So its pretty much the end of the Off Season... Who do you think got better.. got worse or simply is staying the same for the upcoming season.... Fearless Analysis below.. As always other thoughts pro and con are appreciated....
Stayed the Same
Lebrons… They lost Mozgov and Delly .. still have to figure out what to do with JR Smith and Jefferson but as long as Lebron’s name makes the first five they are going to be able to make due with a few minor lineup changes. Stay at 1.
Raps.. yep we are about the same as the 56 win team last year. Possibly a little better. For sure we are a little younger. Kyle n DD are plug n play. JV is going to be better. CoJo is going to be better. Powell is going to be better and Ross will be a better. We are going to be happy Ujiri didn’t part with him. PPat is entering his contract year and you know guys just find another gear in a contract year. In theory we are going to see a fully healthy Demarre Carroll with a year in the Raps system under his belt. Sully. Atlanta exposed him bad on defense last year in the playoffs but he is solid rebounder and should be able to give us 15-18 a night at the 4/5 without causing apoplexy. Poeltl is going to be experiencing the same development patten of big team… Missisauga… big team… practice practice practice and the surprise is going to be Siakam. Kid averaged better than 35 mins a game in college and played the whole 40 minutes in his last outing. Stay at 2.
Boston… Boston stays the same. Yes I know they got Al Horford but Al Horford by and of himself isn’t a charismatic take charge leader guy. From my cheap seat he was on a better team last year in Atlanta than the cast he is joining in Boston this year and Atlanta finished 4th. Both have coaching genius’s. At PG Teague/Shcrhoder were a lot better than Smart /Thomas. Bazemore/Korver are at worst a wash vs Bradley and Crowder. Millsap is a shit ton better than Olynyk and Tyler Zeller isn’t inspiring fear into anyone at the 5. So how does Boston get so much better ? Stay around 3rd / 4th/ 5th
Detroit… No better or no worse. Brought in Jon Leur to backup Harris at PF and drafted the PF of the future in Elllenson. Other than that the band is back intact. Stay at 7th 8th.
Brooklyn.. They stayed the same. Crappy. Made a run at a couple of RFA’s but Portland matched on Crabbe and Miami desparate matched on Tyler Johnson. The nets should be sad with Crabbe but elated they made the Heat pay retail price for bargin basement talent in Johnson. Still they got in two draft picks and Jeremy Lin. You have to start somewhere. The nets will do well to match last years 14th spot .
Maybe slipped a Little
The Hornets…. Lost Big Al and the Big Hype in Lin. Kept Nic Batum and Marvin Williams. Get a full year from Kidd Ghilcrist and some growth from Frank the Tank but still they look to slip just a bit without that scoring. Slip from 6th to 7th.
The Hawks… They lost Horford but got back Dwight. They lost Teague but are handing the keys over to Schroeder… A new PG and a new 5 and quite likely a new way of playing offense. This is going to take time… and the adjustment is what is going to set the Hawks back a bit. They slip back from 4th.
The Bulls… They didn’t loose their minds and trade Butler instead of Rose… but not sure what they see in bringing in both Wade and Rondo for a pretty poor shooting backcourt. Make that a really poor shooting backcourt. Wade is on his last legs. This smacks of the Nash to Lakers deal where Nash went down and stayed down in year one. Chicago has to be holding their breath. Mirotic and McBuckets are going to have to have great years at the arc to make up for Rondo and Wade’s shooting woes. Gasol and Noah left which leaves them pretty bare up front unless you think Lopez and Felicio are going to blossom. They’ll slip back from 9th. With Hoiberg to fire if things go really wrong Gar Foreman and John Paxon somehow live on for another year.
Got Better
Indy… At first I thought Indy would just be Indy and make some changes and trades and FA signings and when you scrape away the pluses and minus they look different but are the same 45 win team they were last year. But they look different but they look better. Paul George is Paul George at the 3/4. Teague will make the ball move faster but isn’t the defender Hill is. Larry is OK with that as he wants the Pacers to move the ball quicker and play at a faster pace.. so Teague is a good fit for that agenda. Monta Ellis is the same. Thad Young is an upgrade at ¾ over Solo Hill and Hamilton and the big change is right down the middle where Myles Turner and Al Jefferson are going to make Indy better. See them moving up to 4th 5th 6th range and scrapping with the Hawks/Boston .
The Bucks…. They added Teletovic for some 3 point shooting to help out Middleton and Parker should be better… Monroe will have had a year to figure out how he is going to help . They made the move of the darft in taking Thon Maker. No idea if this looks like genius or a drunken frat boy move but he fits the mold of length. Hope he can play ball in addition to being long. What keeps the Bucks from surging up the ladder is that they are still not settled at PG where they have TylerEnnis and perhaps the worst PG in the east if not the league in Carter-Williams. But they did get better. Challenging for 8th
Da Nicks !... They added Noah and Rose who Chicago dumped. Lets see whose knee jerk reaction is more clairvoyant.. They have Carmelo whose shelf life is pretty close to expiration and they have the Zinger who should get helped out on how to play the game from Noah. They Knicks aren’t built for much longer than a one or possibly two year horizon with this crew as is but they will be better than the schlock they put out last year. Look for the Knicks to challenge for 8th but fall short .and wind up 9th or 10th as one or possibly two of the oft injured troika of Melo/Rose/Noah bang up a knee yet again and miss significant time. With no bench the Nix miss the show again.
