NBA Rankings: Three for Thought – 24 through 22
Every team in the NBA has one or two guys you look at and think they’re good enough to play on the best of teams.
That’s what makes a list like this so hard even from the bottom; here are the teams that I’ve already predicted will be rooted to the bottom of the standings in the 2013/13… Plus three more for thought.
30 – Phoenix Suns
29 – Orlando Magic
28 – Charlotte Bobcats
27 – Utah Jazz
26 – Milwaukee Bucks
25 Toronto Raptors
24 – Boston Celtics – 2012/13: 41-40 – 2013/14: 26-56
For obvious reasons the coming NBA season will not be Boston’s finest. They’ve lost three of their four best assets: KG, Pierce and Doc. The only they still have left: Rondo, a guy who’s out till at least Christmas with an injury and a player who has never had to lead a team, let alone had to play with a different coach.
In reality the organisation don’t want Rajon to come back and play the way we all know he can. His ridiculous arm span, ability to steal and assist on a regular basis as well as his scoring still improving could mean the Celtics win more games than I’ve predicted.
If he does this however then the Celtics are left in a bit of a hole; They acquired first-round picks in the 2014, 2016, and 2018 drafts and Kris Humphries, Gerald Wallace, Kris Joseph, MarShon Brooks, and Keith Bogans for KG, Pierce and Terry.
Humphries and especially Wallace are more than capable of handling themselves on an NBA level but this still doesn’t give them a roster that can challenge a conference let alone a division. So if Boston found themselves with maybe 36/37 wins next summer all it would do is decrease their chance of a high draft pick and/or negotiating strength for franchise making trades.
The 2013/14 season is a grace period for new coach Brad Stephens. As Danny Ainge said in an interview he’s the ‘future of the franchise’…Not the here and now.
The former Bulldogs coach took his Butler team to two final fours and one of the most entertaining championship NCAA games in a long time, all without a depth of future pro talent (Gordon Heyward being the only notable player to bring up.)
So for sure the future looks bright for Boston but expect to hear a lot more about the Patriots and the Bruins from the Massachusetts press in the coming months rather than what’s going on in the TD Garden.
23 – Philadephia 76ers – 2012/13: 34-48 – 2013/14: 28-52
Any Celtics fan out there will of course totally disagree with the 76ers eclipsing them by two games next year but things are not looking great for Philadelphia right now.
Like nearly every other team on the list so far the 76ers head office has made moves predicated on the future not the present. Trading away your all-star point guard in exchange for a first round pick in next year’s draft and Nerlens Noel is a progressive step towards trying to get this franchise on the right track.
Seven months ago the unanimous number one pick in the NBA draft was Nerlens Noel, he shows most of the traits and modern big man needs, the ability to play at both Center and Power Forward. The 6-foot-11 big man averaged almost a double-double in his collegiate career for Kentucky however on February 12th of this year whilst going up to block a Gator players shot, he tore the ACL in his left knee. Anyone who has been watching D-rose for the past 500 days knows that this injury isn’t a joke, although he is only expected to miss half a season it could easily be more.
Still though, get him healthy and adapted to the pro’s by 2014/15, throw two first round picks into the mix along with young talents Evan Turner and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist already locked down on the roster for the next few years and Philly could become a 4th/5th place Eastern team in a couple of years.
Side note: Bynum was just bad luck, it may have been an ill-advised move but nobody could’ve predicted the circus he’d create over the past 12 months.
It would take an exceptional amount of luck for them to break that mark just because of how well tooled for the coming seasons the teams at the top of the East are, but Brett Brown and the Head Office made the right decision in letting Holliday go, much for the same reason that Celtics don’t need Rajon Rondo, they’re great players and can influence your league position, but only to a point where it’ll be a detriment to your rebuilding plans.
22 – Sacramento Kings – 2012/13: 28-54 – 2013/14: 29-53
I predict a one win bump in the Sacramento Franchise. Baby-steps are never normally the way-to-go in the NBA but after a dogged 12 months things are looking up for the Kings.
After a brutal battle to stay in the city, the team (thanks to mayor and fomer all star Kevin Johnson) are not moving. The prospect of a nother Seattle franchise in reality makes better business sense but when people acting on the Supersonics behalf go around making illegal payments and trying to illegitimately sway the decision-makers choice, then it becomes an unjust competition.
Off the court is a subject that even the most knowledgeable of analysts so let’s focus on what’s happening ON the court.
Just last week the team announced a 4-year, $62m contract to secure the services on DeMarcus Cousins; basically handing over the keys to the franchise.
This move has been met with league and fan wide approval, which despite his glaring character deficiencies over the past two years just proves how much of a raw talent this guy is. In a basketballing world that just saw a team playing small-ball winning the championship, big, physical guys like Cousins are hard to come by, hence why they get paid a lot of money, the long and short of it is that Cousins is a helluva player and if he changes his psychological approach then you’ll see a sharp rise in the win column in California.
Elsewhere the roster isn’t looking too bad. Thomas and Vasquez are a fantastic point guard pairing to have, easily lower play-off calibre. Both bring you great individual sides to their game, Greivis with his assisting and Thomas with his shooting ability, a really good one-two to have (which order that one and two go in is a mystery.)
Seventh pick Ben Mclemore could be a breakout start for all we know and with solid players like Salmons and Thornton around this team could easily make my prediction look laughable.
One thing is for sure though, you can build as much of a supporting cast as you want, but if Cousins doesn’t show then neither does this team, it’s a massive pivotal year for the franchise.