23/30 rankers reporting this week. /NBA's Power Rankings are published every two weeks which is a bit different from most rankings. Other than that we rank the teams the same way as our competition. If write ups are left blank the team rep decided not to submit. We encourage any user to fill in the blanks in the comment section. Rankings were supposed to be completed prior to Today's games.

#	Team	Δ	Record	Comment
1	Clippers	+1	16-5	Kawhi and PG are the best duo in the league right now. Lou has slowed down a bit, but Batum has really stepped up. Finally, Lue is experimenting a lot with the rotations, so I'm eager to see which rotations end up being the best. Things look good.
2	Lakers	-1	15-6	Lakers have been a mixed bag since the last Power Rankings. After a loss to GSW on Jan 18th in which Oubre actually played well, the team rattled off 3 straight wins in the Midwest (MIL, CHI, CLE) as they began their longest road trip of the season. Their momentum was interrupted by two straight losses to PHI (Tobias Gamewinner) and DET (completely stagnant offense with no AD) before a tight victory against BOS. Overall the team has been leaning on Lebron and AD fairly hard as the 6th Men work to find chemistry still. Vogel continues varying minutes and lineups to learn more of how to unlock this team's full potential commenting on Caruso's minutes being stabilized to keep him healthy for the Playoffs while maximizing his impact while he's on the floor. Lakers dropping to 3rd in the conference as UTA and LAC stay strong while PHI remains the eminent power in the East puts the Lakers as 4th in the League's power rankings.
3	Jazz	+3	15-5	You might not know it but we are currently witnessing the greatest 3 point shooting season by a team in NBA History. The Utah Jazz set a NBA record for three pointers in a month (making 285 in January), are currently averaging the most threes per game in NBA history (17.0) and shooting 40.0% from beyond the arc. This has been the biggest catalyst for Utah's success in 2020-21 as the team has won 11 of 12 games and currently ranks 2nd in the league by W/L record despite lacking a traditional offensive superstar duo like most of the league's top teams. Mike Conley continues to lead the league in +/-, Jordan Clarkson leads all bench scorers in points per game and with opposition teams scoring 14.5 points per 100 possessions fewer with Rudy Gobert on the court, the Stifle Tower remains the premier defender in the NBA.
4	76ers	+1	15-6	Going 6-1 in this last stretch with Embiid playing at an MVP level would certainly be enough to justify the Sixers' ranking this week, but everyone knows what this was all about. The Sixers passed their first true test against the Lakers and, while they may have needed a game winner at the end, they led the game with a relatively comfortable margin almost wire to wire almost every other minute. With Ben Simmons looking much more aggressive, health finally returning to the starting lineup, and Embiid playing at his top level, the Sixers have earned their spot as a title contender. The team may look rough without Embiid (needing to beat a 16 point deficit in the 4th to get their first Embiid-less win), but their title hopes live and die with him anyway.
5	Nets	-1	13-9	The Nets offense has been historic in the few games with the Big 3. Unfortunately, the defense has been too - and for all the wrong reasons. The Nets filled out 2 of our roster spots with Norvel Pelle and Iman Shumpert, two defensive minded guys that won't have to offer much offensively. Look for them to use our remaining roster spot during the buyout market on another center.
6	Nuggets	+6	12-8	The Nuggets may have read the last rankings, as they took the "trending in the right direction" blurb and rode it to the Moon, finishing January as winners of 6 of their last 7 games. While the impact of Michael Porter Jr. returning from the protocol cannot be understated, the team has played more cohesive basketball recently, and the supporting cast around Nikola Jokic has stepped up to the task and returned to last season's form. The Nuggets have plenty of winnable games on the slate for February, which will be vital for the team to carry momentum into the early playoffs this season in March.
7	Bucks	-4	11-8	Things have not looked up for the Bucks since our last rankings, going 2-4 in 6 games. During that stretch opposing teams have shot us out of the gym. In the last 3 games, we gave up more points from 3 than in any 3 game stretch in NBA history. It's hard to say how much of this is due to bad luck, but the scheme certainly isn't helping and boy is it hard to watch.
8	Celtics	-1	10-8	Imma be real. I marked tf out while watching the Royal Rumble (typing this about 2 hours after it ended) and jumped when I shouldn't have, and absolutely murdered my head on the ceiling and I'm like a solid 80% sure I gave myself a concussion as I'm feeling nauseous and my head hurts really bad and I've lost my balance a bit. The show must go on though, just like the Celtics must go on after the injury to Marcus Smart. What looked like an absolutely brutal injury on the slowmo replay turned out to be just a calf strain, and he's expected to be out 2-3 weeks. Since the last rankings the Celtics are 2-4, but Tatum is finally back so things are at least somewhat looking up. We might use the TPE on the corpse of JJ Redick too so... Yay? Between now and the next rankings the Celtics play 8 times, with matchups against the Warriors, Kings, Clippers, Suns, Jazz, Raptors, Pistons, and Wizards. Now if you all will excuse me, I think I'm going to go to the hospital.
9	Pacers	--	11-9	The Pacers went an uninspiring 3-5 over the past two weeks, capped off by an abysmal loss to a Joel Embiid-less 76ers team in which they held a 16 point lead with 8 minutes to go. Indiana still has barely played at full strength this season, and they will be waiting a while longer, as T.J. Warren still has not returned from a foot injury. In bittersweet news, Pacers fans will have to wait for Caris LeVert to make his team debut, but thankfully, he is expected make a full recovery after a cancerous mass was removed from his kidney.
10	Suns	-2	10-8	Some ups and downs recently but still staying afloat despite suffering various injuries (Booker and Payne) and COVID positive tests (Saric, Jones, Smith). The team's biggest strugles have been in crunchtime, evident as the Suns were leading within 2:15 left in regulation in five their last six losses. They are a good enough team to be 15-3 but have played poorly enough in key moments to deserve their 10-8 record.
11	Trail Blazers	-1	10-8	As long as Damian Lillard dons the scarlet and black, Portland will never be a bottom dweller. The six points in 8 seconds he put up against Chicago is likely a top 10 career moment (so far), and helped right the ship in Portland after a rough few games. Helping him along the way has been Gary Trent Jr, who has averaged 21 points on incredible efficiency in the three games he's started for injured CJ McCollum. That said, with all the injuries, not even herioc efforts from Portland's remaining guards will be able to stave off losses for long. If Portland hopes to stay in the playoff pictures they desperately need at least some of their supporting cast to stay healthy - particularly Robert Covington and Derrick Jones Jr - until Nurkic and McCollum can return.
12	Grizzlies	+3	8-6	Ja has returned earlier than expected, and we have been winning more than our share of games. Young sharpshooter Desmond Bane is looking like another steal for the Grizzlies late in the draft.
13	Warriors	+1	11-9	Since last rankings Warriors sported a top 5 defense. They are now 11th overall in DRating. Wiseman has had a couple of great games despite being benched in favor of Looney in the starting line up. Steph is at 40% from 3 and is sitting 4th quarters. Warriors have had a light schedule these past couple weeks and go on a road trip facing mini series against the Mavs and Spurs after their home game against the Celtics tomorrow.
14	Spurs	-1	11-9	It's been a bit of an up-and-down stretch for the Spurs the last two weeks, with some huge wins (namely over Portland, Denver and Boston) coupled with some frustrating losses (Golden State and Memphis). However, despite the frustrating parts, the Spurs have looked more consistent and cohesive as an overall roster this season than at really any point last season (maybe The Bubble notwithstanding), and we've done that while getting only two games from arguably our Bubble MVP in Derrick White, who returned against Memphis over the weekend. The Spurs in particular have been incredibly adept at taking care of the ball (1st in the league at only 11 TO/G) and currently hold the best Assist:TO ratio in league history, according to the Spurs' broadcast over the weekend—quite an impressive achievement for a young team indeed! With White returning, expect the Spurs to continue to be a surprising annoyance to the top teams in the league, as Dejounte Murray continues to take the next step in his evolution as a player, DeMar continues to "overperform" as the league's 82nd best player, and with Keldon Johnson making waves with his hyper-aggressive, energetic style of play. Looking ahead, the Spurs have a chance for revenge tonight against Memphis, along with games against Minnesota, Houston, a B2B against Golden State, and a game against Atlanta over the next two weeks.
15	Hawks	+6	10-9
16	Rockets	+9	9-9	Having to navigate through injuries, sickness, and trades has made Silas's job a very difficult one in his rookie season as a head coach. Now that he finally has a handle on the lineup, he is doing a fantastic job. The WOW trio has gelled very well together, the defense is locked in, and a couple of undrafted rookies in Tate and Jones are exceeding all expectations. This combination of factors has propelled the Rockets to a 5W streak. Who knows? Maybe Oladipo will stay after all.
17	Mavericks	-6	8-12	To put it lightly, it's been a rough first month+ of the season. Porzingis is still battling staying healthy, the team has been hit by Covid, which has made it hard to build chemistry, and the team is not hitting 3s. The Mavs rank dead last in the league in 3P%, yet are a team that lives and dies by the 3. Luckily for them, their 3 point defense has been efficient, and should continue to stay in the top 10 with their best defenders returning. As the schedule eases up, the next two weeks will be a crucial test for the Mavs.
18	Hornets	+2	9-11	It’s been an up and down season for the Hornets so far, alternating winning and losing streaks and attempting to stay afloat in East playoff (or at least play-in) contention. Gordon Hayward has shown he’s a viable #1 option; he can easily average 20+ PPG all season as long as he’s healthy. Back to back wins against the Pacers and Bucks (the second including an excellent performance from rookie LaMelo Ball) show that the Hornets are better than NBA media said we’d be, and that feels good. Also, LaMelo Ball and Miles Bridges, a.k.a. Air BnB, is a combination to watch for in the future, which is looking brighter for Charlotte every day!
20	Cavaliers	-1	9-11	Our already bad offense has trailed off over the last few games, leading to us losing 4 of 5. The shots just aren’t falling, no matter where they’re coming from. This team desperately needs the return of Kevin Love for his offensive output and space creation. Defenses are swarming Sexland, leading to contested shots, or shots having to come late in the clock from Okoro, Nance, or Drummond. Opponents will keep doing exactly that until we figure out how to punish.
20	Raptors	+3	8-12	More disappointing weeks from the raptors. Our only wins against good teams seem to be coming from teams plagued by injuries or Covid (Dallas/Miami), with one nice win coming against Indiana. Our 4th quarter play continues to struggle, our defence is a shell of its former self, and our overall effort on the court seems abysmal. Thankfully there’s been some bright spots in Yuta Watanabe and Stanley Johnson, but the team still appears unclear of its direction. Too good to tank, and not good enough to win.
21	Knicks	+2	9-12	"Quickness is the essence of war" -Sun Tzu
22	Heat	-5	7-12	Things haven't gone much better since the last time we checked in. We finally ended our losing skid and we've got Jimmy Butler back, so things should start trending up. The majority of our losses during our winless streak were with a point difference of 10 or less points, but we also got shellacked by teams that I felt were on a similar level to ourselves. We're entering a comparitively easy stretch of opponents (record wise), but it's also against teams that have historically done well against us. We will also enter this stretch POTENTIALLY missing Tyler Herro after he had close contact with his housemate who's got COVID. Thankfully, the conference is still fairly close to each other so all we need is a nice stretch of games and we could see ourselves back in the middle of the hunt. It hurts to possibly lose Tyler again right after he came back but that's the unfortunate reality of the past year or so. :gem: :raised_hands:
23	Thunder	+1	8-10	For the first time since before Paul George injured his shoulder, we can say that Oklahoma City's roster is now performing about as well as expected. A DORT-led victory over rival Portland mere days after the announcement of a Lillard shoe commemorating that shot brought smiles and memes of schadenfreude to the fanbase despite several brutally uncompetitive losses to high-end teams like Brooklyn and LAC. Another bright spot has been Aleksej Pokusevski's improvement to possibly looking like an NBA player after all. Otherwise, the most exciting moment for Thunder fans lately has been watching old hero Russell Westbrook put on shows like old times in Washington this week.
24	Kings	+3	8-11	Now a over a month into the season the Kings remain within striking distance of a potential play-in seed. Given the feel around the team it would be quite fitting to end the playoff drought on a cinderella play-in run. The Kings have won three of their last four games, beating the Eastern Conference Powerhouse New York Knicks and only losing to the defending Eastern Conference Champions. This is in part thanks to Buddy Hield seeming to put his early shooting slump behind him and though Tyrese Haliburton has cooled off slightly, he's continued providing quality minutes off the bench.
26	Bulls	--	7-11	Look. I've seen a lot of "LaVine must be mad/wants out/can't carry" comments lately from non-Bulls-fans. I understand that most Bulls games aren't drawing tons of viewers, but as one of them I can promise yall that's not what's happening here. The Bulls are playing almost to the level we wanted them to be at, and it's not a LaVine carry job, though he is clearly our best player and an All-Star. The major errors on this team are mental, and our tough schedule so far is showing the effects of youth on a team's ability to close out. Unfortunately, starting C Wendell Carter Jr. will miss about 4 weeks with a quad injury, so although our schedule is set to get easier for now, the team is now counting on Thaddeus Young, Daniel Gafford, and god forbid Cristiano Felicio to pick up most of the center minutes.
26	Pelicans	-8	7-11	We kinda suck right now. The offense has started to get figured out, but in the meantime the defense has suffered a total and utter collapse. Pushing the pace has allowed Lonzo and others to come alive on the offensive end. But at the same time has sent them back into the same mindset as previous seasons, where the defensive end requires no effort and the team just tried to out score their opponents.
27	Magic	-11	8-13	Man, injuries suck and we suck. BIG TIME. At least Vuc has All-Star potential and Cole got this insane game winner.
28	Pistons	+2	5-15
29	Wizards	-1	4-12	Beating the Nets in probably the game of the year yesterday almost makes the three preceding blowout losses to the likes of New Orleans, John Wall, and Atlanta worth it.
30	TWolves	-1	5-14	The Wolves have not been very good without Karl-Anthony Towns but a bright spot for the team over the last 5 games has been Anthony Edwards who has been averaging 19 ppg over the last 5 games and showing signs that the NBA game is slowing down for him.