Philly… Philly got better because there was no way they could be worse than that sad sack of shit they put on display last year. 10 wins. Have to be better than 10 wins right. Just have to. Embiid might play.. Simmons will play… Saric is still unknown. Noel will stay and play some and Okafor will play if Embiid can’t. Still need tremendous help in the backcourt but still they might pull ahead of Brooklyn to 14th and challenge the Heat for 13th and actually look like an NBA team as they try to win and develop talent.
Hanging On by their fingernails …
The Heat… They lost Wade / Johnson and Deng.. the three guys that got them into the dance and made them credible after Bosh suffered another medical turn for the worse. No one is sure what is going on with Bosh for next year. Its Dr vs Dr. and in the most litigious country in the world someone at Miami front office doesn't want to see the Florida version of Cellino and Barnes knocking on their door so this should be interesting to say the least. The team now gets handed over Dragic and Whiteside for this year. The Heat hope Winslow can find a jump shot to go with his rebounding and that Richardson isn’t a one year wonder. All this as Reilly builds his cap space for 2017 FA season where he will retool. The Heat own their draft pick this year so finishing out of the playoffs will be somewhat assuaged by getting another player in the lottery and having primo cap space. From 4th to 10th unless Dragic and Whiteside are first team all stars.
The Whiz…. They got Scott Brooks ! They also have Markief Morris busted in an airport and they have a re arranged their less than steallar bigs with more less than stellar bigs… Out goes Nene and in comes Ian Mahimni… Out goes Jared Dudley and in comes Andrew Nicholson and Jason Smith…. Not sure what Ernie Grunfeld is doing down there but it might not be enough to get back into the playoffs for the second year in a row. Still .. they got John Wall and Brad Beal and will be better than the Knicks and Bulls and will really challenge the Pistons for 8th.
The Magic…. They lose Scot Skiles but get Frank Vogel so that helps a little. They add a bona fide all start PF in Ibaka but have to give up a fair bit of talent to get him in Olidipo and Ilyasova and the 11th overall pick who turned out to be Sabonis. They bring in DJ Augustin ? to help run the point with Payton and have Gordon and Fournier at SF. Hezjonia gets promoted to starting SG … Not sure what to make out of this except that Orlando is still somewhere south of 8th but north of 14th.
Stayed the Same
Lebrons… They lost Mozgov and Delly .. still have to figure out what to do with JR Smith and Jefferson but as long as Lebron’s name makes the first five they are going to be able to make due with a few minor lineup changes. Stay at 1.
Raps.. yep we are about the same as the 56 win team last year. Possibly a little better. For sure we are a little younger. Kyle n DD are plug n play. JV is going to be better. CoJo is going to be better. Powell is going to be better and Ross will be a better. We are going to be happy Ujiri didn’t part with him. PPat is entering his contract year and you know guys just find another gear in a contract year. In theory we are going to see a fully healthy Demarre Carroll with a year in the Raps system under his belt. Sully. Atlanta exposed him bad on defense last year in the playoffs but he is solid rebounder and should be able to give us 15-18 a night at the 4/5 without causing apoplexy. Poeltl is going to be experiencing the same development patten of big team… Missisauga… big team… practice practice practice and the surprise is going to be Siakam. Kid averaged better than 35 mins a game in college and played the whole 40 minutes in his last outing. Stay at 2.
Boston… Boston stays the same. Yes I know they got Al Horford but Al Horford by and of himself isn’t a charismatic take charge leader guy. From my cheap seat he was on a better team last year in Atlanta than the cast he is joining in Boston this year and Atlanta finished 4th. Both have coaching genius’s. At PG Teague/Shcrhoder were a lot better than Smart /Thomas. Bazemore/Korver are at worst a wash vs Bradley and Crowder. Millsap is a shit ton better than Olynyk and Tyler Zeller isn’t inspiring fear into anyone at the 5. So how does Boston get so much better ? Stay around 3rd / 4th/ 5th
Detroit… No better or no worse. Brought in Jon Leur to backup Harris at PF and drafted the PF of the future in Elllenson. Other than that the band is back intact. Stay at 7th 8th.
Brooklyn.. They stayed the same. Crappy. Made a run at a couple of RFA’s but Portland matched on Crabbe and Miami desparate matched on Tyler Johnson. The nets should be sad with Crabbe but elated they made the Heat pay retail price for bargin basement talent in Johnson. Still they got in two draft picks and Jeremy Lin. You have to start somewhere. The nets will do well to match last years 14th spot .
Maybe slipped a Little
The Hornets…. Lost Big Al and the Big Hype in Lin. Kept Nic Batum and Marvin Williams. Get a full year from Kidd Ghilcrist and some growth from Frank the Tank but still they look to slip just a bit without that scoring. Slip from 6th to 7th.
