Most Promising Young Teams in the League
- Thread starter Ferguson_Mellochill
- Start date
First of all, I'll leave out the Thunder, Warriors and Rockets. The key player of these teams have been either to the finals(Dwight , Harden, Durant, Westbrook, Ibaka) or the 2nd playoff round(Curry,Lee,Klay). That's not young to me. Young means inexperienced, growing. These 3 teams are going to be veteran teams now. Their core is above 23, that's not young.
But I want to add the Pistons into the mix. Drummond is turning 20 this summer and to me he looks better than Noel will ever be. Equally raw offensively, he combines Noel's defensive ability with a NBA body, which Noel may never grow into and already averages almost 8 and 8 and 1.6 blocks in 20 min of NBA action, while Noel did 10.5, 9.5 and 4.4 against way less talented kids in 31.5 min. Plus he's only 8 months older than Noel. Not that much...
Add to that Brandon Knight who turns 22 in December, 23 year old Greg Monroe and their newest addition KCP who may or may not pan out to be a starter(I know PKM, he belongs out of the lottery in your opinion. 2 NBA squads with history of questionable draftnight decisions thought he was a single digit pick). That's promising squad which maybe lacks a primary crunchtime player and primary ball handler. It appears they trust Brandon Knight to grow into that entering his 3rd year. Else they would have picked a new PG. But seeing their roster they should have maybe taken a risk and trade down to pick up Shabazz. His "best case projection" would be IMO the missing piece in their puzzle. But nevertheless if their young player don't reach their ceiling they have good trade assets and now they paid Smove reasonable money which means they feel ready to attack the playoffs.
And I know this is a long shot and it's very much speculation, but I think the Kings may enter the discussion as well. If Cousins getts his **** together, and McLemore plays with a chip on his shoulder, their core may look better than expected with new addition Vasquez(Who I liked last season with the Hornets)
Add Marcus Thornton, Carl Landry, Jason Thompson and eventually Monta Ellis into that equation and they have a chance to be at least a good team on offense. Front office is an additional question mark for them too.
rating these teams now:
1) Pelicans - Their core looks to be in a position to make a giant leap this season. If that's enough to sneak into the playoffs depends on who they add as center and if Eric Gordon can return to earlier production and stay healthy. I don't see Davis as a center or Anderson as a starter. If they can get Asik their defense will look better too, which is the biggest concern for them right now. Good outlook.
2) Portland - What's Lillard's ceiling? McCollum? Can Batum get consistent finally at age 25? - Last chance imo! After that he has to be prepared to get dealt. LaMarcus is going to be LaMarcus. Lopez at center is good value for what he's paid. Wes Metthews is a solid player. Meyers Leonard had shown a solid rookie season and is set to improve. Dorrell Wright is an insurance for Batum/Matthews. The success basically depends on the performance of their 2 sparkplugs Lillard and Batum. If they have a good season that Portland fans dream of they are right in the playoff picture.
3) That's a tie between Cleveland, Detroit and the Wizards not far behind. But I have too big concerns about their backcourt. And with backcourt I mean Porter too as he's more of a swingman than a slightly quicker and smaller PF with a huge body. For Cleveland one can make that they have a legit franchise player, who is electric on offense. But Waiters hasn't been efficient or smart on offense. Bennett projects to be a big time scorer but defensive liability too. I don't think Varejao and Tristan Thompson can make up for all the defensive liabilities. Adding Bynum is a move I don't wanna judge as it's a huge gamble in every aspect(health?, long term future? production?, defense?)
But their whole backcourt and again I'll count Karasev for obvious reasons to the backcourt isn't known for playing defense. They added Jack who doesn't play defense either.
I don't think they'll get further than eastern semifinals long term before realizing that they are too bad defensively to advance in the playoffs. And I don't think that LeBron will return. Makes no sense to me.
So I'll get Detroit a small edge as limited offensive teams are better than Mike "no D" Antoni style rosters are worse in the big picture.
orangello
Well-Known Member
What? You keep changing the rules. The list doesn't include draft picks.