RoyalRoad
Index
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Some people have brought up the possibility of other restaurants competing against Rey's McDonald's. But the bigger concern for people in areas without a respect for rule of law isn't a burger war; it's a burger cartel. Like an economic cartel, not a drug cartel. Well… maybe both.
There are many theories on why so many of the human countries that went through peak industrialization during the early parts of the 20th century began to embrace democracy or civil liberties, and began to reject hereditary authoritarianism. One of them is rooted in the very economic nature of industrialization:
A society can't industrialize without basic education.
It is very difficult, not impossible as there are certainly exceptions, but very difficult still, for a government system to allow the level of education required by rapid modernization and still manage to maintain an iron grip on its people.
When the humans introduced a brand-new lifestyle to the galaxy, rulers and governments everywhere loved the products that they brought.
What's not to like? They made wealthy families feel like they were finally living in luxury, and quality of life clearly went up. Maybe they didn't need the labor saving devices as much given that they had servants, but no army of servants could build you a human automobile that went from zero to sixty in four seconds. Or entertain you like the latest blockbuster movies straight from Hollywood.
And many of these rulers did somewhat care for the needs of their people; that's how they kept their regimes going. They would like the ability to produce more food than their people could ever eat. To do so, farmers need to learn to use more advanced tools, which may require training.
They would like the ability to produce consumer goods in factories. They would like to be able to mass manufacture industrial goods. They would like to have engineers innovate and develop new technology to compete on the galactic market.
To achieve all of that, they needed to provide more education for their people. And people who have learned reading, writing, sciences, math, history, or even philosophy tend to start reading and even understanding some fairly dangerous ideas.
They start asking questions like:
"Who makes the rules for everything?"
"How are these beings chosen and what gives them the right?"
And the most dangerous question of all, "why is life so much better on other planets?"
Even before the blockade, the people of Zakabara Second had started asking themselves these questions. And when their genetic cousins on the homeworld were restricting their ability to trade with others for the prosperity they wanted, the Seconders were beginning to find some very uncomfortable answers to these questions.
Gakrek Low Orbit
"Gophor Tower, T-two one-four-eight, request clearance for landing pad," N'har said professionally into his microphone.
"T-two one-four-eight, cleared to approach pad eight," came the equally polished voice of the space control tower.
That was quick. Must be a slow day.
"Grayin, how's it going down there this early morning?" he asked, taking a bold little chance. Although every single space traffic controller in the galaxy tried very hard to practice their personalities out of their voices, he could tell by the smallest husk in the accent that it was her down there.
N'har could almost hear a smile in her voice as she replied, "not bad, N'har. Traffic's light so far. Clear skies, no wind."
Pushing his luck, he said, "I wasn't asking for the weather report Grayin, but thanks. How about you, my pretty Gak friend, how are you doing this fine morning?"
A little pause at the other end made him think maybe he'd gone a little far on the radio, then Grayin replied with a much more casual tone, "pretty good. My big sister and her husband are having a baby soon, and we had a big feast at their place last night. She roasted a whole chicken for the family! We even had some spices from Earth: paprika, pepper, rosemary, garlic…"
"Nice, nice," N'har chuckled, "if you reserve me a good pad next time I come by, maybe I'll bring you a real Earth chicken."
"Shhh N'har you know that's not allowed. We can't just give you a better landing pad, it's all about first come-" she started to recite official spaceport policy.
"It'll be one of those big, fat, juicy rotisserie chickens, straight from the Costco vendors," he continued without missing a beat, "I have a food warmer in the back of my ship, and it's just gonna smell-"
"Alright! Alright, if you come early tomorrow, maybe I can get you pad four," she replied before he could get into a more detailed description of the aromatic and mouth-watering nature of his cargo.
While N'har celebrated the little victory silently on his end, Grayin then asked, "speaking of food, have you heard of the new food store we have?"
"You mean that thing Enrico's been working on with his girlfriend for months?" he prodded, hoping she'd have some unique gossip he could tease Enrico about later. "He keeps asking me to bring things for it."
"Yeah, they just opened for business today," she said, looking out her window at the golden arches down the concrete spaceport near where the trader tents are, "it's called McDonald's… any idea why?"
"No idea. It's a human name. How does the business look?" N'har asked.
"Looks pretty good, they've got a line I can see all the way from here," Grayin said, squinting at the crowd in the distance, "actually, that's a really long line. I'm not sure if it's even open yet."
McDonald's, Gophor Location
It was a really long line. And it had just opened. More than a thousand creatures lined up in several long snaking back-and-forth columns, most of them Gaks. Luckily, the locals had a lot of experience lining up for food thanks to their experience with the Red Cross during the famine so there was no trouble there.
Enrico and Rey were not expecting this many creatures. The main target of the restaurant was supposed to be traders, not locals! In fact, Enrico didn't even remember this many people at the spaceport ever in all his time there.
The cost of a full meal was almost a week's worth of pay for a skilled worker! But they came anyway. Most of them were there just for the experience of ordering a hamburger from the human food store. Seeing the commotion, many of the traders with their spaceships on the landing pad also got in line.
N'har got in line, and asked one of the more enthusiastic Gaks in front of him, "how long do you think this line will take?"
The friendly looking creature looked back at him and replied, "the folks in front have been waiting since last night."
"Last night?" N'har gasped.
"Yeah, but the store just opened a while ago. The line is moving really quickly now," she hastily added, "you'll see. They call it fast food for a reason, right?"
Goripli had never seen a crowd this big waiting to buy from him before. His entire crew had been training for the past couple weeks to fulfill every order within sixty seconds of the customer getting to the front of the line, but to actually have to do it is a whole nother matter.
A new order lit up on his screen, another medium coke. Cup, ice, press the button, wait, lid, put it on the tray, straw. Repeat. He could do this in his sleep.
It wasn't exactly fulfilling work, but having this many people as customers was exciting. And the dream of the new battery operated toaster he was planning on getting after his first paycheck was very fulfilling.
After a while, he moved over to the fries station. Everyone who's ever worked a fries shift at McDonald's knows that it's simultaneously the easiest shift yet with the highest experience ceiling. The actual mechanical task is so easy it's usually the first station new fast food workers get stuck with. You just load the basket with frozen potatoes, dunk it into the oil vat, and when it's done, unload and pour some salt on it.
Once every few days, the oil needs to be changed, but not very often because it's so expensive that some restaurants call it liquid gold.
In the McDonald's handbook, the six enemies of oil are: carbon buildup, air, salt, heat, water, and detergent. The maintenance of the oil vat is a complex task that usually falls upon the manager to facilitate; it very often has a large impact on the profit margin of the business.
McDonald's oil used to be a substance called Formula 47: egregious amounts of frozen beef fat that looked like butter, mixed in with a small amount of the far more expensive vegetable oil. Some even credit the deliciousness of this formula as a big part of the success of McDonald's in the first place. Unfortunately, it was also prone to giving people heart attacks, so over the years they gradually switched to one that was mostly vegetable oil with a touch of beef flavoring, except in India.
Rey had looked at the possibility of bringing this beef tallow formula back given that her customers were mostly going to be aliens who may not be susceptible to the effects of saturated fats, but Chicago rejected it outright on the basis of liability. Oh well.
The most complex part about managing the fries shift for line workers, though, is not the cost of each ingredient. It's being able to anticipate and stagger the cooking loads, so they are fresh and ready right as customers order them. On Earth, this is done with a variety of methods including more recent experimental attempts at using AI. But mostly it's just done by workers checking the parking lot camera to see how many people there were.
Today, this was no problem. Goripli was just making as many as he could as fast as they could be made. The line outside stretched around the corner beyond the food tents. And almost everyone wanted the fried potatoes.
Traders Only
New Thread: New McDonald's opens at Gophor on Gakrek. First offworld restaurant!
Comment: I was there this morning. The line was long, but well worth the wait. I've heard one of my human friends describe one of these to me, but it just isn't quite the same as visiting one in person. 5/5
Comment: The fried potatoes are great. I wish I could give this more stars. 5/5
Comment: Had a full Big Mac meal while waiting for my reactor refueling. Gophor is now my new lunch spot. 5/5
Comment: Did they have the chicken nuggets they do on Earth?
Comment: Superb lunch. 3/5
Comment: I'm a vegetarian seriously regretting my species' choice of dietary restrictions in our evolution millions of years ago. This is not fair. Why don't Earth vegetarian chains open up offworld as well?
Comment: Haha you aliens are just discovering McDonald's and treating it as a gourmet food revolution? What's next? A Denny's on Bohor? Unbelievable!
Comment: Dude, you're making us look bad. Just let them have this one.
Thread restricted to non-human traders due to flame war.
Comment: I might have to actually go try this out tonight. Who's with me?
Enrico took a turn at the registers while one of the shift changes was going on. He hadn't done as much training as the crew, but order taking wasn't that hard. And Rey said it was important that he stood where the aliens could see him, as if to advertise that a human who knew what he was doing ran the restaurant.
The kiosk had plenty of pictures and wasn't designed to be hard, and none of these aliens were having that many custom requirements. If they tried to add a round egg to a big mac, he'd have to look around a bit, but most of the orders were simple.
Hamburger with meal.
Hamburger without meal.
Just the fried potatoes, please.
Would you like this for here or to go?
That'll be 7.25 credits. Thank you.
Move on to the next customer. It was pretty mind-numbing work, and the smile he had to put on his face was quickly becoming a permanent feature-
Enrico looked up and saw the next customer in line, and put on his best smile, "welcome to McDonald's! What can I get for you?"
Rey started the morning working the lobby and kicking herself inside for not getting one of those portable tablets that would allow her to take down orders from the long line stretching out the door. At least she could make herself useful greeting newcomers and making sure that they had someone to go to if there were complaints.
Not that they had any. The novelty of the restaurant, along with the high standards to which her employees trained, took care of that. The only slightly awkward moment was when a Gak child looked at her and asked why all the workers in the restaurant were smiling so hard.
Sometime around midday, she had to take a break, slinking off to the back of the kitchen near the storage area.
Enrico spotted her, and concerned, walked over to ask, "Rey, are you alright?"
Years of saving. Almost a year of planning and hard work. And going to bed in a sleeping bag on a hard mud floor. Her lifelong dream. It all caught up to her at that moment.
For once, Rey just didn't have the snarky words to describe her raw emotions. So, she settled for just hugging him in and dabbing the corner of her eyes on his apron.
He was surprised, but didn't hold her back. Their camaraderie ran far deeper than their official relationship of owner-manager. Returning her wordless embrace and gripping her tightly, he repeated, "I know, I know."
They did it.
Grob and Grood came in during the afternoon. The line still stretched beyond the tents, but a fresh shift and well practiced employees were quickly processing all the customers they had.
Before the opening, the pair had volunteered to be the subject for training for several of their employees, so they knew exactly what to order and what to expect. Several of the workers behind the counter who knew them gave them a knowing nod.
They managed to find a quiet two-person table near the entrance, where they sat, played with their food, and Grob pointed out various parts of the spaceport to his wife, who doesn't come down here often.
"Grob, Grood! Nice to see you guys make it," Rey smiled as she saw them, exhausted but still managing to put some excitement into her voice, "you guys got the usual?"
"Rey!" Grood was her usual excitable self, gesturing around the filled restaurant and line, "this is fantastic! Good work!"
"Thanks Grood. How's the food?" she asked, knowing what Grood would compare it to.
"Not bad, not bad at all. Not as good as my cooking of course," Grood winked mischievously, and then said, "but it's very, very filling."
Rey had been hearing this a lot. For a people whose supply of food was not guaranteed before, this was the best compliment Grood and the locals could have given her restaurant.
Gordorker and his clan showed up as well. It took multiple trips of cramming Gak children into the back, but the new pickup that they'd given Ghili helped. There was no special drive-through window, so she parked in an empty spot right next to the building and dropped them off.
As they entered the line, they started reading the menu off the big sign on the outside of the building. One of the difficulties in running a restaurant on Gakrek was that the lower than Earth levels of literacy made a large menu hard to explain to people. Luckily, there were many pictures, and all of Gordorker's children had learned to read at his insistence.
When it was their turn in line, Enrico saw them and came over. Nodding at Gordorker, he said, "your meals are on us." He typed in a code on the ordering machine and allowed them all to order however much food they wanted.
When they got their meals, they jibbered and jabbered over which item was whose and took in the smell of it all. Ghili and Garns critiqued the bun breads with professional eyes; they couldn't help themselves.
The younger kids loved it. Even though Gordorker and the valley was no longer as poor as he was before the famine, getting a large variety of food was still difficult. They often ate bread and potatoes for dinner. Meat or even other imported vegetables was an occasional treat.
