National Basketball Association

NBA: Six Hopeful Title Contenders For The 2016-17 Season

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Jun 19, 2016; Oakland, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) reacts during the first quarter against the Cleveland Cavaliers in game seven of the NBA Finals at Oracle Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

With the upcoming NBA season approaching, we’ll take a look six teams that hope to challenge for the title come June

When the Golden State Warriors signed Kevin Durant, it made the upcoming season look bleak for teams hoping to make the NBA Finals, as it began to look more and more like a two team race between the Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

While that still may be the prevailing thought around the NBA, there were still a number of teams that made quite the nice additions this summer. Building off a successful summer, those same teams are hoping that they can sneak their way into a Finals appearance.

So, below we’ll take a look at four teams that hope to shock the world next season, while also taking a look at the two frontrunners to win the title in the upcoming year.

Golden State Warriors

The Golden State Warriors are obviously one of the teams to look out for next season. They were 73-9 without Kevin Durant. Now with KD, this season is going to be championship or bust for the team. If that wasn’t already the case, it certainly is now.

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But ultimately, the talent on paper doesn’t mean anything on the court. They’re going to have to sacrifice individual awards and statistics for the greater good of the team.

With three superstars on the roster (four if you’re including Draymond Green), the players are going to have to find a way to make things work.

And with only one ball, Kevin Durant is going to have to find a way to stay involved in games even when he isn’t scoring much. Is he going to be okay with that? In OKC, 14.5 percent of Kevin Durant’s offense came off of isolation possessions. Steph Curry had the highest percent of isolation possessions on Golden State with only 10.0 percent.

If he can find a way to stay involved in games, despite not scoring as high a volume of points, the Warriors upcoming season will be a success.

They just need to find a way to work together, and if they can do just, they’ll be walking away champions come June.

Cleveland Cavaliers

The second team on this list are the defending NBA champs, the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Although the Golden State Warriors made the splashy addition with the Kevin Durant signing, they lost a lot of key players they relied on over the last two seasons.

With the departure of big man Andrew Bogut, Festus Ezeli and Marreese Speights, the Warriors are going to have a hole to fill at the 5 spot.

So, it’s most likely going to take time for the team to figure things out, making the Cavs, again the team to look out for in the upcoming season.

Although they didn’t add anyone new to their roster, other than Mike Dunleavy, they’re hoping internal growth and chemistry can help propel them to another successful season.

With another year together and confidence sky-high off winning the championship last season, Cleveland hopes they have the recipe to repeat as back-to-back champions. Something that’s only been done 11 times before. And Cleveland’s hoping they can be No. 12.

Los Angeles Clippers

Now that we got our two obvious choices out of the way, we’ll look at two Western Conference teams that can possibly challenge the Golden State Warriors.

The first team to look out for is the L.A. Clippers. An injury to Chris Paul in the playoffs ruined their chances of competing for a title last season. And now with Chris Paul and Blake Griffin’s contracts coming to an end, the Clippers hope this season will be the year they finally make a deep playoff run.

It’s ultimately going to come down to the team’s depth and scoring at the wing position (something the Clippers have always lacked).

When the second unit comes into games, the team has trouble scoring; Jamal Crawford can only do so much, and no other reserve can create for themselves, forcing Jamal to take the bulk of the shots.

If the Marreese Speights and Brandon Bass additions can help ease some of the scoring burden off of him, it will go a long ways in getting this team to were they need to be, in order to have success.

Memphis Grizzlies

The second team that can challenge the Golden State Warriors is the Memphis Grizzlies. Their old-school play is a challenge to stop, because the Warriors have trouble guarding back-to-the-basket bigs.

Last season, Greg Monroe went off when matching up against the small ball Warriors. Specifically, Draymond Green who couldn’t handle Monroe’s advanced offensive repertoire.

The Grizzlies have an even better big man than Greg Monroe, in Marc Gasol who is a matchup nightmare for the Golden State Warriors. With the ability to post-up or face-up, Gasol makes it even more challenging to stop him.

And now, with the addition of Chandler Parsons, the Grizzlies found the wing they were looking for.

A three-point shooter with the ability to create off the bounce, Chandler Parsons is going to allow the Grizzlies to have two players that can create, forcing teams to pick their poison. Stop Chandler and Mike on the perimeter, or stop Marc and Zach in the post.

Atlanta Hawks

With the departure of Jeff Teague and Al Horford, the Atlanta Hawks are going to look like a different team in the upcoming season. Dennis Schroder is going to be running the point, and Dwight Howard is going to be starting at the 5.

Now I know with a lot of key roster moves its probably going to take time for the team to gel, but there are still reasons to be optimistic for next season.

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Last year, Kyle Korver was playing his way into form for much of the year, because of offseason ankle and elbow surgery. With the two injuries, Korver wasn’t able to get up shots for much of the summer (something that is key, especially for shooters,) so he was forced to try finding a rhythm through the season.

This offseason, Korver has been able to play basketball, making it likely that he has a comeback season, after an unusual 2015-16.

But ultimately, the team’s success is going to come down to one of the best players on the roster, Dwight Howard. If Mike Budenholzer can find a way to get him to play to his strengths, it will go a long ways making the upcoming season a success.

On the Houston Rockets, 30.5 percent of Dwight Howard’s offense came off post ups, and he only scored 0.82 points per possession. That’s not ideal, especially when considering he scored 1.38 points per possession as a cutter, and 1.10 points per possession as the screener on pick and rolls.

Yet, for some reason, Dwight insists on playing through the post. He isn’t a bad option to dump the ball down low too, but that’s not his strength as a player. He needs to stick to what get’s him easy baskets, and then he can do some of the other flashy things offensively.

And who knows, maybe he even shows off a new repertoire with his jump shot (something he has been working on extensively throughout the offseason).

Whatever the case may be, one thing’s for sure, the Atlanta Hawks are going to be a team to lookout for next season. They have the talent to challenge the Cleveland Cavaliers, but continuity and the play of Dwight Howard will show if they’re up to the task.

Indiana Pacers

The second Eastern Conference team that can possibly surprise the Cleveland Cavaliers, is the Indiana Pacers.

With the additions of All-Star point guard Jeff Teague, Thaddeus Young and Al Jefferson, the team will look to put more points on the board, according to Larry Bird.

If the upcoming season goes the way Larry the Legend believes it will, the Indiana Pacers should have trouble competing against the likes of Cleveland and Toronto.

The team did fire their head coach in Frank Vogel, but Nate McMillan isn’t a bad replacement. And another season of development for Myles Turner should also be helpful to the group.

Indiana has the talent for the upcoming season to be successful, now it just comes down to everyone buying into what Nate McMillan’s preaching. If the Pacers can do just that, it will go a long ways to claiming a spot in the Eastern Conference Finals.

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