Central: The Pistons have the best roster in the division and will comeback with mostly the same core to beat their divisional rivals Cleveland in the playoffs this time. They resigned C Jalen Duren to a five year deal and signed F John Collins to help form a top starting five that already has All-Star G Cade Cunningham, G Duncan Robinson and F Ausar Thompson who also signed a five year deal.
Their bench will have G Kevin Huerter who they resigned, traded for G Isaiah Joe and F Taurean Prince; the only question will be who backup Cunningham and Duren on consistent basis.
The Cavaliers will have a full season of the guards James Harden and Donovan Mitchell combination as both signed multiyear deals to stay.
The question will be can it work as they were swept in the second round by the Knicks and keep trying to find the answer at SF as Peyton Watson is the latest frontcourt addition to a strong core of C Jarrett Allen and F Evan Mobley. They lost six players in the offseason and didn’t do much to fix the bench this offseason except sign former 1st round pick Mario Hezonja.
The Pacers bottomed out last season missing PG Tyrese Haliburton for the whole season and getting a top 10 pick in the draft; they used it to trade for a new center in Ivica Zubac to pair with PF Pascal Siakam.
With Haliburton back with those two frontcourt players it will be a potential playoff team since they have a good cast of roles players in offseason additions Larry Nance Jr, Kelly Oubre Jr, returning players F Obi Toppin, guards TJ McConnell, Aaron Nesmith and Andrew Nembhard.
The Bulls finally fired their general manager, their head coach resigned and at the deadline finally woke up and tore this team down which they should have done the previous offseason. In is GM Bryson Graham, HC Tiago Splitter and two first round draft picks forwards Caleb Wilson and Dailyn Swain. They signed G Norman Powell, traded for C Nic Claxton and G Buddy Hield plus let allot of the crap they got at the deadline leave.
Those new additions add to their core of PG Josh Giddey, F Matas Buzelis and role players G Tre Jones, F Isaac Okoro and C Zach Collins which makes Chicago have some positivity going forward.
The Bucks finally did it they traded away franchise player F Giannis Antetokounmpo to the Miami Heat along with Bobby Portis.
They got back G Tyler Herro, F Jamie Jaquez Jr, C Kel’el Ware, traded for G Caris LeVert and they fired HC Doc Rivers. F Kyle Kuzma, G Gary Trent and C Myles Turner are core players who are still there for new HC Taylor Jenkins.
Atlantic: The New York Knicks are the reigning NBA Champions a sentence no one would have believed or long suffering fans were still hoping would happen but it did happen beating the San Antonio Spurs in 5 games.
HC Mike Brown is back with finals MVP PG Jalen Brunson, C Karl-Anthony Towns, forwards OG Anunoby, Miles Bridges and G Josh Hart to form one of the best starting fives. Their bench is still deep as they resigned guards Jose Alvarado, Jordan Clarkson, Landry Shamet. They did lose C Mitchell Robinson and F Jeremy Sochan leaving their frontcourt a little thin with only C Andre Drummond signed for the bench.
Well the 76ers made it to the conference finals losing to the Knicks so they decided they needed to do more than a C Joel Embiid and PG Tyrese Maxey with Paul George core because that wasn’t enough.
They traded George to the Celtics for F Jaylen Brown and signed F Lebron James plus G Kentavious Caldwell Pope to the core. They also hope G VJ Edgecombe takes another step in year two plus added guards Dean Wade, Anfernee Simons and drafted Labaron Philon.
This season will be different for the Celtics not just because it will be a full season of F Jayson Tatum healthy but also because they broke up the duo by trading Jaylen Brown to the 76ers for F Paul George.
They also brought in PG Mike Conley, stole C Mitchell Robinson away from the Knicks but lost C Nikola Vucevic. Their role players still always come up big for them in guards Derrick White, Payton Pritchard and Ron Harper Jr. Their frontcourt depth will be tested so hopefully the moves made by Brad Stevens come back to haunt them since they did win a few seasons with that duo.
The biggest story for the Raptors is they traded for F Kawhi Leonard again and extended him. In order to get him they traded away Brandon Ingram and Gradey Dick. They signed F Kyle Anderson to the core of players led by F Scottie Barnes, G Immanuel Quickley, C Jakob Poeltl and G RJ Barrett.
The Nets are still bad and
keep landing top 10 picks so they have an identity to keep going young. They
got F Julius Randle in a multi-team trade and still have F Michael Porter Jr so
look for them to be traded this season. Also added to the team was Moritz Wagner who helps them out but their whole entire team is young and not ready
for prime time.
Southeast: The Miami Heat finally got that superstar that every offseason or deadline they were close to landing in PF Giannis Antetokounmpo and F Bobby Portis. They will work with C Bam Adebayo and G Klay Thompson who they signed.
