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We are merely days away from the beginning of the NBA season! By now, we know which teams are heading into the season with dreams of raising a banner, and which have their eyes set on drafting the next big thing in the NBA, Cooper Flagg. This leaves us with some teams that are occupying the NBA's middle ground, teams that are not quite yet contenders, but also not bottoming out for a top pick (not yet, at least). Let's dive into some teams that are worth your viewing attention, that may not quite be on national TV every night.
By Spencer Galloway | October 18th, 2024
Photo by Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune
How Did We Get Here?
Do you feel that? That strange tingle running throughout your body? The NBA season is fast approaching and there's nothing we can do to slow it down. Hell, why would you? After watching last night's rendition of Thursday Night Football, I need something to wipe my memory clean.
Alright maybe you aren't like me, and you don't get the same tingle around the start of every NBA season. I can confirm however that the NBA is back because, like clockwork, Adam Silver snatched that $100+ for NBA League Pass from my bank account like a thief in the night. It's really not a bad deal when you consider I will be getting my money's worth, starting my late afternoons with some real basketball junkie east coast games and staying up for late-night west-coast hoops. (Watching the Kings light the beam around 12:30 am can be really euphoric and have you waking up dazed and confused on the couch the next morning.)
This week, the week right before the first games of the NBA season tip-off could loosely be referred to as "rankings week" because every major media outlet that covers the NBA releases their top 10/50/100 players lists and every year, there are some standout snubs, or guys who are ranked way too high. Infamously, ESPN left Derrick White off of their top 100 players last season, and we were blessed with the one parting gift J.J. Redick, the podcaster, left behind before heading to coach the Los Angeles James'. Sorry, I meant Lakers.
I was feeling quite inspired by all of these rankings and felt compelled to create some of my own, however, I'm fairly self-aware and I don't think the world is necessarily begging for my top 100. I also should not be trusted with such a thing, as I would definitely put someone like Baylor Scheierman at spot 100 purely out of spite. I then thought about putting together just the top ten, but I can pretty easily do that right here and as long as you have watched basketball in the past three seasons, all of our lists should largely be about the same:
(gap)
(Anthony Davis, Jalen Brunson, Anthony Edwards, Wembanyama, and others could easily filter in and out of the top 10 throughout this upcoming season.)
Obvious Celtics championship bias baked in, that's my list. Cue the "booooo! Tatum sucks! Brown can't dribble!" comments. Yea yea, kiss the ring, bitches.
So, what are we actually here to do? As mentioned previously, both in my snarky remark about the League Pass annual fee, as well as my SEO-friendly title (I just do what my editor asks of me), we are here to discuss some of my favorite League Pass teams for the upcoming season. No, this is not a power ranking of the teams that are the absolute best and most poised to make deep playoff runs. This is far greater however, because when it's a cold and rainy Tuesday night, and your Tinder date has bailed on you, and you're left alone in that cold-empty apartment with nothing but your spot on the couch and the the light from the TV, you're going to need someone, or some team, to keep you company.
Enter, the first-annual Spencer Galloway NBA League Pass Team Rankings Presented by TYB Sports. We'll workshop that title. Here we go.
Chicago Bulls
Forgot About 'Zo (Prod. by P-Giddey)
The best Ball brother is playing basketball this year! He did last year too, LaMelo and the Hornets really excite me, and the Salaun kid they picked in the draft should spark some pretty special League Pass moments. More on that later. However, the second-best Ball brother is ALSO playing basketball this year and that is one of several reasons to get excited about some Chicago Bulls basketball for the first time in a while. Lonzo was really finding himself with the Bulls, both as a playmaker and as a shooter, prior to injuries to his knee that have kept him sidelined for the better part of the last three years. Lonzo was in the midst of a season that saw him shooting 42.3% from deep while averaging 13/5/5 with nearly three "stocks" per game. That's my type of guy, a jumbo point guard featuring elite playmaking who plays both sides of the ball. Man, if only there was someone else in the league like that who could have kept us entertained during Lonzo's absence.
Photo by Michael Reeves/Getty Images
Josh Giddey is actually someone who loosely fits that description as well, though I do have a bad taste in my mouth from my most recent sightings of the SLOB-wizard. Giddey was inevitably benched during the Thunder's playoff run this summer, as he was largely ineffective playing off the ball as a non-shooter.
