That’s yet to be seen from an Archie coached team. At Dayton or Indiana. Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners mobile app

Well the 3 is typically a small forward. But I guess the word “forward” means nothing. And where do small forwards play at? The wing and out on the perimeter. Some are shooters and some are slashers. Smith is a guy who should be looking for lanes to cut when Phinisee and Green get in the lane. Sure you can be a 3 and be a shooting guard because Al and Romeo did it plenty last season. Both are considered SG’s and wings. Just like a SF is considered a wing. In fact, nowadays a 4, PF or small ball forward can be considered a wing depending on the type of offense you run and who that player is. Smith doesn’t play on the block. And plays the 3/4 depending on the personnel on the court. Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners mobile app

I’m guessing people were getting butthurt and complaining. Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners

That’s kinda my point. The offense is likely not going to be very good no matter who is on the floor. Might as well play to our strengths On defense. Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners mobile app

Not exactly. Smith basically never needs to dribble at the 3 or 4. We are acting like Archie knows how to coach an offense. Our offense is going to be limited whether Smith can dribble or not. It really makes no difference. Our defense is going to have to be fantastic. Like one of the absolute best and Smiths athleticism and length at the 3/4 is going to be a part of that. If we average more than 73 a game, be happy. Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners mobile app

His calling card will be defense. That’ll be his biggest asset to the team. I find it funny that somehow having Archie as a coach is a red flag offensively but now it’s up to Justin Smith... Smith will be playing the 3/4 all season. Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners mobile app

I’ll have to put them on my radar. Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners mobile app

That’s very possible, but what took them so long would be my only question. Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners mobile app

If people were getting suspended for that... there wouldn’t be a whole lot of media folks right now. Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners mobile app

I wouldn’t say Smith failed. But it seems he was likely relied on as a top scoring option. Which won’t be the case when Rob and Green are back. Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners mobile app

Smith will be starting at the 3. I don’t see Archie starting his backup point guard at the 3. Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners mobile app

Even as a fan I am able to separate myself from fandom and writer/poll maker. I hate it, but I have to to be taken even slightly serious. But I do give some smaller schools a chance every year just because it is cool to see when there is some tiny school that is 15-0 or something crazy. The AP is supposed to be releasing their Top 25 today(?). I want to see how close mine is to theirs because I always try and put my Top 25 out before theirs so people don’t think I just copy off them. Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners mobile app

All of those teams have plenty to prove. I just want to see Purdue prove they can win without Edwards. They lost a lot with him solely and it’s hard to replace that. I think we saw that when Yogi left. But I wouldn’t be surprised if they moved into the Top 15 in the first few weeks. Edit: UK will be good and athletic and have some sophomores leading the way. MSU will be good but I think UK is more talented and deeper. MSU’s bench will be their problem. Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners mobile app

I have released my College Basketball Top 25! 1. Kentucky 2. Michigan State 3. Kansas 4. Louisville 5. Duke 6. Florida 7. North Carolina 8. Maryland 9. Gonzaga 10. Virginia 11. Oregon 12. Ohio State 13. Memphis 14. Villanova 15. Texas Tech 16. Seton Hall 17. LSU 18. Arizona 19. Xavier 20. Auburn 21. Utah State 22. Tennessee 23. Purdue 24. VCU 25. Saint Mary’s Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners

We had our best FT shooter on the court in Al(shot 74% last year) and he went 6-8. Our top 3 FT shooters returning are Al(74%), Green(73.6%) and Phinisee(66%). So don’t expect it to get much better. Davis shot 57.7%, Smith shot 51.4%, Race shot 50%. Brunk shot 64.8% at Butler last season. Damezi didn’t attempt a FT last year. Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners mobile app

I don’t see Marquette actually being a Top 20 team at the beginning of the year unless Howard just goes bonkers. Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners mobile app

So much for that trashy NET system. The committee still made baffling decisions. Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners mobile app

I think the top teams will be better. Outside of the top few it’s going to be chaos probably. Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners mobile app