15th Philadelphia 76ers
Although Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid will be making their bows into the NBA, this season may be another to forget for Sixer fans.
The Nerlens Noel and Jahlil Okafor situation has helped nobody and whether they trade one of those guys or not, the Sixers are coming out with the short end of the stick.
Jerryd Bayless and Gerald Henderson will at least give the back court some life, but the overcrowded party in the Power Forward/Center position will take until next season to fathom.
14th Brooklyn Nets
Well this looks awfully familiar.
Correct me if I’m wrong but I believe that the Nets were meant to be competing for an NBA championship by now.
Instead they're left with a half decent line-up while still paying former player Deron Williams $5.5million a year.
Jeremy Lin will be asked to run the Point and Brook Lopez will be impressive to a degree when healthy. But the only thing the Nets will be striving towards this season is holding off the Sixers to avoid the worst record in the NBA.
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson could be one of few high points for BK this year.
13th New York Knicks
This melee of talent in New York just doesn’t work. Yes, the scoring talents of Carmelo Anthony, Derrick Rose, Kristaps Porzingis and Courtney Lee will win them plenty of games, but aside from that and Joakim Noah, this is a very shallow knicks team.
Rose’s ongoing court case, and Joakim Noah’s health are going to be the biggest concerns. Meaning Kyle O’Quinn and Brandon Jennings will be picking up far more minutes than they would be expecting.
When everything is in gear, this starting 5 will be fun to watch, but when you are looking to build a super team around Melo, this just isn’t what was required.
12th Orlando Magic
Well if putting New York three places from bottom was hard, then this is double that. The biggest reason being that I just really like this Orlando Magic team.
There are no stars, but it just seems like it is going to work. The Magic could be the surprise package to make the playoffs, but without enough offence they may have to settle for what would be a relatively disappointing final position.
With Serge Ibaka and Bismack Biyombo, they have a defensive wall built up but staring Center Nikola Vucevic may not gel quite so well with his new teammates on that end of the court.
Jeff Green must summon his better scoring days, while Evan Fournier will continue to develop as the starting two-guard.
11th Charlotte Hornets
From one victory away from 3rd all the way down to 11th would be some drop for the Hornets, but they will be a heavy contender for the playoffs right up until the final week.
But losing Al Jefferson, Courtney Lee and Jeremy Lin will be tough to combat. Also, Roy Hibbert will be far from emulating the clever inside domination of Big Al.
Marvin Williams will have to continue his fine form from last season, while Kemba Walker will be heavily expected to run the scoring burden even more from the Guard position.
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist will be required to become more of an offensive weapon as well.
The combination of Walker and Nicolas Batum will be hard to defend against once again which is why The Hornets will find themselves with a good shot at reaching the post-season.
