The preseason is supposed to be a time for unbridled enthusiasm. Perhaps, with a new coach, new players, maybe even a new uniform, things are supposed to be better this year.
A season preview, on the other hand, is the time to squash that hope and bring you back to reality.
A number of teams will compete for the playoffs, but your team might not be one of them. There's nothing worse than hearing that the rut your team was in all last season is deeper than ever.
ESPN the Magazine's Ric Bucher says that it might take a while for Warriors GM Chris Mullin and new head coach Mike Montgomery to turn around the Warriors, who have been in one of the league's bigger ruts for quite some time. Today, Insider looks at five other teams that will struggle mightily to break out of their losing cycle.
LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS
Starting Five: Marko Jaric, Kerry Kittles, Corey Maggette, Elton Brand, Chris Kaman
Key Subs: Chris Wilcox, Shaun Livingston, Zeljko Rebraca, Bobby Simmons
Outlook: Here we go again. It has been seven years since the Clippers made a playoff appearance. By the end of this season, make it eight.
Clippers • Team page
• Schedule
• Roster
Predictions
Marc Stein: 15th in West
Chad Ford: 14th in West
Mag: Clippers capsule
It almost didn't have to be that way. Some still don't believe, but Kobe Bryant seriously was considering bolting the Lakers for the Clippers this summer. He was so serious that the night before he made his decision, the Clippers actually were confident they had the biggest prize of the offseason.
Oh, well. Like everything that touches the Clippers, good is never really good enough. This year the Clippers sport a roster filled with talented players. Brand is an All-Star. Maggette quietly has improved every season and appears on the brink of stardom. Coach Mike Dunleavy is in love with center Kaman, claiming he could be a more athletic version of Brad Miller.
The Clippers even have a little depth. Rival GMs called incessantly this summer, trying to pry away sixth man Wilcox. This year's lottery pick, 6-foot-7 point guard Livingston, might have been the best prospect in the 2004 draft.
Factor in solid role players like point guard Jaric and newly acquired shooting guard Kittles, and the Clippers should be a playoff team ... right?
Sure. If they played in the Eastern Conference, we might be inclined to rank them fourth right behind the Pistons, Pacers and Heat (we could say that about all the Western Conference teams on this list, however).
Alas, the poor Clippers play in the West, and any shot at the playoffs walked out the door right alongside Kobe and Quentin Richardson. The team lacks the experience, continuity, requisite depth or leadership it takes to make a run in the Wild West.
The guys will play hard. They'll win some games and make a spectacular play or two. Then we can start talking about next year, that $10 million-plus in cap room and dreams of Tony Parker, Ray Allen or Michael Redd moving to L.A. and finally leading this team back into the playoffs.
The Bulls' Nocioni (right) and the Raptors' Bosh are talented players on teams headed nowhere.
CHICAGO BULLS
Starting Five: Kirk Hinrich, Ben Gordon, Andres Nocioni, Tyson Chandler, Eddy Curry
Key Subs: Luol Deng, Antonio Davis, Eric Piatkowski, Othella Harrington.
Outlook: Fool us once, shame on you. Fool us twice, shame on us. That's the mantra among the media and fans after we all fell head over heels for the Bulls last preseason.
After six seasons of misery, the Terri-Bulls sure looked like a playoff contender from afar last year. It took all of about two weeks of regular season games to show us how wrong we were.
Curry couldn't rebound or defend. Chandler, when he was healthy, couldn't score. Jamal Crawford jacked up a shot every chance he got. If it wasn't for a stellar rookie season from Hinrich, the Bulls might have been looking at the No. 1 pick in the draft last season.
GM John Paxson, fed up with the team's underachieving ways, started cleaning house this summer. He shipped Crawford to the Knicks and sent Marcus Fizer to the Bobcats (thus erasing the disastrous 2000 draft from the record books). He passed on unproven high school talent in the draft to take two proven collegiate winners: Gordon and Deng. Then he added the most coveted international free agent in the world, Andres Nocioni.
Where will it get this team? The Bulls will be tougher. They will have more fight in them every night. They may even win a handful more games than their recent predecessors.
