1 Reason Not To Overlook Every NBA Team for 2024-25 Season (2024)

Certain NBA teams tend to get lost in the shuffle of larger discourse.

National attention gravitates mostly toward inner-circle title contenders and the most theatrical situations. This invariably leaves a bunch of other teams to go overlooked, underestimated and even undercovered.

Let's go ahead and rectify that.

This exercise will not pick and choose. It will be a marathon of spotlight-shining across each of the Association's franchises.

In every case, we're attempting to address potential skeptics relative to a team's expectations. For contenders and playoff hopefuls, this entails riffing on the biggest reason they could or should or might be as good and relevant as they intend to be. For rebuilding squads and those floating inside indistinct competitive territory, this amounts to a sales pitch on why they're worth watching and monitoring over the course of 2024-25.

Pinpointing an exact direction for the Atlanta Hawks remains somewhat difficult.

They have Trae Young and don't control their own first-round pick again until 2029, so they have every incentive to #goforit. At the same time, the roster is set up to rely on a handful of developmental prospects, including No. 1 pick Zaccharie Risacher, Dyson Daniels and, to some extent, Kobe Bufkin (backup point guard minutes seem wide open).

This says nothing of guys like Onyeka Okongwu and the extension-eligible Jalen Johnson. Both are more known quantities. Neither, though, is a finished product.

It all adds up to a team with immediate expectations that could incur (plenty of) growing pains. Sign me up for it all—provided head coach Quin Snyder capitalizes on the lineup versatility at his disposal.

Okongwu, Johnson and Larry Nance Jr. permit the Hawks to downsize without actually shrinking how they operate. Risacher has fantastic size, at 6'9", and should be extremely plug-and-play on the offensive end thanks to his transition guile and half-court darting. De'Andre Hunter offers another 6'8" body and improved his shot diet last season. David Roddy is 6'4" but plays like he's 6'9", for both better and worse.

Here's hoping Atlanta gets super creative around Young. Personally, I'm pining to see him alongside Daniels, Johnson, Risacher and Nance. Floor-spacing could get tight, in which case Hunter could be plugged into one of the other spots. But the defensive intensity and malleability would be entertaining as hell.

Relative to the rest of the field, FanDuel's NBA futures have the Boston Celtics billed as heavy favorites to repeat as champions.

Because, well, duh.

It would be far more challenging to come up with reasons we should overlook the Celtics. They don't exist.

Pessimists will latch onto Kristaps Porziņģis missing the start of next year and probably not suiting up before Christmas after undergoing surgery to repair a torn retinaculum and dislocated posterior tibialis tendon in his left leg. That's somewhat fair. Who knows what he looks like or how much he can play upon return, and his absence invariably increases the workload for a 38-year-old Al Horford.

But this feels like a regular-season-wins-total concern. And even that might be a stretch. Boston outscored opponents by more than 10 points per 100 possessions without Porziņģis last year. And its net rating actually climbed to 13.7 without both him and Horford.

Unless you think Jayson Tatum's body will be irreparably fatigued from barely playing on Team USA, the Celtics should be considered the team to beat—and, by extension, cannot be one you even think about ignoring.

Re-acquiring control of their next two first-rounders and sending Mikal Bridges to the New York Knicks has allowed the Brooklyn Nets to purchase prime real estate inside the up-and-coming #InThePooperForCooper neighborhood. That's an exciting long-term investment.

Immediate appeal is a different story.

Most will view the Nets as a farm system for impactful trade candidates. And hey, monitoring the movability stock of Cam Thomas (extension-eligible), Dorian Finney-Smith, Cam Johnson, Nic Claxton (trade-eligible Dec. 15), et al. is certainly a reason to tune in. Maybe it's even the primary reason.

It's not the only reason.

Above all else, Brooklyn is in prime position to get weird. Head coach Jordi Fernandez can and should and probably will roll out wacky lineups and plumb the functional depths of players under his stewardship in ways we wouldn't typically imagine.

Will Thomas lead the league in usage rate? Does Claxton get the chance to run inverted pick-and-rolls? Will he spend time alongside Noah Clowney and form one of the most defensively pliable and anarchic dual-big frontlines in the league?

Could Ben Simmons be healthy enough to play? And are the Nets prepared to give him absolute agency in lineups with four shooters? Do said lineups mean we see DFS, Cam Johnson or even Ziaire Williams at the 5?

The list of curiosities and possibilities goes on.

So many assume the Charlotte Hornets will join the hunt for top-tier draft lottery odds. And they might. The new front office regime has prioritized the bigger picture under executive vice president of basketball operations Jeff Peterson.

But if the Hornets are going to #PoopforCoop, they won't just have to steer into the skid. They'll need to forcibly engineer a downward swerve.

A cursory scan of the depth chart reveals 10 to 11 players deserving of court time:

Nobody's forecasting this team to finish inside the East's top six. But if the Hornets are healthy, averse to shutting dudes down and not planning to hold a midseason fire sale, they have the talent to compete for a play-in bid.

