My thoughts on the Midwest Division

Dallas

Dallas is in trouble. They're sitting on 81 million in salary and don't look to have anything beyond MLE next year. They don't have their own 1st rounder. And to add injury to insult, one player who might have value to a contender, Andrew Toney, is out 46 games, severely hampering his value.

Throw on top of that a 16-21 record and there are problems aplenty.

My advice: I think you're going to have to rebuild, but, I think you're really going to have to work hard to make wise deals. Your team is in a pretty deep hole allready, and adding bad trades to that will only make things worse. So, don't have any fire sales. I think this is going to be a multi-season process. Take your time and be methodological.

Denver

Denver is sitting at 17-23. They are right around the salary cap, but, don't appear to have much cap room next season. They own all their own draft picks.

Denver has a pretty good core. Magic, Borgmann, and Anderson are all players that most teams would covet. However, not enough care has been taken to surround these players with support.

My advice: I think you have 2 options here. Either sacrifice some future first rounders to make a talent grab and try to make some noise in the post season or look to move Magic. I think there are a lot of teams that are or should be looking to rebuild, and I'd take a hard look at making a run this year.

At the very least you could try to find a gem or two off the waiver wire. You're only carrying 12 players, I can't see much advantage to not signing 3 prospects or producers off the wire to help you with whatever direction you take this team.

Houston

Houston is sitting right on the Hard Cap. They look to have no cap room next year. They have their own 1st rounder.

Houston seems to be under-achieving to me. You've got Jordan, McHale, Grant, Tarpley, and King on this team and you are just a few games over .500. In my mind this team should be about 10 games over .500 at this point.

My advice: I don't think Coles is your man at SF. You have a bevy of good options at SF that play good defense, while being decent scorers. Unless you are just showcasing Coles, I'd move one of those other guys in.

Minnesota

Minnesota is sitting at 70 million in salary. They don't look to have cap room this offseason. They have their own 1st and the Cav's 1st this year. They are currently at 15-25.

Not a lot to like here. Minny is a poor team, and they are locked into most of their players for years to come. Several for large salaries. Worse still, a couple of their expiring contracts are for guys playing major roles on the team. Meaning they will be expensive to resign should the Timberwolves go that direction. Extreme care will have to be taken to avoid being in salary trouble down the road. For instance, the wolves should have a high lotto pick this year, but, will they have room to retain him once he is a free agent? Maybe not if a few bad signings go down between now and then.

My advice: It looks to me like you've got 2 good point guards on your squad in Webb and McCracken. I'm not sure you'll be able to afford the services of McCracken next year and I'd hate to see you lose him for nothing. I'd suggest considering moving Webb or McCracken this season. Of course you can take your chances if you like, but, I think it's going to be difficult if you do.

Furthermore, I think an A rebounding PF would really help your squad. I would consider trying to upgrade your PF spot with special care taken to bring in a dominate rebounder.

San Antonio

San Antonio has a 17-27 record, is sitting on 84million in salary, does not look to have cap room next season, and has their own 1st rounder.

San Antonio looks to be the victim of some bad signings. I'm not sure that Laporte is worth 20 mil a year. I'm not sure Kevin Willis is worth 14. Those two contracts are really weighing down the options for the Spurs.

Size matters.
C - Kevin Willis 220lbs
PF - Don Laporte 6'8"
SF - Charles Barkley 6'5"
SG - Russ Charles 6'3"
PG - Lever (ok, he's got good size)

My advice: I think you have two options. Either try and dump Laporte and Lever and Willis, or try to exchange some of these parts for guys with better size. Since I think it's going to be way too hard to go from your salary to one with major cap space in one year I'd suggest the 2nd option. Since you have an undersized PF in Barkley on the team (ok, sf) and a slight center in Willis, I'd want to have players with good size at PF and SG. I think if you could upgrade those 2 positions the wins would come a lot easier. And I don't think you'd need major upgrades in either rankings or stats. Just get some more size. Also, I'm not sure what setting you use, but, you may find a fast pace, with a lot of pressing and traps better suits your small lineup.

Utah

Utah is sitting at 9-34. They are at 50 million in salary and look to have significant cap space next year. They own their own 1st rounder as well as the 76ers 1st.

Utah has a nice young core, but, is lacking in veteran leadership. They are also lacking in size with Battalie Massenburg being asked to play center at 6'10" 240lbs.

My advice: Acquire a dominating center with good size. Easier said than done, and there don't appear to be any folks that match that description in the upcoming draft, so it'll have to be via trade.

Memphis

Memphis has 16 wins to 22 losses. They are spending 51 million this year and look to have major cap space next season. They own their own 1st rounder.

Memphis seems to be a very well run team, that just happens to be rebuilding. Their cap is excellent, they look to have a nice draft position, they have some nice young players. Everything seems to be coming together nicely.

My advice: Ask Mookie if he'd like to try playing without oven mitts. Other than that, keep on the course you are on, looks good to me.

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