In a division where there’s two New York teams, a Boston team and a Philly team, it’s important to understand that managing the expectations of a sports team can be a crucial part to steadying the psyche of an organization and it’s fan base. Mismanaged expectations by a coach, GM or team president can result in the media — or worse, twitter — swarming on you. Next thing you know, there’s unanswered questions, disgruntled players, and before you know it, you’re carrying a box to your car while being walked out by security.
You see? Managing expectations! But many teams don’t know any better. Never fear, HHSR is here! Let’s take a look at what we should expect for the NBA’s Atlantic Division for the 2014-15 season.
Philadelphia 76ers
I’ll be brief. I have no idea what the hell the 76ers are doing. Yes, I understand the concept of building through the draft with high lottery picks (I still maintain that there’s no such as “the Oklahoma City model”— complete hogwash). But if your plan is doubling down on the injury prone bigs and or players with overwhelming flaws, lots of luck.
Historically, I haven’t always rocked with ESPN’s Chad Ford on his view of players entering the NBA Draft. But when asked about the Sixers strategy for success after the draft this past June, he absolutely nailed it.
Chad Ford – Sixers Front Office Strategy
You get the picture. Never has a team with the returning Rookie of the Year (Michael Carter-Williams) had such little promise. This team is basically MCW, Nerlens Noel (for as long as he stays healthy), Jason Richardson and the Erie Bayhawks.
Anybody who is expecting Brett Brown’s team to make a run at the playoffs this year needs their head examined. Remember last year when Philly started 3-0 and beat Miami, Chicago and Washington, and everybody lost their mind? Well they finished 16-63. They’ll be lucky to see 16-63 this year.
Fans shouldn’t have to pay full price for these games. And chances are, we’re all going to learn a valuable lesson three years from now when Sam Hinkie is carrying his box out of the building.
Unless we manage our expectations, of course.
Boston Celtics
The Celtics won’t be much better. The rebuild officially began last year after Paul Pierce was jettisoned and Doc Rivers bolted the beast coast for the fresh coast. But Danny Ainge should be lauded for his handling of the breakup of one of the best teams of the 2000s. Granted, Ray Allen helped him out a bit by bouncing on his own two years ago, but trading away Pierce and Garnett was a difficult decision— a decision that looks better and better every day.
Always the opportunist, Ainge turned Pierce, KG and Jason Terry into Gerald Wallace, a bunch of dudes that don’t play for them anymore (aka cap flexibility) and three first round picks, one of which turned into former Kentucky WIldcat James Young. Young and ultra-competitive combo guard Marcus Smart will lead this new Celtics team into the future, along with Jared Sullinger and…well, that’s pretty much it.
Boston still does have several other pieces to play with. Jeff Green and Marcus Thornton are there, the latter of which has been traded so often he hasn’t unpacked his suitcase in four years. And then there’s Rajon Rondo. Rondo is volatile, he’s grown accustomed to winning yet he’s without a 20-point scorer to dish off to, he’s in his prime and he’s in a contract year. If that’s not a receipt for a midseason trade, I don’t know what is. Brad Stevens claims Rondo is in the plans for the future in Beantown, but the second-year coach will soon learn the desires of the head coach are near the bottom of the totem pole for most clubs.
Expect this team to miss the playoffs again. But with a healthy cluster of draft picks on the horizon and a front office that has proven to be championship caliber, it shouldn’t be long before the C’s are back in the mix.
New York Knicks
What’s funny is that one of the few people to actively temper expectations in New York is Carmelo Anthony, who said over the summer he did not expect the Knickerbockers to win the NBA championship this year. This is the same Carmelo Anthony who just signed off on a brand new five-year $124 million contract in July. Melo’s a pretty funny dude— seems like the bar is being set pretty low for a guy who’s being paid like he runs the Federal Reserve. It’s also hilarious that Carmelo didn’t sign a max contract. Rather, he left $5M on the table for the Knicks to play with, because ya know, he’s a real team player. Now the Knicks can go out and add a critical piece like to their championship picture, like Hilton Armstrong.
For what it’s worth, Anthony does firmly believe the Knicks will return to the playoffs in 2015. And now there seems to be some cohesion between the owner James Dolan, and his squad (president Phil Jackson, new coach Derek Fisher and Carmelo).
Sidebar: Please see Anthony Hueston for more info on “The Synergy”.
