Post by TimPig on May 14, 2018 17:56:11 GMT
Atlanta HawksRecord Last Season: 47-35; 2nd in the Central
Key Additions: Mitchell Robinson, LiAngelo Ball
Key Losses: Spooky Skeleton, Scoonie Saperstein, Isaac Bonga
The Hawks are one of the teams in 5.0 that have fascinated me the most. After 2000, they suffered a loss that would have crippled many franchises for years when Elvis Delle Donne left for the bright lights of Harlem. JHB showed some savvy by snagging the amnestied Bonga in free agency, but he then left for a questionable max contract in Portland.
Losing a 6’9, 22-year-old small forward who averaged 21.2 ppg and 7.5 rpg would again seem painful, but JHB once again dug deep to snag LiAngelo Ball who, if preseason is any indication, is a more-than-capable starter in TMBSL. He’s 23, averaged 26/7/3 spg and is already locked in for three years, so JHB shouldn’t be required to search for another diamond-in-the-rough wing this offseason.
Next offseason JHB will have the cap flexibility to resign the aging Hammon (if he wants) and Juan Keaney, who should be in line for a big pay raise from his current $3.5mil per year.
2002 Prediction: Hammon, Ball, and a passable group of bigs keep the Hawks in the top three in the Division. If Mitchell Robinson can put up similar numbers to what he did in G League, the Hawks could win the division. Record Prediction: 48-34
Charlotte HornetsRecord Last Season: 20-62; 8th in the Central
Key Additions: Cecil Exum, Otis Thorpe
Key Losses: None
Another tough offseason for Fecta and the Hornets as he gets burned in the lottery once again, missing on any of the clear top six available players and being forced to hope he could hit gold at the end of the lottery. While Cecil Exum looks decent, he’s going to need some major TC luck to truly make a difference in this league. Same goes for Otis Thorpe, who actually has nice starting grades and was featured in the 2002 Draft Combine. I was quite surprised to see him fall all the way to the start of the second round. I thought he wouldn’t have been a bad choice in the lottery.
Nothing groundbreaking happened in training camp for the Hornets either from a grades perspective, so I think Fecta just has to hope for continued gradual improvement from a core of Austin Wiley, R.J. Barrett, and Trevon Duval. All three have obvious holes in their games, but do look like they have the potential to be good starters with some luck.
One thing Fecta does have going for him is that he’ll open up quite a bit of cap room this offseason. No matter how Duval improves, there’s likely no way he resigns for the $10mil he’s currently being paid. If all of Duval, Jared Terrell, Shareef O’Neal, and Zhaire Smith leave, Fecta will have enough room for a max.
2002 Prediction: It’s tough to see the Hornets finishing anywhere but last place again. No significant immediate improvements were made in the offseason, so this team continues looking to the future and praying something hits along the way. Record Prediction: 22-60
Chicago Bulls Record Last Season: 34-48; 5th in the Central
Key Additions: Dazon Ingram, Sam Perkins
Key Losses: Devon Hall
The Bulls struck out on their max offerings during the offseason, so they tried to improve by staying within the organization. Dazon Ingram has quietly put up great efficiency in the G League and is a plus rebounder. If those skills can translate to the big leagues, the Bulls should have the small forward they’ve been lacking since they traded Jim Halpert. Chicago was lucky to have Sam Perkins fall all the way to them at seventh overall, as I think many thought he could go as high as four after Olajuwon/Barkley/Jordan.
The Bulls only suffered one key loss in Devon Hall, who had been replaced for most of the season by Austin Luke in the starting lineup. It’ll be interesting to see how Hall, who signed with the Knicks in the offseason and received some help in The Lab, is able to develop. Either way, his departure shouldn’t make a major difference in the team’s success.
Chicago will once again be a player in free agency this offseason with the expiring contracts of Scoonie Saperstein and Spooky Skeleton coming off the books. Both Romeo Langford and Mohamed Bamba, two of the teams core pieces, are expiring this season and will be interesting situations to watch as well. The Bulls need to keep both in the mix to fulfill the plans they had for this group when they were picked in Creation.
2002 Prediction: Langford, Bamba, and Daugherty all saw nice improvements in training camp and together can be a nice foundation. This team was in the hunt for the eight seed last season and could surprise some teams with a playoff berth. Record Prediction: 42-40
Cleveland Cavaliers Record Last Season: 29-53; 6th in the Central
Key Additions: Alvin Robertson
Key Losses: Mikal Bridges
The loss of Mikal Bridges will hurt the Cavs, who are all but GM-less and, at the time of this writing, had not yet submitted a 2002 depth chart. Bridges and his 17 ppg and 6 rpg head to Phoenix where they join a reloaded Suns squad.
Alvin Robertson was drafted in the lottery to help fill the average-sized void left by Bridges but he didn’t really show much during the preseason while playing the point guard position that he’s actually ineligible for.
This team could build around Arvydas Sabonis and Benji Wilson, but with Shaun on his way out this team will finish near the bottom of the Central.
