Ballin’ Without Borders: Western Conference Preview
We’re back from a Wisdom Teeth induced hiatus of a week. We’re skipping our divisional breakdown and jumping straight into the Western Conference
While me and Allana are generally very punctual in terms of our podcasting, sometimes life gets in the way so we tend to fall behind. It’s okay though, we’re back right here.
Joel Gets Paid
JoJo, our Lord and Savior, First of His Name, The Future King of a Continent of his Choosing is back and he may or may not have put up video game numbers. Actually, I did a 7'2 create-a-player point guard the other day and still couldn’t put up those numbers on Superstar with 4 minute quarters. Joel Embiid may be a video game but when a video game is broken.
Sure, look long and hard enough at his contract and you start to see various stipulations and safe guards the 76ers had no choice but to add given the man’s history of health and his body breaking down, but if Joel is anywhere close to full-strength he can get at least 2 of his bonuses simply by playing 70 games in a seasons. And if that happens, we should all start looking for some sort of religion.
Lonzo Ball — The Watch is On
LaVar Ball has painted a giant bullseye on his son’s back, front, sides and possibly feet for the rest of the NBA to aim for. While I’m taking the safe under bet of 15.5 games before LaVar criticizes Luke Walton, I’m also taking the safe over on 2 games until someone yamms on Lonzo so hard LaMelo get’s shivers. The first Russell Westbrook game vs. the Lakers is going to be an experience in medieval torture because Russell Westbrook is nothing if not a revenge artist.
Western Conference Preview
Allana is rooting for hoodie Melo to succeed, I’m just hoping the NBA embraces some wardrobe changes for players on the court because that brings us one step closer to a J.R. inspired skins vs. shirts affair (still better than the sleeved jerseys). There is no mystery of who will end up on top, even if one of us refuses to name them by their name, and the next three to four teams are set. Where it gets interesting is the middle and out. As the West gets positively more claustrophobic, the fight for eight seeds is more akin to the Thunderdome than the Eastern Conference of your afternoon stroll through the park.
