There was a flurry of movements in the offseason and several teams got either better or much worse. The teams that got better like the Golden State Warriors are seeing the fruits of their labor by being predicted to either win the Western Conference or winning the whole thing in the next few years and the teams that have gotten worse trying to tank the season to get a better draft pick like the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers have a record of 10-14 for the Celtics and 7-16 for the Sixers. The surprise here is that with the Celtics' record they are actually not tanking, but they're actually 4th in the Eastern Conference and also leading the Atlantic Division. The Celtics wanted to tank the season to help their draft chances for this upcoming "super" draft, but the atrociousness which is the Eastern Conference hasn't allowed the Celtics to tank successfully. The Sixers on the other hand are on track to tank enough to get a top 10 pick.
The biggest surprise so far this season has to be the Portland Trailblazers. With their record of 18-4 so far this season and no. 1 ranking in the Western Conference no one can honestly say they expected this from a team that went 28-38 last season. Talk about one player making a difference the Trailblazers traded for Robin Lopez from the New Orleans Pelicans to play the Center position which has allowed Trailblazer superstar LaMarcus Aldridge to actually play his natural position which is Power Forward and has allowed Aldridge to face smaller, less physically imposing players which has allowed him to dominate his game while Lopez plays defense and rebound. Damian Lillard has stepped his game up averaging 20 points, 6 assists up from the 19 and 7 he averaged last year. It's still early in the season and anything can happen since it is still December, but as of right now the ineptness of the Eastern Conference and the surprising Trailblazers have definitely given me something to keep my on.
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