1)Phoenix- This team is real enough and complete enough to maintain the top spot next year. They'll be in the top 3 for sure.

2)洛杉矶快船队- The most talented team in the West, but will obviously rest their vets a fair amount.

3)Denver- Could easily see them as the top seed if everyone is healthy all season

4)Golden State- My bold prediction: Kuminga could be to this team what Kawhi was to San Antonio before the injuries

5）Memphis- It's tough to imagine them this low, but the teams above them are just really really good, and I still feel Memphis is missing an offensive piece.

6)Dallas- There's just something about this team I have a hard time believing in. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely believe in Luka. He has turned into one of those players that can't be stopped by defenses. He can only stop himself. But I look at Brunson as the second best player, and just keep thinking that teams are eventually going to figure him out. If they make a big splash like trading for Rudy Gobert, which would make for an absolutely deadly pick and roll combination and suffocating defense, I'd shoot them up these rankings.

7)New Orleans- They're young, and so aren't a guarantee to take this jump since it will take consistently good play all season. But how do you not love the talent and grit that this team has assembled?

8)Utah- They probably want to make meaningful changes, but I think it's going to be difficult with their roster and salary construction. They might blow it up, trading Rudy and Bogdanovic for young guys and picks, but Mitchell will have to sign off on that. I think more likely is they make lateral talent moves, and with improvement from other teams, and their own chemistry problems, they fall back to the play in.

9)Minnesota- They probably have the widest range of possibilities in my mind. They played really well down the stretch, and Edwards has started to take the reins away from KAT which is probably a good thing because I'm not a believer in KATs viability as the top option on a contending team. He's still too erratic. They could put it all together and end up in the top 6, but I just think they have too much of a laissez faire attitude with the top dogs on this team. Beverly emotionally brings this team together. They'd be lost without him.

10)Portland- Maybe we can get past Minnesota, Utah or New Orleans, but I kind of doubt it. In fact, if you could promise me a mostly healthy season for LeBron and AD, I might have to put the Lakers above Portland. As such, I think Lillard's leadership at least carries us over LA and San Antonio, but lack of talent holds us squarely in the play in.

11)LA Lakers- Even if LeBron and AD come back fully healthy, this team is going to struggle. Westbrook is cooked. Everyone has already talked this to death, but his game was so heavily reliant on athleticism. Now that that's started to slip just the slightest amount (he's still incredibly athletic, just not quite what he used to be), he's a net negative to this team. The Lakers don't have a single player that looks like they're ready to inject this team with life. LeBron has willed teams this bad to the NBA finals before, but he surprisingly seems to have lost some of his competitive edge. He doesn't seem to have that drive to emotionally carry an entire team anymore.

12)San Antonio- Shame on me for not believing in Pop's ability to take scrap heap talent and grow it into legit NBA superstardom, but I just don't see enough to work with for them to make a jump next year.

13)Oklahoma City- The best of the really bad and poised to add another top draft talent. Love me some Lou Dort, SGA can score on anyone, Bazley is going to be a really good player in this league, Giddey is super creative. They're building in the right way and they'll take a jump the season after next. It wouldn't totally shock me if they pass San Antonio and the Lakers next year, but I still doubt it.

14)Sacramento- Will this team ever have hope again? I really don't know. They'll be better than the Rockets, but have almost no upwards trajectory at this time.

15)Houston- This team's cupboard is really bare except for draft picks. They need to do better than what they got with Jalen Green who looks like an inefficient chucker, more than he does a superstar to build a team around.