Enrico had a fleeting image in his head of obese Gak children stuffing their face with fast food, but immediately discarded it out of his mind; there was certainly no risk of that on this hungry planet.
He cleared some space for the kids upstairs, so they could all sit together at a table. It was important to keep their future suppliers happy. Soon, they're going to need all the supply they can get.
Garber, the spaceport manager, got in line too. Enrico saw him and gave him his meal free, of course. Looking at the line and prices of food sold on the menus, it became obvious to him that he'd way undercharged the "donation fee" for this lot, but it would be dishonest for him to change it now.
It didn't matter anyway. As long as he could bum some more free meals off this restaurant in the future, he wasn't the kind of Gak to make a big fuss about it. Besides, the food portions were good.
The next restaurant on his spaceport, he thought, now that was an opportunity. After all, these kinds of businesses don't stand alone for long.
Laniers was a trader from the close planet of Olgix. Despite the recent ethnic conflict flare-up between the two species on her homeworld, they were still very much tied together by the space trade.
She liked the food, but that wasn't what really blew her mind. It was the lines out the door despite the prices on the menu. She realized right away that the business model targeted traders, and she suspected it would hold without an issue. Many space truckers were here, and more would come.
There was a lot of money to be made, and it didn't all have to be made here on Gakrek. Other planets could do this too, and the fact that most of the employees in the restaurant were Gak told her that this wasn't a human-exclusive venture.
Laniers sat there at a stool counter seat on the second floor for a while, and she decided that there was nothing about this place that couldn't also be replicated by the Olgs. It was just a big building that cooked imported goods and served them to more than willing customers with an even more enthusiastic crew.
And she was absolutely right. Despite what some humans thought about the aliens due to their initial lack of economy, they were certainly not stupid. If there was an opportunity humans could exploit, it didn't take that long for them to catch on.
Goripli finished his third consecutive shift and collected his free meal. After standing up all day and looking at his customers' food, he was getting hungry. Officially, he wasn't supposed to take any food from the kitchen, but that didn't stop anyone from sneaking a fried potato once in a while during his shift.
It was tiring work, but he knew it was good, honest work that paid a lot. Even on a good day when he was selling bagged soda, he didn't make nearly half as much as Rey was going to pay him today.
I'm going to work hard, Goripli decided, and maybe one day, my children will start one of these of their own.
It was an odd experience, Grayin reflected. The workers behind the counter were all smiling and extremely friendly, far more than any trader or vendor she'd ever met. Which contrasted hard with the speed and assembly line characteristics of every part of the operation that all seemed designed to get her the food she ordered and out of the store as quickly as possible.
Because they were.
As for the food, she almost regretted ordering the triple cheeseburger. It was massive: larger than her paws can hold! And then it came with a box of fried potatoes. And then a drink. They'd said that she could refill her drink, but she was worried she couldn't even get to the drink before she was full.
Was this how normal humans ate on Earth?
For a minute, she just sat at the table, staring out the second floor window at the spaceships taking off and landing in the background, contemplating what sort of culture and resource abundance would produce such a business. What kind of species would encourage such excesses-
"Oh hey, Grayin, you're here for the opening too?"
Grayin turned, recognizing the speaker, and said, "ah Zarko, no I actually didn't know it was opening until I got to work this morning. Just came by after work to see what it's all about."
"Aha. I was invited to the opening by a friend who saw an ad on Traders Only," Zarko pointed downstairs at where his friend was ordering their food, and said, "I've been to one of these before on Earth with human friends, but this is my first time seeing one of these this busy."
"So it's not always like this, for all of them?" she asked, almost disappointed.
"No, well, maybe it's different for each," Zarko conceded, "but this is definitely the most non-human customers I've ever seen in one place. This is a good business. Maybe I should consider opening one like this on Zeep-zep."
"They must make a lot of money doing this," she said as she stared dreamily out the window. She'd never been off the planet, and like many other Gaks, she too dreamed of one day reaching the stars. In this booming economy, if she tried hard enough, maybe her children-
"Oh yeah, if what Enrico told me a while ago about the prices were true," said Zarko oblivious to her daydreaming as he did some math in his head, "this is gonna make them a lot of money."
It did. Far more than they expected on day one. From the customers and feedback they were getting, they didn't need that more data points to know that they had a business, not a fad. The franchise became the most affordable restaurant to have 4.5 stars or above on Traders Only, and they didn't even need to pay for the rating.
"How many customers?" Enrico asked incredulously.
"Just over ten thousand," Rey looked as if she didn't believe it either.
"We're gonna run out of our initial inventory in less than a week! We didn't plan for another shipment until week three!" Enrico almost wailed. He'd learned a surprising amount about the management of logistics just from talking to Rey, and he could operate and make these predictions on instinct now.
"Oh hush that's a great problem to have," she said, "we'll just order more tomorrow. It's not like Earth is running out of fast food ingredients anytime soon even if all of Gakrek wanted to take a turn."
"It certainly looked that way," he said, smiling, "there were many new faces from out of town, and it looked like a whole village from down south came over."
"And our imports are still pricier than we want it to be," he added, "we'll have to get our local production lines going as soon as possible."
"That we will."
She snuggled into his warm chest with her sleeping bag still wrapped around her, feeling him stiffen as she did. Then, after what must have been a minute, he gently brought his arm down around her shoulders and then slowly stroked her hair.
Rey smiled tiredly and fell asleep, dreaming of a very different future than she imagined when she boarded that spaceship. A less lonely one.
Governor Palace, Zakabara Second
Things were not going well.
Mollikutta, the Governor of Zakabara Second, cursed the dark clouds for her bad luck. When she got appointed governor five years ago, she just wanted a cushy job where she just signed off on ceremonial documents all day, gave a speech once a year, and then retired in a spacious country home, leaving enough for her descendants that they may be able to leave this cursed planet in three or four generations.
Then, the humans came.
At first, it was great. Traders flooded the markets in Zakabara with cheap Earth food, many times cheaper than those produced by those backwards proles back on Prime. Her people began to be able to buy other things from the humans, like their well-made and very much affordable clothes and shoes.
Mollikutta did well herself. She started getting paid in credits, which was obviously superior to barter. With all the salaries and bribes adding up, it was even looking likely that she'd be able to retire with enough to buy an older model spaceship!
Some craftsbeings were put out of business, but they eventually found work in the new factories popping up, and the cheap prices of everything softened the blow of their decreased income. Most other people benefited from this influx of goods, and few complained.
Prime quickly issued a directive to stop it all. No more imported food or clothing from Earth. In fact, no more of anything from Earth.
People grumbled, but things could be worse. Zakabaran food was not selling well anywhere else, so their farmers had to sell them to each other and to Second for much cheaper than they normally would. The price of food did not go up that much. More people were annoyed about not being able to buy the goods that were coming from Earth before that.
A black market appeared. The shoes, clothes, and furniture from the humans began to be sold at a higher price. Prices spiraled high enough that alien traders just decided to sell these goods directly to the residents of Second and began doing so without permission from Prime. They also brought food, consumer appliances, and occasionally imported machinery for the new factories that were popping up on the colony. Things were not cheap, but not unreachable to the growing middle class.
This went on for a while. The spaceport authorities were Seconders, and they knew which side of the bread they put their butter on. Traders that were known to land with contraband Earth goods were directed onto landing pads out of sight from the security gate, where they could be ignored.
By the security guards, not by the buyers. Their goods usually sold out in minutes.
As more and more traders saw this, more began "smuggling" goods to Second as well. An unenforced ban on offworld goods was almost as good as no ban. Prices began to drop, and some goods even became affordable. In rare cases, they could even be called cheap. Locals stopped buying as many goods from Prime, but that was their own fault for charging these exorbitant prices! Some human food was starting to get brought in as well.
Then, the Prime rulers had to ruin everything again. They actively started to enforce their draconian rules from space. News began arriving: trader ships were starting to get shot down or inspected in the space over Second, and the shipments stopped coming. Only Prime shipments were being allowed through, and those traders had the audacity to start charging an inconvenience fee for being subjected to the blockade!
To make matters worse, if that were even possible in Mollikutta's opinion, Prime started making less food because they couldn't sell them outside the system. As the surplus went away, food prices were slowly going back up to what they were before the humans arrived.
Now, they were stuck with the tiny variety of goods and food from Prime, which were sold at well above galactic average prices.
Was life still better than before the arrival of the humans? Yes, probably. But now that the people of Second had a taste of consumer goods and the galactic common market, they were not about to stop. They wanted more; they deserved more!
Mollikutta had not been happy with being stuck with this conundrum either, and as the representative of Prime on this planet, she had been noticing dirty glances her way whenever she would go out into public.
At the market. At her daughters' school. She stopped getting invited to social events.
It wasn't even her fault! She begged with Popptaw to allow in some trade from outside, but Popptaw was insistent. They were not going to let their citizens spend their hard-earned credits on mere trinkets and sustenance from those alien traders. It was bad for local factories and bad for the species, she'd say. All goods must go through Prime.
The expensive blockade was also taking a toll on the Primer merchants, and being the geniuses they were, they passed the costs onto the people of Second. Inspection fees became protection fees. Protection fees went up. Popptaw even started levying high taxes on the production of goods! People weren't starving. Not yet. But they didn't have any disposable income either.
Pretty soon, Mollikutta noticed that the dirty looks her subjects were giving way to straight up defiant ones.
This was not a good sign. Things were really not going well.
RoyalRoad
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Since this post was so popular last year, I decided to bring it back and update it for this year - I hope you guys enjoy it! Strap in - it's a long one. :D This year in MyCareer, we're not really sure how the drafting process will go - yes, you'll go through high school and college and be drafted, but last year you picked where you'd go (your top three, anyhow) based on your workouts, and they have said that the combine is back - so this year, it's not clear. But, given that trades are a thing, and we may be able to pick teams, I figured it'd be a good idea to bring this post back for another year and help out those who haven't been able to follow the crazy NBA season that we've been having.
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The season is weird this year. The draft is happening on October 16th, and it looks like the new NBA season won't start until December - that means that everything here will be similar to last year, but not the same, because there have been some pretty major trades.
If you have a favorite team you want to play for - ignore all of this advice and just go do the thing. However, for everyone who doesn't have any particular team preference, or for those folks who want to play as little of MyCareer as possible so they can get into park and rec, I've assembled here a comprehensive list of who the projected starting five are for every team, what team needs what, and where you can have the most impact. In general, before we get to the breakdown, here are a few general points/disclaimers:
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1. This is not gospel - I'm just one basketball nerd who both follows basketball closely and plays a lot of MyCareer - these are my opinions, and your mileage may vary.
2. All of my information on starting lineups and depth charts comes specifically from ESPN, and you can see the full data here. (just click a team, then go to the depth charts).
3. You have always gotten rewarded in points/experience in some capacity for WINNING the games you play. This means to maximize, you probably want to go with a reasonably successful team in the Eastern conference, as you'll have the most easy games. Even 'easy' games in the West can be tough.
4. 2K uses injury-free rosters for MyCareer. That means KD, Hayward, and any other injured stars ARE playing, and they will have an impact on the overall team construction.
5. If you're a player who likes to control the game, and have the ball in his hands a bunch, Don't pick a team where their offensive game is already incredible (for example, the Raptors or the Rockets). By calling for the ball a ton, you're going to screw up their offensive flow, and may inadvertently make the team worse, rather than better.
6. If you're a big who will be looking to get a bunch of rebounds, be careful going to a team with other rebound-dominant big men - you will absolutely have lower rebounding numbers than normal.
7. Be careful about teams with no bench depth - you can have the greatest starting lineup of all time, but when you sub out, that's prime territory for the game to put you down by 20 when you were up 10. Depth is good, in real life and in the game.
8. My method of determining 'best fit' is essentially feeling out where you'll have the potential to impact the game the most. I'm looking for teams with holes in them, and for teams where a player in 2K could help them in some capacity. Not every team has a good fit for every role, and some teams don't have good fits for any role. This system is totally subjective.

