Swish Tribune

Written By: Spencer Teman, of Swish Tribune Coming off their most successful season in almost a decade, the Knicks will trot out basically the same team they did a year ago, looking to compete with the best of the best in the Eastern Conference.  The Knicks took the Eastern Conference champions from a year ago to six games in the semifinals before being eliminated. That concluded their first season with their new leader, Jalen Brunson. Brunson is everything the Knicks could've hoped for out of a guy who they signed to a 4-year contract in the 2022 offseason and is looking to have yet another big season this year.  The question surrounding the Knicks, and seems to always surround the Knicks, is when will they land the big superstar that New York has been waiting for ever since the departure of Carmelo Anthony. They certainly have the assets both in players and an ample supply of draft picks for years to come.  Brunson is great and has proven himself as one of the best guar...

                              Oklahoma City Thunder Preview Written by Max Turtz of Swish Tribune As the 2023-24 NBA season approaches, all eyes are on the Oklahoma City Thunder, a team that has been in the midst of a rebuilding phase for the past few years. While they may not be immediate championship contenders, this season promises to be an exciting one for Thunder fans as they continue to develop their young talent and work towards a brighter future. The Thunder's roster is filled with promising young players who have been gaining valuable experience over the past couple of seasons. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the team's now-established star, is set to lead the way. His scoring ability, playmaking, and defensive prowess make him one of the most exciting talents in the league. Look for him to take another step forward as he becomes the team's primary option. The Thunder have invested heavily in pla...

  Written By: Spencer Teman, of Swish Tribune One of the most talked about teams this offseason, the Portland Trail Blazers will have a whole new look this upcoming season as they look to compete with the best of the best in the West.  The biggest move that the Blazers made this offseason was trading the face of their franchise, Damian Lillard. Lillard was arguably the best Blazer of all time and dedicated his first 11 years to the franchise but grew unhappy with the organization as he approached his 12th year in Portland.  The Blazers got a haul back for him as they dealt him to Milwaukee which involved a three-team deal with the Suns as well. They got back DeAndre Ayton, Jrue Holiday, and a couple of first round picks. They then dealt Holiday to Boston for Malcolm Brogdon and Robert Williams. So in the end the Blazers got the package they wanted in return to add to an already talented roster.  Their second biggest move this offseason was drafting Scoot Henderson wi...

Written By: Spencer Teman, of Swish Tribune A team that just seems like they can never get it done, the Philadelphia 76ers walk in to the 2023-24 NBA season with a very similar team that they marched out last year. But last year like previous years, they came up short and this time at the hands of the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.  One major shakeup within the 76ers organization was the firing of Doc Rivers and the hiring of Nick Nurse. Rivers was not the coach for the job and year after year was never able to get it done, so the Sixers decided to hire an in-division coach in Nick Nurse for the job. Nurse won the finals back in 2019 with the Raptors, but just walked into a team that has a lot of drama going on.  Although the rumors and discussions going on around the league about possible huge shakeups with this Sixers team, nothing has really changed besides the coaching situation. James Harden has wanted out as a Sixer and expressed that in a video tha...

Brooklyn Nets Preview Written by Max Turtz of Swish Tribune As the NBA season is approaching quickly, Brooklyn Nets fans are eager for Mikal Bridges’s first full year as a Net. A versatile forward known for his defensive prowess and three-point shooting. Bridges has brought a new dimension to the Nets' roster. His ability to guard multiple positions and space the floor has certainly impressed. So far, he has done a solid job of filling Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving’s shoes. Hopefully that continues this year. Another intriguing player for the Nets is Spencer Dinwiddie, who rejoined the team after brief stints with the Wizards and Mavericks. Dinwiddie, known for his playmaking abilities and clutch performances, has added valuable depth to Brooklyn's backcourt. His ability to run the offense and provide scoring off the bench gives the Nets more flexibility in their lineups.  In the competitive landscape of the NBA, the Brooklyn Nets, with Mikal Bridges' arrival and Spencer Di...

  Written by Stuart Graeber, Swish Tribune The Falcons have an extremely unique look going into 2023 with a lot of youth on the offensive side and an extremely improved defense that will look to improve from last season. The Falcons finished the 2022 season with a record of 7-10, but showed promise with rookies showing flashes of potential. This year, it looks like the Falcons are pushing for the playoffs in an extremely tight division, and this team will be spearheaded by first round running back Bijan Robinson. Bijan Robinson was taken by the Falcons with the eighth overall pick in the draft this past year. He was the consensus top running back in the draft and is one of the best prospects at the position in awhile. He combines size and agility in order to bulldoze defenders and slip between the tackles for big gains. He also showed to be an above average pass catcher for the position which is increasingly important for running backs in this NFL. Robinson had nearly 1900 yards (1...

