NBA 25-26 - And so it begins..

[texasdave]

Big blow for the Rockets who had gone all in with the Kevin Durant acquisition. Fred Van Vleet to likely miss the entire season with a torn ACL.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...cl-miss-season

[Kingspoint]

Big blow for the Rockets who had gone all in with the Kevin Durant acquisition. Fred Van Vleet to likely miss the entire season with a torn ACL.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...cl-miss-season

They are so loaded.

It's Reed Shepherd's and Amen Thompson's turns.

Put the ball in Durant's hands at least once every play and all will be fine.

[Rojo Rijo]

Hopefully Orlando’s all in move for Desmond Bane pushes them into a top 4 EC finish. A healthy Jalen Suggs + Tyus Jones should also be a significant boost. Excited for this season.

[Chip R]

RIP Nancy Leonard.

https://www.wthr.com/article/sports/...NQrcHjviEsGzHg

[Betterread]

Hopefully Orlando’s all in move for Desmond Bane pushes them into a top 4 EC finish. A healthy Jalen Suggs + Tyus Jones should also be a significant boost. Excited for this season.

Good news is that adding Bane will help your offense and puts ORL in a top 4 of NY, Cle, and Detroit. Indy, Boston and Milwaukee all lost lots of talent and should drop in seeding.
Bad news is that Bane is good but he’s not a shot creator. He was lucky to play with Jah who fed him well. I don’t see Suggs as that kind of playmaker. And Bane will probably be a #3 option and push Suggs to #4 option, as 1 and 2 are set. Being a #4 option and still being productive is hard for a lot of players, as it’s a steep drop off in touches and shots.

[Kingspoint]

For anyone interested in POR's upcoming season there's a great article here that is as accurate a picture as anyone can paint. Anything different than this is just not correct. Keep in mind that the Blazers want to make at least the 1st Round of the playoffs (win one of the two play-in spots of 7th and 8th) so that they can give CHI their 2026 1st Round pick. They don't want that dragging out to 2028 when they get both MIL's and BOS's 1st Round picks, including POR's own, having to give WAS the middle pick from that season. If they stay in the lottery for two more years, then CHI will get one of those picks, too, should they make the playoffs in the 2027-2028 season.

https://www.rosegardenreport.com/5-t...training-camp/

Two highlights from the article (Sean Highkin's 5 things he's looking to see during training camp and the first two months of the season (the time Scoot will be gone dealing with a hamstring injury, coming back sometime in December):

1. Remember, their second-half turnaround last season started the night Billups benched Sharpe against the Bulls and publicly called out his defense. To his credit, Sharpe responded well to that benching and eventually won his starting job back.

2. The absence of Henderson at the start of the season and the rotational adjustments that will come with that could open up more minutes for Kris Murray and Rayan Rupert, both entering their 3rd Seasons.


Rupert is just 21 and simply hasn't had the minutes available to grow at the rate he needs to be growing. He needs opportunity and I'm ecstatic about the Henderson injury as Rupert (and Murray) will both get rotational opportunity minutes the first two months of the season. Ideally, I woul like to see Rupert get 1000 minutes this season, 800 at the minimum. He just can't have less than that and expect to take a significant step forward.

If Grant was gone, the minutes would be there for both Murray and Rupert, but he's not gone, and likely isn't going anywhere before next Summer. Matisse Thybulle is better than both Murray and Rupert at the moment, clogging up their opportunities. Last season Thybulle basically spent the entirety of it so that others (Sharpe, Camara, Avdija, Henderson) could get growth minutes, again leaving little room for Rupert and Murray to get Minutes, while Delano Banton even played ahead of them in many situations. Banton is gone, but Yang is here, and hope upon hope, RWIII can get as many minutes as he can handle.

It's going to be hard to get either Rupert or Murray 800 minutes this season, but I think Billups and Cronin will make sure that both of them get at least 600 as decisions have to be made about both of them this Summer. I think Murray will be gone next season, but Rupert will be kept. Rupert has a ton of potential and really has the ability to do everything well,...defend, rebound on both ends of the floor, shoot from deep, drive the ball, and distribute the ball. I think they'll be making a huge mistake if they don't find ways to get him 1000 minutes this season (so they can better evaluate him at the end of the season).

[Kingspoint]

Pre-season is basically over as the regulars get rested and the 3rd-Stringers G-Leaguers get their last look at playing time on the big-league roster for the next few months.

As Betterread posted, there are several openings on clubs that have injuries, some more since he last posted (LeBron, TJ Mac, and more).

Going to take a pre-season stab at the end-of-year standings for both clubs. Criticize, post your own, whatever,...just wanted to get dialog moving with Opening Night beginning a week from tonight with two games:

Attachment 23170

...followed by Opening Night for the rest of the NBA next Wednesday:

Attachment 23171


At the end of the Night on Sunday, April 12th, the last day of the regular season, there will be a great slate of games that will likely still be effecting playoff seeding, with my projection of the Final Regular Season Standings:

Attachment 23172


NBA Eastern Conference Final 2025-2026 Standings by Seeding

(1) New York Knicks (Needed one more season together to fix the details.)
(2) Orlando Magic (Agree with Betterread that they were already a Top-4 without Bane, but I think Suggs' Defensive impact will be huge.)
(3) Cleveland Cavaliers (I don't think they've regressed, just that the NYK and ORL have gotten much better.)
(4) Detroit Pistons (All of the lottery picks they've had along with some good trades and FA pickups have them set up for an quality depth roster with an MVP-potential leader at PG.)
(5) Atlanta Hawks (The transition from Offense to Defense with this club has passed the half-way point, while there's plenty of Offense as long as Trey Young is there. An elite version of Trey Young showed up last season in their transition game. Atlanta runs the transition as good as any ballclub right now, especially with Haliburton out for the Pacers.)
(6) Boston Celtics (Have believed for many years that Jalen Brown is the MVP of the Celtics. This team is still loaded with talent, and Sunday showed how Simons can be used effectively, 21 pts in 24 minutes off the bench on 6-9 from "3". I don't see them trading Simons at the deadline, but he's certainly going to have value as a trade chip now that he's in his correct role as a 6th man.)

(7) Indiana Pacers (When TJ comes back, they'll get a significant boost. In the meantime, they'll work on creating for themselves an identity minus Haliburton and Turner. They have the Head Coach to do it.)
(8) Milwaukee Bucks (You can't lose the best clutch shooter in the game, one of the greatest to ever play the game, and expect to replace that with Gary Trent, Jr. in the Starting lineup. Myles Turner pushes Porter into less playing time. But, there's way too many issues, especially during the last five minutes of games. Management will be doing everything in their power next Summer to try to go all-in for one more season with Giannis, but 2026-27 should be his last season, if he even plays there next year, with the likeliest reason that he will, being that his contract will be difficult to trade because of salary-cap rules. MIL will have to reacquire 1st Round draft picks to replace the ones that they've lost. Still, an 8th-seed means a best-of-seven series in the 1st Round, and there's always hope at that point. Upset the Knicks and get to the 2nd Round and Giannis likely stays another season.)
(9) Toronto Raptors (Somebody has to be the #9 Seed.)
(10) Charlotte Hornets (They actually have something building in Charlotte for a change.)

(11) Washington Wizards (This team is loaded with more young talent than any team in the East after Orlando, except Washington's players are much younger. It's a strange group, still. C.J. is not a leader on the floor. Not of a Championship aspiration variety. He's much more interested in his wine collection that mentoring the Wizards into killer-instincts animals.)
(12) Brooklyn Nets (No idea what to make of this Ownership group or figure out what they heck they are doing, but there are three teams worse than them.)
(13) Miami Heat (Adabayo and Herro need to be traded. They have to acquire more lottery-pick talent. They need to acquire some lottery picks. Spoelstra can do what he does best...develop young talent, while he Coaches the Olympic Team.)
(14) Chicago Bulls (They kind of have a plan, but it has been difficult because they had to get rid of some really bad contracts the last couple of seasons. The rebuild can continue as they add POR's and their own 2026 draft pick to next years group.)
(15) Philadelphia 76er's (This is just one ugly situation.)


NBA Western Conference Final 2025-2026 Standings by Seeding

(1) Oklahoma City Thunder (They just keep getting better and better and better with unlimited assets in the pipeline. Perfectly run organization. Best in the business. Seattle fans are still upset and still wearing their jerseys and hats in the Pacific Northwest waiting for a new franchise to root for. But, for now, they get to watch their Mariners play in their first ever World Series. It would be very ironic if it was against the team that used to be the 1969 Seattle Mariners, the current Milwaukee Brewers.)
(2) Houston Rockets (They have a Cave Troll!!! Well, it's Kevin Durant, but it's about the same thing. Let's face it. It's probably going to be the 1-2 Seeded Thunder and Rockets facing each other in the Conference Finals. After spending the first half of the season determining whether or not they can win a Championship without Van Vleet, it begs to ask if Houston will acquire a quality Point Guard (their salary-cap situation will limit many opportunities) for the 2nd Half of the season and the playoffs. This problem opens the door for the rest of the Western Conference to sneak into that Conference Championship Series against the Thunder.)
(3) Minnesota Timberwolves (They took another step forward during last year's playoffs. There's no reason to believe that they won't be even better this season.)
(4) Denver Nuggets (The Joker has a real backup Center, and they got him for the cost of Saric. Amazing. There's still depth issues here, while David Adelman may be on the hot-seat if he doesn't at least get to the Conference Championship Finals. Never understood that move replacing Malone.)
(5) Golden State Warriors (They have a Cave Troll, too! Butler. They already had one in Curry. One of the best Coaching staffs in the league year after year, and with three Hall-of-Famers on the roster, they stand out head-and-shoulders above the rest of the Conference. The drop-off is huge after the top-five, all of whom will likely win 54+ games, while those below them will all win 48 or less. I see a 6-game gap between the 5th and 6th Seeds in the West.
(6) Portland Trailblazers [The 2nd Half of last season, they were top-5 in the NBA in most of the significant advanced stat, especially the Defensive ones. That trend of picking up players full-court is popular now because of Toumani Camara of the Trail Blazers. He did it first most recently. But, another player who did it when he was with the Pelicans in the playoffs was Jrue Holiday. Adding him, Blake Wesley (another full-court Defender, 22-years old who can sub for Holiday at PG while Scoot is mending his hamstring for the next two months), and another year of growth from Toumani, Deni Avdija, Donovan Clingan, and Shaedon Sharpe, another 22-year old who is already in mid-season form looking like he's taken a huge step forward in is career, the Blazers now go 11-deep in talented rotation players with both Matisse Thybulle and Robert Williams ready to rejoin the action, both players missing almost all of last season for Portland. The Defensive depth chart on this team goes as far as Kris Murray, who'll be an RFA this Summer, has the same basketball IQ as his brother Keegan. Portland's only question is whether or not there's enough half-court Offense on the team. They'll be pressing full-court at both ends of the floor for all 82 games, but they'll still need to be able to score in the half-court. Sharpe can do it every night now, while Grant and Holiday are hit-or-miss. Deni did it every night last season, while Toumani was a reliable 37% shooter from "3" last year, a number that should rise this year as he already looks significantly improved in this area. Jrue, Scoot, Wesley and Toumani all can penetrate and dish out to an open-3, while Clingan, Robert Williams and Yang Hansen can clean up the misses and catch the lobs. Center is their weakest position and will get exposed quickly when foul trouble hits it and Robert Williams is unavailable. They still have Duop Reath to plug in, but he's not meant to be used for long stretches. Ayton and Jabari Walker will be missed for their Rebounding, but so far in preseason, they've dominated both Rebounding and paint points. Just want to break even on Rebounding on the season, but points in the paint differential is something they look to continue to dominate in, just as they did the 2nd half of last season. This comes from defense, transition and penetration. Jrue Holiday will help significantly in finishing transition opportunities as will a more experienced Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe and Toumani Camara will also.)

(7) Los Angeles Clippers (The loss of Norman Powell and Batum, along with the aging of most of their roster will keep the Clipper as a sub-49 win team, but there's enough elite talent there for them to earn the #7 seed in the West over a group of very similar teams.)
(8) Dallas Mavericks (The 8th Seed gets them into the 1st Round of the playoffs, something Luka and the Lakers can't even sniff. With Kyrie, the Mavericks would have been the 6th Seed, much closer to Golden State than to Portland. They'll have to wait for the playoffs where Anthony Davis, Kyrie and Cooper Flagg will be a handfull for the Thunder.)
(9) Sacramento Kings (Still only 2 years removed from the #2 Seed in the West, they've gone through a Coaching change and had a major overhaul in both their style of play and their personnel. They absorbed Chicago's two worst contracts, three if you count Valenciunas who was flipped for more 3-pt shooting from a wing in Saric. Sacramento still has issues at Center as Sabonis can get dominated Defensively. But their team ceiling is unknown as they need playing time together to figure out how it's all going to work. Now, with Keegan Murray going down for the next two months, there's more changes that have to occur. That might not be a bad thing as Murray can blend in when he gets back more easily than anyone else on the team and it gives early season playing time to others to check out their growth and to see how they can help the team. This team should get better and better as the season goes along.)
(10) San Antonio Spurs (The last of the play-in teams. Pops is gone as a Head Coach and it shows. This is not the San Antonio Spurs that everyone has feared for years. The talent is there, but there's a new Coach and it's going to take him some time as they have continued to make significant changes in the lineup year after year. They need some stability badly. They'll look to get it this season. Other teams have quickly added big men to counter-act Wembanyama's physical abilities.)