Don't laugh. At all. Charlotte won the possessions LaMelo, Miller, Bridges and Mark Williams logged together last season. Granted, they tallied a total of 55 minutes across five appearances. Injuries and whatnot. But the underlying sentiment stands.

Charlotte has the bones of a highly entertaining and competent squad on its hands. That'll remain true even if it pivots out of the Miles Bridges business. More than anything else, a healthier LaMelo and continued progression from Miller set the stage for a friskier-than-expected, maybe even intended, Hornets campaign.

Counting on Lonzo Ball to transform the 2024-25 Chicago Bulls into an Eastern Conference menace circa 2021-22 is, frankly, not the way.

Specifically, it's beyond unfair to him.

Lonzo has undergone three right knee surgeries since January 2022, the last of which included a cartilage transplant. Even if he plays, there's no guarantee he's the same.

The prospect of him playing is nevertheless a huge deal. (He has resumed five-on-five activity.)

Connective passers who run the floor, disrupt possessions on defense and splash threes are always super valuable. That archetype is especially useful to this iteration of the Bulls. They don't have anyone else who comes close to actualizing this criteria, and they currently employ a bevy of guards who prefer to operate with the ball. Lonzo's theoretical fit next to Josh Giddey, in particular, is intriguing.

Again: Banking on his fully returning to form and galvanizing what appears to be a tentative reset in Chicago misses the mark. But if Lonzo is even 70 percent of the player he was nearly (*checks notes*) three years ago, the Bulls will be significantly better for it.

Things have long since settled down for the Cleveland Cavaliers in the aftermath of their embattled 2023-24 campaign.

Gone is the speculation that they'll trade multiple members of the Core Four. Jarrett Allen, Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley all signed extensions, and rumors of Darius Garland's purported unhappiness have dissipated.

Still, the Cavaliers aren't mentioned in the same breath as the Eastern Conference's elite. That should probably change.

Stop-and-start availability near the top of the roster threw last season into chaos. People have glommed onto Cleveland barely winning the minutes played by its Big Four. But the sample is much smaller (819 possessions) compared to 2022-23, when the quartet posted a net rating of 10.2 through 1,729 possessions.

Recapturing the vibes and success from their first year together is hardly farfetched. Better health alone gets the Cavs there. If anything, the expectation should default to them coming closer to something that resembles a peak.

Mobley is better entering Year 3 than as a rookie. He dabbled in above-the-break shooting to close last season and continues to improve how he handles physicality. The Mitchell experience has exceeded forecasts in each of the past two years. Garland will have a better season if he can string together longer stretches of not getting hit in the face.

Last year's adversity also lent itself to self-discovery. Questions remain about the Allen-Mobley fit. They'll be answered with positive affirmations if Mobley keeps expanding his range. And if he doesn't, Cleveland already has information on how to stagger them and what lineups work best—intel head coach Kenny Atkinson can implement, tweak and build upon.

Hardly anyone is down on the Dallas Mavericks following an NBA Finals appearance and an offseason that saw them, at bottom, deepen their rotation. But there does seem to be a level of concern about how the defense will sustain after adding Klay Thompson and bidding farewell to Derrick Jones Jr.

Dribs and drabs of alarm are fine. Jones' athleticism and capacity to cover pretty much anyone on the perimeter will be missed. Thompson doesn't have the tools to do that anymore (understandably so), and Naji Marshall's utility will be more matchup dependent.

There's still little reason to believe the Mavs aren't better off.

Bringing in Thompson boosts an offense that needed more dynamic spacing and shooting. (Mette Robertson of Mavs Moneyball has a nice breakdown of how Klay will fit.) Putting him on the court beside Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving could create challenges at the other end—particularly during crunch time. Dallas is equipped to mitigate the downside with size and optionality.

The Mavs are huh-uge. Dončić, Marshall and P.J. Washington are all listed at 6'7". At 6'6", Klay remains someone who can be rolled out versus more stationary wings. Dante Exum, at 6'5", has fantastic size for someone who can still rumble with traditional point-of-attack guards. And the big man rotation of Dereck Lively II (7'1"), Daniel Gafford (6'10") and Maxi Kleber (6'10") features plenty of height that checks an array of different boxes.

Oh, and for anyone still worried about defense against small advantage creators, the Mavs have a good kind of wild card on their hand. Quentin Grimes is 6'5" himself and proved to be a viable three-and-D weapon through his first two seasons before an injury- and role-riddled 2023-24 campaign.

Letting Kentavious Caldwell-Pope walk in free agency is absolutely a decision for which the Denver Nuggets should be scrutinized and criticized. You'd be hard-pressed to argue they're a better team as a result.

Crossing your fingers for internal development does little to shield Denver from questions. It could have both continued grooming the kids and kept one of its most important players. Framing KCP's departure as anything more than financially motivated is disingenuous.

