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Five NBA teams that need a breakout season
Blake Griffin and Los Angeles Clippers are living on borrowed time as age is starting to catch up the roster. Juan Ocampo/NBAE via Getty Images

Five NBA teams that need a breakout season

Many people view the 2016-17 NBA season as a mere formality; it will be the defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers meeting the stocked Golden State Warriors for the third consecutive season with one of the teams settling the rubber match. Maybe that's how it will go, but there is a lot at stake below that surface.

There are a few teams that are sitting with a ton of pressure on them. Teams who need to perform now or else the organization may need to do some soul searching. Maybe there will be a roster breakup or a coaching change. Maybe the organization will feel it is time to clean house and bust up the front office. 

Whether it is teammates getting along or just the make-up of a would-be contender, here are five teams that need to make some noise in the upcoming season.

LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS
This has been the golden era for the Clippers. One of the most sad-sacked franchises in all of sports, the Clippers have actually become good and (somewhat) hip. They've got good players, a great coach and a new energetic owner. 

They've also had time. For the last five years the Clippers have made the playoffs and they've been among the list of teams that are just under championship contenders. That's something for Billy Crystal and the other Clippers fans. But if you forget that they are the Clippers and are just an ordinary NBA franchise, the fact that they haven't got past the second round is quite alarming. They've had one of the best point guards in the league, one of the best power forwards in the league and one of the best centers in the league coached by one of the best coaches in the league and they've made three conference semifinals in the last five years. 

Where, exactly are they at now? It's where they've been for the past few years. They are probably still entrenched as the third or fourth seed in the Western Conference. Barring injury, they aren't going to catch the Warriors or Spurs but they are much better than those retooling teams in the West. So what do you do? Just live it up as upper class or try to do something drastic, take a quick hit but leap higher in the long run?

If you're for standing pat and waiting out the Warriors and Spurs, remember that Chris Paul has two years left on his deal and he's already 31. Despite being regarded as the top point guard of his time, Paul has had next to no team success. If we get to the end of his contract, would a 33-year-old Paul decide to stay on a team that is stuck in mediocrity or would he want to go to a ready-made contender? Would the Clippers be willing to deal him away to a team that could use him now or will they decide to unload their most valuable asset in Blake Griffin

One of the more difficult places to be in the NBA is that team that can't win a championship but is plenty good enough to stay in the playoffs. The 1980s Atlanta Hawks were in the same boat and decided to stay the course. Will these Clippers do the same?

WASHINGTON WIZARDS
The Wizards aren't where the Clippers are. They have been building a young team that has been trying to make noise in the Eastern Conference. It was working as the Wizards finished fifth in the Eastern Conference and went to consecutive conference semifinals before going 41-41 and missing the postseason last year. The East has gotten better and the Wizards are a bit stagnant and made a coaching change by firing Randy Wittman and hiring former Thunder head coach Scott Brooks.

Brooks knows what it's like to have two big egos in house and will have to find a way for Washington's backcourt of John Wall and Bradley Beal to get along. Wall is the team's best player and Beal is the guy they just gave max dollars to. This is their core going forward. This summer, Wall admitted that these two don't always get along on the court but they'll make it better. 

That's great and all but that is essentially what this team is – Wall and Beal. They are the young stars that this team is built on and it must work. We've seen plenty of star teammates not be the best of friends but are successful on the court so it can be done but can these two do so? Wall has reached All-Star status and Beal has become one of the more enticing talents in the league that if they do find a way to coexist then this team could be rising again.

This team isn't ready to contend yet – their frontcourt doesn't truly balance out the backcourt – but progress must be made. They can be a playoff team and in the wild circus behind the Cavaliers anything can happen in the East. Progress is the key. If we get another year of a disconnect in the backcourt then the Wizards may seriously look at breaking up their two best players. 

CHICAGO BULLS
The Bulls had an interesting offseason. They finally gave up on the Derrick Rose era by dealing him away to the Knicks. They let their frontcourt of Pau Gasol and Joakim Noah walk and decided to hand the franchise over to Jimmy Butler. With all the injuries on the team, Butler was the one steady influence on this franchise and was rewarded with a spot on the U.S. Men's Olympic Team in Rio. Add in the fact that head coach Fred Hoiberg is trying to transition the Bulls' roster to his style after the Tom Thibodeau era and this looked like a franchise that was retooling for the future.

Instead, the Bulls added Dwyane Wade and Rajon Rondo. Both are really good players but they've also had some rocky times of late. Wade is on the down-turn due to age and years of abusing his body while Rondo has had a hard time getting along with anyone it seems. All agree that it is still Butler's team, but how?

Butler, Wade and Rondo need the ball in their hands to be successful and none are very good deep shooters. The trio will also force Butler into the forward spot which may hurt the team defensively. 

