Goeiedag, enchantée and welcome to this week's episode of Eight 2 Four presents: All-NBA Team of the Week. The trade deadline has passed and there are only about 20 games left to play in the regular season. It is time for teams to prepare for the final stretch to the end of the season and finally show the world what they are aiming for, a high lottery pick, the Play-In game or home court advantage. Over the next 3 weeks we discuss our five favourites in contention for any of these goals. And we start from the bottom, this week we discuss five of the teams that are currently chasing the number 1 lottery pick in this year’s draft. Our picks might not necessarily be the teams lowest in the standings, because not everybody is tanking on purpose and I predict that we’ll see some changes on the bottom of the standings over the coming weeks. Get ready for our All-NBA Team of the Week.
PICK #1
Our first pick of the week are the Oklahoma City Thunder. Now that the trade deadline has passed, they have put all their cards on the table and plan to tank, hard. Star player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has been sidelined with a foot injury and the only experienced player on the roster, Al Horford, has been told he is not playing any more games this season. OKC has won 20 games and sit in third from the bottom in the West but if they would be playing in the Eastern Conference, they would be in contention for a spot in the Play-In Game. In simple terms, this means that overall, there are at least 7 other teams with higher odds to secure the first pick in this years’ draft. OKC needs to start losing and quickly.
OKC could have three first round picks in this year’s draft. They have their own, which ideally needs to fall within the top five to secure one of the best prospects in this years’ draft. They will receive the best pick from either Miami or Houston, whichever is higher. This will most likely be from Houston but that one is top-4 protected so if Houston ends up with a top-4 pick, OKC will receive Miami’s pick which will likely be outside the top-20. If Houston’s pick ends up outside the top-4, OKC will likely have 2 picks in the top 10. The third pick could come from Golden State but is top-20 protected and following today’s standings, the Warriors will hold onto this one.
Even if the Thunder miss out on good picks in this year’s draft, they don’t have to worry. In total, OKC has 34 picks over the next 7 years. And not only that, with SGA and Luguentz Dort they already have 2 fantastic prospects on their team that they can build around. Their rookies, Maledon and Pokusevski, have proven to be pretty solid as well. Their fan base will not have to worry, this team will end up back in the Play-Offs soon. Probably as soon as next season, making this one of the quickest rebuilds in NBA History. GM Sam Presti is one of the best GM’s in the game, and he won’t stop until he finally achieves an NBA title with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
PICK #2
Our second pick of the week are the Orlando Magic. Their front office has blown up the team at the trade deadline, moving All-Star Nikola Vucevic and his wingmen Aaron Gordon and Evan Fournier. Vucevic was traded to Chicago, Gordon ended up in Denver and Fournier was shipped off to Boston. In return they received some young, talented players like Wendell Carter Jr and RJ Hampton, and some older, but not by much, and experienced players like Otto Porter Jr and Gary Harris and plenty of draft picks for the next 4 years. The Magic scraped into the Play-Offs the last two seasons, only to bow out in the first round without making a splash. The organisation never really completed a successful rebuild since they traded away Dwight Howard in 2012. Incidentally, that was the trade that included Vucevic and they never successfully put the right players around him.
With the talent lining up in this year’s draft, Orlando Magic GM John Hammond, decided that it is time to start fresh. Alongside the new acquisitions, they already have talented youngsters like Marquelle Fultz, Anthony Cole and Mo Bamba on their roster. After this season they hope to add another talent to it and try to build towards another team worthy of NBA Finals, like the team that lost in five games against the Lakers back in 2009.
Right now, the Magic are the second worst team in the Eastern Conference, sharing the spot with the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavaliers are not really trying to lose on purpose so it is likely that they’ll end up lower than them. But the team might cause a few upsets on the way. Since the trade deadline they barely lost a game against the Lakers, have beaten the Clippers and the Pelicans, were blown away by the Jazz and held on until the final quarter against the Nuggets. It is one of the better runs the Magic have had so far this season.
PICK #3
Our third pick of the week are the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Wolves are the biggest disappointment of the season. Granted, they have some excuses because of injuries and Covid protocol but they were supposed to be fighting for a spot in the Play-Offs with stars like Karl-Anthony Towns, D’Angelo Russell and Rookie of the Year contender Anthony Edwards. Instead, they are the worst team in the league. The upside for the Wolves is obvious, they need to end up with a top-3 pick in this year’s draft because otherwise, they lose their pick to Golden State. When they traded Bradley Wiggins for D’Angelo last season, they included their first round pick for this draft, with a top-3 protection.