Writing off the Nuggets entirely following his exit is even worse, though. They still have the world's best basketball player in Nikola Jokić, and their most-used lineups will continue to set the world on fire.

Sure, last year's starting five ended up getting pummeled for much of the playoffs. That's not a harbinger of things to come.

Denver outscored opponents by 14.5 points per 100 possessions during the regular season whenever Jokić, Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon and Michael Porter Jr. took the floor without KCP. The sample is incredibly small (under 250 possessions), but the returns with Christian Braun and Peyton Watson in Caldwell-Pope's stead are promising.

If nothing else, the Nuggets' defense from the jump should be just as capable and perhaps better off. Their offensive ceiling will be tied to Braun, Watson and/or Julian Strawther all getting better. Ideal? Probably not. It's also not exactly an impossible situation or worst-case scenario.

Reserve the skepticism for Denver's depth beyond the tippy-top of the roster.

I won't insult your intelligence and deliver an inauthentic monologue on why the Detroit Pistons will actually be good. They won't. They're not built to be. And despite adding some veterans over the offseason, they're not trying to be.

Detroit is trying to do a better job of opening up the floor. And while I hesitate to give 'em the ol' "mission accomplished" stamp of approval, the supporting cast is certainly trending in the right direction when measured against that goal.

Decongestion will remain an obstacle if and when the Pistons play three of Jalen Duren, Ron Holland II, Jaden Ivey and Ausar Thompson. (To his credit, Ivey canned 35.5 percent of his spot-up triples as a sophom*ore.) But they have a much cleaner path to fielding at least a trio of shooters around Cade Cunningham.

Here's a look at the catch-and-fire three-point volume and accuracy from last season for some key rotation players, both new and old:

Caveats are attached to just about every player. Can Harris up his volume and consistency? How much will Sasser play? Was last year a blip or is Hardaway on the downswing? Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

In the aggregate, though, the Pistons have more shooting on the roster than last season. That should make the development of Cunningham, Ivey, Thompson and Holland easier—and their performances something into which Detroit can meaningfully read.

Secondary star power continues to elude the Golden State Warriors. After missing out on Paul George and Lauri Markkanen, it doesn't feel like that's going to change anytime soon.

To what end that limits the Dubs' ceiling in the Western Conference is arguable. But they at least have a reasonable chance of improving upon last year's 46-win, 10th-place finish.

Meaningfully deepening the rotation can have that effect.

Going from Chris Paul and Klay Thompson to Kyle Anderson, Buddy Hield and De'Anthony Melton isn't groundbreaking on the surface. Perception starts to shift when you dig into the details.

Hield will offset most of the gravity lost with Thompson. And Golden State doesn't have to worry about his indulging a rogue shot selection while grappling with a different place and function inside their pecking order.

Anderson is an odd fit on this roster unless he's drilling threes and/or staggered from Draymond Green-plus-a-big lineups. But he gives the Warriors capable defense across multiple positions and secondary playmaking that can leave profound imprints in arrangements with complementary shooting.

We collectively aren't making a big enough deal over Melton's arrival. If he's healthy, Golden State picked up someone with an All-Defense peak who can stroke threes and has gotten better at maintaining his dribble and threading pocket passes.

Beyond that, the Warriors should be deeper on the back of internal development. Jonathan Kuminga, Brandin Podziemski, Trayce Jackson-Davis and Moses Moody could all get better. The true sickos among us, meanwhile, aren't dismissing the potential of Lindy Waters III as a motion shooter with some shimmy and shake in the lane or a universe in which Gary Payton II is healthier and winding the clock back to 2021-22.

Stare long and hard at the Houston Rockets roster with this question in mind: How many actual rotation members won't continue to get better?

Three is the safest answer.

Fred VanVleet is undersized and turns 31 at the end of February. Dillon Brooks reworked his shot diet and canned almost 36 percent of his threes on more than five attempts per game. Buy into his perfectly replicating that performance at your own peril. Steven Adams is working his way back from right knee surgery and hasn't played since January 2023.

Including these three still feels icky. None of them may get better, but who among them is getting worse? Choosing post-injury Adams makes sense, and even he could wind up holding steady in a presumably smaller role.

Pretty much everyone else on the docket will get better.

Continued strides from Alperen Şengün, Jabari Smith Jr., Amen Thompson and Cam Whitmore are a given. Jalen Green is at worse exactly who he was last season. He is at best closer to the player who torched the league once the calendar flipped to late February.

Tari Eason is a better health bill away from generating All-Defense buzz. If Jae'Sean Tate gets worse, it's likely because Houston doesn't have enough minutes to go around. Reed Sheppard could be a Rookie of the Year candidate if the Rockets play him enough.

Related: Holy crap Houston is deep. And if you're looking for a simplified version of their trajectory, it goes something like "Last year's seventh-best defense (possibly fluky opponent shooting from deep in mind) just added this draft class' most dynamic shooter in Sheppard."

