A Hurricane of an Offseason: NBA Predictions (Part 2 of 2)

Last week, I discussed the top half of the league and how their offseason moves will most likely impact their upcoming seasons.

This week, I've taken a look at the rest of the league, so let's see how they stack up as well. To start off, here's a refresher I had on how I ranked the teams prior to all the offseason transactions:

16. Wizards

A lot was made of Arenas taking a pay cut—and rightly so. Not many players would do what he did.  But let's be realistic—is about $2 million in cap room per year really going to allow them to be that much more flexible?

Over the last three years, they've proven that they are incapable of beating Cleveland, let alone making a challenge for the ultimate prize. I really thought this was their big chance to move forward instead of sideways. They should have let go of Arenas and Jamison, and built around Caron Butler.

Imagine if they did that and then picked up Elton Brand. Brand would have been an upgrade over Jamison, and they've already shown they can compete without Arenas.

Unfortunately, that is now something that can only be dreamt of now.

The reality is Washington will be the Denver Nuggets of the East.  They will continue to entertain, but will never enter the championship contender conversation.

Prediction:Should win around the same number of games as last season, and that will be a hard pill to swallow if they stay away from injuries. Seventh seed followed by a first-round exit.

17. Raptors

Made a great trade to address their needs. Bryan Colangelo made it quite clear towards the end of the season that Jose Calderon was the point guard of this team's future, and so it was only a matter of time before TJ Ford was dealt. The fact that they could acquire a former All-Star in Jermaine O'Neal is something that the Raps front office is still giddy about.

The Bosh-O'Neal duo will be great—but if this team's true potential is to be realized, their former No. 1 pick needs to elevate his level of play. This conference is now too good for a team's best players to hover around mediocrity, and Bargnani will have to show that his sophomore season was an aberration.

Carlos Delfino wasn't worth the money he was looking for, but his absence will hurt the Raptors nonetheless. His consistency on defense was an absolute parallel to the streakiness of his shooting. His best games were when he was asked to be a playmaker, forcing him to create for others instead of looking for his own offense.

If the Raptors don't sail into the postseason, it could be the last time we see Sam Mitchell pacing up and down Toronto's bench.

Prediction: O'Neal was a big-time acquisition, probably the biggest in franchise history via trade. This should be enough for Bosh's best season yet. The bench is now a question mark.

Will Bargnani step up? Will we see the Kapono of the regular season or the postseason? And how much can fans really expect from Ukic in his first season? This will leave them slotted in the sixth spot, right beind Philly.

18. Kings

The Maloof brothers really seem confused.  They really can't seem to decide between completely going into rebuild mode, or whether  try and compete and keep the fans coming. As a result, they are stuck in no-man's land.

Kevin Martin is the best player on this team, but not really someone you build a franchise around. The rest of the roster consists of solid role players, but no one that really stands out. John Salmons and Francisco Garcia both showed flashes of becoming the players the Kings envisioned last season, but those flashes became scarcer once Ron Artest returned to the lineup.

The trade of Artest should enable the Kings to focus more on their on-court issues.  Reggie Theus has to be given full credit for dealing with injuries and Artest admirably last year.

Prediction:The bottom line is this is a mediocre roster that will struggle to compete.  Don't even look at them as a team that could play the spoiler role! Would not be surprised if there were takers (Dallas) for Brad Miller, who has a year remaining on his deal. That would give them the opportunity to truly start rebuilding, especially since Abdur-Rahim recently gave them a head start.

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