IP Ranks The Pick-Two Teams By Divison (All Divisions Are Up)

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Atlantic Division

Boston Celtics

PG - Raymond Felton, Jameer Nelson
SG - Stephen Jackson, Delonte West, Allen Iverson
SF - Paul Pierce, Ron Artest
PF - Kevin Garnett, Tyrus Thomas, Eduardo Najera
C  - Anderson Varejao, Joel Przybilla, Shelden Williams

Positive Thoughts: With Varejao/West healthy, one of the best defensive teams in the league. Plenty of scoring potential, with lots of shot creators. Lots of solid depth, especially at the 1-4.

Negative Thoughts: Felton, S-Jax, Artest, and Ty Thomas are all playing poorly this year, and nobody seems to know why. West, Varejao, and Pryzbilla are all candidates to be non-factors through the rest of the season due to injury. Allen Iverson.

Immediate Success: Edgar’s gotta pray that the C’s can ride SHelden and Pryzbilla (and more likely a lot of time with a Ty Thomas/Garnett frountcourt) into a playoff spot, allowing Sideshow Andy and Delonte time to get back to the court. If Sideshow and Delonte can come back strong, and if Stephen Jackson can stop pouting and jacking up awful jumpers long enough to play winning basketball, this team is SUPER dangerous in the playoffs this year. If any of that doesn’t happen, they’re doomed for a first round exit.

Long-Term Success: No high-caliber prospects, and 3 of the starting 5 will likely be out of the league in a year or two. Not a good long-term prognosis.

Pick-Two Success: Well the C’s are currently on the cusp of making the playoffs. If S-Jax gets his crap together, the Pick-Two C’s are likely going to be In a similar situation. The Celtics have Rondo, the Pick-Two have Varejao, one of the two of them will play the majority of the remaining games this season, but Varejao would likely make a bigger impact in the playoffs for this team. Really hard to say which I’d prefer at this point with the goal of contending this season.

New Jersey Nets

PG - Deron Williams, Ramon Sessions
SG - Jodie Meeks, Reggie Williams, Marquis Daniels
SF - Thaddeus Young, Andrei Kirilenko, Josh Childress
PF - Carlos Boozer, Darrel Arthur
C  - Brook Lopez, Darko Milicic

Positive Thoughts: Elite 1-2 punch on offense between Boozer/Lopez. Deron Williams (as long as he’s not mailing it in, which the fact that he’s proved he can and will do that I find to be incredibly disturbing) is one of the top two PG’s in basketball. Good shooters from outside, good depth at the 1, 2, 3, 4.

Negative Thoughts: Thad Young is a bad fit as a starting 3, and he plays nearly all his minutes at the 4 in real life. AK-47 also (aside from not even being in the league currently) has been a traditionally better 4. However, between Boozer/Arthur, there aren’t a lot of minutes to spare at the 4. Jodie Meeks is a starting 2 in name only, and Reggie Williams is not a ‘scoring first’ kind of player. He’s a ‘scoring only’, and that also applies to his defense.

Immediate Success: A good team with lots of talent that’s going to likely be a bit underutilized. Probably a playoff team, but I could see them missing out if they don’t mesh.

Long-Term Success: If they can keep Deron, Boozer, and Lopez together there is a ton of potential here. Mix in Thad Young and a shot with AK-47, and Sessions playing 25 minutes between the 1 and 2, and they’re going to be around for a while. Good team.

Pick-Two Success: They absolutely annihilated the current Nets team, so big success here.

Philadelphia 76ers

PG - Andre Miller, Aaron Brooks, Jonny Flynn
SG - Monta Ellis, Terrence Williams, Wes Johnson
SF - Danilo Gallinari, Kawhi Leonard
PF - Ekpe Udoh, Earl Clark
C  - Spencer Hawes, Andray Blatche, Jeremy Tyler

Positive Thoughts: Loads of talent. Lots of scoring potential. I’m not sure who my favorite guy to pair next to Monta Ellis would be (Jason Kidd comes to mind), but Andre Miller is a guy who I could see working out. I’m a fan of the depth at the 2, 3, and Aaron Brooks could prove to be a steal (which would prove my bagging of him to be wrong).

Negative Thoughts: Relying on an unproven tweener from the Golden State Warriors to be your premier defensive talent is never, ever a good idea. With the unproven nature of Ekpe Udoh, would’ve liked a more consistent option at the backup 4 besides Blatche or Clark. Also, gonna need to give Jeremy Tyler meaningful minutes, which is going to be painful.

Immediate Success: Lots of talent, lots of question marks. Monta Ellis has never been the best player on a playoff team, and he’s easily the best player here. Talent-wise, he’s got all the tools, but I just don’t know if he can do it here. Actually, I do know, and he can’t. He needed an inspired Baron Davis and Stephen Jackson to get to a 7th seed (or was it an 8th?), and he’s doesn’t have that here. Gallo is a real gamer though, and Hawes is having a career-defining year. They’re gonna be close to the dance, just don’t know if they’ll get in.

Long-Term Success: Andre Miller is the only guy who is likely to get worse. Everyone else (especially Gallo, Hawes, Leonard, Udoh) look like they’ve got the tools to get better. If Monta Ellis figures it out, this is a perennial playoff player.

Pick-Two Success: The real-life Sixers are better, and I think taking Hawes and not Holiday as the keeper was a poor move.

Toronto Raptors

PG - Jeremy Lin, Rodney Stuckey, Daniel Gibson
SG - DeMar DeRozan, Alonzo Gee
SF - Caron Butler, Dominic McGuire
PF - Andrea Bargnani, Drew Gooden
C  - Andrew Bogut, Kosta Koufos, Nazr Mohammed, Greg Stiemsma

Positive Thoughts: If/When Bogut plays a full season, and if Jeremy Lin is not a flash in the pan, this team can be really good. Like, scary good. The depth isn’t really great but the starters all kind of make sense. If Caron Butler can keep his 3pt % around 36-38%, there is just so much potential here.

Negative Thoughts: Without Bogut, this team falls apart a bit. Defense goes to crap, and too much burden falls on guys who have either been unable to prove they can handle it (Koufos), clearly proven they can’t (Gooden, Mohammed), or just plain can’t (Stiemsma). They’re without Bogut this year.

Immediate Success: Without Bogut I don’t think they’re a playoff team

Long-Term Success: With Bogut I think they’re a 3-4 seed.

Pick-Two Success: They got Bogut, which gives the Raptors hope. Add Lin and Butler and you have success.

New York Knicks

PG - Kyle Lowry, Luke Ridnour, AJ Price
SG - Brandon Rush, Klay Thompson, Tyler Honeycutt
SF - Tayshaun Prince, Corey Brewer
PF - Paul Millsap, Jon Brockman
C  - Dwight Howard, Chris Andersen, Semih Erden

Positive Thoughts: The top-3 talent combo of Lowry/Millsap/Howard is as good as any top-3 combo in the league, if not better. Birdman/Brockman/Brewer guarantee that the second unit’s defense won’t falter much from what should be a top-flight defensive squad. Good depth at the 1, 2, 3, 5, with lots of potential on the wings. Good scoring potential from every starting position, good mix of shooting/penetration/post scoring.

Negative Thoughts: Very weak starter at the 2, very poor depth at the 4, and Tayshaun Prince’s degrading play in Detroit a real concern that its age and not just playing for a crappy team. Worries that Brewer’s recent play is a flash in the pan and not a sign that he’s figured it out (currently he’s 12th in PER among SF’s, better than Crash and Deng, and playing the most consistent basketball of his life), and also worries that Brandon Rush’s recent lights-out shooting is a statistical anomaly (he’s currently sitting above the 50% mark from behind the line).

