NBA Teams You’ll Low-Key Love to Watch Next Season | Bleacher Report

We already know you’re going to watch the Golden State Warriors, either basking in their unadulterated excellence or rooting vehemently against a team boasting five All-Stars after the offseason addition of DeMarcus Cousins. LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers will draw plenty of eyeballs, as will James Harden‘s Houston Rockets and the trio of teams competing for supremacy in the Eastern Conference. 

But the league’s playoff contenders aren’t the only ones capable of providing a few entertaining hours. Even when isolating our search to those with expected lottery finishes, we can find a handful of squads that should command attention through some combination of quality play, memorable style and intriguing levels of upside scattered throughout the roster.

We’re talking about young up-and-comers, three-happy organizations and depth charts filled from top to bottom with unrealized potential. We want the high-profile rookies. We’re seeking out the players ready to make leaps toward prominence. 

Above all else, we want to be entertained. 

Now that Dennis Schroder is heading to the Oklahoma City Thunder, nothing stands in the way of Trae Young earning major minutes as a rookie for the Atlanta Hawks. The organization is turning the future into the present by letting him develop on the floor, free to fire up plenty of Stephen Curry-range three-point attempts off the dribble and control every aspect of the youthful offense. 

But even if Young doesn’t score enough—or with enough efficiency—to make a Rookie of the Year push, his playing style will be plenty entertaining. Not just because the manner in which he creates shots is so fun to watch, but also because he’s a preternatural passer who’s bound to set his teammates up for success. 

As Cleaning the Glass recently opined while breaking down Young’s facilitating game, his penchant for deep pull-ups could force aggressive pick-and-roll coverage that affords easier opportunities to those surrounding him:

“But it helps demonstrate what Young and Atlanta hope Young’s long range shot sets up: if Trae can become enough of a threat as a pull-up three point shooter out of the pick-and-roll, a la Steph Curry and Damian Lillard, then defenders will have to come out higher to defend him and open up those driving and passing lanes.”

Expect Kent Bazemore to continue justifying what was formerly an albatross contract. Taurean Prince should build upon his torrid finish to the 2017-18 campaign, which saw him average 19.2 points, 4.8 rebounds and 3.6 assists while slashing 45.0/41.6/89.3 after calendars flipped to March. Kevin Huerter (another sharpshooter), Dewayne Dedmon (a surprisingly adept floor-spacer) and John Collins (highlight-reel dunks galore) will benefit as well. 

The Hawks won’t win many games, but Young’s passing—and perhaps his shooting—will keep the offense exciting. 

Jarrett Allen alone should make the Brooklyn Nets worthy of your time. Watching him develop into a defensive stalwart with legitimate three-point range might be a process filled with speed bumps, but it’ll still offer tantalizing hints at the massive upside he possesses for a squad that’s been stuck near the bottom of the Eastern Conference for far too long. 

The Texas product was handled cautiously for much of his rookie season, but the Nets took away some restrictions after the All-Star break, allowing him to push closer to 30 minutes on a nightly basis. From that point forward, he averaged 9.4 points, 6.1 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 0.3 steals and 2.1 blocks while shooting 59.7 percent from the field—per-game numbers matched by only three men (Anthony Davis, Rudy Gobert and Kristaps Porzingis) over the course of the entire campaign. 

But the Nets aren’t exactly a one-man attraction. 

D’Angelo Russell, Spencer Dinwiddie and Shabazz Napier make for an intriguing three-headed monster at point guard, while further growth from Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Caris LeVert and Joe Harris could add even more strength on the wings. And even if that oft-overlooked cast experiences shooting regression, that shouldn’t stop Brooklyn from playing an entertaining style under the supervision of head coach Kenny Atkinson. 

Only five teams played faster than the Nets throughout the 2017-18 campaign, while just the record-setting Houston Rockets launched more triples per game. The free-flowing action matters a lot here, because it means the Nets can remain an enjoyable watch even while featuring largely anonymous pieces and operating on a talent deficit during many contests. 

Dennis Smith Jr. wasn’t an effective point guard during his rookie season, but that’s largely because of the situation into which he was thrust.

ESPN.com’s real plus/minus handed him the league’s No. 460 score (minus-3.09), and he could only shoot 39.5 percent from the field, 31.3 percent from beyond the rainbow and 69.4 percent from the charity stripe. The Dallas Mavericks even saw their net rating decline by a staggering 10.1 points per 100 possessions when he was on the floor. But what did you expect from a young man who began his inaugural campaign as a teenager, was tasked with going up against superstars on a near-nightly basis and was supposed to learn from his mistakes while running the show for one of the league’s most futile squads? 

Struggles aren’t an indictment of Smith’s game; they were assumed. And they should aid his development as a sophomore and beyond, allowing him to turn his jaw-dropping athleticism and aggressive style into actual production that aids the Mavericks’ climb up the Western Conference standings. 

Plus, he’s now surrounded by a host of complementary talents. 

Luka Doncic should enjoy an easier transition to the Association after winning EuroLeague MVP and thoroughly dominating the competition at the sport’s second-highest level. And if his talents translate seamlessly, he’ll immediately become another primary ball-handling option who can create for both himself and his teammates, thus alleviating some of the burden Smith shouldered as a first-year contributor. 

Outside the backcourt, Smith and Doncic will have a spot-up option in Dirk Nowitzki, a high-volume scorer in Harrison Barnes and an elite roll man in DeAndre Jordan. They essentially feature all the pieces necessary to produce moments of offensive brilliance while showcasing the extreme talents of the young guards. 

Dallas likely won’t ascend all the way into the Western playoff picture, but it might get closer than you expect. 

Few teams have at least one intriguing piece at each of the five traditional positions. But the Phoenix Suns qualify easily, which we can see by looking at their projected depth chart, as constructed by Rotoworld: 

While the rest of the NBA zigs toward small-ball trends, the Sacramento Kings are zagging. Here’s the Sacramento Bee‘s Jason Jones, providing a report that the downtrodden organization does plan on having incoming rookie Marvin Bagley III, ostensibly a modern-day big man, spend time at small forward: 

“When general manager Vlade Divac said Bagley (6’11”, 234 lbs) could play small forward, it didn’t mean the Kings plan to make Bagley their small forward full time.

“However, the Kings believe that as Bagley’s game develops—especially his outside shooting—playing Bagley as a small forward will be an option.

“Bagley’s athleticism stood out to the Kings, so they plan to get the most out of it and see how much Bagley can handle in the future.”

This won’t be the end of Sacramento’s experimentation, either. The roster construction necessitates lineups that run antithetical to the current trends of the Association, and that alone will allow for the piquing of curiosity whenever the Kings are on national television. 

How in the world does head coach Dave Joerger distribute frontcourt minutes equitably to Bagley, Harry Giles, Skal Labissiere, Willie Cauley-Stein, Zach Randolph, Kosta Koufos, Nemanja Bjelica and Deyonta Davis without sliding some oversized players down to the 3? The answer is simple: He doesn’t. 

Of course, we also can’t overlook the potential of other pieces on the roster. De’Aaron Fox, Yogi Ferrell, Frank Mason III, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Buddy Hield and Justin Jackson are all intriguing at smaller positions, and they’ll be motivated to improve quickly in an attempt to carve out bigger rotational roles. 

The Kings aren’t ready to ascend out of the Western Conference basement, but their efforts to do so—in unconventional fashion, no less—will ensure their must-watch status. 

Adam Fromal covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter: @fromal09.

Unless otherwise indicated, all stats courtesy of Basketball Reference, NBA.com, NBA Math or ESPN.com.