Best futures of Bad Teams

[pipfan]

Of the worst teams in the NBA (Lakers, Utah, Minny, Sac, Den, NO, BRK, Orl, Char, Bos, Indy, Philly, NY, Det, Miami) best and worst futures?

Best-
1. Minny I love their core going forward, with Rubio, Wiggens, Bazz, Bennett, Lavine, Deing, then if they add a top big, look out. Parker would be awesome with this lineup

2. Orl-Payton, Oli, Harris, Gordon, Nuc is a great first 5-expecpt for shooting. A bench of Fournier, Harnkess and their pick this year to replace Fyre long term would look good too. They just need to keep this group together and let them run

3. Utah-Exum, Burks, Hayward, Favors, Goubert is a great 5-Burks would look better as a 6th man, and they still have Kanter and Burke to play with

Worst
1. Brk-no young players, no picks, for sale-this team is a mess for years to come
2. NY-who will join Melo in NY, and how will he age? I think Phil is in trouble there
3. LA-Which FA's are coming? If they lose their pick this year (likely) they have Kobe, Young and a recovering Randle next year. Mabye KD and Love sign up in 2016, but I doubt it.

It is bad for the NBA that their 2 most valuable franchises will be down for a while (Miami doesn't look so bright long term, and Bos needs some luck too)-but the TV deal is signed.

[E-Balla]

I don't think LA is in a bad position. A few lucky ping pong balls and they could have the 4th or 5th pick along with Randle and Kobe coming off the books soon. LA will have 2 high lotto picks, cap space, and as the Lakers you know they'll find a great free agent pick up.

New York is headed towards the first pick (this season its Jahlil Okafor who looks like he can change the franchise lucky enough to pick him) and at worst the fourth pick (D'Angelo Russell who has a superstar ceiling) along with cap space and Melo.

If anything LA and NY have 2 of the better futures IMO. Can't underestimate LA's ability to get free agents or someone with Jahlil's talent.

[MotownMadness]

Lakers really need to hope they can keep that pick this season.

[j-ragg]

Of the worst teams in the NBA (Lakers, Utah, Minny, Sac, Den, NO, BRK, Orl, Char, Bos, Indy, Philly, NY, Det, Miami) best and worst futures?

Hmm if I was to rank them I'd go...

Utah
Minnesota
Philly
Sacremento
Detroit
Boston
Indiana
Denver
Miami
Charlotte
Lakers
New York
Brooklyn

Did it kind of quick, but left Orlando off because I'm sure I'd put them too high anyways. I like Utah's assets and the ones I don't like have good-great value.

[majortom71]

Doesn't Boston have a ton of 1st round picks from Brooklyn?
They should be included as a team with a good future.

[hege53190]

Of the worst teams in the NBA (Lakers, Utah, Minny, Sac, Den, NO, BRK, Orl, Char, Bos, Indy, Philly, NY, Det, Miami) best and worst futures?

Best-
1. Minny I love their core going forward, with Rubio, Wiggens, Bazz, Bennett, Lavine, Deing, then if they add a top big, look out. Parker would be awesome with this lineup

2. Orl-Payton, Oli, Harris, Gordon, Nuc is a great first 5-expecpt for shooting. A bench of Fournier, Harnkess and their pick this year to replace Fyre long term would look good too. They just need to keep this group together and let them run

3. Utah-Exum, Burks, Hayward, Favors, Goubert is a great 5-Burks would look better as a 6th man, and they still have Kanter and Burke to play with

Worst
1. Brk-no young players, no picks, for sale-this team is a mess for years to come
2. NY-who will join Melo in NY, and how will he age? I think Phil is in trouble there
3. LA-Which FA's are coming? If they lose their pick this year (likely) they have Kobe, Young and a recovering Randle next year. Mabye KD and Love sign up in 2016, but I doubt it.

It is bad for the NBA that their 2 most valuable franchises will be down for a while (Miami doesn't look so bright long term, and Bos needs some luck too)-but the TV deal is signed.

You really need to define the bad teams. Right now Brooklyn is in the playoffs. Yeah they have a crap future but they do have talent and are winning enough games to stay relevant.

As for the best future I will go off non-playoff teams at the moment

1.) Utah-Favors is really good they have a solid cast with Kanter, Hayward, and Burks. Plus they have ridiculous upside guys in Gobert and Exum. Add to it that they are in the west and not winning that many games they should get another nice pick.