But the truth? The oldest player in the Bulls' top six rotation is Nocioni – a rookie at the ripe old age of 25. Hinrich is 23 and has just one year of experience in the league. Chandler is 22. Curry and Gordon are 21. Deng doesn't turn 20 until April.
How does anyone expect to win with a team like this? The answer is ... the Bulls don't. Paxson hasn't uttered the dreaded "R" word all summer, but he's rebuilding the Bulls again. Jerry Krause's multiple rebuilding plans have failed, and it's time for Paxson to exorcise the demons.
That means he isn't done. Expect Curry to be gone before the trading deadline to make the transformation complete. He's the poster child for all that has ailed the Bulls these last four or five years.
Then look for Paxson to do something Krause couldn't. He'll use some of his young players as pawns in an attempt to trade them for youngish veterans who know how to win now.
The rebuilding shouldn't take another five or six years this time. But for this season at least, the Bulls will be playing for the lottery. Hopefully for one last time.
PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS
Starting Five: Damon Stoudamire, Derek Anderson, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Zach Randolph, Theo Ratliff
Key Subs: Darius Miles, Nick Van Exel, Ruben Patterson, Joel Przybilla
Outlook: Whenever a large group of unstable, pot-loving, foul-mouthed players inhabits an NBA team for too long, a curse is born ...
It's sounds like the intro to a Halloween movie, but you might want to ask Portland GM John Nash if he believes in curses after all the Blazers have gone through the last year.
Nash was hired with the idea he'd exorcise the demons that haunt the franchise, infuse the team with "high character" guys and all would be right in Portland again. Sure.
Nash came up with team rules, moved ringleader Rasheed Wallace, brought in solid citizens like Abdur-Rahim and Ratliff. In return, what did he get?
The same bad press that has haunted the Blazers for the last decade.
Randolph was involved in a shooting investigation this summer. Qyntel Woods, in addition to being busted for marijuana possession, is being questioned by police for dog abuse. Even Abdur-Rahim, who never has acted out before in his career, suddenly went mental this summer demanding a trade and claiming he wouldn't report to camp if the Blazers didn't move him.
And then, in a move that left just about everyone in the league speechless, the Blazers traded for Van Exel so that he and Stoudamire could tutor first-round draft pick Sebastian Telfair. If the thought of Van Exel and Stoudamire tutoring anyone doesn't scare you, nothing will.
The problems don't stop there. Despite the talent on this team, the Blazers have other issues that will start manifesting themselves as soon as the season gets underway.
Abdur-Rahim is not a small forward. He can't defend threes, knows he can't defend threes and knows he'll look bad, in a contract year, trying to get that done. That's partly why he still wants out.
Miles really came out of his shell last spring in Portland. Will he go back into now that he's being demoted to the bench – a move he believes isn't basketball-related? So far, in the preseason, he's reverted back to his 35-percent shooting from the field.
Randolph was a revelation on the court, but off the court he's a ticking time bomb. How much are the Blazers going to invest in a kid that everyone likes but no one trusts?
Ratliff is the glue that will hold the team together defensively, but you have to wonder how long his streak of injury-free games, an impressive 162, will last.
Anderson is playing well in the preseason, but he has played more than 70 games in a season only twice in his career.
Factor in that the 10 or so teams ahead of Portland have more depth and or/star power, and the Blazers shouldn't just consider themselves cursed – screwed may be the more appropriate word.
TORONTO RAPTORS
Starting Five: Rafer Alston, Vince Carter, Jalen Rose, Chris Bosh, Loren Woods
Key Subs: Donyell Marshall, Morris Peterson, Rafael Araujo, Alvin Williams (?)
Outlook: As Carter goes, so go the Raptors. If Vince is happy and healthy, the Raptors have enough talent to sneak up on some folks in the East. If he's surly and gimpy, the Raptors are in for another long season.
Here's why we think you should bet on the latter. Carter finally went public with his trade demand this summer after hinting at for more than year. Raptors' fans greeted him with a chorus of boos at his first preseason game. The reaction, as justifiable as it was, has pushed Carter even further away.
Is he really going to be willing to drive to the basket knowing everyone in the crowd is hoping he gets knocked to the deck? Is he really going to play through his next bout of jumper's knee after he confessed this is really all about Vince?
