Thoughts on The Celtics and Coach K

Two big thinks happened in the world of basketball today, and I’m here with my opinion on both. First we will tackle the whole Boston Celtics.

This is an absolute mess in my opinion. When I read the headlines this morning I had to look at it multiple times before I believed it. For those who may not know, Danny Ainge stepped down and Brad Stevens took his place. Stevens did step down as head coach as well. So what we have is Stevens taking over in player personnel and team decisions, and Ainge waking away before being let go.

That is insane on its own. For years and years all us NBA fans heard was how great of a negotiator and mastermind Ainge was for the Celtics. He acquired picks, he took chances on middling stars, he took the right players in the draft and he was always “one move away from making the Celtics a perennial title contender”. It was becoming too much. Also, he never did much at the trade deadline. He did make good moves and picks. I’ll give him that. He got Kyrie when he wanted out of Cleveland. He drafted Tatum when he could’ve traded up for Markelle Fultz. He took a chance on Isaiah Thomas as a scoring machine. He picked Marcus Smart for his defense. And he gave Jaylen Brown a much deserved Max contract. But he also had his share of crappy decisions. He’s drafted players like Romeo Langford and Robert Williams in the lottery. They’re fine players, but not title contending contributors. He traded for Evan Fournier this season. He should’ve done that three years ago. He gave Tristan Thompson a two year guaranteed deal. He gave Gordon Hayward a super max. He cold blooded traded Thomas after his best season. He has as many mistakes as good decisions. But just biggest whiff was never trading for a legit superstar. Kyrie wanted out in two years. Gordon Hayward is off injured and overrated. He could’ve gotten a player like Victor Oladipo. Anthony Davis was a possibility. When KD left OKC, Boston was up there. But none of those guys wanted to play there, or they couldn’t wait to get out. That Nets trade, the one with Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett and all the picks, that was so long ago that no one, except NBA nerds like me, truly remember how big a deal it was. That’s because Ainge essentially wasted it.

Now Ainge is out and Brad Stevens is in. This move is like the two Spidermen pointing at one another. They’re essentially the same person. At least Ainge had experience. Stevens is going in cold with a talented young roster. And I think he’s going to waste that talent. He’s going to go after players he coached at Butler, or players he coached against that fit his idea of a good team. That stinks for guys like Tatum, Smart and Brown. Their prime is being wasted. They’re playing with a scrap heap players. Kemba is old and creaky, Thompson is a dinosaur, Payton Pritchard is a late first round “hustle” guy and Romeo Langford doesn’t seem to have the goods. The only other player worth a damn right now looks to be Aaron Nesmith, and he’s a young rookie. Stevens will also be heavily involved in the new head coach decision. I don’t like that at all. I think he will make an unpopular choice, and probably pass on a better candidate because he’s too close to the situation. He won’t be able to flip the switch as quickly as the Celtics will want, and that will hinder this team. This whole situation is messed up, and I think it will only get worse before he gets better. If I were Tatum and Brown, I’d be making plans to find a new team.

The other big news was Coach K’s decision to retire at the end of the 21-22 NCAA basketball season. I think there is so much more to this than him just being “done”. The dude is a good coach. I cannot stand him. I’ve never, ever liked him. I am a true hater of Duke men’s basketball, and Coach K is the main reason. But his resume is stacked. He has five titles, twelve final four appearances and he’s the winningest men’s college basketball coach. The dude has done it all at the college level. But there’s the news, that gets louder and louder everyday, that maybe Zion and other top rated recruits to come through Duke got some improper benefits. It’s becoming so common that I think it’s pretty much true. In college basketball today you cannot win without some kind of cheating, and I think Coach K and Duke were/are doing just that, and they’re on the precipice of being caught. So with him leaving, I think it will “soften” any restrictions future Duke teams may get. He’s pulling a Pete Carroll when he left USC for the NFL. I also think he was never up to the task of coaching in the NBA. Sure he coached team USA, but that’s a group of twelve super stars with the best assistant coaches in basketball. I don’t think he had the nerve to take over an NBA team with one or no stars. He didn’t want the challenge of building a team. I also think he would’ve been baffled when the best talent wouldn’t come play for him simply because he’s Coach K. That would’ve thrown him off. He had his pick of the litter in college. It’s not like that in the pros, and I don’t think he would’ve liked that. I think he saw what happened to Nick Saban in the NFL, and he didn’t want that. Saban is a great college football coach, but he was a disaster in the NFL. I think Coach K monitored that whole situation and decided he was going to stick in college. It’s kind of sad we never saw him coach basketball at the highest level. So I do not think he is retiring because he’s older and tired or whatever was said in his release to the media. I think that’s part of it, but I also think there’s other factors to his decision.