Also, Thompson is not undersized but you failed to add him to the Cavs list. I see a lot of bias on you teams lists.
scootsy
Well-Known Member
don't like the lists people put out there. warriors, rockets and thunder were three of the top-5 youngest teams in the nba last year. all will be good-to-great teams for the next 5+ years. if we're talking about young NON-playoff teams, its a close race between detroit, cleveland, and utah. my money is only cleveland and utah, though i think drummond/monroe will be the best tandem of all the teams.
illyasova
Active Member
Houston gotta be 1st due to their team chemistry, balance, potential and experience from last year. Lin,Harden, Parsons, Asik all played over 30 min. And the addition of Howard makes them automatically even better. They just need a true PF, if not they got Dmo and Jones to stretch the floor.
Cavs is full of question mark due to their front court depth. Bynum did not play last year so noone can be sure how he has been recovering from his injury. Also even though karasev is automatic from 3 point range, he will need even longer time to adoptate to NBA and his athletism limits his potential. Bennett is a scorer PF who knows how to shoot but will have a hard time to defend without fouling.
Thunder comes to me after Rockets due to same reasons as well except Adams. They've got experience, chemistry and balance in all positions. If Adams grows as expected, they can pass Rockets but i feel he'll be mediocre due to limited offense, early fault problems and lateral slowness. Also, westbrook's gotta come back well and not lose his quickness.
Warriors seem so good on paper but even though it's sad to see it that Bogut is done so you can not count him as a good player in old days. No shooting, FT and laterall quickness. They've got all players who knows how to score but no defensive presence on the low block or perimeter player. May be Barnes can turn into this type but early to say. So they have got one sided team and this limits their potential.
Wizards is least exciting team due to their chemistry and history. If you do not put a purpose to reach, you gotta be called mediocre at best. Full selfish ball hoggs whose efficincies will be down and down. And Nene is not the same one playing for the Nuggets.
The interesting teams after coming from Rockets and Thunder are Blazers and Pelicans. I am really wondering how they will pan out. Blazers starting 5 is so perfect except having a true 5 who knows how to protect the rim, otherwise PnR of Lamarcus-Lillard, defense and running of all players are perfect fit and this increases their potential. But their lacking 3 point shooting hurt a bit.
Pelicans really stepped up by behaving patiently. If the health and durability of Davis and Gordon is ok and consistency of Anderson becomes same in magic days, they are same with Blazers after Rockets and Thunder.
Cavs is full of question mark due to their front court depth. Bynum did not play last year so noone can be sure how he has been recovering from his injury. Also even though karasev is automatic from 3 point range, he will need even longer time to adoptate to NBA and his athletism limits his potential. Bennett is a scorer PF who knows how to shoot but will have a hard time to defend without fouling.
Thunder comes to me after Rockets due to same reasons as well except Adams. They've got experience, chemistry and balance in all positions. If Adams grows as expected, they can pass Rockets but i feel he'll be mediocre due to limited offense, early fault problems and lateral slowness. Also, westbrook's gotta come back well and not lose his quickness.
Warriors seem so good on paper but even though it's sad to see it that Bogut is done so you can not count him as a good player in old days. No shooting, FT and laterall quickness. They've got all players who knows how to score but no defensive presence on the low block or perimeter player. May be Barnes can turn into this type but early to say. So they have got one sided team and this limits their potential.
Wizards is least exciting team due to their chemistry and history. If you do not put a purpose to reach, you gotta be called mediocre at best. Full selfish ball hoggs whose efficincies will be down and down. And Nene is not the same one playing for the Nuggets.
The interesting teams after coming from Rockets and Thunder are Blazers and Pelicans. I am really wondering how they will pan out. Blazers starting 5 is so perfect except having a true 5 who knows how to protect the rim, otherwise PnR of Lamarcus-Lillard, defense and running of all players are perfect fit and this increases their potential. But their lacking 3 point shooting hurt a bit.
Pelicans really stepped up by behaving patiently. If the health and durability of Davis and Gordon is ok and consistency of Anderson becomes same in magic days, they are same with Blazers after Rockets and Thunder.