Talent retention is the prevailing theme of the Indiana Pacers summer. Those who wanted them to buttress the wing defense or clarify plans for Bennedict Mathurin and Jarace Walker won't be thrilled, but the team's approach comes as little surprise following midseason turnover and a trip to the conference finals.

Quibbling over the Pacers' makeup is fair game. Their strategy comes across as a nebulous vote of confidence in the status quo. This is questionable when looking at not only Mathurin and Walker, but also the value they ascribed to Obi Toppin.

Prioritizing continuity, though, will have its advantages.

Indiana outscored opponents last season by 2.7 points per 100 possessions with Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam on the floor. Its net rating bumped up to 3.7 when throwing Andrew Nembhard into the fold and then to 4.4 when adding Myles Turner.

The Pacers now get an entire training camp to hone top-of-the-rotation synergy, test out different staggering patterns and experiment with various finishing touches alongside their two stars. That's a huge deal.

It's an even more critical development if we assume Haliburton won't battle another midseason injury. After initially entrenching himself in the MVP discussion, he spent most of his return from a hamstring issue in a malaise by his standards. A healthier Haliburton who needn't adjust to the arrival of Siakam and departure of Buddy Hield is a potentially monstrous boon on its own.

Look, I won't pretend to have a firm hold on the overarching theory of the 2024-25 Los Angeles Clippers after they simply decided Paul George wasn't worth re-signing. But dammit if this team won't defend its butt off at full strength.

Peak Kawhi Leonard continues to come around when healthy. He's now flanked by two ferocious stoppers in Derrick Jones Jr. and Kris Dunn. Both ranked in the top 25 of matchup difficulty last season, according to BBall-Index. Their arrivals arm Los Angeles with players who give a you-know-what about getting back in transition and lessen the overall load placed upon Kawhi's shoulders. (Good thing, too. This version of the Clippers will need Leonard to do more on offense.)

Nicolas Batum's return helps, too. Going on 35 in December, he's not eliciting any All-Defense hype. But he's among the savviest helpers in the league and knows how to utilize space as an asset in higher-stakes situations. Among everyone age 30 or older in 2023-24, just six players spent a larger share of their defensive possessions guarding the other team's highest usage player, per BBall-Index.

Incumbents Terance Mann and Ivica Zubac also profile as more valuable on a team with better complementary depth at the less glamorous end. That's a pretty wild development for Zubac specifically. He's already one of the most undervalued rim protectors in the game.

Zubac limited opponents last season to 49.6 percent shooting at the rim—the stingiest mark among 263 players who challenged at least 100 point-bank looks.

If the Clippers stay relatively healthy, a top-seven-or-better defense feels well within reach.

Relative inaction from the Los Angeles Lakers this summer remains inexcusable.

Hiring JJ Redick to replace Darvin Ham could pan out spectacularly. Maybe rookie Dalton Knecht proves game-ready. Better availability from Jarred Vanderbilt and Gabe Vincent could go a long way.

It's not enough.

Consider what the Lakers are up against in the Western Conference. Denver, Minnesota, Oklahoma City and Dallas are all, without question, better than them. Memphis, Phoenix and Sacramento might be, too. Golden State, Houston or New Orleans could pop.

The Lakers needed to do more—which is to say, something. And that's not because they're bad. They're not. That's part of the calculus.

Los Angeles outscored opponents last year by 7.3 points per 100 possessions, with an offensive rating in the 89th percentile, with Anthony Davis, LeBron James, Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura on the floor. Adding a two-way wing or another proven shot-creator would do wonders for this rotation's stock relative to the West's heavyweights.

Failing or opting against doing so should be deemed unforgivable. Neither LeBron nor AD is getting any younger. And they are both, collectively, good enough to headline a contender right now.

The good news? The Lakers' offseason isn't over yet. And there's always the possibility of a midyear transaction. Los Angeles isn't the most asset-rich suitor but can dangle Knecht, convenient salary-matchers, two future firsts and three swaps.

That has the bones of a real offer. And if the right player becomes available, the top of the Lakers roster is good enough for the front office to strike.

If the Cleveland Cavaliers are the most overlooked team in the Eastern Conference, then the Western Conference version of this award must go to the Memphis Grizzlies.

Extensive absences from Ja Morant, Desmond Bane, Marcus Smart, Brandon Clarke and even Luke Kennard didn't just ruin any chance of party crashing last year's title race. It displaced the Grizzlies from the national radar.

Nearly everyone is so laser focused on what's happening in Denver, Dallas, Minnesota, Phoenix and Los Angeles (both teams), among others, they seem to have forgotten Memphis rattled off 50-plus wins in consecutive regular seasons prior to last year. Any serious discussion about what happens in 2024-25 has to include both the track record and theory of these Grizzlies.