Immediate Success: Among the title favorites.

Long-Term Success: Young core (Lowry/Millsap/Howard all 26 or younger), and much of the supporting cast also 28 or younger. Thompson/Honeycutt both high-potential guys, with Thompson already looking like a long-term piece going forward.

Pick-Two Success: Knicks are a shade below .500, these Knicks will be a lot better than that, and actually make sense as a roster.

Immediate Success:
Knicks
Celtics
Nets
Sixers
Raptors

Long-Term Success:
Knicks
Nets
Raptors
Sixers
Celtics

Pick-Two Success:
Raptors
Knicks
Nets
Sixers
Celtics

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CENTRAL DIVISION

Cleveland Cavaliers

PG - Kyrie Irving, Chauncey Billups, Earl Watson
SG - Landry Fields, George Hill, Sam Young
SF - Luol Deng, Jeff Green
PF - Kris Humphries, Brandon Bass, Matt Bonner
C  - Andrew Bynum, Nenad Krstic

Positive Thoughts: Irving, Deng, and Bynum all seem to be long-term cornerstones with potential for any one of (or even scarier) or all three of them to continue to improve into a legitimate squad of superstars. The depth provided by Hill, Young, Green, and Bass long-term has the makings of one of if not the best future second units going forward. There is a good symmetry here (which, if you happen to read all of these is like…a super-serious thing for me) with the potential for deadly scoring (Irving, Deng, Bynum are all potentially 20 ppg scorers), efficient ball-movement (Irving, Fields, Deng are all proficient (Irving) to elite (Fields, Deng) passers for their respective positions), rebounding (Bynum, Humphries, Deng, Fields are all among the best statistically at their positions for acquiring boards), and depth.

Negative Thoughts: Fields and Humphries are both below-average starters for their positions. And, to build further upon that, I worry that Fields is more of a system player (in the Knicks offense he’s asked to little and less aside from moving the ball on the Amar’e or Anthony, and in the defense he gets lauded as one of the few effective guys for the Knicks, but they’re the D’Antoni Knicks. Nobody plays good defense aside from Tyson Chandler, as we found out when Fields tried to guard Ray Allen last spring). While Hill, Young, Bass, Bonner, and Krstic are all important pieces going forward, there is no guarantee that Billups will be back next season, or that he will be anywhere near as effective as he was last year or the year before. He was playing well this past season, but age takes its toll, and he didn’t seem encouraged to be playing for the Clippers prior to them acquiring Chris Paul, which leads me to believe that he’s not going to be encouraged to be playing for the Cavaliers, especially in a reserve situation. Krstic may want to come back, but who knows if he will, and I’ll believe that Jeff Green will be okay once he actually plays some basketball. On top of that two starters (Deng, Bynum) have both missed significant time in the last few years, with Bynum being a legitimate candidate for ‘most likely to get hurt right when you need him most’, right next to Andrew Bogut and Dwyane Wade. On paper the team looks elite, but there are a lot of things that need to go right for them that could easily go very wrong.

Immediate success: Take the division, 3-4 seed, dependant on regular season record. Likely 1st or second round exit.

Long-term success: Possible contender as soon as next season, lock-contender within 3 yrs. Bynum biggest question mark.

Pick-2 Success: I have a hard time imagining how they could’ve done better with the Cavs. They started out without a superstar, and not only assembled a quality young team around quality young talent, they managed to assemble a quality team period, and as close to a surefire future contender as you can get when you’re relying on Andrew Bynum as a future cornerstone.

Chicago Bulls

PG - Derek Rose, Jimmer Fredette, Eric Maynor
SG - Evan Turner, E'twaun Moore
SF - Omri Casspi, Al-Farouq Aminu
PF - Lamar Odom, JJ Hickson, Jon Leuer
C  - JaVale McGee, Jason Thompson, Aaron Gray

Positive Thoughts: I love the guard rotation of Rose/Turner/Fredette/Maynor. Good talent now, good talent going forward. If JaVale McGee can manage to stop being such a punk, the Noah/McGee trade might look pretty good in hindsight. Lots of athleticism off the bench and size. Derrick Rose is awesome.

Negative Thoughts: 2 of the 5 starters (Casspi, Odom) have no right being starters in 2012. Both are playing like hot garbage. Too many headcases for Derrick Rose’s liking I bet too (McGee, Odom, Hickson). Even IF everything goes right, and IF McGee, Turner, and Aminu all become what people hope they will, you’re still out a true second scorer next to Rose. And, as Boozer/Deng have proven, he kinda needs that.

Immediate Success: I have a really hard time thinking that Derrick Rose misses the playoffs because aside from Kobe, and Durant, he might be the guy whose drive and passion I admire most in the non-Garnett league. I like to think they’d find a way, but I would not be surprised if they did not, esp with the talent re-distribution and ensuing parity.

Long-Term Success: If Aminu, Turner, and McGee all turn into what people think they might, and Casspi gets to mid-2000’s Nocioni levels, this is a contender.

Pick-Two Success: Took a contender and took them out of contention, but the real Bulls have 4 legitimate All-Star caliber players. Replicating them would’ve been impossible.

Detroit Pistons

PG - Brandon Knight, Jarrett Jack
SG - Gerald Henderson, Gary Neal
SF - Grant Hill, Fransisco Garcia, Martell Webster, Jan Vesely
PF - Greg Monroe, Channing Frye, DJ White
C  - DeMarcus Cousins, Larry Sanders

Positive Thoughts: Lots of talent in the starting 5. Henderson, Monroe, Cousins all look like they might be All-stars in a year or three, with Knight showing signs of being special. There are a total of 7 top-10 picks in the 12-man rotation. That’s a lot of talent there.

Negative Thoughts: Everyone in the starting 5 is a productive and justifiable NBA starter. Nobody in the starting 5 plays for a playoff team, or has, excepting Grant Hill. The bench isn’t exactly littered with winners either. I know its counter-intuitive to think of that as a strike against, but I’m writing this, so BACK OFF! I love Greg Monroe, hate DeMarcus Cousins, and together I think you’re realizing the potential of neither. I worry about the pecking order, and the consequences of not having an established scoring priorities list.

Immediate Success: Henderson and Monroe both look to be turning the corner into stardom. Cousins is a head-case, and Knight isn’t a true PG. All this equals a roller-coaster right that ends just outside the playoffs.

Long-term Success: Five scariest words for a basketball fan: “It all relies on Cousins.” IF a solid pecking order can be established and Monroe/Cousins learn to coexist, IF Knight becomes a true PG, IF this year isn’t an aberration, and IF they can replace Hill with one of Vesely or Webster, this team will rival any other team in the East. Any team, from the Heat to the Cavs to the Knicks. Lots of Ifs.

Pick-Two Success: Detroit right now is a team full of misfit toys and malcontents. This Detroit team is a huge talent upgrade, and a fit upgrade too, despite the Cousins/Monroe dilemma.  

Indiana Pacers

PG - Brandon Jennings, JJ Barea, Gilbert Arenas
SG - Paul George, Daequan Cook
SF - Wilson Chandler, Mickael Pietrus
PF - Derrick Williams, Charlie Villanueva, Jason Maxiell
C  - Tyson Chandler, Bismack Biyombo, Kwame Brown

Positive Thoughts: I think that a team centered around Jennings/Paul George/Wilson Chandler/Derrick Williams/Tyson Chandler is a team that should be going places, dependent on Paul George’s advancement. Barea, Pietrus, Cook, Maxiell, and Brown are all quality proven depth. Biyombo could be the game-changer here, becoming either a legit 5 or a legit 4, or both. If Derrick Williams. High-level defenders at 1,2,3, and 5, with Biyombo’s development being the only thing stopping them from being the #1 defensive team in the league.

