Every Team's X-Factor (Southeast Division)

ATLANTA HAWKS: JOCK LANDALE

The Hawks have gotten arguably deeper but failed to address their biggest issue, which is lack of size.  There's only one pure C - Jock Landale - on the entire roster.  Behind him is a rookie named Henri Veesaar, who's already out for the season basically.

Okongwu is slated to once again start, and whereas he may be a promising player, he can't stand alone against a frontline like the Knicks' for instance.  So the onus has fallen on Landale, who isn't the worst C in the world but obviously has injury issues.

After showing progress last season, it's hard to get excited about Atlanta, considering that a number of competitors have gotten bigger, while they continue to play musical chairs.

CHARLOTTE HORNETS: COBY WHITE

The Hornets have done pretty good for themselves, in that four of their expected five starters (Reid, Knueppel, Miller and Diabaté) are two-positional. But I don't think any of those guys would ideally play point.

Schröder has the prettiest game in professional basketball.  When he cuts down a defense, it's almost like watching ballet.  But he's too good to be a role player and in a way, too good to be a starter also.  He deserves to have a team built around him, but at the same time he doesn't.  So we know what we're going to get out of Schröder and can't realistically expect him to change now, as one of the greatest international players in history.  So it'd be better to just give him the keys to the second unit, though again, he can start also.

So the next man in question is Coby White. His role is also unpredictable in that, you can't rationalize putting the onus on hi, with the same kind of liberty he enjoyed in Chicago.  So he's gonna have to focus more on distribution than scoring.  He's going to have to play more like a traditional, level-headed PG, instead of a product of the 2020s, to maximize this roster.

MIAMI HEAT: PELLE LARSSON

The Heat's frontcourt is set, and yes, it does appear wembyproof - at least as big, on average, as what the Knicks rolled out last season.  Both Giannis and Bam are basically really-tall wings.

The backcourt, however... and it's funny how this team sorta mimics the Heat from the 1990s.  They too, at least for a time, were focused upfront though reliant on a formidable backcourt.  And that's the key word - formidability, because nobody back there is a takeover-a-game type of player, unless you're banking on a resurgence of Klay, which I'm not.

The G who is slated or most needed to step up is Pelle Larsson.  I know that yeah, everyone needs to step  up, but I mean like the one who can catch defenses most off guard, sorta like Jacquez did.  We already know what Mitchell and Thompson and Hardaway - the latter of whom also needs to have a really good season - are bringing to the table.  So that makes Larsson, out of the lot of them, the x-factor.

The said, it appears that Mitchell is the only actual PG on this squad, meaning that he's going to have to shoulder a lot also and should prolly be dubbed the x-factor.  Oh well.  Like I said, there's a lot of pressure on Miami's backcourt, unless they intend to rollout lineups with like four bigs.

ORLANDO MAGIC: FRANZ WAGNER

It's been a long time since the Magic, at least imo, rolled out an enviable roster - and when I say long time, I mean 30 years type shit.  Yet they did make the Finals in the late-aughts.  And if given the right pieces, these guys like outplay their talent.

In other words, they can use help across the board.  Neither the frontcourt nor backcourt are anything to write home about in terms of depth (though the back is even thinner).

So the x-factor has to be Franz Wagner.  Again, if he were around versus the Pistons, I doubt Detroit would have won.

I don't want these posts to be about expecting established vets to suddenly move up a class, you know, go from a B-list statline to A-list.  It's more realistic to be like 'okay, we already have the pieces, now let's keep them healthy'.  That's more of the issue with the Magic.  We can't know if the Bane experiment was truly a good move if the core players can't even make it through a series together.

WASHINGTON WIZARDS: TRE MANN

Not many shortcomings here, folks.  Even if some key dude does get hurt, like they literally have a backup for everybody.  This team is half-vet/half-youngster like no other in the NBA, and no individual player should be under any tremendous amount of pressure.

If this were 20 years ago, maybe we could say that too much talent is concentrated at the 5.  But presently, in the small ball era, if you have a big C (of which Washington has three!), virtually any other tall dude on the roster can play the 4.

Where things are a little more shaky is in terms of pure point.  We already know what Tre can do -Young, not to be mistaken with Mann - so the latter is more of the x-factor.  He probably isn't going to be called upon to shoot at lot, but when he does needs to make his shots.

If the scouting report says something like 'oh sh*t, we have to keep an eye out for Tre Mann', then by that point, it'd be hard for any team to take advantage of the Wizards.  The NBA truly is becoming positionless, in that there's a number of teams now when a 1 would be better served acting as a 2.  Someone like Coby White may need to focus more on passing, but the same is not true if he were on a roster like this.

