2021 Pre-Season: Chamberlain

Well, two months later and I did the Chamberlain pre-season reviews...whoops. Here's the 2021 Russell one, and um, whoops! [ 2020 Chamberlain | Recap | 2020 Russell | Recap ]

TeamID - Abbrev - Name (2020 Record, 2019 Record)

9 SQSQ Squirtle Squad (14-3-2, 12-6-2)

Way back in 2012, SQSQ led the lead in wins with a 10-2 record during an aborted NBA season. This time around, SQSQ won the top postseason seed via fourteen wins and three losses, but lost the opportunity to capture their first title due to the aborted regular season. Heading into this new year, SQSQ is still poised to become a champion, and didn’t GM Brian know it!

He moved breakout star Bam Adebayo for LeBron James, signaling a shift into win-now mode. Teamed up with Giannis Antetokounmpo, James could lead SQSQ to their first title.  Last year’s IR stashes of Jusuf Nurkic (2020 RD4.5) and John Wall (2020 RD5.12) were retained as keepers, and SQSQ will have Tobias Harris and Lonzo Ball around as well. Good bye Blake Griffin and Dejounte Murray!

The 2020 paper title winning version of SQSQ featured a fourth-ranked offense and defense, and were only held back in overall ODE by a low rank in efficiency, which can be attributed to essentially punting FT%. Adding James will only make that build even stronger, and likely shoot SQSQ into a top-three rating on both offense and defense.

Some eyebrows were raised on draft day when SQSQ took an early swing on DeMarcus Cousins (RD1.16), hoping for a return to semi-form from Boogie. With their back-to-back snake pick, SQSQ then invested in new Hawk Bogdan Bogdanovich, who has been slow to start the season. However an in-draft trade with KSKT — our first father-son trade in history! — brought in Donte DiVincenzo, who has been a nice surprise early. The other draftee of note was rookie Patrick Williams (RD4.1), who could have been a steal for SQSQ.

Regardless, after a three-year period featuring a 20-36-3 combined record, SQSQ has increased their total each of the last five seasons and now are one of Slam’s title favorites. LeBron and Giannis, the new power couple?!

10 ABCX Another Bad Creation (8-9-2, 4-16)

After a terrible 2019, ABCX missed the playoffs back-to-back for the first time in franchise history last season despite improving from four wins to eight in 2020. Their keeper core last year was full of distressed assets and a ton of aging players. Then along came 2020 RD1.2 Ja Morant, who revitalized the ABCX fan base with his electric play. The reigning Rookie of the Year will have to pull this franchise back into the championship picture.

Leaning heavily on vets, ABCX’s keeper core features the tenth year of LaMarcus Aldridge with the franchise, and then Russell Westbrook, TJ Warren, Evan Fournier, and Derrick Rose. You’ll notice that’s not a lot of health there, so getting assigned the first overall pick in the 2021 draft was huge. While there may have been some debate over who would go first in the NBA draft, ABCX’s decision was easy: the first selection in 2021 for Slam would be LaMelo Ball, who projects to have at least have a big impact in AST, 3PT, and STL.

We have to commend the all veteran draft pulled off by ABCX as they set their sights on a playoff spot this year. After Ball, it was Al Horford, Lou Williams, Aron Baynes, Joe Ingles, and Nemanja Bjelica. Not a single one of those guys is on the right side of thirty. But no matter, ABCX has Morant and Ball now, and a brighter future awaits even if the locker room is going to be ten old guys and the possible past two Rookie of the Years?

11 BUFF Buffy (5-14, 8-11-1)

Another team that loves its vets, BUFF is mired in a long slump that has seen the franchise ping pong back and forth from a stretch of success and semi-respectability from 2013-16, to downright awful for most of the last four years. 2020’s five-win season was the third-worst regular season record in the league and hopes for a quick turnaround were semi-dashed with Klay Thompson headed for another season-long stint on IR.

The good news is that Domantas Sabonis and Brandon Ingram both emerged as All-Stars for BUFF, giving them four All-Stars along with Ben Simmons. Then GM Roger moved a future RD3 pre-draft for Dennis Schroder, hoping for German magic in Lakerland, and that makes for a promising keeper core moving forward, with Spencer Dinwiddie as the sixth keeper.

Finishing as the third worst team in SlamNation in 2020 rewarded BUFF with the 2021 RD1.6 pick, which was used to select the NBA’s top rookie pick, Anthony Edwards. There’s hope Edwards will be an explosive scoring option quickly, as there will be plenty of shots to go around in Buffy-land with Thompson and Dinwiddie out for the season.

The rest of BUFF’s draft was made up of mid tier veterans like Blake Griffin, Steven Adams, Kyle Kuzma, Joe Harris, and Cedi Osman. It looks like Roger is going for a competitive year, and we’re glad to see BUFF working to enter the conversation again.

12 SOUR Sour Snails (4-15, 14-5-1)

Five time champs SOUR suffered their worst season ever, dipping to a 0.211 win rate, but still are technically the defending champs due to the aborted 2020 season. With Kevin Durant and Steph Curry out most of last year, SOUR went into a full tank job and ended up tied for the worst record in the league.

The 2020 additions of Steven Adams, Landry Shamet, and rookies Tyler Herro (although released a tad too early) and PJ Washington were handy, but not enough to offset Snails’ loss of their two uber-stars. Coming into 2021, Snails has the healthy returns of Durant and Curry, plus Zach LaVine and Pascal Siakam on-board. New to the keeper core will be Washington, who showed some flashes last season, and then Derrick White, who has some promise as well. Will this be enough for an extended title defense?