Negative Thoughts: Arenas is cooked, Jennings is not a consistent distributor, and Charlie Villanueva has the (misspelled) word ‘Villan’ in his last name, and Derrick Williams is still figuring it out. On top of that, Biyombo is so raw the FDA is advising to wait 2-3 years before serving him to the public. There is not one elite passer on this entire team.

Immediate Success: I have no idea. I think I underrate Brandon Jennings and Wilson Chandler, but I think also that this team is going to have a terribly hard time scoring because of atrocious ball-movement. Despite all the hype, I still have no idea what Paul George is other than ‘good’ and ‘kinda hits shots, sometimes’. I bet he doesn’t know either. They’re right there with Chicago battling for the 8th seed.

Long-term Success: See ‘immediate success’. For real long-term success, 3 guys need to reach their alleged ceilings, or close to it: Paul George needs to become an every-night lockdown defender who can create his own shot once and a while. Think Tay Prince, 2004. Derrick Williams needs to be able to create his own shot at will, as a kind of Melo/Millsap hybrid on offense,  and Biyombo needs to develop into a viable defensive force at least as good as Birdman in his prime every night. If all those things happen, this team looks like it’ll be a 3-4 seed for a long time, but those things are more unlikely to happen than they are likely.

Pick-Two Success: This is what happens when you take a team you like, and take a binky to build around. SO decided that he wanted the Pacers, and he wanted Paul George. The problem with the Pacers is that they don’t rely on one guy to carry the burden every night, with a huge dropoff in talent after that. They rely on 5 ‘pretty good’ guys (Hibbert, West, Granger, George, Collison) to bring it everynight, with a slight dropoff in talent to 2 more rotation guys (Hill, Hansbrough). Its really freakin hard to replicate that in this format. The current Pacers are a half-game out of third place in the East, so I’m going to say the Pick-Two Pacers got worse, with the addition that StartOrien picked one of the hardest (if not THE hardest) teams to improve, and he should never have paid someone to take Jeremy Lin off his hands.

Central Division, This Year:
Cavs
Bulls
Pacers
Pistons

Central Division, Going Forward:
Cavs
Pistons
Pacers
Bulls

Pick-Two Success:
Cavs (took the easy route)
Pistons
Pacers
Bulls

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SOUTHEAST

Atlanta Hawks

PG - Rajon Rondo, Jamal Crawford
SG - Tony Allen, Rip Hamilton, Dominique Jones
SF - Marvin Williams, Rashard Lewis
PF - Josh Smith, Anthony Randolph
C  - DeAndre Jordan, Chuck Hayes

Positive Thoughts: Elite defensive team. Quality depth outside of Anthony Randolph (don’t even start). Probably the best defensive team in the league. Also probably the most athletic team in the league.

Negative Thoughts: Offensively, maybe the worst team in the league. Jamal Crawford is the best pure scorer on the team, and he shoots 39% from the field. Missing shooters.

Immediate Success: Will win a good number of games. Allen, Rondo, Smith, and Jordan are all elite defenders at their respective positions. The games won’t be pretty (think Bucks in 2010), but they’ll be effective, and they’ll keep the score close enough every night to have a shot at winning. If Marvin Williams was like..Carmelo Anthony, I’d rank them as a contender (I know that’s one of the dumber things you’ll hear today. If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.)

Success Going Forward: Rondo, Allen, Smith, Jordan, Hayes, Williams, and Randolph are all going to be pretty much what they are for the next 6-8 years. If they can keep this core together and make a move for a better scorer at the 3 (preferably one who can also shoot the 3. Larry Bird?), they should be in the conversation just about every year.

Pick-Two Success: I like this team better than the current Hawks because at least they’re taking a stand against wholesale mediocrity and doing something on an elite level (defense). But, in terms of wins and success, probably about neutral. Still an accomplishment. The Hawks have 3 All-Stars, these Hawks have two.

Miami Heat

PG - Steve Nash, Shaun Livingston
SG - Dwyane Wade, Dahntay Jones
SF - Danny Granger, James Jones
PF - Derrick Favors, Udonis Haslem, Anthony Tolliver, Ben Wallace
C  - Marcin Gortat, Timofey Mozgov, Kevin Seraphin

Positive Thoughts: Steve Nash cried his Canadian tears the day K-Cat traded LeBron to Phoenix. I shed a hockey stick or two myself, it’s a fitting way for Nash and his Skelator face and weird, bird-like eyes and foppish haircut to finish out his career. The talent 1-5 is the best in the league, and the bench is populated by effective, proven players. The pieces seem to fit well, and complement each other on the whole as well. Good passing from Nash, Wade. Scoring from Nash, Wade, Granger, and defense from...well…defense. The bench has defense. The 1-2 punch of Gortat/Mozgov at the 5 should be pretty much everything anyone could want out of a center rotation.

Negative Thoughts: Elite defense ain’t happenin, an injury to Nash (he’s old, but apparently made of rubber), or Wade (he’s not made of rubber) submarines this team into mediocrity. Not lottery, but like..fringe playoff.  Not a ton of defense in the starting lineup.

Immediate Success: Title contender this season. Possible favorites.

Long-Term Success: Not as good as you may think. Key players (Nash, Haslem, Livingston are all candidates to be out of the league in a year or two) are going to fall off or leave in the next 2-3 years. Favors and Mozgov are the players most likely to make big steps forward, but none of it will likely compensate for the loss of Nash.

Pick-Two Success: They started out as title favorites with three all-nba caliber players, and ended up as title contenders, with 2 all-nba caliber players. Plus, they traded LeBron so its okay to like Dwyane Wade again.

Orlando Magic

PG - Jrue Holiday, Mo Williams, Beno Udrih
SG - Joe Johnson, Ronnie Brewer, OJ Mayo
SF - Shawn Marion, Tracy McGrady
PF - Amare Stoudemire, Gustavo Ayon
C  - Kurt Thomas, Nikola Vucevic, Cole Aldrich

Positive Thoughts: Top to bottom, probably the most talented team in the league. TONS of versatility. Title contender.

Negative Thoughts: Lots of redundancy on the roster, could’ve done with some talent consolidation. Shawn Marion…man I don’t know what to make of that guy. Resurrected his career last season with the Mavs, but it was a pretty unique situation. In the same way that STAT should play better outside his current situation, its awfully likely that Marion will regress a bit. Still due to the versatility on the roster, its not such a huge stepback.

Immediate Success: 3rd or 4th best team in the East, and outside title contender.

Long-Term Success: Not great. Amar’e’s knees are the riskiest gamble outside of Bynum’s or Oden’s. The money tied up in Amar’e and Joe Johnson functionally handicaps any major moves in the event of a rebuild, Marion is on his way out, and the most promising prospect, Jrue Holiday, has taken a bit of a step back (or, more likely, sideways). If they don’t get a ring in 1 or 2 years, its pretty likely that they never will with the current core.

Pick-Two Success: The current Magic are not a contender. These Magic are. Success.

Washington Wizards

PG - John Wall, Kemba Walker
SG - Kevin Martin, Keyon Dooling, Jordan Crawford
SF - Jared Dudley, Michael Beasley, Sasha Pavlovic
PF - Serge Ibaka, Markieff Morris
C  - Joakim Noah, Johan Petro, Andris Biedrins

Positive Thoughts: Elite defensive frontcourt, very good depth as long as Beasley doesn’t just start shooting people, and lots of talent and potential in the starting 5, especially if John Wall develops like he was supposed to (Kyrie Irving has stolen his thunder, but he’s having a good year aside from his jump shooting troubles. Very early-Rondo, but a better scorer, worse defender). Love Markieff Morris behind Ibaka.

