NBA What-If Wednesday: Part 2

Happy Wednesday and welcome back to another edition of What-if Wednesday: NBA Edition. If you didn’t read that in a deep voice, you missed my point of adding NBA Edition. Anyway, for some, this last week the NBA would have been put on the backburner to football, but not to us. We are the few, the proud, the crazy people who watch way too much basketball. Just because basketball is on doesn’t mean that it is good, and today, we are going to be talking about teams who play bad basketball. When you look at our next three teams, the Hawks, the Pelicans, and the Wizards, two out of the three are because of injuries, but they still suck.

 

Atlanta Hawks (5-16)

 

Trae Young can straight up play, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. Yet, the Hawks still suck, partially because of the 25-game suspension that the NBA handed down to John “The Baptist” Collins. The Hawks are one of those teams that still have a lot of questions to answer. Is Trae Young their franchise player? Can their latest first rounders turn into a competitive team? Why are our uniforms so gross looking? There is an answer to these questions, and his name is Anthony Davis.

 

Anti-Kentucky bias aside, Anthony Davis has been one of the most dominant players on the court anytime he puts on the purple and gold. Maybe it is because of the “LeBron offense” that Frank Vogel is running or that he has a reason to try. With this Hawks squad healthy, the trifecta of Trae Young, John Collins, and Anthony Davis get enough wins to get the two seed in the east. Not only that, is this one of the best 2K teams of all time?

 

New Orleans Pelicans (6-14)

 

This team is plagued with injuries. Regardless of how good Zion is, we know he will have a positive impact on this team. What looks like a good roster at first glance is turning out to be anything but that. When I watch the Pelicans, the real problem is down low. Jahlil Okafor and Jaxson Hayes are not the centers that this team needs. They need a versatile, good rebounding center to help make this team the best it has been in years. So, why not Karl Anthony-Towns?

 

Towns is having a great season offensively. His shooting percentages are higher than they have ever been and he is still averaging about 12.5 rebounds per game. With KAT, the Pelicans have a death lineup of Ball, Holiday, Ingram, Zion, and Towns at the five. This offensive powerhouse can really do some damage in the West, winning at least 48 games.

 

Washington Wizards (6-12)

 

I feel so bad for Wizards fans. The last time you were in the playoffs, the future looked so bright. Now, you have the most untradeable contract in the league. Other than Beal, the Wizards could use just about everything. This guard-heavy lineup is young in some spots. Maybe Hachimura and Bryant don’t become stars, but they will still play in a Wizards jersey as role players for as long as they pay them. Other than those three, the Wiz can pretty much trash everything else, and why not give them a total reboot with King James

 

Year 18 and still one of the best players in the league. As scientists of the game, I ask myself, how much longer will this go on seeing how there is no sign of slowing down? That being said, I don’t think that LeBron can truly transform this team. It still needs a lot of work, but the greatest player of the past 20 years is a pretty good place to start. With LeBron, the Wiz win 40 games and just miss the playoffs.