Unbalanced logo

Ranking the Most Fun Young Teams to Watch Going Into the Season

Contrary to popular belief, the NBA is more than the Golden State Warriors and LeBron James.

By Tony HeimPublished 7 years ago 5 min read
Like
Courtesy of Wikipedia Commons

The NBA is in the best spot in league history. While LeBron James and the Golden State Warriors (with valid attempts from a few other organizations) are battling for league supremacy, teams across the league are building for the future.

This is how the NBA has always worked. A few teams/players dominate the competition while the rest are left fighting for relevancy. The difference between then and now, however, is The Other Guys still bring oodles of entertainment for us fans.

Devin Booker's 70-point game, Larry Nance's life-changing dunk on Brook Lopez, any of Joel Embiid's 31 games were all some of the top highlights from last season, and they came from three of the five worst teams in the league.

That's the hidden beauty of today's NBA: there has never been so much young talent.

RealGM lists 13 teams with average roster ages under 26-years old (the league average is 26.3). Of those, five teams - Boston, Portland, Memphis, Milwaukee and Toronto - made the playoffs last year and are looking to compete this year. Those teams deservedly get enough spotlight.

The Other Guys deserve love too though. Raw talent combined with youth makes for great entertainment, just like the uber-talented veteran teams. On some nights we'll get a 40-point explosion from a 20-year-old, and on other nights we'll see 1-40 implosions. The inconsistency is weirdly wonderful to watch, hence why we're breaking down the entertainment value of the "other" eight young teams heading into the 2017-2018 season.

8. Chicago Bulls

The Bulls are the lone playoff team from our 13 teams who have no chance of making the playoffs this season. All-Star Jimmy Butler is gone and Dwayne Wade appears to be on his way out as well, leaving Chicago with no true star-power besides 2x Dunk Contest Champion Zach LaVine. They have interesting young pieces in Lauri Markannen and Denzel Valentine, but every other young piece screams bench player at best. Sorry Chicago fans, but you're in for a long season.

7. Detroit Pistons

The most fun thing about the Pistons this season may be Jalen Rose yelling "DE-TROIT BAS-KET-BALLLLLLLLL!!!" the few times they're brought up this season. Andre Drummond is a big name but his ground-and-pound game isn't. Avery Bradley will positively replace Kentavious Caldwell-Pope's role as a 3-and-D guard. Bradley, along with Tobias Harris and Luke Kennard could create an interesting offense around Drummond, but it would take a point guard willing to distribute to make that happen. With Marcus Morris now on the Celtics the Pistons don't even have an agitator to spice things up from time to time. Still not as bad as being a Bulls fan.

6. Brooklyn Nets

THE NETS ARE FINALLY SLIGHTLY SOMEWHAT INTERESTING! Brooklyn has a ton of wings that all deserve minutes; watching Kenny Atkinson deal with Caris LeVert, Sean Kilpatrick, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Allen Crabbe and DeMarre Carroll will be a season in itself. Throw in the Jeremy Lin/D'Angelo Russell point guard situation, the future Timofey Mozgov/Mikhail Prokhorov Russian romance, the fight to keep a good pick away from Cleveland, and Brooklyn immediately becomes watchable once again.

5. Charlotte Hornets

Ahhhhh, an actual playoff contender. The Hornets had themselves a wonderful offseason, adding veteran center Dwight Howard and rookie shooting sensation Malik Monk. Those two players carry major fun points by themselves, but it's Kemba Walker who truly makes this team must-watch quality. Kemba is a cold-blooded scoring assassin in the ilk of Kyrie Irving and Isaiah Thomas. He averaged over 23 a game en route to his first All Star appearance last season. If his numbers increase like they have every year then expect a whole lot of highlights from the Hornets this season.

4. Sacramento Kings

We're back to non-playoff teams and that's fine with me. The Kings have a wonderful mix of young talent and veteran leadership to make them a truly entertaining basketball product. Willie Cauley-Stein and Skal Labissiere are legitimate 6'11" forwards with the athletic ability of a guard; they'll learn from bruiser Zach Randolph how to dominate the boards down-low. Fellow Kentucky product De'Aaron Fox has a great opportunity to study George Hill and learn the mental side of the game. With Buddy Hield, Justin Jackson and the aforementioned Kentucky boys, expect a lot of running from Sacramento this season.

3. Phoenix Suns

There's a very good chance that I have Phoenix listed too high. The Suns are my personal favorite young up-and-coming team simply because they have nothing but entertaining players. Devin Booker and TJ Warren combine elite offensive talent with freak-of-nature athleticism that help make the Suns so noteworthy. Josh Jackson, Marquese Chriss and Derrick Jones Jr. could all win the Dunk Contest next season, while their point guard Eric Bledsoe may be the pound-for-pound best athlete in the league. The Suns aren't going to win many games this season, but they're going to make a lot of fans along the way.

2. Los Angeles Lakers

I hate to say that I included Lavar Ball in the Lakers rating. Like him or not, Lavar brings entertainment to any situation. That's enough of him though, because the Lakers have something cooking. Whether he plays poorly or perfectly, Lonzo Ball will be a joy to watch every night. He's got athletes in Larry Nance Jr. and Kyle Kuzma to throw 'oops to, a young offensive maestro in Brandon Ingram to feed; throw vets like Luol Deng and Brook Lopez to keep the team locked focused, and the Lakers have a promising core of players to help build for the future. There will be plenty of ugly games for the Lakers this season, but that shouldn't stop you from watching as much as possible.

1. Philadelphia 76ers

I'm sorry this wasn't a shocking #1. I couldn't deviate from the masses when a team with Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, Markelle Fultz, Dario Saric and Robert Covington exists. The 76ers Trusted the Process and now have the best future team on paper, but how will they co-exist? Will they all stay healthy? Will one — or two or three — get upset with their diminished role? All of this young talent, and we've yet to include the addition of JJ Reddick, possibly the most fun to watch pure shooter in today's game. Philly isn't going to be the contending team everybody expects, but they will make the playoffs and show the world what the future of the NBA looks like.

basketball
Like

About the Creator

Tony Heim

Sam Presti Stan | Just trying to learn how to use 14% of my brain

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.