To get the superstar they gave up Tyler Herro, Jaime Jaquez Jr and Kel’el Ware plus lost Norman Powell in free agency. The other additions were also C Nick Richards and G Tim Hardaway Jr. plus re-signed F Andrew Wiggins. The only weakness will be at the PG spot so Eric Spoelstra will have to figure that out.
The Magic definitely disappointed so many people as they could have been a top five seed but instead played in the play in tournament and lost in 1st round causing them to get their HC Jamahl Mosley fired.
Their core is still forwards Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner, guards Jalen Suggs, Desmond Bane and C Wendell Carter Jr. They lost Moritz Wagner but added Nikola Vucevic for a second go around.
The Hawks will start a season with a new identity as PG Trae Young was traded at the deadline last season so this team is now led by forwards Dyson Daniels and Jalen Johnson.
They re-signed G CJ McCollum and traded for three useful role players in guards Dorian Finney Smith, Aaron Wiggins and Lu Dort to pair with Nickeil Alexander-Walker. It looks now like a bad draft decision on taking Zaccharie Risacher with the 1st pick in the draft as they traded him this offseason and let Jonathan Kuminga leave in free agency.
The Hornets thought they were a playoff team last season so they made moves at the trade deadline as they made the play in tournament. This offseason they made a bunch of moves as well; trading away franchise star Lamelo Ball, role players Josh Green, Miles Bridges, Buddy Hield and Tre Mann away.
The success of this team will be on F Brandon Miller, guards Kon Knueppel and Coby White who they re-signed. In those trades they got F Naz Reid, G Dennis Schroder, F Royce O’Neale and G Grayson Allen who are better suited for being on a playoff team.
The Wizards are one of those what if teams because they have PG Trae Young and PF Anthony Davis for a full season if they can stay healthy.
The mix of those two veterans, F Khris Middleton for a second
stint and also adding C DeAndre Ayton and G Tre Mann is an intriguing core of
veterans and young players. They still have C Alex Sarr, guards Bub Carrington,
Kyshawn George and forwards Bilal Coulibaly and #1 overall pick AJ Dybantsa.
Northwest: The Thunder did have the best record but lost a highly contested Western conference final to the Spurs. Look for the Thunder to rebound since they have the same core of PG Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, F Chet Holmgren, guards Cason Wallace, Alex Caruso, forwards Jalen Williams, Jaylin Williams and C Isaiah Hartenstein who they re-signed.
They did lose a few key role players off the bench like Lu Dort but he will be replaced by G Jared McCain who they got at the deadline last year and like always have so many draft picks to fill some holes.
The Nuggets continue to have a good record but seem to not do well in the playoffs but still have an MVP contender in C Nikola Jokic.
His supporting players are still PG Jamal Murray, F Aaron Gordon, guards Christian Braun and Cam Johnson. The biggest difference is- they brought in G DeMar DeRozan to come off the bench and added PG Tyus Jones and C Marvin Bagley.
The Timberwolves have been that team that is on the cusp of winning it all and just have not done it under HC Chris Finch and superstar SG Anthony Edwards.
So they completely overhauled the roster: Traded for PG LaMelo Ball, signed forwards Jonathan Kuminga and Trey Lyles and re-signed guards Ayo Dosunmu and Bones Hyland. They traded away forwards Julius Randle and Naz Reid plus let Mike Conley and Kyle Anderson leave in free agency. They hope the additions will help push Edwards closer to a championship but their front court depth will be tested as F Jaden McDaniels is miscast as a PF so that leaves C Rudy Gobert on an island to defend the paint.
The Trailblazers made the playoffs despite no one thinking they would make it thanks to Tiago Splitter taking over for Chauncy Billups early in the season and the breakout performance of F Deni Avdija.
The new ownership group didn’t keep the interim HC or decide to build around their new all-star so they let the coach leave and traded for PG Ja Morant who doesn’t fit with Avdija. To get Morant they traded away Jerami Grant and Kris Murray plus they had two PGs already in Jrue Holiday and the return of Damian Lillard; it also takes minutes away from G Scoot Henderson. They did re-sign C Robert Williams for depth behind C Donovan Clingan and F Toumani Camara.
The Jazz are still one of the worst teams despite their talent; they let C Walker Kessler leave for the Lakers. The team is banking on their young talent in PG Keyonte George who they locked up, F Ace Bailey and the 2nd overall pick in the draft Darryn Peterson.
They still have two all-stars in the front court in Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr plus added C Jaxson Hayes and re-signed C Mo Bamba and C Jusuf Nurkic.
Southwest: The Spurs made it to the finals on the back of C Victor Wembanyama but couldn’t finish the job as it was like he was all by himself on an island.
