Mid-Season 2017: Voltron

Our second divisional look focuses on Russell Conference’s Voltron. We got three young and exciting teams here, plus one winless squad going for an epic first win. It's exciting times ahead! [2017 Preview | 2016 Mid-Season]

Dragon Warriors (8-2)
Our defending Voltron champs are once again well on their way to another back-to-back division title (they did it in 2011-12). They started off 8-0 this year, before losing their last two weeks to two strong teams. No matter, a looming regular season face-off against his brother, Sour Snails, is the only matchup left where Thien won't be favored. We figure a two game buffer is good enough here, as Dragon Warriors are always regular season beasts.

And one of the reasons Warriors win so much is their excellence at using plug-and-play guys, as they once again lead the league in moves, with 45 — almost double the next nearest owner. All those moves means coach Thien maximizes his player slots, and with his already talented team, that leads to many many wins. Overall, Dragon Warriors are third in PTS, second in AST, tops in STL and absolute last in TOs. Plus they tend to pound the boards, while surprisingly being a little light from beyond the arc, even with DeMarcus Cousins dropping in 1.8 3PT per game (!).

The core of Cousins, Damian Lillard, and John Wall are fabulous, and now Warriors can add Julius Randle to that list. If you haven’t been paying attention, Randle has been killing it this year, flashing huge AST numbers for a power forward, and averaging 13.6 PTS, 8.7 REB, 3.8 AST, on 50.1 FG% for a unique stat line. Disgruntled Rudy Gay has missed a lot of games this season, but he’s still an all-around asset when he plays. Jordan Clarkson, Mason Plumlee, and TJ Warren are nice hit-or-miss bench options, and once again all those streamed free agents maxes out everything these Dragon Warriors can do!

So Buckets (6-4)
The Buckets are back! After two non-playoff seasons, Josh’s team is in the driver’s seat for a wild card spot, and we love the trade that delivered CJ McCollum — even though they’ve only been 2-2 since acquiring him. Since arriving a month ago, McCollum has upped his scoring to 24.3 PTS on an efficient 49.8 FG%. Clearly, he likes his new home.

And how about that DeMar DeRozan! His career year has resulted in 27.5 PTS, 5.0 REB, 4.0 AST, 1.3 STL, on 47.3 FG%. With McCollum, DeRozan, and Kyrie Irving, this team can sure score. And you’ll notice that we haven’t even talked about likely Rookie of the Year Joel Embiid yet. The Process has been better than advertised is is putting up huge numbers across the board in only twenty-five minutes a game. Embiid has paired with Rudy Gobert to stiffen up Buckets’ interior defense — first in the league — and also gives them a strong low post presence.

On top of all that, old hand Deron Williams is quietly averaging 6.8 AST and 1.7 3PT, picking up a bit of the slack for Jamal Crawford’s erratic season. The only other down note on this team has been Aaron Gordon’s so-so numbers, as he hasn’t received the role nor the minutes to continue last season’s late season domination. Still, we absolutely love this team and this lineup is drool worthy for its upside. There are still two H2H matchups with division leader Dragon Warriors on the block, so there’s an outside chance Buckets could take Voltron, but if not, they’ll still likely charge right back into the playoffs.

Team Cameltoe (4-6)
So how’s our other new owner doing? We predicted that Cameltoe would be an immediate playoff contender but perhaps we were too hasty. They started the season off 1-4 (their lone win was versus Jedi Knights) but looking closer, we can see that they were facing off against three current division leaders, plus another likely playoff team. Rough schedule! Since then Felipe’s team has gone a respectable 3-2 and has an outside chance at a post-season berth.

Guess who’s leading this team in GP? How about iron man Eric Gordon, who has been a man born anew in Houston. He’s averaging 17.7 PTS and a league leading 3.8 3PT. No wonder Cameltoe is good from beyond the arc, despite their point guard combo of Elfrid Payton and Derrick Rose not being prolific 3PT shooters. Both have been pressed into duty as Mike Conley has been fighting off injuries all year.

The big three of Anthony Davis, Carmelo Anthony, and Brook Lopez have been all just about as expected, with Davis regaining his almost fantasy MVP form -- 28.9 PTS, 11.8 REB, 4.0 STL/BLK is good right? -- and nobody suffering any debilitating injuries, which has to count as a win. Plus rookie Buddy Hield just won Rookie of the Week behind some fine shooting. Whew, so Hield isn’t a bust!

In general, Cameltoe is good in 3PT and BLK, not so great at FG%, and pretty terrible at REB, ranking second-to-last. Could a big man be added here? Still, overall Felipe’s team looks great on paper, and we foresee plenty of wins coming. Just one more victory will equal Morrie’s Pogiboys win total from last season, and we think Cameltoe can do much better than that. Part of the issue may be a lack of moves, as Felipe is learning the ropes about for our GP cap, but those issues will iron themselves out soon probably.

Snack Bears (0-10)
We already looked at the winless Snack Bears two weeks ago. Since then nothing much has changed. They’re second-to-last in FT%, poor in PTS and 3PT, and can’t really AST or STL for their lives. But at least they’re strong in FG%, BLK, and TOs! More importantly, they’re currently engaged in a 0-10 battle against Jedi Knights, and this represents their best chance at not going winless this season. Have we ever had two 0-10 teams going head-to-head? I doubt it, so this is kind of a historic week for SlamNation. We'll be keeping a close eye on this one...

A Toilet Bowl appearance is already assured for Snack, but Brandon could be making moves to insure a deep consolation run. And they’ll need it because this roster could sure use one of next season’s highly touted rookie point guards — Jeremy Lin is back on the shelf. Other injuries also continue to hound Snack, but Derrick Favors is back at least. And we’ve got flashes of life from rookies Dragan Bender and Jaylen Brown, and Michael Carter-Williams might have just fallen into a starting role. Anyway, let’s just hope we don’t have any winless teams this year, go go Brandon!