Long story short, this has been a wild day for basketball. That’s for sure.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

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Who is Really to Blame for the Boston Celtics Mess?

The Boston Celtics clearly have a problem right now. There is something going on with the chemistry. The guys on the team don't seem to really like one another. It seems as if Jayson Tatum is all but ready to be traded this summer. Kyrie Irving looks fed up. It just seems like a real mess. That being said, they are still in the thick of the playoff race, with, most likely, home court advantage in the first round. But, while all these other guys are taking heat, especially Irving, I want to pose a question.

That question, why is this all Kyrie's fault? What about Brad Stevens, and the Boston sports fan base's white hope, Gordon Hayward? Why do they never, ever seem to get any of the blame? The people that defend Hayward may say the typical stuff, he's coming off a gruesome injury, he needs time, and no one has come back the very next season after a brutal ankle injury like the one he suffered. I will give you all of that. But, he is taking away critical minutes from younger guys that are much better than him, and proved that in last season's playoffs. Jaylen Brown, Tatum, even a guy like Terry Rozier, played lights out during their run to the conference finals last year. This season though, their minutes have dipped because the coaching staff feels like they need to work Hayward back because they seem to think he will be integral to them in the playoffs. He won't. He is still hurt, and he is playing scared. He doesn't attack like he did before the injury. He isn't as good a shooter as he was in Utah. He doesn't take games over. He looks like he is playing scared. And even when he has a "good" game, it is nothing special. I didn't think he would be the "answer" they were looking for when they maxed him out 2 years ago, and that was before the injury. He just isn't the same guy, and he is not letting younger, stronger and better players get the minutes they rightfully earned last season. If I were Brown, Tatum and even a guy like Semi Ojeleye, I'd be pissed that Gordon Hayward was taking crucial playing time away from me. He isn't washed yet, but he is starting to look like he may never be the same player he was while in Utah. He, right now, is playing scared. I personally think it is hilarious because dumbass Boston fans were thinking they were getting the next Larry Bird. Hayward isn't even the 6th or 7th best guy on that team.

This leads me to Brad Stevens. Stevens up to this point has earned a pass. He coached this team up real well since he has been there. He got an influx of talent last year, lost guys to injuries and still made the conference finals. But this was supposed to be the year that he finally started to take over the East. LeBron is gone, Hayward was coming back from injury and Kyrie was back to full health. He also had all that young talent gain meaningful playing time because they were thrust into it last year, and they were the presumed top team in the East. Even after Toronto got Kawhi in a trade everyone said the Celtics were better. Even with Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons coming into the year at full health, the Celtics were considered the better team. Even with Milwaukee getting a new head coach, and the continued growth of Giannis, Boston was still considered the best team. All of that was due to what Stevens had done up to that point.

Well, and I believe I even questioned this going into the season, we have gotten to see how he coaches a team that have a super star, and a supposed super star. He has had it rough. His lineups are odd and kind of crazy. He doesn't seem to know how to stagger the minutes. He is trying way too hard to insert Hayward into the lineup. Terry Rozier is barely seeing the court. Marcus Smart was only recently put into the starting lineup, and he is one of the best perimeter defenders in the league. It shouldn't take a top tier coach that long to realize that. Jaylen Brown has regressed due to minutes being cut. And like I said at the top, Tatum seems all but ready to leave, and that kid is on his way to becoming a star. I attribute all of this to Brad Stevens. If he wants to be mentioned in the same breath as guys like Greg Poppovich or Steve Kerr or Mike Budeholzer or Nick Nurse or even Mike Malone, he needs to learn how to coach a team with multiple super stars. That is how you win in the modern NBA, and he is struggling mightily with that right now. Tatum wants out. Irving definitely wants out. And I wouldn't be surprised if guys like Al Horford and Jaylen Brown and Terry Rozier leave in the offseason.

