12. Sacramento Kings
If you never got a chance to watch the Sacramento Kings this past season, then I think you really missed out. They might have the most fun young group of players to watch in the league and they seemed to get better every time I saw them.
De’Aaron Fox is the next great point guard in the league and Buddy Hield can get hot at any second. I think the Kings have a really similar model to what the Trail Blazers have with Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum (early stages of course), and that should be the blueprint they try to mimic as they try to keep building around their backcourt.
11. Portland Trail Blazers
Speaking of the Portland Trail Blazers, here they are! The Blazers are really a testament to not blowing up a group just because they aren’t going to win a title. Before their recent run to the Western Conference Finals, there seemed to be an annual discussion about whether or not the Blazers should blow up their roster and start again.
You don’t really hear any of that chatter now. This past year may have been their ceiling, but they already locked up Lillard, McCollum, and Jusuf Nurkic for the next several years, so it would be a shock if they aren’t still a perennial playoff team three seasons from now.