2.) t-wolvesWiggins is starting to look good. Rubio is nice and they are in the running for worst record. They really should try to trade Pek and Young for future assets.

[Run PDX]

I think that the immediate future is looking brighter for Eastern Conference teams, because there is such an open field out there for the playoffs. In the West, I feel like teams are going to need to work harder to break into the Top 8.
That being said, I do like Utah, New Orleans, Minnesota, and Denver because they have decent rosters and good, young, players. If they can keep the youth satisfied, and maybe add a decent rookie and vet next year, who knows...

[dorkestra]

Julius Randle is a horse and if the Lakers get the fourth pick (Stanley Johnson?) then things are not looking so bad. Clarkson has rotation player future and Kobe will be gone soon enough. I don't see LA is that bad of a position.

[pipfan]

I know LA has a history of attracting great players, but I just wonder if that will continue. Of course, eventually they will attract stars, but I think no one comes in 2015 (joining a bad team with chucking, aging Kobe). They NEED KD to come in 2016, but we'll see.

[MalonesElbows]

Utah was a question mark before this season but quietly have had 3 players break out (20ish PER, top 60 in RPM). Hayward, Favors, and Gobert is currently the strongest big three of any young team. Orlando could equal that with Vuc, Harris, Dipo next year so they're not totally out of the conversation. Minnesota has a vet/youth discord going on. By the time Wiggins, Bazz, and Deing reach their prime in 5 years, Rubio, Martin, and Pek will be gone or won't be of much use. That said, Wiggins is the only player any of these teams have with true superstar potential so they are right up there.

All these teams will be adding another high pick this year to even further improve them.

[Anticon]

I agree with Minnie and Orlando. I would also add Boston, based only on their current talent. I really like Smart, Olynyk, Sullinger and Bradley.

With all of those extra picks, cap room and great coaching/management they're gonna be in great shape.

I also like Philly, but I'm not convinced that their management will actually be able to show loyalty and build a roster. At a certain point you have to commit to a team, and they looked to be faced with perpetual dissatisfaction with their guys.

For Utah, they have some interesting pieces but something isn't quite right there.

[snoopdogg88]

I agree with Minnie and Orlando. I would also add Boston, based only on their current talent. I really like Smart, Olynyk, Sullinger and Bradley.

With all of those extra picks, cap room and great coaching/management they're gonna be in great shape.

I also like Philly, but I'm not convinced that their management will actually be able to show loyalty and build a roster. At a certain point you have to commit to a team, and they looked to be faced with perpetual dissatisfaction with their guys.

For Utah, they have some interesting pieces but something isn't quite right there.

[HawaiianJazzFan]

I agree with Minnie and Orlando. I would also add Boston, based only on their current talent. I really like Smart, Olynyk, Sullinger and Bradley.

With all of those extra picks, cap room and great coaching/management they're gonna be in great shape.

I also like Philly, but I'm not convinced that their management will actually be able to show loyalty and build a roster. At a certain point you have to commit to a team, and they looked to be faced with perpetual dissatisfaction with their guys.

For Utah, they have some interesting pieces but something isn't quite right there.

It might be the fact that all 3 of our SG's from opening day are injured and we are getting terrible play from our PG position. I honestly feel like we have one of the best young front courts in the NBA and we routinely outplay a lot of good front courts (Gobert, Favors, Kanter, Hayward, even Booker) but our back court definitely needs to improve and we get outplayed every night at those positions, and right now we are weak at one of the deepest positions in the NBA (PG). Also, one of the reasons I might list the Magic ahead of Utah, is that Orlando has a ton of young talent as well, but they are in the Eastern Conference. They are still technically in a playoff race and Utah is almost already mathematically eliminated. There are still a lot of good young western teams, a healthy Minny should be decent, the Pelicans with the brow, Phoenix is one of the youngest, the Kings if they fire Corbin with Boogie, etc.

Boston has a ton of assets and I am a Danny Ainge homer (from same neighborhood in Gilbert, AZ) but I think they need help with their front court. Sully looks like he could have some weight problems and shoots too much from the perimeter for my liking, and both Sully and Olynyk aren't great defenders. I do like the pieces they have in their back court and they do have a million 1st round picks.