Every sports journalist talks about, "what happens if one of the top 4 teams in the East loses in the first round, what happens to them then", and I can only think of that happening to the Celtics. It would bring me great joy to see them get bounced early, and then to see what happens. But, while Kyrie is taking the brunt of the criticism, I feel like that is a bit unfair to him. He has won a title, been to two other finals and hit one of, if not the, biggest shots in NBA history. Gordon Hayward has never been out of the second round, and Brad Stevens, while making one conference finals, has never been put under the microscope like he is getting right now.

The blame needs to be spread out around that whole team, and Hayward and Stevens should be seeing the most right now, in my opinion.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet. 

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Gordon Hayward Joining the Celtics Does Not Change A Thing in the NBA

Gordon Hayward officially signed with the Boston Celtics yesterday for 4 years and around 120 million dollars. This surprised me, as many of you may have already read, I thought he was going back to Utah, but I guess it shouldn't have. He was rumored to be going there all season, they had the most money outside of Utah to offer and his college coach, who he has known since 9th grade, is the coach of the Celtics now. And after a whole day of back and forth, it was nice to get a final decision from him before I went to bed.

As I watched some talking heads sports shows, many people were very happy with the signing and talked about how it made the Celtics so much better, and a real threat to the Cavs, or whatever team LeBron ends up on if he stays in the East. People also praised his decision to head out East since it seems all the good free agents signed with Western Conference teams. They claimed that playing for Boston will give him deeper playoff runs than anything he could have done had he stayed in Utah. No matter the fact that the Jazz were/are an up and coming team, he now, at least on paper, has a much easier path to a conference finals, and perhaps one day, the NBA Finals.

The initial reactions I heard and watched and read the more I disagreed with what most of what these people were saying. I was watching Summer League basketball because I'm a hoops junkie, and during halftime of a Jazz-Spurs game, the commentators were talking about the signing and how it shapes up going into next season for Boston. They continually showed their starting 5, with some key reserves. The 5 presumable starters were Isiah Thomas at guard, Avery Bradley at guard, Gordon Hayward and Jae Crowder as the 3 and 4, and Al Horford as their center. The key reserves were Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, Kelly Olynk and rookie Jayson Tatum. That was another thing people praised, Danny Ainge didn't have to give up any "assets" to acquire Hayward.

The more NBA TV showed this roster the more I just kind of shrugged. Sure, it looks okay, but they were still the one seed last year with Amir Johnson, Olynk and Brown in Hayward's place. Yes, Hayward does give them an additional threat alongside Thomas, but is that good enough to beat the true title contending teams? I don't think so. Hayward made the right choice, since he left, to go to a team filled with role players, but I just do not see this current Celtics roster as any real threat. I already mentioned how they were the one seed in the East this most recent playoffs, but that didn't matter. The Cavs still destroyed them in five games. You may read that and say, but they didn't have Thomas. Okay, add Hayward and maybe they win one more game. There is no way that they will beat the Cavs as long as LeBron and Kyrie are there.

Also, Thomas, who I love, is coming off of hip surgery, he is getting older and he is listed generously at 5'9. Adding Hayward may take some pressure off Thomas, as far as needing to go to the rim, but he is not the greatest outside shooter. He is a decent outside shooter, but he makes his living hitting floaters and going to the basket to either draw contact or make circus layups. Hayward is a better outside shooter, but not as much a threat as some sports media would have you believe. Outside of those 2 guys, the only other outside threat they have is Avery Bradley, and I say that very loosely. Marcus Smart can't shoot. Jaylen Brown could be good, but he seems more like an explosive player. I know people are fawning over Tatum's early summer league performances, but remember when D'Angelo Russell was the star of summer league last year? How'd that work out for him and the Lakers? He is also a 19 year old rookie. Teams won't take him seriously, at least not the important teams.

