2014-2015 Record: 67-15 (1st in conference, beat Cleveland 4-2 in NBA Finals)
2016-2017 Cap Room: $9 million

Key Strengths: Elite shooting and defense, best offensive player in the game, top three defensive player
Key Weaknesses: Roster instability after year one

First-Year Strategy: Go win another title. After you do that, you have tough decisions to make on players like Harrison Barnes and Festus Ezeli, both restricted free agents. Teams will be bidding for their services as both players are archetypes that tend to get paid in the NBA. Getting away from Jason Thompson and Shaun Livingston’s $13 million combined in non-guaranteed salaries will help your cause, and you’ll need every penny you can get, as you’ll see shortly.

The Warriors do not outright own their first-round pick in 2016 (has pick swap options on it), and they don't own their first-round pick in 2017. On top of that, they don’t have a second rounder until 2019 so you don’t have a ton of ways to upgrade the roster. In other words, keeping the young guys you have is the most important thing you can do.

Three-Year Strategy: Back in 2013, Stephen Curry signed a ridiculously team-friendly deal, primarily due to injury concerns around his ankles. The reigning MVP is due a whopping $23 million combined in 2015-16 and 2016-17. However, in the 2017 offseason those chickens come home to roost. Curry will be commanding a maximum salary right as the cap leaps to $108 million, meaning you’ll be on the hook for a yearly salary well north of $30 million.

Andrew Bogut and Andre Iguodala are both coming off the books that year, and it would make sense to let them both walk as they’ll be well into their 30s by then. Ezeli and Barnes will both start over them, anyway. You’re looking at a solid starting five of Curry/Thompson/Barnes/Green/Ezeli, but you have no bench to speak of unless you continue to pick up Marreese Speights and Leandro Barbosa on short-term deals.

It’s going to be tough to fill in the back half of your roster without draft picks, so cross your fingers on injury luck. You’ll need it.

2014-2015 Record: 56-26 (3rd in conference, lost to Houston 4-3 in conference semifinals)
2016-2017 Cap Room: none

Key Strengths: Best starting five in basketball, solid bench with a good mix of players
Key Weaknesses: Outside shooting, no way to improve roster

First-Year Strategy: You’re definitely a title contender, but keeping your starting five healthy and well rested is vital. Create custom game plans for some of the weaker Eastern Conference teams, and sit Chris Paul against those teams because you won’t need him in those games. In those games, start Austin Rivers (I know), and play Jamal Crawford and Lance Stephenson as backups.

You have a team option on Lance after year one, but Austin Rivers, Wesley Johnson and Cole Aldrich all have player options. I would expect at least two of those players to keep their contracts intact. You have to make decisions on Josh Smith, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, Pablo Prigioni and Jamal Crawford after the first year. Of those, Mbah a Moute and Smith are worth keeping. Crawford is a possibility depending on the cost.

The Clippers have their 2016 pick, but it will surely be a much later one in the draft so focus on depth and shooting. If you can find a potential good defender who can shoot, that’s what you’re looking for on this team.

Three-Year Strategy: The Clippers' contracts are organized in such a way that Chris Paul and Blake Griffin become free agents at the same time, after the 2017 season. This is potentially a good thing because the Clippers only have DeAndre Jordan’s contract allocated for that season, though you’ll likely have added players via the draft and signings by that time.

Why is this a good thing? Well, you can exceed your cap to sign Blake and Chris because you hold their Bird Rights, so you can spend the first few days of free agency targeting other players before you offer a full max to both Blake and Chris. It’s a risky strategy, and you’ll want to monitor where Chris and Blake are in their process, but before you lock up around $60 million on them (that’s assuming you are re-signing Paul, who might not be worth that much money at that point in his career), you’ll want to spend as close to the cap as you can.

Otherwise, continue to look for 3-and-D small forwards and shooting guards to put around the Paul and Blake/DeAndre action.

2014-2015 Record: 39-43 (10th in conference, missed playoffs)
2016-2017 Cap Room: $35 million

Key Strengths: Outside shooting, guards
Key Weaknesses: Few elite players

First-Year Strategy: Phoenix has four free agents on its roster you’ll need to decide on, and of the group, only Mirza Teletovic seems really worth it as a stretch four. Jon Leuer, Ronnie Price and Cory Jefferson are roster filler that you can probably churn through if you want to. Otherwise, both PJ Tucker and Sonny Weems are non-guaranteed, and, considering Tucker will somehow be nearing 32 years old in the 2016-2017 season, it’ll be worth getting out of both of those deals. This will free up another $8 million, likely close to what you’ll spend on Teletovic.

From there, your big problem with the Suns is you don’t really have an All-NBA-level player on the team. Eric Bledsoe, Brandon Knight and Alex Len are nice pieces, but Markieff Morris might not be a good enough shooter for this team so consider trading his very-moveable contract for a shorter deal and a pick -- if you can.

You have an extra pick from Cleveland in the 2016 draft, so if you are able to get another pick for Morris, consider packaging the two together -- possibly with another player and your own pick -- to move up further in the draft. You really need an elite wing player on this team because guys like T.J. Warren and Teletovic are better off as bench contributors than starters.

Three-Year Strategy: You also get an extra pick from Miami in either 2018 or 2019, and that might be a good pick depending on how that team continues to grow, so keep that in mind as you build your team through your first three years. Again, you’re looking for elite wing players, but your team might be too good to be bad enough to get one. It’s going to take heady scouting, and maybe a trade or two, to get you where you want to go.

You have five players under team control until at least 2018, but one of those is Tyson Chandler. He is a potential trade chip as an expiring contract after 2018. The important thing is that these guys are all under contract when the cap explodes in 2016 and 2017, so you will be able to add a free agent to an already existing situation, instead of starting over like some other teams would be.

2014-2015 Record: 29-53 (13th in conference, missed playoffs)
2016-2017 Cap Room: $32 million

Key Strengths: Building block on a cheap contract
Key Weaknesses: Lack of perimeter shooting, few opportunities to improve team with young talent

First-Year Strategy: One of the things I look at when doing these primers is determine how easy it is for a team to add young talent. Good players on rookie deals are the second-best assets you can have in the NBA behind All-NBA talent because the rookie scale is fixed, even as the cap jumps up to ridiculous new levels. Teams that don’t have draft picks are always going to have a tougher time adding players unless they have long-term, team-friendly deals already in place.

The Kings are sort of in the latter category because they have DeMarcus Cousins locked up through the cap explosion, allowing them to add pieces as they go without making it impossible to re-sign him. Rajon Rondo is an obvious cut after year one; he’s an injury risk who will be regressing his already outdated NBA skills on a team needing shooting. The contract made no sense to begin with (regardless of how many counting stats he puts up), and most players will probably give Darren Collison more playing time due to his ability to hit an open shot.

Point guard is a place of need for the Kings. They have decent talent at the two spot with Marco Belinelli and Ben McLemore providing shooting. And with McLemore, he has athleticism and some semblance of defensive ability as well.

Three-Year Strategy: Rudy Gay has a player option for 2017-2018, and I suspect he will opt-out of that deal so it may make sense to trade him before that happens. Gay has been okay with Sacramento, but he’s not a superstar, and he’s going to be probably looking for $20-plus million when he can become a free agent. You do not want to be the team paying $20 million for Rudy Gay as he gets into his 30s. Trading him at the height of his value for some young talent, cap relief or draft picks is smart for a team that can’t add cheap young players to its roster.

You have a host of free agents to decide on after year two, but of those, only Darren Collison and Ben McLemore are worth keeping around. Gay is your big trade chip so make it count and continue to add shooting and athleticism around Boogie Cousins. If you map things out right, when you max Cousins out after 2017 you’ll have a real contender.

2014-2015 Record: 21-61 (14th in conference, missed playoffs)
2016-2017 Cap Room: $64 million

Key Strengths: Young, potentially elite backcourt
Key Weaknesses: One first rounder in next three years

First-Year Strategy: The Lakers have a ridiculous number of veteran contracts clogging up the cap, and you should be thrilled to say goodbye to Roy Hibbert, Metta World Peace, and, of course, Kobe Bryant after your first year. Do not re-sign any of these guys and keep your cap clean. You don’t have your draft pick in 2016 or 2018 so try to use your cap space to target an elite wing player or center in free agency. I promise there will be a couple out there.

Match most offers on Jordan Clarkson, and build around him, D’Angelo Russell and Julius Randle. Nick Young and Lou Williams are good offensive sparks off the bench, and Young can be a spot starter at small forward should you strike out on that position in free agency.

Three-Year Strategy: Continue to take your shot on big-time free agents every season because the Lakers only have one first-round pick available to them during your first three years controlling the team. Russell and Randle are under team control until at least 2018, and Clarkson should be looking to sign a long-term, reasonable deal after year one.

With these three players serving as the cornerstones of your franchise, you should be able to fill in the gaps as needed with guys already on your roster. What that means is putting guys like Brandon Bass and Larry Nance Jr. to good use, and throwing gobs of money at free agents along the way.

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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.