2019-20 Timeline Review and Preview: Atlanta Hawks

Trae Young’s second season might have been a major improvement for him individually, but it was a shame that it didn’t translate to much team success. The Hawks went a lowly 20-47 giving them the 2^nd worst record in the East and 4^th worst in the league. The Hawks might be a force on the offensive side thanks to Trae’s shooting and playmaking but their inability to stop their opponents from scoring was one of their major downfalls, posing a league-worst in opponents points per game with 119.7. I mean that’s worst than the Wizards, and they abandoned defence all together this season.

But poor defence aside, the Hawks did have other major contributing factors to their poor record. Firstly, John Collins their 2^nd best player got suspended for 25 games, after only 5 games for violating the league’s anti-drug policy. Secondly, besides Trae and Collins, there wasn’t much production from anybody else on the team, as most of the others were very inefficient, so everything mainly fell on the small shoulder of Trae.

Besides that, the Hawks set themselves up with a lot of expiring contracts this season to have major cap space in the offseason to finally get Young some help. They also made numerous moves in the preseason and during the season to help acquire picks and players. So, let’s see how their entire season played out.

June 20^th – NBA Draft

The Hawks originally had the 8^th,10^th and 35^th pick in the draft, however, they agreed to trades on the night of the draft to swap around rookies (more on them later). With their picks, they selected Jaxson Hayes (C), Cam Reddish (SF) and Marcos Louzada Silva (SF) respectively. However, after the trades their rookies were; Cam Reddish, De’Andre Hunter (SF) and Bruno Fernando (C).

Preseason:

Trades:

June 19^th – The Hawks traded the 44^th pick (drafts rights to Bol Bol) and cash considerations to the Heat in exchange for Miami’s protected 2024 2^nd round pick (the pick would transfer if it’s between 51-55 only.)

June 20^th – Atlanta trade the 41^st pick (draft rights to Eric Paschall) to the Warriors for their 2024 2^nd round pick and cash considerations.

After seeing how good Paschall was do you think the Hawks would’ve liked to have him on their roster?

June 24^th – The Hawks trade Kent Bazemore to the Blazers for Evan Turner.

July 6^th – Atlanta trades Taurean Prince and their 2021 2^nd round pick to the Nets in exchange for the 17^th pick (draft rights to Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Brooklyn’s top 14 protected 2020 1^st round pick and Allen Crabbe.

July 6^th – The Hawks trade a 2020 top 10 protected 1^st round pick, the draft rights to; Jaxson Hayes (8^th), Nickeil Alexander-Walker (17^th) and Marcus Louzada Silva (35^th) to the Pelicans in exchange for a 2023 2^nd round pick, the draft right to both De’Andre Hunter and Jordan Bone (4^th & 57^th respectively) and Solomon Hill.

July 6^th – The Hawks trade the draft right to Jordan Bone and a 2020 and 2023 2^nd round picks to the 76ers for the draft rights to Bruno Fernando.

July 7^th – The Hawks trade Miles Plumlee and Solomon Hill to the Grizzlies for Chandler Parsons. (See what I mean about them taking on big, expiring contracts.)

July 8^th – The Hawks trade Omari Spellman to the Warriors for a 2026 Warriors 2^nd round pick and Damian Jones.

That’s five trades within three days, sheesh.

Re-signing and Signings:

I’m only going with their important pickups as most of their signings were two-way contracts.

July 8^th – Atlanta signs Jabari Parker to a 2-year $13 million contract (player option in 2020-21).

September 20^th – Atlanta re-signs Vince Carter to a 1 year $2.3 million contract.

He became the first player to play in four different decades in the NBA and he retired at the end of the season. Thanks for everything Vince.

October 22^nd – The NBA season begins. 

Mid-season:

Re-signings/Signings – Nothing to report here

Trades:

January 16^th – The Hawks trade Allen Crabbe to the Timberwolves in exchange for Jeff Teague and Treveon Graham.

