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Happy continuing NBA playoffs to the Warriors, Rockets, Jazz, Pelicans, Celtics, 76ers, Cavaliers, and basically no one else! We are up to our nipples in the second round of the playoffs, where the league lays down the line of demarcation for the VERY few teams that can win the title and the VERY large mass of teams that have no shot.
For the 14 teams who didn’t make the playoffs this season, this isn’t a real surprise. But for a handful of playoff teams, the harsh reality of an early exit came 2 Fast, but just Furious enough.
Eight teams already got got or are on the cusp of the offseason. Goodnight, sweet princes. I want to play a little game with these eight teams—the Pacers, Bucks, Timberwolves, Thunder, Trail Blazers, Spurs, Raptors, and Wizards. It’s called Truth or Dare, and for each of these “almost” contenders, it’s a way to look at themselves honestly and make the changes needed to get into actual NBA Finals contention as quickly as possible.
Indiana Pacers
The Pacers got younger and better this season without adding a big time rookie or NBA superstar. While the road to truly competing is still long, the Paul George haul took the Pacers from irrelevance to medium relevance in one season. The Pacers are the Jazz of the East.
TRUTH
Things aren’t actually so bad for the Pacers these days, but the NBA lead pack isn’t coming back towards them anytime soon.
or
DARE
I dare the Pacers to keep making bold moves, because the league doesn’t help the treading water teams. Pick a couple spots and shake it up. Failing isn’t as bad as staying just below the best teams.
Milwaukee Bucks
Anytime you have one of the league’s top 10 players, you aren’t too far away. Unfortunately for the Bucks, their roster is mostly a wasteland surrounding Giannis Antetokounmpo. Milwaukee needs to make the changes that give them a team with more basket makers than basket cases.
TRUTH
A strong coaching hire should get more from enigmas like Khris Middleton, Eric Bledsoe, and Jabari Parker, but that still leaves them in the wake of the 76ers, Celtics, and Cavaliers in the East.
or
DARE
I dare the Bucks to spend as much time continuing to hone Giannis’ skills as they do revamping his supporting cast.
Minnesota Timberwolves
A good news/bad news season for the Wolves who made the playoffs for the first time in 14 seasons, but were quickly dismissed by the Rockets. The trio of Jimmy Butler, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Andrew Wiggins puts Minnesota ahead of half the league, but the next step depends on whether they can coalesce instead of coagulate.
TRUTH
The Timberwolves have the best medley of young promise (KAT, Wiggins, Tyus Jones) and veteran leaders (Butler, Jeff Teague, Taj Gibson) of any of these also-rans.
or
DARE
I dare the Timberwolves to demand better from head coach Tom Thibodeau, who has not had success installing his typical stout defense in Minnesota, but has managed to infect the team with his typical excessive minute counts for his best players.
Oklahoma City Thunder
The Thunder are basically Destiny’s Child. They’re out here pretending to have a Big Three, but Paul George and Carmelo Anthony can’t contribute the way the team needs them to with Beyoncé Westbrook hogging the limelight. They even have the same style.
Are you telling me this is just a coincidence?
TRUTH
After Kevin Durant’s controversial departure two years ago, this team is a hostile dictatorship that will never succeed unless Westbrook remembers how to play well with others.
or
DARE
I dare the Thunder to quit trying to use stop-gap solutions when they lose important players (see Oladipo, Anthony, George) and instead build a sustainable and useful core of players around Beyonce.
Portland Trail Blazers
The poor Portland Trail Blazers improved by eight wins this season and were still swept out of the first round of the playoffs. The Damian Lillard/CJ McCollum duo is one of the best backcourts in the league, and yet that doesn’t matter when the games finally do.
TRUTH
Outside of their two aforementioned star guards, the Blazers have wasted every single draft pick since Zach Randolph in 2001. That’s 19 useless first round picks.
or
DARE
I dare the Portland Trailblazers to commit to one single star for their frontcourt to compliment Lillard and McCollum, and give them any type of second dimension.
San Antonio Spurs
The ends of sports dynasties are usually bittersweet, but with the Kawhi Leonard defection this season, it’s been mostly just bitter. A first round loss felt like an overachievement for a team still trying to squeeze juice from Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker, and Pau Gasol.
TRUTH
Since the Spurs cannot count on Kawhi Leonard, their best asset is head coach Gregg Popovich, and the team should build around him.
or
DARE
I dare the Spurs to take back control of the Kawhi Leonard situation. While they may not be able to get full compensation for him, there are lots of teams that value him, and by trading him now, they can begin a rebuild with a head start.
Toronto Raptors
The Raptors, like their namesake brethren, had an unexpected extinction when a megastar crashed into them. Toronto was easily the best team in the East all year and it finally felt like the Kyle Lowry/DeMar DeRozan duo finally figured out their path to the NBA Finals, until they were very much not the best and didn’t even make the Eastern Conference Finals.
TRUTH
No team will benefit from LeBron moving to the West more than the Raptors who are a textbook version of Einstein’s definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.
or
DARE
I dare the Raptors to risk giving up some of their youth pieces and one of their two stars, and make a move for the available Kawhi Leonard to be their LeBron-stopper.
Washington Wizards
This team is barely a competitor, failing the same tests every year behind John Wall, Bradley Beal, and an island of misfit toys. Like the Raptors and Bill Murray in Groundhog Day, the Wizards repeatedly the same misfortune over and over, except unlike the Raptors or Bill Murray, the Wiz are wholly unlikable.
TRUTH
No team in the NBA has a bigger disparity between the whole and the sum of its parts.
or
DARE
I dare the Wizards to blanket the league in Wall or Beal trade requests like they are “that guy” in your fantasy league. The Hornets for Kemba Walker. The Spurs for Kawhi Leonard. The Thunder for Paul George. The Pistons for Blake Griffin. The Clippers for DeAndre Jordan. The Celtics for Terry Rozier. The Magic for Aaron Gordon. The Bucks for Matthew Dellavedova (OK, just kidding on that one).
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