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Bob Leverone/Associated Press

14. Charlotte Hornets

No imminent cap space. No high-ceiling prospects. No desirable trade chips not named Kemba Walker.

Unless you're into stanning for Malik Monk or excited about the prospect of overpaying a 29-year-old Walker in 2019, the Hornets' future is not for you.

13. Memphis Grizzlies

Feel free to present arguments in heavier favor of the Grizzlies' trajectory. They're not completely unwarranted.

Memphis is losing its way to top-three lottery odds and has resisted trying to bust up the Mike Conley-Marc Gasol tandem. Adding a rookie ticketed for stardom to a pair of incumbent standouts has its advantages—particularly if Tyreke Evans doesn't abandon ship in free agency.

But this doesn't change the Grizzlies' cap situation. Failing an epic salary dump, they won't have meaningful room until 2020. And more than that, they have no assurances a Conley-Gasol foundation gets them back to the playoffs in 2018-19. Gasol will be entering his age-34 season, while Conley will be 31 and working off a year lost almost entirely to Achilles issues.

Starting over would brighten up the Grizzlies' future a bit, but not by much. Conley and Gasol aren't commanding primo returns on the trade market, and their draft obligations to the Boston Celtics—top-eight protected in 2019—complicate the process of bottoming out.

12. Orlando Magic

Andrew Sharp painted a not-so-rosy picture for the Magic over at SI.com:

"Most of the long-term hope is built around Jonathan Isaac, and I'll admit, that may not sound super promising. Issac is still learning offense, he doesn't have a clear position, and while he showed some flashes of two-way potential very early in the year, he's been hurt for almost three months. He's like a parody of an anonymous project that draft nerds care too much about. But that's fine, I'm not asking anyone to join me on the Isaac bandwagon."

Board the Isaac bandwagon. Seriously. It's fine. But the Aaron Gordon bandwagon cannot be a thing anymore. He's about to land near-max money as a restricted free agent without ever establishing himself as a tried-and-true No. 1 or even No. 2 option.

Orlando has no choice other than to match whatever offer sheet he signs. That doesn't make keeping him an objectively good decision. The Magic already won't have cap space this summer, and putting him on the ledger for, say, $20 million or more per year doesn't give them light at the end of the tunnel.

Bismack Biyombo is signed through 2019-20 (player option). Evan Fournier is on the docket through 2020-21 (player option). Cap space doesn't mean as much in a market like Orlando, but the flexibility necessary to take on bad salaries in exchange for extra picks and prospects certainly will—especially for a franchise with such a checkered draft-day resume in the post-Dwight Howard era.

11. Detroit Pistons

"I never want to be in a place where I'm not wanted," Blake Griffin told The Undefeated's Marc J. Spears about joining the Pistons. "Coming here made me realize what a franchise looks like.”

Detroit should be eternally grateful for Griffin's low standards.

This team has one of the highest immediate ceilings on here. Give head coach and, for now, team president Stan Van Gundy a full training camp with Griffin, Andre Drummond and Reggie Jackson, and the Pistons could re-enter the Eastern Conference playoff picture by this time next year.

Except, nothing awaits them beyond that annual chase for lower-rung postseason positioning. They have neither the cap space nor trade assets to build around Griffin and Drummond. They also gave up this year's draft pick—now consigned to the lottery—as part of the Griffin trade.

Barring breakouts from Luke Kennard and the extension-eligible Stanley Johnson, the Pistons have, ostensibly, chiseled out a tight window to explore the heights of mediocrity.