[HotelVitale]

These threads come up once a week or so, instead of giving my usual answer I'll just remind people of how big a role randomness plays in team building. We tend to think of a rebuild with OKC as the model--get 3-4 very high draft picks, find a couple stars and build around them--but the process rarely unfolds like that. MEM is Conley and a bunch of one-time castoffs. GSW drafted its core w/o any picks in the top 6, and then rounded it out with some good-not-great trades/FA signings (Bogut, Lee, etc). Even teams that did build through high draft picks got very lucky. For example, if OKC had a slightly higher pick in the Westbrook draft, they probably would've taken Beasley or Mayo, possibly Thabeet instead of Harden the next year. And if they don't strike gold on Ibaka (they had about a 4% chance of landing a star at that draft slot), the whole team's different too.

Players also randomly get a lot better sometimes. The Raptors had almost no key high draft picks (J Val is their only top-8 guy) or big FA signings. And the Hawks are led by vet players (Millsap, Korver, Horford, Teague) that suddenly went from good to great and super efficient options. Chicago's core is a lucky #1 pick (Rose), a lucky #9 pick (Noah), and a bunch of late picks or marginal vets (plus Gasol this year) who didn't look like anything special when the Bulls got them.

Bottom line: almost every good team has crucial core players that weren't top-5 picks and didn't show much signs of dominance their rookie years. It's great for teams to be positioning themselves for high picks and for cap space, but you mostly just need to catch breaks with a few key players. If we look back at this list in 3 years, so much will have changed depending on random draft choices and random player development that it's hard to even venture guesses now.

[HotelVitale]

Best-
1. Minny I love their core going forward, with Rubio, Wiggens, Bazz, Bennett, Lavine, Deing, then if they add a top big, look out. Parker would be awesome with this lineup
2. Orl-Payton, Oli, Harris, Gordon, Nuc is a great first 5-expecpt for shooting. A bench of Fournier, Harnkess and their pick this year to replace Fyre long term would look good too. They just need to keep this group together and let them run
...
3. LA-Which FA's are coming? If they lose their pick this year (likely) they have Kobe, Young and a recovering Randle next year. Mabye KD and Love sign up in 2016, but I doubt it.

Are you holding up multiple standards here? If LAL doesn't become a good playoff team by 2016, you imply they've failed. Meanwhile you're really high on ORL's core, which seems to me a LONG ways from contending, even though they have better young pieces. ORL has a greater depth of young talent, but none of them appear to be stars (though I like Vuc a lot). Keeping this group and 'letting them run' isn't likely to get you a top-4 seed in the east, let alone a contender.

Plus, it seems like people forget that each of these young pieces has to get paid in a few years, and that you can really only commit long term to 3 or so of them. In the Magic's case, T Harris looks great in the 'young prospect' category, but can you view him positively if he's making $11m+ per year? Considering that, with extensions for Vuc and Harris and a top-5 pick salary, the Magic wouldn't be far from the cap threshold, and they still need some luck to become a playoff team.

Overall, I'd rather have LAL's FA appeal, massive amount of money, and couple of prospects than ORL's basket of nice young pieces that get more expensive by the day. Just seems like a more likely path to being a very good team, even if it's less fun to follow their progress than to follow a team like ORL's or MIN's. (By the way, I'm the furthest thing from a Lakers fan, just calling it like I see it.)

[BBallFreak]

Miami's future had more to do with cap space then it does draft picks, though we do have some young players we like. We're likely losing this year's pick in the Bron trade. We will have the following year's pick.

I like our future. I expect a reasonably quick rebuild but being that this is the first year of it, I'm not too disappointed. Whiteside, Napier, and Ennis give me some hope for the future.

[GANGSTERDOG]

I think Minny def has the advantage

Wiggins Ceiling is redic
Lavines Ceiling is Redic
Bennett has a 3 point shot and athletic
Dieng Ceiling is Redic
Shabazz has 6ManofYear written all over him.
lol I literally almost forgot Rubio

Second Id rank the Magic because

I think Gordon and Payton will be a lot better than Harris Oladipo and Vucevic

[j-ragg]

Whiteside, Napier, and Ennis give me some hope for the future.

Incredibly optimistic.

[Foye]

As of right now I would say Utah. Favors/Hayward/Exum/Gobert/Kanter etc. is a really talented group.

As for my Wolves we need to add a legit big men before the future might be bright. Dieng/Bennett/Young are ok but none of them will ever be a top big. Gotta draft one or use the assets besides Wiggins/Rubio to get one.

Okafor would be the perfect fit with Wiggins & Rubio.

[Bo Outlaw]

Utah is in a teribble position.