POWER TANKINGS!!!! (A too early look at the 1999 Draft)
Jan 13, 2015 17:54:03 GMT -6
rpf and JNR like this
Post by LoCo89 on Jan 13, 2015 17:54:03 GMT -6
As we come to the end of another season, we begin to see the culmination of the hard work teams put in to achieve the ultimate goal of hoisting the Larry O'Brien trophy in the air at the end of season. Players put in countless hours in the gym to improve, coaches work to craft the perfect gameplan and General Managers work the phones meticulously in order to put their team over the top....
This however is a look at the teams on the other end of the spectrum. Ladies and Gentleman, my name is Jean Baptiste Étienne, of La Révolution de Vancouver (Memphis Branch) newspaper and I'd like to welcome you to Power Tankings
As I said, this column will not necessarily be about the picks in the draft, but rather it will be about some of the bottom tier teams in the league, namely the bottom five who are hoping to strike gold with a top draft pick in April. As the 1999 draft class begins to solidify itself, with players such as Baron Davis, Shawn Marion and Elton Brand's names starting to come up as potential top picks, similarly teams are also starting to solidify their draft position for April. We're going to take a closer look at these teams and try to take a closer look as to what brought them where they are today. But before we get to the Frightful Five, we do have an honorable mention
Honorable Mention: Charlotte Hornets
Easily on of the busier teams working the trades this season, the Hornets' roster looks vastly different from the off-season. Looking to "capitalize" on a 16-29 record at the deadline, the Hornets made three trades on deadline day taking on the likes of Reggie Miller, Mikki Moore, Reggie Miller and 2 first rounders, the Hawks 99 pick and the Cavs pick in next years draft. Since the deadline, they've gone 6-14. While they've improved their position in this years draft lottery, they've put themselves in a questionable spot for next season as far as possible improvement goes. They tightened their salary by trading some expirings and cheaper players for older vets on longer contracts and draft picks. It'll be interesting to see where they go next year especially if they're back in these rankings with a relatively weak draft coming up.
5th place: Portlandia Trailblazers
Ever since Shawn Bradley signed his max contract, it's been easy to feel bad for the team. And with the pick of Dirk Nowitski in the last draft, things were starting to look up in Portland. However, the signings of Dennis Scott and Tim Hardaway did not help as much as originally thought, not only tying up some cap for the next few seasons, but also getting the Blazers what looks to be another top 5 pick this season to add to Dirk. While this is another bottom feeder with a tight cap, with what looks to be two top tier young players this time next season, the future looks bright. They looked to be even worse then their current position but two small win streaks put them in the fifth spot currently.
4th Place Boston Celtics
A few seasons ago, other GMs were wondering what Conroy would do with multiple max players and a mounting repeater tax. The answer? Sell the everyone on the farm except for the prized bull in Zo. They dropped off off most of the salary from their 61 win team from last season and walk away with Zo, 2 extra draft picks the next two year and a boatload of capspace. The Celtics will be looking at this draft pick and the forthcoming cap space after this season as a stepping stone back into what they hope will be prominence.
3rd Place: Van Memphis Grizzlies
Ugh, the team I personally have the "pleasure" of covering on a daily basis, the Grizz. They are currently in year 4 or 5 of their rebuilding project that started really after the failed signing of Greg Anthony. Since then they've moved pieces for peanuts and taken on a player in Bryon Russell who is still an enigma when it comes to his price tag. The good news is that they'll have a bevy of top tier young talents after this season in eventual ROY Vince Carter, fresh out of high school Rashard Lewis, solid big man Michael Olowakandi, and whoever else they are able to add with their two first coming this draft. They'll have a group to be on the look out for especially with the injection of cap space after Scottie Pippen's deal falls off.
Team GIF: Grizzlies coach and GM meeting last season about possibly getting a 3rd top ten pick this year
2nd Place: Los Angeles Lakers
The Lakers are another team that are once again picking high this year, looking to add to their young talent. After not being able to trade off their bigger name players last season, they finally found deals that worked for them this year and turned their assets into 3 additional first rounders in the next 3 years. Another team that will benefit from having an old max player drop off (this time in the form of Patrick Ewing), they will have a TON of space moving forward even after signing KG long term this offseason.
1st Place: Washington Wizards
Oh man... the Wiz... Not much else can be said except for this is how you assure that you'll have the worst record. After getting swept in the second round last year, GM J2 quickly decided it was time to get better by being worse and moved quickly to re-assemble his roster. With a few promising young players in Brevin Knight and Ron Mercer along with Veteran Juwan Howard it'll be interesting to see where the Wizards go from here. As one GM put it, "The Wizards are downright pathetic and are a lost cause for about the next 5 years."