Negative Thoughts: Noah and Ibaka are both elite help defenders at this point. Neither one can guard a traditional starting physical center. They’ll both get pushed around, and nobody else on the roster can do it either. I really doubt Beasley will be happy sitting behind Dudley, and I don’t think that an unhappy Beasley is reconciled by his talent. No good defenders at the 2, let alone people who can really check a decent scorer.

Immediate Success: Low playoff seed or fringe lottery. Need something to put them over the edge, a better fit at the 4 would help, or a different 5.

Long-Term Success: Soooooo much young talent. Sky is the limit here because of the high-potential nature of Ibaka and Wall. If Ibaka can develop KG’s jumper (something he was close to doing 2 yrs ago, regressed this year), it’d do wonders here, helping clear whole swathes of paint for Wall and Martin. While nothing short of Noah gaining 80 lbs of muscle will probably change my mind about them not being a title favorite no matter how high Wall rises, the bar is pretty high as to what they can achieve.

Pick-Two Success: Brought a team without 2 sure keepers (McGee, Blatch, Young are all VERY flawed), did some nifty trading, and ended up with a probable playoff squad. Well done.

Southeast Division, This Year:
Miami
Orlando
Hawks
Wizards

Southeast Division, Going Forward:
Wizards
Hawks
Miami
Orlando

Southeast Division, Pick-Two Success:
Wizards
Orlando
Hawks
Miami

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Southwest

Dallas Mavericks

PG - Mario Chalmers, Marco Belinelli, TJ Ford
SG - Ray Allen, Jason Terry
SF - Hedo Turkoglu
PF - Dirk Nowitzki, Boris Diaw, Hakim Warrick, Steve Novak, Yi
C  - Kendrick Perkins, Jermaine O'Neal

Positive Thoughts: No primadonnas. Lots of experience, lots of ‘winners’. Good outside shooting. Good depth at the 2, 4, and 5 (even though you can’t trust Jermaine O’Neal not to crumble into dust at any moment).

Negative Thoughts: None of the PG options are good PG options. None of the SF options are good SF options. Motivational issue with Diaw/Turkoglu both logically logging a lot of minutes. Defense is a serious concern, as there are zero decent help defenders, and the supporting cast around Perkins is likely not good enough defensively or athletic enough to maximize him as a ‘defensive anchor’.

Immediate Success: Still probably pretty good. 5-7 seed, with some wins that will make you think they’re for real and some losses that will make you wonder why they’re all on the same team.

Long-Term Success: Complete rebuild after Dirk retires, and zero top-tier prospects going forward.

Pick-Two Success: A true starting-caliber point guard would’ve made me think this was at least equal to the Mavs, if not better. Without the starting caliber PG, with the clear defensive step-down from Matrix to Turk, with the loss of Kidd’s leadership, defense, experience, I have to think they got worse. Tough team to build around though, lots of talent outside of Dirk in real life, and matching that is difficult. Would’ve like to see a move made to reunite Chandler/Kidd/Marion.

Houston Rockets

PG - Jose Calderon, Nate Robinson, Reggie Jackson
SG - Mike Dunleavy, JR Smith
SF - Carmelo Anthony, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, Ryan Gomes
PF - Kenyon Martin, Ed Davis, Craig Smith
C  - Al Jefferson, Jeff Foster

Positive Thoughts: The Rockets bin hayd buckets. They got outside shooting buckets, they got athletic  dunk buckets, they got low-post move buckets, they got solid but underrated mid-range game buckets. They BEEN-HAD-BUCKETS. Buckets for days. Who got more buckets than the Rockets? Nobody, cuz.

Negative Thoughts: Headcases (Nate-Rob, Melo, JR Smith, Kenyon Martin)? Check. Defensive liabilities (Calderon, Melo, JR Smith, Al Jeff (although I’m actually coming around on him)? Check. Solid locker-room leader to mitigate this roving frigate of ego-maniacal offense? No? Seriously? Are you telling me that someone put all these guys together with a proven locker-room leader? RUNNN! ERRYBODY RUNNN!!!!

Immediate Success: If they can stop from imploding (they can’t), they’d be possible contenders, even with the defensive issues. What they’re gonna end up being is pretty much “Nuggets 2.0” (the one with Melo/Billups/crazy people..not the good one) with less defense and more scoring.

Long-Term Success: Pretty good looking forward if they can keep the band together, at least from a Talent stand-point. Melo, Al-Jeff, JR Smith, are all starting-caliber talents on the right side of 30. Plus, Ed Davis, Reggie Jackson, and Ryan Gomes all look to be valuable rotation pieces for the next 10 years, with Reggie and Ed Davis both having a shot at starting.

Pick-Two Success: Well, give Rondo#### credit for taking a direction and running with it. The real-life Rockets are a blue-collar collection of tough-minded talent who get ugly wins based on hustle and efficient defense. Rondo didn’t want that. He wanted Buckets. He petitioned for me to allow him to resign ‘Ricky Davis from like four years ago, mayne’, but I didn’t know what he was talking about.

Memphis Grizzlies

PG - Jason Kidd, CJ Watson, Chris Duhon
SG - Michael Redd, Mike Miller, Von Wafer
SF - Rudy Gay, Donte Greene
PF - David West, Nick Collison, Dante Cunningham
C  - Marc Gasol, Joel Anthony

Positive Thougths: Great, top 15 (respective to their position) pieces at the 1, 3, 4, and 5. Great depth at the 1, 2, 4. Good mix of egos that won’t clash and will be able to work together. Good mix of youth and experience. Good inside-outside oriented offense, and good defense from the frontcourt.

Negative Thoughts: If this were a dead horse, someone would ask me why I hated that dead horse so much, but I’m gonna say it anyways: The defense between Kidd/the 2’s does not work. Jason Kidd is too slow to check point guards every night. Mike Miller and Michael Redd have the same issue, except they’re too slow to check SG’s. Basically if you want to use Kidd and really make it work, you’re going to see a lot of Kidd/Watson, Kidd/Wafer, and some Kidd/Duhon line-ups. David West has not been playing well this year, hopefully he snaps back into himself at some point (for his sake, and for Indy’s), but until then big question marks remain.

Immediate Success: Pretty good. Aside from the SG situation, one of the most talented collections of starting talent out there. The depth is varied enough so there should always be a pretty premium collection of talent on the floor. Memphis right now is 7th in the West and I think this team can pass that.

Long-Term Success: Gay/West/Gasol trifecta should be around for a while, and any team built around that should be in the playoffs, so pretty good here as well.

Pick-Two Success: Better than the Grizzlies without Z-Bo, but I’m not sure they’re better than the Griz with Z-Bo. Call it a wash.

New Orleans Hornets

PG - Jeff Teague, Norris Cole, Sundaita Gaines, Andrew Goudelock
SG - Eric Gordon, Courtney Lee
SF - Nicolas Batum, Derrick Brown, Josh Howard
PF - Zach Randolph, Brandan Wright
C  - Emeka Okafor, Brendan Haywood

Positive Thoughts: Tons of potential once everyone is healthy. Just tons. Potential abounds. Very good depth when they get back too. Lots of athleticism, very good defensive potential.

Negative Thoughts: Really, the starters look like: Teague/Lee/Batum/Wright/Okafor. Should’ve traded Brendan Haywood for a better prospect at the 4, ideally a younger fella who can play the 4/5. Splitter would’ve been a great fit here. Ayon would’ve been a great fit here.

Immediate Success: They’re not making the playoffs this year. They never planned to.