The Thunder had to nut up and trade the very talented Giddey for someone who fits alongside their top-five talent Shai Gilgeous-Alexander a bit more seamlessly, and Alex Caruso does exactly that. For the Bulls, they lose a top-five perimeter defender and a knockdown catch-and-shoot threat, but they gain someone with much more potential, and much more hair, in Josh Giddey. Giddey, who just turned 22 last week, has a super high ceiling and sees the floor better than many others in the league. He isn't the best at creating his own offense, however, and his inability to shoot from deep with consistency makes him a bit of a square in today's NBA. However, there aren't many playgrounds in the NBA that are better for him to find himself than Chicago. The Bulls aren't headed anywhere particularly quickly, and I'd be willing to bet that GM Marc Eversley has a slideshow of Cooper Flagg-Bulls jersey swaps set as his phone's wallpaper.
I haven't even gotten to the Bulls' latest draft pick who I was in love with heading into the draft, Matas Buzelis. A year ago, I would've assumed that Buzelis would have been the clear favorite to be the first pick in the draft, however, some struggles for the G-League's Ignite team saw him lose favor in the eyes of many scouts and GMs. If you weren't already aware, or have forgotten, the Ignite team/program has gone so terribly that the NBA has scrapped it altogether. So, I am not too concerned that the best prospect on the team struggled given the talent, or lack thereof, that surrounded him. Buzelis is another lengthy athlete with a suspect jumper, who is capable of putting your favorite player on a poster.
DeRozan is out, and LaVine may be quick to follow, but the Bulls have a lot to be excited about going forward, even if there isn't an imminent path to contention on the horizon just yet. I am excited about what a rotation consisting of Ball, Buzelis, Giddey, Zach LaVine, Coby White, Ayo Dosunmu, and the two bigs Patrick Williams and Nikola Vucevic can muster up on those random league-pass nights. The Bulls will be a tough out on some nights and will be run out of the gym in the first six minutes of a game on others. It's not always going to be sexy, but it will be a lot of fun.
Charlotte Hornets
The Real Is Back, The 'Ville Is Back
Don't ask me how far Fayetteville is from Charlotte. I have no clue, but that one J. Cole song is a banger and he is a part-owner of the Hornets after Michael Jordan sold the team last year. Now, I don't think J. Cole is making draft-day decisions, but this is all to say that the Hornets are stepping up their swag heading into this season. Don't believe me? Fine, but don't tell me you aren't moved by Tre Mann seemingly cosplaying as Allen Iverson. Baggy shorts are back, and so are the L̶a̶M̶e̶l̶o̶ ̶B̶a̶l̶l̶-̶l̶e̶d̶ Brandon Miller-led Hornets.
That brings me to my burning question regarding a perennial League Pass favorite of mine. Who exactly is steering the ship for Charlotte? That is a question that the players themselves, and rookie head coach Charles Lee will be sorting through for much of the season. Don't get me wrong, there is plenty of room for two budding stars to thrive on the 21-61 Hornets. There aren't exactly too many mouths to feed in Charlotte, although if asked, Grant Williams may tell you otherwise.
Photo by Erik Verduzco/AP Photo
LaMelo has been at it longer, however, injuries have kept him from really building off of an exciting All-Star campaign in his sophomore season, and back-to-back play in appearances in 2021 and 2022. Brandon Miller had a promising rookie season that largely went under the radar, at least on a national level. Playing in the shadow of rookie counterpart Victor Wembanyama, it was nearly impossible for Miller to garner much attention last season. Emulating his favorite player and his "GOAT" Paul George, Miller proved to be a savvy and smooth-scoring forward in his own right.
Averaging 17 points per contest on 44/37/83 shooting splits, Miller sparked a lot of imagination in Hornets fans' minds of what the young man can develop into. Perhaps even more compelling than the impressive shooting numbers, Miller suited up for 74 games last season, something LaMelo Ball has only done once in his career, as he has suited up for just 58 total games across the last two seasons.
This season, Josh Green (age 23) and Tidjane Salaun (19) will join Miller and Ball, as well as preseason highlight reel Tre Mann (23). Josh Green is a player who I really liked for the Mavericks last season, and I thought the Mavs liked him too! I guess signing the worst version of Klay Thompson to a deal that he would've only been worth upwards of two full seasons ago was just too good of an opportunity to pass up. Tre Mann is someone who was never going to get a great opportunity in Oklahoma City, but Charlotte will give him plenty of run this year and I think he will take it and run with it.
