They have bright futures ahead of them. I have looked into a couple of things, and noticed that they have a good future, if they make the correct decisions. The Utah Jazz are a good example:
Deron Williams is turning into a great point guard. Paul Millsap will get more playing time, something I have obserbed and experienced while living in Utah is that all Jazz fans want Millsap to start and play more minutes than Carlos Boozer. He is a better defender in the paint, and over the amount of time that Boozer was injured, showed he could post double-doubles almost every ni! ght. Millsap and Williams, along with Ronnie Brewer, Andrei Kirilenko, and Mehmet Okur could be a good combination, mixed in with key bench guys like Kyle Korver and rookie pick-up Eric Maynor. That's the future of Utah.
Oh, and not to mention they get New York's 1st round pick in 2010, which is most likely to be a lottery pick. Carlos Boozer's contract worth $12 million expires, which brings cap relief to the Jazz. Millsap, Williams, and Brewer will be even better than the previous season, it just is looking good for Utah, if they make all the right moves. The 2010 draft is looking pretty strong right now. Guys like Ed Davis of North Carolina, John Wall of Kentucky, Al-Farouq Aminu of Wake Forest, and Derrick Favors of Georgia Tech, to name a couple. It is looking good, so Utah could be getting a good draft pick in the lottery, and another one if it is under the 17th pick. If not, Minnesota gets it. But anyway, the future looks pretty good for the Jazz.
As for Minnesota, they acquired Al Jefferson and Ryan Gomes in the trade for Garnett, Kevin Love in the '08 draft, and Johnny Flynn and Ramon Sessions this year. Although they traded two of their key players in Randy Foye and Mike Miller to the Wizards for the draft pick of Ricky Rubio, who ended up signing with Ba! rcelona. They have made quite a bit of mistakes, but their team is looking pretty good. Both will be getting more draft picks and more cap space to sign big time players, or key veterans. Both teams are looking towards the future.
Another team that could have a bright future if everything goes right is Miami. They have a shot at the championship in the 2010-11 season. It all lays upon how the 2010 offseason works out, and if Michael Beasley turns out to be the player Miami drafted him for. Jermaine O'Neal's and Dwyane Wade's contracts will expire after this season, opening up a huge block of cap space. They can give a max contract to Wade, and still have enough cap space to give another player a max contract. Just think, Wade alongside LeBron James, Chris Bosh, or Amare Stoudemire. Throw in Beasley and PG Mario Chalmers, and you've got yourself a championship contender. I can see Wade playing with Amare, those two would dominate the decade. James, it probably won! 't happen, but Bosh could be a pretty big possibility to land ! in Miami with Wade, because he most likely isn't returning to Toronto after this year.
There are also more teams with significant cap space in the summer of 2010 that could turn into good teams. Maybe just good teams, though, not championship contenders. If you are wondering what I mean by that, look at the New Jersey Nets for an example. They have a squad containing Yi Jianlian and Devin Harris, who are good players, but not huge All-Stars, and are the faces of the Nets. If they can lure in a big name free agent such as Stoudemire, Michael Redd, Manu Ginobili, Carlos Boozer, etc., they will get better, but still won't be a team who wins the championship. Other teams that are in the same category as the Nets, the ones who don't have extreme talent, just moderate talent, include the Sacramento Kings, Minnesota Timberwolves, New York Knicks, Oklahoma City Thunder, and the Los Angeles Clippers. And there are others with a little bit more talent, like the Chicago Bulls and Ho! uston Rockets. We'll just have to see how all these teams are impacted during next summer. Some will become successful teams, some could get worse.
