Oklahoma City (3-26): Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, and Russell Westbrook are talented youngsters who are learning the NBA ropes together — although Westbrook is struggling to learn the point guard position. Chris "Mr. Jump Hook" Wilcox provides a potent if erratic scorer off the bench, and Nick Collison is the consummate hard-working role player. Everybody else on the team is roster-fill.

Attracting notable free agents to a team that's several years away from being respectable will require an extraordinary sales job plus scads of money. Which means that the help the Thunder need can only come from trades and the draft.

Still, OKC's Little Three constitute excellent building blocks.

Washington (4-23): Even the eventual return of Gilbert Arenas won't be enough to rescue the Wizards from the doldrums. For sure, a healthy Agent Zero, Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler will score points by the dozen. But Andray Blatche is incredibly inconsistent, while Nick Young and the team's other younguns lack star-quality.

Blame Ernie Grunfeld for assembling a team that lacks any kind of interior presence at both ends of the floor, and also lacks adequate defensive skills.

Only several radical trades can provide any hope for this franchise.

Minnesota (4-23): The T-Wolves are still paying the price for not getting an adequate return for Kevin Garnett. Al Jefferson can score and rebound, but does little else. Both Randy Foye and Rashad McCants are talented players, but neither is a point guard or a dependable shooter. Mike Miller is disinterested and should be traded ASAP. Craig Smith is a part-time banger who's logging too many minutes. Ryan Gomes is a terrific eighth man.