The 5’9" Thomas is in the midst of a spectacular, career-best campaign, averaging 28.9 points and 5.9 assists. If you’ve watched the Celtics play this year, you know that their entire offense runs through him and he’s what makes them tick. Further, he's been the best fourth quarter scorer in the league, providing important points down the stretch of most ga

The team in the absolute best position is the Boston Celtics, which seems a bit crazy considering they're the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference heading into the playoffs. The Brooklyn Nets were crazy enough to trade their own unprotected first-round pick to Boston years

"He's been that height for a long time now, so he's mastered it," Butler said . "He's really good at what he does. Coming off, pulling up, shooting shots. Getting to the rim, getting to the free throw line. 5[-foot-]8, 6-8, whatever it is, the guy knows how to put the ball in the bask

While he previously controlled the ball in a primary ball-handler’s role prior to the injury, the spacing and ball movement that the team has exhibited in his absence will likely carry over after Wade retu

Next up is the Los Angeles Lakers, who have the most at stake here. Their 2017 first-round pick belongs to the Philadelphia 76ers, but they attached top-three protection to it. This means if it falls out of the top-three, the 76ers will take the pick and the Lakers are left empty-han

Well, Prokhorov gave away a whole bunch of future assets to be decent for a few years, Derrick Favors was shipped to Utah before his rookie season ended, and now the Nets are going nowhere for the foreseeable fut

Speaking of Philadelphia, they have the fourth-best odds going into lottery night. They're the last team with double-digit odds of being No. 1 (11.9%), with a 24.5 percent chance at a top-two pick, and 37.8 percent shot at a top-three p

From here, the odds diminish quite rapidly. The Orlando Magic rounds out the top-five of teams with the best odds. For an easy to follow look at draft odds, and a fun lottery simulator, head over to Tankathon.com to get the full rund

James has made the finals a ridiculous six straight times with two different teams, losing in the finals to Dallas with the Miami Heat and then beating Oklahoma City. The Heat then topped and then were topped by San Antonio in consecutive years before he moved on to Cleveland for a two-year split with the Warri

While taking Thomas out of the game with his swarming defense would be wonderful for the Bulls, Butler knows that the Celtics still would have other pieces on their roster that his teammates would need to be ready

As a team, Chicago’s offensive and defensive ratings have been up over the last 10 games to 108.6 and 105.1, compared to 104.4 and 105.6 respectively. Additionally, the Bulls have shot 39.4 percent from the arc, making 10.2 per game in comparison to 33.5 percent before in which they made

"Point guard Rajon Rondo, demoted to the second unit earlier in the season, has the ball back in his hands and has averaged 8.4 assists, compared to 6.4 before Wade’s exit. He is averaging 10.9 points on 47 percent shooting (up from 7.2 on 39.4 percent). And defensively he has been energized, giving hard times most recently to Cleveland’s Kyrie Irving and Atlanta’s Dennis Schrod

The Phoenix Suns have the second best odds, riding a massive losing streak for most of the final portion of the season. They'll have a 19.9 percent chance at landing No. 1, 38.7 percent chance of sticking in the top-two, and 55.8 percent chance of their selection being top-th

"He's a big part to what they do," Butler explained . "We all know that. I think they know that. But you can't take him out the game and think that you can win. Because they got a lot of other really good players, role players that make shots, create for others. They guard, they rebound, pass the ball. They got a really good team; they're really good at what they

"Enigmatic forward Nikola Mirotic averaged 9.4 points and 5.2 rebounds in 22.9 minutes while shooting 39 percent with Wade around. Historically the Bulls’ one-man version of March Madness is contributing 16.4 points and 6.3 rebounds in 29.6 minutes while hitting 50.8 percent overa

LeBron's teams have entered the playoffs as the No. 2 seed five times, each time making it to the NBA strategy|https://Nbaactioninsight.com/ Finals. If there was doubt brewing from their seeding, that should wipe it clean out of the equat

This would be the third of five straight seasons the Warriors would miss the playoffs, and while Curry's rookie year provided some fun moments, he was still two seasons away from feeling the full effects of ankle problems that would threaten to derail his car

In the four contests against the Bulls this year, Thomas put up 24.8 points and 5.8 assists per game. However, he shot the ball very well against Chicago, going 53.8 percent from the field along with 48.4 percent from three-point ra