One-on-One: Our odds-on favorites to overachieve, underachieve in NBA

Keane: Besides betting on extreme tanking at the low end, where else would you place your money? And will the low Pelicans' number motivate Zion Williamson to destroy the league even more ruthlessly than we expected?

Heery: The ironic thing about Zion and the Pelicans is that if they were in the East, you could talk me into them being the four or five seed. But for them to make the playoffs in the West, it means teams like the Spurs, Mavs, Kings and T-Wolves all will miss the postseason. Those are all competent teams with solid rosters. Thus, I am staying away from the .500 teams and putting my big money on the Nuggets to benefit from their youthful continuity and win at least 53 games this season. Considering they won 54 games last season, I think 60 is in play given the respective leaps made by Nikola Jokic (25 points, 13 rebounds and over eight assists per game) and Jamal Murray (21 points, five assists and four rebounds per game) in last year’s playoffs.

My other flashy bet would be on the Lakers to win at least 50 games and hit the over. Hell, I’m putting money on them to win the title while we’re at it, at +400.

And time for a tangent! If LeBron and AD weren’t already motivated by the noise and doubt from the rest of the NBA and media, they sure are now after David Griffin’s whiny Sports Illustrated article. Poor Griffin, the Pelicans' executive VP of basketball ops, lamented that he didn’t have any fun when LeBron won him a title in 2016 in Cleveland. Apparently, having the best player ever thrusted upon your team doesn’t allow you to build happy little, drama-free rosters like you can in NBA 2K. Boo-hoo. Griffin, who later went on The Jump after Rich Paul threatened to recruit Zion and have him immediately demand a trade to explain his revisionist history, seems to have forgotten that he’s no longer a media personality and shouldn’t be stirring the pot with hot takes. Leave the takes to us, David! Ah, well, I’m sure Griffin and the Pelicans will get a nice reminder: “You come at the king, you best not miss!”

In the East, I’m smashing the over on Milwaukee, even at 58.5. The Bucks won 60 last season, and I expect this pre-free agency run by Giannis to mirror LeBron’s pre-free agency run of the Cavs in 2008-09 and 2009-10, when the team dominated the regular season for two seasons, winning 66 and 61 games by force of LeBron’s will before sputtering in the playoffs. 

Giannis is too good and plays too hard to lose much more than 20 regular-season games when the opponent has limited time to game plan. Also a boring pick, but give me the over on Detroit (37.5). Blake Griffin is healthy and way too good to not at least recreate last season’s 41-41 record. 

Heery: Let’s shift gears to some of the big regular-season games. Looks like we’re getting a Battle for L.A. on opening night (Oct. 22) and Christmas Day. I expect those games to be intense but also sloppy, given how different both of these rosters are from last season. What games are jumping out at you?

Keane: I’m going to enjoy every single Battle of Los Angeles this year, both because the teams are great and because the fan bases are going to the mattresses. They’ll rehash the historical non-rivalry, argue about the failed Chris Paul trade and barely acknowledge that no player on either side was there before 2017.

I’m also excited for any homecoming game that will make the fans freak out, whether it’s Kyrie Irving returning to Boston with the Nets, Al Horford going back to Boston with the Sixers and presumably Terry Rozier returning to Boston with the Hornets, because Boston fans love to boo. Irving is back in Beantown on Thanksgiving Eve, the traditional time to hang out with old friends you moved away from, which may be why the NBA scheduled Anthony Davis’ boo-fest in New Orleans for the same night.

Sixers-Bucks and Warriors-Rockets are excellent playoff-revenge Christmas games despite the massive roster turnover, though I think the league is mistaken in thinking Celtics-Raptors is a rivalry. Shouldn’t Toronto get premium games on Boxing Day and Canadian Thanksgiving instead? On opening night, the Raptors get the Pelicans, who also got a Christmas game — clearly the NBA wants to showcase E’Twaun Moore. I also like the Clippers going to San Francisco to open the Warriors’ new arena, after Kawhi and the Clippers combined to win five playoff games in Golden State's old building last spring.

Personally, I can’t wait for the slate of MLK Day games, when the all-day basketball marathon won’t be distracted by pesky things like family members and presents. Any showdowns you’d like to see on the NBA’s other big holiday? And do you want to see Melo playing in any of them?

Heery: You just had to go and inject Melo into this, didn’t you? If I watch Carmelo Anthony play basketball this year, I hope it’s a Chinese New Year bash against the aforementioned Lance “The Eighth Grader” Stephenson in the Far East. 

My final highlight of the NBA’s leaked schedule is getting to see Zion Williamson take on the defending champion Raptors opening night. Zion’s been appointment television for me since his AAU game against LaMelo Ball (telecast via Facebook!), and I can’t wait to see how his transcendent athleticism translates to the NBA. 

Any final takes? Are we going to get a Vince Carter farewell tour now that he’s signed with the Hawks for an NBA-record 22nd season?

Keane: I'm thrilled that Vince Carter is back, and while he's unlikely to play more minutes than his age again this year -- he's 42, by the way -- every old-man dunk he throws down this year is a gift to the fans. And I'd love to see him get a series of gifts, though it's only fair if Toronto sends his present to the Nets.