February 5^th – A four-team trade:

Hawks got	Nuggets got	Rockets got	Timberwolves got
Clint Capela (Rockets)	Keita Bates-Diop (Wolves)	Robert Covington (Wolves)	Malik Beasley (Nuggets)
Nene (Rockets)	Shabazz Napier (Wolves)	Jordan Bell (Wolves)	Juan Hernangomez (Nuggets)
	Noah Vonleh (Wolves)	2024 Warriors 2nd round pick (Hawks)	Jarred Vanderbilt (Nuggets)
	Gerald Green (Rockets)		2020 Nets top 14 protected 1st round pick (Hawks)
	2020 Rockets 1st round pick		Evan Turner (Hawks)

February 6^th – The Hawks trade Alex Len and Jabari Parker to the Kings in exchange for Dewayne Dedmon, a 2020 Rockets 2^nd round pick and a 2021 Miami 2^nd round pick.

March 11^th – The season is suspended due to coronavirus.

2020 Preview.

The picture used was taken from basketball reference.com https://www.basketball-reference.com/contracts/ATL.html

Atlanta has done a decent job trying to set themselves up for the future, they got a lot of young players who if they develop next season can help Atlanta take the next step. Reddish was extremely inefficient, and Hunter still needs to drastically improve his defence.  I also like the addition of Clint Capela as he is a double-double machine who should help stabilize their center position.

PS – Do you guys think that Trae, Collins and Capela can be like a poor man’s version of the Lob City Clippers? I think they might be.

One of the biggest decisions they must make next season is whether they extend or trade John Collins next season or trade him. He’s been really good offensively but has struggled to improve his defence. It will all depend on how much he’s asking for but if he can’t at least become a decent defender I would not be surprised if the Hawks move him for assets.

Moving onto the draft the Hawks had the 4^th best odds of getting the number one pick but unfortunately fell all the way to number 6 after both the Bulls and Hornets moved up. I think they need to take another defensive wing player. I know Reddish and Hunter both struggled in their rookie season, but I believe that in case they don’t pan out and show improvement you still need a player who can play good defense. I mean you’re not going to get much defence from Young and Huerter so getting good defenders is a priority. Just like I did with the Timberwolves, I will recommend both Isaac Okoro and Devin Vassell. Or any decent defender they can find.

In free agency, I think they should good after a good back up point guard who can help lighten the load off Young when it comes to ball handling and playmaking. Maybe nice veteran like Goran Dragic can be a nice fit. Also, a key free agent that they can target if he doesn’t pick up his player option can be the man himself, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. He plays good defence and can shoot the three and he will also be a nice veteran player with playoff experience.

Final Thoughts.

They set themselves up with good cap space for the future and another top ten pick in the draft to add a good young player. It doesn’t matter how they do it, they better get Ice Trae some help, on god. I want to see him in the playoffs next season.

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2019-20 Season Timeline Review and Preview: Minnesota Timberwolves.

Ryan Saunders’ first full season (technically) as head coach was yet another disappointing season for the T-Wolves, who could’ve predicted that? It seemed like nothing was going good for them at the beginning as their best player Karl Anthony Towns missed 29 games and their last two lottery picks Jarrett Culver and Josh Okogie couldn’t do much on the offensive side of the ball. KAT was showing much frustration with the front office and it looked like he was on his way out if things didn’t change.

But the basketball gods are merciful ones (at times) so in hearing this they swung things seeming in the Wolves favor, possibly setting them up favorably for the future. The front office decided to trade around for basically an entirely new roster, not to mention getting KAT one of his best friends to play within D’Angelo Russell (more on that later). And in the NBA Lottery that took place on the 20^th of August, the Wolves ended up with the 1^st overall pick.

What started as just another discouraging season, has ended with hope for the future. It might not be much, considering their luck with the previous number one picks in the past (*cough* Andrew Wiggins *cough*), but hey this franchise will take whatever they can get.  So, let’s get into this very eventful season.

 

June 20^th NBA Draft:

 

The Wolves originally had the 11^th pick where they took Cameron Johnson, but hours before the start of the draft, they traded that pick and Dario Saric for the 6^th pick, who became Jarrett Culver (SG). They also had the 43^rd pick where they selected another SG in Jaylen Nowell.  They also signed three undrafted rookies in Naz Reid (C), Kelan Martin (SF), and Jordan McLaughlin (PG).

PS – I think McLaughlin can be a good role player for them in the future. His per 36 numbers look great and he’s shown good shooting ability and playmaking in his limited minutes.

 

Pre-season

 

Signings – They didn’t sign anybody. I guess nobody was dying to play with Wiggins and KAT and miss the playoffs or they had no cap space, either or.

