Central: The Bucks will again not only be the best in their division but one of the best in both the East and whole NBA because they still have F Giannis Antetokounmpo one of the best players in the league. His supporting players like F Kris Middleton, PG Jrue Holiday, F Bobby Portis who they resigned, and C Brook Lopez who is back and healthy. They added F Joe Ingles to their bench that already has G George Hill, G Wesley Matthews, PF Serge Ibaka and irritant G Grayson Allen.
The Cavaliers were a top five seed for most of last season until they dropped to the play-in game but will not be dropping to that play-in game territory as they added All-Star SG Donovan Mitchell. He adds to a young core of All-Star PG Darius Garland, Rookie of the Year PF Evan Mobley, young SF Isaac Okaro, and big time rim protector/shot blocker in C Jarrett Allen. What is also sometimes forgotten is they still have PF Kevin Love coming off the bench, brought back PG Ricky Rubio, added G Raul Neto, C Robin Lopez, still have F Cedi Osman and G Caris LeVert who the Pacers just gave away for essentially nothing (Rubio was in the deal). All they traded Mitchell for was Colin Sexton who missed all of last season anyways and Lauri Markkanen who was extra depth. JB Bickerstaff is coaching the next up and coming team as they will go pretty far this year.
The Bulls have kept their core intact by giving SG Zach LaVine a max deal to keep paring up with F DeMar DeRozan, C Nikola Vucevic and PG Lonzo Ball. This team had the top seed for most of the season until they took a tumble down in the standings when Ball went out with an injury to his knee which was supposed to be fixed with surgery but clearly wasn’t and had another surgery pretty recently with no timetable to return. As much as G Ayo Dosunmu impressed as a rookie, G Coby White showed how good he is when healthy and how much heart/effort G Alex Caruso brought to the team when he was healthy. While they are not Ball on defense/playmaking and three point shooting, they hope again by combining them with G Goran Dragic they can keep them afloat until he comes back. They did solve the backup center role by getting C Andre Drummond who is a rebounding machine, resigned F Derrick Jones Jr., still have F Javonte Green and hope for a fully healthy season from PF Patrick Williams but again too many question marks to be a top seed they just have to avoid the play-in game.
The Pistons are ready to take that next step out of the cellar with their young core of G Cade Cunningham who can focus on carrying the scoring load with them drafting G Jaden Ivey to be their PG and drafted their future center in Jalen Duren who will backup Isaiah Stewart. They still have F Saddiq Bey, G Killian Hayes, G Hamidou Diallo and F Marvin Bagley as their young core. They added veterans F Bojan Bogdanovic, G Alec Burks, C Nerlens Noel, added SF Kevin Knox and still have PG Corey Joseph too as they have a good mix of young and old, so it will be up to Dwane Casey to juggle it all for a chance to be in play-in game.
The Pacers are going to be at the bottom of this division/conference for awhile because we all gave them a pass for the bad season with Nate Bjorkgren and some injury plagued players, but they hired Rick Carlisle back last year and they still didn’t have a good season. They gave away Caris LaVert, Domantas Sabonis one of the best big men in the league and now this offseason they traded away G Malcom Brogdon, let TJ Warren leave and are trying to trade their center Myles Turner/SG Buddy Hield. They are hoping their young core of G Tyrese Hailburton, G Chris Duarte and their first round pick G Benedict Mathurin will lead them into the future as it will be a long road ahead of them especially if they trade the other two good players left on their roster.
Atlantic: The 76ers surprised a lot of people by not just making the playoffs despite the Ben Simmons mess but finishing with the #1 seed in the East and went to the conference finals. They even traded Simmons for G James Harden who might not be the same player he used to be but all he has to do for a full season is to be a supporting player to C Joel Embiid who could win the MVP. They also still have young players in G Tyrese Maxey and G Matisse Thybulle plus got G De’Anthony Melton for defense by saying goodbye to Danny Green. They added both F PJ Tucker and F Montrezl Harrell to help out the frontcourt. Doc Rivers has a lot of work to do to figure out the best lineups going forward as they have too many SGs and no real SFs, which is where I would player F Tobias Harris (whom they are paying a lot of money to) or Tucker there but knowing them they will both see time at PF.
