Off-Season Grades - Alpha Conference
Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2020 2:32 pm
Off-Season Grades
I wanted to give a grade for each team’s offseason. Note, this grade will be not for the ranking of the team overall, nor about their talent level, but about how well they executed their offseason compared to what the expectations are. For example, a non title contender that lost some win-now talent, but acquired some draft capital might have a better grade than a much better team that regressed a bit.
See the Omega Conference grades here.
Mourning Division:
New York Knicks
The Knicks, no doubt, are in a bad spot. They won 47 games and the Mourning Division by a single game, but they ran up a huge tax bill (so far 196 points outstanding), and washed out in round 1 of the playoffs. When you can only bid mins, you’re going to lose your free agents (like DickKow and the Berry-man). They hit on the #17 pick, so they get a little credit there, but there’s no excuse for not getting under the cap. Period, end of story, full stop.
Key Additions: Kristaps Porzingis (UFA), Tibor Pleiss (UFA), Douglas Harris (#17 pick), Terry Perez (UFA), John Carlisle (UFA)
Key Departures: Richard Kowalcyzk (UFA), Odell Raspberry (UFA)
Final Grade: D
Orlando Magic
The Magic nearly won the division last year while resetting their tax repeater status last year. This is a tough team to evaluate, because they are all kind of in the middle ground between competitors and rebuilders. First off, they signed Pallies to a one-year max (or near-max) just before JJJ resigned, so they are now over the cap, and they have a logjam in the front-court. I like clearing out Ketchum to allow Hunt to get full run at the 1, and Bagley is great at the 4 next to a center, but not 2 centers. So I have to dock a few points due to the roster imbalance. I have no doubts that False9 will either make it work on the court, or find a trading partner to balance out the roster, but it’s definitely incomplete at the moment. Aside from that, I didn’t see major mis-steps, so an average grade seems appropriate.
Key Additions: Marving Bagley III (trade with DEN), Chris Pallies (UFA), Tony Ellis (UFA)
Key Departures:Ash Ketchum (trade with DEN), Brooks Thompson (trade with DEN),
Final Grade: C
Cleveland Cavaliers
I really like what the Cavs are doing. They have a solid core of young talent, made a very good draft pick at the tough #14 spot, added some lower cost talent to surround the core, and stayed under the tax. Did they do anything amazing? No. Will they need to make some moves to support their team now to eventually field a contender? Yes. But I think their patience and their totally reasonable deals for Ridley/Dodge, they have a season or two to make those moves.
Key Additions: Brian Grinder (UFA), Clemente Torres (UFA), Scott Lawson (#14 pick),
Key Departures: Chris Pallies (UFA), Derick Hunter (UFA), Stephen Keitt (UFA)
Final Grade: B
Brooklyn Nets
The Nets were not good last season, but they had a solid core around a very talented 27yo SG named Slim Jenkins, because Gary. They’re in a relatively weak division, and they saw an opening to trade some of that young core for a verified star. I love the trade for the Wolves, as I’ve already said, but I also love the trade for the Nets. I think it was really a win-win deal. Luka and Slim together will be very difficult to deal with with any level supporting cast. I don’t think the supporting cast is quite there this year, but with their two stars 27 and signed long-term, they have a solid 3 season (or so) window to win a championship with that core. They can add in FA, trade some of their younger guys for verified stars, or just wait for their youngins to grow up. I’d advocate for the trade route, but that’s just me. I think this grade is still incomplete because it will ultimately depend on what they do with the pieces they’ve acquired, and I WOULD like to have seen a couple more win-now pieces get acquired, but overall they land a solid grade.
Key Additions: Luka Doncic (Trade with Wolves), Andrew Baldwin (UFA)
Key Departures: Simon Pheonix (Trade with Wolves), OG Annouby (trade with wolves), Harvey Daniels (trade with Wolves), Paul McWhite (UFA)
Final Grade: A-
Milwaukee Bucks
The other team at the center of the Timberwolves’ reset button are your Milwaukee Bucks. With Schumann and Rodriguez, it absolutely made sense to acquire some big-time talent to put around them to be able to make a run. Ja and Hunter definitely count, and the rookies the Bucks traded won’t be ready in time to be useful for this current build anyway. Ja will dish out the ball to their stars, and Hunter is probably the best defensive 4 in the game today. To facilitate that acquisition, they ditched Edison’s dead weight in another brilliant (and #wildcard) move. They could use a better 5, and have Dangerfield to dangle to acquire one, and they’ll need to worry about their cap as repeaters next year when Rodriguez needs to be paid, but I think this team had one of the absolute best offseasons in the league, and I think will flip their record from 58 losses to 58 wins while still having youth to build around and figure out. If for whatever reason this build doesn’t click, they have enough pieces to flip for other bona-fides for another swing.
