76ers: Embiid Is Done
I know we just saw him have the playoff game of his life, but he’s getting up there in age and undoubtedly fell off from his mvp season. I’m projecting in the next 2 years he will either get traded or just completely fall off and not be relevant. (Paul George level)
Bucks: Giannis Is A Milwaukee Lifer
We will keep having Giannis trade rumors each trade deadline and offseason, but they’re not going to happen. Giannis loves Milwaukee and Milwaukee loves him. They will continue to try to build around him until he falls off and even then, they will keep him around as a tribute.
Bulls: Bulls Have A Bright Future
Matas will be an all star, Essengue could be anything, Giddey will be a core piece even if he stops progressing, and they have some good guards. Eventually one of their draft picks will be top 3, they will get their guy, and they will be a title contender.
Cavs: Cavs Are Blowing It Up Soon
James Harden is going to collapse soon. His career is almost over. The trade was a good idea for this year, but terrible in the long run. DMitch will leave in Free Agency and Jarrett Allen won’t be the same without an all star guard. This will lead to a rebuilding Cavs team trying to tool around an All-NBA Evan Mobley putting up mostly empty stats. It won’t work because he’s not meant to be a number one option, so he will get traded and they will be screwed until the mid 2030s.
Celtics: Celtics Have A Potential Dynasty
JT and JB are clearly not slowing down. They should make the finals at least 4 of the next 5 years. The reason I say potential is because of the spurs. Overall the two teams should have a lesser extent of the Cavs/Warriors rivalry with the Celtics snagging 1 more title before this chapter closes.
Clippers: Collins Is Still An All-Star Caliber Player
Clippers used him wrong. He isn’t supposed to be a 4/5th option. He’s a number 2 option on a good team, 3 on a great team, 1 on a bad. You’re telling me he went from best player on a talented Jazz squad to barely top 5 on a less talented clippers? I’m not buying it. Give Collins the ball more.
Grizzlies: Edey Can Still Be All-NBA
Morant is holding Edey back. This is a 2 time College Player of the year we are talking about. Over Flagg, over Clingan, Over Harper, Over Ace, Over Ace and Over Kon. He has the potential he just needs to get more opportunity. Like a pass first pg and a major ball hog of his team. Ja Morant is a known negative asset and he needs to go. Zach Edey is the future of Memphis.
Hawks: Onyeka Okongwu Shouldn’t Start
In general he should. They don’t have anyone I would start over him, but he shouldn’t start. They need to be looking for a new center if they plan on contending because he is not a starter on a championship caliber team.
Heat: Heat Aren’t Using Tyler Herro Right
Herro should’ve been a superstar. Should’ve been able to progress into a clear number one option. Maybe even so for a championship team. He stayed stagnant after his breakout season. The same thing is happening to Keyonte George this year except he has no one to stunt his growth so he will become a superstar. Tyler Herro should’ve too.
Hornets: Hornets Are One Piece Away
That piece is a superstar. They need to trade Lamelo and picks for a superstar. If they do that, they should be able to get a ring eventually just by keeping the same core and getting elite supporting pieces.
Jazz: Dybantsa’s Coming Home.
Utah Jazz bias is real. Small market bias really. You guys can’t see what I see. I’m seeing dybantsas friendship with Keyonte. He wants to come home. If he doesn’t get drafted by us, he will sign with us in free agency the first chance he gets. Especially if we have the money.
Kings: Kings Tanked
You’ve seen the memes about how all the bottom teams were tanking and then there were the Kings who were genuinely horrible. Everybody is wrong. Look at their minutes, starters, injuries, rotations. Everything points to tanking and it’s crazy that people can’t see that.
Knicks: Bridges Is A Way More Valuable Asset Than People Think
I don’t think you guys understand. He hasn’t missed a basketball game since his junior year of high school, since 2012-13! Availability is the best ability and you know what you’re getting with him. Empty stats with Brooklyn? Of course, but it still proves that he can score, defend, everything. He is a winning player.
