With the NBA now around a week away, I’m going to look at how the various divisions line up. We start with the Atlantic Division.
Boston Celtics
Who’s In: Jason Terry, Courtney Lee, Jason Collins, Darko Milicic.
Draft: Jared Sullinger, Feb Melo, Kris Joseph.
Who’s Out: Ray Allen, Marquis Daniels, Jermaine O’Neal, Sasha Pavlovic, Keyon Dooling, Greg Stiemsma, JaJuan Johnson, E’Twaun Moore, Ryan Hollins, Sean Williams.
Summary: First and foremost for the Celtics this off-season was bringing back Kevin Garnett. KG fan-boys and Boston fans alike couldn’t be more delighted that the veteran decided to stick around and scream at undersized European point guards for a further three years. With KG coming back as the defensive anchor GM Danny Ainge opted to re-tool for this season as opposed to blowing it all up and starting over.
The loss of Ray Allen and Greg Stiemsma hurts but after the improved play of Avery Bradley and the acquisition of Jason Terry, Courtney Lee and Jared Sullinger’s sizeable exterior the Celtics have comfortably filled any glaring holes.
One of the most underrated moves this off-season has been the Celtics ability to nab shooting guard Courtney Lee in exchange for a VHS copy of The Lawnmower Man. Lee’s game is built on top-tier defense but he can also produce on the offensive end. Lee averaged over eleven points per game off the bench for the Rockets last year and can hit the three at a healthy 40% clip. He’ll fit right in on this team.
Boston was just one win away from competing against Oklahoma for a Championship last season. With Paul Pierce healthy, Brandon Bass returning, and Jeff Green’s heart surgery successful and no longer pining for old Oklahoma, there’s no reason why Boston can’t be in similar surroundings again next June.
Off-season Grade: A.
Predicted Win Total: 48-52
Philadelphia 76ers
Who’s in: Nick Young, Royal Ivey, Dorrell Wright, Kwame Brown, Andrew Bynum, Jason Richardson, Darryl Watkins.
Draft: Arnett Moultrie.
Who’s Out: Elton Brand, Lou Williams, Jodie Meeks, Maurice Harkless, Andre Iguodala, Nikola Vucevic, Sam Young.
Summary: Andre Igoudala moving out and Andrew Bynum moving in could be my favorite move of any team this off-season, regardless of the former Lakers injury concerns. The 76ers needed to shake things up and through acquiring Bynum they’ve done exactly that.
Philadelphia was the eighth most effective fast break team last season but found their game style and specifically the lack of a go to scoring option to be their downfall at the tail end of the Playoffs.
Where Bynum excels is in the paint and last season Philadelphia ranked outside the NBA’s top twenty teams in effective field goal percentage, free throw attempts per field goal attempt, two-point field goal percentage, shooting efficiency, free throw makes per game and offensive rebound percentage. Acquiring Bynum made too much sense, which is why I’m surprised it actually happened.
Philadelphia had no problems on the defensive end last year ranking inside the league’s top ten for every defensive indicator minus opponent free throw percentage, which falling short of installing an Earthquake simulator inside the stadium you can’t exactly do too much about.
Bringing back power forward Spencer Hawes made sense given the break out Huskies ability to mesh with Bynum’s purely inside game. If Hawes and Bynum can overcome the 0.14% likelihood of remaining healthy the 76ers will finally have some semblance of an offensive pulse under the rim.
In regards to replacing Igoudala’s production; as a starter Evan Turner averaged thirteen points, seven rebounds and three assists whilst shooting 45% from the floor, numbers which essentially made “Iggy” mildly expendable. This was the perfect time to pass the torch to the former number two overall pick and give this squad a full-blown face lift.
With Jrue Holiday, Hawes and Turner all improving and solid bench production via the way of Nick Young shooting too much, Jason Richardson looking really old and Kwame Brown making me laugh; Philadelphia should continue to pose as a threat come Playoff time.
Off-season Grade: A.
Predicted Win Total: 45-49
New York Knicks
Who’s in: Marcus Camby, Jason Kidd, Raymond Felton, Kurt Thomas, Pablo Prigioni, James White, Ronnie Brewer, Chris Smith, Rasheed Wallace.