 

Trades

 

July 6^th – The Timberwolves trade Dario Saric and the draft rights to the 11^th pick Cameron Johnson to the Phoenix Suns in exchange for the draft rights to the 6^th pick Jarrett Culver.

 

July 8^th – The Timberwolves trade the draft rights to Bojan Budljevic (I don’t know who he is) to the Trail Blazers for Jake Layman (sign and trade).

 

July 8^th – The Timberwolves traded the draft rights to Lior Eliyahu to the Warriors for Treveon Graham, Shabazz Napier, and cash considerations (remember this trade from the warrior’s post).

 

October 22^nd – The 2019-20 season begins.

Fun Fact: This season the Wolves had both an eleven game and a thirteen-game losing streak. Yikes.

 

Mid-season

 

Signings – Nothing to report here.

 

Trades:

 

January 16^th – Minnesota trade both Jeff Teague and Treveon Graham to the Hawks for Allen Crabbe.

 

February 5^th – A Four-Team. How long do you think it took all 4 of these gms to finalize this?

 

 

Timberwolves got	Hawks got	Nuggets got	Rockets got
Malik Beasley (Nuggets)	Clint Capela (Rockets)	Keita Bates-Diop (Wolves)	Robert Covington (Wolves)
Juan Hernangomez (Nuggets)	Nene (Rockets)	Shabazz Napier (Wolves)	Jordan Bell (Wolves)
Jarred Vanderbilt (Nuggets)		Noah Vonleh (Wolves)	2024 Warriors 2nd round pick (Hawks)
2020 Nets top 14 protected 1st round pick (Hawks)		Gerald Green (Rockets)
Evan Turner (Hawks)		2020 Rockets 1st round pick

In the 14 games, Malik Beasley played for Minnesota he was balling. He averaged 20.7 points a game on crazy good efficiency (47% from the field and 42% from 3.) But with him being a free agent this offseason, this begs the question, do the Wolves want to bring him back and if they do, how much are they willing to pay.

 

February 6^th – Minnesota trade Andrew Wiggins, their 2021 1^st round pick (top 3 protected) and their unprotected 2021 2^nd round pick for Dangelo Russell, Omari Spellman, and Jacob Evans.

This trade was necessary. Minnesota gets off the horrible contract they gave the mediocre Wiggins and bring in a great friend of KAT in Russell. This should keep KAT happy and prevent him from leaving a bit longer.

 

February 6^th – a three-team trade involving the T-Wolves, the Heat, and the Grizzlies.

 

 

Timberwolves get	Heat get	Grizzlies get
James Johnson (Heat)	Andre Igoudala (Grizzlies)	Justice Winslow (Heat)
	Jae Crowder (Grizzlies)	Dion Waiters (Heat)
	Solomon Hill (Grizzlies)	Gorgui Dieng (Wolves)

 

2020-21 Season Preview

 

As stated earlier Minnesota won this year's lottery and will have the 1^st overall pick in the draft. The consensus number one pick seems to be Anthony Edwards a shooting guard out of Georgia. I don’t seem then drafting a PG or C as they already have Russell and KAT, but I do think they have a decision to make. If they take Edwards does that mean they don’t resign Beasley, I mean he was phenomenal for them in his 14 games played. Or maybe they can move down, collect future assets, and draft somebody who can help them more on the defensive end like Isaac Okoro or Devin Vassell. But as I said before I don’t know much about college basketball or the prospects. I think its more than likely that they stay with drafting at 1 but I do think that they should consider moving down if they can.

In the free agency, I think they need to go and get some forwards. Typical 3&D guys, because D’Lo, Kat, and Edwards/Beasley aren’t great defenders, so to avoid always having to get into a shootout every night, they need to bring in some solid defenders to help keep them respectable. Guys like Maurice Harkless, Andre Roberson, and Kent Bazemore sound like good options. They would have some cap space to sign players this free agency or they could try to save it for the big free agency class of 2021.

 

Final Remarks

 

I think the Wolves can have a bounce-back year next season, I’m not sure if they make the playoffs because the Western Conference is SUPER tough, but I think they can get around 30-35 games. However, if they end up being horrible again then I don’t know what to tell you honestly, it’ll be typical Timberwolves basketball.

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2019-20 Timeline Review and Preview: Cleveland Cavaliers.