The Celtics surprised many people but recovering in the second half to be the #2 seed and getting all the way to the finals on the talent of F Jayson Tatum and G Jaylen Brown. They traded for G Malcom Brogdon to help out the PG role so Marcus Smart can focus on defense/take load off top two players and signed F Danilo Gallinari and F Blake Griffin. Well their head coach Ime Udoka had relationships with women in the organization leading to him getting suspended for a whole season so you would think they can turn to his lead assistant, nope he took the Jazz head coach role. Gallinari tore his ACL and their young center Robert Williams had knee surgery as well. They still have G Derrick White coming off the bench with F Grant Williams and added F Justin Jackson but the coaching department along with frontcourt depth outside of Al Horford will keep them from going far.
The Nets went through the PG Kyrie Irving drama of not being vaccinated, James Harden drama which ended with him being traded and Ben Simmons who came in the trade who didn’t play a game for them. This offseason was all about SF Kevin Durant’s drama with him not being happy and wanting to be traded which most wouldn’t blame based on who he is tied to (Irving & Simmons). Based on talent they can be a top team but in reality they will have to avoid the play-in game because you don’t know how many games you will get from their top 3 and they lost some depth in the offseason too. They still have G Seth Curry, resigned PG Patty Mills, brought in F TJ Warren, F Markieff Morris and are hoping a healthy season from F Joe Harris, but the East got better so it will be tougher for Steve Nash and crew.
The Raptors were also a surprise team by finishing with the #5 seed as we all thought they would miss the playoffs based on losing more veteran talent as they did with Kyle Lowry leaving them last year. Their young talent gelled together with the coaching of Nick Nurse and showed you cannot count them out as they have the Rookie of the Year in F Scottie Barnes, G OG Anunoby, F Precious Achiuwa, and F Chris Boucher. They are young, lengthy and versatile team that played great on defense and were good at rebounding. They still have PG Fred Van Fleet, G Gary Trent Jr, PF Pascal Siakam who rebounded last year after a bad previous season and resigned F Thaddeus Young. Plus they added F Otto Porter Jr. and C Juancho Hernangomez for the bench.
The Knicks had a small window of being good when they made the playoffs a few years ago as the 4th seed but now they are one of the worst teams in the league as most of their money is tied to PF Julius Randle, G Evan Fournier, resigning C Mitchell Robinson and over paying for G Jalen Brunson. His fit with the team is not ideal as they still have Derrick Rose and Immanuel Quickley at PG-yes they traded away Kemba Walker but still too many PGs. They added Isaiah Hartenstein as well to their frontcourt when they have Randle, Robinson and Obi Toppin young guys coach Tom Thibodeau doesn’t even like playing, the same for Cam Reddish who is a waste on this roster as well. G RJ Barrett is stuck on a team not going anywhere. The hope is they trade him down the line for his career because he has finally figured it out.
Southeast: The Heat had the best record in the East last season but it’s hard to repeat that effort every season with a bunch of undrafted/second round picks which is what Miami is good at developing but no real big talent. They take their cue on hustle/defense from F Jimmy Butler but it is still too much pressure on him especially when your second best player is G Tyler Herro who is back to his rookie form he didn’t show in year two as he enters year 4. PG Kyle Lowry is a year older and G Victor Oladipo is never healthy plus C Bam Adebayo also hasn’t been the healthiest and is a liability on offense. They brought back C Dewayne Dedmon, F Caleb Martin and still have G Gabe Vincent, G Max Strus and G Duncan Robinson but none of those scream impact player when you need it most in the playoffs just regular season good.