Who’s Out: Jeremy Lin, Landry Fields, Toney Douglas, Jared Jeffries, Dan Gadzuric, Josh Harrellson, Jerome Jordan.
Summary: Does anything ever change when it comes to the Knicks? Eight names have vacated the Knicks roster this off-season whilst six fresh faces have entered. Who knows, maybe the Knicks have got it right this time? Or maybe they’re just adhering to the organisations long-standing slogan; “F–k team chemistry”
Like Randy Marsh in the Guitar Hero episode of South Park the Knicks have been making erratic and dumbfounding moves for nearly forty years in an attempt to “Catch the Dragon”, or in their case an NBA Championship.
Last season the Knicks found a winning lottery ticket in Jeremy Lin but not even six months would pass before they gave Lin away for the opportunity to sign a forty-year-old drunk wife beater (Kidd) and a point guard whose best skills are on show when in front of a buffet (Felton).
Refusing to match Jeremy Lin’s contract offer from Houston was one of the most perplexing moves not only of this off-season but in the history of pro sports. The most amusing aspect of the entire ordeal is that the Knicks couldn’t justify Lin’s contract but were happy to throw $15 million at a guy who looks like everyone’s Dad in Steve Novak and then sign a washed up out of shape Rasheed Wallace who is as old as everyone’s Dad.
I love the Knicks!
Signing Marcus Camby softens the blow a touch and the former Knick will slot right in behind reigning defensive player of the year Tyson Chandler. In typical Knicks fashion the Camby deal won’t expire until after the 2015 season resulting in the Knicks having a forty-two year old Jason Kidd and a forty-two year old Marcus Camby on their roster.
FORTY. TWO.
With Iman Shumpert out for an extended period landing depth in the form of Chicago Bulls defensive guard Ronnie Brewer can only increase the Knicks chances of finally making it out of the first round of the Playoffs.
Head Coach Mike Woodson will have it all to do this season. If Woodson can exercise Felton’s pop tart demons, JR Smith’s ability to be JR Smith, Melo’s four-hundred-and-fifty-two different variations of the jab step and Amare’s desire to punch fire extinguishers he’ll find himself in the coach of the year discussion. What’s more likely to happen is Woodson failing and being fired before Christmas.
The Knicks will win enough games for a top five seed in the East but they’re still a long way off capturing that Dragon.
Off-season Grade: D.
Predicted Win Total: 44-48.
Brooklyn Nets
Who’s In: Joe Johnson, Mirza Teletovic, C.J Watson, Reggie Evans, Keith Bogans, Jerry Stackhouse, Andray Blatche, Tyshawn Taylor, Josh Childress
Who’s Out: Anthony Morrow, Jordan Farmar, Gerald Green, Johan Petro, Jordan Williams, DeShawn Stevenson, Sundiata Gaines
Summary: If you’re a starter for the new look Nets franchise you’re more than likely bathing in a tub of money every night and have bumped knuckles with Jay-Z without it being incredibly white-guy awkward. This means that I am incredibly jealous of you.
In what has been nothing short of an eventful off-season all five of Brooklyn’s expected starters will be guaranteed more than double-digit millions for each of the next two years. In a surprise to nobody Brooklyn has wound up as the home of max contracts thanks to a 6’8” Russian Billionaire with a fetish for Jet Ski’s and a care free cheque book.
The Nets may have missed out on the big (sook) fish in Dwight Howard this off-season but they managed to convince franchise point guard Deron Williams to stay thus ensuring they will be competitive enough to challenge for a top four seed in their conference. Bringing back Gerald Wallace, Kris Humphries and Brook Lopez was a must once Williams decided to commit, and when Joe Johnson arrived in town any Dwight Howard trade was off the table.
According to Nets Coach Avery Johnson, Brook Lopez has spent the off-season in the Bohemian province of Chinchero bottling and consuming the sweat of 1000 Peruvian beards in a bid to combat his fear of rebounding the basketball. With “sources” confirming rumors that Jerry Stackhouse is waving a towel from the bench at a Hall of Fame level the Nets rise to relevance is very much in full swing.
The most perplexing element of the Brooklyn off-season was that general manager Billy King somehow managed to hit a home run despite previously being responsible for about fifteen of the twenty worst trades of all time.