The next team in our series is the Cavs, who shockingly, were horrible again. Before the season was suspended, they went 19-46, matching their win total from the previous season. The only highlights of their season were that they had a coaching change and they made a big trade, for no damn reason whatsoever. They didn’t make many trades or signings before the start of the season besides signing their rookies.

As an extra treat for you guy, I decided to leave a link to a separate timeline which will include all the big moments made by their coach John Beilein this season. I must give him credit, for the short tenure he sure had an impact, not a great one, but a very funny one (in hindsight at least). The article was made by Wajih Albaroudi from CBS Sports, give it a read because it perfectly captures the chaos that the players were going through.

Now, let’s have a look at their timeline to see what when these events occurred and to summarize their season.

May 13th: John Beilein, former Michigan Wolverines coach, is hired to be the new coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, signing a five-year contract. In his 12-year tenure at Michigan, Beilein became well decorated, which includes leading them to two NCAA Division 1 Championship games (2013, 2018), two Big Ten tournament championships (2017, 2018), and winning two Big Ten regular-season championships (2012, 2014). Hearing about all the behind the scenes problems he created during his first season made this signing not only very puzzling but also very idiotic in hindsight.

Preseason.

 

June 20^th NBA Draft and Rookies

The Cavs had two 1^st round picks (5^th and 26^th) and selected Darius Garland (PG) and Dylan Windler (SG/SF) respectively. They also ended up signing undrafted free agent Dean Wade and acquiring the drafts rights to the 30^th pick, Kevin Porter Jr. (SF) through a trade with the Detroit Pistons

Trades:

 

June 26^th: The Cavaliers acquire Kevin Porter Jr. from the Detroit Pistons in exchange for four 2^nd round picks: Utah’s 2020, Portland’s 2021 & 2023, and Miami’s 2024 and cash considerations.

Free Agency Signings:

 

They didn’t sign anybody. Whether it was due to their cap space, their lack of interest in free agents, or the fact that nobody wants to come to Cleveland when Lebron isn’t there. My guess was all of the above.

 

October 22^nd: 2019-20 Season begins

Fun Fact: their last four victories all came against teams that are in the Orlando Bubble (Miami, 76ers, Nuggets, and Spurs). Besides this, they had nothing much of note in terms of victories during the regular season.

 

Mid-Season

Trades

 

December 23^rd: Cleveland trade Jordan Clarkson to the Utah Jazz in exchange for Dante Exum, and two 2^nd round picks (2022 from Spurs and 2023 from Warriors). This was probably done more so for the draft capital as it now common knowledge that Exum is made of glass.

February 6^th: Cleveland trade John Henson, Brandon Knight, and a 2023 2^nd round pick to the Detroit Pistons to acquire Andre Drummond. Honestly, this trade still confuses me, why did the Cavs want him anyway? Was this the best offer that the Pistons got for Drummond? So many unanswered questions.

PS: Damn I feel it for Andre man, he’s a good player and he just got traded from one horrible franchise to another for basically a bag of Doritos and a can of Coca-Cola. He deserved better. 

 

Signings (I’m not counting rookie signings.)

 

February 8^th: Alfonzo McKinnie signed a 4-year $7.3 million contract. He was previously waived by the Warriors, claimed by the Cavs, waived and then signed a 10 -day contract with them. All within four months. Wow.

They also signed Jordan Bell for the rest of the season, that’s it. An uneventful season for the Cavs, at least in terms of basketball.

February 18^th: John Beilein steps down from the head coach position of the Cavs. He said he no longer felt suited for the job and at least he got something right as an NBA coach. He had a record of 14-40 and was replaced by J.B. Bickerstaff who lead the team to a 5-6 record.

March 10^th: The league is suspended.

 

Season Silver Linings

 

Collin Sexton improved in his 2^nd year as he moved to the SG position, which more suits him. He scored 20 points on extremely good efficiency. I think he has perennial All-star potential.

Kevin Porter Jr. showed a lot of promise in his 1^st year especially in limited minutes, has the potential to be a good scorer and an okay defender. He should start of Cedi next year at the three so we can see if he will be a long-term piece for them.

 

Review

 

We all knew that the Cavs weren’t going to be good, but I don’t think we expected them to be this bad AND have all this turmoil. Beilein is just another coach that’s been added to the “Great in College but sucks in the NBA” (which is a ling list btw.) Besides the development of Sexton and the potential of Porter Jr and Garland, this is once again a throw-away and forgettable season for The Cavs.

