By Brett Goldman
Here we are. The last part of a six-part series where I've been asking one question for every NBA team. Check out my other articles here if you haven't already.
Toronto Raptors: What do we do with Kyle Lowry?
The Raptors started out the season 5-9 and looked lost after losing their 2 best centers Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka. They have since gotten better, as they're just 2 games under .500. The problem: this team isn't good enough to win a championship this year. The solution is unclear. Do you trade Kyle Lowry for good to get assets to start to retool and rebuild? Do you trade him and have him come back next year? Do you try to get Andre Drummond? I have no idea what Masai Ujiri and the Raptors front office are planning. While I don't think this team can win a championship as currently constructed because of their lack of inside presence (Chris Boucher is great, but he's just too skinny to keep up with Giannis and Embiid), they can really make things interesting for a high seeded opponent in the playoffs. Fred VanVleet, Kyle Lowry, Pascal Siakam, and Normal Powell can all explode any given night and Nick Nurse is one of the best defensive coaches in the league.
New York Knicks: What's the procedure?
The New York Knicks do not suck. Let that sink in for a second. They are the 5 seed in the East, are above .500, and have an all-star caliber player in Julius Randle. The best part: they haven't sold their future for this short-term success. The Knicks future hasn't seemed this bright in a while. Their contributors are young. Randle is just 26. Immanuel Quickley is a promising young point guard and is just 21. Perhaps their most promising player is RJ Barrett, and he's only 20. They're not in contract hell and they have a decent amount of draft capital. They have a competent head coach and a seemingly competent GM for the first time in a while. The goal for the Knicks is to not mess anything up.
Boston Celtics: What do we do with Hayward trade exception?
Bear with me, this is going to be a long one. If you told me before the season that the Celtics would be just a half game up on the Knicks at an all-star break, I would have assumed Jayson Tatum or Jaylen Brown got seriously injured. Now, that hasn't happened, but Tatum did miss 2 weeks with COVID and Marcus Smart and Kemba Walker have both missed a considerable amount of time. With that being said, being 19-17 is a disappointment for this team. Yes, they're the 4 seed. But they have to be better than that. However, their biggest problem is not injuries or COVID. It's not even Jayson Tatum's questionable shot selection or Kemba Walker's regression. Their problems stem to a move they didn't make in the preseason.
According to multiple sources, the Celtics were offered Myles Turner and Doug McDermott from the Pacers in exchange for Gordon Hayward in a sign-and-trade. The Celtics countered, asking for Myles Turner and one of Victor Oladipo or TJ "MJ" Warren. The Pacers, not being complete idiots, declined. Instead, the Celtics completed a sign-and-trade with the Hornets for a $28.5 million trade exception. This season, Myles Turner is leading the league in blocks and is in heavy consideration for defensive player of the year. The trade exception is averaging 0 points, 0 rebounds, and 0 assists per game. If this team had Myles Turner playing 30 minutes per game instead of Tristan Thompson and Daniel Theis, there's no question they would be in a better spot than they are. Not to mention Doug McDermott could be contributing in some way. If the Celtics can get healthy and do something with that trade exception, they can be dangerous in the playoffs.
Brooklyn Nets: Can we play any defense?
The Brooklyn Nets have a bottom 5 defensive rating. They do have the number 1 offensive rating and number 7 net rating, but their poor defense cannot be ignored. Kyrie Irving and James Harden are not known for their defense, DeAndre Jordan is washed, and Kevin Durant is still a question mark due to his injuries. Lately, they have been better on that end, but a lot of that has come with elite defender Bruce Brown playing heavy minutes due to a variety of minor injuries to Durant and Irving. They recently acquired Blake Griffin, who nobody has watched over the last couple seasons. He has not dunked at all this season and he is not a great defender. Over the last decade, only 1 team has made the conference finals with a bottom 5 defensive rating: the 2018 Cleveland Cavaliers, LeBron's last season in Cleveland. Of course, it was well-documented that LeBron wasn't playing much defense at that time of his career. The rest of the team was a bunch of shooters (Korver, Clarkson, Love) and not a lot of defenders. The Eastern Conference is slightly better now than it was back then. While they won't need a great defense to beat most teams, I think that the Bucks, Heat and 76ers are good enough offensively and defensively to give the Nets trouble in a 7 game series.
Philadelphia 76ers: Can we stay healthy?
The last time Philadelphia had a healthy team for a full season, they were 1 Kawhi Leonard miracle shot away from going to overtime to have a shot at going to the Eastern Conference Finals. Last season, Ben Simmons got injured before the playoffs and Al Horford had one of the worst contracts in the NBA. Simmons and Embiid are both about as healthy as they can be right now, and they have managed to acquire Danny Green, a streaky shooter and smart defender with a ton of playoff experience, and Seth Curry, an elite 3 point sniper. Combine those 4 players with Tobias Harris and you have what could be one of the best starting 5s in the league. Joel Embiid should be a monster in the playoffs. The three biggest threats to the Sixers, who are in the top spot in the Eastern Conference, are the Bucks, Heat, and Nets. The Bucks do not have a center good enough to stop Joel Embiid. Brook Lopez is too slow and Giannis Antetokounmpo is not going to want to guard Embiid for 7 games. The Heat do have Bam Adebayo, but they will struggle to matchup with Ben Simmons and Tobias Harris. The Nets have absolutely nobody to keep up with Joel Embiid. If Embiid can stay healthy and keep up his MVP level performance into the playoffs, expect the 76ers to give the East a show.
That'll do it for the All-Star Weekend Questions series! Be sure to be on the lookout for more sports content on this site and on my Twitter.
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