Long-Term Success: Sky is the limit. Seriously, very good talent 1-5 with complementary pieces. The only qualm I have is I wish their starting 5 could hit a 10ft jumper, to allow Z-Bo to operate.

Pick-Two Success: Well done. They really improved on the actual Hornets.

San Antonio Spurs

PG - Tony Parker, Roddy Beaubois
SG - Manu Ginobili, Randy Foye, Alec Burks
SF - Richard Jefferson, Gordon Hayward
PF - Chris Bosh, Chris Wilcox, Troy Murphy, Brian Scalabrine
C  - Tim Duncan, Robin Lopez

Positive Thoughts: I am having a much harder time finding bad things to say about this team than good ones. Elite talent at 1, 2, 4, 5. Elite depth everywhere. Versatile pieces on the bench that can almost to a man play 2 positions, or more.

Negative Thoughts: Richard Jefferson just isn’t that good, Robin Lopez is not a guy you want to start games for a contender, but neither is Chris Wilcox. Not a true point to be found outside of Parker.

Immediate Success: Barring injury to Manu or Duncan (the two most logical derailments this team would encounter), they’re on the short list of title favorites.

Long-Term Success: Once Duncan retires in a year or two, this team goes from title favorite to fringe contender. I don’t think there is a rising-star quality prospect on the roster to recover that lost presence. Also, how old is Manu Ginobli? Seriously. 36? 28? I have no idea. He’s got a ‘young premature balding latin guy’ thing going on where I always forget. He’s like Edgar. How old is Edgar? 28? 37?

Pick-Two Success: Took the second place Spurs and made them considerably better. Took the two biggest weakspots (depth at the 2, the whole ‘guy who plays next to Duncan’ situation) and make them strengths.

Immediate Success:
Spurs
Grizzlies
Rockets
Mavs
Hornets

Long-Term Success:
Hornets
Rockets
Grizzlies
Spurs
Mavs

Pick-Two Success:
Spurs
Hornets
Rockets
Grizzlies
Mavs

[indeedproceed]

WAC

Denver Nuggets

PG - Ty Lawson, Devin Harris, Eric Bledsoe
SG - Arron Afflalo, Ben Gordon, CJ Miles
SF - Jason Richardson, John Salmons
PF - Al Horford, Josh McRoberts
C  - Nene, Nikola Pekovic, Greg Oden

Positive Thoughts: Hey, it’s a Champkind team; its got Al Horford, Ty Lawson (did you patent Ty Lawson?), and a solid supporting cast. There are no stars on this team but at the same time, there aren’t really any weak-spots, other than the ones created by injuries this season. Healthy, probably the best bigs rotation in terms of depth and consistency in the league. Lots of defense. Lots of Steve Nash’s wife stealing. Lots of naked pictures leaked on twitter. Lots of argyle sweatervests with white t-shirts underneath it, and I’m imagining, the pre-requisite collection of ‘Boy Meets World’ season DVD sets to go with them. I like it.

Negative Thoughts: Steve Nash did NOTHING to you, Jason Richardson. He passed you the ball. So sue him, he wanted to get you some buckets. Jeez.

Also, this is a team starting Josh McRoberts, playing Jason Richardson out of position, and with absolutely no depth at the 4 unless Pekovic plays out of position. On top of that, with Oden out the team is only going to suit up 3 frontcourt players. Plus, Nene is having a down year, one hopes its not a prophetic one.

Immediate Success: Not a whole lot. For this team to go anywhere, they need to be unrelenting in their top to bottom ‘just above average’ consistency at every position. They have above average starters, above average backups (when measured against backups). With Horford out, Salmons having a really bad year (building upon another bad year last year), and Oden out for the duration, they’re going to run the legitimate risk of running Nene and pekovic into the ground.

Long-Term Success: When this team gets healthy, they’re going to be very dangerous. Most of the core is still young (Lawson, Afflalo, Bledsoe, Horford, Pekovic, SWEATERVEST, etc…), and I’m not even counting Oden. Could be a 2nd tier contender in as little as a year. Doesn’t have the star-power to be a favorite.

Pick-Two Success: Basically Champ took the opportunity to take a step back this year in order to take a huge step forward next year. Would he have been better off taking the best healthy player in the 1st (would have been one of Harden/Ibaka/Deng)? I really don’t know. I think he could’ve matched the Nuggets current roster with such a pick, but I also think that going forward he made the right choice to make the team better faster.

Minnesota Timberwolves

PG - Ricky Rubio, Goran Dragic, Isaiah Thomas
SG - Marcus Thornton, Kyle Korver
SF - Chandler Parsons, James Johnson, Marcus Morris
PF - Kevin Love, Ersan Ilyasova
C  - Sam Dalembert, Josh Harrellson, Hamed Haddadi

Positive Thoughts: Well balanced team, good symmetry, and well put together. Of the logical 9-10 man rotation, has very good bench players at all 4 spots (Dragic/Korver/JJ/Illy), good potential on the bench as well in Isaiah Thomas and Marcus Morris. Also, love Haddadi, should go ahead of Harrellson, who sounds more like a guy who would be friends with Jake Busey (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000998/).

Negative Thoughts: Never been a believer in Marcus Thornton as a starter on an elite team, and its tempering my expectations here. Although, I do love that he’s playing next to a 6’4 PG who can D-up 2’s. Dalembert is an upgrade over Milicic or Pekovic as a defensive force, but I don’t think that he’s ‘the answer’ next to Kevin Love. Very raw, young team who collectively haven’t won a thing in their professional careers.

Immediate Success: Fringe playoff team that will beat teams people think are ‘better’ on a regular basis, but will drop some games against teams that are clearly ‘worse’ pretty frequently as well. It’d be a mid-40’s win team in an 82 game season. They’re a talented young team, that goes with the territory.

Long-Term Success: Contender long-term, and should be in the running for TOTF. They’re a legitimate blue-chip center prospect away from locking it up for certain.

Pick-Two Success: Improved the already improving T-Wolves just by adding Thornton and Parsons (two legitimate positional starters at the 2/3, with Parsons already proving he can bring the defense and the rebounding with the Rockets.

Oklahoma City Thunder

PG - Mike Conley, Kirk Hinrich
SG - Andre Iguodala, Carlos Delfino
SF - Kevin Durant, Tobias Harris, Chris Singleton
PF - Luis Scola, Tyler Hansbrough, Jason Maxiell
C  - Chris Kaman, Enes Kanter, Jonas Valanciounas

Positive Thoughts: Kevin Durant: check. Second star next to him: Check. Able cast of supporting role-players: Check. Love the depth 1, 2, 4, 5….and honestly how much is Durant going to sit anyways?

Negative Thoughts: I wish you had a more viable 2/3 backup than Delfino. Delfino is a good player, he’s far from a net negative asset. But, I don’t like him checking full-time 2’s, especially elite 2’s. I’d also feel better about the team if there was a better match at the 4/5. Kaman shouldn’t be starting for anyone with title aspirations outside of teams where that doesn’t really matter like Miami or…well I think only Miami could get away with that. Perkins’ addition proves this team needs that kind of attitude, leadership, and skill-set, and Kaman isn’t bringing any of that. Scola looks like a terrible fit next to Kaman (Scola is shooting 38% on jumpshots this year, Kaman only a little better at 41% on all FGA’s), and I think the lack of athleticism or defensive ‘oomph’ in the frontcourt holds this team back.

Immediate Success: I’m having problems seeing the Scola/Kaman lineup succeeding. Neither is a defensive anchor, and Scola in particular will have  a lot of issues D’ing up the quicker, more athletic,  and more offensively  gifted PF’s out West, like Aldridge, Gasol, Nowitzki, etc.. The bench however is full of athleticism, so maybe it will balance out. They still have Durant, still have a capable PG, and have a more complementary star next to KD. They lost a lot of defense, lost Harden’s scoring, but got some of that back with their current front-court. OKC were title favorites, but they’re likely now just contenders. Still contenders, though.

Long-Term Success: This team should only improve as Scola/Kaman are phased out, and Kanter/ Valanciounas are phased in. If Kanter shows he could play major minutes at the 4, this team gets a heck of a lot scarier.

Pick-Two Success: Traded Westbrook (better talent) for a more complementary fit (Iggy) next to Durant, but ended up trading more talent immediate talent (Scola/Kaman) at the expense of defense and a much better fit (Ibaka/Perkins). Coupled with the loss of Harden, and I think Lucky’s Thunder are a step below the real thing.

Portland Trailblazers

PG - Lou Williams, Jerryd Bayless
SG - Wes Matthews, Iman Shumpert, Manny Harris
SF - Gerald Wallace, Anthony Parker, Austin Daye
PF - Elton Brand, Trevor Booker, Tristan Thompson
C  - LaMarcus Aldridge, Amir Johnson

Positive Thoughts: Managed to keep the current 18-16 Blazers’ core intact (sans TWW binkie Nic Batum), which is an accomplishment. Lots of athletic defenders and versatility. Brand/Parker are just the type of guys to bring in to maintain the maturity without dominating the lockerroom.

Negative Thoughts: No real distributor at the 1 or 2, and nobody on the wing to makeup for it. No legitimate centers on the team aside from Elton Brand, but including Brand and Wallace, there are 6 true 4’s among the 13 players on the roster. Of the rotation players, only 4 can consistently hit a jumpshot further than 20 feet away from the hoop.

Immediate Success: Good team, but not great. The real Blazers are 18-16, and I think these Blazers are similar.

Long-Term Success: Good, would be great if there were a legitimate 5 prospect on the team. Still going to need to adjust the situation at the 1 and the 5 at some point, and add some shooters to be In the conversation to go deep into the playoffs, but good overall going forward, with a fair amount of money once Brand expires.

Pick-Two Success: Broke even on a team that wasn’t easy to do. Brand is an improvement over Camby, but Batum’s loss and the lack of passing were two things that went unfixed. But, the Blazers rely on a rotation that goes 10 deep, and they use every part of the Buffalo. Its hard to replicate that here.

Utah Jazz

PG - Russell Westbrook, Baron Davis, Shelvin Mack
SG - Vince Carter, Willie Green
SF - Chase Budinger, Dorell Wright
PF - Ryan Anderson, Patrick Patterson, Ivan Johnson, Lavoy Allen
C  - Tiago Splitter, Lance Allred

Positive Thoughts: Move over Deron Williams’ petulant ghost, Utah’s got a new superhero. Russell Westbrook finally gets to prove people like me right who say on his own, he’d be basically Derrick Rose-Lite, without much Lite. Lots of good shooters and useful talent in the starting lineup and on the bench, and we also get to see if people like me are right in that Tiago Splitter is a viable starting 5 in the NBA. Good depth at the 1,2,3,4.

Negative Thoughts: Lance Allred can’t backup a good center in the NBA, let alone a sophomore who is going to have some growing pains, and there is no help to be found on the bench elsewhere, as all the 4’s are either too inexperienced, or rely on their athleticism to play the 4, not their size. And Vince Carter….gross.

Immediate Success: Completely different team than the actual Utah Jazz, who rely on ball-movement from 1-3, while dominating the paint with superior size and talent. This team will rely on hot shooting to open up avenues for Westbrook to average 28-30 ppg. I’d like their playoff odds more if they had better defenders at the 3 and 2, as well as more proven size and toughness at the 5, but still, I like them anyways.

Long-Term Success: Carter gone (good riddance), B-Diddy gone (good riddance), and basically the same team with 3 years of experience? Perrenial playoff team, maybe a fringe contender, maybe not. Depends who plays the 2, and if one of Buddinger, Patterson, or Splitter really makes a leap forward, instead of a small step.

Pick-Two Success: These are the players the Jazz really rely on to get them W’s: Al Jefferson, Paul Millsap, Gordon Hayward, Derrick Favors, Enes Kanter, Raja Bell, Devin Harris. Look at the draft board for when those guys came off the list. Millsap, Jefferson, Hayward, Favors, Kanter were all done within the first 4 rounds. Merovech gave up the spread-out talent approach and went for the star in Westbrook. On top of that he’s got a pretty diesel PF in Andersen and a very good center prospect in Tiago Splitter. I’m not sure I’d say he improved the Jazz, but he assembled an interesting team.

Immediate Success:
Thunder
T-Wolves
Blazers
Nuggets
Jazz

Long-Term Success:
T-Wolves
Thunder
Nuggets
Blazers
Jazz (note: honestly Nugs/Blaz/Jazz are interchangeable)

Pick-Two Success:
T-Wolves (easiest diff)
Blazers
Nuggets
Jazz (toughest)
Thunder

[indeedproceed]

Pacific Division

Golden State Warriors

PG - Steph Curry, Greivis Vasquez
SG - James Harden, Raja Bell, Malcolm Lee
SF - Trevor Ariza, Matt Barnes
PF - David Lee, DeJuan Blair, Jared Jeffries, Trey Thompkins
C  - Marcus Camby, Jordan Hill

Positive Thoughts: Love, love, love the Curry/Vasquez/Harden backcourt. Despite the fact that I have very little animosity towards Raja Bell personally, I don’t see any reason he should see the court when you can use the league’s best combo guard (Curry) at the 1 and 2, and give two starters quality players starters quality minutes (Vaquez/Harden). My favorite backcourt in the league. Love any team that can afford to bring DeJuan Blair off the bench, Jordan Hill is a serviceable backup big, and…well that’s about it.

Negative Thoughts: Nothing against Marcus Camby, but this is asking too much of him. People see him starting for the Trailblazers and think he’s bringing that good ol fashioned D-Fence he used to bring. Truth is, its LaMarcus Aldridge that’s the superhero in the post along with Crash Wallace. David Lee is a poor defender on a good day against centers (which is the position he defends best), and he’s worse against 4’s, and Camby cannot afford to bounce back and forth with Lee’s mistakes. I think Ariza is overrated as a defender at the 3, personally. People act like he’s a lock-down 3, but he’s more of a ‘strongly suggest maybe you should stay inside’ 3. Because of all that, and without a defensive ‘heart and soul’ kinda guy, I think they’re going to have a rough go at stopping physical teams, esp teams with solid post players.

Immediate Success: They’re better than the actual Warriors at the 3 other positions not filled by keepers, their backups are mostly better (I’d take Thompson over Bell, and Rush over Barnes..and I did), and the only real glaring hole they have is the post-defense. Real warriors are on track to win 28 games (out of 66), but  I think these Warriors are a bit better than that, I’d put them + or – 1 game away from .500, either way.

Long-Term Success: Vasquez is the only non-starting legitimate prospect on the team, so pretty much simple is as simple does here. What you see is what you get. Too many hens make a soup. Ain’t no tiger in the lion Chili, if you know what I mean. A wet bird never flies at night. There is some room for advancement if Curry and Harden continue to improve, but without addressing the FC situation, its gonna be tough to get too much better.

Pick-Two Success: Well, he improved the Warriors in the now, but didn’t replace promising prospects Ekpe Udoh or Klay Thompson. I call it a wash.