 

 

2020-21 Preview.

 

Although they were 2^nd in terms of odds of getting the 1^st pick, they tragically fell to the 5^th pick in the NBA 2020 Lottery (unlucky lad). With that in mind, I think they must focus on either the point guard or the forward positions. I don’t think Sexton or Garland, are good playmakers and I think finding a true playmaking guard well help open the offense up more. If not, getting a nice 3&D player at either forward position is always a good option, preferably a PF as Kevin Porter Jr. should be given a fair chance to show his ability when given more minutes.

In terms of free agents, they do have a lot of expiring contracts like Tristan Thompson, Ante Zizic, and Matthew Dellavedova. Andre Drummond could opt out of his player option, but considering that is $28 million, uncertainty due to the pandemic and the fact he was just traded for the equivalent of a half pack of cigarettes, I bet he opts in. Also considering that we don’t know much about how the cap space will be affected due to COVID-19 I don’t see the Cavs committing themselves to any long-term contracts, especially since they would have to sign Sexton in 2021.

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this 2^nd installment in the series, the next team I will be doing will be the Minnesota Timberwolves.

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/john-beilein-out-as-cavaliers-head-coach-a-timeline-of-what-went-wrong-in-cleveland-for-former-michigan-coach/ (Wajih Albaroudi’s article).

 

 

 

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2019-20 Timeline Review and Preview: Golden State Warriors.

 So, with the restart of the NBA season, I have gotten an influx of new ideas that I want to write about. One of the main ideas was that I wanted to try to develop a series of posts. In this series, I’ll summarize and review the non-playoff teams’ seasons, talk about their trades, signings and performance, and what they can do in the future to help them improve. I’m also going to try to avoid talking too much about stats, as I want to be easily read and understood but casual NBA fans who just want to know what’s going on with the weaker teams. After all, it's easy for people to look at a team’s record and player’s stats. I will start with the worst record and I not going to separate them conference. So hopefully you guys might like this new idea and if not let me know what I can do to make things more interesting.

So, let's kick things off with the Golden State Warriors (GSW) who finished shortened season with the worst record in the NBA with 15-50. To be fair, we kind of knew this would be a step down from their previous seasons as Kevin Durant left and Klay Thompson was going to miss the entire season due to him recovering from a torn ACL he received in the NBA Finals, but god damn I don’t think we expected it to be this bad. But we all know that it was due to injury, as Steph Curry only played in five games and Draymond Green missed twenty-games. This left them with a squad made up of young players, former draft busts, and bench players to pick up the slack.

But let’s give Jack his jacket, the front office realized that this season was a lost cause and was able to pull off multiple trades to help give them draft capital for the future. So, without further ado, let’s review the timeline for the Golden State Warriors’ 2019-2020 season and talk about what got them to this point.

 

NBA Draft: June 20^th

In the 2019 NBA Draft, the Warriors had three picks (one 1^st and two 2^nds) and they selected Jordan Poole (28^th), Allen Smailagic who they go in a trade (39^th) and Eric Paschall (41^st).

Free Agency

Their biggest free-agency signing not named D’Angelo Russell was Willie Cauley-Stein, the big man formerly of the Sacramento Kings. He signed a 2-year $4.4 million contract. They also signed guys like Glenn Robinson III and Alec Burks, but a big theme of this 2019-20 GSW squad was trading their newly signed players.

 

Pre-season Trades

 

July 7^th: Warriors trade Andre Iguodala, a 2024 1^st round pick (top 4 protected) and cash considerations to the Memphis Grizzlies for some guy called Julian Washburn who was waived ten days later. This move was likely done to free up cap space as Andre who was not only an older player (35 at the time) but who had an expiring contract.

July 7^th: Warriors trade Kevin Durant (sign and trade) and a 2020 1^st round pick (top 20 protected) to the Brooklyn Nets for D’Angelo Russell (sign and trade), Shabazz Napier and Treveon Graham (don’t worry those two don’t stick around for long).

July 8^th: Warriors trade Shabazz Napier and Treveon Graham and cash consideration to the Minnesota Timberwolves for the draft rights to Lior Eliyahu (don’t ask me why)

July 8^th: Warriors trade Damian Jones and a 2026 2^nd round pick to the Atlanta Hawks for Omari Spellman (I think he’s going to be a really good player in the future.)

