One Question For Each NBA Team In The 2024-2025 Southeast Division

The NBA season is around the corner, and to preview the upcoming year, our group of experts has been asked to think of one question for every team.

Here it is for the Southeast division!

Miami Heat: How good are they when they are healthy?

On paper, this is a deep team. At the risk of sounding like Gene Autry, you have Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro, Terry Rozier, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Nikola Jovic, Haywood Highsmith, Duncan Robinson, Josh Richardson, Kevin Love, Alec Burks, Kevin Love, and whoever else head coach Erik Spoelstra inevitably pulls out of the rough. That’s at least 12 (maybe more, depending on how NBA-ready Kel’el Ware/Pelle Larsson are) rotation-caliber players. 

The issue is that we never saw this core healthy (sixth in cash lost to injuries, per Spotrac). So, we have no true expectation of how good they are. 

Historically, championship teams usually have at least one regular-season lineup that features most or all of their best players, plays at least 300 non-garbage time possessions, and posts a +9 point differential per 100. 

Last season, the Heat didn’t have a single lineup that met this criteria (they only had one lineup that played at least 300 non-garbage time possessions together, per Cleaning the Glass). The closest thing they had was a +10.9 per 100 with Robinson, Highsmith, Butler, Adebayo, and Kyle Lowry (162 possessions together). However, Lowry isn’t even on the team anymore.

How hard can this version of the Heat throw their best fastball? Do they have a lineup that meets the description needed for a championship-level footprint? Only 2024-25 will tell (hopefully). – Mat Issa

Orlando Magic: Will the added shooting help catapult them up the standings? 

Heading into the new season, Orlando’s arrow points sharply upwards. Their young core, led by 21-year-old Paolo Banchero and 23-year-old Franz Wagner, nearly won a playoff series against the Cavs. The Magic return their entire rotation outside of Markelle Fultz and signed proven two-way complementary guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to buoy the three-point shooting.

Orlando’s offense last year ranked 22nd in the league by offensive rating, 29th in three-point attempts per game and 24th in three-point percentage. Climbing the Eastern Conference ladder will require offensive progression. Adding Caldwell-Pope and first-round pick Tristan Da Silva should improve Orlando’s spacing, but Banchero and Wagner’s growth will be paramount.

The Magic will rely on developments in Banchero’s decision-making and efficiency and a three-point bounce back from Wagner. Their third-ranked defense, captained by elite defensive talent in Jalen Suggs, Jonathan Isaac, Wagner, and Caldwell-Pope, should continue to smother teams. 

Wendell Carter Jr., Mo Wagner and Goga Bitadze form the league’s deepest center group. Their 2023 lottery picks, Anthony Black and Jett Howard, could establish themselves as rotation pieces. Elite defense and physicality should maintain Orlando’s floor as a solid playoff team. Progression from their young stars on the offensive end could vault the Magic into the upper crust of Eastern Conference contenders. – Ben Pfeifer 

Atlanta Hawks: Will Trae Young + the wings look like a winning formula?

I don’t expect this question to be immediately answered this season. Among the forwards integral to its outcome is rookie and No. 1 overall pick Zacharrie Risacher, who will certainly not reach his final form at 19. The same goes for 21-year-old Dyson Daniels and 22-year-old Jalen Johnson.

Alongside Trae Young, those three are the foundation of this shift in philosophy from the Atlanta Hawks. Two years of pairing Young with fellow All-Star Dejounte Murray resulted in only a pair of playoff wins and consecutive regular seasons defined by incongruent, uninspiring basketball. 

So, Atlanta pivoted this summer and pulled the plug on the Young-Murray partnership. It dealt Murray to the New Orleans Pelicans in exchange for Daniels, Larry Nance Jr., Cody Zeller. E.J. Liddell, and two first-round picks. 

The Hawks are test-driving another strategy around Young. They drifted away from Young plus shooters a few seasons back. Then, Young, plus another high-level initiator, didn’t deliver. This idea is new for them, prioritizing young, big wings with defensive panache and connective offensive skills next to their 26-year-old franchise centerpiece. 

Young displayed substantial growth defensively last season and remained a brilliant offensive engine behind his delightful passing, relentless paint pressure, and long-range gusto. But the Hawks have never ranked higher than 16th defensively in his six seasons, featuring four seasons of 26th or lower. 

Much of the bet here is that flanking him with size and defense on the perimeter can buck that trend while relying on his immense offensive mastery to carry the load — despite a dip in surrounding creation talent. 

Maybe that doesn’t quite all come to fruition in 2024-25, but the upcoming season will represent the first sample of this experiment. The outline of a lucrative or stagnant future could materialize, offering some clarity on the viability of this direction.

Young is entering his prime. He is very, very good, capable of shepherding prosperous teams in the proper setting. Determining whether this new era can soon be that setting begins in a few weeks. – Jackson Frank 

Charlotte Hornets: How dynamic can an offense led by LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller Be? 

Much like the Grizzlies, can we please pray for the health of the Charlotte Hornets? 

This is an incredibly important season for the Hornets. New management, new ownership, and a new coaching staff will all get a chance to assess the future with their core of Ball, Miller, and big man Mark Williams. The trio played 153 minutes together last season before Ball went down with another ankle injury, but the Hornets played well, boasting a +5.8 net rating in those minutes. 

Head Coach Charles Lee will try to get buy-in from his team to play some defense. They were woeful last year, ranking 29th in the league in defensive rating, and the best they’ve ever ranked with Ball on the roster was 16th. 

Still, that end will ultimately be a work in progress. The real insight I’m looking for is on the other end between Ball and their versatile, do-it-all wing, Miller – who got to explore the depths of his creation juices throughout his rookie year and was utterly unleashed in the second half of the season, dominating as an on-ball creator who was gradually improving as a playmaker. 

Miller has the makings of a true wing star in this league. How much does Ball complement or deter that? Will Ball be able to move off the ball more often to provide Miller the space to grow, or will Miller be relegated to finding his way off the ball (an area he’s excellent in)? Nonetheless, chances are that the answer is somewhere in between. And that if the Hornets know what’s best for them, they find a way to blend Ball’s cerebral playmaking and potent shooting ability with Miller’s own off-ball dynamism and on-ball craft. 

I’m tentatively willing to say Charlotte’s future is bright, but I’d like to see them healthy first. — Es Baraheni

Washington Wizards: What identity are you trying to rebuild with? 

It’s obvious that the Wizards aren’t trying to win games this season. They’re an extremely young roster with some intrigue (including some veterans they can ship off midway through the season) that is still trying to play for lottery balls.

Still, what is the purpose with which they’re building? How does the ideal version of these Wizards, with Bilal Coulibaly, Alex Sarr, Bubb Carrington, Corey Kispert, and company, play? What do they try and lean on? What strengths do they have? 

Immediately, my mind goes to the defense. Sarr and Coulibaly have shown promise on that end, and the latter could very well become an All-Defense level player sooner rather than later. The ideal version of this team battles on that end of the floor nightly to win games on the margins while hoping that some of their offensive-minded veterans like Malcolm Brogdon, Jonas Valanciunas, and Jordan Poole can help lift them on the other end. 

That being said, it is really hard to get a young, rebuilding team not interested in winning to buy into defense. After all, they were 28th last season for a reason. 

Best of luck, Wizards fans. Hang in there. — Es Baraheni