It is a nice story that Hayword is going back to play for his college coach, but I had heard that he and Quinn Snyder had gotten real close, so why leave him now, one season after winning 51 games? I don't deny that he wants to play for Brad Stevens due to knowing him since he was 15, but I think his decision was much more based on the competition level in the East compared to the West. The West got so much better this offseason, while the East, well, it is like the JV version of the NBA, with the Cavs being the lone exception. Hell, if everyone can stay healthy for 65 games, the 76ers could push for an 8 seed. The only real decent teams in the East not named the Cavs are, the Celtics, Wizards, Bucks and Raptors. Every other team is a toss up. That means that of the 11 teams left in the East, if they can win anywhere between 38-41 games, they could get into the playoffs. We will have some West teams with 45 or more wins that may not make the playoffs. So don't tell me the decision was almost solely based on playing for your college coach.

Anyway, I do not think this signing tips the scales in any meaningful way for the Celtics. They were already a playoff ready team, who made the East Finals last year. But I don't think Gordon Hayward is ever going to be the answer to who can you get to beat LeBron. And lets just say that they somehow beat the Cavs and the Celtics make the Finals. I'd still take the Warriors, obviously, but I'd also take the Rockets, Spurs and Thunder to beat them in 6 games or less. I believe in my NBA preseason preview for this most recent season I had the Celtics somewhere in the top ten, maybe 7th or 8th (ed note - it was 4th best in the league). I will not be putting them any higher when I do my preseason preview for this upcoming season. Just off the top of my head, I know the Cavs, Warriors and Spurs are better than them. I also think the Rockets, Thunder, Wizards and maybe even the Raptors might be better than them too, which puts them as my 8th best team right now.

I'm sure Celtics fans will call me a "hater" or something stupid like that, but Gordon Hayward does not move the needle like a Jimmy Butler or Paul George would have for this team. Those 2 guys are far superior players. We will have to wait and see.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet. 

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Ty Tells You How each NBA Team can Win the Title: Raptors, Clippers, Celtics

Day 9 of my NBA countdown. These next 6 teams are the cream of the crop. The best of the best. Whatever you want to call them, they are the best teams in the NBA this season, in my opinion. They all have a legitimate shot at the title, but some, actually all, have some possibly fatal flaws. Anyway, lets get to it.

At number 6, I have the Toronto Raptors. This team was in the East Finals last year, and they return pretty much everyone from that team. The problem with this team though, they choke in the playoffs. They did beat the Cavs twice last season in the East Finals, but it did not matter, everyone knew that they were going to get beat in the next 2. I really like this team, as a regular season team. They have a loaded roster, but it just cannot take the next big step to being in the Finals. DeMar DeRozan shocked me, and most everyone else, when he re signed with the Raptors. I was certain, especially when he opted out, that he was going to sign with LA. He did not, and I like that. DeRozan is a very good scorer. He is an excellent slasher, can get the mid range shot and will score 25 a night. He is an okay defender, but not great. He also seems to be out of control sometimes when he has the ball in his hand. I like DeRozan a lot, but he seems destined to be a good scorer, but nothing more. Kyle Lowry is basically in a contract year. He had a great regular season last year, but tanked in the playoffs. He came into last season in shape, and it showed during the season. He was putting up good numbers and helping the Raptors win. But, something weird happened in the playoffs, and he was a complete no show. He looked okay in the Olympics, but I think he is going to explode this season. He is betting on himself, and I think he will have a great regular season. I think we all know what Jonas Valenciunas is now. He is a good rebounder, a good low post guy and an okay defender. He has trouble staying healthy, and has never lived up to the hype. He's good for about 12 points and 8 rebounds a night. He's fine, but he is not elite. Corey Joseph, with some extended playing time, looked pretty good last year. He is a heady point guard, finds the open guy and can make the open shot. He's a good defender too. Terrence Ross had an okay year last year. He is young and athletic, just inconsistent. Jared Sullinger coming on board is fine, but not a big deal. He is not a great scorer or defender. He is a very average NBA player. Patrick Patterson is a fine bench player. They drafted Jakob Poertl a bit too high, so I don't think he will play all that much this season anyway, unless Valenciunas gets hurt, which could happen. The Raptors will be the 2 or 3 seed in the East, and win about 51 or 52 games.

