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Gordon Hayward’s rise in the NBA when only considering economics is quite the precipitous one. This last doozy of a contract appears to be the bookend to what was an interesting tenure with the Celtics, and I say interesting because, well, he got a pay raise while shedding his prime years. While fantasy isn’t really driven by these factors, I think its worth noting that one of the most non-performing-performers received such a contract, and I think its worth asking: Is Michael Jordan seeing something in Gordon Hayward that we aren’t? While the simple answer is probably “No, Jordan is just a sh*tty GM,” I did want to try and elaborate on what we can expect from Hayward in a Hornets uniform and whether or not a four-year deal of over $120 million fully guaranteed is justified. Spoiler alert! It’s not… but maybe you shouldn’t care? Let’s find out after the jump!

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Chronologically, I wanted to preview the Rockets first, but at the time, the draft and free agency were starting to go full bore, so it seemed better to wait and see what would go down in Houston. And much like fast-forwarding through the movie Titanic (the only thing missing is the great Billy Zane), this franchise is set to try and recover what it lost in the Bubble. Which was basically everything…

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I dabbled with the other Los Angeles team last time, so that there is balance in all things, we now turn our gaze toward the Clippers team and organization. And quite the time its been for this team the last few years. Going from the beloved “Lob City” era to the gritty blue-collar iteration that managed to take some games of the Warriors in the playoffs just a little over a year ago, to becoming vaulted title contenders with an offseason overhaul that brought both Kawaii Leonard and Paul George to the team. So there’s been plenty of transition, exorbitant expectations, and sweet-sweet failure. But not all is lost! Just one year into this new look Clippers and with a new head coach leading into the 2020 start of the season, there are two ways to look at what lies ahead for the Clippers. One good, one bad…balance! We’ll go over both perspectives after the jump…

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Well look, there’s no where to go but down for this team, but in all fairness, I’m not sure LeBron knows what that direction is or what it looks like. Which is probably why the Lakers Lebrons are continuing their roster escalations with the Clippers in becoming the fastest L.A. team to be called the Raptors. Putting the the past few days of furious free agency implications aside for a moment, the fact of the matter is that this team was going into the next season as favorites in the West once again no matter what happened during the off season, but instead of going through the majority of last season as a team that was good enough to get to the playoffs, but not great enough to win a chip, the perception of this team right now is a title contender, and deservedly so! And all that was before adding the fragile but scoring-minded 2020 Sixth Man, another separate big man with probably one of the highest IQ’s at the five (the signing is likely at the time of this writing), and the Lakers have still managed to keep Kyle Kuzma. Impressive to say the least. More specificity follows, and I promise not to call it specificity again…

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Despite the Warriors attempt in further cementing their place among the historically great franchises in all of sports, the speed bump of having half your team’s knee explode was almost as a traumatic experience as learning that Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving were going to be teammates. But after this past season’s freefall, a bright future awaits with returning stars and three picks in this year’s draft.

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A state known for facing adversity in many forms, Michigan has seen many battles defending its heart and soul. The auto-industry bailout many years ago, poisoned drinking water, seeing Justin Verlander naked, and of course being a Pistons fan the last decade. But all is not lost! (Probably?) With an encouraging offseason cap outlook, the NBA Draft fast approaching, and some healthy returning pieces (you know who you are), the Wolverine State may finally see their basketball team contend for, well, something other than not the playoffs. That is, of course, the most optimistic view in the midst of this rebuild process, but I guess it can’t get worse than this past season. (Probably?)

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