Which team is set up worst for the future?

[Lucky17]

I agree with most that Cleveland and Detroit are in very crappy situations.

A team I haven't heard anyone mention yet is Philadelphia. 

• Overpaid Nocioni for another year after this. 
• Top 5 worst contract in the NBA (Brand) locked up until '13.
• Their best player plays the same position as their up and coming star.  So one of them need to go (Iggy)
• Overpaid Lou Williams until '13. 
• I personally don't think Turner is going to end up being a superstar.

I came here to say this, and got beat.

Sad too. Philly is a historic NBA city. They are still a long way from relevance, I think.

[indeedproceed]

I agree with most that Cleveland and Detroit are in very crappy situations.

A team I haven't heard anyone mention yet is Philadelphia. 

• Overpaid Nocioni for another year after this. 
• Top 5 worst contract in the NBA (Brand) locked up until '13.
• Their best player plays the same position as their up and coming star.  So one of them need to go (Iggy)
• Overpaid Lou Williams until '13. 
• I personally don't think Turner is going to end up being a superstar.

I came here to say this, and got beat.

Sad too. Philly is a historic NBA city. They are still a long way from relevance, I think.

I think Brand has been remarkably consistent this season, and people have gone from overestimating him in 09-10, to sleepin on him this year.

[action781]

I agree with most that Cleveland and Detroit are in very crappy situations.

A team I haven't heard anyone mention yet is Philadelphia. 

• Overpaid Nocioni for another year after this. 
• Top 5 worst contract in the NBA (Brand) locked up until '13.
• Their best player plays the same position as their up and coming star.  So one of them need to go (Iggy)
• Overpaid Lou Williams until '13. 
• I personally don't think Turner is going to end up being a superstar.

I came here to say this, and got beat.

Sad too. Philly is a historic NBA city. They are still a long way from relevance, I think.

I think Brand has been remarkably consistent this season, and people have gone from overestimating him in 09-10, to sleepin on him this year.

Consistently a 15 and 8 guy on a 17-25 team who gets paid 16, 17, and 18 mil over the next 3 seasons.  Yes, I think he's been slept on a little.  But he's still absurdly overpaid.

I think Arenas and Rashard (and maybe Joe Johnson) are the only contracts in the league worse than his.  Speaking of which, don't Orlando and Washington both need a solid power forward?  Shouldn't both of those teams be trying to trade those players for Brand (who is officially on the block I hear?)  Not that Philly would do either of those straight up, but I'm surprised to not have heard that either team has been trying by incorporating other pieces.

[Fafnir]

Brand isn't a PF anymor, he's a C. And he's a pretty slow C at that.

[PosImpos]

Clippers.



Quick, name the last big time player they drafted and kept.

Name the last time the Clippers had a player like Blake Griffin.

That's right, hasn't happened before. 

McDyess - traded

Manning - traded.

Byron Scott - traded

Tom Chambers - traded

None of those players is on the same level as Blake Griffin.

As a rookie, Griffin is putting up numbers in line with all-time greats.  The players you named just don't compare.  Blake Griffin is on track to be not just an all-star, or even a superstar, but a superduperstar. 

The Clippers have NEVER had a player like that, and as long as he doesn't suffer a freak injury (you never know with Clippers players), I expect him to change the fortunes of that franchise.

He is not as good as Griffin, but Livingston was very good.  He could have been one of the top 10-15 players in the league, and really turned around that franchise. 

In his best (statistical) season, Shaun Livingston averaged 9 pts and 5 assists per game.

Ignoring how good he may have looked at times, there's simply no comparison.  Blake Griffin is ridiculously talented, more so than any other player who has ever been on the Clippers. 

The only thing that will stop him from transforming that franchise is a freak injury.  Given the "curse," it's safe to say that's not out of the question, but I think for the purposes of this thread we can't really assume that freak accidents / injuries will happen.

[Surferdad]

I'll go with Charlotte.  They don't have prospects of getting anybody in the draft.  They have a bunch of mid-level talented players but no superstar.  Most importantly, Michael Jordan is turning out to be a mediocre GM, at best.

[action781]

Brand isn't a PF anymor, he's a C. And he's a pretty slow C at that.

I'd say that's certainly debatable, but I feel it's appropriate to call him a PF since every online depth chart lists him at PF and most importantly, he only has PF eligibility in my fantasy league  

And that would make Spencer Hawes a PF?

