What Happened Last Summer Essay

Robin Lopez (center) just recently signed with the New York Knicks, leaving the team without its top interior defender. Robin Lopez is the most replaceable out of the group, however, he was a great contributor to this team. He rebounded well for them last season and played great defense, but the Blazers can still find a replacement.

But the question is how all of these strong personalities and undeniable talents will play out on the court together. It can either be a success for a franchise that hasn’t had many peaks since the days of Chris Webber, Jason “White Chocolate” Williams, and Mike Bibby, just to name a few. But this current roster holds the most talent that this team has seen in years and they can capitalize on that to finally make some noise in a tough Western

The 76ers will already improve with a lottery pick(Jahlil Okafor) starting for them next year. Jahlil Okafor was the third pick in the 2015 NBA draft and many consider him to be a potential All-Star. Pairing him with Nerlens Noel, who had an impressive rookie season, would give the Sixers a formidable frontcourt. They have the potential to be the next dynamic front court duo, similar to Tim Duncan and David Robinson.

The Blazers are committed to a fault to him, and have handed the keys to the city over to him. Every player that has put on a uniform since Lamarcus was drafted has been because their skill set complements LA’s. In recent years, the addition of Wesley Mathews, Robin Lopez, and Damian Lillard are examples of the Portland’s commitment. Mathews and Lillard are two sharpshooting guards that can also drive to the hoop. Lopez the Yin to Aldridge’s Yang, collecting rebounds and defending the center position. The addition of Lopez is the best example because with him at center, LA is finally liberated from some of his defensive responsibilities in order to free up more energy to preform on offense as a power forward, his natural position. The thing that makes Lamarcus so unique is his unparalleled jump shooting ability, it is what allows him to drag defenders away from the hoop, and potential rebounding opportunities. Lopez is so effective because he is able to operate in the paint one-on-one with his opponent with Lamarcus stretching the floor on the perimeter. LA’s stretching ability not only frees the paint up for rebounds, but also cuts to the basket by Mathews, and Lillard because there is only one big to clog up the lane. These open cuts and drives naturally open up three point opportunities that are exclusive to this style of play. Needless to say, Lamarcus is the catalyst for the Trail Blazers, and without

Morris has quickly fit right into his new home in Detroit and solidified his role on this Pistons team. In 2015, he has averaged 17.3 points, 7.5 rebounds and 1.8 assists per contest. Morris is second on the team in total minutes at 38.3 per contest, so he see’s plenty of time of the basketball court. I’m one of the few fantasy fans who isn’t surprised by Morris’ stellar start to the 2015-16 season, though. I’ve been following this guy since his days in the Big 12 when he played at Kansas University.

It is impossible to win a game if your team can not score. Statistically, this past season, the 76ers offense was the second worst in the history of the league. This seasons mean offensive rating was 105.6, the 76ers offensive rating was a measly 90.05, giving them the second-worst offense of all time (bleacher). The NBA has been around for sixty-eight years and the Philadelphia team of 2014-2015 had the second worst offensive throughout that whole time. Also, this season they had the highest turnover percentage (bleacher). Turnovers are when a team has the ball on offense and gives it to the opposing team without getting an attempt to score. That is not a good thing. It is hard to score the ball when teams are incapable of taking care of

The upcoming NBA season is what the teams are looking forward to specially the Cleveland Cavaliers who took home the championship title and probably planning to aim for a back-to-back championship. In relation to this matter, Cleveland Cavaliers is on their run in improving their lineup which will possibly push them in “trading” players assumed to be involving Memphis Grizzlies’ Vince Carter.

While the Hornets were able to make the playoffs without him last year, they also had the firepower and leadership of Al Jefferson to come in off the bench, the ability of Jeremy Lin to run the offense with or without the absence of point guard Kemba Walker, as well as finish games down the stretch.Not to mention, the successful acquisition of Courtney Lee after the All-Star break. Those guys are gone and MKG will need to be productive. Within his first four years, MKG’s game totals have gone from 75 to 62 to 55 and then last year only 7. Before he was injured, MKG averaged around 13 points and 6 rebounds a game while shooting around 55% in those seven games. His scoring will need to increase because as long as he is healthy, he will see a lot of time with the second team. The length of him MKG and Nicolas Batum on the wing will be a troubling sight for opposing teams. And on the second team, he and Batum will have plenty of chances to score. MKG’s defense has always been a staple of his game since he entered the NBA. His combination of quickness and strength gives him the ability to defend smaller and bigger opponents. The Hornets defense, offense and rebounding rating improves tremendously when he is on the

The overall league and Western Conference second best team after the Golden States Warriors had a great deal of firepower to tamed the Dirk Nowitzki-led Mavericks even with team superstars Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili are out of the squad’s lineup.

For the price we had him for last year, that was fine, to a degree. If we're paying him $8 million annually, I think we can all agree it would be much smarter for Masai Ujiri to invest that money elsewhere. Finding perimeter scoring off the bench is important, but not committing $8 million per year important, especially not for this roster.

The Bucks are looking to unload both Monroe and Carter-Williams and the Kings are a prime destination. The captain of garbage time statistics, Carter-Williams, would thrive in Sacramento playing along side the offensive juggernaut that is DeMarcus Cousins.

The frontcourt should receive a boost with Zack Irvin returning from a back injury that cost him his junior season. And Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman is an exciting option at shooting guard, who should see an expanded role in LeVert’s stead. They could make some noise in March, but they need Derrick Walton Jr. to step up in his senior season both as a distributor and more importantly as a consistent scoring threat.

A huge part of Lob City, center Deandre Jordan, had all but packed his bags to join the Dallas Mavericks. He verbally agreed only to recant his agreement to stay in Los Angeles. While this fiasco was going on, complete with an emoji war and a very long card game, the Clippers added a Hall of Fame player to the roster. The Clippers added champion small forward Paul Pierce during the Deandre Jordan saga. Once the Clippers were able to sign Jordan back, a player who makes the Chris Paul Blake Griffin pick and role so deadly, they went from a questionable playoff team to a contender again.

It’s true that Williams and Wesley Matthews weren’t really the best backcourt duo in the NBA last season, only averaging 26.6 points per game, but in the backcourt is where Dallas’ bench can be of great help. J.J. Barea is contributing 14.8 ppg this season, and has shown he can produce scoring outbursts when Williams is absent. The addition of the younger of the Curry brothers, who is only playing in his third year in the league, gives Dallas a lot of room for its bench to develop.

It still feels like the dust is settling from a venturesome off-season for the Indiana Pacers. Rebuilding is never an easy task, especially when you’re basically forced to and have to trade your best player who isn’t exactly content. You add in the factor that anyone who traded for Paul George, knew it’s basically a one-year rental. For that reason, Indiana didn’t receive what many people perceive as equal value in the trade with the Oklahoma City Thunder for Paul George. The Pacers received forward Domantas Sabonis and guard Victor Oladipo in the trade. Not an ideal package for George, but nonetheless helps the rebuilding process with the addition of two young up-and-coming players.