The NBA’s Southeast Division is at a crossroads. How did each franchise’s offseason affect their long-term directory and playoff potential?
Now with just one month removed from the NBA preseason, teams are beginning to get an idea of what their rosters may look like on opening night. Players are mostly back in town and workouts will ramp up ahead of training camp starting toward the end of this month — Orlando Magic training camp opens Sept. 25.
As for the Southeast Division, there has been a number of notable offseason moves. How do these moves bode for each franchise in immediate impact and long-term significance?
The Orlando Magic and Atlanta Hawks are beginning to get their rebuilds underway, each cementing hopeful young players. The Washington Wizards, Charlotte Hornets and Miami Heat currently sit at varying crossroads of their own roster development.
The Southeast Division is not set to make a lot of noise this year, which unfortunately has been the norm in recent seasons. This might be the worst group of five teams in the NBA.
So the Wizards are not bad. But they have only floated around the first round in the playoffs for years now. Coming off losing as the eighth seed in the East, Washington looks better than the team has in recent years. Though the Wizards’ entirely contingent on if they get a healthy and committed John Wall next year.
But where the real interest lies is in all the newness around the division.
The Magic, Hawks, and Hornets have all replaced their head coach. And made plenty of changes themselves to break through.
Thus, the Southeast Division remains like much of the rest of the league, priming to see who can jump into relevance within the Eastern Conference.