  Written by, Max Freud, of Swish Tribune  The Seattle Seahawks finished last season at 9-8. With that record they snuck into the playoffs and faced the 49ers in the wild card round. They would lose that game and be eliminated from playoff contention. Their season was still viewed as a success though as Geno Smith played into an extension and the defense was good enough.  The Seahawks will look to repeat last season and will aim to once again make the playoffs. Their offense will once again be strong as receivers Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf are back. First round draft pick Jaxon Smith-Njigba will round out the receiving core. Running Back Kenneth Walker will look to produce another strong season for Pete Carrol with the rookie out of UCLA, Zach Charbonnet, spelling him when needed. The offensive line will continue to be mediocre but hopefully the improving play of Geno Smith and talented skill position players will be able to hold up.  On the other side of the ball,...

Written By: Lucas Regal, of Swish Tribune  For the first time in almost 20 years, the Packers' QB1 is someone not named Aaron Rodgers. The big question this season for Green Bay is: How good is Jordan Love? The last time the Packers made a big quarterback switch, they went from hall-of-famer to an even better hall-of-famer. It would be utterly shocking if they struck gold with a QB for the third time in a row. So what do we know about Jordan Love right now? He was the 26th pick of the first round for Green Bay back in 2020 and hasn't had much game experience since then. He's only started one game in his career which is unusually low for a first-round pick going into his fourth year in the league. The upside is that he's been learning from one of the best quarterbacks of all time in Rodgers, so hopefully he's picked up a couple things during his time as a backup.  The rest of the offense has a lot of question marks as well. Christian Watson will be going into his sec...

Written By: Jake Bornstein, of Swish Tribune What's Happening on Offense? People are excited about Deshaun Watson this year. Before the controversy circled around him, he was an ELITE quarterback. With Will Fuller and DeAndre Hopkins he was a top qb, but people forgot about him as he took a long break away, however last year when he came back he started to ball out once again! This was with Amari Cooper, Donovan Peoples Jones and David Njoku. Now they also added Elijah Moore, who people forget was elite in New York to end his rookie year, but last year suffered and wanted to be traded due to low usage and poor QB play. Moore also has appeared to have a role in the running game. With the end of Kareem Hunt’s career in Cleveland Moore could obtain some short passes, but so can Chubb. In my personal opinion, Nick Chubb is the best pure rusher in the NFL. When you look at the stats he is also the best pure rusher in the NFL, averaging over 6.0 yards per carry yearly along with Lamar J...

  Written by Max Freud of Swish Tribune  The 49ers have chosen Brock Purdy to be their starting quarterback this year. They have also assigned the backup role to Sam Darnold. With these decisions Trey Lance was left out of the mix and the 49ers decided to trade him to the cowboys for a 4th round pick. This will be good for Purdy as it shows that the front office trusts him with the keys to the franchise.  Purdy got hurt last year in the NFC championship game and had to get surgery done over the offseason. The 49ers went on to lose that game after backup quarterback Josh Johnson also got hurt and they had to turn to Christian McCaffrey to play the position. Many think they would’ve won that game if it wasn’t for the injuries, but that will remain a mystery.  San Fransisco goes into the season with most of the same players that they had last year. They have lost some pieces on the defensive end, but still have the opportunity to have a shut down defense even with...

  Written By: Spencer Teman, of Swish Tribune Just three years since the team moved from Oakland to Vegas, the Raiders are looking to make a splash this year as an underdog team in a highly competitive division. This year they decided to shake things up and will have a brand new look this season in the silver and black. The major change that was made in the offseason was at quarterback as veteran quarterback, who played for the Raiders for the past nine season, Derek Carr was signed by the New Orleans Saints. For the first time in almost a decade, the Raiders will line up with a starting quarterback not named Derek Carr during week 1.  That new quarterback will be Jimmy Garoppolo. Garoppolo, another veteran quarterback, spent his previous number of seasons with the San Francisco 49ers. With the Niners, he was able to reach 2 NFC championships, win one, and just fall short in a Super Bowl to the Chiefs. Garoppolo certainly has a ton of experience to offer to this high-powered R...

 Tennessee Titans Season Preview By Evan Ostrander                The Tennessee Titans are coming off of a disappointing season in which they failed to make the playoffs after ending the season on a seven game losing streak without Ryan Tannehill. This losing streak included a loss to the Texans in a very winnable game that pretty much told the world that the Titans weren’t legit. Many point the blame for these losses on rookie Quarterback Malik Willis and think that they will be much better this season with Tannehill healthy, but I disagree. Ryan Tannehill adds very little to the Tennessee Titans offense besides handing the ball off well and the occasional checkdown pass. The Tennessee Titans should not be relying on a game manager to keep them mediocre, and instead, they should be looking to Will Levis as their Quarterback of the future.  Despite this, the Titans will be starting the season with Tannehill, so they should be able t...

