I am removing Detroit from the group because they have the #1 pick so they are in a good spot right now to build something. The Rockets have the 2nd pick so Evan Mobley makes them somewhat promising.
I would say Cleveland is the worst of that group. I do not see much there to build around long term. San Antonio is the 2nd worst.
I like the Hornets because of LaMelo Ball so they are one step up off the bottom off the barrel. Toronto has Siakam but not much else.The Knicks should not be removed from this conversation. They are still in it alongside the likes of Charlotte & Toronto. They are more of an overachieving mediocrity than a promising up and coming team. RJ Barrett looks interesting. Not wholly on board with Randle.
Sacramento is pretty solid with Fox and Hield. They just have no vision for what to do next.
Yeah so Cleveland and San Antonio are my two picks as the worst of the worst.
I think Cleveland has way more then Houston and certainly San Antonio. The Cavs have the 3rd pick along with Garland, Sexton, Allen, and Okoro. They are all in their early 20's and all except Allen were top 8 picks. They have quality younger depth as well in Nance, Osman, Prince, Dotson, etc. They have Love's bad contract, but otherwise a pretty clean book going forward and they own all of their own 1st's.
I don't think Allen has very much star upside. Cedi Osman is very much a fringe NBA player in my opinion. He shot 37% from field and 30% form 3. Not exactly sure what he does well. Dotson is an end of rotation player. Prince is very meh. Every team in the league has guys like this, so mentioning them seems fairly irrelevant to me.
The real question is can Sexton, Garland or Okoro become a star. It seems like there is a chance Sexton gets traded and it does not seem like the Cavs are particularly high on him and there are rumors maybe he could end up on Knicks or Warriors? I am curious what they would get for him. I can't say I have formed an opinion on Garland or Okoro, but they probably need one of these three guys to be a legit all-star to not be in a real bleak situation.
I do agree with you the magic and spurs are in same position basically. Those teams certainly do not have a clear all-star on their roster either and really need to get lucky with players like Bama, Fultz, Murray or Johnson, Bacon, Issac etc. None of those players are standing out so far.