The Andrew Wiggins Rush
Heading into the upcoming 2014 NBA Draft, Andrew Wiggins is the default number one draft pick. The 18-year old Canadian superstar is currently playing Big 12 Conference basketball for the Kansas Jayhawks and in our opinion, will be the biggest recruited NBA player since LeBron James (10 years ago).
We’re expecting the Philadelphia 76ers to have the worst record in the NBA, following the announcement on Monday of rookie Nerlens Noel missing the entire season; due to still recovering from an ACL tear in his left knee (suffered playing for the Kentucky Wildcats last February). Philadelphia also has 1st round-draft pick Michael Carter-Williams to develop a shot this year and get ready for the potential Wiggins-Noel front court as well.
Along with Philadelphia, the Charlotte Bobcats and Orlando Magic will be two of the worst teams in the NBA this year. Unlike the 76ers, they both have pieces to win more games, which brings us to the theory of “tanking.” There’s teams in the field in the likes of the Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics, and Toronto Raptors among others who could start tanking early in the season. Kobe Bryant’s expected to play sooner than we think, but isn’t guaranteed to be healthy the entire season. If Kobe’s not healthy and Steve Nash is rested throughout the season, we could see the Lakers make changes before the all-star break and essentially throw away the season.
The Boston Celtics are in complete rebuild mode centered on Rajon Rondo and Jeff Green, which they could begin tanking if their season doesn’t go according to plan with 8th seed aspirations this year. For Toronto, they’ve been in disarray since the 2010 exit of Chris Bosh to south beach and received Rudy Gay via trade; but he will soon be an unrestricted free agent after the season. Much like the Lakers and the Celtics, Toronto could trade away Gay if their season starts shaky as well with hopes of landing the local Ontario superstar. The Raptors wished to have Steve Nash as their Canadian star, as Wiggins could be the Raptors attraction being am Ontario born basketball player. We’re just praying some teams don’t make a mockery of the sport blatantly losing games for the Wiggins-Rush.