NBA Season Preview: The Nets and the Lakers Are the Wild Cards

Even for a league used to drama and headlines, the N.B.A. had a dizzying off-season.

There were trade requests (Kevin Durant) and trade rumors (Russell Westbrook); injuries (Chet Holmgren) and returns (Zion Williamson). The power structure of the Western Conference could be upended by the return of Kawhi Leonard with the Clippers; the power structure of the East is again unclear.

And a series of scandals at Boston, Phoenix and Golden State could have lasting implications for the league.

In short: A lot is going on.

Eastern Conference

Atlanta Hawks

Key Additions: Dejounte Murray, AJ Griffin

Key Departures: Kevin Huerter, Danilo Gallinari

Dejounte Murray spent the summer making headlines for trash-talking and dominating summer basketball leagues across the country, most notably against Paolo Banchero, the No. 1 pick in the 2022 draft. Murray’s attitude and ferocious defense should be welcomed in Atlanta, which had the fifth-worst defensive rating in the league last season.

But can Murray and Trae Young play together? They were both ball-dominant guards who averaged over nine assists per game last season, but one of them will need to sacrifice for the Hawks to be successful. Could Murray be the primary ballhandler and free Young to get shots in a way similar to how Golden State uses Stephen Curry?

However Atlanta makes Young and Murray work, the Hawks seem to have the talent to get to the Eastern Conference finals, as they did in 2021. — Kris Rhim

Boston Celtics

Key Additions: Malcolm Brogdon

Key Departures: Coach Ime Udoka (suspended), Daniel Theis

After advancing to the N.B.A. finals last season, the Celtics seemed poised to arrive for the start of training camp in September with renewed championship hopes. And why not? Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are two of the best young players in the league, and Boston bolstered its backcourt by adding Malcolm Brogdon, a former rookie of the year.

But then, days before the start of camp, the team announced that Coach Ime Udoka had been suspended for the season for unspecified “violations of team policies.” According to two people with knowledge of the situation who were not authorized to discuss it publicly, Udoka had a relationship with a female subordinate. Joe Mazzulla, 34, one of Udoka’s assistant coaches last season, will be the interim coach this year.

Despite the odd circumstances, Mazzulla will face immediate pressure to have the Celtics, with Bill Russell’s No. 6 gracing their court, playing at a high level. — Scott Cacciola

Brooklyn Nets

Key Additions: Markieff Morris, Royce O’Neale, T.J. Warren

Key Departures: LaMarcus Aldridge, Bruce Brown, Andre Drummond

The Nets’ off-season teetered on the brink of disaster because of Kevin Durant’s trade request and Kyrie Irving’s being Kyrie Irving. But both are still here, leaving the Nets — once again — with one of the most talented teams in the N.B.A. And they’ll be healthier, too: Ben Simmons and Joe Harris are expected to be at full strength. Simmons is a strong passer and offers the Nets flexibility on defense, while Harris is one of the best shooters in the league.

But.

With these Nets, there’s always a but. They’ve had great rosters the past two years only to fall apart through dysfunction, injuries or both. Simmons’s unwillingness to shoot could create spacing issues when Simmons is on the floor with center Nic Claxton. The talent is there to win a championship. But it was there last season, too, when they were embarrassed in the first round of the playoffs. — Sopan Deb

Charlotte Hornets

Key Additions: Mark Williams

Key Departures: Montrezl Harrell

If nothing else, the Hornets will be fun to watch this season. Their starting point guard, LaMelo Ball, will make sure of that with no-look, behind-the-back passes and occasional dancing on the court. The Hornets have increased their win total by 10 games in each of the past two seasons, but they fired Coach James Borrego after last season for Steve Clifford, who coached in Charlotte for five years before he was fired in 2018.

Hornets General Manager Mitch Kupchak has a history of going back to old coaches, famously doing so and winning championships with Phil Jackson when he was the general manager of the Lakers. But the Lakers had Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol; the Hornets do not.

The biggest unknown for Charlotte is forward Miles Bridges, who was charged with felony domestic violence over the summer. Bridges had the best season of his career last year, but he is a restricted free agent with an uncertain future in the N.B.A. — Kris Rhim

Chicago Bulls

Key Additions: Andre Drummond, Goran Dragic

Key Losses: Tristan Thompson

Injuries sneaked up on the Bulls last season and dropped them from a team many saw as a serious championship contender to one with a 46-36 record, disappointing even though Chicago still made the playoffs as the No. 6 seed.

