The last installment of the 2023 NBA Showdown set. The 10 unfortunate or fortunate teams depending on the goal, that did not make the play-in or playoffs and are in full Victor Wembanyama prayer circle form. The 7'5 French player is said to be the most anticipated player in the draft since LeBron James. Feel like we have heard this before but his size, and ability makes him so versatile and the perfect archetype to the new style on NBA player, length and skill. But enough about the future, let us focus on the present, and at the present these teams have a ton to improve upon if they want to climb the ladder and be in the playoffs and a threat to win a championship.
Eastern Conference Lottery Teams
11. Indians Pacers (35-47) 3440 Points, The Pacers seemed to be a play-in team early in the season while everyone thought they would be tanking, Tyrese Haliburton showed how good of a point guard he could be. Benedict Mathurin started the season on fire, and slowly came back to earth as the season continued, but he was tremendous in his rookie season. Buddy Hield was one of the best three point marksman all season. Myles Turner was in trade rumors all year, and seemed like he would be dealt before Indiana finally said no. The Pacers aren't great that is for sure, but some of these pieces are useful. Haliburton will be great to see him develop and hopefully he will be able to stay healthy.
Starters:(2770 points)
Bench:(670 points)
12. Washington Wizards (35-47) 4810 Points, The Wizards are another team like the Pelicans that benefitted from injuries to help other cards become better. Delon Wright is a bench player that plays 24 mins a game but is so defensively sound that it makes his cards really good every year. Bradley Beal also only played 50 games this year, and was a part of 3 different players that averaged 20 points a game this year for the Wizards, alongside Kyle Kuzma and Kristaps Porzingis. Kristaps is an Elite big in this game, offense, high scoring and good defense. But you will have to pay for a guy like that. In a season format this team would perform better than their regular season record, but they still aren't up there with the best teams of the Eastern conference.
Starters:(3650 points)
Bench:(1160 points)
13. Orlando Magic (34-48) 4030 Points, The Orlando Magic have a ton of young players, and will most likely be adding another one this off-season. They are led by Franz Wagner who continues to improve as a second year player, and have a solid group of 400-500 point guys. I selfishly hope Bol Bol continues to improves so Orlando just has a ton of 7 footers that are mobile. Markelle Fultz seemed to regain some confidence at the end of the season, maybe we will see why he is a former #1 pick starting next season. I can't wait to see Paolo Banchero continue to grow in showdown form over the years as well.
Starters:(2980 points)
Bench:(1050 points)
14. Charlotte Hornets (27-55) 3730 Points, Charlotte is not very good, and barely getting to see LaMelo Ball at all this year didn't help. His card is good from an offensive stand point, and scary Terry is always scary. Dennis Smith Jr can be the defensive back court stopper, and I really like PJ Washingtons chart, but his offense and defensive ratings are not great.
Starters:(2520 points)
Bench:(1210 points)
15. Detroit Pistons (17-65) 3580 Points, Cade Cunningham missed most of the season, but it didn't feel right not letting him be a part of this set and there was no one else on Detroit that was any good anyways. Alec Burks and Bojan Bogdanovic bring the offense, and Jaden Ivey is a cheap scoring threat for bench minutes. This team needs a lift, and maybe the lottery will help them regain some of the DETROIT BASKETBALLL magic.
Starters:(2170 points)
Bench:(1410 points)
Western Conference Lottery Teams
11. Dallas Mavericks (38-44) 3910 Points, The biggest disappointment for a team being in this position. The Mavs may have intentionally tanked the end of the season to keep their lottery pick, but they are led by a lethal duo. Luka Doncic is simply an incredible player, but his next step needs to be allowing others to get going themselves and not being so ball dominant. In NBA Showdown that doesn't mean a thing, so you get to jsut reap the benefits of Luka being awesome. Another benefit of it being a game, is Kyrie Irving can't go and do Kyrie Irving things and you just get the offensive assassin that he is. Tim Hardaway and Christina Wood provide some back up, but the rest of this team is really bad. Josh Green may be the next guy up for them, as he had his moments this past season, and his 11 defense is a nice spot to begin with.
