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Don't sweat the NBA offseason's transition to relative inactivity. There's a silver lining to the free-agency frenzy winding down to a slow, lifeless laze: We get to step back, take a breath, survey the landscape and properly celebrate the birth of new and newish might-be contenders!

Are you pumped? You should be pumped. You're pumped aren't you? How could you not be? The dust is gradually settling on the league's silly season and the flurry of transactions has yielded a host of talking points that journey beyond the Golden State Warriors sewing up the next eleventy titles.

To be clear: This space is not dedicated to teams with an exceptional shot at dethroning the reigning champs. For one, that type of threat doesn't exist. Mostly, though, we're nodding to afterthoughts and footnotes who have a fathomable path to winning their conference and making it to the NBA Finals.

Offseason additions are part of the allure for certain candidates, but not all of them. Some are here by default, due more to what has happened around them. Others have long been championship hopefuls in training. One franchise's case boils down to moves unmade (so far).

All the usual suspects receive their due elsewhere. Get your Warriors, Boston Celtics, Houston Rockets, Philadelphia 76ers and Toronto Raptors fixes another time. This one's for the less ballyhooed—the non-favorites who aren't popular picks among us hoops head to make it out of their conference.