The Hawks still made the playoffs but was still a bit disappointing based on their talent after the previous season they had. They will again be fighting for the play-in game because of that talent led by PG Trae Young, F De’Andre Hunter, F Bogdan Bogdanovic, F John Collins and C Clint Capela. They made a blockbuster move of three first round draft picks for G Dejounte Murray who was the PG for San Antonio and can get a triple double in his sleep but he is a PG like Young so it is a head scratcher. They also traded F Kevin Huerter to the Kings after trading G Cam Reddish during the season last season another set of head scratching moves. They added the Holiday brothers (Justin & Aaron) F and Frank Kaminsky but none of those really make up for the loss of talent they traded away and let Gallinari leave in free agency.
The Hornets go as far PG LaMelo Ball will take them but they fired their head coach and brought in their previous coach Steve Clifford which doesn’t signal a move in the right direction which should be the playoffs, or they are content with playing the youngsters to gain more lottery balls. Their second best player is a restricted free agent (if it weren’t for domestic violence surrounding F Miles Bridges), and their third best player F Gordon Hayward is never healthy. They have good role players in F PJ Washington, PG Terry Rozier, PG Dennis Smith Jr, F Cody Martin, C Mason Plumlee and F Kelly Oubre Jr who all should be on the trading block. They think they have their future center in Mark Williams but is there enough faith in this front office if Ball has to do everything on his own?
The Wizards doubled down with SG Bradley Beal who is not always healthy signing him to a max deal to pair him with F Kristaps Porzingis who is also never healthy. They also traded away Ish Smith/Kentavious Caldwell Pope who fit this team well for G Monte Morris and G Will Barton plus signed PF Taj Gibson and G Delon Wright which is just making moves to make moves. The real question will be the development of F Rui Hachimura, C Daniel Gafford, 1st round pick G Johnny Davis and F Deni Avdija who is best suited to be the primary ball handler not a spot up shooter. If they are not a playoff team this season they should trade those veterans and F Kyle Kuzma as he would be great help for a playoff team.
The Magic got their fourth #1 overall selection by again tanking but surprised people with taking F Paolo Banchero who by draft experts think is the most ready to contribute which is good for a team full of question marks. F Jonathan Issac hasn’t been healthy in many seasons, resigned C Bol Bol, C Mo Bamba who both haven’t been healthy in their careers, C Wendell Carter another big man who can’t stay healthy, G Markelle Fultz who hasn’t been healthy either. They still have nice young core of G Jalen Suggs, the Wagner brothers (Franz & Moritz), G RJ Hampton and G Cole Anthony. They will again be a team fighting for a high draft pick with more ping pong balls and should trade G Gary Harris and G Terrance Ross with some of those often injured players.
Northwest: The Nuggets have the back to back MVP awards in C Nikola Jokic but now he gets PG Jamal Murray and SF Michael Porter back from missing most of all of last season due to injuries. Under HC Mike Malone they seem to always have a top seed/strong regular season but can never seem to get past the first few rounds which should be their only goal when having someone like Jokic leading your team. They still have F Aaron Gordon, F Jeff Green, added C DeAndre Jordan, G Bruce Brown, and traded for PG Ish Smith and F Kentavious Caldwell Pope. The biggest thing is they have coverage for injuries with Pope/Brown at SF and Smith plus the development of Bones Hyland at PG but it will not matter if they can’t go far in the playoffs.
The Timberwolves surprised lots of people by making the playoffs since they have had the talent for years in C Karl Anthony Towns, PG D’Angelo Russell, G Anthony Edwards but never making it to the playoffs and now they traded for one of the best defensive players in C Rudy Gobert. The question is why give up five draft picks and four players for another center if you have one in All-Star Towns unless you think it’s the old days of basketball when you need two big men. They haven’t had a PF in awhile so playing them together makes sense for this roster if Towns plays PF and they added SF Kyle Anderson, so they also have a SF for the first time in years. They kept F Taurean Prince, signed G Bryan Forbes, G Austin Rivers and F Luka Garza for their bench which is something they have also lacked.