Lakers: LeBron Is Washed
Woah! Hold on! Let me explain! He did just single-handedly beat the rockets, that’s true BUT, Michael Porter Jr., Mikal Bridges, Cam Thomas, Christian Wood, LeBron James. What do these 5 have in common? Empty stats. That was empty stats against the rockets. He hasn’t been the best player on his team since 2019. How did that team do? They missed the playoffs. He wasn’t washed his first year as a Laker but that was when he started going down hill. This is the least ppg he’s averaged in his career since his rookie season, he averaged more ppg than Dillon Brooks by 0.7, and he finally broke his 10 point streak. That was a legacy all star selection like Dirk Nowitzki’s was. LBJ is washed.
Magic: Magic Have The Worst “Contending” Core In The League
Paolo can’t be a number one. He might not even be a number two on a championship team. Same with franz. Bane and suggs are their brightest spots and even then, thats because of how well they play their respective roles. Not how well they can be superstars. They are out 5 years the moment they trade everyone and they’re out indefinitely until they trade everyone. It’s a lose-lose situation and their drafting skills were very overrated.
Mavericks: The Draft Wasn’t Rigged
Not much I can do to explain this one because I don’t have solid evidence behind it. I just trust in the nba and as a Jazz fan, we had a 50% chance to fall to 5. Everyone in Utah felt comfortable with those odds and then we slipped and everyone went straight back to blaming the lottery. Everyone goes back to the New Orleans lottery wins but to that I say: coincidence.
Nets: Nets Should Sell Their Team
The Nets need a new everything. They suck badly. They have little to no talent on their team. They ironically could pick up Cam Thomas and then pick up Jaden Ivey and I think that’s like a 500% talent increase. Not saying they should but I’m using drastic comparisons to express how horrendous I find that team to be ran. Combine that with both “superteam” fails and you have the worst ran franchise in recent memory. Sell the team.
Nuggets: The MPJ Trade Was More Than Necessary
They traded someone who had an all-star caliber season and received someone who they ended up benching. How could I possibly justify this for them? Well, you saw mpj’s playstyle. You think Peyton Watson was going to breakout under that? Not a chance. This was one of the best case scenarios for the nuggets.
Pacers: Pacers Won’t Be Back In The Finals
Not with Haliburton at least. So what’s the deal? Not talented enough? Not necessarily. I just think the Celtics will be too good. This is the team that was a championship contender in their “gap” year that we’re talking about. Combine that with coty Joe Mazzula and yeah, Indiana isn’t/can’t beat(ing) that.
Pelicans: Zion Needs To Go
Not sure if that’s a hot take. Here’s the hot part. I would trade Zion for a second if I were the pels. he’s taking up cap space and not playing. In 5 years the pelicans will be huge championship contenders and if they have someone like Zion who’s just not playing and eating up 30 million a year? I would trade that for a second while it’s still worth it for other teams!
Pistons: The Pistons Are Not That Good
This year was a fluke, and not a very good one at that. Cade Cunningham is a superstar who can lead a team to a championship. This team is not that team. They don’t have a good supporting cast. Duren isn’t a good second option and Ausar is a miserable 3rd option. The wizards have a better core than this. (I would use the Jazz but then I’d just be called bias even though I’m right.)
Raptors: Raptors Should Retool
Scottie, BI, RJ, CMB, Quickley. This is there current core. Should this be their core though? Yes actually. They just are missing their main superstar. Scottie would be an elite number 2. Scottie should be an elite number 2. They need someone like KD, someone easily gettable but great enough to be the center of the team immediately. (not the position)
Rockets: Rockets Should Run It Back.
Literally no changes. The problem was that amen was playing pg. Vanvleet is coming back and all though he’s not in his prime anymore, he’s not bad at all and he was the starting pg on a championship team before. On the other hand, they have Reed Sheppard. Is he ready to step into the starting job immediately on a championship contender? Maybe. The good thing is, they don’t have to find out right now. They can work both of these players in during the offseason and decide who they want. Vanvleet could start one more season and then let Sheppard start, or however they would like to do it but the point is that they are set right now.
