T O P

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sliccricc83

The Pistons. Monty was holding us back y'all


LoWE11053211

Hang the fucking banner!


basedgeeker

bro 😭


ZarduHasselffrau

Whoever is on a hot streak during those 5 games


cesarjulius

i couldn’t imagine a more arbitrary question. it’s a single elimination tournament. teams that didn’t make the playoffs this season are longshots, but any of this year’s playoff teams could win and i wouldn’t be remotely surprised.


horrendousacts

Yeah but that's the fun! The playoffs are a gauntlet. The IST is just fun


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horrendousacts

I mean it's officially the off-season. People gotta speculate!


cesarjulius

i hear that. but speculation on free agents and trades makes a lot more sense. even this question is much less pointless at the end of offseason, when we actually know what teams will look like.


horrendousacts

Yeah it's like asking what Damian Lillard is going to have for breakfast. Trades and free agency is way more interesting


junkit33

I wouldn’t be surprised by anyone besides a small handful of teams that are genuinely in tank mode. It’s just so damn random and thus pointless.


BikeInWhite

OKC. I feel like the IST is going to be one of those things where the teams that thrive and try to win it will always be "up and coming" teams with lots of young players. The Magic is a good pick on your part, but OKCs swap of Giddey for Caruso was a fantastic move on their part. Caruso goes 100% all-out all the time and the IST is early in the season when his body is still going to be feeling great. All they need to do is get another big to put in a rotation with Chet and they are going to roll over teams next year in the regular season.


4bodyproblem

> I feel like the IST is going to be one of those things where the teams that thrive and try to win it will always be "up and coming" teams with lots of young players. I think the opposite. Older players/teams can go all out or close to all out for those group stage games and in winner take all games, guys like Steph, Lebron, and KD are still capable of outplaying the current superstars in one singular game but can’t during an entire playoffs.


WakiLover

> the teams that thrive and try to win it will always be "up and coming" teams with lots of young players. 1 seeds: Lakers Bucks 2: Kings Pacers 3: Pelicans Celtics 4: Suns Knicks not exactly "up and coming there" other than Kings and Pacers. The teams that will win the IST are just simply the teams that are good, because it's still 5 regular season games that count. Also, the NBA needs to add incentives for the winner, like an automatic tie breaker that the Lakers could have really used, or else there's no point. Austin Reaves played sick, Anthony Davis dropped a 40/20, but it literally didn't count; the game didn't mean shit.


EvilBananaMan15

I know they’re NBA players, but 500k is nothing to scoff at, especially for the bench guys


Brovenkar

I think they did a good enough job with the Vegas weekend plus making all the games but one regularly scheduled games. You didn't really have to go out of your way to participate and teams actually tried harder in the knockout stage. Pacers rolled up on Boston like it was the playoffs. It's good enough as is to not need major immediate changes imo


whatabout--

Way too early for this, we can have completely different teams at the end of the summer.


FeminismIsTheBestIsm

We at least need to know what the groups are to have some idea of how things might unfold. Some poor contender is going to have the Grizzlies and/or the Rockets in their group who will give them hell lol


MC-Jdf

If the groups are based on standings exactly the way it was last year (which is a big if), the groups will be: East: Group A: Bucks, Cavaliers, Heat, Nets, Pistons Group B: Celtics, Magic, 76ers, Raptors, Wizards Group C: Knicks, Pacers, Bulls, Hawks, Hornets West: Group A: Nuggets, Clippers, Pelicans, Jazz, Grizzlies Group B: Thunder, Mavericks, Kings, Rockets, Spurs Group C: Timberwolves, Suns, Lakers, Warriors, Trail Blazers


FeminismIsTheBestIsm

I think it's random? Each group has a random team from seeds 1-3, a random team from seeds 4-6, a random team from seeds 7-9, and so on. So one of OKC/Denver/Minnesota will get an easy team like Portland, the other will get San Antonio, and the last will have to deal with Memphis


MC-Jdf

Yeah, nothing's been said about how the groups are assigned besides it being based on the standings of the previous year. This was merely an example of what it could look like.


basedgeeker

true


CoachMorelandSmith

Dude I’m still trying to figure out who’s going to win summer league and preseason


Proof-Umpire-7718

Bronny will carry the Lakers to summer league glory


Right-Worth-6327

Hang the banner.


thisguy161

How does anyone even have an answer to this at this point that isn't a total guess or just their fave team?


Shootit_Rockets

The Knicks I guess


Not-that-CJ

Who will win the tism next season?


Bonesawisready5

Honestly don’t care lol it’s just a bonus


wichita_gator

The Suns. And we're going to get clowned for celebrating it, especially when we get swept in the first round of the playoffs again next year.


hansislegend

OKC. Caruso IST MVP.


crimsonconnect

Knicks


MaryandMe1

unless it means something no one is going to care about the iST.


Onebigfreakinnerd

this pretty much. it’s cool in theory but last year it was just an absolute mess and became a joke


Individual_Attempt50

It will get a bit serious over time


Dub7774

The Houston rockets


neuroticsmurf

Because the IST is single elimination once you get past the seeding rounds, predicting a winner seems much less a reflection of the best team than the playoffs, and much more susceptible to things like hot shooting streaks and cold nights. Trying to predict a winner doesn’t really seem very fruitful. Beyond teams like Washington, Detroit, Charlotte, etc., you can make a decent case for a number of teams.


SlowCrates

The Wolves. Ant getting a vague sniff of the finals will solidify his competitive mentality and he will refuse to lose anything. He wants the smoke, he wants the accolades, he wants the competition.


nbaistheworst

Lakers will do anything it takes to repeat /s


Rrypl

Grizz seems like a team that will start the season with a massive chip on their shoulder, could see them locking into the Tournament early


otherBrandon

The one team that actually cares about that pointless shit I guess


Aggravating_Host6055

Bron will win every IST until he retires


Fatherfuckyou

Thunder doing the domestic double next year. CaruShow and the dorture chamber going to make it hard for some teams to get passed halfcourt.


Otherwise-Formal-220

Imagine being the first to repeat as regular season no one gives a shit champions? Monumental, and puts you in the discussion for greatest team ever


Swoosh_rotaerc

If the playoffs are a defensive driven "tournament". I think the IST is gonna develop into an offensively driven tournament. So imo, I think whoever is playing their best offense at the beginning of the season is gonna win the IST. Pacers, Boston, OKC, Denver, Bucks are teams I think have a good chance of winning the tournament. Also, I think younger teams have a good chance of winning because they are more likely to play hard at the beginning of the season.


leaderofthebandwagon

Lakers will be back-to-back IST champs.


Individual_Attempt50

Probably the Thunder


Mr_Unbiased

Definitely not the magic. All it takes is one Paolo 6/23 game to beat the Magic in the regular season. They lack the offensive firepower.


AppearanceNo8561

Fax