Introducing: Tom's Title Tiers ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Launching my weekly tiered ranking of championship contenders.
Damian Lillard is a Buck.
Jrue Holiday is a Celtic.
Chris Paul is a Warrior.
It’s a little disorienting, so I’ve decided I need some order in this chaos. Which brings me to today’s announcement:
This season, I’m putting together a title contender chart, which I will update on a weekly basis for my paid subscribers (planning on Monday mornings). I’m not going to include all thirty teams in the tiers, but I will choose the teams that I’m taking seriously as title contenders.
This is my subjective list based largely on objective data. This is not a pure, analytical ranking. There are other sites for that. You’re here because you want to know what I think, to get inside my brain a little bit. And my brain is a busy place that is taking in a lot of information. Consider this a weekly report of what I see on film; what I glean from the numbers; what I hear on the phone; what I read in the news; what I, um, feel. Yes, I have feelings, too!
I’ve decided to use a five-star system. I like the simplicity, love the double-entendre. (If you played hoops as a kid, you know about Five-Star basketball camp).
Tom’s Title Tiers
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ This is a complete team, no notes.
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Just missing that one thing.
⭐⭐⭐ One move away from being one move away.
⭐⭐ So much has to break right.
⭐ Sooo you’re saying there’s a chance.
Another thing for my subscribers: I’m going to feature one team each week with an expanded writeup. I don’t think you’ll get my best work if I write a one-sentence quip on every team; I think there’s more value in the tiers and the single in-depth feature with my insights and thoughts on a particular team.
This week’s featured contender: the Oklahoma City Thunder. You read that right.
Where do I put OKC and the rest of the contenders?
Let’s find out.