It was never the plan for the Wolves to try and save their pick. Like I said, they started the season with the aim to finish in a Play-Off spot. They brought in Ricky Rubio as an experienced veteran, and signed Malik Beasley to a bigger contract, hoping that he would bring his scoring talent into this season as well. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out this way. Beasley ended up in jail for a short while and was suspended for 12 games after threatening his family with a rifle. D’Angelo and KAT have only played in about half of the Wolves games and Rubio is playing far beneath his capabilities. The only bright spot in their season so far is Rookie Anthony Edwards. The number 1 draft pick is the best rookie in the league right now, after LaMelo Ball’s injury, and is filling up the highlight reel with his impressive dunks.
If the Wolves can secure a top-3 pick this season, they have another chance to add another piece to their puzzle. With another top prospect, they should be able to contend for a Play-Off spot in the Western Conference. KAT is one of the best offensive players in the league and doesn’t deserve to lose almost every night. If the Wolves are not competitive next season, he might try to force his way out of Minnesota. And right now, his trade value is not very high so it is in everyone’s best interest that the team starts to perform.
PICK #4
Our fourth pick of the week are the Houston Rockets. For me personally, it is a big surprise that they are in the situation they are in. Yes, it was fairly obvious at the start of the season that they were not going to hold on to James Harden. I wasn’t a big fan of the trade, especially the return for Houston but Victor Oladipo was a piece that could hold some trade value in the future. That is how I saw it back in January in a previous episode. When the time came, at the trade deadline, to finally flip Oladipo, the Houston front office failed to find a good trade and let him go for nothing, with all due respect to Kelly Olynyk and Avery Bradley. They started the season with an absolute superstar and four months later, they have nothing to show for it. They weren’t able to hold on to any of the decent players involved in the ripple effect of the Harden-trade and only have some half-decent draft picks.
For Houston Rockets GM, Rafael Stone, it is his first time as a General Manager for an NBA team and he only started this season, after Daryl Morey left the job to go to Philadelphia. It was clear that he would have to lead the Rockets into a rebuild once Westbrook and Harden had expressed that they wanted to leave. He started well by trading Westbrook to Washington for Wall and a draft pick but what happened after that was a bit more difficult to understand. It seems like he purposely traded away all the decent players in the trades and only held on to the draft picks so he can keep his job for longer. This way, the measurable result for Houston after the trades, are long term. He even said himself not to judge his moves until 2030. Usually, I’m not a big fan of the media and fan bases judging a front office within a few weeks of a decision but this is too far the other direction.
Even though I don’t agree with his timeline, I do agree with Stone to give him at least some time to see how his moves pan out. For example, the last time a franchise traded away their best players for a bunch of draft picks, those picks turned into Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. In 2013 the Brooklyn Nets traded their draft picks to Boston for Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, and the Celtics turned them into some solid players. The Nets ended up with pretty much nothing and Boston was able to rebuild a great young core after winning a championship with those guys. We’re almost 10 years removed from that trade so Rafael Stone could have a point to give him a decade to work out his moves. In the meantime, let’s all enjoy the fact that it is again the Nets that have traded away their future for 3 superstars.
PICK #5
Our fifth pick of the week are the Detroit Pistons. The Pistons are a strange team. Fifty games into the season, it is still not clear to me if they're trying to make it to the Play-In game or if they’re trying to be bad on purpose. They are the worst team in the Eastern Conference, by far. And yet, they made some moves at the start of the season that looked pretty smart at the time. They drafted well, choosing Killian Hayes and Saddiq Bey, and signed Jerami Grant to be their franchise cornerstone. Other than that, they added a bunch of experienced players, like Mason Plumlee and Wayne Ellington. And then it all just fell apart.
Moving towards the trade deadline, it did become clear that they are now trying to get a high lottery pick in the draft and will continue to build their team. They bought out Blake Griffin, who ended up signing with the Brooklyn Nets, to create cap space and traded away Delon Wright for some draft picks. They were two of their three best performing players. Since then, Grant has been playing less minutes than usual and the youngsters are getting more time on the court. Killian Hayes finally returned from injury this week, he played 20 minutes against the Knicks.
The Pistons are currently the third worst team in the league, trailing the Wolves and the Rockets, and have a good chance of ending up with a pick in the top-5. This will give them another opportunity to draft a quality prospect to add to their roster. This might not have been the way they originally planned it but the Pistons are looking at a bright future if their front office keeps drafting well and makes some smart moves during the off-season.
This is our All-NBA team of the Week. Please share our podcast and give us 5 stars. If you have any questions, you can contact the show on eight2fouroffice@gmail.com. Thank you for listening, ballers out!