So Ty, how will the Raptors win the title? The Raptors could win the title if Valenciunas plays up to his hype, Lowry and DeRozan explode for 70 points a night and they beat the demons that have haunted them in every playoffs since Lowry and DeRozan have been there. The Raptors are like the Bengals. a great regular season team that chokes in the playoffs.

At number 5, I have the LA Clippers. Everybody knows how I feel about the Clippers, but my god, this roster is talented. At least 4 of their 5 starters are very good. Chris Paul, while being one of the dirtiest players in NBA history, is a great point guard. He controls that offense and is a great floor general. He is older, and starting to get hurt, but he is still great. Blake Griffin, while being a violent man child, is hyper athletic. He settles for too many jumpers and doesn't play as reckless as before, he's too busy using that energy to beat up Clippers staff members, but he is good. He is a below average defender and rebounder, but he can score. This may also be his last year in LA, so maybe he will focus a bit more. DeAndre Jordan is a one trick pony, but that one trick is unstoppable. He is a beast on the low post, and running the pick and roll and slamming home alley oops. I wish he were a better rebounder and defender, but he is great for some highlight reels. That doesn't necessarily make for a lot of wins though. Jordan did look okay in the Olympics though. He actually played better than Boogie, even though Boogie is way better than him. JJ Redick has redefined his game, but I think he is way overrated. He is not as good a defender as some people at ESPN will have you believe and he can't get to the rim, but he can shoot. He is deadly from three. He is one of the few Duke players that has had some success in the NBA. After those 4 guys though, this team is, dare I say, mediocre. The rest of the roster has players like Paul Pierce, once great, but so old and not durable anymore, Austin Rivers, completely overrated and overpaid, Jamal Crawford, who is a great scorer, but horrific defender, Luc Mbah a Moute, a ninth man on any team's bench at best, but a starter in LA, Wesley Johnson, average at best and Ray Felton, who was washed up in New York. There has to come a point when you realize that you will not get any better when you keep running it back. This team will win 56 or 57 games, but more than likely, they will get beat in the second round of the playoffs. They may actually blow it up after this season, if they don't get past the second round.

So Ty, how will the Clippers win the title? The Clippers can win the title if the 4 main guys play like they actually care about winning titles. Chris Paul will do that, but will Griffin, Redick and Jordan do the same? It hasn't happened yet, so why would it now. This is their last, best chance at a title, but if I were a betting man, I'd put a ton of money on them to get bounced in round 2.

At number 4, I have the Boston Celtics. This team has gotten so much better every year that Brad Stevens has been their head coach. He is a very, very good coach. The Celtics also don't have any super stars, but they have a great collection of players that know their role and play perfectly within the system. I also love the Al Horford signing. He is going to be a perfect fit. He is a good scorer, rebounder, defender and teammate. This was the best team for him to go to. Isiah Thomas is like the poor man's Allen Iverson. He is a great, small scorer. He can't play defense, but he can get buckets against anyone, any size. He's really, really good. Marcus Smart's offensive game hasn't gotten much better, but he is so damn good at defense. He is a lock down defender. Jae Crowder is a very underrated player. He is very good on both ends of the floor, and he is probably the heart and soul of this team. Avery Bradley is an even better defender than Smart, and his offensive game is way better. RJ Hunter and Gerald Green are bombers, that can hit a lot of threes. Kelly Olynk is very average, but he knows his role on this team. I love Jaylen Brown, their lottery pick. He is like this years version of Stanley Johnson. He is a tank, he's hyper athletic and he will do anything and everything for this team. He has also had some highlight dunks in preseason so far. I like him as much as I like Kris Dunn for best rookie. See, this team doesn't have many, if any, household names, but they are a damn good team. I could see them easily winning 57 games and being the 2 seed in the East.