 

Pre-season re-signings

 

July 10^th: Klay Thompson resigned with a 5-year $189.9 million contract. Glad to see that he still got paid handsomely even though he got injured.

July 11^th: Kevon Looney resigned with a 3-year $15 million contract (2021 player option). A good contract for both parties.

August 3^rd: Draymond Green resigned with a 4-year $100 million contract. He could’ve gotten more in the 2020 offseason but decided to show loyalty and resign (forgot loyalty existed in the NBA for a minute.)

 

Season Begins – October 22^nd, 2019.

 

October 30^th: Steph Curry injures his left hand in their 4^th game of the season against the Phoenix Suns. He was expected to miss three months.

December 25^th: Perhaps their best win of the season coming against their rivals the Houston Rockets 116-104, a true Christmas miracle. This was their 3^rd win in four games, which was also their only winning streak of the season to last longer than two games.

 

Mid-season resigning/signings

 

January 15^th: Damion Lee resigned with a 3-year $4.5 million contract. He was previously on a two-way contract with GSW.

February 7^th: Marquese Chriss signed a 2-year $2.4 million contract. He was previously signed by GSW, waived and signed a two-way contract with GSW.

 

 

Mid-season trades (the good stuff.)

 

January 25^th: Warriors trade Wiley Cauley-Stein to the Dallas Mavericks for the Utah Jazz’s 2020 2^nd round pick. (I never really cared for Stein that much, I thought he was always meh)

February 6^th: Warriors trade D’Angelo Russell, Omari Spellman, and Jacob Evans to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Andrew Wiggins, a 2021 1^st round pick (top 3 protected) and 2^nd round pick.

February 6^th: Warriors trade Alec Burks and Glen Robinson III to the Philadelphia 76ers for a 2020 Dallas 2^nd round pick, a 2021 Denver 2^nd round pick, and a 2022 Toronto 2^nd round pick.

March 5^th (also my birthday): Steph Curry returns after missing a little more than four months recovering, to play the Raptors.

March 11^th: Season suspended because Rudy Gobert kept on touching people (pause).

 

Looking ahead.

This team’s only bright spot this season has to be their rookie Eric Paschall as he was given a lot of playing time due to injury and he didn’t disappoint. It will be interesting to see how he will fit in with the Warriors next season when Klay comes back because he doesn’t shoot the three too well and is too small to play as a center. He could be used as a trade piece in case they decide to try to pull off another big trade.

They have the worst record in the league, but they only have a 14% of getting the 1^st overall pick as they have a higher chance of dropping to 5^th (47.9%). They also have two 2^nd round picks from the Jazz and Mavericks. As for who they take in the draft, honestly, I don’t really know too much about college basketball and how good the prospects are, but if I think they should take James Wiseman. Why? Because they need a center and I don’t think he will affect the system that they want to run, and I don’t think they need any more ball handlers. If they stay at one maybe they can trade down for future picks. They’re in a good position to make some moves.

As for free agency, they have four big contracts with Curry, Thompson, Green, and Wiggins so I don’t expect them to sign anybody of note, but I can always be wrong, who knows.

Final Remarks.

I don’t have much of a doubt that the Warriors would be back in the playoffs again next season, once everybody stays relatively healthy. I’m sure they’ll be able to make it work with Wiggins and they’re set up for the next few years with their core locked up to deals as well as multiple draft picks. Also, watch out for them in the 2021 offseason.

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Race for 8th in the West

Earlier this week I had a post about how I thought the Wizards were going to beat out the Nets and make it into the playoffs; however, after Bradley Beal announced that he wouldn’t be playing, they don’t have a prayer. So I’m moving onto the West...

There are a total of six teams in the West that have a chance to qualify for the playoffs: the Grizzlies, the Blazers, the Pelicans, the Kings, the Spurs and the Suns. However, I believe that only half of those teams have an actual chance of obtaining that coveted 8^th seed. Now, let’s separate the contenders from the pretenders.

The Pretenders

1.      The Phoenix Suns

The Suns are the lowest-ranked team (13^th) out of the six with a record of 26-39 which puts them behind the 8^th seeded Grizzlies by six games and two and a half games out of the 9^th seed. The Suns are playing the Wizards, Mavs, Clippers, Pacers, Heat, OKC, 76ers, and Mavs (again) in that exact order which gives them the 3^rd hardest schedule amongst the six teams based on their opponents’ average winning percentage. They have a combined record of 3-8 against these seven teams while failing to beat four of them (Heat, OKC, Wizards and Pacers).

