2014-2015 Record: 56-26 (2nd in conference, lost to Warriors 4-1 in Western Conference Finals)
2016-2017 Cap Room: $11 million

Key Strengths: Multiple All-NBA level players, deep, talented roster
Key Weaknesses: Outside shooting, small forward

First-Year Strategy: The Rockets’ roster is seemingly always in flux, and every year Daryl Morey seems to make it work. Your first offseason as Rockets’ GM will be no different as Dwight Howard has a player option that is a 50/50 proposition.

He’s owed $23 million, but he may look for long-term security as he ages. Or he may opt-in to the contract knowing he can get a bigger chunk of the $100-plus million cap in 2017 and beyond. If he opts out, it frees up that cap space, and you then have a very interesting decision. Clint Capela projects as a potential Howard replacement, and that $23 million can be used towards more wing players to help take the pressure off of James Harden.

Additionally, Terrence Jones and Donatas Motiejunas are both coming up as restricted free agents, and retaining one or both of them will eat into whatever remaining money you have left. It’s a risky move, but it might be worthwhile to move Howard and let his declining skills and increasing contract be someone else’s problem.

The Rockets owe their first-round pick to to Denver in 2016 and don’t have a second-round pick until 2020, but you’ll have opportunities to draft young players or trade away your picks in a blockbuster, should you desire. Finally, you’ll want to keep the contracts of Ty Lawson and Corey Brewer (both non-guaranteed for 2016) in place because at worst they’ll be interesting trade chips.

Three-Year Strategy: Not having Dwight Howard on your team gives you the opportunity to really remake this team around James Harden by either going ultra-offensive, ultra-defensive or some mix of the two. Harden himself is a free agent at the end of your third season, and he’s a no-brainer max player. All of the other wing players on your roster will be getting up in age by then, so it makes sense to look to draft their replacements with the picks you have in 2017 and 2018.

You can take some time to develop players before giving them starters’ minutes, which isn’t a luxury most teams have. I would recommend letting Corey Brewer and Trevor Ariza go when their contracts expire, and I would think very carefully about how long to extend Ty Lawson because he will surely decline as he gets into his early 30s at the end of his current deal.

You have some other intriguing pieces under team control for a long time, such as the aforementioned Clint Capela, Patrick Beverley and K.J. McDaniels, so don’t be afraid to jettison some of your vets should the opportunity arise.

2014-2015 Record: 55-27 (5th in conference, lost 4-2 to Warriors in Western Conference Semifinals)
2016-2017 Cap Room: $42 million

Key Strengths: All-NBA players at point guard and center
Key Weaknesses: Shooting, athleticism, aging roster

First-Year Strategy: “Ask not for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.” It’s over for Memphis. The Grizzlies have maybe one more shot to make it out of the Western Conference, but Mike Conley, Jeff Green, Courtney Lee, Matt Barnes and Mario Chalmers (or Beno Udrih depending on when you start your franchise) are all unrestricted free agents after year one. And if that's not bad enough, Memphis only has one of its next three first-round picks.

After signing Conley to what will surely be a max deal, there will be scant few dollars to go around to fill in the roster. As much as it may pain you to do so, consider trading Zach Randolph and give Brandan Wright a shot to be the high-energy roll man next to Marc Gasol and Mike Conley. From there, use whatever money you have left to try to secure prototypical “3-and-D” guys to space the floor around Conley, Gasol, and Wright and start to shift from the “grit-n-grind” era to something a little more modern.

Of your numerous free agents, only Courtney Lee projects as a starter in a couple of years so let the rest go.

Three-Year Strategy: The toughest decision you’re going to have (besides trading Randolph) will be what to do with the grindfather himself, Tony Allen. His lack of scoring ability should keep his price down so it may be worthwhile to keep him around on a reasonable deal, but Allen will be 35 when his current deal expires. In other words, if you plan on re-signing him, keep the deal very short as you may find him unplayable in the long run.

For the best possible situation, look to what the Trailblazers have done post-LaMarcus Aldridge: funky, all-shooting lineups that bend defenses in wild ways while getting by with a league-average defense. Conley and Gasol are great pieces to build around, but you’re going to have to find a new identity to get the most out of your team.

2014-2015 Record: 55-27 (6th in conference, lost to Clippers 4-3 in 1st round of playoffs)
2016-2017 Cap Room: $6 million

Key Strengths: Three foundational pieces
Key Weaknesses: Aging veterans, limited cap space

First-Year Strategy: In some ways, San Antonio’s signing of LaMarcus Aldridge was more about the future than the present. Aldridge keeps the Spurs competitive beyond the retirement of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. In addition, along with Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green, the Spurs will have three great players firmly in their primes and all under team-friendly deals. Duncan will most likely retire after year one so you’ll save his $5.6 million. If Manu ($3 million) and David West ($1.5 million) follow suit, that will free up a little more here and there.

You’re going to need all the spare change you can get because Tony Parker is firmly in regression territory. The once-speedy terror has slowed down a bit, and he still can’t really shoot three-pointers to compensate for his loss of speed. Now, if you’re thinking to yourself “maybe I should trade him,” just know that you said it, not me. Still, now that YOU mentioned it, he is owed $29 million over the final two years of his deal. Patty Mills is an obvious candidate to replace him on the roster, and you have Ray McCallum under team control as a potential backup.