One good thing is that the Bulls aren't stuck with this for long. At worse, with Wade and Rondo signing two year deals, this is just a short experiment. In a league that has become more perimeter driven, a team that can't shoot might have a hard way. With Wade at a player option, he could easily be moved if this thing just doesn't work out. 

It could be pretty good, though. Wade had a bit of a renaissance season last year and Rondo is desperate to prove he's a valuable teammate. Both are champions and Wade's leadership will be a welcomed asset to Butler who will surely improve off the Olympic experience.   

HOUSTON ROCKETS
Okay, the Dwight Howard thing didn't work. It was no secret that the Rockets were not interested in bring back their center of three years. They also switched gears and signed Mike D'Antoni as their new head coach, making this a more up-tempo offensive minded team. They added guys like Ryan Anderson and Eric Gordon to help run D'Antoni's offense while moving on from Howard and Terrence Jones.

Of course, James Harden is the man here. Houston signed him to a 4-year $118M extension to stay with the Rockets and be their star. Harden should strive under D'Antoni as he can handle the ball, find open teammates and will love the seemingly unlimited green light. Plus, D'Antoni isn't a stickler for defense and Harden has shown that neither is he. 

This is an interesting pairing. The Rockets were one of the most disappointing teams last season. After making a trip to the Western Conference Finals, they fired head coach Kevin McHale just 11 games into the season, finished with 15 more losses and lost in the first round of the playoffs. D'Antoni's last two coaching gigs were disasters with both the Knicks and Lakers. As the Knicks and Lakers did, they tried to give him time to create the roster and atmosphere he wanted. However, the magic he had in Phoenix didn't materialize in either place and some are skeptical that success will take hold here. 

For a franchise like the Rockets who relies on sabermetrics more than any other NBA team, will a team that scores a bunch but struggles to defend be the right equation for a franchise that fancies themselves as a championship contender?  

MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES
When you look at the roster, the Grizzlies seem like an improved team from the one that has been one of the better teams in the Western Conference. All the big boys are back – Mike Conley, Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol – and they've added Chandler Parsons to the mix. Sounds great, huh?

Well, this is also the team that set an NBA record for most players used in a season. The Grizzlies were a MASH unit last season as those men I just mentioned all spent time with injuries. These aren't spring chickens coming back. Randolph is 35, Gasol is 31 and reserves Vince Carter and Tony Allen are 39 and 34 respectively. This is a franchise that has ridden its core and this could be towards the end of it. Now they have a rookie head coach that many haven't heard of leading this veteran bunch.

Memphis signed Conley to the biggest contract in NBA history and gave Parsons a max contract which, in turn, have placed the Grizzlies as one of the league's highest payrolls. Whatever happens this year, Memphis has hitched their cart to these two. They, along with Gasol, are signed through the 2019-20 season (Conley is signed to a year beyond that) so you'd think that their future is set. Randolph is in the final year of his deal. So is Tony Allen. Vince Carter may retire after the season. With their success, they haven't had many high draft picks to build for the future. 

The key word is health. If Memphis can stay healthy, they could make another deep run and maybe keep adding pieces as well as bringing back Z-Bo next offseason and everything is great. If the injury bug bites back again, there could be some soul searching about this roster and what fits with what they've spent money on. Again, with the salaries of their top three guys, it won't be a simple fix.

Can you name every player to appear on the cover of NBA 2K?
SCORE:
0/32
TIME:
6:00
NBA 2K
Allen Iverson
NBA 2K1
Allen Iverson
NBA 2K2
Allen Iverson
NBA 2K3
Allen Iverson
NBA 2K4
Allen Iverson
NBA 2K5
Ben Wallace
NBA 2K6
Shaquille O'Neal
NBA 2K7
Shaquille O'Neal
NBA 2K8
Chris Paul
NBA 2K9
Kevin Garnett
NBA 2K10
Kobe Bryant
NBA 2K11
Michael Jordan
NBA 2K12
Larry Bird
NBA 2K12
Magic Johnson
NBA 2K12
Michael Jordan
NBA 2K13
Kevin Durant
NBA 2K13
Blake Griffin
NBA 2K13
Derrick Rose
NBA 2K14
LeBron James
NBA 2K15
Kevin Durant
NBA 2K16
Stephen Curry
NBA 2K16
Anthony Davis
NBA 2K16
Marc Gasol
NBA 2K16
Pau Gasol
NBA 2K16
James Harden
NBA 2K16
Michael Jordan
NBA 2K16
Tony Parker
NBA 2K16
Dennis Schroder
NBA 2K17
Kobe Bryant
NBA 2K17
Danilo Gallinari
NBA 2K17
Pau Gasol
NBA 2K17
Paul George

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