NBA Teams That Need To Start Over
There eventually comes a time when the calls to blow it all up are the only answer. A time when the only players a team should be trying to build around are those young enough, talented enough, and cheap enough to be around once the rebuilding process is done.
Some teams are lucky enough to blow it all up under the radar when expectations are already low like what happened in Toronto and Washington this past season, while other teams like Detroit appear to stumble from season to season without making any real progress or creating any real hope for their fans.
Between now and the start of next season, these are the teams in need of the biggest shake-up.
Teams That Need To Start Over
Detroit Pistons – 2010-11 season 30-52, 2011-12 Salary commitments $47,862,792
What has been going on in Detroit since Chauncey Billups was traded to Denver in November of 2008 is difficult to consider as anything but bizarre. The ultimate team concept franchise has become a collection of mismatched talent, understandably unhappy veterans, and the polar opposite of what made the Pistons so special in the previous seven 50-plus win seasons.
The trade of Billups for Allen Iverson was the move that should have indicated Pistons’ President of Basketball Operations Joe Dumars knew it was time to blow it up but instead he fell into the trap of using available cap space on non-star players who were redundant to the team as it was constructed with the pickups of Charlie Villanueva and Ben Gordon in 2009. Then the team compounded the error by believing former All-Star Tracy McGrady was the answer in 2010.
In the summer of 2011 it is time to do what should have been done in 2009; determine which young players are worth keeping and moving as many of the rest as quickly as possible for draft picks, youth, or just salary cap space if necessary. Only Austin Daye, Greg Monroe, Rodney Stuckey, and possibly Jonas Jerebko have a secure future in Detroit.
Dumars has made some remarkably good moves in the past and he will need all of his skills and experience to rebuild the Pistons back into a franchise with hope for the future, assuming the Pistons organization is still willing to give him that chance. Hopefully the Pistons are a lot more careful about how they use any available cap space they have after the new collective bargaining agreement comes into effect.
Cleveland Cavaliers – 2010-11 season 19-63, 2011-12 Salary commitments $56,636,314
It would be completely fair to say the Cavaliers had built this past season’s roster based on homestate hero and All-Star LeBron James playing in Cleveland. While the Cavaliers did not completely stand pat after James took his talents to South Beach, there is still a lot of work left to do with a roster that just doesn’t work anymore.
The Cavaliers do have some talent to start over with. In a league facing a shortage of decent centers, Anderson Varejao gives the team an effective presence in the middle at a reasonable salary going out to 2014-15. J.J. Hickson, Manny Harris, Samardo Samuels, and Semih Erden are all young, have good potential, and are inexpensive to keep around.
Everyone else can be moved but the Cavaliers do not have to take significant risks in this rebuilding process as only Baron Davis $14,750,000 and Ramon Sessions $4,551,626 represent significant expendable salary commitments after this coming season.
Cleveland has put themselves in a great position to start over. With two high draft picks and a good chance at first overall expect the Cavaliers to clean house and feature a very young lineup next season.
Charlotte Bobcats – 2010-11 season 34-48, 2011-12 Salary commitments $50,914,794
{AUTHOR_BOX}It will be tempting for the Bobcats’ General Manager Rod Higgins to try and upgrade his roster by trade or free agency in an attempt to sneak back into the playoff picture but when All-Star Gerald Wallace was sent to Portland for Dante Cunningham, Sean Marks, Joel Przybilla, cash, and a 2011 first-round draft pick at the trade deadline, the roster demolition sign was lit and Higgins shouldn’t turn it off now.
The Bobcats have a core of young players to build around. Tyrus Thomas, D.J. White, Gerald Henderson and D.J. Augustin and (possibly) restricted free agent Dante Cunningham are all 24 years old or younger, have good potential, and represent a reasonable financial commitment. Plus the Bobcats will have a top 10 and a top 20 draft pick this year to add to their young core.
Like the Cavaliers situation, everyone else can and should be moved but the Bobcats do not have to take significant risks either as only Stephen Jackson $10,059,750, Matt Carroll $3,500,000, and DeSagana Diop $7,372,200 represent significant salary commitments after this coming season.
Moving their veteran players will mean the Bobcats will not win as many games next season but the team’s future is in their youth and sacrificing significant playing time to the team’s veterans will only delay their development.
Charlotte has put themselves in a great position to start over. The time to do it is now.
Teams That May Need To Start Over Soon
The New Jersey Nets have bet their future on next year’s free agent to be Deron Williams. In many ways the acquisition of Williams signaled that the Nets were planning to get very good very fast. By the time we see the next trade deadline there should be few faces on the Nets bench that were there in 2010-11.
If the Nets don’t live up to Williams expectations, the Nets will be undergoing their own version of blowing things up next summer.
The Orlando Magic had a disappointing season followed by an embarrassing first round playoff loss to the Hawks. The timing could not have been worse as All-Star Dwight Howard can opt out of his deal next summer and become a free agent. Starting over wouldn’t be far behind.
Unfortunately the Magic is burdened with the massive contracts of the underperforming Gilbert Arenas and Hedo Turkoglu and starting over before 2013-14 will prove difficult even if the team loses Howard after next season. President of Basketball Operations Otis Smith has to be hoping that the new collective bargaining agreement has provisions enabling him to unload one or more of his team’s bad contracts.
Can A Team Start Over Faster?
The other ways of starting over is to package all that young talent and trade for a couple of proven All-Stars like Boston did in 2008 or tear your roster down to the minimum and sign a couple of proven All-Stars like Miami did in 2010. Unfortunately this year’s free agent pool does not feature the unusual talent level that was seen in 2010 and the All-Stars who might be available via trade are on expiring deals.
Teams starting over this year will likely have little choice but to develop their own stars and this route does give a team a more reliable chance at joining the league’s elite. It is significantly easier to add one All-Star and some solid veterans to a team that has already developed their own star players like the Bulls did last summer.
Is there another team that you think should blow-it-all-up this summer and start over?
Let us know in the comments below or send me your comments or questions about this, the Toronto Raptors, or anything else in the NBA to my weekly NBA chat and check back on Thursday at noon ET for a response.
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