The Trailblazers go as PG Damian Lillard goes so if he is injured and misses lots of time they are not even close to the playoffs/be a playoff team. No more CJ McCollum so in comes G Gary Payton Jr. and F Jerami Grant, and resigning G Anfernee Simons and C Jusuf Nurkic. This isn’t a playoff team even if Lillard is healthy or with adding Grant/Payton and keeping the other core players, it simply comes down to only one good player and the West is always stacked so it will be an uphill battle for the playoffs.
The Jazz are trying to tank this year but have too much talent on the roster still for them to be that bad because there are a plenty of teams who are bad/trying to be bad. That’s after trading Rudy Gobert, Donovan Mitchell, Royce O’Neal, Bojan Bogdanovic, Patrick Beverly (who they had for a minute) and let a few others leave in free agency, plus their HC Quinn Snyder resigned. So they got seven draft picks, three draft swaps, two rookies from this year’s draft, and young players from both teams including G Colin Sexton and F Lauri Markkanen. They still have veterans PG Mike Conley Jr., G Jordan Clarkson, F Rudy Gay, picked up F Kelly Olynyk, G Talen Horton Tucker and got G Nickeil Alexander Walker at last season’s deadline, all could be traded before the season starts if not later on.
The Thunder again will be a bottom tier team who isn’t trying to win as they are one of the teams with the most draft picks over the next few drafts or so, plus their first pick #2 pick overall Chet Holmgren injured himself and is out for the season. The team still falls on sophomore Josh Giddey and PG Shai Gilgeous Alexander as the main threats with Lu Dort on defense. They also drafted three more main guys in the draft in Ousmane Dieng another big man and both Williams (Jalen & Jaylin). They still have a long way to go when you have a roster of mostly young players as Mike Muscala is the only one over 30.
Southwest: The Mavericks made it to the conference finals on the back of PG Luka Doncic and Jalen Brunson when Doncic missed some of the first round. The issue is Brunson got a huge payday from the Knicks and this team is still too dependent on one star. They traded for F Christian Wood who will take some pressure of Doncic and will help out in the front court with another offseason addition in C JaVale McGee. They have good role players in F Dwight Powell, C Maxi Kleber upfront, G Tim Hardaway Jr., G Dorian Finney Smith, G Reggie Bullock, PG Spencer Dinwiddie and F Davis Bertans on the perimeter, but the biggest question is will they waste another year of excellence of Donic like they mostly did with Dirk Nowitzki.
The Grizzlies went from hovering around the playoffs/being one of the last teams in to being the second seed last year. That was because of the leaps of development PG JA Morant who is turning into a top PG in this league. They have one of the best frontcourts with Steven Adams at center and Jaren Jackson at PF locking down the paint with their shot blocking ability and rebounding. They did lose Kyle Anderson/De’Anthony Melton on the wings but they hope with their first round picks of Jake LaRavia/David Roddy and getting veteran Danny Green can fill those holes. You can’t forget they have G Desmond Bane and G Dillon Brooks for defense and three point shooting from the wing. They have G Ziaire Williams, G Tyus Jones and F Brandon Clarke as other good bench players.
The Pelicans are getting a healthy F Zion Williamson hopefully, a full season of G CJ McCollum’s leadership and scoring to pair with F Brandon Ingram who is already an All-Star, so they will have a chance to be better than an 8th seed. They also have good front court players depending on where Zion/Ingram starts in C Jonas Valanciunas and F Larry Nance Jr., off the bench Jaxson Hayes and Willy Hernangomez. With F Herbert Jones and their first round pick G Dyson Daniels they have two good wing defenders off the bench but the real question is they still don’t have a real PG as Devonte Graham isn’t a true PG and the rest are backups.