Bane, Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr. continue to represent a constant baseline. And that baseline is elite. Memphis outstripped opponents by over eight points per 100 possessions with them on the floor in 2021-22 and then posted a net rating of 11.7 with them in 2022-23 (amid more availability warts).

Tacking on some combination of Smart, Kennard, GG Jackson II, Vince Williams Jr. and Zach Edey to this trio should pay big-time dividends. Yes, questions are tethered to all of them. Will Smart and Kennard stay healthy? Can Edey's rim protection and rebounding and general adeptness at being a massive human translate to the Association as a rookie? And so on.

At least some of the uncertainty will play out in the Grizzlies' favor. If and when it does, they should in turn re-enter the 50-win-candidate pool.

Sure, Jimmy Butler will be 35 on opening night. And yes, he's always going to miss some time (22 games last season).

And OK, some of the Miami Heat voodoo mystique wore off in 2023-24, culminating in a five-game first-round exit at the hands of the eventual champion Boston Celtics…without Butler.

And look, you'd be hard-pressed to argue this year's team is much, if at all, better than last season's squad following the exit of Caleb Martin.

But should we really count out a Heat franchise built around contract-year Jimmy Butler (2025-26 player option)? After his own team president, Pat Riley, basically ruled out an extension before the offseason truly started?

I mean, maybe. Also: Probably not.

Miami should get better availability from Tyler Herro and even Terry Rozier. It can count on development from Haywood Highsmith and Jaime Jaquez Jr. Drafting Kel'el Ware could give the Heat a pathway to some defensively terrifying dual-big arrangements. And failing everything else, Miami did outscore opponents last season by nearly five points per 100 possessions (77th percentile) with Butler and Adebayo on the court

Inconsistency, drama, underperformances, injuries and painfully obvious roster flaws all contributed to the Milwaukee Bucks turning in a topsy-turvy, thoroughly unconvincing 2023-24 campaign.

And you know what?

They still won 49 games.

And they still outscored opponents by 16.3 points per 100 possessions when Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard, Khris Middleton and Brook Lopez all shared the court.

Crafty signings on the margins—Gary Trent Jr., Taurean Prince, Delon Wright—only buoy Milwaukee's depth and appeal. Many of its concerns remain the same (supplemental athleticism, point-of-attack defense), but the roster is far better equipped to work around, if not outright plug, some of them.

Downside endures at the top. The Big Four aren't getting any younger, and Khris Middleton is coming off buy-one-get-one free ankle surgeries.

But Lillard remains a swing piece. He won't be coming off a summer of trade-rumor theater and relocation. This situation is less new and fluid and more familiar. That's a big deal.

If you don't buy the off-court component in full, well, Lillard of all people won't drill under 33 percent of his catch-and-shoot threes again—yet another big deal for a Bucks team that, despite its faults, remains its own big deal.

Counting on Rob Dillingham to improve a championship contender is a pretty big gamble. The Minnesota Timberwolves relinquished control of their 2030 (swap) and 2031 first-rounders to get him, and more immediately, rookies aren't known for successfully ferrying critical roles on really good teams.

All of this in mind, we must also acknowledge the counter scenario: What if the Timberwolves just solved their most glaring issue?

Spacing, on-ball creation and shot-making deficits each plagued Minnesota last season to varying extremes. These issues proved most unraveling during stretches without Anthony Edwards. The Wolves posted an offensive rating in the 29th percentile when he wasn't on the court. Using Mike Conley to bridge the gap didn't help matters. Minnesota's offense rated inside the 30th percentile during his solo minutes.

Enter Dillingham.

The 19-year-old profiles as everything the Wolves need: another ball-handler who puts pressure on set defenses, gets off the rock quickly when deferring and downs shots from every area outside the paint, as both a self-creator and spot-up option. Adjusting to NBA size and length should take time, and effectively chaperoning stints without Edwards is a lot to ask of anyone, let alone a rookie. But Minnesota is positioned to address its most damning flaw with a high-end solution.

That's objectively tantalizing—and a potential ceiling-raiser for a team that already had championship-contending equity.

Something needs to give at the center position for the New Orleans Pelicans. Closing with Zion Williamson in the middle will make all sorts of basketball sickos happy, myself included. But it's not a look you want to deploy as a crutch, and some combination of Daniel Theis, Karlo Matković and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl doesn't really move the needle.

On the bright side, though, the Pelicans have pieced together a more dynamic offensive ceiling with the acquisition of Dejounte Murray. He should juice up the minutes they play without Zion—which, to be fair, were statistically solid last year—and has improved enough as a shooter to play off both Williamson and Brandon Ingram. Murray nailed over 39 percent of his spot-up treys in 2023-24 on close to four attempts per game.

Materially boosting the offense can often come at the expense of defensive returns. New Orleans avoided that scenario.

