AROUND the NBA:

[mvossman]

Lauri to the Warriors would be a nice move to compliment the good offseason for the mavs

Tier 1 - Favorite
OKC - minus weak link Giddy. Added Caruso and Hartenstein. They will be the main problem for years to come. If we were going to build a team to beat someone else, it should be OKC

Tier 2 - Real Contenders
Mavs
Nuggets - lose Brown, J Green, KCP for nothing
Wolves - all in with their draft moves. Only real option with the 2nd apron penalties looming

Tier 3 - Competitive teams

Suns - screwed long term and short term
Pelicans - interesting if they can get a legit big
Kings - Derozan would help but they’re going nowhere
Grizzlies - who knows what to expect
Spurs - they will be a problem soon
Warriors - they are done even with Lauri
Clippers - lose PG but i like their moves
Lakers - one 20 game injury away from Hawks having their high lotto pick
Rockets - no top end talent

Tier 4 - Tank Teams

Blazers
Jazz

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The tier 3 teams with the most hope going forward are the ones with their own picks. Pelicans, Grizzlies, Spurs and Kings

The interesting teams in the west are the tier 3 teams who don’t have their picks. Suns, Clippers, Lakers, Rockets. The Suns and Lakers are really in a bad spot

The Warriors are at a crossroads. It looks like the pressure to compete now is too great and they will do something big. It’s a great thing for us long term that these top west organizations are in such a bad way. I take it as warning too that we shouldn’t be too aggressive on single player transactions. That’s what did these teams in

Agree with most of this, but hard not to put Mavs in Tier 1.  They just won the West and likely got better.  I think they clearly separated themselves from Minny and Denver got worse and even thinner.  OKC is probably the favorite to be the 1 seed, but I'm not ready to pick them over Luka in a 7 game series.