The latest NBA news is interesting: If you win your division, you can hang a banner from the rafters. But that doesn’t mean you are going to the playoffs.
Which begs the question: Why even have divisions? It makes no sense.
Then again, things that make no sense are part of the NBA landscape. Take Andrea Bargnani, for example. He should be playing in Europe. Or China. That has been clear for years and years and years. But the New York Knicks gave up an unprotected first-round pick and a pair of second-round picks to bring him aboard, and we all know how that worked out, right?
So Bargnani will be playing for Brooklyn next year, Phil Jackson will have a lottery team that will not have a lottery pick, and the suffering of Knicks fans will endure ad infinitum. All Knicks fans are advised to visit Rotterdam.
Such is life in the Atlantic Division, which we covered yesterday in handing out midsummer grades. Today we move to the Southeast Division, which produced the best team in the Eastern Conference last season, record-wise. Yes, the Atlanta Hawks won 60 games. And what did that get them? Bupkus.
And what did we learn from this? Something we already knew: The NBA regular season is meaningless. It’s all about who gets traded, who gets hurt, who captures our attention for the time being. And then we all move onto the playoffs, when it’s all about who will emerge from the West and play the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals. After that, we all get to guess where Kevin Durant will take his talents.
Yes, the NBA is as predictable as the odds we used to lay on David Stern being grumpy on any given day. Those who took “non-grumpy” are now covering Mixed Martial Arts.
Onto the Southeast, while it’s still around. We will handle it alphabetically rather than predicted order of finish, because in Adam Silver’s new NBA, nothing is as inconsequential the division races.
ATLANTA HAWKS: When you lose a guy like DeMarre Carroll, you have not had a good summer. Yes, I understand that Early Bird cap restraints all but precluded Atlanta from keeping both Carroll and Paul Millsap, but the net-net here is a loss. They are going to move Millsap to the 3, play Al Horford at the 4 and slide in Tiago Splitter as the starting center? Will be interesting to see, because Carroll was such a huge part of what they did. Tim Hardaway acquisition falls squarely in the TBD column. Grade: C-minus.
(RELATED: HAWKS SALARY CAP SITUATION AND ANALYSIS)
CHARLOTTE HORNETS: Here’s all you need to know about the Hornets, Part I and Part II. The first part: There are 29 NBA teams not named the Portland Trail Blazers, and every single one of them wanted to get their hands on Nicolas Batum for the past half-decade. Michael Jordan hired a guy named Rich Cho, who got it done at the price of Gerald Henderson and Noah Vonleh while also earning the Sloan Kettering Award for trading Lance Stephenson and the No-Brainer Executive of the Year Award for signing FAs Jeremy Lin, Tyler Hansbrough, Aaron Harrison (undrafted) and Spencer Hawes, trading for Jeremy Lamb and drafting Frank Kaminsky, who will be in the league for 18 years, says Danny Schayes. Grade: A-Plus Plus.
(RELATED: HORNETS SALARY CAP SITUATION AND ANALYSIS)
MIAMI HEAT: I will be in Las Vegas for Team USA camp Aug. 11-13, and I am throwing down some sheckels on both the Heat and Hornets to win the NBA championship. (Charlotte is 350-1, Miami is 40-1). Not a lot happened with these guys, and their next move is expected to be the shedding of Chris Andersen and Mario Chalmers to lighten Micky Arison’s luxury tax load. But the fears of Dwyane Wade leaving were overstated, the drafting of Justise Winslow was a nifty stroke of luck, and they will start the season having Chris Bosh and Goran Dragic playing together for the first time. They are being underestimated. I think they have a better chance than Chicago of upsetting Cleveland. Adding Amar’e Stoudemire may have been the NBA’s best move for the money. Grade: A.
(RELATED: HEAT’S SALARY CAP SITUATION AND ANALYSIS)
ORLANDO MAGIC: For a team that is a work in progress, not much went wrong. They were able to keep Tobias Harris, they added a pair of serviceable vets in C.J. Watson and Jason Smith, and they drafted Mario Hezonja — who in this profile by A.J. Mitnick is rated much higher than the Knicks’ Kristaps Porzingis. When you are building out a young team as GM Rob Hennigan is, you have to keep expectations in line. They swung for the fences a little bit by going after Paul Millsap, but at the end of the day they are keeping intact a team that will continue to grow together in much the same way as the Portland Trail Blazers did over the past half-decade. Grade: B-plus.
(RELATED: MAGIC’S SALARY CAP SITUATION AND ANALYSIS)
WASHINGTON WIZARDS: Somebody was needed to replace Paul Pierce, and someone from the threesome of Jared Dudley, Gary Neal and Alan Anderson should be able to get the job done. None of those three is an assassin in the Pierce mold, but Dudley is a better defender and Neal and Anderson have had their moments offensively. What was important for the Wizards was to not make any moves that would rob them of the cap space they are hoarding to go after Kevin Durant a year from now. If Durant decides to lave Oklahoma City, a return to his home state of Maryland would not be out of the question. How’s this for a starting five in 2016-17: John Wall, Bradley Beal, Otto Porter, Durant, Marcin Gortat. Grade: B.
(RELATED: WIZARDS SALARY CAP SITUATION AND ANALYSIS)
TOMORROW: CENTRAL DIVISION
PREVIOUSLY: ATLANTIC DIVISION.
Chris Sheridan is publisher and editor-in-chief of SheridanHoops.com. Follow him on Twitter
Tyler Hansbrough is a phoenix, a contagion. As he fights so do his teams fight. As he ascends so do his teams soar. He took University of North Carolina to a national championship on his wings. When he arrived in Indiana his grit and scrappiness elevated his teammate’s play to new heights. They rose to conference finalists. Upon arrival in Toronto his toughness and heart and soul made winners of the Raptors by introducing a selfless team work ethic. He bought in and Toronto won their division for 2 years running. What is unseen in the stats is his will to work, fight and win which is immeasurable. He elevated all those around him while at the same time some teammates would not even pass him the ball. His numbers suffered as the coaching tried to extinguish his contributions and minimize his impact by playing him very little or out of position at center. I have been watching him and I can tell you it is still a thrill to see him on the court and literally on the floor giving his all and getting his team and the crowd into it. I can expect a resurgence and new rising of this phoenix “Tenacious T”. Wait and see. Welcome home Tyler.