The NBA season has started and some teams are doing pretty well while others have been disappointing. During the offseason, many teams made moves to acquire new players. The Bucks got Damien Lillard, the Celtics got Jrue Holiday, the Suns got Bradley Beal, the Spurs picked Victor Webanyama with the number 1 overall, and the Clippers got James Harden.
Junior Landon Lopez avidly watches basketball in his free time and was in shock with these trades. “I’m happy we got Dame, but the Celtics look even better than they were last year. And I don’t know what’s going on in Los Angeles with the Clippers even with all those superstars,” he said.
The Bucks have lost to some teams who they should have beaten and currently have a record of 6-4, recently beating the bulls but losing to the Pacers even though Giannis had 54 points in that game. Junior Luke Mattes thinks that the Bucks, as well as more players, should be doing a lot better. “I feel like the Bucks are off to a slow start but will hopefully get better—players who are doing well are Malik Beasley and Giannis. Players who can get better are Brook Lopez and Damian Lillard,” he said.
With the addition of Lillard, Bucks fans were happy and thought that he would help out the team a lot, but Mattes believes that Lillard isn’t doing too well, “Dame isn’t meeting his expectations. Maybe it is because he has another superstar on his team, but he can get better as the year goes on,” he said.
The top three teams in the Eastern Conference are the 76ers, Bucks, and the Celtics. Then in the Western Conference the Nuggets are first, Mavericks are 2nd, and surprisingly the Timberwolves are third. Last year the Timberwolves were eighth and close to not making the playoffs but now they are top three and looking like a well composed team while beating some of the best teams in the league like the Celtics and Nuggets.
This year there are many competitors for the NBA Championship and some favorites are the Bucks, Celtics, and Nuggets. Senior Collin Kramp has high hopes for the Bucks this season. “I think that if the Bucks can stay healthy and Dame stays consistent we could easily make it to the chip in the East. But in the West I think that the Nuggets will make it to the chip because they are an all around good team,” he said.
