20. Golden State Warriors (17): The only trade that the Warriors need to make this offseason is for a dictionary, so that they can look up the word “defense,” and hopefully understand how to play it. Once that happens, they’ll move from an average team to a pretty good squad.
19. Indiana Pacers (20): Tyler Hansbrough is finally getting the minutes he proved he was worth during his four fantastic years at North Carolina. He might not be Kevin Love or Blake Griffin, but he’s effective (20.9 points and 7.9 rebounds per game in his last 10).
18. Utah Jazz (19): The Jazz are going to take their collection of lottery picks this summer and start rebuilding. They have some nice pieces in Al Jefferson, Paul Millsap and Derrick Favors already, but they are going to need some talent on the perimeter if they want to do this process right.
17. New York Knicks (15): Do the Knicks regret trading nearly everything they owned for Carmelo Anthony, when they could have waited until the offseason and gotten him for essentially nothing? Probably, but the trade is done and unfortunately for them, they are struggling. However, like Anthony said – it’s going to take some time for them to build the right chemistry.
16. Phoenix Suns (16): Marcin Gortat is no Amaré Stoudemire and Steve Nash is nowhere close to the player he was during his MVP run. But with not much to work with, and an early 2000s all-star lineup (Nash, Vince Carter and Grant Hill) the Suns are caught in the common late season predicament: “Do we take the lottery pick or fight so hard just to go four and done in the playoffs?”
Next: 15-11