My thoughts on the Central Division

Atlanta

The Hawks are sitting at 85.5mil in cap. This is a very narrow gap from the Hard Cap of 87.6.

The Hawks have stars at all positions, and some off the bench. A very well constructed team, with a 23-12 record.

I think their biggest challenge is going to be managing their cap room.

My advice: Paul Pressey has excellent ratings, but, his stats are poor. I would showcase him in an effort to get his stats up where his ratings would suggest then shop him around. Moving his salary for a promising rookie and an expiring would likely ease the salary concerns for the next 4 years or so.

This teams looks to be contending for the forseeable future to me. Nicely done.

New Orleans

New Orleans is another team facing the Hard Cap, sitting at 85.8 mil in salary. And this looks to be very problematic with the expiring nature of Roy Hinson's contract. A guy I would imagine the Hornets feel is important to resign.

New Orleans is built around post defense and perimiter offense. 30ppg on .545 shooting along with terrific percentages from the line and long range from Kyle Macey is the lynchpin to this team. He is the man giving them a whopping 9.8 win margin. I think the bad news for Atlanta is that he is 30 years old, a little undersized for SG, and doesn't have PG skills.

My suggestion: Although painful I'd suggest moving Macey. He is having a career year and his value will never be higher. Getting out of his contract would ease the salary issues, and I would think you can get a very nice return for him. I would think that if you trade him or not, your team's margin of victory is going to slip as the year wears on. I wouldn't let this hot streak affect you too much. I think you could use both more size and better handling at the PG position.

Chicago Bulls

The Bulls are sitting on a 11-26 record. They are right around the salary cap and look to have excellent cap space next year. Tehy have their own draft picks.

The Bulls are obviously in rebuilding mode. Kenny Anderson is the star of this team, although he's being forced to earn his minutes behind Kelvin Ralnsey.

My take: I don't really like the team the Bulls have assembled. They will need a lot of help from TCs or future draft picks to compete. I think the rebuilding process is going to take a while. Sam Perkins might be past his prime by the time the Bulls are looking to become a champion. As such, I'd consider showcasing him for a trade. With his youth and ratings and a little showcasing, I think he would be a very enticing trading chip. I would advise the Bulls to focus a little more on defense and size over scoring. Bad advice? Maybe. Maybe players are much more prone to become better defenders than better scorers, but, you are then at the mercy of TC which hasn't been to kind to me, so I hate to be at it's mercy.

Cleveland

The Cavs have a nice 24-15 record along with a cap friendly spending of 65mil. Having only 3 players under contract beyond this year, the Cavs look to be major players in free agency.

They have several A+ defenders on the team, including a 21 year old center who goes by the name of David Robinson. I think it remains to be seen if the Cavs have surrounded Robinson with enough talent to win a chip this year, but, it's very possible. I think a lot actually depends on the Admiral. Is he ready to lead a team at 21?

My advice? I think the Cavs know what they are doing better than I do. They should be giving me advice. They seem to be using free agency to it's fullest potential, utilizing what seems to me as an exploit with one year contracts. (how many real NBA teams are fielded mostly with one year contracts?) My advice? Everyone should watch how this team does things, as I think there is a lot to learn here. I expect they'll come of of next years offseason stronger than this year, dispite having no first rounder and almost the entire team expiring.

Detroit

Detroit puzzles me. They've got a great roster full of talented players. Players that I would like to have on the Jazz. Yet, they are stuck at a paltry 15-21.

Vlade
Hunt
Johnson
Chapman
Brandon

That's a damn fine lineup. They've also got a nice couple of players off the bench. I can only think chemistry is off. Plus it wouldn't hurt to find a way to improve that shooting %.

My advice: I think it's time for a shakeup. I'd target a player that scores a lot at a high percentage. I think you may be able to salvage this season as yet, but, unless you work it a bit, I think you're going to be in the lotto again adding to your last 3 lotto picks in Vlade(#4), Johnson(#2), and Brandon (#8). I'd hate to see your team headed back to the lotto yet again, so I hope things turn around for you.

Indiana

The Pacers are sitting on a 23-8 record. They've also got a very nice salary structure with only 59mil committed.

The Pacers have a very well put together team. I see no weakness. This is shown in the great winning percentage. I think they are a contending team right in the thick of things. They are well run, and will likely be a force for years as it's GMs that make teams not players. (That's waht I hear anyway)

My advice: I'd try Phillip Shaw over Julius Russel in your lineup. I don't think Russel scores enough to make his offense that valuable, but, I think that Shaw's defense would help out.

Milwaukee

I see the Bucks in disarray. They're not quite winning, but, they do have a lot of 30 somethings. They're not quite working for cap space. And even though they've got their own 1st, they're not quite losing.

Another problem I see is contracts. Take a look at some of the long term contracts on this team.
Tom Chambers playing 3.3 mpg making over 6mil
Levi Haskins playing 6.4 mpg making 4.6 mil
Alberto Marquez playing 4.8 mpg making almost 9mil.

These guys are anchors around the weight of the Bucks neck. And considering the win% all the folks over 30yo seem to be misplaced here.

Gary Macauley
Tom Chambers
Myles Greiner
Reggie King
Tom Najera
Levi Haskins
Adalberto Marquez
Kyle Tomopsky

All meet that description.

My advice: Work. Maybe an assistant GM could take on some of the workload. But, I think someone needs to come in here and find a way to get this team headed in a direction. And I think that direction should be requilding. Old guys need to go. Guys without expirings need to go. Guys on both lists REALLY need to go. You need expirings and draft picks. And I would be careful making any free agent signings for guys that aren't top3 in the free agent class.

Toronto

The Raptors are dangerously close to the hard cap. They've got their own pick this year and are sitting with a 26-16 record.

I like their team a lot. They've got Nique to score the rock and they've surrounded him with good defensive players. A winning strategy in my mind. My only knock on the team is that I feel turnovers are too high. And I think that is due mostly to the starting PG giving up the rock 3.8 times a night.

My advice: See if you can find/bring in a PG with a better ast/to ratio. I think this would help improve your point differential.

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