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NBA TEAMS STUCK IN NO MANS LAND

Every NBA team should and for the most part does have one goal, and that is to win an nba championship. You're either rebuilding to get to that level of contention to win a championship, or your rebuild is complete and are now trying to compete for a championship. But, several teams are stuck in the middle of that analogy to where they are not bad enough to be rebuilding with a high lottery pick and at the same time not good enough to considered a title contender. 

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1. TORONTO RAPTORS

The Raptors were one of the most mentioned teams this trade deadline with trade rumors surrounding OG Anunoby, Gary Trent Jr, Fred Vanvleet, and even Pascal Siakam. Toronto did the opposite of blowing it up and traded a first rounder for Jakob Poetl. Poetl does fulfill a much needed weakness in the Raptors team construction with Pascal no longer having to play center, but this move does not put them above the top teams in the east. It should be noted, Masai Ujiri built this current Raptors team and saw most of these guys develop from the ground up. So for him it will be more difficult to just blow it up. There is no way Ujiri trades any of the Raptors core for pennies on a dollar. With that being said though the Raptors currently sit at the 10th seed in the east, with only three more wins and three less losses than the Orlando Magic, who have been on fire this season. The reality is the way they are currently constructed, plenty of things would have to go their way to reach the eastern conference finals, let alone compete for a championship. Rather it be this offseason or next years trade deadline, the raptors should blow it up and get out of mediocrity. Scottie Barnes is a perfect building block in a rebuild. They do not have to trade everyone outside of Scottie, but need to commit to a rebuild in my opinion. Getting Scottie Barnes in the draft should have been a message for change. The team that won the championship in 2019 is not the team we see now. Kawhi Leonard, Kyle Lowry, Danny Green, Norman Powell, Marc Gasol, Serge Ibaka, etcetera are all no longer on the team for their respective reasons. It's time. 

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2. CHICAGO BULLS

I will say, Lonzo Ball's health and that situation is something the Bulls could obviously not predict. While there has been some very questionable reports about the Bulls medical staff the past few years, Lonzo's situation is very weird. It sucks because Ball is the glue to this team. The Bulls are one of the lowest three point shooting teams in the league when it comes to attempts, and when Lonzo was healthy he took almost nine a game. If you have been paying attention to the Bulls it is a broken record at this point. Zach Lavine, DeMar DeRozan, Nikola Vucevic are obviously not known for defense. They currently sit at the 11 seed right now. If I am the Bulls you simply have to blow it up or try to retool this roster soon to get a reliable defensive center and a reliable point guard around Zach and DeMar. The Bulls are suffering from "losing seasons syndrome" I will call it I guess. They have had so many losing seasons post the D Rose era that they are just happy to have two big names and are fun to watch sometimes. Where they currently sit though will have them back in the lottery with those big names. Like I said, obviously Lonzo's injuries being this major and prolonged was something they could not predict but it is already time for Chicago to blow it up. Wendell Carter Jr, who the Bulls traded to get Vucevic, is having just as if not better of a season then Nikola. 

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3. WASHINGTON WIZARDS

This is another team that is a broken record at this point, and just needs to give it up. There's a reason the Wizards waived Will Barton, who they traded KCP for, so that he can be in the buyout market and sign with a contender. The Wizards aren't anything close to a contender, but will never be high enough in the lottery to have a significant upgrade for their team. That is the definition of mediocre. They finally admitted to not being able to develop Rui Hachimura and traded him for pennies on a dollar. Kyle Kuzma and Kristaps Porzingis may really like it in Washington and want to stay there, but it still is an awkward fit with neither of them being lockdown defenders and preferable power forwards, for their respective reasons. DC will never be a hot commodity when it comes to being a free agent destination. The narrative with Bradley Beal has been the same for years now, we have to appreciate and respect his loyalty to Washington but would rather see him play meaningful basketball. He is on a supermax contract with the likes of Steph Curry, LeBron James, Giannis Antetekounmpo, etcetera but to be quite frank he is just not on that level of player production. Beal knows it. Wizards management knows it. Me personally, I like watching this Wizards team without Beal. Guys like Deni Advidja are solid pieces to have for a rebuild. For the Wizards, it's been time. 

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4. PORTLAND TRAILBLAZERS

Another broken record, Damian Lillard and the Portland Trailblazers man. The Suns just traded for Kevin Durant and the Mavericks just traded for Kyrie Irving, do I really need to say more?! Jerami Grant is nice but he is not enough help to compete in this wild west. I respect Dame obviously for his loyalty, but man it is such a broken record how bad NBA fans would not blame him for going to a contender. Anfernee Simons was on fire last season when Dame was out with his injury. Now that Dame is back, Simons and Dame do not look the best on the court together. Simons has a much different game than CJ McCollum. It would be nice if Portland ever did commit to a rebuild and stop being mediocre. They traded away Josh Hart, a win-now wing player and got much younger with Cam Reddish and Mattise Thybulle. Rather Hart was going to stay past this season or not, Lillard going into every press conference saying he wants to stay and compete for a championship does not coincide with the front office moves. A rebuild with building blocks of Anfernee Simons, Shaedon Sharpe, Cam Reddish, and whatever they got back in a Dame trade sounds amazing though.

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5. MIAMI HEAT

Outside of getting Kyle Lowy and signing him to what has been not the best contract, the Miami Heat have looked the exact same from when they made Finals in the bubble. The Big 3 of Herro, Butler, and Bam, is great. But the surrounding pieces just is not enough. In an eastern conference with Giannis and Brook Lopez, Joel Embiid, Jayson Tatum, Al Horford, Robert Williams, and even Jarrett Allen, and Evan Mobley, the Heat have a small backcourt with Bam and Martin. Miami lost PJ Tucker over the offseason and have looked much worse, still needing to find that replacement. With that being said, the Heat will still most likely be the five seed with Brooklyn losing its two best players, that still should not have been a good enough reason for Miami to do nothing all deadline. I'd hope they sign someone like Nerlens Noel or Will Barton in the buyout market just to give a postseason some run, but as of right now, the Heat are stuck. They were in the KD sweepstakes a bit but that obviously fell through. Bam and Herro are obviously a great duo and should not go anywhere and should keep them afloat. It would be hard for them to just blow it up and trade Jimmy, but the Heat are not in a position to beat Boston, Milwaukee, or Philly, whom all improved this offseason and trade deadline, unlike Miami. Erik Spoelstra and Pat Riley always find a way, so I will not count them out, but things do not look good right now. 

I will spare a team like the Timberwolves since they traded for Mike Conley who is a better fit than D'Angelo Russell and this is their first season together. The Lakers almost made the list had they not have the trade deadline they did, we will see how that turns out.