Key Additions: Ja Morant (trade), Derick Hunter (UFA), Wilburn Clark (waivers)
Key Departures:Thomas Edison (trade), Modestine (UFA), Briseno (UFA), #6 and #10 picks (trade)
Final Grade: A+ This would have been a runaway for best offseason in the league were it not for the…….
Philadelphia 76ers
Definitely earlier in their rebuild than the Bucks, but I think they helped themselves almost as much. When you’re early in a rebuild, the critical tasks are to add more young talent, combine some of your mid-tier young talent for better prospects, and acquire some solid win-now pieces on reasonable deals to be able to flip for more assets. Check. Check. Check. That Miami Heat trade was a fleecing, and I love it for this team. They now have a 3-headed monster core of guys with HUGE potential and a top age of 21. Mo Bamba was a great get in UFA, but he certainly won’t be around when this team is ready to compete, so I expect him to be flipped for future picks and/or youth and/or depth. If I were at the top of the Mourning Division, I would be very worried, because these two bottom-dwellers from last yearhad the two best offseasons (in some order) in the league.
Key Additions: Mo Bamba (UFA), Norrin Radd (UFA), Cassius Winston (#5 pick), Obi Toppin (#2 pick via trade), A bunch of points via trade
Key Departures: Miguel Thomas (trade), Felix Ireland (trade), Tony Willson (UFA), Joe Futrell (UFA)
Final Grade: A+
Johnson Division:
Washington Wizards
The Wizards won 62 games last year in a really tough division, they went to the Conference Finals, and they lost pretty handily to the upstart Lakers who beat them 8 of 9 times they played last year in one of those weird matchup things. This description, to me, doesn’t sound like ‘tear it down’, it says ‘let’s rearrange the pieces a bit’, but Xist would clearly disagree as he sent Marsh and Brooks packing without getting much in return outside of Romeo Langford. I get that the tax man had a part to play, but when you win 62, and you’re not delinquent yet, maybe don’t go crazy, but you gotta take another shot. So I disagree with the direction, but let’s review the execution of that direction. The Wizards didn’t get under the tax, they didn’t add anyone to their young core, they’re missing their pick next year – and didn’t get any back to augment it. I think Payne is a nice piece. They may be able to flip Langford – though it appears TC wasn’t very kind to him, but overall they either needed to make another run, get under the tax, or load up with young talent, and I don’t think they did any of this very well.
Key Additions: Romeo Langford, Spencer Haberman, Cameron Payne, Winston Kelly (#13 Pick)
Key Departures: Leonard Kipp, Eric Eads, John Vines, Chad Marsh, Phil Brooks, Norrin Radd
Final Grade: D (Sorry Xist)
Los Angeles Lakers
Like the Wizards, the Lakers also won 60 games last year. Unlike them, they pretty much kept the same team to make another run at a title. I like the strategy and the build, and it looks like this is the last year to swing for the fences before they pay Delmar and reset around him and Leiker (or trade those tickets in for some other prizes, get lucky in UFA, say ‘F*** it’ and do it again. I think for where they’re at, they did the right thing overall, the only thing I think they could possibly have done a little better was bringing in more/better role players/depth via trade or UFA.
Key Additions: Olen Sutherland
Key Departures: Eldridge Candelaria
Final Grade: B+
Skipping the Nuggets for obvious reasons
Sacramento Kings
Oh what could have been last year. Those injuries really weren’t fair, and props to NOLa. for staying the course with his team and not quitting, because I’m sure it was tempting. I know BDJ lost his purple, Frank Jackson lost some luster, and Udoka/Kowalczyk don’t exactly look like a natural fit next to eachother. But this team is probably better on paper than last year’s 45-win team, and that team started 4-16 prior to that BDJ trade, so they were even better. This team should battle with the Lakers (and maybe the Nuggets?) for the division crown, and I think they have some pieces to play with to fill in their holes and re-arrange the roster a bit as the season progresses. Because of the fit questions, and lack of solid back-court depth that they failed to acquire, they don’t quite make an A grade, but I’d have to rate the offseason as ‘solid’.