You know the answer, and so do his teammates, who have grumbled privately that the Raptors should grant Vince his wish. Right now GM Rob Babcock is holding firm, in part because teams aren't offering enough for Vince to make the trade worthwhile.
In the meantime, the Raptors will have to make do. Carter isn't a fan of Rose, the team's second-best scorer, nor does he like new lead point guard Alston.
Rookie Bosh has enormous potential, but he's likely to be stuck playing the center position again this year. So far, rookie center Araujo and free-agent signee Woods have shown flashes, but that doesn't get you far once the regular season starts.
The team's depth in the backcourt also is suspect now that it looks like Williams might not be able to play this season. Williams claims he has no cartilage left in his knee and is currently seeking recommendations from several specialists.
Maybe Carter has the right idea. He has complained for the past two summers that the team hasn't made enough moves to stay competitive. Without a true center, and with little to no depth in the backcourt should someone go down, the Raptors as we know them appear on the verge of extinction.
McMillan (right), teaching Nick Collison here, will be one of the Sonics' fall guys.
SEATTLE SUPERSONICS
Starting Five: Luke Ridnour, Ray Allen , Rashard Lewis, Reggie Evans, Vitaly Potapenko
Key Subs: Antonio Daniels, Vladimir Radmanovic, Nick Collison, Ronald Murray
Outlook: You might as well holler "dead man walking" every time head coach Nate McMillan walks in the room. For that matter, yell the same thing if owner Howard Schultz, GM Rick Sund or star player Allen passes by, too.
McMillan is in the last year of his contract. Rumors that Schultz would like out (a rumor he denies) won't go away. If Allen doesn't a cut a deal soon, he'll be gone, too.
It's not a matter of whether this bad experiment in Seattle will end, just a question of when. The Sonics, on paper, look like the most irrelevant team in the league.
The upside just isn't there. The young players are too far away. The older players are unhappy, ready to leave. The coach still is waiting around for the front office to stock the team with players who play the way he did – hard every night.
Allen is still one of the best two or three pure shooters in the league. But a rash of injuries, Father Time and some pretty big contract demands have lessened his stock over the past year.
Lewis always has appeared to be on the verge of stardom. But why hasn't he gotten over the hump? His lack of ball-handling and leadership skills often leave him with little to do but shoot jump shots.
Radmanovic, his backup, has been trying to get out of Seattle for a year. Like Lewis, he's skilled offensively, but he doesn't have a real position and has struggled trying to defend threes.
Daniels is the type of player, at point guard, that McMillan loves, but there's pressure from above to play second-year guard Ridnour. Ridnour is more of a playmaker than Daniels, but he can't defend his shadow.
Combine their all-offense, no-defense backcourt with their no-offense, no-defense, no-name front court of Evans, Collison, Danny Fortson, Potapenko and Jerome James and what do you have – possibly the worst team in the Western Conference this year.
That hasn't stopped the Sonics from proclaiming this is a do-or-die year for them. They claim the team will make the playoffs or bust.
It might be time for someone to put all of them out of their misery.
Chad Ford covers the NBA for ESPN Insider.
--------------------------------
Tuesday, October 26 Updated 11:34 AM EST
Rumor Central
Allen's ailment does not prevent brief sideline encounter with Kobe
WHO INTERESTED THE SKINNY
Ray Allen
Ray Allen
Sonics
Kobe Bryant?
Oct. 26 - Let's play the feud, Part II.
The second installment of Ray Allen vs. Kobe Bryant did not provide a full sequel in San Diego as hoped. Allen's stiff lower back sidelined him for the Sonics-Lakers' second preseason battle, thus lowering the temperature on the war of words between the All-Star guards.
Still, they did have an oncourt confrontation in San Diego Arena. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports that when Bryant chased a ball out of bounds in front of the Sonics' bench, he confronted Allen.
"I'll see you again," Bryant told Allen, who two weeks ago criticized Bryant for his selfishness. Bryant initially dismissed those comments, but Sunday reportedly walked out of a pre-game interview session after an Allen-oriented question was asked. "Don't put me and him in the same sentence," Bryant said in the Los Angeles Times.
