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CHI, Tad
Savvy vets can be had for deals as rookies and young guys vault up the auction board on little more than promise and a few YouTube clips. CHI’s Tad is not swayed by this sort of crazed mentality as he went straight veteran style for his four highest players: Jrue Holiday, Danilo Gallinari, DeMar DeRozan, and Jonas Valanciunas. The youngest among that quartet is JV at twenty-seven. Will four steady hands at $204 combined be better than three higher end guys at that price, or two stars for more? CHI will be here to answer that question.
That’s not to say that there aren’t young talents on this team. Terry Rozier will inherit everything in Charlotte while Harry Giles has flashed signs of being a very intriguing player. Delon Wright isn’t that young but he could grab some time in Toronto and there’s always good old John Henson to back up Jonas in the middle. While this isn’t the flashiest team around, it could soon be the winningest if Tad played his auction right.
CLE, Michael
As yet another one of our league’s youth orientated teams, CLE is heading into the season pretty even on its mix of young guys and old guys. The starting five of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Zach LaVine, Andrew Wiggins, Kyle Kuzma, and Draymond Green sounds like a pretty nice fit, unless Draymond gets hurt. Then this sounds like a defensive disaster waiting to happen. Still, this is a nice core with major upside in the backcourt.
The longer term plan will see Bol Bol, Dillon Brooks, Josh Jackson, and a splash of rookies develop as veterans like Dion Waiters and Trey Burke throw up shots to pad their H.O.F. stat lines. When Green isn’t slotted in at small ball center, Bismack Biyombo is going to have to play there until Bol is ready. For Cleveland, a Central division could be within reach as long as Dray Day doesn’t erupt in the locker room at the collection of quiet personalities. Oh wait, Dion Waiters is here. Cue explosions!
DET, Tony
The real life Pistons are a mess of floor spacing and lack of talent. DET Tony is here to change all that for Michigan area fans. Nikola Vucevic is a fantasy force, Pascal Siakam will take over Kawhi duties in Toronto, and Buddy Hield has transformed into a lights out scorer. If Collin Sexton can fend off his challengers in Cleveland, he could be the point guard to make this a fearsome foursome. The drop off below them is quite precipitous though.
Emmanuel Mudiay and Pat Connaughton will be the backcourt reserves while Jabari Parker is the de facto starter next to Siakam. CJ Miles and Tony Snell are long range snipers, which will make Gorgui Dieng the designated muscle in the reserve unit. While we think Vucevic and Hield are at their ceiling, the sky is the limit for Spicy P as he inherits a Raptors team that will need him to do everything. If Siakam and Sexton can take their games up a level or two, DET should be able to easily challenge for a postseason berth.
IND, Zac
GM Zac might have gotten the deal of the draft in Russell Westbrook at $68. Sure Westbrook tanks multiple categories but he’s still got amazing popcorn numbers. Russ will mentor sophomores Deandre Ayton and Jaren Jackson, aka he’ll ignore them and call them names...but hey, this team is gonna win! Ricky Rubio is the perfect backcourt mate for Westbrook as he can’t shoot either. That leaves Eric Gordon to jack up an insane amount of triples, which is luckily right in his wheelhouse.
IND is definitely on a postseason focused path though, as this team is full of veterans who will want to win right away. Avery Bradley and Jae Crowder aren’t getting any younger, and neither are DeMarre Carroll or Tristan Thompson. If stud sophomores Jaren and Deandre can show even the tiniest bit of improvement, IND should be the early favorite to win the Central.
MIL, Dr. Zev
It was fitting that MIL was the first team done grabbing their thirteen players. After all, Zev’s team is really being built for next year, the 2021 season. MIL's top three players are Victor Oladipo, Klay Thompson, and Jusuf Nurkic. Two of those three aren’t likely to see significant time this season while Oladipo is recovering from a long term injury himself. (Is this a good time to point out that the “doctor” in Dr. Zev isn’t just for show? He’s a real doctor who will take his team to Germany to heal them!)
Oladipo and Thompson aren’t even the most injury ravaged duo in this backcourt. Ahead of them on the M.A.S.H. unit are John Wall and Markelle Fultz, who are both gigantic mysteries moving forward. At least Finals not-so-secret star Fred VanVleet is available to quarterback this team to a few wins this season.
If even half of MIL’s injured guys return to full form next season, Dr. Z could be looking at a competitive team. For now though, it’s gonna be the crew of Oladipo, VanVleet Dwight Powell, and Bruno Fernando leading the way. If that doesn’t intimidate you, then cannibal Tacko Fall is here to eat you.