Murray was overtaxed in Atlanta as their perimeter end-all and 1B option. He won't shoulder the former responsibility on the Pelicans. Herb Jones and Jose Alvarado revel in exhaustive defense while both Ingram and Trey Murphy are better than most of the wings Murray operated alongside in Atlanta.

Figuring out how to juggle minutes Ingram, Murray and Zion are all on the floor could prove challenging. All of them prefer to operate on-ball, and even at their pinnacle, the BI-Zion partnership doesn't exactly lead a fully integrated example.

Head coach Willie Green will make it work. Murray has the bandwidth to take more jumpers off the catch, we've seen Ingram up his volume before, and having both Murphy and CJ McCollum in tow guarantees the floor will be plenty open even if New Orleans' primaries are launching enough threes.

Losing Isaiah Hartenstein comes as a blow to the New York Knicks frontcourt rotation. But they are still a better team overall when you factor in the arrival of Mikal Bridges and a (presumably) healthy Julius Randle.

More than that, the current roster invites (forces?) them to explore the full parameters of their lineup flexibility.

Mitchell Robinson will represent the meat and potatoes of their center rotation when he's available. His defense can border on dominant when locked in, and he's critical to sustaining their identity on the offensive glass

Minutes at the 5 get dicey after him. Will we see a ton of Jericho Sims? Precious Achiuwa? Taj Gibson, if and when he's waived by Charlotte?

That's all on the table. So, too, are extended stints with Randle and OG Anunoby in the frontcourt. It's a setup that works both with Jalen Brunson and during his well-deserved breaks. Randle gets to be the 5 on offense while Anunoby shoulders that role at the other end.

This should intrigue everyone. If you're down on Randle, specifically, watching him attack opposing defenses as the de facto offensive center as both a screener and initiator is liable to tilt you in the other direction.

Fleshing out the rest of that look is a matter of trial and error. Bridges should be the only other lock. From there, the Knicks can skew five-out with Brunson and Donte DiVincenzo. Or they can try to play bigger without actually playing bigger by using DiVincenzo and Josh Hart. Deuce McBride can supplant any of Brunson, DiVincenzo or Hart if the jumper is real. Achiuwa can sub in for Randle if Brunson is playing and Hart's catching a breather.

New York has lineup buttons to push not available to every team. And while head coach Tom Thibodeau isn't known for off-beat exploration, he's warmed up to playing smaller over the past season-and-a-half—a development that also bodes well for these Knicks.

Is there a team in the NBA more likely to win 60-plus games than the 2024-25 Oklahoma City Thunder? Asking for a friend.

Coming up with reasons to believe in the Thunder is stupid easy. They have an embarrassment of depth that checks every tactical box. Just look at the 10-man rotation I tentatively penciled in on their behalf:

What's the weakness in that rotation? Hartenstein takes care of the size, physicality and rebounding concerns from last season. Caruso puts a deadeye modest-volume shooter defenses will actually respect in the Josh Giddey spot.

Secondary creation could be a little prickly. We saw that haunt Oklahoma City during the playoffs, where Jalen Williams couldn't really get going. Neither Caruso nor Hartenstein fills that void.

Somebody else will. And it'll probably be J-Dub himself. He has already increased his self-creation and is going to get better. So will Chet Holmgren, who's own role should broaden with a less ball-dominant running mate in Giddey's stead. Wiggins can generate hoops for himself and others. Wallace will get better.

The Thunder also have the assets to consolidate or reorient their pecking order. Assuming they need it. Which they may not. Because they're that good—that complete.

Could the Orlando Magic have more aggressively pursued offensive upgrades? Definitely. And I would go as far as to say they should have.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope will help open the floor as a good-volume spacer. He is not a dynamic off-the-dribble creator or shot-maker. Those continue to loom as Orlando's largest holes.

Big whoop.

The Magic just added someone who had a genuine All-Defense case last year to a nucleus that ranked second in points allowed per possession. That's so filthy it feels like the Board of Governors should have banded together and made it illegal.

Good luck to any offense attempting to generate buckets versus lineups that feature KCP, Jalen Suggs and Jonathan Isaac. If head coach Jamahl Mosely is feeling really spunky, he can attach Anthony Black to that trio. The offense probably won't be pretty, but that quartet will offset it at the other end by making grown adults cry.

Tons of people still won't excuse the absence of a bigger-time swing. Here's the thing: Orlando has the assets to make one midseason. And we'd also be remiss to rule out continued development from Suggs, Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner.

Signing Paul George outfits the Philadelphia 76ers with one of the Association's two or three most balanced star trios.

It also gives them a margin for error they didn't have last season.

Joel Embiid's health remains a concern. Bury him in too much responsibility and too many overall appearances, and you risk gassing him out before the playoffs. Manage his minutes and games played, and you run the risk of submarining your postseason seeding.

Finding the happy medium now feels more achievable than ever.

Never mind limiting the number of games in which Embiid plays. George's arrival and the ongoing ascent of Tyrese Maxey should enable him to carry a smaller offensive workload. You can preserve Embiid's freshness without altogether benching him.

