9th in the east might actually be a pretty good outcome: get the first-rounder to Houston out of the way with a low lottery in what's expected to be a poor draft year. The Northeast is probably the most balanced division in the league this year... any of those five teams could make the playoffs or miss the playoffs, in my opinion.
I'm excited about Lowry. I was really pissed off when the Raptors didn't make a move for him on draft night, but it turned out we got a better deal by waiting. Ross and Valanciunas will be fun to watch, but I don't expect either to have a big impact this year. I'm hoping that the team finds a way to hang on to Calderon, because he's a great second-unit facilitator, and I could imaging both JV and Ross thriving offensively with him.
This is the year that DeRozan needs to establish whether he's a legit star or trade fodder. Right now I'm leaning towards the latter, but I hope he proves me wrong.
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