Atlanta Hawks
Walk It Like I Talk It (Or Else Get Traded) - Trae Young feat. DeJounte Murray
You didn't actually think I could leave the number one pick, no matter how much of an unknown he may be, off of this list, did you? I have been intrigued by Zaccharie Risacher since before I, or any of us, could pronounce his name even remotely correctly. (I really was sold on it being Ry-satch-her. Ree-sah-shay flows a little better anyway, I suppose.) Make that two consecutive years of Frenchmen being the NBA's top overall pick, however, Hawks fans should pump the breaks on any Wemby-esque comparisons they may be delusional enough to draw up. This isn't to say he can't come away a star in the making by season's end, but he is one of the biggest question marks to go first overall beyond recent memory.
Photo from NBA.com
Not particularly great at any one thing, he is best advertised as a Swiss army knife with the potential to be a premier 3&D wing later in his career. Risacher will have plenty of opportunity to show what he's made of for the Hawks, who are one of the harder teams to put a finger on heading into the season.
Fresh off a direction-changing trade that sent DeJounte Murray to New Orleans just a couple of seasons after giving up three first-round picks for him, the Hawks are squarely back under the direction of Trae Young. Which I firmly believe is right where they belong. For now. Until Young is begging for a change of scenery, or a better player emerges in Atlanta, you roll with Trae. Though he may not be a perennial All-NBA guy or a bonafide superstar, Young is a truly special offensive weapon. The league isn't particularly littered with 25+ points, 10+ assists per game guys who can space the floor as effectively as Young can.
I do believe Trae to be better suited as a team's second-best guy, and was salivating at the idea of pairing him with Victor Wembanyama in San Antonio, back when those rumors were flying. However, we still live in a world where Trae will have one of the brightest green lights in the league, and he is surrounded by players who will help to hide his greatest deficiency. Additions of Risacher and Dyson Daniels will help to safeguard the Hawks' perimeter defense when Young is on the floor. Jalen Johnson showed he was a meaningful starter for Atlanta last year, averaging 16 points and nearly 9 rebounds a game while shooting over 50% from the field and 35% from three.
Photo from FIBA Basketball
Bogdan Bogdanovic became a fan-favorite for many, and a worldwide villain to others during Serbia's impressive Olympic run this summer, as he buried seemingly every dagger three that was presented to him. He did this all while repping his favorite player and Atlanta Hawks' legend, Carmelo Anthony.
The Hawks employ a lot of guys who are good at basketball, and I think that makes them quite intriguing, even if they don't have it all figured out yet as a team. I think they will be in the play-in, and if they get hot, can break their way into the playoffs. By no means though, are they a lock, and I would not be placing Risascher ROTY bets just yet, either.
I realized about halfway through this piece that I was not showing the Western Conference any love, and to my west coasters, I do apologize. To qualify as a "League Pass team" though, you must hit a certain number of benchmarks that far too many West teams simply do not meet. You can't be a contender, a lock for the playoffs, or have a bonafide superstar (or soon-to-be one), which left Utah, Portland, and Houston up for grabs for the LP rankings.
Unfortunately, I can't help but feel Portland and Utah will be boring on many nights (although I will be tuned into the Shaedon Sharpe dunk reels all year), which left only the Houston Rockets. I am quite excited about this Rockets team, just as I was last year, and they went on to exceed expectations and play .500 basketball and gave Golden State a serious run for their money for the final play-in spot.
Photo by David Becker/AP
I do think Houston is very much worth your viewing attention this season, and one of my favorite takes going into this season is that Reed Sheppard would have been the consensus first-overall pick if he was 6'5". Since you're still reading this, I'll let you steal that one for your hoop discussions. I promise that it will hold up, and if you don't believe me, the kid shot over 52% from three last year at Kentucky and has already displayed his appreciation for the mid-range thus far in NBA preseason. This isn't T.J. McConnell reincarnated, no no, think bigger, much bigger. More on that later.
Bookmark this page for later, those cold winter nights will be here before you know it, and there will be no football on to save you. There will be no better out of your existential dread and seasonal depression than niche NBA regular season basketball. The sooner you can accept that, the quicker you can begin enjoying the thrills, and angst, that it is sure to bring you.