Four more Non-Hornet thoughts

So, here are four more items that aren't getting too much coverage. Most of these teams just don't get much coverage in general, or have another story that's overshadowing other things. Let's get started with probably the most depressing team around.

Los Angeles Clippers - The big story about this team is Elton Brand's injury. But in the end, I think the injury may be even more harmful to this team than just the games he is going to miss. It's going to be an excuse for the team as to why they are going to be terrible this year. And judging by Elgin Baylor's past performance, it'll end with him sitting on his hands next off season too. But this team has one very ugly problem coming up soon that really needed to be addressed this summer. After this year, Brand and Magette have player options they will likely excercise so they can get longer extensions or hit free agency. Cassell's contract ends, and he probably retires. That leaves the team with Kaman, two years of Mobley at almost 10mil a year, old Brevin Knight and useless Tim Thomas. Their youth pipeline has the always injured Shaun Livingston and Al Thornton, a rookie who will be 24 in December. While their fans might try to say the expiring contracts are just an opportunity to clear cap space and get new players, what star is going to take Clipper money to play with that supporting cast? Maybe if they had managed to get anything substantial other than Brand out of the 11 lottery picks they've spent over the last decade, they'd be a more attractive destination, but as it stands, this team's outlook is just as depressing as it was ten years ago when it was mired in the lottery.

Utah Jazz - The big story out of Utah this summer is, of course, the trade demand made by Andrei Kirilenko. But the focus should be on this teams glaring roster weakness. You'd be hard pressed to find a team with a more solid frontcourt - with Boozer, Okur, Millsap, Kirilenko and Collins making up an impressive rotation. The Deron Williams and Jason Hart point guard rotation is sound. It's a different story entirely when you look at the swing positions for this team, it's a car wreck. Last year it was the shooting guard position that was called out, but this year it seems to have spread to the both swing spots. Kirilenko is a terrible small forward, and Harpring is 31 years old and very injury prone. Ronnie Brewer was so-so last year, and Morris Almond is a limited rookie. Just what does Utah think they are going to get from those two positions? Now, unless Boozer gets injured, I doubt this team will fall from the playoffs, but unless Ronnie blows up, I just couldn't see this team matching its 51 wins from last year. And that was my impression BEFORE Deron Williams threw Andrei Kirilenko under the bus.

Orlando Magic - The myriad of articles about the Magic this summer were mostly of the scathing variety, trashing them for paying too much for Rashard Lewis and for losing Darko for nothing. But someone really needs to spend some quality time on this team's frontcourt roster. Dwight Howard is amazing, with an intimidating physique comparable to David Robinson of old. And though his offensive game is definitely sub-Robinson, he's going to be a special player throughout his career. Once you get past him, however, you suddenly realize this team doesn't appear to have a frontcourt. Adonal Foyle, Tony Battie, James Augustine and Marcin Gortat? Tortoise, Dinosuar, who, and what? And that's before you consider that Battie is injured and won't play this year. If the Magic think that Lewis or Turkoglu are going to rebound for them, this is going to be a long season.

Portland Trail Blazers - Yeah, I know. There probably hasn't been a team that's spawned more headlines this summer(other than the Knicks) than the Blazers. Stories about Oden, their active drafting and trading, Paul Allen's suddenly revived interest, the wonderful stable of point guards they've collected, Aldridge and Roy's potential, blah, blah blah. That's fine. They appear to be an exciting team with an excellent fan base, so it's good to see all the interest. But behind all the hype over the team, I'm starting to get a non-so fuzzy feeling. They have a glut of players at two positions: James Jones, Travis Outlaw, Martell Webster and Darius Miles at small forward, and Steve Blake, Jarrett Jack, Sergio Rodriguez, and Taureen Green at point guard. Normally, it's great to have a lot of options - so that you can trade away those that don't pan out and still have a good rotation, but that assumes there will be people eager to take on a few of the backups. And that's the problem, there doesn't appear to be a good or great player in the bunch. They all seem to fit into a 'barely-average starter' or 'solid backup' mold, and now with injury concerns for Aldridge and Roy that could be long-term, is this really an up and coming team? I'm not sure any more.

I left out my story for the Indiana Pacers, because it's been addressed twice already that I've seen. I was going to talk about their glut at Power Forward, and how they should dump one for a SG.