It's the first of our division previews. We'll be dropping one a day and thanks to Dr. Zev for getting us started, just like he did the auction itself!
[ Atlantic | Central | Southeast | Pacific | Southwest | Northwest ]
ATL, Derek
Hotlanta went with the bimodal approach on player ages -- see a statistics test book for reference. We have some top draft picks from last year -- Trae Young, Marvin Bagley -- and some aging veterans in Blake Griffin, JJ Redick, Reggie Jackson, and Jeff Green. All in all, ATL is a balanced team who may well find themselves in playoff contention.
CHA, Luke
Unlike the garbage fire which the NBA calls the Charlotte Hornets, RDA's CHA franchise has four strong players. Donovan Mitchell, who I think is destined for a bounce back season after a disappointing sophomore campaign. Devin Booker and Kevin Love are both high ceiling guys who can smash their draft price if they play more than sixty-five games. Darius Garland may be a make or break player for this team, and having played so little in college, it is hard to predict what his value might be. There is a pocket of solid back ups in Devonte Graham, Dorian Finney-Smith, and Troy Brown, followed by several players of the Two Buck Chuck variety.
MIA, Kevin and Jason
An intriguing line up players who are younger than you'd think and yet cost less than you might have predicted. For example, Otto Porter is only twenty-six and cost just $51. MIA, who is led by Kyrie Irving -- likely to be a top ten player this year -- put some faith in young draft picks Jarret Culver ($29) and Brandon Clarke ($37). They are complemented by some bigs with high upside but likely low minutes to begin the season: Maxi Kleber and Nerlens Noel. Like many teams, the bench is a weakness but they may be able to survive that if their rookies pay dividends on their initial investment.
ORL, Jim and Jason
Orlando is all about the bigs with a frontcourt anchored by Andre Drummond, Clint Capela and Montrezl Harrel. They have a fun group of boom-or-bust small forwards as well with Miles Bridges, Kyle Anderson, and Jaylen Brown. I don't think there is one true point guard on this roster, so ORL appears to be punting AST, but they should be monsters on the glass and great at swatting shots.
WAS, Jay
With most of the roster of the right side of thirty years old, Washington has all the pieces of a long term plan, However it may need some more glue to put those pieces together this year. Ja Morant will likely be eased into running the show, Bobby Portis and Julius Randle will be fighting each other for minutes, while CJ McCollum and Kelly Oubre have mid-round upside. The only slapstick moment was the nomination of Jeremy Lin, who will be playing in China this year.