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Short version: For the time-pressed, here's a super fast list of the best teams for each position. These are teams where you have the best chance of winning a bunch, and being generally the most needed/useful - bolded teams are especially excellent fits. Be sure to read the relevant deeper section below for more specific player types needed. Note that this year, both the PG and PF position are pretty thin on recommendations, because it just so happens that basically all of the teams who need them are not good choices for MyCareer - and all of the good teams for MyCareer have pretty solid PGs and PFs, with some exceptions - read the long version below for details.
Point Guard:
Phoenix Suns, Miami Heat
Shooting Guard:
Atlanta Hawks, Brooklyn Nets, Dallas Mavericks, Denver Nuggets, Detroit Pistons, LA Lakers, Milwaukee Bucks, Philadelphia 76ers
Small Forward:
Atlanta Hawks, Chicago Bulls, Detroit Pistons, Indiana Pacers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Orlando Magic, Toronto Raptors
Power Forward:
Houston Rockets, Miami Heat, Utah Jazz
Center:
Boston Celtics, Detroit Pistons, Golden State Warriors, Houston Rockets, LA Clippers, San Antonio Spurs
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Long version. Every team here has the projected starting five listed, and my opinion on what they need most. If a position is in parenthesis (), it means that it's a secondary need - not urgent, maybe not even at all, but would be a fine role to take.

