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NBA: Ranking teams by tiers for 2019-20 season

By Josh Cornelissen

(Photo by Bill Baptist/NBAE via Getty Images)
(Photo by Bill Baptist/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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Photo by Zach Beeker/NBAE via Getty Images /

Tier 7: Too Talented To Tank

Chicago Bulls, Detroit Pistons, Oklahoma City Thunder

With one tier still to go, this is a group of teams that have too much talent to bottom out, but boast serious flaws that hold them back from being an above-average team. These teams could break for the bottom of the standings if the year is not going well, but could also push to win towards the end of the year.

Oklahoma City has begun planning for the future, moving Paul George and Russell Westbrook for tremendous amounts of assets. In their place, Chris Paul and Danilo Gallinari are proud and talented veterans who, along with Steven Adams, give this team a floor well above where “tankers” would reside.

This team could also decide to move pieces at any point in the year, sending out those veterans for future assets.

If Oklahoma City is balanced between winning now and entering the future, the Detroit Pistons are stuck without a path to either. Their stockpile of young talent appears to have a low ceiling, while the veterans are just enough to keep this team in neutral. Their range of outcomes is probably one of the most narrow in the league, just under .500 and in the mix for the eighth seed.

Chicago has a much more volatile range of outcomes. They clearly upgraded this season, adding Thaddeus Young, rookie Coby White and FIBA World Cup breakout Tomas Satoransky. Wendell Carter Jr., their top-10 pick from a year ago, enters the season healthy. They have a full season of Otto Porter Jr. as well.

Yet how high is too high for a jump? If everything comes together they could sneak into the playoffs, a la Orlando last season, yet after winning 22 games a year ago it would require a massive improvement.