So Ty, how will the Celtics win the title? The Celtics can win the title if they get to the East Finals against the Cavs, and LeBron gets shut down but either Smart, Bradley, Horford or Crowder. Or, all four of them take turns shutting him down. They also need Thomas to score 25 to 30 a night. This could all very well happen. The Celtics are the only team in the East, maybe the Pacers too, that can match up with the Cavs. The Celtics could very well find themselves back in the Finals this year, or next.

That's it for today. Come back tomorrow for the top three teams in the NBA.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Will his top three tomorrow look like his top three from 2015? Tune in tomorrow to find out. Follow Ty on instagram andtwitter.

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Ty tells you how each NBA team can win the title: Celtics, Raptors, & Wizards

I really like the NBA, but I love playoff caliber basketball.

A new week is upon us and that means we are back to my NBA countdown. We got our first playoff team at the end of last week, but this week, it's all playoff teams, ending on Friday with my number one overall team and my pick for the Finals, MVP of the season, Coach of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year. Let's get on with numbers 15, 14 and 13.

Coming in at number 15, we have the team that surprised me the most last season, the Boston Celtics. I was shocked and impressed how well they played the second half of last season. They finished with one of the best, if not the best, record after the All Star break and made the playoffs. They got swept out of the first round by the Cavs, but the fact they made the playoffs was a big surprise. I really like their coach, Brad Stevens, and I think he's on his way to becoming one of the best coaches in all of basketball. Their roster leaves much to be desired, but it's playoff caliber, especially in the East. Isiah Thomas is a great player. I like how fiercely competitive he plays and he's a threat to put up 40 on any given night. His back court mates are good, not great, at one specific skill. Avery Bradley is an elite defender and guards the oppositions best scorer every game. He is not that good of an offensive player though. Marcus Smart is also a very good defender, he was exceptional in college, but he's also lacking on offense. That puts all the pressure on Thomas to score and while he may be up to it, it won't happen night after night. Drafting RJ Hunter was a good move by the Celtics because this kid can flat out score. I didn't know much of him until the NCAA tournament last season, but when I watched him play, he made shot after shot. He has the tools to be a good bench scorer in the NBA. Evan Turner is a bust in every sense of the word. He can't score, he can't rebound and he gets dunked on with consistency. He's not that good of an NBA player. The frontcourt is just okay. Jared Sullinger is fine, but he's too small to guard fives and too slow to guard fours. Kelly Olynyk plays out of control. He hasn't brought the three point shooter and post scoring he had in college to the NBA, and his play on Kevin Love in the first round of the playoffs was dirty. There's no middle ground on it, it was flat out dirty, he meant to hurt Love. Tyler Zeller may be a fine NBA player, but I don't know, not a big enough sampling. They signed Jae Crowder and traded for David Lee and Perry Jones this offseason. Jae Crowder is a good big man that does the dirty work in the NBA. He rebounds, plays post defense and doesn't care about stats, only wins. I like Crowder to supplant Olynyk in the starting lineup by midseason. David Lee was, at one point, an All Star. He definitely helped the Warriors win a title, but he hasn't been an impact player in the NBA in a couple of seasons. His best days are behind him. Perry Jones is an enigma. He has loads of potential, but he couldn't get off the bench in OKC, and when he did get playing time, he didn't produce. He may be good, and getting out of OKC will be best for him, but we will have to see how he does with an expanded role. The rest of the roster is young and unproven. The Celtics will win anywhere from 42 to 45 games and are a lock for the playoffs.

How the Celtics can win it all.

The Celtics will win the title if, Thomas becomes an All Star, that may happen, RJ Hunter becomes a 20 point per game scorer, that won't happen and the frontcourt plays way beyond expectations. The Celtics are getting back to good basketball, but they still need a couple of years before they are on the same level with the elite teams from the East.

