Catching some Zs: Five NBA Sleeper Teams To Watch for Next Season

With every new NBA season comes predictions on what team's are going to fare well and what team's are going to falter. We know the obvious elite teams are the Miami Heat, Los Angeles Lakers, and Orlando Magic and the obvious lower-tier teams.

In between those teams are wild cards. NBA teams that could sneak their way into postseason conversations and who could surprise the NBA world while doing so. They are known as sleepers and they're what will be discussed in this piece today.

These out of the blue teams usually have a roster composed of young studs and veterans that could make or break the team, but these teams will be the ones to succeed in the upcoming 2010-11 season. While all the attention is focused on Miami Thrice and the possibility of a Lakers three-peat, sleeper teams will come into the conversation as a future legitimate threat.

Oklahoma City Thunder

For a team that has only spent two years in it's new city, Kevin Durant and the Thunder have seemed to warm up to their new surroundings.

Oklahoma City saw a 37-game turnaround last season as they captured their first 50 win season in five years. The difference between that team and this team is this team only has room to grow. Their 21-year-old leader in Kevin Durant, who just became the youngest player in NBA history to lead the league in scoring at 30 points per game. What's scarier than that is he could probably do better.

Not only do the Thunder have Durant to look to, but their point guard in Russell Westbrook is a sight to behold as well. With hops out of the building and a knack for passing, Russell has no problem with assisting the reigning scoring leader's many baskets. Each player is a little turnover prone, with both having over three per game, but you can't ask for too much from a duo that have five combined seasons of NBA experience.

The Thunder disappointed none last season and nearly shocked the world by upsetting the eventual champion L.A. Lakers before falling in six games, but this Oklahoma City team will be much better than an eighth seed for awhile after Durant just signed on for five more years.

Expect the Thunder to be at least a five seed and to even make a push into the conference finals. For now though, the sky is the limit for these hungry 20 year olds.

Milwaukee Bucks

Like the Thunder, not much was expected out of the Milwaukee Bucks last season. They were coming off of their fifth straight sub-.500 season, taking a chance on a kid from Europe, and having no star-studded names aside from Andrew Bogut, who many thought could have been the next number one pick to go bust.

A 55-point game, a John Salmons signing, and a Bogut resurgence later, the Bucks somehow became the team to beat in the Eastern Conference. Brandon Jennings ignited the team early in the season with a 55-point performance against Golden State and it must have sent shockwaves through the locker room because this team got really good, really fast.

Bogut saw career high's in points with 16 and blocks at 2.5, while becoming one of the new premier centers of the league. Any NBA fan can tell you that a big man in the middle that can score is huge to a team. Milwaukee has become one of the few teams in the league that can boast this and it could be big come playoff time if they face off against Dwight Howard and the Magic, or Kendrick Perkins and the Celtics.

John Salmons joined the team midway through the season last year and impacted the team for the better, averaging 20 points in 30 games. Salmons and the Bucks unfortunately suffered from the injury bug in the postseason, but they were still able to go seven games with the Atlanta Hawks without their starting center or another reliable big man.

With the additions of Drew Gooden and Tiny Gallon, the Bucks might not have to worry about a big man for a few years.

Oh, and Michael Redd is back too. The guy that averaged 27 points a game four years ago and was one of the most lethal three-point shooters in the league. Granted he'll be rusty after playing only 18 games last season due to injuries. If he gets back into his groove then the Bucks will have another threat to add to the plethora of scorers that could erupt at any moment.

Expect a dangerous five or six seed out of Milwaukee this season, but with the potential to stir up the pot come postseason time. If this team can ride momentum, then they can be a 50-win team within the next few seasons.

Sacramento Kings

For a team that has 42 combined wins in the past two seasons, the Sacramento Kings have a lot to look forward to in the coming years, and it could start as soon as next season.

They can thank their reigning Rookie of the Year for that.

The Kings used the fifth pick of the draft last season on Tyreke Evans out of Memphis, and if his first year was a precursor of what is to come, then the rest of the NBA should be put on high alert for the possible reincarnation of Oscar Robertson. In Evans' first season, he was one of only three players in the league to average at least 20 points, five rebounds, and five assists.

