Utah Jazz
Ricky Rubio has had an interesting NBA career. He came to the NBA with a lot of hype after his showing in the 2008 Olympics going toe to toe with the Redeem Team as a 17 year old point guard for the Spanish national team. He was drafted in 2009 and waited until the 2011-12 season to make his debut. Since then he has dazzled with his passing and court vision, but the lack of shooting is something that many people have a hard time overlooking. The bottom line is that Ricky Rubio is leaving the Timberwolves, a good offensive team for many seasons and he is taking his playmaking talents to Utah, an elite defensive team without a lot of scoring punch. Despite Rubio's lack of shooting, I see him having a big season with the Jazz. He shot a career high from the field last season and will add some much needed playmaking to the Jazz as they look to replace George Hill and Gordon Hayward.
Toronto Raptors
Serge Ibaka came to the Raptors in February in a deal that was supposed to help the Raptors get over the hump. In reality, the deal did not seem to do much for the Raptors and Cleveland absolutely embarrassed them. Ibaka did not seem to help much and to be quite honest, he has not looked anywhere near the player that we saw when he was the third man behind Durant and Westbrook. He has become a spot up threat, but he had a rough playoffs shooting only 30% from three and not providing the type of defense that he was known for. The Raptors are being written off by everyone, myself included. The reason being is that I just do not see how they can beat elite teams without offensive consistency. Toronto's struggles go beyond missing shots and Ibaka has to be able to do more to help with that. Having him play small ball 5 in the playoffs did not do much for them against Cleveland, but Ibaka is still a solid player. The Raptors are going to need a lot more from him if they want to avoid going extinct (see what I did there...).
Los Angeles Clippers
Milos Teodosic had me at hello. By hello, I mean he had after I saw that the Clippers signed him and I found a youtube clip of his majestic passing. He is a great passer and I have to be quite honest, I am not a Chris Paul fan at all. I avoided the Clippers because of him and now that he is gone and they have added Milos, I can see that I am going to be watching a great deal of Clippers games on League Pass. While Milos is an amazing offensive player, there are concerns about his defense. I think that defensive concerns can be overblown in some respects and based on what I saw in the preseason so far, I can say that effort is the biggest part of defense in the NBA and he seems to give effort. Patrick Beverley should provide a nice yin to his yang. It's a shame that they can't fuse Dragonball Z style and make the ultimate point guard. Teodosic should be a lot of fun for the Clippers and I am excited as to the Clippers ceiling this season, I am not sure how good they can be, but they should be fun to watch.
Cleveland Cavaliers
Kevin Love is going to play the five and start for the Cavaliers without Tristan Thompson for the revamped Cleveland team. Kyrie Irving is gone and there is some doubt whether or not they can return to the Finals for a 4th straight year. I put Kevin Love on this list because I feel that people have forgotten how good of a player he has been in his career. He has served primarily as a spot up threat for the Cavaliers, but Kevin Love can be a guy that you run your offense through. I was hoping that he would show some of that this year without Irving, but Irving has been replaced by the triumvirate of guards that shoot a lot in Dwyane Wade, Derrick Rose, and Isaiah Thomas. Thomas is out, but when he comes back he is going to shoot. In the meantime Rose and Wade will shoot and I fear that Love is once again going to be marginalized. Without Thompson on the floor though, I think that Love may have more freedom in the Cavs offense and be able to do some of the things that he was doing all those years ago in Minnesota. Kevin Love is a very good player and I hope that this is the year that he reminds everyone.