Spurs: Stephon Castle Is More Special Than People Think
This is an all-star. This is a potential all-nba team candidate. This is an arguable superstar. I’m thinking Jaylen brown type. Combine that with wemby and an elite supporting cast? That’s a dynasty. 4 championships 5 years. Trust me.
Suns: Fluke
This is a play-in team at best. How they managed to make the playoffs? No idea but they don’t have that kind of talent. Rasheer will get there; sure, but by the time he does, dbook will be washed. The timeline doesn’t work out for phoenix right now and their only option is to trade Booker if they want to try to win in the future.
Thunder: This Is Their Last Chance
I don’t believe they will have another chance before the spurs completely take over the west. The Thunder need to make sure they win to cement SGA’s legacy because this will be their last chance to do so; at least with rings. MVP’s? Sure! Other awards? If he can, but this will be his last chance to earn a second ring before prime wemby takes over the league once and for all.
Timberwolves: Rudy Should’ve Won DPOY
This probably seems out of place for someone who just spent the last 2/3 paragraphs glazing wemby but Gobert is the greatest defender of all time. Wemby didn’t deserve an award just yet. It was Gobert’s award still.
Trail Blazers: The Blazers Built Their Team Right
In another universe this is a championship team; dynasty even. Let me show you their core.
Superstar: Henderson. Didn’t work out and nobody saw it coming. This was supposed to be the turning point to their franchise.
All-Star: Deni Avdija. This one more than panned out.
Third Option: Jrue Holiday. If only he didn’t choose now to be washed.
Good Starter: Tourmani Camara. This Happened.
Last Starter: Donovan Clingan. Future DPOY candidate as well.
Elite 6th Man: Shaedon Sharpe. He is starting because Jrue Holiday is washed so they don’t have that pop off the bench they needed. They even have Damian Lillard who they wouldn’t have needed to waste money on if Henderson panned out. Instead the money would go to Henderson and Holiday and they would have that last roster spot be someone who didn’t play much, maybe an old vet to act as a player-coach.
Warriors: The Curry Era In Golden State Is Officially Over
Steph Curry is becoming washed. Same with Jimmy Butler. On top of that, Butler just tore his ACL so he might not even be the same player anymore. Kristaps kind of just fell off naturally, and draymond might be completely washed. Their biggest help for Steph right now is… Brandin Podzemski. That’s not winning them a title anytime soon. It’s not like they have time to rebuild around curry either. They have to let go of Steph.
Wizards: The Double Standard Is Insane
Look at their players; how many games they all played. No player who averaged 11 ppg or over played 60 games outside of Tre Johnson who is a rookie. They finished with the worst record this year, and the second worst record last year. That is very clear tanking. Who got fined? The Jazz twice, and the pacers. Why? Because these are small market teams! The wizards being big market makes the Jazz the poster child of tanking, and the wizards not recognized for it. Read TheNinerNote’s article on it (https://fanspo.com/nba/s/general/p/yUdHHV1ckUYz1B/the-utah-fine-is-hypocrisy-at-its-finest-) because it encapsulates exactly how Jazz fans all over the state feel about this matter. (It doesn’t talk about the wizards but it talks about the double standard for a separate instance. This is just another instance of it happening.)
This is the longest it’s ever taken me to write an article so please like, flame, and comment. Remember! Every take in this article is meant to be hot. I really do believe all of them but they are still objectively hot. Please keep that in mind when commenting so that maybe you’ll want to be nicer and kinder about the way you come across. Looking at a certain lions fan here 👀
Anyways, thank you so much for reading through the whole thing. Fun Fact: The magic one took forever to think up; so much so that’s it’s the only one I had to come back to!
Love you Fanspo!