Atlanta Hawks

Projected Starting Lineup:

PG	SG	SF	PF	C
Trae Young	Kevin Huerter	De'Andre Hunter	John Collins	Clint Capela

Positions of need: SG, SF
Comments: Despite a really poor showing last year (14th/15 in the east), Atlanta got better this year as far as 2K is concerned. They upgraded from Alex Len at center to Clint Capela, and kept the other major pieces. This year, like last year, volume scoring as a spot-up SG or a 3-and-D SF seem perfect because Trae will be able to dime you up really well. I would heavily advise against going with a big here - Collins and Capela will make your life difficult in terms of getting boards and blocks. The team even has some little bit of depth to it, with Jeff Teague and Dewayne Dedmon, so compared to other lower-tier teams, you might not even get murdered when you sit on the bench. The Hawks could be sneaky-good this year as a 2K MyCareer team.

Boston Celtics

Projected Starting Lineup:

PG	SG	SF	PF	C
Kemba Walker	Marcus Smart	Jaylen Brown	Jayson Tatum	Daniel Theis

Positions of need: C
Comments: Boston's in a great place this year. The biggest gap in the team is at Center, and since you already have a lot of scoring on the team, I'd imagine that a defensive C is what you're looking for here. Note that ESPN doesn't have Gordon Hayward on the depth chart at all, because he's out for the season - but he'll be there in 2K. I imagine it's Marcus Smart that gets bumped from the starting 5, Jaylen shifts down one, and Gordon goes in the middle. The biggest problem on this team from a 2K perspective is that you really don't want to bump that 4-man team - it's a great roster. I would really only consider the Celtics this year if you were a center - they're almost too good, otherwise.

Brooklyn Nets

Projected Starting Lineup:

PG	SG	SF	PF	C
Kyrie Irving	Caris LeVert	Joe Harris	Kevin Durant	Jarrett Allen

Positions of need: (SG)
Comments: ESPN has KD listed in the starting roster again finally, and that's awesome to see. It makes the Nets a tricky team to actually approach in MyCareer - the starting five are all either superstars, or people that you'd definitely not be sad to have on your team in MyCareer. Caris LeVert will be the weakest in 2K; Joe Harris will be shooting lights-out 3s all over the place, and will therefore be an asset. This year, I'd be inclined to think about a playmaking/defending SG for the Nets - someone to distribute (Kyrie is really more shoot-first), and to help out on the defensive end. If you do this, you'll get a million assists, but probably have a lower PPG than if you were on most other teams. Jarrett Allen is actually a really solid center in 2K (and IRL), so although you could go for a C, it'd be a shame to knock him out of the lineup.

Charlotte Hornets

Projected Starting Lineup:

PG	SG	SF	PF	C
Devonte Graham	Terry Rozier	Miles Bridges	PJ Washington	Cody Zeller

Positions of need: PG, SG, SF, PF, C
Comments: Last year, I said of the Hornets: "Probably Don't". This year... sorry Hornets fans. :( Probably Don't.
When I said you should be looking to play for a better team in the eastern conference, it's because you're going to be playing against teams like the Hornets regularly, which will boost your win totals. If you're looking for a major challenge in MyCareer this year, you could play literally any scoring build on this team, and try to bring them to the playoffs, but this will almost certainly be a bad idea - you will get torched on offense, torched on defense, and generally lose a lot of games. I'd avoid this one altogether. One thing that's worth noting: ESPN has Nicholas Batum way in the back of the depth chart. It may be true in 2K as well this year, but historically he's started, and only injuries pushed him out - I wouldn't be surprised if 2K had him starting, so keep that in mind.

Chicago Bulls

Projected Starting Lineup:

PG	SG	SF	PF	C
Coby White	Zach LaVine	Shaquille Harrison	Lauri Markkanen	Wendell Carter Jr.

Positions of need: SF
Comments: This may be another great team to play on this year, just like Atlanta, despite not performing well IRL. If you were to join them as a scoring, playmaking SF, you'd have a great time - you have a great second shooter in Lavine, competent rebounding bigs that can stretch the floor, and a versatile PG. Note that the team doesn't have much depth, so although the starting five is strong, when you start out on the bench, you're going to get cooked, and they may well be prone to putting you down a whole bunch of points while you're sitting on the bench. If you can look past that, they're in a strong place this year for MyCareer.

Cleveland Cavaliers

Projected Starting Lineup:

PG	SG	SF	PF	C
Darius Garland	Collin Sexton	Cedi Osman	Kevin Love	Andre Drummond

Positions of need: PG, SF
Comments: The Cavs aren't in great shape this year. Like the Hornets, I would probably stay away altogether. Unlike the Hornets, they do have a solid front court, which is something, but their back court is pretty rough. Cedi hasn't had the year anyone was hoping for, and Garland isn't there yet - Sexton's looking pretty good. Realistically, though, your player will quickly be better than any of the starting guards, and you will very quickly be the first option on offense. They're going to lose a lot of games.

Dallas Mavericks

Projected Starting Lineup:

PG	SG	SF	PF	C
Luka Doncic	Tim Hardaway Jr.	Dorian Finney-Smith	Maxi Kleber	Kristaps Porzingis

Positions of need: SG, PF/C*, PG*
Comments: Much like the 76ers, this team is a real challenge to actually write something for, because of how the positions work. Although ESPN Has Luka as a PG and Porzingis as a C, 2K hasn't historically done that, putting them at SG/SF and PF/C respectively. As a result, it's actually pretty hard to understand how best to play with the Mavs this season, which is a shame, because the Mavs are a super interesting team (which you can currently see by watching their playoff series against the Clippers). The easiest position of 'weakness' for them is SG. It's not a crazy position of need - Hardaway Jr and Seth Curry are both solid. But you could be better. The question mark is at PG - if indeed they put Luka at SG/SF, then a PG would be amazing on this team; however, if they put him at PG, you'd be better going with a SG/SF hybrid. The same goes for C - Maxi Kleber and Dwight Powell aren't anything to write home about, and a strong center would be great here - but keep in mind that KP will steal all of your boards and blocks. Overall, I *think* this would be a solid team to play with this year, but it's difficult to theorycraft how they'll deal with the positions. Oversized players are hard, man.

Denver Nuggets

Projected Starting Lineup:

PG	SG	SF	PF	C
Jamal Murray	Gary Harris	Michael Porter Jr.	Paul Milsap	Nikola Jokic

Positions of need: (SG, SF, PF)
Comments: The big need here last year was SF - but this year they filled that position with a really promising player in Michael Porter Jr., who has been really good in the NBA bubble this year after the restart. Not sure how well 2K will represent that growth in their game this year, but likely he'll be stronger than Will Barton was last year. Overall, it's a pretty balanced team, and there's no immediate need here - the two weakest players are easily the SG and PF, though. I would advise against playing a C or a PG specifically, but anything else could work.

Detroit Pistons

Projected Starting Lineup:

PG	SG	SF	PF	C
Derrick Rose	Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk	Tony Snell	Blake Griffin	Christian Wood

Positions of Need: SG, SF, C
Comments: Unlike last year, the Pistons actually have a promising shell of a team. Drummond is gone, which means that there's space in the paint for a dominant big (especially one who's interested in offensive rebounds, since Blake tends to spot up for 3s in 2K these days). Svi is an interesting player in real life, but I suspect that 2K will do him (and Tony Snell) dirty this year - but as a result, the Pistons might be one of the best places you can go if you're interested in playing a scoring wing. With DRose diming you up and a reliable 3 point kick-out from Blake, you have strong foundations here (especially since the team is in the east).

Golden State Warriors

Projected Starting Lineup:

PG	SG	SF	PF	C
Stephen Curry	Damion Lee	Andrew Wiggins	Draymond Green	Marquese Chriss

​
Positions of need: C
Comments: This is another team where the 2K Injury free roster will be relevant. Klay Thompson still isn't even listed on the ESPN depth chart, but he will for sure be present in 2K. As such, SG is not what you want here - the only real position that doesn't have a star is the C. As last year, if you're interested in playing with these guys, a defensive-minded C is the way to go. With so much firepower hanging around with Steph and Klay, someone to collect boards and make outlet passes would be great. You'll get a whole lot of assists, and there aren't a lot of other gifted rebounders on the team, so it's likely you'll get a ton of boards, too.

Houston Rockets

Projected Starting Lineup:

PG	SG	SF	PF	C
Russell Westbrook	James Harden	Eric Gordon	Robert Covington	PJ Tucker

Positions of need: (PF), C
Comments: What a stacked roster. Where it's weak, though, is the front court - now that Clint Capela is gone, there's definitely a void where an athletic, defensive rebounder could really make a difference. Just like with the Warriors, if you're interested in playing a board man and getting paid, this would be a fabulous place to be. Obviously, don't come if you're looking to play a guard - they have two of the best in the NBA.

Indiana Pacers

Projected Starting Lineup:

PG	SG	SF	PF	C
Malcom Brogdan	Victor Oladipo	T. J. Warren	Domantas Sabonis	Myles Turner

Positions of need: (SF)
Comments: Last year, I mentioned that this was a sneaky-good team, and the only weak link was really the SF - except that this year, TJ played really pretty well, and will probably get a bit of a buff in 2K this year. So, as a result, the team doesn't have a lot of obvious spots of need. That said, if you wanted to come to the pacers, joining as an SF is still probably the best idea. The Front court has very competent rebounders/defensive players, and the front court is already pretty great. A playmaking PG could also do well here, but Brogdan is pretty solid, so they certainly don't need it. These guys will win a lot this year.

LA Clippers

Projected Starting Lineup:

PG	SG	SF	PF	C
Patrick Beverly	Paul George	Kawhi Leonard	Marcus Morris Sr.	Ivica Zubac

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Positions of Need: C, (PF/SG ?)
Comments: this one is weird, like last year, because ESPN seems to think they're going to start the 6'9 Paul George, often listed as a SF/PF, at SG. What 2K is going to do with this lineup is really kind of up in the air - For example, if they go based on ratings, they'd likely have Lou Williams start at SG, and Paul George at PF. Hard to tell, though! With all the unknowns, the one thing that sticks out is that they could use a strong defensive center. Zubac is a very promising player, but if you were to put a defensive MyPlayer as the center, you would almost certainly lead the league in defense, and since Paul George and Kawhi are going to be scoring everywhere, there's going to be a lot of wins. This team hasn't changed much since last year, and if you enjoyed the experience in 2K20, it'll be the same feeling in 2K21.

