shmip

Midwest


The Hornets had a lot of money to spend during free agency and with that they decided to build a new front court , Deandre Jordan and Lamarcus Aldridge OUT , Marc Gasol and Tyson Chandler IN.
IMO they should have resigned Deandre Jordan maybe to trade him to get more value but still the Hornets starting 5 is pretty solid with Conley/DJO/LeBryan Nash/Tyson Chandler/Marc Gasol also a player like Caruso from the bench .. The Hornets might be a playoff team.
Best Case: Playoff , 1st round elimination.
Worst Case: 10th seed .


IMO the Pros had 2 great signings during the last free agency.
Lamarcus Aldridge is one of the best offensive Power Fowards in the league he might be a great fit next to Dwight Howard and they signed him only for MLE , Rudy Fernandez is underrated he is a great passer for the SG and position he is also a very 3p shooter just like Nicolas Batum , with some nice bench players such as Scola , Dragic, Hansbrough and Long the Pros might be the susrprising team of the 2015 season.
Best Case: Western Finals.
Worst Case: 1st round elimination.


The Thunder has one of the top PF in the league - Kevin Love , Pairing him with Deandre Jordan is the right decision , a low use player on offence and a very good D player just what you need next to a player like Love.
At the last draft with the 9th pick the Thunder gambled on Jacky Biber a pick that Thunder fans didn't like so much but with the 25 pick they took Billy Moore who looks great so far , with Ty Lawson and possibly future AllStar Shabazz Muhammad the Thunder could and Should be a playoff team.
Best Case: Playoff , 2nd round elimination.
Worst Case: 9th seed .


The Mavs are dealing the outcome for being over the hard cap , had to release some players to go under the cap in order to have a chance of keeping Anthony Davis , also they didn't have MLE , half MLE or Bi-Annual to sign players during free agency.. so this season is kind of transition season for them .. they can still turn things around and trade CP3 and granger .. but considering the fact that they dont hold their pick for this year and the one after they will be pleased with a playoff spot.
Best Case: 7th seed.
Worst Case: The Nets will get a high lottery pick.


The Spurs were involed at the huge trade with Nuggets and Blazers getting Derrick Favors and trading John Henson , A lot of people criticize this deal for the Spurs but Favors is still a very good player , he is young and he is a better offensive player than Henson is , you got to remeber that the Spurs have also have Andre Drummond who provide them the defense they need .
With Lin , Shved and Young the Spurs are a very strong team .
Best Case: Playoff , 2nd round elimination.
Worst Case: Out of the Playoffs.


The Wolves had the 4th and 8th pick coming to the 2014 draft and they got excatly what they needed , a big defensive PF/C and a good SF .
After so many seasons being out of the playoffs this might be the year that the Wolves will finally do it ! Linos Chrysikopoulos and Martin Sharp both are players that can make an instant impact with Rubio Beal and Aaro Gordon this young is so young and hungry for success and with good backups such as Kabongo , JJ , Melo and Leonard the Wolves might do it this year.
Best Case: Playoff , 2nd round elimination.
Worst Case: out of the playoffs , again.


After 4 season without no trades and no moves finally the Warriors GM decided to makes ones , 4 seasons being stuck in the middle maybe are about to be over.. it started with trading the 10th pick for the 18th and a future first from the Pros , Drafting Dan Hershey who looks like a very nice PG and then finally traded Walker , Afflalo and some picks for Rudy Gay .
The Warriors might even finish as the 4th best team in the west I really like their roster , also they to hold Kenneth Faried at RFA.
Best Case: Playoff , 2nd round elimination.
Worst Case: 9th seed.

Pacific


Nuggets traded Damian Lillard and Derrick Favors at the Nuggets/Blazers/Spurs blockbuster deal but they did get paid properly getting Greg Oden ,Devin Ebanks ,Andrew Harrison and 3 first picks.
I wonder who will fill Derrick Favors spot as their starting PF , maybe PJ3 who can make a lot of trouble to the guy who will guard him , Devin Ebanks is a great SF , nice scoring ability , very good rebounder and shotblocker as well .. the Nuggets can continue Tanking for a another good pick but they can also try to make it to the playoffs cause they have the talent.
Best Case: playoff , 1st round elimination + the Spurs pick will be in the lottery.
Worst Case: 9th seed , stuck in the middle.


The Sonics are one of the teams to beat , 2 years in a row they finished as the first seed from the West but couldn't make a run at the playoff.
Blake and D-Will both looking great and will be hard to stop .. also they managed to extend Norris Cole and MarShon Brooks at RFA , and with help of Terrence Jones and Greg Monroe this might be their year .
Maybe trying to find a better PF/C subs will be their biggest goal right now .. it shouldn't be such a big problem as they can easily trade Moe Harkless or Gabrial Porta for one.
Best Case: Champions.
Worst Case: 2nd round elimination .


The Lakers are still looking great , bringing back Dimitris Diamantidis as their starting PG and with Dario Cosic coming of the bench the lakers are still the team to beat as they won the 2 championships in the last 3 years.
The only question will be who what will the lakers do after Dimitris Diamantidis will retire or after they will option him out of the team.
Best Case: Champions.
Worst Case: Western finals elimination.


The Blazers wanted to shake thing up a bit this summer and thats excatly what they did.
Trading for Lillard and Henson might be a risk ... they did improve with their outside shooting as Lillard is great from the outside but Henson isnt Oden and they also traded 2 first picks Devin Ebanks who was their top SF and young talented Andrew Harrison..
Adding Andre Robertson might turn to be a crucial to the blazers as he can provice the extra steal or block they need .. should be a good role player.
Best Case: Western Finals.
Worst Case: 2nd round elimination .


Clippers might be the biggest enigma in FRSL this year .. IMO they were good enough to be a playoff team last year but they decided to tank .. and they finished last in the league.
The Clipps nailed all of their picks at the last draft.. Oudry Kisamba should be a top C , Miklas Magnussen is a fantastic D stopper type player and Brian Mink is a great value to a 2nd round pick.
With Stucky, Valanciunas ,Siva , Oriakhi, Adams and Bosh this team is stacked and young .. certainly a top contender in years to come..
Best Case: 2nd round elimination .
Worst Case: they have a lot of rookies so they might be out of the playoffs..


The Kings could have been one of the best teams in the league but poor GMing by The Answer cost them losing D-Will, Pau Gasol (Maybe he wouldn't have retired after getting a contact) and now Marc Gasol.. all of them are gone by FREE!!
At least the one thing that the Kings fans can be happy about is that they drafted Amir Jones who looks like a franchise player in years to come .. with a small improvment by Demarcus Cousins (8 PD) those 2 will be the face of this Franchise...
Best Case: can't see them as a playoff team.. top 6 pick at the next draft
Worst Case: 9th seed , the highest they can get.


Last season the Suns finished as the 8th seed at the West , its going to be harder this year but they did some nice moves..
Drafting both Joey Nix and Ben Defoe will finally solved their SF problem , trading for Kyrie Irving was a good decision as he is a very good prospect and also a mch better fit next to Eric Gordon than Monta Ellis..
Julius Randle can play as PF .. great passer can shoot from the outside and also is a bit better D player than Sullinger.. so maybe it was an upgrade for th PF position , Lou Williams was one of the top 6th player in the last 2 season is there is no reason that he wont be in Phoenix as well.
Best Case: Playoffs... 1st round elimination
Worst Case: 9th seed.

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FRSL Commissioner,Detroit "Bad Boys" Pistons GM

Smath

good read , should be a great season! Clippers are my dark horse out west.

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KVBL/FRSL - Miami Heat GM