  Written By: Dylan Grodner, of Swish Tribune  The reigning champs are looking to do it again. The Kansas City Chiefs are without a doubt a top 3 team in the NFL, being lead by one of the greatest players in the history, in Patrick Mahomes. For the past few years, the Chiefs are creating what seems to be a dynasty. It's hard to argue with that statement when Mahomes is leading the way. In addition to Mahomes, the Chiefs also have the best tight end in the league in Travis Kelce along with one of the best head coaches in the league in Andy Reid as well.  The Chiefs offense has proven to be elite, even though they don't have a true number one wide receiver. However, having the best tight end paired with the best quarterback in the league makes up for it. Not only does it make up for it, but it helps. It draws the defense away from the receivers, allowing them to be open. This leaves Mahomes with a plethora of options, including five guys that finished with over 250 yards la...

Written By: Dylan Grodner, of Swish Tribune  The Miami Dolphins are one of the strongest teams in the NFL WHEN HEALTHY. The issue is, they seem to constantly be dilapidated. They were lacking defensive weapons last year, including cornerback Byron Jones (out for the season), safety Brandon Jones (out seven games), and Nik Needham (out six games). In addition to all of these injuries on the defensive end of the ball, the Dolphins were also constantly without a quarterback, as Tua was dealing with concussions all season long.  Over the offseason, the Dolphins defense became even stronger after acquiring Jalen Ramsey, Bradley Chubb, and Eli Apple in addition to drafting two valuable young players in Jaelan Philips and Jevon Holland. Although Ramsey is injured and is out for the beginning of the season, the Dolphins defense is STACKED.  Let's move over to the offense.  Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle.  That's it. All you need to know is those two names in order to fin...

  Written By: Spencer Teman, of Swish Tribune The Arizona Cardinals, otherwise known as the team that almost everyone is predicting to end up with the #1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft and finish with the worst record in the league. I'm here to tell you those people may be right.  The Cardinals come into the year with many key losses that are effecting everyone's mindset regarding them. Firstly, their franchise quarterback, Kyler Murray, won't be ready until maybe the second half of the season because he tore his ACL late last season. Without Murray, this offense is not going to be able to flow to its best ability and with limited weapons to operate with as well.  Along with the injury to Murray, the Cardinals also lost one of the best receivers of this generation in DeAndre Hopkins. Hopkins decided he wanted to play elsewhere and chose Tennessee to be his next location to play football. No matter what quarterback Hopkins as been with in his career, he has always made...

                                              By Ryan Lashin of Swish Tribune. Est Reading Time: 5 Min Last year, the New England Patriots finished 8-9, making a respectable attempt at reaching the playoffs. The Patriots were most certainly helped by their defense, as they were 11th in points allowed. However, they were 24th in yards allowed. It doesn’t help to consistently lose members of the secondary like the Patriots do each year, but somehow Bill Belichick knows where to find secondary talent, as the Patriots have a young group starring Jonathan Jones to bolster their team. Offense is a little more of a struggle as Mac Jones needs to prove himself in a make or break year. The Patriots biggest worry is not within, rather their division, as they play in arguably the toughest division in the NFL. In this season preview, we will look at their offense, d...

                                                             Written by Oliver William, of Swish Tribune Est read time: 5 Mins Can the Chargers finally overcome the edge in the AFC? My answer is YES. Tom Telesco and the other Chargers front office have made big moves this offseason. The first thing the Bolts did was keep their star running back Austin Ekeler. Austin Ekeler was one of the many star running backs who stood up against unequal pay in the industry. Austin Ekeler agreed to return to the Bolts for at least one more year, with two million dollars worth of incentives. With this much to play for, the start 27-year-old is going to have a performing year. Austin Ekeler is coming off two straight seasons where he records over 900 yards and is the best receiving RB in the NFL. Who would not want this stud o...

          Cincinnati Bengals Season Preview: Kings of the North?                                               By Ryan Lashin of Swish Tribune. Est reading time: 5 minutes.   Cincinnati Bengals Team Review The Bengals had a strong finish last year after starting off slow and nearly making it to the Super Bowl yet again. We should expect that they are one of the top contenders this year once again. Despite starting the season 4-4, they went on an 8 game winning streak to secure their playoff contention. In this in depth team review, we will look at their offense, defense, and finally their schedule, in order to create an outlook on how the Bengals might perform in comparison to last year, so let’s get into it.  Offense:  The Bengals offseason hasn’t had much drama, but one major incident has put the Bengal...

  Written By, Spencer Teman, of Swish Tribune After one of the most embarrassing ways to end a playoff game, the Dallas Cowboys are looking to avenge that loss with a breakout season this year. Almost every season it seems like Cowboys fans are saying "it's our year", well is that the case this year? I am here to tell you, it is not for the 27th year in a row. The Cowboys haven't won a super bowl since 1996 and that drought will not be ending in 2023. This team is very good on paper, but when you look at the circumstances of being in the same division as the Eagles and their recent playoff history, you will be strongly deterred.  The Cowboys certainly did upgrade this offseason. They acquired one of the best cornerbacks in the league in Stephon Gilmore who is going to pair with another top cornerback in Trevon Diggs. Many people are saying this is the best cornerback duo in the league and it is hard to disagree with them. Along with trading for Gilmore, the Cowboys al...