On those occasions where he misses games or is catching a breather, the Sixers have him covered. Yes, they were almost a net even last season in the minutes Maxey logged without Embiid. But the rose-colored trend didn't come close to holding when the latter missed extended time with a left knee injury.

Most Embiid-less lineups can now feature two stars. And equally paramount: Philly should seldom, if ever, need to play a single solitary second without one All-NBA-caliber talent on the court.

Disappointment permeated nearly every nook and cranny of the Phoenix Suns' 2023-24 season (the rise of Grayson Allen and a pleasantly surprising 12th-ranked defense notwithstanding). Turnovers and choppy offense ranked among the most frustrating wrinkles.

Just six teams finished the year with a higher turnover rate, and Phoenix was 28th in the same category during fourth quarters. This didn't prevent the offense from placing ninth in points scored per possession. And there's a chance the issue would have always self-remedied, as Devin Booker (underrated as a passer...still) and Bradley Beal were given space and time.

The Suns have instead opted to address the problem head-on.

Adding Monte Morris at the minimum was a good move. Bagging Tyus Jones at the same rate is highway robbery. Possession management should never be an issue with either of them on the floor.

Jones has notched an assist rate north of 25 with a turnover rate below nine in each of the past three years. Michael Jordan is currently the only player on record with as many seasons under his belt. Morris, meanwhile, has the second-lowest turnover rate among every player ever with an assist rate of at least 20 and 250 or more career appearances under their belt. (Tyrese Maxey owns the lowest.)

Plopping more non-wings into the equation might open up a can of worms on defense. But new head coach Mike Budneholzer is renowned for his base setups, and given how few resources the Suns had at their disposal, completely neutralizing the turnover dilemma qualifies as an all-caps WIN.

Teams working through the early stages of rebuilding are usually good bets to range from bad to awful on both ends of the floor—you know, kind of like the (admittedly injury-ravaged) Portland Trail Blazers were last year, when they ranked 29th in offense and 23rd in defense.

Both of those placements have the chance to skyrocket in 2024-25. Granted, the offense has almost nowhere to go but up. The defense, though? It may turn out to be actual fire.

Solid defenders are sprinkled up and down the depth chart. Adding Deni Avidja to a wing rotation that already features Jerami Grant, Matisse Thybulle and Dalano Banton allows for all sorts of versatility.

Housing Toumani Camara does the same. That dude can guard no fewer than 4.5 positions. Perimeter scorers will be in for 48 minutes of hell if Scoot Henderson or Shaedon Sharpe levels up on the less glamorous end.

Portland's interior protection should also be pretty fierce at full strength. Yours truly panned the Donovan Clingan selection only to watch him be exceptional at leveraging his giganticness during summer league. Between himself, a healthy Robert Williams III and Deandre Ayton, the Blazers should have little issue improving upon the 70.8 percent clip they allowed at the rim last year (29th).

Late-summer or midseason wheeling and dealing could prompt this outlook to self-destruct. But Portland seems invested long term in the vast majority of the names discussed here. It has the wiggle room to both act like a seller and retain its defensive allure.

Anyone against the Sacramento Kings' acquisition of DeMar DeRozan is either put off by the team surrendering a 2031 first-round swap, aggrieved by a supposedly offense-first operation leaning further into that model or both. Those points of contention carry merit. They can also lose the plot.

Sacramento's offense last year was not the thermonuclear-AF machine it formulated in the lab during the 2022-23 campaign, when it ranked first in points scored per possession. Last season's Kings dropped to 14th in overall offensive efficiency and 15th when operating in the half-court (down from second).

Hovering around the league average on the more glamorous end isn't good enough even if you're an elite defensive team. Sacramento wasn't the latter. It discovered some pesky combinations that helped a ton (shout-out Keon Ellis), but this squad is supposed to win with its offense.

Enough excuses came into play for the Kings to prioritize someone else over DeRozan. Late-season injuries hit Malik Monk and Kevin Huerter, the latter of whom was also in the midst of a down year. But Sacramento needed another outside-in creator even with them in the fold.

De'Aaron Fox is the lone other player to meet that standard. Domantas Sabonis is more driver of ball and body movement and an interior scorer than self-starting perimeter weapon. Monk is at his best going downhill. There are limits to what Huerter and Keegan Murray can do off the dribble.

DeRozan addresses both issues (among others). And while he introduces some obstacles (potentially spacing), his addition profiles as more of a much-needed feature than potential bug.

The San Antonio Spurs, who won all of 22 games last season, outscored opponents by 5.2 points per 100 possessions whenever Victor Wembanyama and Tre Jones shared the floor. Their net rating when Wemby played without Jones? Minus-16.6 points per 100 possessions.

Amazing what you can accomplish with a burgeoning superstar and competent game manager on the court, isn't it?

