(Russell Conference) Voltron

Slam'N Dragon (11-8)
It could have been Thien's worst to first story last season, as they won John Wall in the Toilet Bowl and went 11-8 after a 9-9 season. Instead they were upset by Human Amoebas and now must regroup to move forward. They still have Wall of course, and Dwayne Wade. Adding Tony Allen as the third guard will lock down STL for them, but we forsee Andre Miller or Baron Davis eventually stepping into the lineup. Paul Pierce and Rudy Gay are pretty much the same statistical players and are a fantastic SF pairing. Thien has also done a fantastic job complementing all this outside talent with Andrew Bynum, Tyson Chandler, and Marcus Camby to clear the glass and protect the rim. All three are notoriously injury prone so young PFs Tyler Hansbrough and Tristan Thompson will be used in relief if one of them does go down. We forsee big things for this team going into the 2012 season. If they can stay healthy.

Human Amoebas (9-10)
Despite being the defending SlamNation champions, Eric-A's team has yet to have a winning regular season record. Going from worst to first from 2010 to 2011 is pretty impressive though. They'll return with their killer backcourt of Derrick Rose, Eric Gordon, and Monta Ellis. Those three represent the best young guard trio in the league, and when paired with DeMarcus Cousins, Paul Millsap, and Andray Blatche, they have an incredible core. Omri Casspi will be the new starting SF, taking over for Michael Beasley, and big man Channing Frye will contribute by spreading the floor with his 3PT. Sitting on the bench are more guards, as Eric-A scooped up Jamal Crawford, George Hill, and Gary Neal in the draft. If they wanted to, the Amoebas could field a very strong small ball team against certain matchups. While we think there was more offensive explosion on last year's championship squad, the Amoebas are well positioned to contend again. And to finally get a winning record.

So Buckets (8-11)
The previous owner of this franchise made no roster moves and only one lineup change last season and still won the Toilet Bowl. This time, with a new hand at the helm, So Buckets could return right to the top of their division. The dispersal draft shook up the old roster a little and yielded Pau Gasol, Andre Iguodala, Gerald Wallace, David West, Darren Collison, and Toney Douglas. New GM Josh continued his nice work by drafting Kyrie Irving with the first overall pick to give him So Buckets a much needed franchise quality guard. Irving, Collison, and Douglas will be given the chance to grow together, as will talented starting SG Jordan Crawford. Such a strong frontline probably won't need Shawn Marion or Carl Landry much, but they're around to provide terrible hairstyles. Well, that seems to be Marion's job anyway. A late pickup for the Net-bound Mehmet Okur could be big -- as well as Mt. Biyombo in the last round. This team is well balanced and has no weaknesses except for a dearth of 3PT. However, their nice percentages, fantastic STL, and low TOs should allow them to challenge for a division title immediately.

MoRRie's Pogiboys (5-14)
Alvin won SlamNation right before we reset the rules and went to 16 teams, but since then it's been all downhill. The good news is that there's a lot of nice pieces on board. The young backcourt of Brandon Jennings, Devin Harris, Mike Conley, and Marcus Thornton aren't superstars but are individually promising. These guards average at least 1.0 3PT/STL each and the three PG are above 5.0 AST. Also, rookie Brandon Knight could emerge as another quality point guard option. The frontcourt is anchored by Amare Stoudemire but he'll need Roy Hibbert to step up his game beside him. Perennial tease Tyrus Thomas is Alvin's crack and he's back again. If neither him nor Hibbert step up, Amare is going to be all alone inside, unless you think rookie Enes Kanter is ready to contribute. In theory Andrei Kirilenko will support in STL and BLK but he's injured often and may not beat out Carlos Delfino at the small forward spot. The Pogis are probably looking at another last place finish in Voltron division but coming close to a 0.500 record would be a huge step up.