NBA Contenders and Pretenders

The end of the NBA season is only a month away. With so much left to be decided in the playoffs, we examine who the true contenders are, and who is simply impersonating one.

Winning in March and April is fine and dandy, especially if you are pushing for a playoff spot. Winning in May and June, on the other hand – powering through seven-game series and fending off increasingly difficult competition – is an entirely different matter. For many teams, regular season success does not translate into playoff victories. In the regular season, victories come by capitalizing on the mistakes of flawed teams; in the postseason, they come by overcoming the strengths of more talented opponents.

Two teams this year are very obviously contenders: The Golden State Warriors and the San Antonio Spurs. It doesn’t matter if you use traditional statistics, analytics or the good ol’ fashioned “eye test”; they are both clear-cut contenders by any metric. As such, they won’t be included on this list. It would be a waste of two slides.

Instead, this list will focus on the playoff caliber teams below the top two. All of them have profound strengths. All have obvious flaws. But only some have the talent and pedigree to take on the top teams in the NBA, and seriously challenge those teams in seven-game series.

In no particular order, we will take a look at five teams that are true contenders in the NBA playoffs, and five others who merely seem like contenders. We’ll start on the West Coast.

Next: Contender: Portland Trail Blazers