[Edgar]

Lakers

With that old lineup they will collapse and with Blake on the CLips a new favorite in vogue team will raise among stars of hollywood and therefore on dumb bandwagoners .
The sen master will retire, Gasol will leave, kobe will be injuried one off those days and they will collape, collapse, collapse, miserable.

Yupiii!

[tenn_smoothie]

kinda funny that Detroit is being mentioned on this list - just three short years ago, they were the team the Celtics feared the most on their way to Banner #17.

makes you think about the tenuous nature of elite teams in the NBA - a couple of decisions that don't quite work out and you are in that no-man's land in the middle of the pack. no one knows that danger more than us Celtic fans - though we were cruelly dealt hands of fate during the 80's & 90's that no team could have recovered from, only one of which was self-inflicted (Pitino).

who would have ever thought it would have been Danny Ainge to have the guts and instincts to deliver us from the hell of failure we suffered thru for 20 years. plus, he has set the table well so that this team can rebuild in a few years after the current group hangs a couple of repeat banners and insures their legacies to hang in the rafters along with all those other retired numbers.

maybe the best thing that Danny has accomplished these past three seasons is to make it honorable and attractive to be a Celtic again in this league. i think the right kind of players want to come to Boston to play again. just like Kevin Garnett, who was always a Celtic, but just didn't know it until he got here.

[Edgar]

Lakers

With that old lineup they will collapse and with Blake on the CLips a new favorite in vogue team will raise among stars of hollywood and therefore on dumb bandwagoners .
The sen master will retire, Gasol will leave, kobe will be injuried one off those days and they will collape, collapse, collapse, miserable.

Yupiii!

And Bynum will be injuried and that team will have to seel the franchise because little money and sponsorships and they will take the lakers franchise to canada where they will change their game to the cold ones.

[snively]

It's weird to say this about such a good team, but how about Orlando?

If they aren't good enough to win a title as constructed (which I don't think they are), they have incredibly little flexibility.  Arenas is probably the worst contract in the league, Turk (and to a lesser extent Duhon and Q-Rich) has negative trade value, and Nelson, Bass, Redick and Anderson would be very unlikely to bring back better players than themselves.  Orton and Clark have about as much value as Avery Bradley and Gerald Green at this point.

[indeedproceed]

It's weird to say this about such a good team, but how about Orlando?

If they aren't good enough to win a title as constructed (which I don't think they are), they have incredibly little flexibility.  Arenas is probably the worst contract in the league, Turk (and to a lesser extent Duhon and Q-Rich) has negative trade value, and Nelson, Bass, Redick and Anderson would be very unlikely to bring back better players than themselves.  Orton and Clark have about as much value as Avery Bradley and Gerald Green at this point.

I think you're overestimating what is undeniably a worst case scenario.

Orlando is in many ways in exactly the same situation Cleveland was walking into the 08-09 season.

They're only a season and a half removed from a finals appearance where they were exposed as a team with an MVP caliber player, but with a flawed cast of mediocre to bad players around him. The players though combined with the MVP caliber talent form a team capable of playing a style (bombs away from deep with an underrated and improving post presence) that makes them a contender.

But since their finals appearance, the other teams in the East (for Cleveland it was Orlando and Boston), namely Boston, Miami, and Chicago, have all dramatically improved since their finals run in 08-09.

I agree with you that as constructed they're not championship material. When they're hitting from deep they're maybe in a class of the best 5 teams in the league, but when they're not hitting their defense aside from Howard is a sieve, and they can't create points with enough consistency to stay ahead or keep a lead.

But Redick, Richardson, Nelson, Bass, and Andersen are all guys that could be traded for talent (although how much talent remains to be seen), and while Turk and Arenas are all going to be paid way too much money through 2014, they're going to be okay after that.

Orlando unlike some of the other teams discussed here has shown in the last 10 years the ability to attract top tier free agents, and that willingness to pay out when needed. Florida is an attractive place to go for a player because of the income tax laws and because of the weather, and lots of players even after they leave Orlando maintain homes there, so obviously they enjoy the area. Orlanod might be up a bit of a creek if they don't win now with regards to Howard, but long term they'll be okay.

[Eja117]

Until they resolve this Melo thing I'm leaning towards the Nuggz

[xmuscularghandix]

Phoenix. They're too emotionally attached to Nash and are unwilling to movie him. Jason Richardson for Vince Carter? If this team can't move Nash for a piece to build around? They're screwed.

[KobeShesNotConsenting!]

Who could we pull once KG and RA are gone to not be screwed? Rondo and an older pierce is a great start but not enough. Is Dwight the only possibility we're lookin at? Is that even possible? curious.