To add insult to injury (literally) they shall be missing their team’s 2^nd leading scoring, Kelly Oubre Jr. aka Tsunami Papi as he underwent surgery on his right knee to repair his torn meniscus. Their playoff drought shall continue as they were unable to capitalize on their fast start due to one untimely suspension (*cough cough* Deandre Ayton).

 

2.      The San Antonio Spurs

The Spurs are a spot higher than the Suns with a record of 27-36 which has them four games behind the 8^th seed and one and a half games behind the 9^th seed. Their opponents are the Kings, Grizzlies, 76ers, Nuggets, Jazz, Pelicans, Rockets, and Jazz (again) in that order. This gives them the 4^th hardest schedule amongst the six teams based on their opponents’ average winning percentage. The Spurs have managed to have a combined record of 6-6 against the seven teams and they only failed to beat two of those teams pre-quarantine (Nuggets and 76ers).

They will be without LaMarcus Aldridge as he had right shoulder surgery in June. He was not only the team’s leading rebounder but their 2^nd leading scorer. It seems that the Spurs legendary 22 consecutive playoff appearance streak will come to an end this season as I’m sure not even a prime Tim Duncan could save them. (Who am I kidding? Timmy would have!)

 

3.      The Portland Trail Blazers

Okay, before you get upset and ask me if I even watch basketball, allow me to make my case first. The Blazers are 9^th in the West only trailing the Grizzlies by three and a half games. The eight games they play are against the Grizzlies, Celtics, Rockets, Nuggets, Clippers, 76ers, Mavs and Nets in that order.They have the hardest schedule based on their opponents’ winning percentage out of all six teams fighting for the 8^th seed. The Blazers went a dismal 3-12 against the eight teams they’re matched up against (managing to beat only the Rockets and the Mavs)during the pre-shutdown regular season. They will be without veteran 3&D player Trevor Ariza (one-month visitation window with his son); Caleb Swanigan (opted out); and key role player Rodney Hood (torn left Achilles) in the Orlando bubble.

It’s not all bad news for Portland as they will be getting back previously injured Zach Collins and Jusuf Nurkic in Orlando. Nurkic and Collins have been out since March 25^th, 2019, and November 5^th, 2019 respectively. But even with those positives I still believe that the Blazers won’t make the playoffs this year. They are integrating players who haven’t played in over eight months while having one of the hardest schedules of the remaining 22 teams.  Two losses in a row can see them overtaken by the Kings or the Pelicans or both.It is going to be a tough task that I don’t think Dame and CJ can complete. I mean I could be wrong, but I don’t think I will be. 

 

Now that we have eliminated half the teams, let’s talk about the three teams that I believe have the greatest chance of making the playoffs.

 

Contenders

1.      The Memphis Grizzlies

Why don’t we kick things off with the current 8^th seed in the West? Memphis currently holds a 32-33 record which gives them a three and a half-game lead over the Kings, Blazers and Pelicans. They will be playing against the Blazers, Spurs, Pelicans, Jazz, OKC, Raptors, Celtics, and Bucks in that order. This gives them the 2^nd hardest schedule out of the six teams in terms of their opponents’ average winning percentage. They managed a combined record of 5-7 against these teams during the pre-shutdown regular season however they did not play against the Raptors this season. The only player not joining them in Orlando so far is Grayson Allen (hip) as the previously injured Brandon Clarke is set to return for the resumption of the season.

The biggest road block the Grizzlies face is that they play against the top three teams in the East at the end which makes their chances of finishing strong slim to none. However, the Grizzlies still can hold onto their 8^th seed if they just simply start off strong. Their first three games are against teams under .500 and beating them will mean they will be able to add to their three and a half-game cushion. They just need to try to win one or two of their last five to ensure that they hold onto their spot.

2.      The Sacramento Kings

Oh Kings, where did it all go wrong? After almost making the playoffs last year the Kings killed all their momentum by hiring the incompetent Luke Walton as their head coach but that’s another topic for another day.

