10 Opposing Players We're Excited To Watch

With the retirement of Manu Ginobili, we all thought to ourselves, 'Man(u), I loved watching him play!' So, in the spirit of Manu, our Kyle Ratke and Julian Andrews put together the top-10 opposing players they're excited to see this season.

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JA: In all the noise last season surrounding Leonard's injury troubles and his less-than-ideal relationship with the Spurs, people seem to have forgotten how incredible he is at basketball. When he's healthy and zoned in, Leonard is the third best player in the league. Come argue with me. He can score from everywhere on the floor, he's an incredible defender and despite his quiet demeanor he's a highlight package waiting to happen. I can't wait to see how he looks in Toronto, which has quickly became a favorite of mine to make the Eastern Conference Finals, if not to win them.

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KR: LeBron James should win the MVP every season. But we get bored with how good he is. In 2017-18, he had his best statistical season of his career. AT 33 YEARS OLD!

James made a huge splash (even though most of us expected it) this offseason, leaving Cleveland to sign with the LA Lakers.

The roster in Los Angeles is, umm, interesting? But it looks like, for the first time in his career, James is going to trust young players like Brandon Ingram and Lonzo Ball. That all sounds good on paper, but paper doesn’t play games (someone please edit this so it’s funny).

I’m always excited to watch James play. This year, I’m also extremely curious.

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JA: Can't help you much with that joke Kyle, but I agree with you on this. Paper isn't everything, and sometimes the stats don't tell the whole story. However, sometimes the stats do matter, and if you look at Anthony Davis' post All-Star Break numbers from last year it's pretty clear why he could be the MVP frontrunner this year. Davis scored 29.8 points per game with 11.8 rebounds, 3.5 blocks and 2.0 steals. He did all that shooting 52 percent from the field. That's absolutely unreal.

The Pelis have only improved upon the team that absolutely thrashed the third-seeded Blazers in the first round last year and the franchise is all in on Davis. As it should be. He's a transcendent talent and a complete nightmare for opposing teams on both ends of the court. I'm very excited to watch him play... maybe against a team that isn't the Wolves though.

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KR: Simmons is such an intriguing player. He doesn’t seem to know how to shoot a basketball. More than ever, shooting in basketball is a very important thing. But it doesn’t seem to matter for Simmons, who averaged 15.8 points, 8.2 assists and 8.1 rebounds per game on his way to winning Rookie of the Year.

Eventually, you’d think that Simmons will have to figure out his shot even though sometimes it doesn’t look like he knows what hand to shoot with. But Simmons is a brilliant passer, a great rebounder and when he gets to the rim, he’s nearly unstoppable. Simmons has a high ceiling, but it’s hard to think it will be “all-time great” level unless he figures out his shot.

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JA: There’s always some intrigue surrounding rookies but that’s especially the case with Doncic, debatably the most highly-touted international prospect ever. The hype makes sense. He will be a nightly triple-double threat and he has a chance to smoothly take the torch from Dirk Nowitzki as the face of the Mavs franchise and be one of the best European players in the NBA from day one.

There’s added intrigue because the Hawks initially had the rights to Doncic and traded him to the Mavs in a move the Hawks are more than likely to regret. Doncic isn’t just a good player—the big, multi-position, dual scoring and distributing threat is a fundamentally different kind of player than we’ve seen in the league before. I can’t wait to watch him develop.

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KR: Kevin Love is the star once again! Without James, the Cavaliers will rely on K-Love to lead their team in the scoring department. We don’t know if that’s a good thing, though.

I was here for “Minnesota Kevin Love,” and let me tell you, it was a lot of fun. His 2013-14 season was freaking fantastic when he averaged 26.1 points, 12.5 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game. There was one problem, though. Minnesota won just 40 games that season and failed to make the playoffs. Of course, that’s not all on Love. The roster configuration wasn’t great, but it’s not like he’s on a loaded Cavaliers team. And are we sure Kevin Love knows how to be Minnesota Kevin Love anymore? Since signing with the Cavaliers, he’s averaged 17.1 points and 10 rebounds per game. In his four seasons prior to the with the Timberwolves, he averaged 23.5 points and 13.7 rebounds. Which Love will be see? If I had to guess, probably something inbetween.

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JA: I’ll admit I’m a little biased here because I was raised in Portland, but Damian Lillard’s ability to take over a game is pretty darn unique. All due respect to C.J. McCollum, but the Blazers are Lillard’s team and it’ll be up to him to carry them to the next level.

I don’t know what it is, but I feel like Lillard is going to go scorched earth this season. Last season was full of distractions: he had a baby, there was all kinds of drama surrounding the team and everyone spent most of the year wondering if the Blazers would break up their backcourt this summer. Lillard always has had a chip on his shoulder and all the bad press the team has gotten will only add to that load. While the Blazers will likely regress compared to their third-place finish last year, I wouldn’t be surprised to see ‘Lillard time’ every game this season.

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KR: I’m going with someone who will have a season likely the complete opposite of Lillard. Rookie Trae Young will have some good games in his rookie season with the Hawks. But he’s also going to have some very, very bad games. Like games why we wonder why he was drafted in the top five.

This isn’t to say that I think he’ll be a bust. His rookie season won’t dictate the rest of his career, but it’s going to be apparent real fast the Young will need to get stronger to play in the NBA. Eighty-two games is a lot of games to play and we’ve seen players fail to withstand the physicality. It’ll be interesting to see where Young’s confidence level is at throughout the season. Confidence the main ingredient in the heat check sauce.

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JA: Kyle is right. Confidence is the main ingredient in the heat check sauce. You know what’s not an ingredient? Getting blocked. Getting blocked is like someone switching the salt and sugar in your kitchen without telling you then throwing your gross sauce on the floor. There are a lot of guys who like to block shots in the NBA, but Rudy Gobert is their king.

Gobert is a terror. I won’t make many friends in the Northwest Division by saying he’s one of my favorite players… but he’s one of my favorite players. There are a select few guys in the league that can actually make defense look exciting. Kawhi is one, Jimmy Butler is one, pre-injury Wes Matthews is one. Gobert is at the top of that list. He changes games with his interior presence and somehow still manages to come up with highlight blocks when everyone on the court is trying to stay away from him. Popcorn time.

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 KR: Maybe Giannis fell because this pick is too obvious. I don’t know. But what I do know is Giannis is freaking jacked. Just looking at the picture inspired me to go on the elliptical for 30 minutes.

The Eastern Conference is wide open with James heading West. When Mike Budenholzer took the job in Milwaukee, 95 percent of that had to do with the 23-year-old MVP candidate. The other five percent was for the love of cheese curds.  If you predicted Giannis would turn into the player that he has, you’re lying. He’s nowhere near the prime of his career and he’s averaging 26.9 points and 10 rebounds per game. Plus, the dude runs like a deer who just guzzled a case of Code Red. He needs to figure out his shot, but as long as he’s got his athleticism, Giannis is a top-five MVP candidate.