2021-22 Season Preview

[Laimbeer40]

Atlanta Hawks 

Ownership Rating: 10 (Might sound like home cooking but this is the winningest team in league history, 1x League Champ)

Studs: Donovon Mitchell, Devin Booker, Brandon Ingram provide firepower in the backcourt and wing positions.

Prospects: Tyrese Maxey has been instant offense when he gets minutes on that loaded 76ers squad.

Decisions: None Pending

Losses: Andre Drummond's extension was too steep at $20.4m so he looked like a big loss until he played for the Lakers. A bigger loss might be Jae'Sean Tate who had a 1 yr UFA deal.

Prove It: Mitchell Robinson is so tantalizing but some bad injury luck lately and coaching rotations have slowed his rise.

Status: 3 roster spots to fill and $8.4m in cap space. Bjelica for $4.0m is dead weight right now. Only Okpala in the D-League. One of those spots will be filled by their 1st rounder. They also have two 2nds which can either supplement their minors or possibly work into the rotation. They desperately need another contributor in the frontcourt to replace Drummond.

Outlook: Playoffs. Seems a little 5 seedish.

Update
July 2021 - Traded Joe Ingles, T.Maxey and 2022 ATL 1st for Jusuf Nurkic. This will be a big addition to ATL if he can stay healthy.

[Laimbeer40]

Boston Celtics

Ownership Rating: 6.5 (As many Top 3 picks as playoff appearances. Covid may have robbed them of their best chance of a title. 1x Semi appearance)

Studs: Pascal Siakam is a borderline stud. Is it too early to call Anthony Edwards one too?

Prospects: There is no shortage of prospects with a high draft pedigree. Can Hayes or Okongwu break out?

Decisions: None Pending

Losses: None

Prove It: Jonathan Isaac has terrible luck. When he plays he is great for fantasy. The Magic are going into a rebuild so we will see if he can come back.

Status: Most of the roster is locked up. They should have a top lotto pick to add to the active roster. There is a lot of trade bait on this team but you know ol' DAN doesn't like giving up on potential.

Outlook: Probably has the ammo to compete if the right trades are made but I could see OUDAN letting this simmer for another year.

[OUDAN]

More great content from the man Laim! Even though he hates on the ownership rating we still love him and these are the best leagues!!!

[Laimbeer40]

Brooklyn Nets

Ownership Rating: 3 (JSK took over a WilliamX venture and has made some good moves. This franchise still looking for a winning season. Deliver one of those and the score shoots up)

Studs: Joel Embiid is a borderline MVP candidate.

Prospects: Isaac Okoro had some bright spots and as long as the Cavs suck he will have opportunity for more.

Decisions: Re-sign Zubac at $3.0m?

Losses: None

Prove It: Troy Brown RFA extension is $4.8m which isn't a ton but right now would you feel comfortable with that?

Status: Of course Embiid is the cornerstone. Bagley and D.Robinson are nice pieces. I'm rooting for Fultz to recover from injury. Should have a decent lotto pick and $24m in cap prior to any extensions. 

Outlook: It might be a stretch for them to get that winning season this year. Need to continue drafting well.

[Laimbeer40]

Charlotte Hornets

Ownership Rating: 5 (Pretty much a .500 franchise since inception. 1x playoff appearance. One of the top owners at finding gems in the 2nd rd)

Studs: Kemba & Dipo are former studs. Boucher isn't there yet.

Prospects: Kenyon Martin Jr. had some nice moments and he might continue to get big minutes in Houston.

Decisions: George Hill is pending FA but not going to lose sleep over that.

Losses: None

Prove It: Robert Covington makes big money in this league so it would be nice to see a little more scoring.

Status: With Dipo's injury status and Kemba wanting to leave Boston their biggest stars are in limbo. RoCo and Draymond don't do much on offense. They have $18m and a lotto pick to round out a below average roster.

Outlook: Too many unknowns here to feel good about their playoff chances. Looks like another losing season in the QC.

[Laimbeer40]

Chicago Bulls

Ownership Rating: 6 (Finally has a chance to be more than an afterthought in the East. Coming off their best season. 1x Semis appearance)

Studs: I'm gonna call CJ McCollum a 2nd tier stud. 