The Kings have a record of 28-36 and they will have the 2^nd easiest schedule of the six teams. They will be playing the Spurs, Magic, Mavs, Pelicans, Nets, Rockets, Pelicans and the Lakers in that order. They went a disappointing combined 3-9 against these teams during the regular season. One great piece of news is that none of the Kings players have opted out so far and they are getting Marvin Bagley back as he has been injured since the 20^th of January 2020.

One major problem they’re facing is that three of their players (Alex Len, Buddy Hield, and Jabari Parker) tested positive for COVID-19. We don’t know how it will affect their play or if they will decide to opt-out in the coming weeks.

The bad news for them is that even though they have an easy schedule, the Pelicans have an easier one. This puts them at a disadvantage as not only do they play them twice but they also share identical records. This means one or two slip-ups or failing to win at least one game against the Pelicans will seriously affect their chances of making the 8^th or 9^th seed. They only play three teams who have a winning record and the rest of the teams they play haven’t won more than 31 games. (I mean, neither have they but whatever.) They went 10-5 in their last fifteen games and they were one of the hottest teams in the league who were heating up at exactly the right time so who’s to say that they can’t pick up where they left off?

 

3.      The New Orleans Pelicans

Finally, we have the Pelicans - a team that recovered from an eleven-game losing streak to become a team that has a good chance of making it to the playoffs. The Pelicans are in 10^th with a record of 28-36; they are higher than the Kings due to them winning their one head-to-head match-up. The eight teams that they will be playing are the Jazz, Clippers, Grizzlies, Kings, Wizards, Spurs, Kings (again), and Magic. Their schedule is not only the easiest among the six teams but among the entire twenty-two teams going to Orlando. They are only playing against two teams that have a winning record while the six other teams have all failed to win more than 33 games. The Pelicans managed to have a combined record of 3-8 before the hiatus but they never played the Wizards. So far the only player that won’t be joining them in Orlando is the previously injured Darius Miller (Achilles).

It does seem that the NBA is doing everything that they can to get Zion into the playoffs or it could just be pure coincidence. They’re playing teams like the Jazz, Wizards, and Spurs who are missing key players (Wizards – Bertans and Beal; Jazz – Bojan Bogdanovic) while playing the Kings who have been nothing but inconsistent - twice. They have favorable match-ups and a great offense which makes them a big threat of qualifying for the playoffs in West.

 

 

Who’s making it out?

This question is easier said than done. We haven’t seen these teams in over 121 days and we have no idea how they will play with all the conditions and new/missing players.  We must consider their mindsets: Are they going to be hellbent on making the playoffs or are they just excited to go to Disney World?

Not only do they have to stay “locked-in” on qualifying for the playoffs but they also must keep in mind that there’s still a global pandemic and Florida, the site of The Bubble, has been recording record new cases every day. There are a lot of factors, besides potential infection or re-infection for some players, that go into my decision.

First off, I think that the team that gets the 9^th seed and faces the Grizzlies in the play-in tournament will be the Sacramento Kings. I just think the Kings have more motivation to push themselves to a playoff push as we were seeing right before the hiatus. Luke Walton is literally holding onto his coaching career by a thread; the franchise hasn’t made the playoffs since 2006; and Buddy Hield is growing disgruntled after being moved to the bench.  All of these pressures are either going to make a diamond or burst a pipe. I hope that it’s the former although I still want Walton fired.

I can see them winning against the Spurs, Magic, Nets, and Pelicans. I can even see them winning both games against the Pelicans but I don’t want to get carried away. What I also find interesting is their last game is against the Lakers; perhaps Lebron and company decides to rest and give their new bench players more playing time to get them more integrated for the long playoff run.The Kings have the potential for 4-6 wins and if the Grizzlies fail to win majority of their games, they will be facing a team with more momentum that’s gunning to take their spot.

The Pelicans may be able to win 4-5 games as well but if they lose to the Kings, even once, it may derail their journey altogether. The Pelicans have their three hardest games first so if they can’t win at least one then they run the risk of falling behind the Kings early; and if they surrender one game against them then that might be all she wrote of them.

Now, let's get to the play-in tournament with the Grizzlies vs Kings. So, as you can tell, I really want the Kings to make it but I do believe that they might run out of steam at the finish line. I can see them winning game one and scaring the life out of Memphis fans but I think that will serve as their wake-up call. Honestly, as much as I want the Kings to make it, I just know somehow, someway Luke Walton is going to find a way to mess this team up again (no offense Luke).

 

 

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