Team to beat: This division was perhaps the worst in the NLL last season. Every team in the Southeast finished with a losing record. The Wizards, despite a record of 38-44, snuck into the playoffs as the 8th seed and were promptly swept by the Sixers. They then responded by trading away their lone superstar (Klay Thompson), and they may be better for it. They likely strengthened the overall team by picking up three good players in the deal. But despite their likely improvement, it looks like the Hornets may emerge as the strongest team in the division. Charlotte didn’t make any real offseason moves, but what they do have is a young core who are all coming into their own - Myles Turner, Kristaps Porzingis, Brandon Ingram, Gary Harris, Jamal Murray, Elfrid Payton, Thon Maker... They have a small window to capitalize on these young stars before they can no longer afford them. The East remains incredibly tough, but the Hornets should certainly be in the playoff mix.
Key story line: The Window Doesn’t Stay Open Long - With a buttload of high draft picks in the past few years, Charlotte loaded up. And now all of these young draft picks have become stars in the league. The difficulty with a situation like this is that they have one or two years before these rookie contracts expire and the Hornets will only be able to keep maybe three of these guys. So, they’ve got this season and next season to take advantage of this rare collection of talent before they’ve got to let it go.
Atlanta had a new GM take over the reins last month and bandrsn got a quick start by trading Justise Winslow and Sam Dekker to the Timberwolves for Doug McDermott and Domantas Sabonis. People seemed to like the deal for Minnesota, but Sabonis has been lighting it up in the NBA and this deal could end up looking like a brilliant first move for the new GM. The Hawks still have a way to go before they’re going to be in a position to contend in the East, and it doesn’t help that their #1 draft pick, Markelle Fultz, seems to have a bizarre shoulder injury that currently is raising more questions than answers. But outside of that, it seems like they’re on a good track.
Miami has had a big hole to crawl out of, and they’re still crawling. They got a promising young rookie in Kyle Kuzma who looks to be an absolute steal as the 24th pick, which they nabbed from Sacramento. But this team has a long way to go before they’ll be a legitimate contender.
The Magic finished in the 10th spot in the East last season, and they have been making several moves since the 2016/17 season wrapped up, as one might expect from ljmaverick. They traded away Cousins, Gallinari, and Parker, but they sure have the look of a team that could make a run at the playoffs. They’ve got Goran Dragic, Jonas Valanciunas, Wesley Matthews and Danny Green. And they drafted Lauri Markkanen, who looks like he’s on his way to being a star. And their recent trade for Gorgui Dieng and Cheick Diallo has helped to add some depth. They’ve certainly got the talent. If they can put it all together, they have a very good shot at being among the top 8 in the East.
The Wizards picked up Klay Thompson in the second half of the 2016/17 season, and he helped lead them to the 8th playoff spot. But it was pretty clear that there were just too many weak spots in the lineup to be able to contend with the best in the East. So darko moved Thompson in exchange for Robin Lopez, Dragan Bender, Buddy Hield, Seth Curry, and a batch of draft picks. While they’re without their superstar, they are now pretty well-rounded with some decent depth. They could make a push for the playoffs, but it’ll be tough.
Five best players:
1) Hornets PF Kristaps Porzingis- With just two years under his belt, Kristaps is already a star, and probably the second best power forward in the league behind Anthony Davis. He’s continuing to improve and it seems likely that he’s going to a superstar for years to come.
2) Magic PG Goran Dragic- In the early stages of this NBA season, Dragic is putting up some great numbers - as good as he’s performed at any stage in career. Though his performance in the NLL has tended to be slightly below what he’s done in the NBA, the magic would be thrilled if Goran returned to an average of 17 points and 8 assists per game. He’s among the top 10 point guards in the league, so those kinds of totals don’t seem out of the question.
3) Hornets C Myles Turner- In his first two seasons, Turner averaged 8.5 points and 8.5 rebounds, then 12 points and 9 rebounds. Compare that to the NBA, where those averages were 10/5.5 and 14.5/7. And now, this season, he’s averaging 16 points and 11.5 rebounds. Sure the sample size is small, but it does seem that Turner is just going to continue to improve. After all, he’s still only 21. With him and Porzingis in the frontcourt, that’s a pretty scary combination.
4) Hawks PG Jrue Holiday- Jrue averaged 21 points per game in 2014/15 and 2015/16. But he had a fairly considerable drop off last season, dropping his scoring average to just under 15 points per game. However, his assists per game surged. He’s still only 27, so he’s probably not on the downward slide of his career. The one thing that he’s struggled with is inconsistency. He’s got incredible talent and if he can capitalize on that talent on a consistent basis, he is still one of the league’s elite point guards.
5) Magic C Jonas Valanciunas- Jonas is a traditional center in a time when the traditional center is falling out of fashion. But there’s no denying his skill set. He’s a great rebounder and a good scorer, but he’s a sloth, relatively speaking. Nevertheless, what he does well, he does very well.
Sleeper: There are a lot of ifs with the Hawks. But the fact is that they have the 1st, 15th and 18th pick from the 2017 draft on their team. So, the ifs are this: If Markelle Fultz’s shoulder issue is a non-issue, and he becomes the player that scouts anticipated he’d be, if Greg Monroe gets healthy and stays healthy and continues to be the player he’s been throughout his career, if Sabonis actually develops into the stud that it seems that he might, etc., etc., then the Hawks may be able to put something together this year. It still seems highly unlikely that they’ll make the playoffs given the talent in the East, but this is starting to look like a solid team that should likely see a significant turnaround from last year.
Breakout star: With the young Hornets, there are a number of players that are already stars (Porzingis), borderline stars (Turner, Harris), and guys who are poised to become stars (Ingram). But they’ve all already broken out to some extent. So, it would be hard to classify any of those guys as a true “breakout” and the Hornets have already gotten enough love. Someone, however, that does fit that criteria as a true breakout is Domantas Sabonis. Last season, he was little more than a warm body. But if he turns things around in the NLL like he has in the NBA, he may be on his way to becoming a serious force in the frontcourt.
Best newcomer: There’s a lot of young talent in this division, including the number 1 pick in the draft. But thus far, it’s looking like Fultz has some kinks to work out before he really gets rolling. And as a result, he might not be the most impactful rookie in this division. There are a couple standouts who actually weren’t lottery picks. One was even a second rounder, which is particularly remarkable because 2nd rounders usually take a while to not only develop but to even get playing time. But we’re going to go with Kyle Kuzma and Dillon Brooks. Both of these guys were regarded as good picks for where they went in the draft (end of the 1st and midway through the second, respectively). But both players may prove they are lottery-caliber talent who are good enough to start in this league.
Prediction: Charlotte seems like they’ve got the talent to be maybe a 5 or 6 seed in the East. But Orlando could make a run too. Looking at things before a game has been played, we’re going to go with Charlotte as the top team in the division, making the playoffs. The Magic will be 2nd in the division, also making the playoffs. They will be followed by the Wizards, Atlanta, and finally Miami.
