NBA's Top and Bottom teams this season

With the start of the NBA season quickly approaching I started to wonder what the best and the worst team will be for next season in terms of win-loss. Last year the 30 teams finished as such:

                                                                    
Rk                     Team Overall
1         San Antonio Spurs   62-20
2     Oklahoma City Thunder   59-23
3      Los Angeles Clippers   57-25
4            Indiana Pacers   56-26
5           Houston Rockets   54-28
6                Miami Heat   54-28
7    Portland Trail Blazers   54-28
8     Golden State Warriors   51-31
9         Memphis Grizzlies   50-32
10         Dallas Mavericks   49-33
11            Chicago Bulls   48-34
12          Toronto Raptors   48-34
13             Phoenix Suns   48-34
14            Brooklyn Nets   44-38
15       Washington Wizards   44-38
16        Charlotte Bobcats   43-39
17   Minnesota Timberwolves   40-42
18            Atlanta Hawks   38-44
19          New York Knicks   37-45
20           Denver Nuggets   36-46
21     New Orleans Pelicans   34-48
22      Cleveland Cavaliers   33-49
23          Detroit Pistons   29-53
24         Sacramento Kings   28-54
25       Los Angeles Lakers   27-55
26           Boston Celtics   25-57
27                Utah Jazz   25-57
28            Orlando Magic   23-59
29       Philadelphia 76ers   19-63
30          Milwaukee Bucks   15-67

It wasn't until looking at this information today that I realized just how awful the Bucks season was last year due to injuries, lack of stars, and arrests among other things. This year however I think they can do better than their 15-67 record, maybe even crack above 20 wins something which the Philadelphia 76ers won't be doing this season. Last year the 76ers had a bunch of guys who could barely play basketball mixed in with a some more veteran players who could such as Evan Turner, Thaddeus Young and Spencer Hawes who now all play for different teams. Sure the 76ers have MCW, Noel, and Embid who are talented players but they simply don't have any older guys who can help them win games as apposed to just put up stats. The 76ers are tanking in order to get high draft picks in hopes of one day competing for a title and whether you like the tanking strategy or not you at least gotta give it to the teams GM Sam Hinkie for going all in on the "we gotta be reallllllyyyy bad so we can get good mentality" because this 76ers team is BAD. 

The worst team exists in the east but now lets head to the west for the best team of next season, which also happens to be the best team of last season as well. Yes hot sports take here the reigning NBA champion San Antonio Spurs will have the best record in the league next season. As I wrote in my NBA Playoff Predictions post for the West it was my opinion that the Thunder would be the best team in the Conference and likely the league but with Durant set to miss the first few weeks of the regular season OKC's record will slip at least marginally which will be enough for the Spurs to be able to hold the league's best record once again. 

So to summarize these will be the standings for next season :

1. San Antonio Spurs

2-29. Other teams

30. Philadelphia 76ers

Dallas Mavericks Finalize their 15 man roster

Today the Dallas Mavericks announced that Bernard James, Doron Lamb, and Ivan Johnson were cut from the Mavs roster. This puts Dallas at the max for players, 15, which includes:

Jameer Nelson, Raymond Felton, Gal Mekel, Devin Harris, Monta Ellis, Ricky Ledo, Chandler Parsons, Jae Crowder, Richard Jefferson, Dirk Nowitzki, Al Farouq Aminu, Charlie Villanueva, Tyson Chandler, Brandon Wright and Greg Smith.  

Only 12 men can suit up to play each game so 3 of these guys will likely see very few minutes. Most likely those 3 will be Greg Smith, Ricky Ledo, and Gal Mekel although Mekel may see more time at the beginning of the season as Raymond Felton is currently recovering from an ankle injury. Even once healthy however he has to sit out for 4 games for his gun charges he acquired back when he played for the Knicks. I'm personally not a fan of Felton's basketball game so I hope this extra time for Mekel can help cement him as the third pg in the rotation. 

The Mavericks take on the Spurs on Tuesday for the season opener where barring any changes the starters will be Jameer Nelson PG, Monta Ellis SG, Chandler Parsons SF, Dirk Nowitzki PF, and Tyson Chandler C.