This year’s free agency period saw Danny Ferry, Danny Ainge and Billy King all deliver close to “A+” off-seasons for their respective organisations. If you’ve ever needed a reason to pull your kid from school and relocate your family to the Colorado Mountains in fear of an impending apocalypse, look no further than the success of these gentleman.
Off-season Grade: A
Predicted Win Total: 43-47
Toronto Raptors
Who’s in: Kyle Lowry, Landry Fields, John Lucas III, Jonas Valaniunas, Jerel McNeal, Chris Wright.
Draft: Terrence Ross, Quincy Acy.
Who’s Out: Jerryd Bayless, James Johnson, Gary Forbes.
Summary: If you’re Canadian and love roller coasters than this Raptors off-season was built for you. General Manager Bryan Colangelo tried to play it a little too cute when signing Knicks free agent guard Landry Fields to a $20 million offer sheet in an attempt to knock the Knicks out of the race for Steve Nash. What happened next was hilarious for neutrals, and a full-blown fetal position inducing nightmare for Raptor fans and Laker haters.
Nash wound up dissing his Canadian buddies for the bright lights of Hollywood essentially leaving Colangelo with more egg on his already permanently egg covered face, and Landry Fields with an opportunity to showcase that pro-athlete business nous and invest $20 million in obscure inventions like dog-to-human language translation devices and flood friendly floating furniture (Shoutout to Scottie Pippen).
As for the upcoming season the Raptors will do what they always do; win thirty ‘something games, land a middle of the road lottery pick and wait for their key pieces to request a trade once everything appears to be in place.
Andrei Bargnani, Demar Derozan and Kyle Lowry are all quality pieces if you’re a big mediocrity guy, and rookies Terrence Ross and Jonas Valanciunas will keep intrigue relatively high and name pronunciation on a knives edge.
There’s not a lot to suggest that Toronto will be in the Playoff hunt (there’s nothing) but as long as they keep those alternate camo jerseys off the court it will be a step in the right direction.
Off-season Grade: C-
Predicted Win Total: 28-32
Quick Side note: I love this division. It’s loaded with star talent, rivalries, playoff teams and a legion of quirky guys who could have meaningful roles. Just look at this list: Kwame Brown, Darko Milicic, Raymond Felton, Reggie Evans, Rasheed Wallace, Jerry Stackhouse and Andray Blatche. They need to rename this the “Jackpot Division”.
RebelRanger
Guest
Celtics have Fab Melo and Kris Jospeh. They should recruit Scoop and reunite the last Orange class.
Eric George
Roar Rookie
I'm not really convinced about Leandro. Loved him at Phoenix where his speed really fit the team's approach. But the Celtics have always looked best when they pass the ball fluidly, and he always seemed like a ball-stopper. Perhaps with a bit of exciting youth on the unit we'll see Boston push the tempo a bit, but right now I don't see him integrating particularly well with the team. Mind you, he can produce some decent shots on his own, so maybe that's all they're looking for from him.
Scotty Barby
Roar Guru
For me Brooklyn's offseason goal was to put a team on the floor that would be playoff level competitive and put bums in seats. They've done that. The money and contract side of things is largely irrelevant. I don't remember saying anything about Darko being a decent pick up? Boston are arguably the deepest team in the league though.
Johnno
Guest
Can't wait for Brooklyn Nets to enter NBA as new team. I think they will become a massive franchise. Perfect timing. Remind me a lot of West sydney wanderers. SO many similarities. Both very community based clubs. And like west sydney , Brooklyn is a hub for multiculturalism. So all these cultures interwining together. Like west sydney it has a rich cultural history, and the people of Brooklyn take a lot of pride in being from Brooklyn. The singlets are really good too. The Brooklyn dodgers baseball team moved to LA, but I have a hunch this basketball team is here to stay in Brooklyn. And will have global appeal like west sydney as it is so multicultural place. Jay Z the musician has invested in the Brooklyn Nets too. Go Brooklyn Nets. A lot of potential espeically the New York Knicks VS Brooklyn Nets local derby. Will be amazing if these 2 actually had to meet in the grand final. Like the subway series in baseball in 2000 eg New York Yankees VS New York Mets . Go the Brooklyn Nets 2012 debut.
