Southeast Division

My thoughts about the upcoming NBA-season.

Atlanta Hawks

Hawks is a really nice project now with this youthful team. Some even believe that this team has a chance to get to the playoffs this season. I will wait and see before I judge what this team is and isn’t. Hawks focus this season is to keep developing chemistry between Young and Collins, both these players have a bright future in this league and if Trae Young can keep going where he left off last season it’s going to go great. This summer Hawks had a good draft, high picks and they got Cam Reddish from Duke and De’Andre Hunter from Virginia.and these two Hawks got great belief in for the future. Both players have good potential now it’s just to find a fit for them in the team. Cam and De’Andre fit in the concept of what Hawks want to do, with a lot of three point shooting and a high tempo.

Hawks have taken in Allen Crabbe, Chandler Parsons and Evan Turner in different trades. Sure, they can give support to the young players and be mentors but these three are salary dumps more than anything because their contracts are bad. They will get traded away during the season. Jabari Parker is still a good piece I believe, he hasn’t gotten the proper chance to show himself of with injuries haunting him from his rookie year. He can be a important piece for this team going forward.

They lost Dewayne Dedmon to the Kings and this is a bad loss for the team. He’s a flexibel modern big man who would have helped Hawks in a lot of ways but he got a great contract at Sacramento and it's understable that Dedmon took it. He will be missed in ATL. Other losses this offseason are nothing to be sad about as these players were mediocre if we look at it from NBA standards.

What can we expect from this team? Offensively they are good, they got a gameplan, they got a high tempo system with focus on three point shooting and they have listened to the Houston Rockets analysis about the midrange being dead. Shooting, offensive rebounds and fastbreaks is the motto for the Hawks but with the high tempo the defense will suffer and they are weak in that aspect. I think the Hawks will be interesting to follow this season and hopefully they can create building blocks for the future with this young core.

Charlotte Hornets

Hornets have lost Kemba Walker, their best player he who held this team up if we are being honest together with Jeremey Lamb last season as these two were the team leaders in points. Hornets doesn't really have enough talent to not stay at the bottom of the East this year. Some talk about that Terry Rozier will take over Walker role in the team but that’s a stretch as Rozier is not that kind of a player, he hasn’t shown anything after the playoffs two seasons ago. Coming of the bench in Boston and holding up a team playing 35-40 minutes a game are two totally different things. This Charlotte team will have it rough mildly speaking this season.

Is this team a rebuilding team? Of course they are but will they build fast or slow and unbearably long alá Sacramento Kings? With Michael Jordan at the ships helm they will probably take the latter one. He’s one of the leagues worst owners when it comes to draft picks and selecting players and even building a team his hard for him. Walker was in Charlotte for 10 years almost and he didn’t get any help whatsoever. No, this Hornets team will be at the bottom in the NBA for many years to come.

You see that I haven’t so high a thoughts about the Hornets this year. Walker was a big part of this team and they haven’t really replaced him, to take in Terry Rozier will not solve anything.

The bench will be interesting to follow this year though. They have several players that can rotate and play at different positions and it will be interesting to see what they can do to keep the production level of the bench at a high level like other seasons. Hornets got Dwayne Bacon, Malik Monk, Willy Hernangomez and Marvin Williams to get production from on there good days. The only problem is that they can up and down in performans, Bacon and Monk can give you 20 one night and 0-5 points the next. The team has a couple of young players to look for and see how they will develop, Bacon and Miles Bridges for exemple, the bench is the only positive I can say about this team this season.

Miami Heat

Heat got one of the best players in the league to their team in Jimmy Butler this offseason. With him in the team the Heat what to go full throttle for the playoffs this season. Butler is a really good piece for this team, they have missed a star to lean on in Miami. Heat is a god team overall but have been having injury problems on key guys in the last several years like Goran Dragic, Dwayne Wade and Hassan Whiteside. This Heat team will be really fun to follow this year in my eyes, they have good foundation to stand upon now with Butler in the team and they got the star they been waiting for. But they are not done yet, they keeping an eye on Chris Paul and they want to trade him from OKC to get another star to Miami Beach to pair up with Butler. We’ll see what will happen.

My expectations this season is playoffs for this Heat team, maybe around 6th seed is a fair assessment with injuries involved which will make it harder for them to fight for higher position. Heats depth at the PG position is thin, Dragic has been injury prone the majority of the last 2-3 seasons and it will probably continue this year. Justise Winslow will be backup even though he’s not really a point guard. It will be interesting to see if they can get CP3, his contract is massive and Paul doesn’t want to give up $40 million dollars at the end of his career and that’s the where we are right now.

Orlando Magic

I have already written down my thoughts about the Orlando Magic previously. Check it out!

[https://theplayer.com/betting-tips/2019-08-16-orlando-magic-can-they-get-to-the-playoffs]

Washington Wizards

Wizards is a team that’s had it rough these last couple of seasons. John Wall, their franchise player, has had tough injuries and has been out for a long time. Will he ever be as good as his been when he comes back? Probably not, it isn’t getting any better as the Wizards have put a lot of cap space and money in to him.

Bradley Beal is the only Wizard who I can lift up a bit. He’s a All-Star and he will want to keep this team afloat in the East as long as he can, he will play 40 minutes a night and he’s one of the top guys in minutes played per game in the NBA, can he keep going? Wizards needs to have him on load management and a schedule to keep him healthy throughout the season. He will get injured sooner or later if he plays 40 minutes a night for 82 games and than Wizards don’t really have anyone to put the ball in the hoop.

My expectations for this team are not that high. They got rookie Rui Hacimura in the draft that they really think highly of, they will give him a lot of minutes to develop. Beal will probably get traded this season if the season progresses downwards, besides those two Wizards has nothing to look forward to, both as a team and from fan perspective.

//@jalsjalley