Ranking NBA teams by tiers for 2018-19 season
The Title Threats
Boston Celtics, Houston Rockets, Toronto Raptors
Another name for this group: The biggest obstacles in the Golden State Warriors’ crusade to a third straight championship.
Most likely, the Western Conference Finals will once again feature a showdown between the Dubs and the Houston Rockets. Carmelo Anthony should be a better fit playing with his buddies James Harden and Chris Paul in Mike D’Antoni‘s system, but this team lost some key defensive contributors and filled them with question marks like Michael Carter-Williams, Brandon Knight and Marquese Chriss. They’re still a threat, but a far more vulnerable one compared to last year.
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As for the Warriors’ likely opponent in the Finals, it should come down to the Boston Celtics (who were one win away from dethroning the King last year despite Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward both being injured) and the Toronto Raptors (who added Kawhi Leonard and no longer have LeBron James to worry about in the East).
The Celtics have to be considered the early favorites, just because their super-switchable starting five of Kyrie, Hayward, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Al Horford might be the best five-man unit in the conference. The depth will be improved with Marcus Smart, Terry Rozier, Marcus Morris and Aron Baynes, and Brad Stevens has to be the favorite for Coach of the Year.
However, the Raptors shouldn’t be overlooked either. Going from DeRozan to Kawhi, as much as it hurts now and could hurt even worse if Leonard bails next summer, is a huge upgrade. Kyle Lowry won’t be in the spotlight anymore come playoff time, and Toronto has a ton of versatile wing lineups that can spread the floor, especially with Danny Green joining the mix.
All three of these teams would present problems for the Golden State Warriors, and alongside the Dubs, round out the four most likely teams to reach the conference finals. Anything less than that would be a major disappointment, since all three are championship-caliber squads on paper.