Key Additions: Richard Kowalczyk, Norris McMaster, Frank Jackson
Key Departures: Michael Essex, Long Anderson, Andrew Baldwin, James Gebhart, Donovan Mitchell
Final Grade: B
Indiana Pacers
Last year’s Pacers won 37 games putting them squarely in that no-mans-land between contenders and rebuilders. For those teams in that middle, I’d really look for them to try to get significantly better and add talent, or take a step back and build a young core. Ronnie Reynolds and John Stoll are a good start, but they came into the offseason with those two, and their big move was to add Chad Marsh. I see the Pacers being in about the same no-mans-land this year as last year, but they didn’t do anything to improve their long-term outlook, which I would have expected given their position, cap, pick, etc. They did stay under the cap, and they have a ton of points in their bank (whenever they get around to counting them up), so their grade is higher than it could otherwise be, but still, a disappointing offseason if you’re a Pacers fan.
Key Additions: Chad Marsh
Key Departures: Dragan Bender, Cameron Payne, #13 pick
Final Grade: C-
Skipping the Hawks as they were stewarded
San Antonio Spurs
Lastly, the Spurs. They made their big splash in the middle of last season when they traded long-time Spur PG BDJ to Sacramento. As they’re rebuilding, I’d expect them to find pieces to add to their core as well as supporting pieces that could be flipped for even more young pieces/picks/lotto tickets. They did this well. They drafted Mitchell at #9, and he might very well anchor the 4 for this team long into the future, they brought in Borwn/Porter/Piazza/Washington on min (or close to min) deals, and those guys can be flipped for more points or picks or whatever. So I think the plan was executed pretty well, even if there aren’t any moves this offseason that jump off the page. So they earn a solid, if unspectacular grade.
Key Additions: Scott Brown, Charlie Porter, Mike Piazza, Tasmin Mitchell (#9 pick), Dino Washington
Key Departures: Norris McMaster, Jeff Bower, Ronald Jackson
Final Grade: B
I wanted to give a grade for each team’s offseason. Note, this grade will be not for the ranking of the team overall, nor about their talent level, but about how well they executed their offseason compared to what the expectations are. For example, a non title contender that lost some win-now talent, but acquired some draft capital might have a better grade than a much better team that regressed a bit.
See the Omega Conference grades here.
Mourning Division:
New York Knicks
The Knicks, no doubt, are in a bad spot. They won 47 games and the Mourning Division by a single game, but they ran up a huge tax bill (so far 196 points outstanding), and washed out in round 1 of the playoffs. When you can only bid mins, you’re going to lose your free agents (like DickKow and the Berry-man). They hit on the #17 pick, so they get a little credit there, but there’s no excuse for not getting under the cap. Period, end of story, full stop.
Key Additions: Kristaps Porzingis (UFA), Tibor Pleiss (UFA), Douglas Harris (#17 pick), Terry Perez (UFA), John Carlisle (UFA)
Key Departures: Richard Kowalcyzk (UFA), Odell Raspberry (UFA)
Final Grade: D
Orlando Magic
The Magic nearly won the division last year while resetting their tax repeater status last year. This is a tough team to evaluate, because they are all kind of in the middle ground between competitors and rebuilders. First off, they signed Pallies to a one-year max (or near-max) just before JJJ resigned, so they are now over the cap, and they have a logjam in the front-court. I like clearing out Ketchum to allow Hunt to get full run at the 1, and Bagley is great at the 4 next to a center, but not 2 centers. So I have to dock a few points due to the roster imbalance. I have no doubts that False9 will either make it work on the court, or find a trading partner to balance out the roster, but it’s definitely incomplete at the moment. Aside from that, I didn’t see major mis-steps, so an average grade seems appropriate.
Key Additions: Marving Bagley III (trade with DEN), Chris Pallies (UFA), Tony Ellis (UFA)
Key Departures:Ash Ketchum (trade with DEN), Brooks Thompson (trade with DEN),
Final Grade: C
Cleveland Cavaliers
I really like what the Cavs are doing. They have a solid core of young talent, made a very good draft pick at the tough #14 spot, added some lower cost talent to surround the core, and stayed under the tax. Did they do anything amazing? No. Will they need to make some moves to support their team now to eventually field a contender? Yes. But I think their patience and their totally reasonable deals for Ridley/Dodge, they have a season or two to make those moves.