Ryan O'Connell
Expert
The Celtics also added Leonardo Barbosa this week, another solid signing. He'll also help an offense that was amongst the worst in the league last year. They've had a great off season in New England.
Ryan O'Connell
Expert
I don't disagree too much with most of the off-season grades, except for Philly, for which I agree with Mushi's comments. And I rate Kyle Lowry quite highly, so I may have bumped Toronto up a touch. Good stuff though. Really looking forward to the season starting.
Ryan O'Connell
Expert
I'm with you Mushi. I don't think Philly had a great off season at all. I think they made some head-scratching moves. Even if the addition of Bynum should theoretically drag their score up, he's immature and injury prone - he hasn't even started running yet for this season and there is no timetable on his return. Some alarm bells are ringing, no doubt.
mushi
Roar Guru
Also here are your gradings versus your predicted improvement in win % versus the pythagorean expected percentage from last year (ie. if they play exactly the same quality of ball). A Boston -2.8% to +2.1% A Brooklyn +26.1% to +31% A Philly -13.3% to -8.4% C- Toronto -1.6% to +3.3% D Knicks -9.7% to -4.7%
mushi
Roar Guru
I just can’t get your sixers one. Yes they should get a B for Bynum but everything else they did was horrible. The Lou Williams for Nick young swap is outright stupidity andwhich also involved them amnestying Brand (because they screwed up the Lavoy Allen’s contract). There isn’t anything that Nick young gives them that Lou Williams didn’t. Both are scorers that aren’t great defensively. It’s just Williams is a more efficient scorer and not as bad defensively. Oh plus there is also that Nick Young is the leagues worst black hole in the entire NBA, in a league chock full of with me first gunner he stands alone at the pinnacle of selfish disregard for his team mates screaming for open looks, whilst Lou actually gets his team mates involved at a decent rate. Oh and young rebounds like a 5’2” midget playing in Senegal and turns the ball over. Great get at the cost of Williams and Brand. There is also nothing that suggests Turner can fill iggy’s production. The guy is a train wreck offensively with a TS% of 0.478 because he can’t hit threes (22%) and as a point forward turns the ball over almost as much as he assists. The only thing he fills in for Iggy is that he’s a good defender (where as Iggy was a superb one)
Skinnada
Roar Rookie
Good preview. However, none of these teams will get near the Heat who have the monkey off their back and improved bench shooters. As long as they stay healthy, Will win the Eastern Conference without doubt. But beating the team to come out of the West will be a big challenge.
melo-drama
Guest
Scotty, while I agree with many of your sentiments as a whole I would like to point out a few things, why would you give the Brooklyn nets an A when they offer Brook Lopez a 44mil contract (note the 7 footer didnt get a rebound in 22mins against the knicks) pick up Joe Johnsons 6 year 119 million dollar contract and off D-Will 100million for 5 years? they just crippled themselves in one offseason how is that an A rated offseason? is the team better then last season? yes but not by 300million plus they locked themselves into. Also you like pointing out picking up a future hall of famer for just under the mid level is a bad move for a role player? New York hasn't looked as good as they do this year in at least a decade but because it's new york people like put a spin on it for the worst. I don't want to really get into the Lin debate but this is what happened Rockets gave him an 18mill contract NYK were going to Match lin went back to Houston and got a bloated contract and Grunwald wasnt going to match.... lets move on. Boston didnt have a good offseason they lost one of the greatest 3 point shooters and got JET who is streaky and is 35 years old. Their draft picks were pretty good in Fab Melo and Sullinger but if you are going to sit in your arm chair and say Darko Milic was a decent pick up then im going give Brookly a AAA+++++ for picking up Andray Blatche! Bar the Landry Fields 20mil bloated contract if Nash had gone to Toronto it would have been seen as a stroke of genious by fellow GM's but its just the way it plays out all the Raptors other pick ups have been very very good. On a final not offering Steve Novak 15mil over 4 seasons is an absolute steal, the man is money from beyond the 3 point line and I cant wait to see big ole Novakaine lighting it up. Best 3 point shooter last season for well under the mid level is sweet justice. My Rankings? Boston B- Brooklyn B New York B+ Philidelphia B+ Toronto B-