This however is a look at the teams on the other end of the spectrum. Ladies and Gentleman, my name is Jean Baptiste Étienne, of La Révolution de Vancouver (Memphis Branch) newspaper and I'd like to welcome you to Power Tankings
As I said, this column will not necessarily be about the picks in the draft, but rather it will be about some of the bottom tier teams in the league, namely the bottom five who are hoping to strike gold with a top draft pick in April. As the 1999 draft class begins to solidify itself, with players such as Baron Davis, Shawn Marion and Elton Brand's names starting to come up as potential top picks, similarly teams are also starting to solidify their draft position for April. We're going to take a closer look at these teams and try to take a closer look as to what brought them where they are today. But before we get to the Frightful Five, we do have an honorable mention
Honorable Mention: Charlotte Hornets
Easily on of the busier teams working the trades this season, the Hornets' roster looks vastly different from the off-season. Looking to "capitalize" on a 16-29 record at the deadline, the Hornets made three trades on deadline day taking on the likes of Reggie Miller, Mikki Moore, Reggie Miller and 2 first rounders, the Hawks 99 pick and the Cavs pick in next years draft. Since the deadline, they've gone 6-14. While they've improved their position in this years draft lottery, they've put themselves in a questionable spot for next season as far as possible improvement goes. They tightened their salary by trading some expirings and cheaper players for older vets on longer contracts and draft picks. It'll be interesting to see where they go next year especially if they're back in these rankings with a relatively weak draft coming up.
Team GIF: Possibly hurting themselves for next season, while positioning themselves for a better pick this year seems like a misstep...
5th place: Portlandia Trailblazers
Ever since Shawn Bradley signed his max contract, it's been easy to feel bad for the team. And with the pick of Dirk Nowitski in the last draft, things were starting to look up in Portland. However, the signings of Dennis Scott and Tim Hardaway did not help as much as originally thought, not only tying up some cap for the next few seasons, but also getting the Blazers what looks to be another top 5 pick this season to add to Dirk. While this is another bottom feeder with a tight cap, with what looks to be two top tier young players this time next season, the future looks bright. They looked to be even worse then their current position but two small win streaks put them in the fifth spot currently.
Team GIF: Representation of Portland's fans when they moved from 2nd worst to now 5th
4th Place Boston Celtics
A few seasons ago, other GMs were wondering what Conroy would do with multiple max players and a mounting repeater tax. The answer? Sell the everyone on the farm except for the prized bull in Zo. They dropped off off most of the salary from their 61 win team from last season and walk away with Zo, 2 extra draft picks the next two year and a boatload of capspace. The Celtics will be looking at this draft pick and the forthcoming cap space after this season as a stepping stone back into what they hope will be prominence.
Team GIF: Conroy's meesage to the all powerful taxman
3rd Place: Van Memphis Grizzlies
Ugh, the team I personally have the "pleasure" of covering on a daily basis, the Grizz. They are currently in year 4 or 5 of their rebuilding project that started really after the failed signing of Greg Anthony. Since then they've moved pieces for peanuts and taken on a player in Bryon Russell who is still an enigma when it comes to his price tag. The good news is that they'll have a bevy of top tier young talents after this season in eventual ROY Vince Carter, fresh out of high school Rashard Lewis, solid big man Michael Olowakandi, and whoever else they are able to add with their two first coming this draft. They'll have a group to be on the look out for especially with the injection of cap space after Scottie Pippen's deal falls off.
Team GIF: Grizzlies coach and GM meeting last season about possibly getting a 3rd top ten pick this year
2nd Place: Los Angeles Lakers
The Lakers are another team that are once again picking high this year, looking to add to their young talent. After not being able to trade off their bigger name players last season, they finally found deals that worked for them this year and turned their assets into 3 additional first rounders in the next 3 years. Another team that will benefit from having an old max player drop off (this time in the form of Patrick Ewing), they will have a TON of space moving forward even after signing KG long term this offseason.
Team GIF: BSH on having Hughes, another top 5 player this year and getting ready to sign a 22 year old star in the making, KG, long term
1st Place: Washington Wizards
Oh man... the Wiz... Not much else can be said except for this is how you assure that you'll have the worst record. After getting swept in the second round last year, GM J2 quickly decided it was time to get better by being worse and moved quickly to re-assemble his roster. With a few promising young players in Brevin Knight and Ron Mercer along with Veteran Juwan Howard it'll be interesting to see where the Wizards go from here. As one GM put it, "The Wizards are downright pathetic and are a lost cause for about the next 5 years."
Team GIF: J2 as other teams try to scramble for the top pick, when he already has it
There you have it. Though we're near the end of the season, with each of these teams having around 16 games left, there is still plenty of time for spots 2-5 to change and have new challengers to emerge. Good Luck to all and see you this off season.
Jean Baptiste Étienne
La Révolution de Vancouver (Memphis Branch)
La Révolution de Vancouver (Memphis Branch)
