Ty's 2026 - 2027 NBA Preview: Pacers, Heat, Hawks
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Welcome back to my preseason NBA countdown. I know the season started last night, and some of the games were fun to watch. The 76ers looked good, the Celtics blew a humongous lead, the Pistons made a nice push to win and the Spurs and Thunder are going to be at each other's throats for a long while now, which makes the NBA even more fun. Anyway, let's get back to the countdown.
At 15 I have the Indiana Pacers. The Pacers are not higher because so much is unknown with this roster. Tyrese Haliburton looked really good in preseason, I just want to see it in the regular season. Haliburton is the straw that stirs this team's offense. He is so good at pushing the ball up and down the floor. He can find the open guy anywhere. He is one of the best clutch shooters in all of basketball. He's coming back off a really bad injury, and that leaves me with a bit of worry in his case. Ivica Zubac is a very good center. He is big and strong and a solid rim protector. He is good at finishing around the rim and is capable of being a solid rim runner. But he doesn't bring any three point shooting, and that was the best thing Myles Turner gave this offense. Turner could spread the floor. Zubac doesn't, but he does add toughness, which could be nice for this team. I have loved seeing Aaron Nesmith find himself with the Pacers. He is a shooter capable of going off for 30 on any given night. He is also a very good perimeter defender and he plays his tail off. He is wildly inconsistent as a shooter, and that's the problem. He had more responsibility last season, and it did not go great. TJ McConnell has taken a big step back as well. Pascal Siakim may be the second best player on this team. He is very, very good at basketball. He almost made the all star team last season. He showed what he could do with a bigger workload, and he has turned himself into a reliable and productive player. He is great. Obi Toppin is a nice backup big, and he plays so much better when Haliburton is on the floor with him. He struggled last season, but with Haliburton back, I expect Toppin to find his game once again. Jarace Walker hasn't panned out great yet, but he is due for a much bigger role this season, and maybe he finally shows something that gives him more playing time. Jay Huff will provide a decent spark off the bench. Andrew Nembhard gets to return to being a backup, which he is best suited for, and he should be much better than he was last season. And I will never count out a team coached by Rick Carlisle. He is one of the best coaches to ever step foot on a basketball court. The Pacers have the key guys back to make a run, I just want to see them to sustain it for a few months before I fully buy in on this team once again.
At number 14 I have the Miami Heat. I don't get all the clutching of pearls that this team has gotten from other media members. The Heat are coached by the best coach in the game right now, Erik Spoelstra, and he has found multiple ways to win with multiple different players. Also, they have Giannis Antentekoumpo, who is healthy. A healthy Giannis will make all the difference in the world. He is a one man wrecking crew, and he looks energized now that he is playing for a team that has some playoff hopes and expectations. People claiming he may be done are off base in my opinion. Giannis may have a revenge/redemption type season in year one with the Heat. Bam Adebayo is still one of the best defensive players in the league, and he has found a bit of a scoring touch. Adebayo scored 81 in a game last year. He has added a jump shot. He gets to the free throw line. Adebayo may be underrated amongst bigs in the NBA at this point. Davion Mitchell has always been a great perimeter defender, and now he has the semblance of a jump shot. It seems like he just had to get out of Sacramento to find himself in the NBA. They went out and signed Tim Hardaway Jr and Klay Thompson to get some outside shooting on this team. Tim Hardaway Jr was a steal in my opinion, and while Thompson is older, he can still shoot the rock. Simone Fontecchio is a decent backup point guard. Andrew Wiggins has become a totally solid role player and knows what he can and cannot do on the floor. I like that they got Bobby Portis to come along with Giannis. Portis is going to add toughness, and he feels like a prototypical late in career Heat player. I think the Heat are going to be a pretty solid team this season. I think Giannis is feeling better than he has in some time now, and I think he will play a lot this year. If that happens, the Heat will win 50 games and could be a top 6 team in the East.
The final team for the day, at 13 I have the Atlanta Hawks. I think what the Hawks did late last season was no fluke. They kind of found themselves, and I think they will take that into this season and be ready to rock. Jalen Johnson is a star. He has all the tools to be very successful in the NBA. He has all star capabilities, he is a great defender, he just needs to work on his jumper to take the full leap. Dyson Daniels is a great defender and can get to the rim. He has been a revelation since coming over to this team. Nickeil Alexander-Walker had a great playoffs, and I think he will only build on that success more this season. It took him a little bit longer than some wanted, but when he figured out how this team played, he started to excel on the court. CJ McCollum is the best veteran guard in the league possibly. He can go on a heater at any moment, he has become a decent passer and even his defense has gotten a tiny bit better. He is so good at keeping this team in games. They brought over Lu Dort, and he will only make this defense that much better. Dort may not be much of a scorer anymore, but the dude can still play high level defense. Dorian Finney-Smith may never be the guy he was with the Mavs, but if he can find a bit of that player from Dallas, he may be a nice bench addition for this team. Onyeka Okongwu has become a decent modern big and he can even stretch the defense a bit. His jumper has gotten better each season. I also really like what they did in the draft with Kingston Flemings and Zuby Ejiofor. Flemings is a bulldog on defense and he showed some nice scoring at Houston last season. Adn Ejiofor has a body built for the NBA and he is older, which means he may be able to step into a bigger role than most other rookies can in their first season. The Hawks found something last season, and stuff like that doesn't just go away. I think they build on that and become a viable threat in the East this season.
That's it for today. Come back tomorrow for the next three teams.
Ty
Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.