The Hawks… They lost Horford but got back Dwight. They lost Teague but are handing the keys over to Schroeder… A new PG and a new 5 and quite likely a new way of playing offense. This is going to take time… and the adjustment is what is going to set the Hawks back a bit. They slip back from 4th.
The Bulls… They didn’t loose their minds and trade Butler instead of Rose… but not sure what they see in bringing in both Wade and Rondo for a pretty poor shooting backcourt. Make that a really poor shooting backcourt. Wade is on his last legs. This smacks of the Nash to Lakers deal where Nash went down and stayed down in year one. Chicago has to be holding their breath. Mirotic and McBuckets are going to have to have great years at the arc to make up for Rondo and Wade’s shooting woes. Gasol and Noah left which leaves them pretty bare up front unless you think Lopez and Felicio are going to blossom. They’ll slip back from 9th. With Hoiberg to fire if things go really wrong Gar Foreman and John Paxon somehow live on for another year.
Got Better
Indy… At first I thought Indy would just be Indy and make some changes and trades and FA signings and when you scrape away the pluses and minus they look different but are the same 45 win team they were last year. But they look different but they look better. Paul George is Paul George at the 3/4. Teague will make the ball move faster but isn’t the defender Hill is. Larry is OK with that as he wants the Pacers to move the ball quicker and play at a faster pace.. so Teague is a good fit for that agenda. Monta Ellis is the same. Thad Young is an upgrade at ¾ over Solo Hill and Hamilton and the big change is right down the middle where Myles Turner and Al Jefferson are going to make Indy better. See them moving up to 4th 5th 6th range and scrapping with the Hawks/Boston .
The Bucks…. They added Teletovic for some 3 point shooting to help out Middleton and Parker should be better… Monroe will have had a year to figure out how he is going to help . They made the move of the darft in taking Thon Maker. No idea if this looks like genius or a drunken frat boy move but he fits the mold of length. Hope he can play ball in addition to being long. What keeps the Bucks from surging up the ladder is that they are still not settled at PG where they have TylerEnnis and perhaps the worst PG in the east if not the league in Carter-Williams. But they did get better. Challenging for 8th
Da Nicks !... They added Noah and Rose who Chicago dumped. Lets see whose knee jerk reaction is more clairvoyant.. They have Carmelo whose shelf life is pretty close to expiration and they have the Zinger who should get helped out on how to play the game from Noah. They Knicks aren’t built for much longer than a one or possibly two year horizon with this crew as is but they will be better than the schlock they put out last year. Look for the Knicks to challenge for 8th but fall short .and wind up 9th or 10th as one or possibly two of the oft injured troika of Melo/Rose/Noah bang up a knee yet again and miss significant time. With no bench the Nix miss the show again.
Philly… Philly got better because there was no way they could be worse than that sad sack of shit they put on display last year. 10 wins. Have to be better than 10 wins right. Just have to. Embiid might play.. Simmons will play… Saric is still unknown. Noel will stay and play some and Okafor will play if Embiid can’t. Still need tremendous help in the backcourt but still they might pull ahead of Brooklyn to 14th and challenge the Heat for 13th and actually look like an NBA team as they try to win and develop talent.
Hanging On by their fingernails …
The Heat… They lost Wade / Johnson and Deng.. the three guys that got them into the dance and made them credible after Bosh suffered another medical turn for the worse. No one is sure what is going on with Bosh for next year. Its Dr vs Dr. and in the most litigious country in the world someone at Miami front office doesn't want to see the Florida version of Cellino and Barnes knocking on their door so this should be interesting to say the least. The team now gets handed over Dragic and Whiteside for this year. The Heat hope Winslow can find a jump shot to go with his rebounding and that Richardson isn’t a one year wonder. All this as Reilly builds his cap space for 2017 FA season where he will retool. The Heat own their draft pick this year so finishing out of the playoffs will be somewhat assuaged by getting another player in the lottery and having primo cap space. From 4th to 10th unless Dragic and Whiteside are first team all stars.
The Whiz…. They got Scott Brooks ! They also have Markief Morris busted in an airport and they have a re arranged their less than steallar bigs with more less than stellar bigs… Out goes Nene and in comes Ian Mahimni… Out goes Jared Dudley and in comes Andrew Nicholson and Jason Smith…. Not sure what Ernie Grunfeld is doing down there but it might not be enough to get back into the playoffs for the second year in a row. Still .. they got John Wall and Brad Beal and will be better than the Knicks and Bulls and will really challenge the Pistons for 8th.
The Magic…. They lose Scot Skiles but get Frank Vogel so that helps a little. They add a bona fide all start PF in Ibaka but have to give up a fair bit of talent to get him in Olidipo and Ilyasova and the 11th overall pick who turned out to be Sabonis. They bring in DJ Augustin ? to help run the point with Payton and have Gordon and Fournier at SF. Hezjonia gets promoted to starting SG … Not sure what to make out of this except that Orlando is still somewhere south of 8th but north of 14th.
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