Key Additions: Brian Grinder (UFA), Clemente Torres (UFA), Scott Lawson (#14 pick),
Key Departures: Chris Pallies (UFA), Derick Hunter (UFA), Stephen Keitt (UFA)
Final Grade: B
Brooklyn Nets
The Nets were not good last season, but they had a solid core around a very talented 27yo SG named Slim Jenkins, because Gary. They’re in a relatively weak division, and they saw an opening to trade some of that young core for a verified star. I love the trade for the Wolves, as I’ve already said, but I also love the trade for the Nets. I think it was really a win-win deal. Luka and Slim together will be very difficult to deal with with any level supporting cast. I don’t think the supporting cast is quite there this year, but with their two stars 27 and signed long-term, they have a solid 3 season (or so) window to win a championship with that core. They can add in FA, trade some of their younger guys for verified stars, or just wait for their youngins to grow up. I’d advocate for the trade route, but that’s just me. I think this grade is still incomplete because it will ultimately depend on what they do with the pieces they’ve acquired, and I WOULD like to have seen a couple more win-now pieces get acquired, but overall they land a solid grade.
Key Additions: Luka Doncic (Trade with Wolves), Andrew Baldwin (UFA)
Key Departures: Simon Pheonix (Trade with Wolves), OG Annouby (trade with wolves), Harvey Daniels (trade with Wolves), Paul McWhite (UFA)
Final Grade: A-
Milwaukee Bucks
The other team at the center of the Timberwolves’ reset button are your Milwaukee Bucks. With Schumann and Rodriguez, it absolutely made sense to acquire some big-time talent to put around them to be able to make a run. Ja and Hunter definitely count, and the rookies the Bucks traded won’t be ready in time to be useful for this current build anyway. Ja will dish out the ball to their stars, and Hunter is probably the best defensive 4 in the game today. To facilitate that acquisition, they ditched Edison’s dead weight in another brilliant (and #wildcard) move. They could use a better 5, and have Dangerfield to dangle to acquire one, and they’ll need to worry about their cap as repeaters next year when Rodriguez needs to be paid, but I think this team had one of the absolute best offseasons in the league, and I think will flip their record from 58 losses to 58 wins while still having youth to build around and figure out. If for whatever reason this build doesn’t click, they have enough pieces to flip for other bona-fides for another swing.
Key Additions: Ja Morant (trade), Derick Hunter (UFA), Wilburn Clark (waivers)
Key Departures:Thomas Edison (trade), Modestine (UFA), Briseno (UFA), #6 and #10 picks (trade)
Final Grade: A+ This would have been a runaway for best offseason in the league were it not for the…….
Philadelphia 76ers
Definitely earlier in their rebuild than the Bucks, but I think they helped themselves almost as much. When you’re early in a rebuild, the critical tasks are to add more young talent, combine some of your mid-tier young talent for better prospects, and acquire some solid win-now pieces on reasonable deals to be able to flip for more assets. Check. Check. Check. That Miami Heat trade was a fleecing, and I love it for this team. They now have a 3-headed monster core of guys with HUGE potential and a top age of 21. Mo Bamba was a great get in UFA, but he certainly won’t be around when this team is ready to compete, so I expect him to be flipped for future picks and/or youth and/or depth. If I were at the top of the Mourning Division, I would be very worried, because these two bottom-dwellers from last yearhad the two best offseasons (in some order) in the league.
Key Additions: Mo Bamba (UFA), Norrin Radd (UFA), Cassius Winston (#5 pick), Obi Toppin (#2 pick via trade), A bunch of points via trade
Key Departures: Miguel Thomas (trade), Felix Ireland (trade), Tony Willson (UFA), Joe Futrell (UFA)
Final Grade: A+
Johnson Division:
Washington Wizards
The Wizards won 62 games last year in a really tough division, they went to the Conference Finals, and they lost pretty handily to the upstart Lakers who beat them 8 of 9 times they played last year in one of those weird matchup things. This description, to me, doesn’t sound like ‘tear it down’, it says ‘let’s rearrange the pieces a bit’, but Xist would clearly disagree as he sent Marsh and Brooks packing without getting much in return outside of Romeo Langford. I get that the tax man had a part to play, but when you win 62, and you’re not delinquent yet, maybe don’t go crazy, but you gotta take another shot. So I disagree with the direction, but let’s review the execution of that direction. The Wizards didn’t get under the tax, they didn’t add anyone to their young core, they’re missing their pick next year – and didn’t get any back to augment it. I think Payne is a nice piece. They may be able to flip Langford – though it appears TC wasn’t very kind to him, but overall they either needed to make another run, get under the tax, or load up with young talent, and I don’t think they did any of this very well.