Prospects: Not much here. Jarred Vanderbilt maybe if he is re-signed?

Decisions: Most of his decisions will be made for him by the cap. 4 roster spots to fill and only $8.6m to do it with.

Losses: Probably cannot afford to re-sign CP3 or even Justin Holiday.

Prove It: Taurean Prince making $8m for the next three seasons. Can he earn that?

Status: Plenty of mid round talent on the roster. But not sure how they engineer the depth needed to make noise this season. They need someone to bail them out in a trade.

Outlook: Chicago is coming off a nice season but losing CP3 is no small thing. That will be tough to replace with limited cap and only two 2nds in the draft. Probably a playoff team but might be more like a 7 seed. 

[Laimbeer40]

Cleveland Cavaliers

Ownership Rating: 3.5 (This franchise has had a lineage of failed ownerships. Goldie turned in their first winning season last year. A second consecutive trip to the playoffs would do wonders for this score)

Studs: Jayson Tatum for sure and the much maligned Russell Westbrook if firmly in this category.

Prospects: A deep well of prospects in the front court including Wiseman and Claxton. 

Decisions: How to stretch his $2.1m cap to fill two roster spots. And what to do about Trae Young's pending RFA deal.

Losses: None, unless you count Damion Lee as a loss.

Prove It: Honestly it's prove it time for Goldie. He spent a couple of years building up a war chest so he can compete. The time is now. 

Status: This was a 5 seed that is losing nothing and has a ton of unrealized potential. There is a chance for big things. The cap poses a problem.

Outlook: Barring a disaster this team should be able to come through as a 4-5 seed with potential for more.

[Laimbeer40]

Dallas Mavericks

Ownership Rating: 4.5 (Two playoff appearances and Covid wiped out another. They also pulled off two huge 1st round upsets as a 7 and 8 seed)

Studs: DeMar DeRozan is probably the closest thing.

Prospects: Lonnie Walker is still only 22 yrs old. A post hype sleeper. Aside from that nothing but a turkey Samanic.

Decisions: A ton. Only 4 players under contract. The rest are up for renewal. This is basically a blank slate.

Losses: None unless he chooses not to re-sign them.

Prove It: Hate to go to the well again but it's prove it time for Jeff. This is officially his team now with no more Silogical influence. He has a lot of decisions to make.

Status: Again a completely blank slate. 

Outlook: Just going to be honest here. There is potential to be a playoff team but I'm not sure Jeff is active enough to achieve that potential.

[Laimbeer40]

Denver Nuggets

Ownership Rating: 4 (I was surprised to look back and see only 1x playoff appearance. There is definitely some room for this score to go up)

Studs: LeBron James assuming they re-sign him.

Prospects: Some decent options here with Quickley, Roby and Nesmith.

Decisions: A rather easy one on LeBron's extension.

Losses: Probably Dennis Smith Jr although that isn't a big loss

Prove It: Going to put Darius Garland here. He took a big step up this year. Can he continue that momentum?

Status: Likely just under $10m and a late lotto pick to fill 2 active roster spots. They are in good position to improve.

Outlook: The West is weak but starting to get stronger. This team has what it takes to make their 2nd playoff appearance.

[Laimbeer40]

Detroit Pistons

Ownership Rating: 3 (This franchise has never had a winning record but they do have 1x playoff appearance. That happened last year so this team is on the rise)

Studs: Giannis is a bigtime stud. Can Ayton be one too? He is trending up.

Prospects: How about Deni Avidja? He was supposed to be kind of pro ready but his rookie season was meh. We'll see what Year 2 brings.

Decisions: The league is on pins and needles waiting for a decision on Frank Kaminsky.

Losses: Juan Hernangomez showed a little life last season but he goes to UFA now.

Prove It: Is D.Russell already at his ceiling? Would be nice to see him progress a bit more.

Status: $27m in cap space with 2 spots to fill however a $14m RFA extension looms on Ayton.

Outlook: I see no reason why they can't finish over .500 this year and get to a 6-7 seed. 

UPDATE
June 2021: Someone obviously took their Owner Rating personally. Pistons mgmnt has shaken things up with the headscratching acquisition of Melo Ball for Giannis. Followed by the highway robbery of getting Mikal Bridges for Cam Reddish. The net result? Probably right back where they started.