I'm not expecting as well a championship contender with the likes of Bulls this time but seems they are more decent team and more likely to reach the playoffs. I think Heat was the competitive one on the East this time around just next to the Bucks and Nets of course but I'm expecting a competitive Hawks too this season, they are the young guns and more the Dark Horse on the East.

Absolutely, and I think Zach Lavine is on his way to being a superstar.  He's been very very good, but I'm not sure he was quite at superstar level, but I think he'll be making that jump up. Love this quote from him about last nights game "This ain't last year. We're looking forward now," LaVine said of the revamped Bulls, who also added Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso to the roster. "It's a whole new team. A whole new mindset. So, I'm excited that we grinded that one out. A win's a win."

I don't see the same thing.  Yes last night evan got hot late but Randle is a great closer, proved it time and time again last year.  EF is not going to get every last shot, and if you watched the game Randle was taking his shots but at the same time was dishing it out when needed.  The ball movement last night was never an issue.  There was no iso or me ball out there.  Randle played his ass off.  They know they live and die with Randle on the floor.  Without him they are meh.  Dude dropped a hard 35 points.

A lower team?  You crazy?  He got traded from the Celtics not to the Knicks but okc, then bought out.  Knicks picked him up on a one year deal for pretty much nothing.  And if you think the Knicks are a low tier team what do.you think of the celtics?

Daryl Morey said today that Sixers fans should strap in because they’re ready to take this Ben Simmons situation four years if they have to. They’re literally threatening to ruin Ben’s career. This is the most power heavy move I’ve seen from NBA ownership/management in as long as I can remember. They’re trying to shift the balance of power and so far they seem to be holding their ground… 4 years of Ben sitting… We’ll see.

I understand that some are happy with the performance of their favorite team but hold your horses hehe. It's still just one game.

I think players were given too much power in the past years and Ben took it even further in my opinion. I don't know how negotiations went down between the team and his agent but his actions most likely influenced any potential trade to break.

Sixers lost an opportunity in the last trade window so they're taking it out on Ben too.

Spurs beating Magic by this much is not an indication that Spurs will be awesome this year. I am a big Spurs fan and I have watched SAS games for nearly 20 years now and I can tell you that we have great players but not "this" great players, they are youngsters who will be working hard to improve themselves, not superstars.

This was an odd game where everything clicked for us, but if you watch carefully all the threes we had were open because we like to get inside and people let us shoot instead. All in all this team is a 30-35 win team at the very best case, anyone who thinks that we could go back to our usual 50+ win each season ways will be wrong, I love Spurs and I would die for Pop, but the team is not there yet.

Joel tried to reach out if I'm not mistaken but he ignored. Having cheerleaders will make him softer and he doesn't need that. It's clear that he wants out that badly but to say he's bullied is kinda funny. Is he still a baby? The guy is a grown up and a professional athlete with a multi-million contract with the team. I'm pretty sure he understood what he signed up for. He tried to act tough and still trying to but eveyone's probably tired of his attitude.

For me, it's not. He's been in the organization for a long and even one of the influential, part of decision-making, and possibly future franchise players there but will be bullied? He didn't get down. He should be the one expected to lift the spirit of his teammates and not the other way around as one of Sixer's superstars and top players.

Simmons is even willing to be traded but the Sixers can't find a good trading package since the team wants a better trade thinking Simmons is a valuable player.

The organization should not treat him as a baby. If a player wants to go out, trade that player immediately as it's not healthy anymore to keep that player in the roster.