Every Team's X-Factor (Central Division)

After giving the totally unknown Ariel Hukporti a shoutout in the inaugural edition of this series, not only did he start the Sixers' first preseason game but ended up suffering a season-ending injury and having that misfortune splashed all over national headlines.  Wow.  That wasn't the type of inception I was envisioning.

CHICAGO BULLS: TRE JONES

For the first time in years, the Bulls' roster appears to be progressive, but it definitely isn't deep.   Giddey is going to start at the 1, and behind him, behind all of the starters basically, the only other PG of note is Tre Jones.  Wait a minute  I accidentally mistook dude for Tre Mann.  But looking at his stats, even though Jones is an unknown, he's actually better than Mann and apparently one of the longer-tenured current members of the Bulls.

Meanwhile, Josh is known to semi-regularly end up on the injured list.  This team appears to have more depth in the backcourt than in the front.  There's other guys, like maybe Buddy Hield, who can play backup PG as a last resort, if you will.  And oh shit, is Jaden Ivey's career really over?

But in this case, I'm going with Jones.  Out of all the unpredictables or unknowns on this roster, he's slated to be the one whose impact and progression will matter most.  Chicago doesn't have the type of bigs per se that can really take over games.

CLEVELAND CAVALIERS: THOMAS BRYANT

Wow.  The Cavs have a stellar starting lineup, but as for the bench, man oh man.  There's really only two names I recognize, Thomas Bryant and Mario Hezonja, and oh yeah, that dude Sam Merrill.

I'm tempted to dub Sam the x-factor, as he's a tenured member of the Cavs who had a career year last season.   But the backup big rotation doesn't look promising at all, and there appears to be a more pressing need upfront.  So as much as it hurts, I'm gonna have to go with Bryant for now.

I have nothing against dude and even remember him being underrated in the not too distant past (i.e. with the Lakers).  But he's been in similar types of situations recently, getting a golden opportunity to represent on the Pacers for instance but failing to do so.  Maybe he's suffering from being bounced around too much.

DETROIT PISTONS:  UGONNA ONYENSO

Imagine if Jalen Duren did leave, and the Pistons didn't get a starter-worthy big in return?  That wouldn't have been pretty at all.

This is yet another team, as is common in today's NBA, where the backcourt is a lot deeper than the front.  Yes, Paul Reed made a name for himself this past postseason playing the 5, but he isn't an actual C.  And of course, Collins can also serve as C, but none of those dudes are wembyproof, like playing them against some bigger lineups may not be ideal.

The only other pure C currently on the roster is a two-wayer named Ugonna Onyenso(?).  And notice, by the way, how many centers these days, especially the obscure ones, seem to be from Africa.

As the NBA now appears to be prioritizing height again, as made necessary by the presence of Wembanyama, yes, Detroit obviously needs someone like Onyenso.  He's taller than everyone else on the team, including Duren.  But all things considered, don't expect him to get much run.  The Pistons, like many of their competitors, are more likely to continue going small, not so much out of choice as it is necessity.

INDIANA PACERS: TYRESE HALIBURTON

The Pacers, man.  At least they've more or less kept their deep G corps intact.  And as for C, outside of Zubac, who may or may not be overrated, there are a couple of backups who aren't exceptional but are at least respectable.  So the bigger depth issue appears to be in the 3 area.

By the looks of things, with Haliburton back, Indiana is going to continue along the lines of running three-guard lineups.  That isn't ideal, because most of their Gs are undersized more or less.  Or let's just say, more simply, that their F rotation leaves something to be desired.

So I'm just going to go with Tyrese in this case because, like it or not, he may end up having to serve as a de facto 3.  And if he ends up getting injured again, despite their other talents, the Pacers may wind up becoming more obscure than even the Nets.

I'm sorely disappointed in this braintrust, after their fairytale showing in 2025.  That's the kind of luck that most teams never experience.

MILWAUKEE BUCKS: KYLE KUZMA

I recently came across this headline arguing something like the Bucks being in an enviable position, due to having two coveted Cs on their roster.  Reading in between the lines, what's being implied is that Ware and Turner shouldn't even make an effort type shit, like everyone is just expecting this squad to be garbage and accordingly for them to be eventually traded.

But okay, let's say that for now, Milwaukee is set at C, and their wing corps is even deeper.  So then, the 4 becomes a problem.

What's to logically be expected is that Ware will start at the 5 and Turner at the 4.  They can more or less interchange positions.  But then, who's the backup at either spot?

Holy sh*t, Kyle Kuzma(!), who can at least play respectable 4 in the modern NBA.  If Milwaukee ever needed you, buddy, it's now.  If only he was as aggressive on the court as he is on social media.