Fisher has long been viewed as one of the dirtiest headiest ball players in the game; he therefore managed to cash in on the new trend of giving guys with absolutely ZERO coaching experience high-profile head coaching jobs in the NBA. Whether or not he’ll be any good is anybody’s guess. But D Fish will inherit a team that has the second-highest payroll in the association, yet failed to make the playoffs last year. And the combined $35.4M worth of expiring contracts between Amar’e Stoudemire and Andrea Bargnani will once again make New York a free agent destination in 2015.
As for this year, here’s the thing: the Knicks had enough talent to make the playoffs last year, they just didn’t. This year they bring back basically the same team, plus they added Samuel Dalembert, Jose Calderon and Shane Larkin, drafted Cleanthony Early and Tim Hardaway Jr. is a year older. In the East, this should be a playoff team. But if Fisher can’t control the mercurial JR Smith and (to a lesser extent) Carmelo, this team is going nowhere fast.
Expect about 45 wins, that is unless bathing in red wine actually works. Then expect 46.
Brooklyn Nets
Jason Kidd is gone, so should be the Nets championship-or-bust expectations, which has nothing to do with Jason Kidd being gone. All those over-priced, over-the-hill big name players and all BK had to show for it was a 44-38 record and a lone W in the second round of the playoffs. Amazingly, Kevin Garnett is going to duct tape he’s knees back together for season #20, but it’ll be the first time he’s playing without his buddy Paul Pierce since 2007.
Deron Williams seems healthy and recommitted. He’s talking more confidently and is feeling better after surgery on both ankles. Pierce’s exit actually creates more shots and more space for D-Will to operate. Last year’s Nets had one too many egos that needed their share of looks each night. Expect a bounce back year from Deron Williams, but how far can he and “Iso” Joe Johnson take this team?
Sidebar: Funny how nobody threw D Will and Joe in “best backcourt in the NBA” discussion a few weeks back. They’re definitely ballin more than anyone else, and I ain’t talkin about hoops.
New coach Lionel Hollins ought to be pleased with the development of Mason Plumlee, who surprised many and made the FIBA World Cup gold medal team. Hollins should be most excited though about the return of Brook Lopez. The former All-Star center completely changes the complexion of this team in a conference that doesn’t contain many talented players 7′ or taller. The problem is Lopez still might not be 100% back from his foot injury.
This is still a playoff team that could give people problems in the East, but only if Lopez comes back and is dropping 20 a night again.
He’s like a coach on the floor. Hahaha! Just kidding. No he’s not.
Toronto Raptors
It wasn’t until they traded away Rudy Gay that this team really took off. They fell short in the first round after seven games, but Toronto gained the experience needed to take the next step. The Raps brought back their bulldog of a point guard, Kyle Lowry, and also bring back Terrance Ross, Jonas Valanciunas, a steadily improving Amir Johnson and All-Star DeMar DeRozan.
Quiet as kept, DeRozan and Lowry were not that far off Third Team All-NBA last year. If Jonas and Ross continue to improve, and if Lou Williams can get AND STAY healthy (he could turn into the east coast Jamal Crawford he was several years ago in Philly, and subsequently become one of the most slept on big moves from the offseason), the Raps could easily be back like cooked crack.
A handful of exciting young players, a GM that pulls stunts like this and Drake still running around in the front office? Yeah, the Raptors are still on the rise.
Sidebar: Drizzy should be spending a lot more time in Toronto that we all thought. It seemed like he was gonna be spending the bulk of his time in Cleveland, but all of a sudden Johnny Manziel has become somewhat of an afterthought and A Wiggins was dealt to Minnesota.
But this team is missing something. The goal of course is to win an NBA championship, and unfortunately, you cannot win an NBA Championship with Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan as your best players. In the East, a deadline deal could perhaps do wonders for a team like this. Say for instance Kevin Love had found his way to the 416 (that’s right, Canada’s area codes look like ours) instead of the 216— this team would be really scary. Can Masai manage to get one more piece on this team? Is there one more significant player out there to be had?
Who knows. Brooklyn will narrowly edge out Toronto for the division crown, but if they meet up in the first round of the playoffs again, the result be different. And that should be considered a successful campaign for the Raptors. This group of talented neophytes should continue to advance one step at a time and hopefully the expectations don’t go “0 to 100, real quick”.
