The 2015-16 NBA Season starts soon, preseason hoops are in full swing, and playoff prognostications have begun in earnest. Since season previews can get bogged down by team-specific minutiae, and we cover every basketball team, we’re providing our readers reasons why you should care about all 30 teams in the Association.

DIME MAG’s 2015-16 NBA Season Previews Ty Lawson is gone. So is Arron Afflalo. Wilson Chandler, Kenneth Faried and Danilo Gallinari are still around, though, so their most frequent scoring options aren’t totally absent. Plus, they’ve got this rookie who originally hails from the Congo, but who went to school in America. He was all set to join Larry Brown at SMU, but elected instead to go to China and play professionally. He’s fun, and wise beyond his years. They’ve also got a new coach: Former Kings helmsman, Mike Malone. We’ve always liked Malone, if only because he’s the only coach who Boogie ever seemed to care about. That he inspires goodwill in a player like Cousins says a lot about his interpersonal skills. He empathizes with his players and knows how to put them in a position to succeed. Great hire. But the Nuggets need a lot of work. A year ago Denver ranked in the bottom five for defensive rating and in the bottom 10 on offense. They don’t really do anything that well and long gone are the days of their uptempo George Karl attack, which took advantage of the thin air to run roughshod over their competition in the West. But that was now three years ago, and their former coach has even gotten another gig in Sacramento. What, if anything, can Mike Malone do with this bunch, and will Emmanuel be the star-in-the-making or the latest overhyped prep star to fizzle when faced with NBA point guards and NBA shooting? Is Emmanuel Mudiay a transcendent addition? Short answer: no. Longer answer: not yet. But the Nuggets have to be happy he fell to them at the seven spot. Perhaps it was the year in China, but Mudiay is making offensive reads like a five-year vet. And that’s what’s special. He makes those around him better. Yes, he can get sloppy with the ball and he doesn’t have a consistent shot yet, though his “feel” shot fell at better than a 34 percent clip in the Chinese Basketball Association.

Synergy ranks Mudiay as just “average” in his 54 preseason possessions where he finished with a shot, foul or turnover out of a pick-and-roll. But he was ranked in the 95th percentile for those 24 pick-and-roll possessions where he found an open man who put up a shot, got fouled, or turned the ball over. His precocious ability to presciently envision a play before it fully develops truly makes him a unique find. This is so important in a game increasingly dominated by elite guard play. Let’s look at just two possessions against the defending champs in preseason. On the first one, he goes away from the side Kenneth Faried screen and pulls up just outside the restricted area on the right side. Keep in mind, Andre Iguodala — one of the best perimeter defenders in the NBA — is giving him the side, so he keeps him out of the middle. Iggy’s also riding him into the big man, Andrew Bogut. So what does Mudiay do? A simple head fake gets Bogut’s arms in the air so he can flip a pass around him to the cutting Faried. http://giant.gfycat.com/ElatedCornyBobolink.gif There’s simply no accounting for how a player will react in that situation. Sure, it’s the preseason, but those are the defending champs and no one involved was a slouch on defense. Here’s another example when Mudiay initially tries to post up Steph Curry — an intelligent decision considering his size advantage. But Steph is tough and forces Mudiay out almost to the three-point arc. This way, when the entry pass comes, Klay Thompson immediately doubles Mudiay, who is still fighting Steph to retain possession of the ball after a high pass. So Klay uses the “blue” (aka “down” or “ice”) defense on the side pick Faried sets to force Mudiay baseline, where Thompson knows All-Defensive First Team selection Andrew Bogut is waiting. And that’s exactly what happens. But Mudiay is so quick with his move under the rim, and so conscious of his surroundings, he immediately spots a cutting Wilson Chandler. Bucket. http://giant.gfycat.com/EquatorialWindingHadrosaurus.gif Did we mention he’s not even turning 20 until March? And it’s not like he’s making the jump from college to the professional ranks. Whatever you feel about the NBA’s age limit, Mudiay does have a built-in advantage on his competition. Overseas competition isn’t the NBA, but it’s still grown men competing on a basketball court for their livelihood. That’s a big difference in terms of effort — even with top Division I schools.