But after an off-season focused on getting healthy, DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine, Nikola Vucevic and Patrick Williams are back — and ready to return the once-storied franchise to the top of the Eastern Conference.

That plan is now in jeopardy with point guard Lonzo Ball starting the season the same way he ended last season: trying to recover from a knee injury. Can the Bulls go far without him? — Dorothy J. Gentry

Cleveland Cavaliers

Key Additions: Donovan Mitchell

Key Departures: Collin Sexton, Lauri Markkanen

The Cavs had their best season since the second departure of LeBron James, winning more games than they lost but losing two play-in games and missing the playoffs proper.

Now, the team is trying to hit a new plateau, and it has acquired Donovan Mitchell from Utah to take it there. Mitchell, a childhood fan of James and the Cavs, will bring his All-Star talent and 26-point-a-game scoring to the guard spot. He will team with Darius Garland, who led the team in scoring and assists last season. Assuming they mesh, that’s a potent 1-2 punch. Add in the big men Evan Mobley, coming off a good rookie year, and Jarrett Allen, a first-time All-Star last season, and the team looks promising. — Victor Mather

Detroit Pistons

Key Additions: Jaden Ivey, Jalen Duren

Key Departures: Jerami Grant

The Pistons have been rebuilding for the past few seasons and might be ready to take an incremental step out of the draft lottery this year. Coming off a 2021-22 campaign in which they had the third-worst record in the league, they added Jaden Ivey with the fifth overall pick in this year’s draft and Jalen Duren with the 13th overall pick. They already had a young core led by Cade Cunningham, who was the top pick in the 2021 draft and received nine first-place votes for the league’s Rookie of the Year Award.

Detroit is unlikely to be able to compete with the best teams in the East for at least the near future, but it should be fun to see its young players develop. — Tania Ganguli

Indiana Pacers

Key Additions: Bennedict Mathurin

Key Departures: Malcolm Brogdon

The Pacers staggered to a 25-57 record last season for their worst winning percentage since 1984-85. But there hasn’t been a lot of movement in the off-season to make the team better.

Optimists will point out that Indiana’s big moves came in February at the trade deadline, when Tyrese Haliburton and Buddy Hield came in while Domantas Sabonis, Justin Holiday and Caris LeVert left. But the Pacers had a .339 winning percentage before that trade deadline and .231 afterward, hardly an encouraging sign.

Indiana picked up Bennedict Mathurin, a swingman from Arizona, with the No. 6 overall pick in the 2022 draft, but he doesn’t look like a difference-maker yet.

If the Pacers do get off to a slow start, they may start thinking about the future and unload a few of their veterans, even those who have just arrived. That will make it even harder to improve on last season’s already poor record. — Victor Mather

Miami Heat

Key Additions: Nikola Jovic

Key Departures: P.J. Tucker

After falling a win short of advancing to the N.B.A. finals last season, the Heat are running it back with essentially the same core led by Jimmy Butler, a six-time All-Star still chasing his first championship. A key question is whether Kyle Lowry, who will turn 37 this season, can stay healthy enough to produce when it matters. Last season, he was hampered in the playoffs by an injured hamstring.

In Miami, though, there is renewed hope in a familiar figure: Victor Oladipo, 30, who has played sparingly in recent seasons because of a troublesome, surgically repaired right knee. Now, Oladipo appears determined to make good on a long-awaited comeback while providing backcourt depth for a team that needs it. — Scott Cacciola

Milwaukee Bucks

Key Additions: MarJon Beauchamp, Joe Ingles

Key Departures: None

Remember the Bucks? The 2021 champions have been going about their business in relative obscurity. Maybe that’s what happens when the front office seems content — rightfully so — to stick with the team’s stars and develop the cast around them.