LA Lakers

Projected Starting Lineup:

PG	SG	SF	PF	C
Lebron James	Kentavious Caldwell-Pope	Danny Green	Anthony Davis	Javale McGee

Positions of Need: SG, PG (?)
Comments: This is another one where 2K may have a different team make-up than in real life. Lebron may well not start at PG in 2K21, which would mean PG is a great position to have on the team, but obviously if he DOES start there, it will be a terrible place for a PG. The universally known good thing here is that the team lacks any good SG. Again, since Lebron's position is a little unpredictable, this one is a bit up in the air, but if Danny Green does indeed play SF, a good 3 and D SG would be a fabulous addition, especially if there was a bit of playmaking in there. Overall, you're likely safe with a playmaking guard, but again - bit of a weird one to predict. One last note: Lebron will, justifiably, get the ball A LOT. That means if you're a ball dominant player, definitely think about other teams.

Memphis Grizzlies

Projected Starting Lineup:

PG	SG	SF	PF	C
Ja Morant	Dillon Brooks	Kyle Anderson	Anthony Tolliver	Jonas Valanciunas

Positions of Need: SG, SF
Comments: Ja and JJJ are definitely solid players (keep in mind JJJ will almost certainly be starting over Anthony Tolliver), but otherwise, just like last year, the whole team is very much replaceable - you can thrive here in most roles. That said, I would be cautious picking the Grizzlies - they don't have much going for them this year outside of that promising future, and I suspect you will lose a lot of games in the Western conference. Probably steer clear. If you really wanted to go for it, the strongest thing you could do would be a heavily ball-dominant/scoring SG/SF - think MJ or Lebron - Ja will be able to feed you the ball and JJJ and JV will be able to get the misses.

Miami Heat

Projected Starting Lineup:

PG	SG	SF	PF	C
Goran Dragic	Duncan Robinson	Jimmy Butler	Derrick Jones Jr.	Bam Adebayo

Positions of need: PF, (PG)
Comments: The Heat are in a pretty great position this year, but it'll be based on how much 2K buffs Duncan Robinson. He's been amazing in real life, and hopefully they'll reflect it in-game. Assuming that's the case, the weakest position here is the PF, although it'd probably work best as a Stretch 4, given that Bam will be pretty dominant around the rim and for getting boards. Additionally, although Goran Dragic is always consistent, and is playing well still, he's getting older, and presumably his 2K rating will be lower than before this year. The team doesn't need a better PG, but definitely you could pick PG here and do well. If you wanted to do that, you'd want to prioritize playmaking, because there's a lot of excellent shooters/finishers here.

Milwaukee Bucks

Projected Starting Lineup:

PG	SG	SF	PF	C
Eric Bledsoe	Wesley Matthews	Khris Middleton	Giannis Antetokounmpo	Brook Lopez

Positions of need: SG, (C)
Comments: Very little has changed between 2K20 and 2K21 here. The Bucks remain a great option this year for SGs, and potentially even Centers. Giannis will be great to dime up, and will get you lots of assists - Middleton will too. Although Lopez is a great shooter, he (and the team at large) isn't very good at rebounding - which means that if you played a glass cleaner, you could do some work here with outlet passes to Giannis. Also, the team will have a fabulous record this season, which means that it's quite likely you'll win the vast majority of your games and get those sweet, sweet free experience points.

Minnesota Timberwolves

Projected Starting Lineup:

PG	SG	SF	PF	C
D'Angelo Russell	Malik Beasley	Josh Okogie	Juan Hernangomez	Karl-Anthony Towns

Positions of need: SG, SF, PF
Comments: In some ways, from a 2K perspective, this team is very much like the Pistons, the Hawks, or the Bulls - there's a shell of something great here. You have a great PG, a great C, and then mediocre everything else. If you put yourself in as a great scoring wing, you're going to have a really good time with the TWolves this year. Diming up KAT will be a lot of fun, too, if you opt to go more playmaking than scoring. The biggest problem for this team is that they're in the West, which makes them a substantially worse choice than something like the Hawks, and also, they have next to no depth, which means it'll be hard to win games.

New Orleans Pelicans

Projected Starting Lineup:

PG	SG	SF	PF	C
Lonzo Ball	Jrue Holiday	Brandon Ingram	Zion Williamson	Derrick Favors

Positions of Need: (C)
Comments: Kind of like last year, the Pelicans are a giant pile of question marks this year. The issue is that in real life, the team has proven that they're not great - but in terms of 2K ratings, they have consistently given Ball and Ingram great ratings, and they've done a lot of marketing around Zion, which would indicate they'll give him a solid rating. Jrue is always solid, and the kinda weak link is Favors. Since they're in the West, and there's not a lot of natural holes to fill, my inclination would be stay away from the pels this year - they have a lot of scoring mouths to feed, and are pretty well covered offensively and defensively everywhere.

New York Knicks

Projected Starting Lineup:

PG	SG	SF	PF	C
Elfrid Payton	RJ Barret	Maurice Harkless	Julius Randle	Taj Gibson

Positions of need: PG, (SG), SF, PF, (C)
Comments: Just like the Hornets, I would advise you keep distance between your player and the Knicks. It's going to be really hard to win games with them this year. If you're a masochist, and you're committed, almost any position would be perfectly fine here as long as it's all about volume scoring and heavy defense; this team needs a mega-all-star to save it. One thing to note - I'm not confident that Taj Gibson will be starting over Mitchell Robinson in the game, so if you pick anything, I'd be inclined to not go for C or SG.

Oklahoma City Thunder

Projected Starting Lineup:

PG	SG	SF	PF	C
Chris Paul	Shai Gilegous-Alexander	Luguentz Dort	Danilo Gallinari	Steven Adams

Positions of need: SF
Comments: OKC quietly became a great team this year, and the unfortunate piece for 2K is that there's not a ton of obvious need. Lu Dort is a rookie, but he's surprisingly an excellent defender in real life. If you want to see a live demo, watch him in his current playoff series IRL, where he's the only person on the Thunder capable of defending Harden 1 on 1. However, since he's a relatively unknown rookie, I would very much expect 2K will do him dirty, especially on the offensive end, and the SF position is actually the best place to get into this team. A player just like Dort would actually be excellent here - a defensive SF that can be dimed up by CP3, and can help to shore up the defensive weakness of the other wings.

Orlando Magic

Projected Starting Lineup:

PG	SG	SF	PF	C
Markelle Fultz	Evan Fournier	James Ennis III	Aaron Gordon	Nikola Vucevic

Positions of Need: SF, (SG)
Comments: Orlando's front court is quite strong this year, as last year, and they could really use some playmaking and backcourt scoring to help them out. Markelle has grown a lot, and is a better player than Augustin is, but a strong SG or SF with some backup playmaking here could make all the difference and get these guys into the playoffs again. Beyond playmaking, another scorer would be really great, so the traditional 'playsharp' SG or SF would be a good fit. Fournier isn't bad, so you'd want to skew more towards SF, but either should world.

Philadelphia 76ers

Projected Starting Lineup:

PG	SG	SF	PF	C
Ben Simmons	Josh Richardson	Tobias Harris	Al Horford	Joel Embiid

Positions of need: SG, SF, PG (?)
Comments: Another of the nebulous teams when it comes to positions. Lots of players here have double listings - Harris is a SF/PF, Simmons is a PG/SF, and Horford is a PF/C. There could well be a lot of shifting around during the season, which makes positional recommendations a bit tricky. The most obvious position of need is a sharpshooting SG. They lost J.J. Redick last year, and he really was big for them. Josh Richardson is good, but certainly not irreplaceable. I suspect that if you wanted to make a Steph Curry kind of build, or Klay thompson - a sharp that can also play defense - this would be the best team in he league for them. It also has the benefit of being a solid eastern conference team, which means a lot of free wins.

Phoenix Suns

Projected Starting Lineup:

PG	SG	SF	PF	C
Ricky Rubio	Devin Booker	Mikal Bridges	Cameron Johnson	Deandre Ayton

Positions of Need: PG, SF, PF
Comments: This would be a great place for a Playshot or a Playsharp PG, if it weren't a team at the bottom of the Western conference. You will have a losing record with the Suns, and that's a shame. I actually played with them on one of my PG characters two years ago, and it was fun - but we definitely did lose a lot. They're generally weak in the front court, but because they have Ayton clogging the paint, it's going to make it tricky as a big to get rebounds and blocks, so it will likely impact your stats. I would just stay away from this one.

Portland Trailblazers

Projected Starting Lineup:

PG	SG	SF	PF	C
Damian Lillard	C. J. McCollum	Carmelo Anthony	Jusuf Nurkic	Hassan Whiteside

Positions of Need: (SF)
Comments: This is a tricky one this year. The Blazers are a great team, and they have a great offense, and great players. However, for whatever reason, they keep on missing just that certain something to really make a serious playoffs run each year. I'm not sure that effect will show itself in 2K, but it does make it tricky to place yourself on the team. Both the Frontcourt and Backcourt are very strong on the team - the worst player here is likely Me7o at this late stage in his career, but even still, he'll probably be quite good. The Frontcourt is interesting - The Blazers in real life have indeed done some twin-towers stuff with Nurkic and Whiteside on the court at the same time, but I'm wondering if it'll happen in 2K, rather than putting Zach Collins. If you're committed to a big in Portland, I would suggest PF, but your rebounds and boards will absolutely be cut down because of the depth of Portland's centers.

Sacramento Kings

Projected Starting Lineup:

PG	SG	SF	PF	C
De'Aaron Fox	Bogdan Bogdanovic	Harrison Barnes	Nemanja Bjelica	Richuan Holmes

Positions of need: SF, C, (SG, PF)
Comments: The real keeper here is De'Aaron Fox, and beyond him, there's a lot of average here. Bjelica and Bogdanovic are both excellent 3-point shooters, and remember that Buddy Hield is here as well, so there will be lots of kick-out opportunities. The Center spot though is especially weak, and this remains a great spot for a dominant paint beast (like, say, Demarcus Cousins...). The problem here is just that the Kings will almost certainly not place well this year, and will lose a lot of games. The pace will be high, but there will likely be more losses than wins, meaning that you'll suffer in terms of stats and experience on the Kings. This is a shame, because they're a fun up and coming team IRL - but probably not in 2K.

