The Heat turned up the…temperature…in the playoffs. Starters: Kyle Lowry, Tyler Herro, Caleb Martin, Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo Don’t let Suns or Lakers fans tell you otherwise. The Timberwolves gave the Nuggets the most trouble last season. With a full offseason and training camp to build chemistry, this listing may appear radically too low within a month or two. McDaniels punched a wall and missed the playoffs. Towns was injured for the entire middle of the season. Conley was a midseason trade acquisition. The Timberwolves played this lineup in seven total games last season. Starters: Mike Conley, Anthony Edwards, Jaden McDaniels, Karl-Anthony Towns, Rudy Gobert How can one actually put it there though when it played 10 games and 113 minutes last season? 10. In theory, a lineup featuring CJ McColum, Herb Jones, Brandon Ingram, Zion Williamson, and Jonas Valanciunas should be on this list. The New Orleans Pelicans can’t stay healthy. They are innings eaters to coin a baseball term (shoutout to the 59-103 Colorado Rockies). Ivica Zubac is fine, but Russell Westbrook and Marcus Morris don’t exactly fit the bill. The Los Angeles Clippers are best when they mix and match their lineups and find unique pieces off their bench to emphasize the strengths of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. Kevin Huerter, Keegan Murray, and Harrison Barnes are an unremarkable role player trio, and while the Kings hope Murray becomes something more, it hasn’t happened yet. Domantas Sabonis was great for most of the season but struggled when game planned for by the Golden State Warriors.

The Sacramento Kings flamed out in the first round last year due primarily to inexperience and partially due to injury. The Harden-Embiid pick and roll is elite, but there’s little else this starting group does that makes it so.

Tobias Harris and PJ Tucker are fine but nothing special. Tyrese Maxey is talented but exploitable defensively. The Philadelphia 76ers are currently in flux, and while a group that features James Harden and Joel Embiid may be a top 10 group statistically, it also proved to be clearly flawed. So, which team has the best starting five? Is it still the Nuggets? Or has another challenger stepped into the ring? Honorable Mentions – Philadelphia, Sacramento, LA Clippers, New Orleans Pelicansįor a variety of reasons, the above group of teams didn’t crack the top 10. While bench players will certainly aid in that goal, it’s the starters that make the biggest difference. If a team has the best combination of five players in the league, they’re significantly more likely to make noise in the playoffs. In the end though, only five players can play at a time for every NBA team, and ranking the best starting fives in the NBA has serious value when discussing playoff chances. The Golden State Warriors added Chris Paul. The Los Angeles Lakers worked on the margins. The Phoenix Suns loaded up with Bradley Beal. Jrue Holiday, traded to the Portland Trail Blazers and forwarded on to the Boston Celtics, now makes the Eastern Conference contender even stronger. If you prefer the written medium though, I wanted to expand on those thoughts in a full article below.ĭamian Lillard is now part of the Milwaukee Bucks after a months long saga of trade rumors. The video is above, and I suggest you watch because I’m incredibly entertaining. On Pickaxe and Roll at the end of last week, I shared my scattered thoughts on the best starting lineups in the NBA and whether any team can compete with the Denver Nuggets in that regard.

Nuggets nba