NBA Lockout: Teams That Will Suffer from a Shortened Season
Here's a quick look at three NBA teams that will struggle because of a shortened season.
Minnesota Timberwolves
The T-Wolves have seen quite a bit of change to their team for how little of an offseason there's been.
That's a result to all the draft day trades they made. Among the additions are Brad Miller, Malcolm Lee and, of course, Derrick Williams.
As new additions, Miller and Williams were going to have big parts in this offense, so it will be tough for them to be able to gel in the new offense so quickly.
What's more, the T-Wolves were also planning on adding former first-round pick Ricky Rubio. Since they traded Johnny Flynn to the Houston Rockets, it seems the plan was to make Rubio the starter.
That's yet another guy who will be getting big time minutes but won't have time to learn the offense efficiently. And that's your point guard.
He's kind of important to the flow of the offense.
Golden State Warriors
In my mind, the teams that benefit most from this lockout are teams like the San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Lakers.
These teams benefit because their average player is much older, and they tend to break down by the end of the season. Just look at what happened last year.
With a shorter season, they won't break down in the playoffs.
The Warriors, conversely, have the opposite effect. They are a much younger team and like to run the opposition into the ground.
Later on in the season, when the younger legs are much fresher, the Warriors benefit.
They won't get this benefit during a shorter season.
Cleveland Cavaliers
This is another team that is going to have a ton of young talent coming in.
They drafted Kyrie Irving and Tristan Thompson with their first two picks. Both of those guys have the talent to start right away.
They also brought in Omri Casspi while guys like Anthony Parker are on their way out.
There's still plenty of question marks surrounding this team, and without newly-signed free agents, Cleveland is seriously lacking depth.
Throw in the fact their new rookies, with a lack of practice, might not start right away, and they could be quite bad.