Laker fanboy Trieu was quick to jump on LeBron’s preseason darling, Talen Horton-Tucker, with his 2021 RD1.7 selection (the first non-rookie selected), which meant SOUR passed on a plethora of potentially useful veterans such as Victor Oladipo and Thomas Bryant. We’ll see how that THT selection works out.

SOUR also brought in a bunch of bigs for their 2021 draft, with Serge Ibaka, Richuan Holmes, DeAndre Jordan, and Zach Collins being signed up. Delon Wright (3.9) and Harrison Barnes (5.2) rounded out the new assets, and it looks SOUR should have plenty for a proper title defense. Will they have a sixth title by the end of this season?

13 SBUK So Buckets (8-10-1, 10-9-1)

After two straight post-season appearances in 2017-18, SBUK has ended up on the outside looking in recently, despite a roster that continues to look amazing on paper. Joel Embiid, Rudy Gobert, Kyrie Irving, DeMar DeRozan, and CJ McCollum have been a well-balanced core for years, but Buckets haven’t been able to hit the playoffs in two campaigns. Maybe injuries played a role -- and some coaching issues -- as Embiid and Irving are always IR risks, but there’s too much talent here to be a non-playoff team.

SBUK did technically win the Toilet Bowl in 2019, ending up with 2020 RD1.3 RJ Barrett — now a keeper even after an up-and-down rookie season — but they should be better no? This season, SBUK again selected third overall, taking 2021 RD1.3 Killian Hayes. Prior to the draft, GM Josh also traded DeRozan for Jonathan Isaac, who is shelved for the season. With Embiid, Gobert, and Isaac, defense should continue to be SBUK’s strength for years to come.

With such a solid core, GM Josh went fishing for more upside with their draft. Marvin Bagley, Miles Bridges, Terry Rozier, Cam Reddish, and Troy Brown Jr. are all young and with unexplored potential. If even one or two hit, they should give SBUK more pieces to get out of their playoff drought. Let’s gooooo!

14 SPDE Spade (14-4-1, 12-7-1)

Finishing as one of the hottest teams down the stretch in 2020, SPDE was in a great position to capture a title last year. Alas, COVID! Still, after dipping to two wins in 2018, Spade is clearly back on top and ready to contend for a title.

Devin Booker has cemented himself as an All-Star, and Kawhi Leonard is still Kawhi seventy-five percent of the time. Danilo Gallinari, Eric Bledsoe, and Kevin Love take turns being great and hurt as usual, and we're very excited by new keeper Tyler Herro, who had a breakout playoffs after an intriguing rookie season. He takes over for long-time SPDE keeper Al Horford and pairs with Booker to give Randall a great young backcourt.

Sensing that their first title could be around the corner, SPDE took the high risk high reward pick of Victor Oladipo at RD1.9, hoping for a true bounceback campaign from him. RD2.2 Hassan Whiteside should still put in huge numbers, despite being the definition of “trash stats.” SPDE also added some wing shooters in Gary Trent Jr., JJ Redick, and Will Barton for depth, alongside last round, long-time SPDE favorite Paul Millsap to finish up their draft. Will 2021 finally be the year Spade takes the crown?

15 ILCN IL Conceived (9-10, 7-13)

It’s been a slow and steady rise for ILCN since coming into SlamNation three years ago. After drafting wisely and investing in youth, ILCN reached their first playoff berth last season — albeit still with a sub-0.500 record.

With Luka Doncic cementing his future MVP status, and Donovan Mitchell proving his playoff bonafides, ILCN has their cornerstones for the future, even if they are still waiting on the oft-injured Jaren Jackson Jr. to stay on the court. New keepers will include 2020 RD1.4 Darius Garland and reclamation project Markelle Fultz. GM Frank shipped out Montrezl Harrell and Dennis Schroder pre-draft for picks and will have as their sixth keeper Draymond Green, who is slated for more high-end glue-guy duty.

While still toeing the line between contender aspirations and building out their roster, ILCN again turned their attention to high upside choices for their draft, nabbing Wendell Carter Jr., Jerami Grant, and Malik Beasley in the first three rounds. If either Grant or Beasley can shine in their new NBA homes, they should be great additions to the team. To wrap up their draft, ILCN took shots on rookie Aleksej Pokusevski and sophomore Kevin Porter Jr., who has had some legal issues, to say the least. We’re intrigued by any team helmed by Doncic and Mitchell, and we’re excited to see if ILCN can move up a level yet again.

16 SCRM Screamin Eagles (4-15, 6-14)

As one of our three new owners, we’re thrilled to have SCRM joining SlamNation, as Reddit stranger but already new friend Jordan is a total mystery to us! Having already shaken up the dispersal draft with a big trade, we can see Jordan’s new blood adding a lot to our league.

Taking over for one of the worst franchises Slam has ever had should leave lots of upside for SCRM to make their mark. They’ll have Anthony Davis to lead the way, aka the arguable best player in fantasy. He’ll be flanked by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and OG Anunoby, alongside Dejounte Murray, Davis Bertans, and Mitchell Robinson. While we see a distinct lack of overall scoring, that doesn’t mean SCRM won’t be competitive out of the gate.

Already, SCRM can boast a great Mr. Irrelevant pick in 2021 RD6.16 Immanuel Quickley, who can light it up from all over the court. Quickley has Onyeka Okongwu (1.8) and Devin Vassell (4.16) as fellow rookies and it looks like Jordan addressed his long range shooting with Norman Powell and Duncan Robinson in the draft. Heck, Kyle Anderson seems to have added a new three-pointer during the brief off-season as well!

On top of that, Jordan may soon be a Top Shot millionaire, so he should be able to fund a new Screamin Eagles virtual stadium to house his eventual trophies!