Starters:(3570 points)
Bench:(340 points)
12. Utah Jazz (37-45) 3920 Points, The new look Jazz without Rudy Gobert, Mike Conley, Joe Ingles, Donovan Mitchell and Bojan Bogdanovic now have the Finnisher Lauri Markkanen, and what a season he had for the Jazz. The Jazz seemed destined to tank, but the players di not receive the memo at the beginning of the season. The Jazz were so hot, and they may have been a play in team had they not traded a lot of their players at the deadline. Walker Kessler was a really good defensive rookie this season, that makes many fans forget about Rudy Gobert. Clarkson brings a powerful offensive card, but this teams lead guard defense will get them beat pretty bad in the wrong matchups.
Starters:(2980 points)
Bench:(940 points)
13. Portland Trail Blazers (33-49) 3460 Points, Another year another disappointing Blazers team that Dame has to be apart of. They tried this offseason getting Jerami Grant, but health seems to always get in their way. Dame brings a 71 point possibility, the second player possible to do that in this set. The blazers feel like a team in a draft you would use to fill out the end of the bench. Thybulle very cheap for great wing defense, Sharpe and Knox both 10 point guys that can score 8 with a max roll. Will this be the offseason Dame either asks out or gets moved?
Starters:(3220 points)
Bench:(240 points)
14. Houston Rockets (22-60) 3050 Points, The one team I do not want to see win the lottery, unless they are willing to trade Kevin Porter Jr and Jalen Green if they win. Alpren Sengun is a hidden gem in the NBA and a lot of the time you don't even get to see him do what he does best because the guards on this team won't let him initiate the offense or play through him. A couple top 3 picks in this starting line up that hopefully will continue to grow, because the talent on this team is a good thing, they just have to play the right way. I'm starting to think building a team, you need a bench full of scorers, and I like the Kenyon Martin Jr card for a bench role.
Starters:(2470 points)
15. San Antonio Spurs (22-60) 2930 Points, Would it be the most Spurs thing to get Wembanyama 1 year into a rebuild. They traded Dejounte Murray this offseason and loaded up on Hawks picks, did a really good job at being bad, while also getting heavy minutes for a core of young players that Pop can try to mold into the next dynasty. All they need is a generational player to drop right into it, and they will have a really good chance at that happening. Defense is always a struggle for the bad young teams, and it is no different with this spurs squad, but a guy like Jeremy Sochan with his Rodman hair and number, seemed to enjoy taking on the challenge of playing defense on the other teams better players. I think this is my pick for Wemby to fall, an all time great coach with a team with a good culture, his game would have the best chance at a clean development here in san Antonio. The East is also loaded, and the West could use some more talent, the thought of a Wemby led Spurs vs a youthful Thunder in a few years is what I will dream about.
Starters:(2300 points)
Bench:(630 points)
There we have it, finally the end of the set, and here are the final rankings for the teams in total points, I hope you found some draftable gems in these three posts, because I am going to be looking to do a league with these cards. Those of you familiar with my leagues, I have other people do the draft, I don't draft a team, I just play the games out, so be on the lookout in the discord as plans come together for that in the coming months.
Special Treat for reading the whole thing, here is in season through 29 games Victor Wembanyama for the bottom feeders to drool over the potential he can bring to their franchise.
Dang, gotta feel for the Mavs -- that starting five of Kyrie-Luka-Timmy-Wood-Powell for 3570 pts could've gone off in the playoffs, but the complete lack of depth is an absolute death blow. Love that Luka earned that SF eligibility though so players could put Nash-Kidd-Luka all on the floor at once without sacrificing defense by playing them out of position!
ReplyDeleteIs there a way to join the discord?
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