2002 Prediction: Wouldn’t expect any moves to be made. I just keep my fingers crossed that Shaun’s schedule will free up and he’ll have time to come back to this team before all hope is lost. Record Prediction: 25-57
Detroit PistonsRecord Last Season: 43-39; 3rd in the Central
Key Additions: Yommy Sangodeyi
Key Losses: None
Not much changed for the Pistons, who finished last season behind the Pacers and Hawks in the Central. They did add Yommy during the offseason and he should be interesting to watch develop. He’s already 25 years old, and while he hss nice efficiency and rebounding, those may not be enough to offset his god awful free throw shooting.
Overall I think this team has improved, and they have some nice pieces to look forward to building around including Shamorie Ponds, Chris Chiozza, Yommy, and Luke Maye, but Jackie Moon just hit 30 and should be nearing the end of his prime years. It might be about time for Dump to try and trade him to a contender while grabbing a couple of prospects/picks who will be better suited to contribute once the rest of those players hit their primes.
2002 Prediction: I see this team finishing top five in the conference and potentially challenging for the top spot in the Central. It’ll all depend on how much Alarie, Maye, and his point guards improved during the offseason. Record Prediction: 50-32
Indiana PacersRecord Last Season: 54-28; 1st in the Central
Key Additions: None
Key Losses: Jan Michael Vincent, Killian Tillie
Last season’s Central champions, the Pacers are in an interesting predicament as 2002 begins. Dan Cortezzee is clearly this team’s best option at point guard, but his handles dropped during the offseason so Heebs has a tough choice to make. I don’t think he has any choice but to start Karim Shabazz, Donta Hall, and Keita Bates-Diop at the 5, 4, and 3, and Daniel Taurasi is locked in at the 2. Cortezzee is too good to just be a super sub for KBD and Taurasi, and this team doesn’t have a better alternative at point guard. If I’m Heebs, there’s no question I’m doing whatever I can to ensure Cortezzee gets up to a PG-eligible handling grade.
Killian Tillie wasn’t truly lost during the “offseason”, but I did want to point out what an outstanding preseason he had. Granted, the Mavericks weren’t playing Reddish, but Delap may have found himself a nice secondary scoring option. We all said Heebs ripped Delap off, but that may not be the case due to Tillie’s growth and Cortezzee’s predicament.
Heebs is savvy enough that I’m sure he has a plan in his back pocket to not let this team waste away without a good starting point guard, whether that’s Cortezzee or a creative move elsewhere.
2002 Prediction: Barring any major setbacks, the Pacers should win the Central again. They’ve clearly got the best starting five of anyone in the division. The question for them is how they’ll stack up against the elite teams in the Atlantic. Record Prediction: 55-27
Milwaukee BucksRecord Last Season: 41-41; 4th in the Central
Key Additions: Champ Godbolt
Key Losses: None
The Bucks might have the best set of bigs in the league. We all know how good Ayton is and he just seems to keep getting better. Godbolt was a bit of a shocker at 1.3 but Trofie clearly knew what he was doing as Champ may have had the best preseason of any rookie.
In my opinion, this team just continues to lack the wing play that they need to really help themselves out. I think Trofie’s done the right thing by putting Tacko on the block. If you can package him and maybe a pick or two to pick up a good scoring wing or point guard, I think this team could really be in business in the Eastern Conference. Without a splashy move though, I think this team continues to find themselves around .500. Heck, even if they can’t get a true stud on the outside, they might be able to find a nice package of slight upgrades for Tacko, and if Godbolt improves over a couple of seasons, that big pairing alone may be enough to get them far.
2002 Prediction: This team becomes slightly better as they did add another good player in Champ without losing anyone significant. Unfortunately, you can only start two bigs so while Godbolt is an upgrade over Tacko, he’s not that much of one (yet). Record Prediction: 43-39
Toronto RaptorsRecord Last Season: 25-57; 7th in the Central
Key Additions: Dick Mumma
Key Losses: Jon Elmore, Trevon Blueitt
Not much to see in Toronto, where we still await Breauxcaine’s true “conversion” moment that makes him actually start to really give a damn about his team.
Dick Mumma had a shaky preseason, but if he can come around I think this team actually has a nice foundation. They somehow have two decent looking point guards in Sim Dump and Carsen Edwards, while most teams have zero. They lost Elmore in the offseason, who actually would’ve been their third solid point guard option. Don’t ask me how that happened.
Richards and Quenton Nelson with Rodman as a third big has major potential still, but they definitely aren’t there yet. We know Miles Bridges is a good volume scorer and the point guard position is strong by 5.0 standards. If they can figure something out at small forward and add some depth, I think this team could be much better than the 25-57 they had last year, which was probably influenced pretty heavily by Breauxcaine mistakenly benching Bridges, his best player, at SG.
2002 Prediction: The team sees some slight improvement out of a young core and adds a few more wins, but still doesn’t make any noise in the conference. If Breauxcaine was pursuing trades and really on top of it, I think this team could be a real factor in the Central. Record Prediction: 31-51