(11) Los Angeles Lakers (They'll need some "Dallas" luck in the lottery next June.)
(12) Phoenix Suns (Bad Ownership.)
(13) Utah Jazz (Ainge is still looking for his Cooper Flagg.)
(14) Memphis Grizzlies (Gangstas and the NBA don't mix.)
(15) New Orleans Pelicans (This seems to be a regular home of theirs. The City does not deserve to have a franchise. It's time for them to leave.)

[texasdave]

Rockets starting lineup tonight: Amen Thompson 6'7", Alperen Sengun 6'11", Kevin Durant 6'11", Jabari Smith 6'11" and Steven Adams 6'11".

[Kingspoint]

Rockets starting lineup tonight: Amen Thompson 6'7", Alperen Sengun 6'11", Kevin Durant 6'11", Jabari Smith 6'11" and Steven Adams 6'11".

...and they dominated. Easily the biggest lineup I've ever heard of.

[goreds2]

NBA on Prime's inaugural season tips off with a doubleheader: Boston Celtics vs. New York Knicks; Los Angeles Lakers vs. Minnesota Timberwolves.

The NBA is headed to Prime Video with 67 storyline-packed games.
The inaugural season of NBA on Prime tips off globally with an opening-week doubleheader on October 24. The Boston Celtics visit the New York Knicks (7:30 p.m. ET) and the Los Angeles Lakers host the Minnesota Timberwolves (10 p.m. ET) in two NBA playoffs rematches. Coverage in Canada will launch in 2026.

https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/ent...ba-prime-video

[Kingspoint]

NBA on Prime's inaugural season tips off with a doubleheader: Boston Celtics vs. New York Knicks; Los Angeles Lakers vs. Minnesota Timberwolves.



https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/ent...ba-prime-video

Good to see Embiid get on the court.

Looking forward to tomorrow night's Opening Tip-off of HOU @ OKC. Golden State also plays the Lakers (will be rooting for the Lakers as I don't see them as any competition for a playoff spot, but I see Golden State heading towards a #5 Seed trying to push the door down on the #4 Seed.


“I don’t want to really think about the past,” Embiid said. “I’m just in a good space mentally, physically. … I’m just happy to touch the basketball and be able to play basketball and do what I love. “When you don’t get [to do] that, it’s tough, but that’s what I’m most happy about. So today, tonight, that’s all I kept thinking about. I’m on the court playing basketball, doing some good things, helping us win, and yeah, that’s really what I was focused on.”

https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2025/10/...ram-demin.html

[Kingspoint]

https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2025/10/...urin-huff.html

Indiana had bad luck with the veterans it brought in with the hopes of filling the spot. Monte Morris had a calf strain that resulted in the Pacers backing off their plan to sign him, while Delon Wright sustained a head injury in the preseason and was subsequently waived. Cameron Payne made it through the preseason healthy, but Dopirak writes that he was unable to integrate into the Pacers’ system. “It didn’t work out,” said head coach Rick Carlisle.

With few options heading into the first month of the season, Dopirak writes that third-year guard Ben Sheppard may be asked to tap into his collegiate point guard roots. He also notes that another free agent move is not out of the question. “We’re looking at everything,” Carlisle said. “The waiver wire. We’re looking at people’s nephews and uncles and everything else, but good point guards aren’t growing on trees. We’re going to have to be creative.”

[Kingspoint]

4-year extentions for Toumani Camara ($81M) and Shaedon Sharpe ($90M).

Full practices today for Matisse Thybulle and Robert Williams III (this is huge regarding Williams, but as usual there likely won't be any back-to-backs all season, so yes....there are those kinds of restrictions).

Yang Hansen got his driver's license. Freedom!!!

[goreds2]

I received this email from Direct TV today.

“ START THE SEASON WITH A WIN
Free Preview of NBA League Pass®
Watch from October 21–27 on DIRECTV Ch. 750–769. “

[texasdave]

Rockets starting their 7-11 lineup. One 6'7 and four 6'11s. Just crazy. They lead 14-13 early.