[Senator Clay Davis]

Two weeks away from opening night so figure it's time to get this going again. After unquestionably the most successful season in franchise history, the Raps are bringing almost everyone back and have done a nice job of filling in the losses that they did have. But with that said the path to winning the division figures to be much more difficult with the Celtics improving themselves with the Horford addition. I still think the Raps are deeper and that will help them hold off the Celtics, but it'll be a race that comes down to the last couple weeks instead of being

As far as the roster goes, to me it's more or less the same question as last year: How much further can JV take his game? Ideally we'll see them actually giving Valanciunas more looks and run more offense through him, but I remain skeptical it'll come through. But as we saw in the playoffs last year when JV is rolling, he elevates the Raps to being a legit threat to win the East rather than "best non-Cavs team".

The bench to me could be one of the best in the league, especially if we see some development out of Delon Wright. But a second unit of Joseph, Ross, Powell, Sullinger and Poltl offers a bit of everything, but is strong on defense and can score well too. A major weakness a few years ago appears a big strength now. And that doesn't even include VanVleet who's looked good or Bebe who I think deserves more minutes this year.

Won't make a playoff prediction but I do think we see them win the division and win 52 games. Still view them as the second best team in the East.