They bring back the same roster for young players like Dylan Haprer, Stephon Castle, Julian Champagnie, forwards Devin Vassell, Carter Bryant, Keldon Johnson and drafted four players in the draft they hope to contribute this season. The veterans on this team are still forwards Luke Kornet, Harrison Barnes and newly signed Tobias Harris plus they re-signed G Jordan McLaughlin.
The Rockets had F Kevin Durant do too much which had them losing in the 1st round to the Lakers. The hope is young players G Amen Thompson, F Tari Eason who both got extended, F Jabari Smith, C Alperen Sengun and G Reed Sheppard take steps in their development.
They will get back PG Fred Van Fleet and added G Marcus Smart plus G Bogdan Bogdanovic to their bench that has those young players and veteran big men Steven Adams and Clint Capela.
The Mavericks will be back to being relevant in F Cooper Flagg’s second season since PG Kyrie Irving will be back healthy plus they like their draft picks under new HC Dusty May.
They did lose six players in the offseason like Klay Thompson and Kris Middleton. Flagg will still have centers Dereck Lively, Daniel Gafford and PF PJ Washington in the front court and guards Caleb Martin and Max Christie off the bench for the backcourt. The biggest question mark will be G Zaccharie Riascher who was the 1st overall pick a few years ago by the Hawks- can a change of scenery fix him?
The Pelicans are still one of those teams that hang around the play in tournament because they still have F Zion Williamson.
They still have good role players in G Trey Murphy and F Herbert Jones and have two young players they hope keep developing in C Derik Queen and Jeremiah Fears. They brought back F Saddiq Bey, C DeAndre Jordan but also added Bennedict Mathurin to round out the bench. The two players you almost forget about is PG Dejounte Murray who hasn’t been healthy since he got traded from the Spurs and G Jordan Poole who doesn’t seem to fit any roster he has been on.
The Grizzlies are in full rebuild mode as Jaren Jackson Jr, Desmond Bane and now JA Morant are gone from the roster. This team is going to be F Cameron Boozer and C Zach Edey’s team as a 1-2 punch in the front court.
They got forwards Kris Murray and Jerami Grant in the Morant trade and got Isaiah Stewart in a trade to be the backup center. The question will be who will be in the backcourt outside of guards Ty Jerome and Scottie Pippen Jr.
Pacific: The Lakers look very different from what they looked like the last few seasons as so many players have left like Lebron James, Rui Hachimura, DeAndre Ayton, Jaxson Hayes, Marcus Smart and Luke Kennard.
The question will be can G Luka Doncic lead this team to the promised land without James but with this new core they assembled. They re-signed G Austin Reaves, added guards Quentin Grimes, Jaden Hardy, Collin Sexton, C Kevon Looney, forwards Ziaire Williams, Matisse Thybulle and most importantly C Walker Kessler. That new core with Luka and the returning players like forwards Jared Vanderbilt and Jake LaRavia hopefully go further in the playoffs with JJ Reddick still as head coach.
As long as G Devin Booker who shouldn’t be the team’s PG is still on the Suns they will have some relevance but will ultimately lose in the 1st round. They locked up G Dillon Brooks and C Mark Williams to name some of the players re-signed.
Brooks, Booker and G Jalen Green are their core but the role players will be important if they want to improve so they traded for F Miles Bridges and signed G Luke Kennard. The weakness of this team is their frontcourt since they already go with a three-guard lineup with Bridges now at PF. Williams can’t stay healthy and their 1st round pick is undersized.
The Warriors are going to try it again with Steve Kerr at HC and PG Steph Curry with forwards Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green as their main core.
They didn’t really add much as it was all them re-signing players; Green, C Al Horford, guards De’Anthony Melton, Gary Payton II, F Kristaps Porzingis and extending G Brandin Podziemski. Their biggest weakness will be their frontcourt as their 1st round pick will be getting plenty of minutes till Butler comes back and since we know Green is undersized, Horford is ageing and Porzingis can’t stay healthy.
The Clippers will be different now that both James Harden and Kawhi Leonard have been traded away. They also let John Collins, Bogdan Bogdanovic and Bennedict Mathurin leave in the offseason; but added some nice talent in the trades they made like getting forwards Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick from the Raptors, getting F Max Strus from Cleveland and signing F Rui Hachimura.
Their backcourt will be Darius Garland and Bradley Beal with Kris Dunn and 1st round pick Keaton Wagler backing up. Their frontcourt will of course have Ingram, Dick, Hachimura with Derrick Jones Jr and Brook Lopez.
Despite all of the young talent and veterans it all just didn’t go right for the Kings last season so they hope for some improvement. Any team that has C Domantas Sabonis, G Zach LaVine and role players like guards Malik Monk, De’Andre Hunter, F Precious Achiuwa and a young player like F Keegan Murray should be better.
They hope by letting DeMar DeRozan leave and replacing him with Ben Simmons who has been out of the NBA for a few years and their three draft picks help HC Doug Christie only go up.