The Spurs keep getting rid of talent in Patty Mills, Derrick White, Lonnie Walker and Dejounte Murray most recently. They don’t have much talent on the roster as they drafted three players in the first round this year as G Keldon Johnson is the only lead caliber player on this team. They have some nice role players in G Doug McDermott, C Zach Collins, C Gorgui Dieng and G Tre Jones. All could be traded to get more draft capital and help them tank, as they will have a chance to be one of the worst teams which surprises me why Greg Popovich agreed to this- the streak of not making the playoffs keeps going.
The Rockets again will be in rebuilding mode with a chance for another lottery pick as this is such a young raw team with three first round picks in F Jabari Smith Jr, F Tari Eason and G TyTy Washington who can help in the front court and the latter could be the their starting PG in the future. They are still led by last year’s 1st round pick G Jalen Green and young guard Kevin Porter Jr. C Alperen Sengun and F Kenyon Martin Jr. who showed flashes of growth, which will help this team going forward. Look for them to trade C Boban Marjanovic and G Eric Gordon to help them tank and get a worse record.
Pacific: The Warriors are back on top after a few down years while G Klay Thompson and G Steph Curry got fully healthy again but this time with a new young core surrounding them in G Jordan Poole, F Moses Moody and F Jonathan Kuminga. They still have F Draymond Green, C Kevon Looney, F Andre Iguodala and G Andrew Wiggins who was an All-Star last year. They did lose a few key role players in free agency but they brought in G Donte DiVincenzo, F JaMychal Green, their first round pick F Patrick Baldwin. They hope those young players mentioned above take the next step, plus C James Wiseman is healthy to contribute to make up for those losses as they could repeat.
The Suns will again have their same top three in PG Chris Paul, G Devin Booker who was extended and matched the offer sheet on C DeAndre Ayton to lead them to a top seed, but unsure if they will have the #1 seed again but definitely a top seed. They still have F Mikal Bridges, F Jae Crowder, G Cameron Johnson, G Torrey Craig, G Landry Shamet, PG Cameron Payne, and still have PF Dario Saric as role players so there is depth on this team. Paul is running out of time to finally win that elusive championship but they also could trade Ayton in January if they still want to do that.
The Clippers are getting back a healthy F Kawhi Leonard, F Paul George and brought in PG John Wall who has a lot to prove like the other two All-Stars. They also have one of the deepest teams in the league with F Norman Powell, F Marcus Morris, G Terrance Mann, C Ivica Zubac, G Luke Kennard, G Reggie Jackson, G Rodney Hood, G Amir Coffey, F Robert Covington and F Nicolas Batum. The issue is even if their top three players are healthy how are these role players going to fit in around them and in a loaded West? Can Ty Lue figure out what buttons to push and which lineups will help them get out of the play-in games?
The Lakers are hoping a healthy season of C Anthony Davis, a new head coach in Darvin Ham, and G Patrick Beverly and PG Dennis Schroder will fix the issues this team has- which it will not. They still have PG Russell Westbrook who doesn’t fit in a system with SF Lebron James who needs the ball in his hands and Westbrook is one of the worst three point shooters in NBA history. They should still look into trading for PG Kyrie Irving or at least trading Westbrook because now they have two better fits for Lebron along with G Lonnie Walker and G Troy Brown Jr. on the wings. In the frontcourt they added C Thomas Bryant and F Juan Toscano Anderson plus hope G Kendrick Nunn will be healthy to produce but again it isn’t enough around James to be a playoff team in the loaded West.
The Kings hired a new head coach in Mike Brown hoping he will get the most out of PG De’Aaron Fox and a full season of F Domantas Sabonis working together. They also hope G Davion Mitchell continues to improve but he doesn’t fit alongside Fox and drafted G Keegan Murray who will immediately fit into the SF role. They added G Malik Monk and F Kevin Huerter in supporting roles/shooting to help out role players F Harrison Barnes, C Alex Len, C Richaun Holmes and F Trey Lyles. Yet it will still add up to just missing the playoffs or being a lottery team which will be the question this season for them.