You can also save some money by waiving Boris Diaw and getting out of his remaining $14.5 million over the final two years of his deal. Either way, this team will soon need to pivot to the Kawhi/Aldridge/Green era, so if you fail to win the title in your first year it might be time to get the party started.

Three-Year Strategy: By the time you’re finishing your third year, the old guard should be gone. The last year of Tony Parker’s deal is 2017, and you don’t want him coming back for anything longer than a year or two, if at all. Parker will be nearly 37 by then so chances are he’ll be retiring.

Of more pressing concern will be Danny Green and LaMarcus Aldridge, two players with options in 2018 before becoming free agents outright in 2018. If you’re lucky and you’ve been successful, they’ll opt-in. If you’re unlucky, well, you will have plenty of cap space to pay them assuming you don’t have any other huge deals on your books. You want shorter deals with these guys if you can manage them, especially for Aldridge. LA should age somewhat gracefully, but he will likely command a healthy amount of money. Green is an interesting case. He’s an underpaid elite defender and 3-point shooter who will be nearing the back-end of his career when his current deal expires. Does he look to cash in, or will he be happy to stick around?

You will definitely need a point guard of the future at some point, even if Patty Mills and Ray McCallum prove to be a capable duo. You’ll also need to draft smartly to have plenty of depth on your roster. The Spurs’ singing of Aldridge prevents you from having a 10-deep roster unless you draft really well. Target guys that fit your needs and develop the heck out of them to keep yourself as an elite franchise.

2014-2015 Record: 50-32 (7th in conference, lost 4-1 to Rockets in 1st round of playoffs)
2016-2017 Cap Room: $40 million

Key Strengths: Clean cap sheet
Key Weaknesses: Aging/injured key players, point guard, center

First-Year Strategy: Dallas owes its 2016 first-rounder to Boston so don’t expect any cheap help to come your way. However, Dallas is in pretty good shape to sign some help at point guard and center, assuming that Dirk Nowitzki and Chandler Parsons exercise their player options after year one.

Deron Williams is a guy you’re looking to replace (sorry rejuvenated real-life Deron I mean no disrespect!), so if he happens to opt-in, consider trading him or relegating him to bench status because he likely won’t be much help to you anyway. Parsons is an interesting situation because he could command $20-plus million upon opting-out, but it seems like a wild overpay of a guy who now has an injury history and will be 28 after your first year running the team.

In short, The Mavericks are not in a great spot because they don’t have any potential All-NBA players currently on the roster (the closest, Wes Matthews, is coming off an Achilles tear). Having all of your players go the opt-out route might be a blessing in disguise as it will allow you to be really bad for a year, get a high pick and then try to rebuild the team as you see fit going forward.

Three-Year Strategy: I honestly see one player on the team right now who should be on the team in the long run, and that’s rookie Justin Anderson. Everyone else is expendable and should be viewed as such. You can literally do whatever you want with this team, especially if you trade Wes Matthews at some point during these three years (highly recommended) to get out from under his large deal.

The Mavericks have $27 million committed in 2017-2018, and that’s almost all Matthews, so biding your time might allow you to strike on an elite free agent at basically any position. You need them all. All the players.

2014-2015 Record: 45-37 (8th in conference, lost to Warriors 4-0 in 1st round of playoffs)
2016-2017 Cap Room: $36 million

Key Strengths: THE BROW
Key Weaknesses: Everybody else is hurt

First-Year Strategy: The Pelicans have one of the best players in the game so that’s a great start. Anthony Davis is locked in for the long term, and is an elite two-way player that can be built around in almost any way.

Unfortunately for the Pelicans, the rest of their roster is not built for that long haul because almost everybody else on the team is either injured or likely to be injured. Eric Gordon and Ryan Anderson might be worth looking at on a short-term deal, but Norris Cole, Kendrick Perkins, Ish Smith and Toney Douglas are not worth hanging on to moving forward. The Pelicans have all of their future firsts and what you’re looking for is guards, either point or shooting. You need guards in a bad way.

Three-Year Strategy: If you’ve drafted your point guard and shooting guard of the future (or signed them with your cap space), you can bid adieu to Jrue Holiday (injury issues) and Tyreke Evans (fit issues) after year two. Consider trading Omer Asik at some point and look for a younger, rangier center.

Davis and this center of the future can switch off depending on the matchup, so don’t limit yourself to just a shot blocker/defender. However, Festus Ezeli might be coming free at some point in your first three years running the team, and he seems to be a pretty good fit next to Davis. Ezeli is someone who can roll hard to the rim as Davis spaces the floor on offense, and Ezeli can protect the rim when Davis goes to the bench.

This is another team that, if I had my choice, would basically have just Davis on it and a slew of new players by the end of year three. So really what I'm saying is there are not that many hard decisions to make. Get rid of everyone except Davis at some point or another, and rebuild this team as a fast, athletic, and healthy collection of three-point shooters and defenders who can cut around Davis at the elbows or who can work with him in pick and roll situations.

The hard part of building an NBA team is getting the superstar. Now that you have one, it’s time to build around him -- properly this time.

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Marc Price is a life-long basketball nerd and EA SPORTS GameChanger. He co-hosts the Post-Game Podcast with Corey Andress every Wednesday on the Post-Game Podcast Network. You can find more information about the podcast at http://postgamepodcast.wordpress.com/ as well as Twitter.com/postgamepodcast.

Marc can be followed on Twitter at Twitter.com/mrprice33 and his co-host Corey can be followed at Twitter.com/coreysa. You can find more articles like these at medium.com/@mrprice33.