The other two? LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. Good company.

At 6'6", Evans uses his size and strength to work on smaller opposing point guards. And it's necessary when your conference competition includes Deron Williams, Chris Paul, and Steve Nash. Nonetheless, Tyreke was the scoring and assist leader for the 25-win Kings last season.

Sacramento took advantage of its high draft position again by investing in one of the more dangerous players in the draft, University of Kentucky center Demarcus Cousins. Cousins wasn't the only big man drafted by the Kings as he was joined by Hassan Whiteside who led the college ranks last season with over five blocks per game.

Each player should see time and if they become the players the Kings wish them to be, then they could form one of the more dangerous frontcourt's in the NBA within the next few seasons.

Cousins coupled alongside Evans and Omri Casspi, the sharpshooter out of Israel, could make this Kings team relevant once again. I'm not saying postseason this early, but I'd say at least a ten game improvement from last season. If Tyreke Evans continues to grow and as long as the Sacramento organization surrounds him with decent talent, they should have no problem with making a postseason in the coming seasons.

New Jersey Nets

12-70 is nothing to be happy about. No team should be comfortable with the fact that they flirted with the record for losing for most of the season. The New Jersey Nets don't want to experience a season like last season's.

With a core of Devin Harris, Brook Lopez, and Derrick Favors, however, the Nets shouldn't have to worry about having less than 25 wins in a season for at least the next decade. Harris and Lopez, who were the only bright spots to shine in New Jersey last season, plan on leading the Nets to the promised land once again.

This time they got help.

Last season's team didn't feature many stars with players such as Yi Jianlian and Chris Douglas-Roberts supporting the only two legitimate stars on this team. With a new owner taking over, the Nets organization found some pieces to this difficult puzzle.

Even though they couldn't secure a max-free agent, the Nets were able to secure multiple free agents in Travis Outlaw, Jordan Farmar, and Johan Petro while using their draft pick to take athletic juggernaut Derrick Favors out of Georgia Tech.

All four players, along with another rising star in Terrence Williams, will help Lopez and Harris turn this joke of a New Jersey team into a legitimate NBA team. This is certainly something they were not accustomed to hearing last year when they were busy losing their first 18 games of the season, an NBA record.

New Jersey won't break any records next season, but they'll drastically improve and could top off at 35 wins. The postseason is a little too much to bank on this soon, but in a weak Eastern Conference that features three powerhouses and a few wild cards, the Nets could sneak into the postseason conversation.

Washington Wizards

After a rough 26-win season where the Wizards were forced to once again play with inexperienced young talent while dealing with the troubles of Gilbert Arenas, Washington has room only to grow after an impressive draft and some eye-opening summer league performances.

Washington received the number one pick for the first time in a decade and used it to wisely draft University of Kentucky guard John Wall. Wall can be compared to players such as Derrick Rose because of his ability to explode and his ability to lead a team while doing so. This Wizards team has needed a leader after the chaos the team has been going through.

The summer league is not much to springboard off of when making predictions, but JaVale McGee is looking to turn into a force in the paint. With a near eight foot wingspan, JaVale looks to be a starter for the Wizards at center.

Scarily enough, Gilbert Arenas is back guns ablazing.

It's going to be interesting to see Arenas in the lineup after playing only 47 games over the past three seasons due to a plethora of off-court problems and injuries, and it's going to take a few weeks or even months into the season to see Gilbert even return to being a decent player. But if he can thrive off of Wall running with him in the backcourt and open floor, they could form one of the most dangerous duos in the league.

It's up to Wall to adjust to the NBA and it's up to Gilbert to become the once-elite player he was when he would shoot from 30-feet away with no questions asked and hit the shot half the time, or the Gilbert that could hit a clutch shot whenever he was asked to do so.

Washington needs Gilbert Arenas if they want to be taken seriously again. They could top off at 40 wins if they can get their act together, otherwise they'll have another summer to think about their next lottery pick.