San Antonio Spurs

Projected Starting Lineup:

PG	SG	SF	PF	C
Dejounte Murray	Derrick White	Lonnie Walker IV	Demar Derozan	Jakob Poeltl

Positions of Need: (SG), C
Comments: Worth noting immediately that the ESPN Roster is not at all reflective of how this will look in 2K this year - LMA will be there in the PF position, and Demar will likely be at the SF, meaning that probably Walker will be kicked to the bench, though it could well be White, too. As last year, the Spurs have a very balanced team this year, and that actually is a bit of a turn off when it comes to MyCareer. Every position is a reasonable defender, and you have several elite offensive options, but unfortunately both LMA and Demar aren't spot-up types - Demar likes to size-up and iso, and LMA likes to size-up and go to the post, which means more often than with other teams, you'll probably miss assists here because of the amount of isoing/sizing up they do. Not great. If I was going to choose a role here, I'd be inclined to push for a sharpshooting SG - a Klay Thompson type would go really well here, and so would an all-around C or PF. Stretch or Inside would work fine - LMA tends to be everywhere, so he won't clog the paint, but he also won't leave it alone. He's not the best rebounder in the world, so he won't cut into your rebounding numbers as much as some other bigs would.

Toronto Raptors

Projected Starting Lineup:

PG	SG	SF	PF	C
Kyle Lowry	Fred VanVleet	O.G. Anunoby	Pascal Siakem	Marc Gasol

​
Positions of Need: (SG, SF)
Comments: The 2019 champs have a reasonable hole on the wing, which is perfect for a player to fill. Both at the SG or the SF (though more SF), a dominant 3 and D player would fit absolutely perfectly, and this would be a decent place for a pure sharp SG, too. This is an absolutely great team to slot into if you're looking to be a ball dominant, scoring wing, and that goes double since they're in the Eastern Conference. However, I would stay away from PG here, and the Frontcourt is quite strong as well - keep in mind that Serge Ibaka is in the mix too. This year, it's probably wing or nothing with these guys.

Utah Jazz

Projected Starting Lineup:

PG	SG	SF	PF	C
Mike Conley	Donovan Mitchell	Joe Ingles	Royce O'Neal	Rudy Gobert

Positions of Need: PF
Comments: The Jazz haven't changed much from last year at all. The Jazz are in a great place this year, and their starting five is very strong. Easily the best option to fit with this team would be a stretch 4 - Gobert will 100% cut into your rebounding and blocking, though. Everywhere else is balanced - The guards and SF are all strong, competent players. You could fit in here with almost any smaller player, but there are better options out there for you at those positions. One other thing to note: The Jazz still play with one of the slowest paces in the league, so although you will have the power to push that pace, keep in mind that if you want to play with the offense the team already has, you're going to end up with fewer possessions, and therefore lower stats, than on most other teams.

Washington Wizards

Projected Starting Lineup:

PG	SG	SF	PF	C
John Wall	Bradley Beal	Troy Brown Jr.	Rui Hachimura	Thomas Bryant

​
Positions of need: SF, (PF), C
Comments: The Wizards are in the Knicks, Hornets, and Cavs camp this year - but not as badly as last year, because of Rui. SF and C are the obvious places to improve. In both, I'd think about playmaking and rebounding, since the team will lack a good chunk of both. However, even though they're a little better than before, I would still avoid the Wizards this year - it's going to be a lot of losing, and there's probably not much you'll be able to do to pull them out of it.
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There you have it! Thank you for making it to the bottom if you managed it - that was a lot of writing :) I'm sure that lots of folks will have differing opinions here - feel free to discuss in the comments!

The playoffs continue to rage on, but there are 26 teams sitting at home with nothing to do but twiddle their thumbs and wait for next season to start.
For their sake, we wanted to look ahead with the next edition of the OFFSEASON BLUEPRINT series. In each, we'll preview some big decisions and make some recommendations for plans of attack along the way. Today, we're looking at the Dallas Mavericks
step one: seek out the One Ring to rule them all
I've been re-watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy on HBO Max, so I apologize if some of that seeps through to this edition. But as you know, in that movie, there's one "ring" of paramount value. Certainly, that applies to the NBA as well. We have the biggest and baddest dudes on the planet, all salivating and selling their souls over a little piece of jewelry.
In the case of the Dallas Mavericks, it's not a foolhardy quest at all. I tend to dismiss the simplistic "title or bust!" mentality for most franchises. It's really friggin' hard to win a title in a league with 30 teams. If you can win 45-50 games and maybe win a playoff round or two, then you had a good, worthwhile season. You have a reason to keep plugging away. Even what the Mavs achieved this year -- the 6th seed and 2 playoff wins -- is admirable. They didn't win big, but they gave their fans a thrill along the way.
Of course, that's not the ultimate goal. The goal is a championship. And the Mavericks are one of the few teams in the league that can actually win one. Luka Doncic, at 21 years old, is already a first team All-NBA performer. He could win the MVP as soon as next season. The coaching staff is top notch. The supporting cast is close to title-worthy. The ingredients are all almost here.
So when we examine the Dallas Mavericks, we have to keep that high bar in place. Winning 45 games isn't going to be good enough. Winning 50 games isn't good enough. We want to strive for 55. 60. We want to strive for 1 seeds, 2 seeds. And of course, we want to strive for a championship. It's what Dirk Nowitzki achieved for this franchise in the past, and it's what Luka Doncic may deliver now. He's the true heir -- the true bloodline of Isildur. The Mavs shouldn't be satisfied until all the other lands bow down and acknowledge his place as the rightful king.
step two: let the courage of hobbits inspire you
Rick Carlisle made his reputation as a more defensive-minded, grit and grind assistant coach, so it's interesting to see that his team has evolved into an offensive juggernaut.
The Mavs don't actually play with a super fast pace (18th in the league), but they embrace an analytical approach. They're 2nd in three point attempts, and 28th in twos. Their free throw rate is in the top 10 if you combine the last two seasons. There's a rudimentary stat that measures your "MoreyBall" ratio -- basically (FTA + 3PA) / 2PA. The league average is roughly 1.00. The Rockets are far and away the top of that leaderboard with a ratio of 1.51. The Mavs were second in the NBA with 1.33.
After Houston bombed out against the Lakers, there may be some concern that their style of play doesn't work. Perhaps Dallas shouldn't follow in their footsteps after all...
But that would be a mistake. MoreyBall does work. The math is on your side. We can't look at Houston's failure as a failure of concept -- it was a failure of execution. The Rockets' approach may have worked if they had the right personnel. However, the Rockets were severely limited by their lack of depth, their lack of shooting at the PG position, and their lack of size at the wing. They ended up playing guys like Eric Gordon (6'4") heavy minutes at the 3, where he's usually losing ground to most forwards.
The flaws that doomed Houston may not apply to Dallas. Dallas is a deep team. Dallas is a tall team at virtually every position, highlighted by a big-ass guard/wing in Luka Doncic and a giant Latvian man. Dallas is a team that has sharpshooters across the roster. They finished top 10 in 3P% despite Luka Doncic sagging down at 31.6%. If Doncic can get up into the 34-35% range, then the team's offense may take yet another step up. That's a scary thought, given that they were already the # 1 offense in the league.
Houston set the template of how to play the "right way" (or perhaps, the "smart way"), but it's up to Dallas to follow through with the proper personnel. You can still play MoreyBall without hobbits and dwarves. In fact, if you do it with humans and giants, then you may have an unstoppable army.
step three: give out new contracts with the urgency of an Ent
In Lord of the Rings, the Ents are tree guardians who make decisions at a frustratingly slow pace. Theirs is a long-term approach, with consideration to the next hundred and thousand years.
The Dallas Mavericks don't have to think that far ahead, but they can't lose sight of the forest for the trees either. As good as the team may be now, they still may be one major piece away from a championship caliber roster. And that piece may realistically come in free agency. The Mavs have $107M committed to next season, but only $72M after that, and only $62M the following year. They're going to be major players in free agency in 2021 and/or 2022.
This is the type of team -- the type of roster -- the type of tax-free state -- that star free agents will have to consider. Giannis Antetokounmpo may be the ultimate dream, but there are other major stars like LeBron James (unlikely), Kawhi Leonard, and Paul George that will available in 2021 as well. Heck, maybe it's even fringe All-Stars like Jrue Holiday or Gordon Hayward that could put the team over the top.
But whomever it may be, the Mavs need to keep the space to draw them in. And as such, they should hold onto their future cap space as much as they can in the immediate term. How does that manifest? The Mavs should be reluctant to give out any new money past 2020-21.
The most immediate threat to that may be Tim Hardaway Jr., a possible free option. Overpaid or not, he's still a good player who averaged 15.8 PPG on 39.8% shooting from 3 (7.2 attempts per game.) 28-year-old shooters are going to get some solid cash when they put up numbers like that. It's unlikely that Hardaway will match his current $19M player option, but he may still try to take advantage of his momentum and try to negotiate a longer-term deal with the Mavs or another team. Even if he takes a haircut in salary next year, he can add an additional 2-3 years to his contract.
It may be a tricky negotiation. As mentioned, the Mavs should be careful about dipping too far into their future cap room. In an ideal world, Hardaway would "opt in" and play out the final year of his contract. Still, Hardaway may press them for more money, either in the short or long term. The Mavs can even bite the bullet and offer more money in 2020-21 than he's due (which is an "overpay" already) if it means they can save some future cash. Hardaway is an important piece for their playoff run next year, but will also be a useful piece in a deeper run down the road. Keeping him -- while retaining their future cap space -- will be the team's challenge.
Another potential sticking point could be late acquisition Trey Burke. He played well for the Mavs, utilizing his scoring talents to add a spark off the bench. Did Burke play well enough to earn guaranteed money next year? Yes. Did he play well enough to earn multiple years of guaranteed money? I'm not so sure. If he did, the Mavs need to be cautious here. If they do re-sign Burke for multiple years, it may have to come in tandem with a trade of Delon Wright. I've always been a huge fan of Wright -- who has a great frame and solid slashing instincts -- but he didn't fit in like a glove with Dallas yet. If the Mavs prefer Burke, I'd try to find a taker for Wright, who should be trade-able on his salary ($9M + $9M.)
step four: maintain the Two Towers
Hopefully, the Dallas Mavericks sign or trade for another star and build a potential dynasty for themselves. If not, they still have two foundational stars in Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis. The pillars of the team -- the two towers.
Given their importance, the Mavericks need to work hard to improve -- or even maintain -- their success. Luka Doncic is awfully close to Basketball Perfection, but there's some improvement he can have at the margins. His defense can be lethargic at times; if he's going to be the best player in the world, he needs to be more locked in there. As mentioned, his shooting can also improve. He's a good shooter, but the results aren't extraordinary -- he hit 31.6% of his threes and 75.8% from the free throw line. If he can get those numbers up, it would go a long way to MVP status. If he doesn't, teams are going to drop off him more in pick and roll situations and dare him to shoot more often. He's so effective at using his size and body control to score inside that you'd hate to see him settle too often.
One potential way to juice Doncic's numbers would be to help him from a shot distribution perspective. Like most primary playmakers, he takes his threes from above the break -- the longest, hardest three point shots. He rarely gets "easy" threes from the corner. In fact, basketball-reference charted that only 2.0% of his threes came from the corner, an exceedingly low rate. If the Mavs can run some more plays to get Doncic some corner shots, he'll be even more deadly. They don't necessarily need to do that, but it couldn't hurt. Golden State runs plays to get Steph Curry some quick open corner threes, and it makes them all the more lethal for it.
As far as Porzingis goes, it's more a matter of "maintaining" than "improving." Any time you have a 7'3" player lumbering around, you have to be cautious about his long term health. This past regular season, Porzingis played 57 of 75 regular season games (76%), which feels like a reasonable number. Still, he struggled to maintain that through the postseason. If the Mavs want to pencil in 10+ games of postseason play every year, they may need to limit Porzingis' regular season minutes even more. Perhaps 30 minutes a game for 65 games a year would be a prudent goal. The strong play of Maxi Kleber and the return of Dwight Powell should make that possible.
Another way to maintain and manage your stars is to keep surrounding them with capable talent. The NBA season is a long slog like a Tolkien trilogy, so you need to keep introducing some new role players like Faramir or Theoden to help give your main characters a breather once and a while. To that end, the Mavs will have two solid picks in this draft -- # 18 and # 31. At 18, I'd like to see them select another wing like Josh Green (Arizona) or Saddiq Bey (Villanova). Tall wing players are like peanut butter -- they go with anything. You can never go wrong filling your fridge with them. Jalen Smith (Maryland) could be another intriguing option; he's a 6'10" PF/C with a capable three point shot. At # 31, they may have the chance to draft and "stash" an international player like Leandro Bolmaro (Argentina). The franchise has had a wee bit of success with international players, after all.
other offseason blueprints
ATL, BKN, BOS, CHA, CHI, CLE, DEN, DET, HOU, IND, GS, LAC, LAL, MEM, MIA, MIL, MIN, NO, NYK, OKC, ORL, PHI, PHX, POR, SA, SAC, TOR, UTA, WAS