Make no mistake, Milwaukee is out for redemption after losing to Boston in a seven-game series in the Eastern Conference semifinals last season. The absence of an injured Khris Middleton hardly helped in that series, and he had wrist surgery in July. The two-time M.V.P. Giannis Antetokounmpo is still capable of otherworldly feats, but he needs teammates like Middleton and Jrue Holiday to be playing to their full potential in the postseason. — Scott Cacciola

New York Knicks

Key Additions: Jalen Brunson

Key Departures: Alec Burks, Nerlens Noel, Taj Gibson, Kemba Walker

The list of superstar players the Knicks were expected to lure is endless: Images of LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Giannis Antetokounmpo and many more stars have been edited into the Knicks’ orange and blue season after season. This summer, the Knicks finally got a high-profile free agent to choose them, with Jalen Brunson bolting Dallas for New York, where his father, the former N.B.A. player Rick Brunson, had been hired as an assistant coach.

Brunson isn’t Durant, James or Antetokounmpo, but last season he proved to be among the league’s better point guards. In three games against Utah in the first round of the playoffs with Luka Doncic out injured, Brunson scored and found open teammates easily. He averaged 32 points and 5.3 assists per game to push the Mavericks to a 2-1 series lead.

Brunson, RJ Barrett and Julius Randle should make the Knicks competitive in a talented Eastern Conference, but not much more. — Kris Rhim

Orlando Magic

Key Additions: Paolo Banchero

Key Departures: Robin Lopez

The Magic have been one of the N.B.A.’s worst teams for much of the last decade. Nine of their last 10 seasons have ended with losing records, though they still made the playoffs twice.

This year, their hopes rest on Paolo Banchero, the No. 1 pick in the 2022 draft who, at 6-foot-10 and 250 pounds, has the offensive skills of smaller guards. He showed that in the N.B.A.’s summer league, where he dominated in two games with an average of 20 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists per game before the Magic decided they had seen enough.

Banchero adds to a roster with a boatload of former first-round picks who should make for a championship-contending team one day (right?), but it doesn’t seem like that day is coming anytime soon. — Kris Rhim

Philadelphia 76ers

Key Additions: Montrezl Harrell, P.J. Tucker, De’Anthony Melton

Key Departures: Danny Green, DeAndre Jordan

After the turmoil of last year with Ben Simmons, the Sixers enter this season — in theory — drama-free. Joel Embiid and James Harden will have their first full training camp together. They added a Professional Role Player in P.J. Tucker, who will help space the floor and be another tough defender. Tyrese Maxey, a dynamic third-year guard, has All-Star potential.

Harden and Embiid, at their best, could be candidates to win the M.V.P. Award. But this works only if they stay healthy, Embiid plays as well as he did last year and Harden’s conditioning is better. Otherwise, with the stiff competition from the rest of the East, it’ll be difficult for the Sixers to break through. — Sopan Deb

Toronto Raptors

Key Additions: Otto Porter Jr.

Key Departures: None

It was a mostly uneventful summer for the Raptors, but they will be entering the season with a healthy Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet and Scottie Barnes.

Barnes had an outstanding debut season — averaging 15.3 points and 7.5 rebounds per game en route to winning the Rookie of the Year Award. He is only 21 and already poses a matchup problem for defenders because of his length and speed.

The Raptors will be relying on continuity, a leap from Barnes, and the strong play of Siakam and VanVleet to compete. Toronto’s ceiling is likely lower than that of other Eastern Conference teams, but that could change depending on Barnes. — Sopan Deb

Washington Wizards

Key Additions: Monte Morris, Will Barton, Johnny Davis

Key Departures: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope

The most exciting news of the Wizards’ off-season was that they had extended the contract of their franchise player, Bradley Beal, with a so-called super max deal worth more than $250 million. That was also the most concerning news of the Wizards’ off-season.

We kid. But Beal’s contract extension is a risk. He is an exceptional offensive weapon, but he isn’t a top-10 player. And the team around Beal isn’t close to contending at the moment, so having his contract take up a large portion of the salary cap limits the team’s ability to get better. Washington’s options are mostly making changes around the margins, like their off-season trade of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to Denver for Monte Morris and Will Barton. In theory, Beal and Kristaps Porzingis (acquired last year) should be a compelling duo, but Porzingis has difficulty staying on the court. — Sopan Deb

Western Conference

Dallas Mavericks

Key Additions: JaVale McGee, Christian Wood

Key Departures: Jalen Brunson, Sterling Brown, Boban Marjanovic, Trey Burke

He’s in shape coming into training camp and the odds-on favorite to win the M.V.P. Award. But during off-season free agency, Luka Doncic lost his “Robin” in Jalen Brunson — the second-best player on a Dallas Mavericks playoff team that made a surprise trip to the Western Conference finals last season.