Key Additions: Romeo Langford, Spencer Haberman, Cameron Payne, Winston Kelly (#13 Pick)
Key Departures: Leonard Kipp, Eric Eads, John Vines, Chad Marsh, Phil Brooks, Norrin Radd
Final Grade: D (Sorry Xist)
Los Angeles Lakers
Like the Wizards, the Lakers also won 60 games last year. Unlike them, they pretty much kept the same team to make another run at a title. I like the strategy and the build, and it looks like this is the last year to swing for the fences before they pay Delmar and reset around him and Leiker (or trade those tickets in for some other prizes, get lucky in UFA, say ‘F*** it’ and do it again. I think for where they’re at, they did the right thing overall, the only thing I think they could possibly have done a little better was bringing in more/better role players/depth via trade or UFA.
Key Additions: Olen Sutherland
Key Departures: Eldridge Candelaria
Final Grade: B+
Skipping the Nuggets for obvious reasons
Sacramento Kings
Oh what could have been last year. Those injuries really weren’t fair, and props to NOLa. for staying the course with his team and not quitting, because I’m sure it was tempting. I know BDJ lost his purple, Frank Jackson lost some luster, and Udoka/Kowalczyk don’t exactly look like a natural fit next to eachother. But this team is probably better on paper than last year’s 45-win team, and that team started 4-16 prior to that BDJ trade, so they were even better. This team should battle with the Lakers (and maybe the Nuggets?) for the division crown, and I think they have some pieces to play with to fill in their holes and re-arrange the roster a bit as the season progresses. Because of the fit questions, and lack of solid back-court depth that they failed to acquire, they don’t quite make an A grade, but I’d have to rate the offseason as ‘solid’.
Key Additions: Richard Kowalczyk, Norris McMaster, Frank Jackson
Key Departures: Michael Essex, Long Anderson, Andrew Baldwin, James Gebhart, Donovan Mitchell
Final Grade: B
Indiana Pacers
Last year’s Pacers won 37 games putting them squarely in that no-mans-land between contenders and rebuilders. For those teams in that middle, I’d really look for them to try to get significantly better and add talent, or take a step back and build a young core. Ronnie Reynolds and John Stoll are a good start, but they came into the offseason with those two, and their big move was to add Chad Marsh. I see the Pacers being in about the same no-mans-land this year as last year, but they didn’t do anything to improve their long-term outlook, which I would have expected given their position, cap, pick, etc. They did stay under the cap, and they have a ton of points in their bank (whenever they get around to counting them up), so their grade is higher than it could otherwise be, but still, a disappointing offseason if you’re a Pacers fan.
Key Additions: Chad Marsh
Key Departures: Dragan Bender, Cameron Payne, #13 pick
Final Grade: C-
Skipping the Hawks as they were stewarded
San Antonio Spurs
Lastly, the Spurs. They made their big splash in the middle of last season when they traded long-time Spur PG BDJ to Sacramento. As they’re rebuilding, I’d expect them to find pieces to add to their core as well as supporting pieces that could be flipped for even more young pieces/picks/lotto tickets. They did this well. They drafted Mitchell at #9, and he might very well anchor the 4 for this team long into the future, they brought in Borwn/Porter/Piazza/Washington on min (or close to min) deals, and those guys can be flipped for more points or picks or whatever. So I think the plan was executed pretty well, even if there aren’t any moves this offseason that jump off the page. So they earn a solid, if unspectacular grade.
Key Additions: Scott Brown, Charlie Porter, Mike Piazza, Tasmin Mitchell (#9 pick), Dino Washington
Key Departures: Norris McMaster, Jeff Bower, Ronald Jackson
Final Grade: B
