Portland Trail Blazers: Ranking projected NBA starting lineups part 3

Elite: the top-5 starting lineups in the NBA

5. Miami Heat

Projected starting lineup:

G – Kyle Lowry

G – Duncan Robinson

F – Jimmy Butler

F – P.J. Tucker

C – Bam Adebayo

The Miami Heat made perhaps the biggest splash this offseason when they acquired NBA Champion point guard Kyle Lowry. Lowry’s grit, defensive discipline, and insane work ethic fits right into the Heat culture and the marriage should be as seamless as possible.

Lowry also provides more on-ball creation, shot making, and floor-spacing, really the only things that were missing from the Heat’s roster last season.

Not only do they have Lowry’s championship pedigree in the backcourt now, they also added P.J. Tucker, one of the few elite 3-and-D players left in the NBA.

If Jimmy Butler can find his jump shot and Bam Adebayo can start truly asserting himself on offense, this team has all the makings of a title contender.

4. Golden State Warriors

Projected starting lineup:

G – Stephen Curry

G – Klay Thompson

F – Andrew Wiggins

F – Draymond Green

C – Kevon Looney

The highly anticipated return of the Splash Brothers should be coming in the early 2021-2022 season. Whether or not Klay Thompson will look like himself after suffering a torn Achilles — one of the most devastating injuries to basketball players — remains to be seen.

Even if Thompson is less mobile than he was before, his picture-perfect jump shot should be an immortal entity. I have no doubt that Klay will still be a deadeye sniper even when he’s 80 years old and hasn’t shot a basketball in two decades.

With that in mind, as baffling as it may be, Steph Curry actually seemed to get better last season. Curry put together an absurd MVP campaign and nearly came away with his third Maurice Polodoff.

Now, Head Coach Steve Kerr will have a fully unleashed Curry at his disposal to rain hell on NBA defenses, while Thompson inches back into game shape. Once the Dubs are rolling at full steam, the league will need to take notice.

3. Los Angeles Lakers

Projected starting lineup:

G – Russell Westbrook

G – Wayne Ellington

F – LeBron James

F – Anthony Davis

C – Dwight Howard

We’ve heard the “I’m going to play center more” song from Anthony Davis before. While it’s obvious that going “small” with LeBron and AD manning the big spots creates the best possible lineup for the Lake Show, it doesn’t mean that they’ll run that out all season or even start with that configuration.

With Dwight Howard and DeAndre Jordan on the roster, it makes more sense to continue to stash Davis at the four where he can avoid banging down low against elite centers — especially after the return on his injury troubles last season.

This squad is obviously teeming with cream of the crop talent as they have two former MVPs and two of the best bigs to ever play the game alongside them.

How well this lineup can gel together is a big question mark, especially since four of the five starters do their best work in the paint. But in terms of talent alone, this Lakers squad is easily top-three.

2. Milwaukee Bucks

Projected starting lineup:

G – Jrue Holiday

G – Donte DiVincenzo

F – Khris Middleton

F – Giannis Antetokounmpo

C – Brook Lopez

The Milwaukee Bucks will be returning their championship starting lineup from last season for 2021-2022. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it right?

This lineup has an excellent blend of offense and defense. Bucks General Manager Jon Horst has done a fantastic job building the ideal team around his MVP, Giannis.

There’s no reason to believe that Milwaukee will be any less dominant than they were last season. If anything, with Giannis only turning 27 in December, it’s more reasonable to expect this Bucks team to be even better as the Greek Freak rises closer and closer to the highest of basketball echelons.

There’s only one squad that could exceed the potential of this Bucks lineup.

1. Brooklyn Nets

Projected starting lineup:

G – James Harden

G – Kyrie Irving

F – Joe Harris

F – Kevin Durant

C – LaMarcus Aldridge

The fact that LaMarcus Aldridge was able to return to the Brooklyn Nets was a miracle, a blessing, and frankly, a little unfair. Adding LA’s midrange prowess to a team that was on pace to shatter every single offensive metric in the book is borderline illegal.

While this lineup won’t offer much defense, it really doesn’t matter. There’s not a single team that can compete with this Nets squad on the scoreboard if everything is going right for the Nets.

Brooklyn has been dubbed early favorites for the 2022 NBA title and rightly so. Barring some extraneous circumstance, this Nets team’s overwhelming level of offensive talent should be too much for any team to overcome in a seven game series. Luckily for the league, Kyrie Irving is already doing his best to try to throw a wrench in the machine by refusing to get vaccinated — a protest that could keep him from playing any of Brooklyn’s home games.