Fast forward: Big off-season questions

I feel this part of the season is one of the quieter periods of time, with the tanking teams beginning hibernation until draft period, the trade talk disappearing after the deadline passes and any team who is disappointed with their performance shrivelling up a bit, and any team who is peaking at the right time not wanting to draw too much attention to themselves.

With this in mind, I am just going to spitball some speculative possibilities that might occur over the next six months.

Who will be proud of their playoffs, who will be disappointed?

The playoffs are a season unto themselves, with the regular season meaning very little sometimes as an indicator of how teams perform in the playoffs. Being locked into a matchup with one specific team, and getting four guaranteed games to try and beat them, is a distinctly different set-up to the standard season. Memphis may likely hold on to the 7^th spot, but with Brown out for the season, does the NSL want them in the playoffs? Teams that seem to be building at the right time are New York, Chicago, Toronto, New Orleans and Los Angeles Clippers and powerhouses like Portland, San Antonio, Detroit and Charlotte are doing exactly what they need to be doing.

Who will win the big awards?

A fun part of the season the award’s season, where the community recognises the great achievements of the managers and players within the NSL. GMOTY award can be seen from different angles – is it rewarding manager excellence, or rewarding how excellently a team has improved from one season to the next? Even if Portland win 75+ games, the Portland fatigue will likely put the focus on a team like New York, or New Orleans, where the rapid rebuild has hit warp speed and the young teams are legitimate contenders. MVP looks like it will be between Stephen Curry, Giannis and Joel Embiid for mine, but it also depends on the voters – do you value the huge statistics or team success more? Sixth man of the year is likely Westbrook if he qualifies, and if he doesn’t, it’s a wide-open race. DPOY might be between Gobert, Butler, Embiid.

Which lowly team will get a franchise changing rookie?

As it stands, we have four teams almost neck-and-neck for the worst record in the land, with Lakers, Hawks, Wolves and Jazz all on a miserly 10 or 11 wins. Behind them, Boston, Milwaukee and Cleveland sit at 15 or 17 wins. Extremely deficient basketball has been played and maintained all season for a shot at the top rookie prospects. However, as last draft showed, it’s not always a sure thing when it comes down to probabilities. The downside is that if a bottom four team whiffs and ends up missing the top prospects, they have likely locked themselves into another year of poor performance.

Which big name free agents may change teams?

If the new Free Agency system taught us anything, it’s that we aren’t in Kansas anymore. Gone are the days of predictably controlling your free agents and mapping out your FA day. It’s the Wild, Wild West now and people are going to get hurt. 

Here are some of the big-name players that will likely be on the market for the right price if a team is feeling frisky with GMS and might just swap jerseys:

Andre Drummond, Evan Fournier, Kawhi Leonard, Demar DeRozan, Mike Conley, Tim Hardaway Jr, Richaun Holmes, Derrick Rose, Normal Powell, George Hill, Kelly Oubre, Dennis Schroder, Victor Oladipo, Lou Williams, Demarcus Cousins, Kelly Olynyk, Rudy Gay, Dwight Howard, Kent Bazemore.

Plenty of pain to go around!

What trades might be likely?

It’s too easy to just throw Klemm’s name in here, because he is a lock to be so sexually frustrated by the time trades open up again that he might just hook up with whichever warm body presents itself first. Taking a more critical lens to the league, I have some ideas on who might be traded:

DeAndre Jordan – with DJ and Val, the Knicks have some size and defensive prowess. But… I can’t avoid the feeling that it’s a clunky fit where neither player is being maximised. Look for Smokey to move one of them for about 150% of their worth including picks, better player and better fit. Just a standard Monday for Smokey

Marcus Smart – Rootsey is sentimental and shrewd, so this might be unlikely, but I think Marcus needs a change of scenery and I don’t think the Grizzlies need to be paying Smart $14M dollars to be a backup guard. 

Brook Lopez – Mitchell and Collins are going to get paid big time next season, and the money pinch is coming in New Orleans. I don’t think Lopez nets the Pelicans much, but with Robert Williams emergence, I don’t think they need him as a back-up making $13M

Marcus Morris – He isn’t a long-term solution in Cleveland and I’m not sure what they moved for him, but I’m guessing it was just good value. Morris is definitely valuable and can play in the 2k world, but he is the perfect type for a contender. I don’t think he stays in Cleveland long.