My number 14 team is the Toronto Raptors. this team is sliding back. They're still good enough to be the fifth or sixth team in the East, but they seem to get a little worse every year. Their roster is full of talent, but it doesn't seem to come together to put this team in the top of the East. Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan are two of the best young guards in the league, but DeRozan can't seem to stay healthy for a full season, and Lowry finally showed up this offseason in shape, but that should've happened last year when he signed his big extension. Jonas Valanciunas has been an okay player, but he hasn't lived up to the hype surrounding him when he was drafted. He looks afraid to take big shots or come up with big rebounds of defensive plays. He shies away from the big moment. James Johnson and Patrick Patterson are fine players, but they're nothing to write home about. They don't really affect the game too much. They did a lot this offseason, but it seems like too much and a bit desperate. DeMarre Carroll is a pretty decent NBA player, he proved that last year with the Hawks, but he's not worth the money the Raptors gave him. Corey Joseph finally gets his shot to play after spending his first couple of seasons on the Spurs bench, and he's looked good in the preseason, but is that smoke and mirrors, or a sign of things to come? Also, will he really steal minutes from DeRozan and Lowry? I don't think so. They signed Anthony Bennett after the Timberwolves bought him out, and while it may be nice for him to play in his home town, he's from Toronto, we are talking about one of the biggest, if not the biggest, busts of all time in the draft. I really like their pick of Delon Wright in the most recent draft. In fact, I think that was their best offseason move. The Raptors have gotten better every year under DeWayne Casey, but they seem to fall apart at critical and crucial times. Toronto seems like a 45 or 46 win team to me, good for the sixth spot in the East.

How the Raptors can win  it all.

The Raptors will win the title if DeRozan can stay healthy all season and play at an extremely high rate, Lowry and Valanciunas play to the level of their contract, DeMarre Carroll proves he's not a one season wonder and the supporting cast plays much, much better than expected. The Raptors stink of a team that will start hot, fade late and shit the bed in the playoffs, basically what they've done the past two years.

My number 13 team is also from the East, the Washington Wizards. I really like the Wizards, but I just don't think they have enough talent on their roster to be better than fourth or fifth in the East, probably fifth. Now, the starters are where all the talent lies. John Wall is one of the best point guards in all of basketball (what would Colin Cowherd say?). He's the fastest basketball player I've ever seen, he lays really good defense, finds the open man all the time and is becoming a pretty good shooter. Bradley Beal is one of the best young scorers. Otto Porter JR is going to have a huge season. He's been on the verge of breaking out, and I think that happens this season. He will finally live up to being the third overall pick. Nene Hilario is one of my favorite players to watch. He's a throwback in every season of the word. He plays awesome defense, rebounds at a very high rate, has excellent post moves and does all the dirty work. Marcin Gortat is a good scorer, and he pairs well with Nene in the frontcourt. Gortat is a scorer and Nene does everything else. The bench is the problem for me. First of all, they lost Paul Pierce. While he's a million years old, he hit big shot after big shot and gave this team a swagger they didn't have before. The Wizards will miss him. The bench has guys like Drew Gooden, DaJuan Blair, Kris Humphries and Ramon Sessions. Not world beaters and past their primes, if they had one. I do like their pick of Kelly Oubre JR. He's another one and done, and who knows with these kids, but being on a veteran team and not having to have an immediate impact will benefit him. He's going to be good. The Wizards will win close to 50 games, probably 48 and be the fifth seed in the East.

How the Wizards can win it all.

The Wizards will win the title if the starters can play all 48 minutes in every regular season game and playoff game and not have to rely on their bench. The starters are great, but the bench is very weak and will be their undoing. Another second round exit is in the cards for the Wizards.

So, there's my 15, 14 and 13 ranked teams. Tomorrow we get into the top 10 and things will become very interesting.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. His NBA League Pass is mostly for the OKC Thunder, but he enjoys some low tier eastern conference playoff teams. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik