I'd like to point the Pelicans out - I think that they are a great dark horse to make the playoffs next year, despite all the competition.
They just added Tyreke Evans - this squad is incredibly dangerous. An Anthony Davis break-out season could propel them even higher than the 8th seed, I think.
Jrue Holiday, Brian Roberts
Eric Gordon, Austin Rivers
Tyreke Evans, Al-Farouq Aminu, Darius Miller
Anthony Davis, Ryan Anderson, Jason Smith
Robin Lopez, Greg Stiemsma, Jeff Withey
One of the all-around deeper NBA teams around. Lots of dynamics, lots of tall, defensive bigs, lots of ball penetration, and decent shooting capabilities.
This isn't a team that is going to tank - adding Holiday and Evans were amazing additions for them.