On Monday, Allen labeled the feud "a dead issue." Bryant told reporters, "I'm tired of talking about Ray. Next question."
Sonics center Jerome James told Bryant to mind his own business in less-than-kind fashion, the P-I reports. Bryant's teammate Lamar Odom told the Sonics' bench that Allen "knows he started it."
The teams do not meet in the regular season until Dec. 14. Said Allen: "We play each other four times during the year. I won't get my drawers in a twist over this game."
WHO INTERESTED THE SKINNY
Michael Finley
Michael Finley
Mavs
Mavs
Oct. 26 - Finley, who once owned a streak of 490 consecutive NBA regular-season games played, might be on the bench come the Mavs' season opener.
The Dallas Morning News reports Finley's bothersome left hamstring might sideline him the remainder of the preseason. Even though the former iron man is aiming to be in the lineup for the Nov. 2 season opener, the Mavs might be cautious enough to keep him sidelined until they are satisfied he is healed.
With rising star Marquis Daniels bothered by a left ankle injury, two-fifths of the Mavs' projected starting lineup is sidelined. Josh Howard could replace Daniels, and Jerry Stackhouse might replace Finley in starting lineup come the season opener, the Morning News reports.
WHO INTERESTED THE SKINNY
Samuel Dalembert
Samuel Dalembert
76ers
76ers Oct. 25 - The Sixers probably won't offer Samuel Dalembert a contract extension until next summer, the Philadelphia Daily News reports. Instead of picking up Dalembert's fourth-year option before the Oct. 31 deadline, the team will likely give the 23-year-old center a $2,360,935 qualifying offer, which would keep him a restricted free agent. "This isn't a major disagreement, just two sides that haven't been able to come to an agreement," president/general manager Billy King told the newspaper. "So it's better to wait."
WHO INTERESTED THE SKINNY
Jayson Williams
Jayson Williams
Retired
Cavs?
Mavs? Oct. 23 - Former Nets' star forward Williams, who was acquitted of aggravated manslaughter in the shooting death of a limousine driver, is attempting an NBA comeback.
Nearly three weeks after a Newsday report surfaced that Williams was attempting a comeback with the Mavericks comes news that he actually had a tryout Oct. 21 with the Cavaliers. Williams, 36, reportedly has been working out with such NBA stars as the Clippers' Elton Brand during the summer and reportedly is in great shape.
"He wants to play," coach Paul Silas told the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "We worked him out a little bit, and he can still play. He can certainly help somebody."
Silas, who coached Williams as a Nets' assistant in the 1990s, said he did not know if the Cavs are interested.
A jury found Williams not guilty of aggravated manslaughter and nine other charges in the shooting and killing of limousine driver Costas "Gus" Christofi on the night of Feb. 14, 2002. Williams was convicted of hindering apprehension, tampering with witnesses, tampering with evidence and fabricating physical evidence.
Last year, Williams and Christofi's family settled a wrongful death civil lawsuit out of court. Williams was forced into retirement after he broke his leg on April 1, 1999. According to the Oct. 3 Newsday report, Williams has told friends that the insurance on the $86 million contract he signed with the Nets in the 1990s expires soon.
In January, Williams faces a retrial on a reckless manslaughter charge. The jury deadlocked on that in his criminal trial. Williams hopes prosecutors will not pursue that charge, Newsday reported.
WHO INTERESTED THE SKINNY
Wally Szczerbiak
Wally Szczerbiak
Wolves
Knicks?
Oct. 23 - Wally Szczerbiak, who earlier in training camp said unhappy with the prospect of being a sixth man for the Timberwolves, makes no secret of his interest in becoming a Knick.
The New York Daily News reports Long Island native Szczerbiak welcomes the chance to join the Knicks, even though a deal to make that a reality was nixed this past summer.
"They've always been an exciting team that I would love to play for. That's home for me," said Szczerbiak, who scored 20 points in the Timberwolves' 20-point preseason rout of the Knicks on Oct. 22.
According to the Daily News, the Timberwolves turned down an offer of Kurt Thomas -- the frontline force they covet -- and Moochie Norris for Szczerbiak because of Norris' contract.