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Indiana Pacers Season Preview: Paul George as the Centerpiece of Grand Ambition
The Indiana Pacers have made the playoffs in five of the last six seasons, including two conference finals. They were built to win a championship and got sidetracked. With Paul George healthy again, a new head coach in Nate McMillan and interesting additions like Jeff Teague and Al Jefferson, Larry Bird is trying to get them back in a position to win a championship.
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Houston Rockets Season Preview: Mike D’Antoni, Changing James Harden, Saving Daryl Morey
Going through something of an overhaul this summer, the Houston Rockets have a new head coach in Mike D’Antoni, bringing in a very different basketball philosophy to what the team’s star, James Harden, has gotten used to. Daryl Morey, from his position, can’t afford another season like last year. At some point, his job will be on the line too.
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NBA Rumors: Bucks Contract Extension to Giannis Antetokounmpo Only Matter of Time
One of the easiest contract extension decisions to make in the next two months is in the hands of the Milwaukee Bucks, who have to avoid Giannis Antetokounmpo hitting restricted free agency, which means offering him a max contract, and they have every intention of doing so.
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NBA Rumors: Philadelphia 76ers, Joel Embiid & Stopping the Tanking
After two years of injuries holding him back from making his NBA debut, 2014 draft pick and former Kansas player Joel Embiid is getting ready to finally get on the court for the Philadelphia 76ers, a team that’s lost so many games over the last few years, it sees a rookie in a two-year delay as its potential savior.
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NBA Rumors: Los Angeles Lakers, D’Angelo Russell, Nick Young & Ending the Feud
The most interesting thing that happened to the Los Angeles Lakers last season was a conversation between D’Angelo Russell and Nick Young leaking to social media, with an alleged confession from Young about cheating on Iggy Azalea. What seemed like a lot of drama last season might become nothing at this point, with time doing what it usually does: Mend broken things and makes people forget.
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NBA Rumors: Sacramento Kings, Rudy Gary Trade, DeMarcus Cousins & Ben McLemore Contracts
The Sacramento Kings continue to be in this weird unbreakable circle of disappointment, building unbalanced teams that aren’t terrible, but remain not good enough to end their long playoff drought.
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NBA Rumors: Miami Heat Don’t Know What to do About Chris Bosh
A healthy Chris Bosh could have done a lot of damage in the playoffs with the Miami Heat. Not having a cloudy future health-wise would have made the Heat’s 2016-2017 season outlook seem a lot better. But his last two seasons being cut short due to blood clots put one big dark cloud over the future of his NBA career.
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Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Kevin Durant or LeBron James: Who Will Win the MVP?
The main candidates to win the MVP next season: Obviously Stephen Curry, with two in a row behind him. Kevin Durant, who’ll now be a teammate to Curry on the Golden State Warriors. Surely James Harden, who has a solo show going on with the Houston Rockets. And as usual LeBron James is also in the mix, but it’ll probably another season of him taking it a bit easy at time during the regular season. And of course, it’s impossible to forget about Russell Westbrook, without anyone “stealing” his spotlight and possessions, ready to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder on an angry F U tour, directed at a certain player and team.
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Los Angeles Clippers: The Decay May Have Already Started
The scariest thing for the Los Angeles Clippers is that the Chris Paul and Blake Griffin era has peaked, that the Doc Rivers hiring didn’t really make them a better team, and that losing in the conference semifinals is as good as it gets for them, which means pretty soon it’s time to start over.
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Golden State Warriors Season Preview: From Lovable Champions to Unlikable Villains
The Golden State Warriors aren’t defending champions anymore. They brought in Kevin Durant to help Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson fix that, while making life easier for Steve Kerr. Or perhaps his arrival makes things more difficult?