Why the Preseason Now Matters

The more things change, the more they stay the same.  Nowadays, anyone in any part of the world can at least watch extended highlights from virtually every NBA game, including the preseason.  But, oh sh*t, there's 30 teams, playing an 82-game regular season, not even counting the playoffs, i.e the part that really matters.  So it's hard to be genuinely interested in more than just a handful of them.

Silver and co. may end up shooting themselves in the foot with all of this parity shit.  For instance, let's take Jaylen Brown, place him on one team, put Lebron on another and then leave the remaining Sixers' more or less as it is.  None of those teams would absolutely be must watch, unless they're winning a lot of games.

With fans now accustomed to watching Lebron and with Steph more or less falling off, there's really only one singular must-watch player, whether he's on a good team or not, and that's Wemby.  Second on the list would probably be Ant-Man, when his team is actually winning.  If they decide to defuse the league by making every big star play on a separate team, welcome to boredom city.

In some rare occasions there could be three or four absolutely must-watch guys playing simultaneously.  But in athletics, age and injury can derail even the biggest stars.  For instance, remember how must watch Ja Morant was a few seasons ago (even though his team won more games without him).  And what about Vinsanity, the dunking machine who was for a time even more popular in basketball circles than Jordan?  During the last 10+ seasons of his career, he was only able to produce one worthy highlight.

All of this is my roundabout way of saying that I have no intention of watching every preseason game.  But I will once again monitor the standings and news, because they could be quite telling for the season to come.  The preseason isn't as insignificant as it used to be, and there are a number of reasons why.

THE OFFSEASON HAS CHANGED

Back in the old days, the biggest offseason roster changes tended to be the acquisition of rookies, who rarely made a notable immediate impact.  Or another way of looking at it is that it was only the worst teams who made headlines during the summer, because there wasn't as much of a reason to make major changes to the better ones.

Generally speaking, it's only garbage squads that get high draft picks.  And it wasn't until around the turn of the century that frequent trades really became common.

And even when a star was traded, in the late 20th century, it rarely resulted in an instant contender, if at all.  Take Chris Webber for instance.  He was perennial allstar-ish who was traded what, like three times in less than a decade and only played on a contender during the last of those stops.

A superstar like Moses Malone going to the Sixers and them winning that same season is rare.  Playing for the best team possible isn't cheating in and of itself; it's logic.  I already covered that a few years back, when defending Durant.

SUPERSTARS NOW SWITCH TEAMS ALL THE TIME

One of the reasons we now see more player movement is because, oh shit, how long were the contract back in the days?  Scottie Pippen signed for what, seven years?  It was Jordan who I think started breaking that mold, after he retired the first time and came back.

So player movement isn't only about trades but also free agency.  And now that guys are signing shorter contracts, sometimes even for a year or two, besides the divas who commonly demand trades, there tends to be a a number of superstars available every offseason.

WHY FIX WHAT ISN'T BROKEN?

I also think back in the old days, organizations had more grit.  When we say the NBA used to be tougher, that isn't only about physicality or whatever.  Generally, if organizations had a worthy roster, they would build on it gradually.  There was more faith in player development, you know, dudes actually getting better over time, individually or collectively.

I'm not trying to make it sound all idyllic and shit.  But I think it was just more of an understanding that things take time.  And we don't even have to go that far back to see this, like look at Kobe for instance and how bad the Lakers were after Shaq left.  No top-5 superstar these day would endure something like that.

It's Lebron who has firmly broken that mold.  Remember how bad the Lakers also were during the last few years of Kobe's career?  LBJ could never tolerate such a roster, even now in his elder seasons.  But in his case, with all of the pressure or whatever, it's understandable.  The bigger issue is the lesser dudes also adopting that same mentality.

So long as players want to win, even taking pay cuts to do so, it isn't likely that universal parity is going to be achieved, because generally speaking, you have to play with other stars to have a chance to win a championship.  And as long as everyone is compatible, the more the merrier.

CONCLUSION

Did I digress?  The conclusive point is that since so many stars and even impactful role players are changing teams annually, now the preseason matters, because at least half the rosters go through major offseason changes, even discounting the acquisition of rookies.  There were a lot of exceptional rookies last season.  But as you can see, in the grand scheme of things it didn't really mean shit for the teams they were on.  Even Wemby when he first came in, you know what I'm saying?

The bigger offseason  news these days is damn, how many superstars changed teams even this past summer?  And how many other squads acquired players like, say, Kessler or Dort or Morant who'll likely be starting?  So it's like every season, teams have to readjust and test new lineups, and that's why the preseason matters more.  Dudes are no longer fielding like the same core rosters for four or five seasons straight.

This is something I came to appreciate in 2021, when the Lakers acquired Westbrook and lost every game that preseason.  People just brushed it off like 'oh, these games don't matter. There's no way a roster with that much talent could lose'.  But oh shit, those practices were in fact foretelling.