But Dallas has added Christian Wood and JaVale McGee, who played for the Mavericks in 2015-16. Returning from injury are Tim Hardaway Jr. and Spencer Dinwiddie, whom many expect to pick up where Brunson left off.

Coach Jason Kidd is tasked with creating another cohesive unit that buys into his defense-first mind-set. In Kidd’s first season with the Mavericks last year, Dallas improved to seventh in the N.B.A. in defense from 21st in 2020-21.

Still, questions remain for this new-look Mavs team, namely: Do they have all the pieces needed to compete again in a loaded Western Conference? — Dorothy J. Gentry

Denver Nuggets

Key Additions: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, DeAndre Jordan, Bruce Brown, Ish Smith

Key Departures: Monte Morris, Will Barton, JaMychal Green, Austin Rivers

Nikola Jokic, after receiving a giant contract extension this summer, will pursue his third straight Most Valuable Player Award, something that hasn’t been accomplished since Larry Bird did it in the 1980s. The expected returns of Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr., who were injured last season, should help take the playmaking load off Jokic.

The Nuggets added Kentavious Caldwell-Pope by trading two key rotation players, Monte Morris and Will Barton. It was a bit of a lateral move, but Caldwell-Pope will help Denver’s spacing because of his shooting, and Jokic’s ability to find open players will help his game.

Denver should be in contention for a top seed, even in the loaded Western Conference. One note of caution: Down the stretch last season, Jokic showed signs of tiring. You wonder if the Nuggets will have to get a better backup center than DeAndre Jordan to save Jokic’s energy. — Sopan Deb

Golden State Warriors

Key Additions: JaMychal Green, Donte DiVincenzo

Key Departures: Gary Payton II, Otto Porter Jr., Nemanja Bjelica

Any season preview about the reigning N.B.A. champions, would be remiss without mentioning The Punch. We are referring, of course, to Draymond Green throwing a haymaker at his teammate Jordan Poole at a preseason practice, which led to a series of questions: Had Green finally gone too far? Can he repair the damage? And what does it mean for Golden State’s chemistry moving forward?

Then again, doubt this team at your peril. Golden State’s recent drive to its fourth title in the age of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and, yes, Green proved that these guys are resilient. And more help may be on the way: James Wiseman, the No. 2 pick in the 2020 draft, appears to be healthy after he missed last season (and much of the previous season) with a knee injury. — Scott Cacciola

Houston Rockets

Key Additions: Boban Marjanovic, Jabari Smith Jr.

Key Departures: Christian Wood, David Nwaba

Coach Stephen Silas will likely need to move the needle in his third season with the team after the Rockets finished with the N.B.A.’s worst record, 20-62, last year.

Help will need to come in the form of Jalen Green and Jabari Smith Jr., the young faces of the franchise. On the cusp of developing the talent and skills that made them high draft picks, they have just the kinds of energizing youth and vitality this Rockets team needs as it continues its rebuild.

The veteran presence and experience of Eric Gordon, along with plenty of salary-cap room and roster space, will also help this young team solidify into serious competitors in the West, perhaps sometime soon. — Dorothy J. Gentry

Los Angeles Clippers

Key Additions: John Wall

Key Departures: Isaiah Hartenstein

Last season was essentially a bonus year for the Clippers to develop their depth and bide their time as they waited for their top stars, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, to get healthy.

George missed 51 games, most of them because of an elbow injury, and Leonard missed all of last season after having surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament. George’s return is important, and Leonard’s could transform the balance of power in the West.

The addition of John Wall, who sat out last season as he sought a trade from Houston, gives the Clippers a talented and experienced guard who will be eager to show what he can still do. — Tania Ganguli

Los Angeles Lakers

Key Additions: Coach Darvin Ham, Patrick Beverley, Juan Toscano-Anderson, Dennis Schröder

Key Departures: Coach Frank Vogel, Talen Horton-Tucker, Malik Monk, Carmelo Anthony

In each edition of their game notes this preseason, the Lakers have included a reminder that last year Lakers players missed a combined 246 games because of injury or illness. The Lakers got younger in the off-season, which should help, after a 2021-22 campaign in which the team’s age became a punchline.