Los Angeles Clippers

PG - Chris Paul, DJ Augustin, Toney Douglas
SG - Anthony Morrow, Bill Walker, Wayne Ellington
SF - Danny Green, Jonas Jerebko
PF - Blake Griffin, Antawn Jamison, Shawne Williams
C  - Zaza Pachulia, Memo Okur

Positives: If you don’t like a team with Blake Griffin and Chris Paul on it, you’re not American. Promising young players Danny Green, Jerebko, and DJ Augustin lead one to believe that the future will get even better, and locker room stalwarts such as Antawn Jamison, DJ Augustin, and Memo Okur will be assets come playoff time.

Negatives: Danny Green, Anthony Morrow, and Zaza Pachulia are all down-grades from the actual Clippers (excepting maybe Morrow, since I refuse to acknowledge Randy Foye in any matter at all), and all well below-average starters at their current positions. While Green especially shows promise, he’s still pretty unfinished, and at the 3 his size (6’5 without shoes) limits one of his best skillsets (rebounding). Green ideally would float off the bench between the 2/3, or start at the 2. Memo Okur looks pretty donezo as a basketball player, and Zaza is a guy who shouldn’t be starting on any team, let alone one with title aspirations. Bill Walker and Wayne Ellington are both not good enough to pick up the slack left by Anthony Morrow.

Immediate Success: The real Clippers with DeAndre Jordan, Caron Butler, etc.. are only winning games at a 64% clip. These Clippers are worse, so I’ll put them around .500 this season.

Long-Term Success: Well, none of the starters are going anywhere, and the CP3/BG combo should improve with increased familiarity, and Danny Green in particular looks like in a year or two he could be a legitimate starter. If Jerebko can also make the leap and they can trot out CP3/Green/Jerebko/Griffin/Zaza (or hopefully an upgrade to Zaza), this could be a pretty special team. Borderline contender.

Pick-Two Success: Not great, they got considerably worse. However, all the key Clippers players were off the board early, so even if all Bahku wanted to do was simply replicate the Clippers, he’d still have a hard time doing that.

Los Angeles Lakers

PG - Jordan Farmar, Leandro Barbosa, Will Bynum
SG - Kobe Bryant, DeShawn Stevenson
SF - Thabo Sefolosha, Corey Maggette, Rasual Butler
PF - Pau Gasol, Taj Gibson, Vladamir Radmanovic
C  - Omer Asik, Ronny Turiaf

Positive Thinking: Elite defensive team 2-5, with the bench to back it up. Very good scoring potential in the second unit. Lots of room for growth from key reserves (Asik, Gibson), and with the proven commodities where their ceiling is established (Barbosa, Maggette, Turiaf, Stevenson), their abilities are farther reaching than the demands placed upon them (with the possible exception of Barbosa).

Negative Thinking: If the Pick-Two Rockets are the Yin, the Pick-2 Lakers are the Yang. You’re going to need 30 points on 40%+ shooting from Kobe and ~23-25 on 55% from Gasol nightly, with consistent production from Barbosa, Gibson, and unlikeliest of all, Maggette. Its just not going to happen every night.

Immediate Success: Playoffs, punchers’ chance (actually with this team, its more like a rope-a-dope) at contention, but unlikely to make it past the second round.

Long-Term Success: Once Bryant is gone, it’s a full rebuild. Who did his homework, and had a plan, and that plan didn’t involve taking shots at unknown prospects and putting his money with ‘potential’.

Pick-Two Success: The real-life Lakers have Who’s two cornerstones (Bryant, Gasol) AND one of the best Centers in the NBA (Bynum). Even with those 3 guys, they’re a second tier playoff team (according to record), and were a 2nd round sweep last season. Who improved the non-star starters (although improving Derek Fisher to Jordan Farmar is kind of like improving from crap crackers to poop toast), and greatly improved the bench. Honestly, although the loss of Bynum is probably greater than the sum of all Who’s parts, I’m still gonna say Who did a good job here. I think he improved the Lakers’ playoff chances, and their regular season record. They’re always going to be tough defensively, and some nights when Kobe/Barbosa/Gasol/Gibson all have it going, they’re going to be unstoppable.

Phoenix Suns

PG - Darren Collison, Steve Blake, Derek Fisher
SG - JJ Redick, Shannon Brown
SF - LeBron James, Shane Battier, Quentin Richardson
PF - Carl Landry, Glen Davis, Travis Outlaw
C  - Byron Mullens, Marreese Speights

Positive Thoughts: LeBron James is hands down the best player in the NBA. Lots of experience with winning and high-pressure moment from the starting 5 on down the bench.

Negative Thoughts: If the rumors are true and the Pacers are going to bench Collison for George Hill that will mean every single player aside from LeBron James on the roster is a below starting caliber asset.

Immediate Success: I really don’t know. My gut tells me there is no way that LeBron can get this supporting cast into the playoffs. Then, my gut says, “THEY STARTED DONYELL MARSHALL AND DANIEL GIBSON!!! AND WENT TO THE FINALS!”

Long-Term Success: Hinges on the Suns’ ability to kidnap LeBron James’ children (I’m assuming he cares about them. Its speculation, I know), and keep LeBron in Arizona. As long as they can do that, its looking pretty awesome.

Pick-Two Success: The Suns took a non-playoff team and converted it to LeBron James. That’s great success.

Sacramento Kings / St Louis Bombers

PG - Tyreke Evans, Avery Bradley, John Lucas III
SG - Nick Young, MarShon Brooks, Rudy Fernandez
SF - Linas Kleiza, Sasha Pavlovic
PF - Al Harrington, Kenneth Faried, Reggie Evans
C  - Roy Hibbert, Ian Mahinmi, Jason Smith

Positive Thoughts: Really diverse mix of talent. Lots of athleticism. Looks like the ego problems that currently plague the Kings won’t be an issue here. Evans will have every chance to show the world what he can do.

Negative Thoughts: Defense is a real concern. Kleiza never got to where we thought he was going after Denver, and Sasha was never headed there in the first place. Faried will hustle enough to play the type of defense you want out of your 4, but he’s undersized and an injury risk, and pretty close to a finished product anyways. Young, Brooks, Harrington, could all be valuable additions to a team, but you can really only play one of them at a time, because they’re bringing so little to the table aside from scoring.

Immediate Success: Probably not a lot. I love the Hibbert acquisition, but outside of that, I just don’t think this team has what it needs to make the dance, let alone advance (in the dance).

Long-Term Success: I was reading somewhere that Nick Young might eventually be a two-way basketball player. IF that happens, IF Faried can prove himself to be a rotation-worthy piece, this team has a shot at being relevant in a year or two.

Pick-Two Success: They got rid of a lot of the redundant talent, and Boogie Cousins. Success right there. Mix in a legit starting Center with a gift for passing and, more importantly, ‘not being a headcase’, and it’s a double success.

Immediate Success:
Lakers
Clippers
Warriors (3a)
Suns (3b)
Kings

Longterm Success:
Suns
Clippers
Warriors
Kings
Lakers

Pick-Two Success:
Suns
Lakers
Kings
Warriors
Clippers

[indeedproceed]

Eastern Playoff Teams:

1.   Knicks
2.   Heat
3.   Magic
4.   Cavs
5.   Hawks
6.   Bulls
7.   Celtics
8.   Wizards

Why: The Knicks have been mostly injury free this year with a hiccup for Lowry early in the season, but with Ridnour able to pickup the slack there, I didn't see it as debilitating, and since I'm doing this I had the KNicks with a better record than the Heat. The Magic are super-talented and if we only had Amar'es season from last year to go on they'd likely be first or second, but with Amare's mediocre year so far, I dropped them a notch. The Cavs should be pretty solid here on out without injuries to Bynum, and I think the Hawks, when they're not absolutely shutting people down, are gonna drop a fair amount of games. The Bulls get there cuz Derrick Rose alone will buy them a 6 seed, the Celtics hobbled by injury limp into the playoffs, and the Wizards are really happy to be there.

