2013-2014 NBA Season

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by rpncaine

Orlando for sure. Afflalo and Oladipo are coming on strong. Afflalo was on fire here in Indy until they re-focused and shut him down in the second half and Oladipo should be the rookie of the year.
They play with fire too which is more than you can say for the 76'ers.

To be fair Philly just looks burned out right now. They play at the fastest pace in the NBA, pushing the ball constantly and this is the part of the season that starts to catch up with them especially since they have so many guys who are playing far more than they ever have. They won some games early in the season because they just outran the opposition. When they get into that bench they are really a D league team.

That being said Orlando has a lot of talent and probably is going to have 2 lottery picks this year (their own and Denvers). I figured that Afflalo would be dealt at the trade deadline for sure but he has played so well they might hold on to him. Even if they dont get one of the top 3 picks they can still snag a guy like Exum who would be a great fit. Plus they have no bad contracts, they can let Nelson walk after this year and have no returning player making more than 7.6 (Afflalo) or 6.6 (Big baby). Also as well as what they get in the draft they will have plenty of room to take on a max contract in the coming years too if a player like that comes available. Orlando as a good team is an attractive destination especially with no state tax.

Imagine they get Wiggins and McDermott in the draft, sign Kyle Lowery as a FA and start off next year with this team:
PG- Lowery (borderline all star)
SG-Affallo (borderline all star)
SF-Wiggins (extreme talent)
PF-Tobias Harris (huge upside)
C- Vucevic (Producing as solid top 8 center now)
Bench-Oladipo (pg-sg) (ideal 6th man off the bench at both guard positions)
Bench-Big Baby (PF) (productive player)
Bench-McDermott (Sf-Pf) (very good shooter for team that needs it)
Bench-Harkless (Sf) (kind of odd man out but has upside)
Bench-Nicholson (C-Pf) (Solid backup potential)

That is the 3rd best team in the East.