As disruptive as the Lakers’ injury report was last season, the problem of Russell Westbrook loomed larger. The Lakers decided this summer that the price to trade him was too high, and the question of whether Coach Darvin Ham’s plan for him works will haunt the Lakers as long as Westbrook remains on the roster.

LeBron James still looked good in the preseason even though he is a year older, and Anthony Davis is aiming to be healthy all season, something he has never done. The Lakers are hoping this year’s roster can offer the right kind of support for their stars. — Tania Ganguli

Memphis Grizzlies

Key Additions: Danny Green

Key Departures: De’Anthony Melton, Kyle Anderson

After Ja Morant signed a five-year contract extension that could be worth $231 million, he posted on Twitter: “Memphis is my home.” Morant, 23, and the Grizzlies are committed to each other, and the team has also shown a commitment to its other young, homegrown players, like the big man Jaren Jackson Jr., and the sharpshooter Desmond Bane.

There’s good reason for their loyalty. This group won 56 games last season, despite losing Morant to injuries for about two dozen games. There were points last season when Memphis was the most exciting team in the N.B.A. They also had the fourth-best offensive rating and the sixth-best defensive rating in the league last season.

As the Grizzlies mature together, one wonders what their ceiling will be. Can they take the step necessary to threaten the more experienced teams at the top of the conference? — Tania Ganguli

Minnesota Timberwolves

Key Additions: Rudy Gobert, Austin Rivers

Key Departures: Malik Beasley, Patrick Beverley

With just two playoff appearances since 2004 and no playoff series wins, the Timberwolves made a big move to try to change their fortunes. They landed center Rudy Gobert, perhaps the league’s best defender and a valuable asset on offense, too, in a trade with the Jazz.

But the price was steep, with Malik Beasley, Patrick Beverley, three other players and four (!) first-round draft picks heading the other way to Utah. Now Minnesota has to show the move paid off.

You would expect Gobert to mesh well with the team’s star point guard, D’Angelo Russell. But Minnesota’s other big star, Karl-Anthony Towns, inconveniently also plays center. Twin-tower lineups have not been common in the modern N.B.A., although to be fair, Towns and Gobert play quite different games.

Still, if those pieces do fit — and the third-year guard Anthony Edwards takes another step forward — hopes are high in Minnesota that the team could close the gap on the elite. — Victor Mather

New Orleans Pelicans

Key Additions: Dyson Daniels

Key Departures: Tony Snell

Basketball fans in New Orleans are justifiably hyped about the return of Zion Williamson after he missed last season with a right foot injury. But the Pelicans are feeling optimistic for another important reason: continuity.

After so many trades, roster overhauls and coaching changes in recent years, the Pelicans managed to have a pretty uneventful summer, which was cause for celebration. Coach Willie Green is back after he shaped the Pelicans into a playoff team in his first season. Now, Brandon Ingram and CJ McCollum will have the chance to play alongside Williamson, 22, an explosive forward who was an All-Star in 2020-21. Merely making the playoffs is no longer the goal. The Pelicans have the pieces to do some damage. — Scott Cacciola

Oklahoma City Thunder

Key Additions: Chet Holmgren*, Jalen Williams, Ousmane Dieng

Key Departures: Derrick Favors

The Thunder have been openly in rebuild mode for several seasons, with General Manager Sam Presti stockpiling draft picks by any means. With the No. 2 pick in this year’s draft, the Thunder selected Chet Holmgren — a 7-foot forward from Gonzaga with guard skills and premier shot-blocking ability. But Holmgren broke his right foot while defending LeBron James in a summer basketball league game and will miss the entire season.

The Thunder still have Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Josh Giddey, two of the league’s most promising young players, but they’re not enough to make the team competitive. The Thunder won just 24 games last season, though improvement seems realistic this season after another year of development and continuity. — Kris Rhim

Phoenix Suns

Key Additions: Damion Lee, Josh Okogie

Key Departures: JaVale McGee, Frank Kaminsky, Aaron Holiday

The Suns brought back the core that got them to the finals in 2021, and the All-Star shooting guard Devin Booker is a year more seasoned. On paper, they should be poised to return to the championship conversation.