For this, we're going to tap into the cast of Street Fighter II (not # 1). I may be old, but I'm not that old.

WESTERN CONFERENCE STREET FIGHTERS

(1) L.A. Lakers as.... RYU
It doesn't matter who's the betting favorite for the title or for MVP. The Los Angeles Lakers are the marquee team in the NBA, with the marquee player at center stage. If we were making a poster for the league, LeBron James would be front and center.
(2) L.A. Clippers as... KEN
As Pete Holmes asks on his ill-fated talk show, do we really need another Ryu? Do we really need another L.A. super-team? Does throwing on red jerseys/gis really distinguish one from the other?
But of course, the answer is, hell yes. The Lakers-Clippers has finally become a worthwhile rivalry, with both teams reaching title contender status at the same time. Like Ken and Ryu, these two have plenty of history together. And while the Clippers never proved a formidable rival to the big brother Lakers, their new star Kawhi Leonard certainly did his own damage. Leonard helped the Spurs beat LeBron's Miami team back in the day, and he's on the verge of his second straight championship now. If Leonard can pull that off, he should surpass "The King" and inherit the throne as the greatest player on the planet.
(3) Denver Nuggets as... E. HONDA
Comparing hefty sumo E. Honda to Nikola Jokic is too easy. Too cheap. Too lazy. So naturally, let's just do that and move on.
(4) Houston Rockets as... BLANKA
In Street Fighter, we have some classic fighter tropes. The sumo wrestler, the boxer, the ... green electric jungle monster?? WTF is that?? Similarly, Daryl Morey and the Houston Rockets have experimented and developed a monster unlike anything the NBA has seen before.
(5) Oklahoma City Thunder as... CHUN-LI
You may not expected a woman to come into a street fighting tournament and kick some ass, but that's exactly what Chun-Li intended to do. Similarly, the Oklahoma City Thunder were written off immediately this season (with an oveunder of 32.5 wins) only to defy expectations and hold their own. In fact, their winning percentage is even better than last season when they had Russell Westbrook and Paul George. Now facing a Westbrook-less(?) Houston team, they may not be such an underdog after all.
(6) Utah Jazz as... DHALSIM
Mystical yoga master Dhalism may not have the look of a vicious street fighter with his gangly physique, but when he extends his arms he becomes a difficult opponent to land punches on. Similarly, Utah's stringy center Rudy Gobert wins primarily with length (7'9" wingspan.) And while he may still be getting some bikram-level heat from the media and fans after the coronavirus episode, he'll have every chance to prove his worth in this first round matchup against Nikola Jokic and Denver.
(7) Dallas Mavericks as... VEGA
The masked man Vega is among the most dangerous fighters in the game, in no small part to the sharp claw that he's somehow allowed to yield into battle. Similarly, the Dallas Mavericks have their own unfair weapon in Luka Doncic, the 20-year-old who can slice and dice his way to 30-10-10 games. Doncic -- like Vega -- also cut his teeth (and claw) in Spain (playing for Real Madrid.)
(8) Portland Trail Blazers as... BALROG
In Street Fighter, boxer "Balrog" was a shameless ripoff of Mike Tyson to the point where they had to change the name (from "M. Bison") to avoid lawsuits.
Portland may need to hire good counsel as well. After getting whacked by rival Golden State last season, they're taking a page right from the Warriors playbook. Damian Lillard is doing his best Steph Curry impression, launching 10 threes a game this year (and hitting 40%). Without Curry and the Warriors around anymore, perhaps this version has a puncher's chance of pulling off some more upsets.

EASTERN CONFERENCE STREET FIGHTERS

(1) Milwaukee Bucks as... M. BISON
We've seen great players emerge from outside North America before, but none of them have ever been the consensus best in the world at a point in time. Dirk Nowitzki won MVP and a title, sure, but not in the same year. Giannis Antetokounmpo has the chance to do that this season if he can win MVP, DPOY, and a championship all in one fell swoop. If he does, he'll reign over them all.
Like M. Bison, the mystery man has emerged from the far corners of the world and threatened global domination. For you, the day the Greek Freak dropped 40-20 on your team was the most memorable game of your season. But for him? It was Tuesday.
(2) Toronto Raptors as... SAGAT
With all the talk about Eastern power M. Bison, people tend to overlook the destructive potential of Sagat. Remember, this is a competitor who held the belt last time around in Street Fighter I. The Toronto Raptors may still be lost in the shadows of their woodland rival, but they can more than hold their own thanks to their length and title experience.
(3) Boston Celtics as... GUILE
Air Force special operative Guile represents 'MURICA! right down to the flag tattoo on his bicep. Yet, strangely, the film portrayal of Guile had more than a hint of European in him thanks to the performance of Jean-Claude Van Damme.
Likewise, there's nothing more American than the "Boston Celtics," who sport at least 4 different stars born and raised in the good ol' U.S. of A in Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Gordon Hayward, and Kemba Walker as well as an aw' shucks apple pie coach from the heartland in Brad Stevens. Yet, strangely, there's more than a hint of a European style to their play thanks to their ball movement and socialist scoring (with all four stars between 17-23 PPG.)
(4) Indiana Pacers as... CAMMY
With Street Fighter II characters running out, we're going to have to extend into the Special Edition bonus characters like Cammy. Cammy was the second female character introduced. She was there, we swear. Similarly, the Indiana Pacers are in this playoffs, we swear.
(5) Miami Heat as... T. HAWK
Another add-in character, T. Hawk is described as an indigenous warrior from Mexico "whose ancestral homeland was taken over by Shadaloo, forcing him into exile." Sounds like the plight of sullen and wayward warrior Jimmy Butler to me. After being exiled from Chicago... and Minnesota... and Philly (kinda), Butler has found a new home with this rugged Miami Heat team. If his tribe members can supply enough shooting and arrows around him, they'll be a dangerous party to pass through.
(6) Philadelphia 76ers as... ZANGIEF
Russian mauler Zangief entered the tournament with an unusual approach: strength and size over speed. Similarly, big man Elton Brand prioritized size and strength this summer when he signed Al Horford to go along with Joel Embiid. The twin towers approach needs to work now, because the Sixers don't have another choice now that Ben Simmons will miss significant time.
(7) Brooklyn Nets as... DEE JAY
Another new character, video game makers must have figured Dee Jay would catch on with the young'ins. He's hip! He's cool! He's a recording artist! Heck, even his name is Dee Jay! He's the next big thing!
Similarly, the Brooklyn Nets are banking on being a big deal in the future. Sure, their current roster is a plucky group of overachievers, but by this time next year, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving (if healthy) may have them among the title favorites.
(8) Orlando Magic as... SCOTT and MAX
Shit. We've officially run out of Street Fighter II characters.
Or have we? A google deep dive suggests that the two characters from the intro loading screen have names. "Scott and Max." Similarly, these Orlando Magic may only be here in the playoffs to serve as an introduction to the rest of the action. If Milwaukee is going to run the table, they need to beat somebody in round one. Orlando (minus Jon Isaac) will have to play that role of "somebody."