[indeedproceed]

West Playoff Teams:

1.   Spurs
2.   Thunder
3.   Lakers
4.   T-Wolves
5.   Blazers
6.   Grizzlies
7.   Clippers
8.   Suns

The Spurs are in second place without Chris Bosh so I can't really drop them a spot with him. The Thunder are diminished but while I think Scola/Kaman/Kanter is a liability come playoff time, I think the depth there will help them in the regular season. Kobe and Gasol and the LA Defense Machine ride in at 3rd, cuz Kobe is insane. The T-Wolves are the biggest jumpers in the draft so far. The Blazers, Grizzlies, Clippers are close, edge Blazers (in terms of reg season games won), LeBron wills the Suns into the playoffs.

[indeedproceed]

Playoffs, Misc noteables

EAST:
Knicks (1) V Wizards (8)
                                 Knicks (1) V Cavs (4)
Cavs (4) V Hawks (5)

                                                               _________________

Heat (2) V Celtics (7)
                               Heat (2) V Magic (3)
Magic (3) V Pacers (6)


WEST:

Spurs (1) V Suns (8)
                              Spurs (1) V Blazers (5)
T-Wolves (4) V Blazers (5)

                                                        ________________________

Thunder (2) V Clippers (7)
                              Thunder (2) V Grizzlies (6)
Lakers (3) V Grizzles (6)

[indeedproceed]

Central, Southeast divisions are up.

[Roy H.]

CENTRAL DIVISION

Cleveland Cavaliers

PG - Kyrie Irving, Chauncey Billups, Earl Watson
SG - Landry Fields, George Hill, Sam Young
SF - Luol Deng, Jeff Green
PF - Kris Humphries, Brandon Bass, Matt Bonner
C  - Andrew Bynum, Nenad Krstic

Positive Thoughts: Irving, Deng, and Bynum all seem to be long-term cornerstones with potential for any one of (or even scarier) or all three of them to continue to improve into a legitimate squad of superstars. The depth provided by Hill, Young, Green, and Bass long-term has the makings of one of if not the best future second units going forward. There is a good symmetry here (which, if you happen to read all of these is like…a super-serious thing for me) with the potential for deadly scoring (Irving, Deng, Bynum are all potentially 20 ppg scorers), efficient ball-movement (Irving, Fields, Deng are all proficient (Irving) to elite (Fields, Deng) passers for their respective positions), rebounding (Bynum, Humphries, Deng, Fields are all among the best statistically at their positions for acquiring boards), and depth.

Negative Thoughts: Fields and Humphries are both below-average starters for their positions. And, to build further upon that, I worry that Fields is more of a system player (in the Knicks offense he’s asked to little and less aside from moving the ball on the Amar’e or Anthony, and in the defense he gets lauded as one of the few effective guys for the Knicks, but they’re the D’Antoni Knicks. Nobody plays good defense aside from Tyson Chandler, as we found out when Fields tried to guard Ray Allen last spring). While Hill, Young, Bass, Bonner, and Krstic are all important pieces going forward, there is no guarantee that Billups will be back next season, or that he will be anywhere near as effective as he was last year or the year before. He was playing well this past season, but age takes its toll, and he didn’t seem encouraged to be playing for the Clippers prior to them acquiring Chris Paul, which leads me to believe that he’s not going to be encouraged to be playing for the Cavaliers, especially in a reserve situation. Krstic may want to come back, but who knows if he will, and I’ll believe that Jeff Green will be okay once he actually plays some basketball. On top of that two starters (Deng, Bynum) have both missed significant time in the last few years, with Bynum being a legitimate candidate for ‘most likely to get hurt right when you need him most’, right next to Andrew Bogut and Dwyane Wade. On paper the team looks elite, but there are a lot of things that need to go right for them that could easily go very wrong.

Immediate success: Take the division, 3-4 seed, dependant on regular season record. Likely 1st or second round exit.

Long-term success: Possible contender as soon as next season, lock-contender within 3 yrs. Bynum biggest question mark.

Pick-2 Success: I have a hard time imagining how they could’ve done better with the Cavs. They started out without a superstar, and not only assembled a quality young team around quality young talent, they managed to assemble a quality team period, and as close to a surefire future contender as you can get when you’re relying on Andrew Bynum as a future cornerstone.


Central Division, This Year:
Cavs
Bulls
Pacers
Pistons

Central Division, Going Forward:
Cavs
Pistons
Pacers
Bulls

Pick-Two Success:
Cavs (took the easy route)
Pistons
Pacers
Bulls

Wow.  Tremendous effort doing this analysis.  I will say that regarding the Cavs, I think you pretty much nailed it.  Even your question marks are pretty fair.  I've got some small quibbles, and I think I like Humphries and Fields better than you do, but overall this is a pretty great writeup.

[indeedproceed]

haha, thanks. I was beginning to think nobody would read these, they are, like you say, pure genius.

[theswitch]

Orlando Magic

PG - Jrue Holiday, Mo Williams, Beno Udrih
SG - Joe Johnson, Ronnie Brewer, OJ Mayo
SF - Shawn Marion, Tracy McGrady
PF - Amare Stoudemire, Gustavo Ayon
C  - Kurt Thomas, Nikola Vucevic, Cole Aldrich

Positive Thoughts: Top to bottom, probably the most talented team in the league. TONS of versatility. Title contender.

Negative Thoughts: Lots of redundancy on the roster, could’ve done with some talent consolidation. Shawn Marion…man I don’t know what to make of that guy. Resurrected his career last season with the Mavs, but it was a pretty unique situation. In the same way that STAT should play better outside his current situation, its awfully likely that Marion will regress a bit. Still due to the versatility on the roster, its not such a huge stepback.

Immediate Success: 3rd or 4th best team in the East, and outside title contender.

Long-Term Success: Not great. Amar’e’s knees are the riskiest gamble outside of Bynum’s or Oden’s. The money tied up in Amar’e and Joe Johnson functionally handicaps any major moves in the event of a rebuild, Marion is on his way out, and the most promising prospect, Jrue Holiday, has taken a bit of a step back (or, more likely, sideways). If they don’t get a ring in 1 or 2 years, its pretty likely that they never will with the current core.

Pick-Two Success: The current Magic are not a contender. These Magic are. Success.

I agree with pretty much all of this. I do have a lot of redundancy on my roster, although guys like Johnson, Brewer and Mayo all do very different thing. If I had done the Marion trade, say, a few days ago, I would've pushed hard for a talent upgrade and condensed a little bit. After that deal, the game was basically over.

I wasn't aware that contracts are a big deal in this game, and thought we were pretty much ignoring them. In that case, yeah my team is pretty screwed tied to an aging Johnson and Amar'e. Otherwise, though, I'm pretty happy with some of the young pieces still there, like Jrue, Brewer, Mayo, Ayon and Vucevic. Not the greatest young talent haul in the world, but if Ayon and Vucevic develop on a normal path from averaging 6-7 and 5 in 17 minutes a game as a rookie, then it's at least a good starting point. If contracts weren't universally hindering in this game, I'd go at the championship for a couple years and then move forward with those 5 guys, looking for another piece or two to get me back into the playoffs/contention. Otherwise, I'd try to sell off a 33-34-year-old Johnson and Amar'e for contracts or picks, and I think I'd have some buyers from a contender.

[Lucky17]

What? Of course we're reading these.

First of many more TPs awarded.

[StartOrien]

If you're not giving IP a TP an hour, you're an even bigger jerk than he is.