But the happy-go-lucky team of yore seems all but gone. The demoralizing way they departed the playoffs last season — a Game 7 blowout loss to the Mavericks in the Western Conference semifinals — seems to have carried into the new season. The Suns engaged in a bizarre contract standoff with center Deandre Ayton before re-signing him this summer, and Ayton seemed disillusioned at the team’s media day last month. The team’s owner, Robert Sarver, also said he would sell the team after an investigation found he engaged in workplace misconduct over many years.

A preseason loss to a team from Australia raised questions about where the whole team is mentally, and whether the Suns can recapture some of the joy that propelled them in recent years. — Tania Ganguli

Portland Trail Blazers

Key Additions: Gary Payton II, Jerami Grant

Key Departures: Ben McLemore

The perennial playoff contenders need to move past first-round exits, and they may have the pieces to do it. CJ McCollum is gone, but Portland’s roster features a healthy Damian Lillard, the veterans Jerami Grant — always with the hot hand — and Anfernee Simmons, and the newly minted champion Gary Payton II from Golden State. Grant in particular could complement Lillard and this Trail Blazers offense with his prolific scoring.

This team can make some noise and return to the playoffs after missing out last year. And maybe, just maybe, they might go a little further. — Dorothy J. Gentry

Sacramento Kings

Key Additions: Keegan Murray, Kevin Huerter, Malik Monk

Key Departures: Donte DiVincenzo

Now that the Seattle Mariners have made it back to the Major League Baseball playoffs, ending a 20-season absence, the Kings have the longest postseason drought in major-league sports: 16 long years. The Kings haven’t had a .500 record in that span, and in only six of the 16 seasons did they even manage .400 or better.

Sacramento has made a few promising moves: Keegan Murray, a forward from Iowa who was the No. 4 overall draft pick in June, can make baskets (he led Division I in points scored in 2021-22). The Kings also signed Malik Monk and got Kevin Huerter through a trade with Atlanta; both guards should add offensive punch. The big man Domantas Sabonis, acquired at the trade deadline, is a two-time All-Star at 26.

Do those changes mean improvement on last season’s 30-52 record? Sure, they could. A spot in a play-in game? If everything goes right, well, maybe. Anything better than that? Don’t count on it. It’s the Kings, remember? — Victor Mather

San Antonio Spurs

Key Additions: Isaiah Roby, Gorgui Dieng

Key Departures: Dejounte Murray, Lonnie Walker IV

Early in the off-season, the Spurs dealt Dejounte Murray, their All-Star point guard, to the Atlanta Hawks.

Murray was the last of the Spurs’ big-name stars to be moved in the past couple of years, signaling that the Spurs of old — who regularly contended for championships — are, in fact, rebuilding.

After finishing 10th in the West last season, (34-48) the Spurs drafted a solid rookie class they hope to develop. With the young players Devin Vassell and Keldon Johnson coming into their own, the Spurs’ future looks pretty good. The question is how quickly can the developing players morph into stars who can revive the franchise? — Dorothy J. Gentry

Utah Jazz

Key Additions: Malik Beasley, Lauri Markkanen, Collin Sexton

Key Departures: Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert, Bojan Bogdanovic

The Jazz were 49-33 last season and made the playoffs. That seems like a pretty good platform for another solid season ahead, right?

Yeah, no. The Jazz have completed a total teardown of their team. Donovan Mitchell’s 26 points a game? Gone. Bojan Bogdanovic’s 18 points? Gone. Rudy Gobert’s 15 rebounds and crack defense? Gone.

That leaves Utah with a core of Mike Conley, Collin Sexton, Malik Beasley, Lauri Markkanen, Walker Kessler and Kelly Olynyk. It’s hard to see a top-flight team there. And given that the Jazz are clearly thinking long-term, some of those players could be out the door eventually, too.

The Jazz have gained a fistful of draft picks as a result of the dealing that sent Mitchell and Gobert to other teams. But the fruits of those trades won’t be seen for some time. And unless their first-year head coach, Will Hardy, has something magical up his sleeve, expect a tough season in Utah. — Victor Mather