Well, it's about to get even more amazing for the Spurs. They now have 48 minutes or so of strong point guard play following the addition of Chris Paul.

Assigning so much value to the arrival of a 39-year-old verges on bonkers in most cases. This isn't most cases.

Wemby entered the All-NBA periphery as a rookie. There's no telling how high he will rise in Year 2. Wrong answers seemingly don't exist.

Paul also proved himself capable as an offensive steward during his time on the Golden State Warriors. And slotting him into the starting lineup amounts to more reps for Jones against backups.

Forecasting a playoff chase for the Spurs feels a touch premature. Then again, is it really?

Injuries limited the number of reps Scottie Barnes and Jakob Poeltl could amass alongside midseason arrivals RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley. The returns they delivered during their brief time together, though, are enough to get you thinking about the ceiling of next season's Toronto Raptors.

Across almost 400 possessions without Pascal Siakam, lineups featuring this quartet posted a net rating of 13.5 (98th percentile) on the back of elite offensive and defensive results.

Sample size is a caveat, of course. Sub-400 possessions isn't much. Two of the fifth members from the most used iterations for this grouping, Gary Trent Jr. (Milwaukee) and Dennis Schröder (Brooklyn), are on different teams. But the Raptors don't lack finishing-touch options.

Gradey Dick can slide into that fifth spot. The same goes for Bruce Brown Jr. Maybe Ochai Agbaji starts hitting corner threes again.

Toronto's fate has more than anything else to do with its Core Four.

What if Barnes continues honing, well, basically every part of his game? What if the finishing and/or marksmanship Barrett showed while with the Raptors holds? What if Quickley spruces up his live-dribble passing? What if Dick or Agbaji or even Browns delivers enough floor-spacing for Poeltl to dominate the two-man game with Barnes and Quickley?

Sure, the initial sample size from this gaggle could be noisy. They won't shoot a trillion percent on threes forever. They also aren't without pathways to getting even better.

Remember the start of 2022-23, when Many of Us™ were sure the Utah Jazz would be all-in on the Victor Wembanyama draft?

And remember the start of 2023-24, when so Many of Us™ were certain they had adequately inoculated themselves against TMWS (Too Many Wins Syndrome) with the previous season's midstream selloff?

And then remember how "many of us" were wrong...both times?

Utah has needed to trade and finagle itself out of the middle in each of the past two seasons, the second of which included a surface-of-the-sun stretch spanning from the middle of December until mid-January. Many of Us™ are once again sure this won't happen again.

Because Many of Us™ clearly understand that the Jazz have more young talent stockpiled than before, and that they've learned their lesson after finishing outside the top eight in consecutive lotteries.

So Many of Us™ are convinced Utah will play the recently renegotiated-and-extended Lauri Markkanen and the kids and obsessively repress the minutes or trade anyone who dares to play well enough to earn rack up Ws.

Many of Us™ can also talk ourselves into Markkanen suffering a sprained supercalifragilisticexpialidocious tendon just after the All-Star break, and into the Jazz suspending head coach Will Hardy for "conduct not detrimental enough" to the team.

What could go so right that it's actually wrong?

If we're being true to the Washington Wizards' direction, we should rework the interpretation of "counting out." To them, that likely means assuming they'll win more than 15 games.

Let's not do that. This team is perhaps a touch too heavy on veterans, but its trajectory is deliberate, kowtowing to foresight that could pay huge dividends down the road.

Immediately, though, the Wizards could be noticeably friskier on offense relative to the 25th-ranked attack they belched out last season.

Much of this rests on veterans to whom they're not married long term. Malcolm Brogdon is a driving and shooting machine. Kyle Kuzma just shot over 48 percent on drives amid lackluster spacing. Jonas Valanciunas can still big-human defenses to death and has some stretch to his shot profile. Jordan Poole looked a lot more at home initiating the offense through the latter part of last season.

Then, of course, we have the youngsters.

Bilal Coulibaly knows how to make plays in transition and looked stronger during his time with France's national team during the 2024 Olympics. Saddling him with more on-ball volume is the move, and while growing pains are part and parcel of that exploration, he has the driving instincts to capitalize on expanded usage.

Bub Carrington mostly shined in summer league with total agency over the offense. He had zero issue uncorking threes, has great size for a primary guard, and the live-dribble playmaking is even further along than career optimists could hope.

Alex Sarr became a meme during his own summer league stint. That's by no means a surefire signal of what's to come. He needs to be more committed to playing physical and connecting on screens, but the finesse imbued into his game should serve him well inside lineups that space defenses in the half-court.

Kyshawn George, meanwhile, could wind up being a sleeper prospect. His defensive versatility earned a lot of shine in the lead-up to the draft. But at 6'8", he drilled over 40 percent of his threes at Miami (Florida) while displaying a fledgling comfort level working off the dribble.

Dan Favale covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter (@danfavale), and subscribe to the Hardwood Knocks podcast, co-hosted by Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes.