MY Offseason Grades

[Marcos_Beck]

MY Offseason Grades

This article was written before training camps. No player development was taken into account.
This reflects my opinion really. Give yours in the comments!!!


Atlanta Hawks: B+
Good yet underwhelming offseason for the Hawks, I’d say? Andre did some nice moves as Murray and Reaves are very good players overall. But they failed to deliver defense at the point and traded away an underrated big in Midtgaard plus one of their future firsts as well. Hawks have several great young players but I've a feeling this could have been a bit more “splashy” after all.

Boston Celtics: D+
Tryggvi’s new deal is solid, albeit a bit too long for a non star player. Boston remains very strong but did nothing to shorten the gap to the Nets and remain in very tough financial situation.

Brooklyn Nets: A+
Brooklyn was perfect this offseason. They brought back the band and added very solid bench players for cheap while keeping some distance from Hard Cap. Sabonis was very good last season and could be missed, but Popovic seems ready to step in and contribute.

Charlotte Hornets: A+
What a fantastic job by Dylan. Added two more firsts, secured a potentially top tier 3&D guy in the draft and added Collins on a huge 1 year deal. Now he can use Jovic at both forward spots, has two players who are likely long term defensive partners with his MVP caliber player and lots of cap room for next season, along with 5 1sts in the next 3 drafts. And if any of the expirings prove to be great fits, just bring them back on cheaper, longer deals next year. Early leader for GM of the year IMO.

Chicago Bulls: C
Disclaimer: this grade is based in my offseason with my old 76ers core.
Trading stars and starting rebuilds are never easy. At one hand, we were able to obtain a possible franchise player (although unproven) in Doom and another promising French in Coulibaly. On the other hand, we failed to acquire many firsts and traded for vets that could lead this team to purgatory. Grade is pretty much undefined until understanding what those vets will become by trade deadline (or sooner, hopefully).

Cleveland Cavaliers: A+
The Cavs brought everyone back and found a creative way to improve their C spot by trading for a young big in Santi Aldama, exactly what a team with limited assets should do. You can question team fit if you want but they did the best with what they had and are once again a strong team looking to contend.

Dallas Mavericks: B+
Losing defenders like Hunter and Holiday hurts but adding a star with a ring next to his name in Lonzo overshadows it. Caruso is one of the best shooters in the league to help space the floor, Green is back for quite cheap (with a likely bigger role) and Jones will be a good defender who stays out of Zion’s way. A good job by Billy overall.

Denver Nuggets: B-
Or should I say Houston Nuggets? KAT and Monk are back together in a surprise set of events as Gant, a Brett favorite, got dealt for the goat shooter in the history of CSL. Bolden, coming up off a huge year, will have to adapt playing with a higher usage partner inside, and the departure of Bridges hurts defensively. Denver still looks like a team in transmutation to fit their new stars who already failed to deliver a ring elsewhere. Dealing their 2034 first also puts them into risky territory as KAT will start regression this year.

Detroit Pistons: A
Lucas cashed in in some of his picks to land James Wiseman. While the picks could be better, the big man is a fantastic risk free option. Trading Hamilton’s contract for an expiring in Porter deserves credit as well. Mojave King can become a legit threat for best player in his class with a great TC.

Golden State Warriors: A
Adding Frank Jackson for peanuts was already A worthy. Bringing back Kris Dunn on a team-friendly one year deal was also a superb move. Kobe Brown was a good late first round pick and getting Zhaire Smith back from Charlotte was the final touch. Ryan failed to find a second star next to Dozier but delivered big time nonetheless.

Houston Rockets: B
After Gary’s all-PG lineup, Kyrus comes up with the do-it-all wings one now. Gant and Bridges joins Walker, Reddish and Gates (hopefully Kyrus starts all 5 at some point) and Lawson is a good offensive / rebounding big next to them. Jumping up from #24 to #17 and grabbing Karim Mane (who’s a do-it-all wing in a PG’s body) was a masterpiece as well. Houston will need some trading and internal development to be a title contender but Kyrus was creative while shipping away his biggest star in Monk (former longest tenured CSL player I think).

Indiana Pacers: No Grade
Suggs is really good but this team really needs an active, caring hand.

Los Angeles Clippers: B
Finally in possession of all his firsts (plus an extra 3 in next year’s draft), Marcus decided to restart the clock once again, as Wiseman, who looked like a cornerstone piece. The Clippers are one of the worst teams in the league right now, but they should hardly care. With all but Sochan and Hamilton’s contracts up next season, they should have a blank space to work, which is always fun.

Los Angeles Lakers: B+
Quiet offseason from the Gold and Purple, who finally have a GM to take good care of them. They must understand how to move forward before making moves, which should be much easier with their picks in possession once again. Patience was probably the right was to go as there are young, developing pieces in town and trade value for LA’s players is still nebulous.

Memphis Grizzlies: A+
You can’t do better than a Culver / Beasley / Bowen / Wagner / Fernando lineup while drafting Kris Murray and keeping all your firsts, Varnado and Duren in the process. Another great GM of the year candidate in Andrei. Memphis looks poised for a rematch with the Nets.

Miami Heat: D-
Giving up on Brandon McCoy and a potential lottery first for Patrick Williams seems to be a massive mistake by an almost mistake-free GM. It doesn’t help when the heavily underdeveloped Williams will make 8M a year for the next 5 years. The pick alone could be better and cost 1/4 of that price for the next 4 years.

Milwaukee Bucks: D+
Manu had one of the craziest off seasons around: flipped both available future first AND his star player. Completely different core and a huge bet on Musa’s ability to become a huge factor again. This could go good or really bad. For the really high risk, grade is a bit on the lower end.

Minnesota Timberwolves: A+
Adding Ingram to the core of Simmons & Simmons was really nice. This is a team of 4 huge salaries and lots of vet minimums, it’s super hard to manage something like that, yet Alex found a way to add another high level difference maker, improving the roster. There’s only one ball for Ben, Brandon and Anfernee, but Minny did as good as possible here.

New Orleans Pelicans: B
Drafting Wemby #1 was a no brainer, really. Keeping Ntilikina, Markannen and Bamba, while not optimal, might end up being great as New Orleans has no incentive to tank this year. I'd love to see them be a bit more agressive with this core while holding on to Wemby as a future building block. But overall it was a nice offseason.

New York Knicks: C+
Sheppard is a nice defensive force (although over drafted) but the rest of the roster is basically the same that went down in 5 in this year’s playoffs. New York is in a tough spot financially either way players like Ferguson and Winslow making 37M combined, so it was hard to make major moves.

Oklahoma City Thunder: C
Minimum if any movement from the Thunder who are banking on a late-season playoff push and internal development to take the next step. The roster is still quite young and talented and it could be enough. Jon has all his firsts and multiple expirings to do business during the year if things once again go south. A good starting SG would do wonders for them IMO.

Orlando Magic: B-
The clock is ticking as both LaMelo and Edwards will need new deals next season. Willy tried but couldn’t use his massive cap room to sign another star, but drafted a fantastic fit next to Williams in Barnes and continues to add to one of the most impressive collections of young talent in the league. A 3&D SF could have taken this team to a whole new level IMO, and he still has a huge amount of cap and first rounders to get one.

Philadelphia 76ers: B-
Disclaimer: this grade is based in Rhox offseason with his old Bulls core.
Rhox had two mid-first rounders to upgrade the bench but elected to trade them for later and future picks. In the end he did get some quality youth (even if Sotto’s a very polarizing prospect) and did well trading Bender’s huge contract for the rock solid Bam Adebayo.

Phoenix Suns: C-
This grade could be much higher if Phoenix’ gamble on sucking in a year they don’t have their pick (traded for Garland a while ago) doesn’t land Detroit a difference maker. But right now, it’s hard to see them winning much in a crowded West, even with the addition of Snailmagic when Tatum joined DC. Cunningham will be a good player, but passing on Kofi could prove to be a mistake as well. Maybe a rebuild was necessary, but this seems to be bad timing.

Portland TrailBlazers: B
Doug trading vets for youth is nothing new, and I like the idea. Lively has question marks but could be a better fit next to OO than Birutis ever was, Jessup is overpaid but could be coached to become a much more impactful high level shooter and Hoard is back as a trade piece at a reasonable price. Basically Portland is extending their flexibility window as their GM feels like they need more internal development before being ready for consistent postseason basketball. Wise.

Sacramento Kings: A+
Not only Ryan has one of the best young teams in the league, he also has 7 future first rounders, 2 from teams who missed postseason last year. Somehow he keeps trading previous first rounders for more quality firsts and cap room, re-setting the clock on when he’ll have to start paying all that young talent. Kockburn at #3 was the icing on the cake as he can legit push Wemby for best player in the draft title.

San Antonio Spurs: No Grade
If I could I’d give the Spurs a pretty good grade, but since they don’t have a GM, let’s just skip grades and give props to the admins and draft team who did a great job here.

Toronto Raptors: D-
BI is betting on continuity yet again after not reaching the postseason since 2027. Without their pick in the next 3 years and with a rebuild planned for 2035 when their contracts are up, the Raptors should either be rebuilding or trying to trade for better talent, not standing pat. Young’s valuable 3 year (with a 4th season as TO) deal avoids them an F.

Utah Jazz: D-
The decision to trade 2-way superstar Donovan Mitchell for Weatherspoon was controversial at best. Utah did well in the draft and figured out a weird financial situation, also got much younger overall but will have a hard time in a season they don’t own their own pick. Floor general Yago dos Santos was a great addition who looks ready to run an offense, but rookies usually don’t contribute to winning in CSL.

Washington Wizards: A
What a turnaround! From constantly rebuilding into a potential contender in no time while still upholding some draft capital and young talent, Gary did well this offseason. Sucks they couldn’t add KAT to form the big 4 with Mitchell, Tatum and Birutis, but Bender will give Washington the shooting and defense their starting unit needs along with Coffey. Drafting Dick at #15 couldn’t have been better. Midtgaard could be a problem next season as they won't have enough room to bring him back.

[Andrewu91]

I mean some gm's may look at my team and think of what you wrote.

But I stay optimistic and remember going 9-1 with my starting 5 until Luka went down. No key additions but the East got worse overall in my opinion.

[Silogical]

your evaluation of williams is weird
Williams vs doom
offense = williams
hnd = williams
rbn = williams
def+blk+stl+di+iq = even
contract = williams
playoffs = williams
age = williams

I feel you brough in doom just to pad his stats and trade him. Overall im happy with williams and feel he is a huge improvement of mccoy short and long term, and a better fit as mccoy didnt do well at PF.

[TheTwoWallaces]

Awesome article. I found myself agreeing with like 80% of the grades, which is quite impressive.

I think CHA and WAS are gonna leapfrog a bunch of teams this season. BKN, MIA, and BOS still run the East but any one of CLE, WAS, CHA, NYK, ORL, PHI or ATL have a case for contender status.

[Flaming Homer]

Like Lucas I overall agree to most of the statements. Good work Marcos!!
Didn't realize how many teams got nice improvements. Memphis and Washington made the biggest strides towards win now. But many teams did very smart moves for the future.

I actually like the Williams deal for Silo. I think he is way underrated around here and was looking myself into trading for him. Was just too scared to ship yet another first out haha
Time will tell.

Regarding the Hawks ... you know my plans at the beginning were quiet different, more in the line of what Gary did in Washington. I may have been too conservative and waiting too long without pulling the trigger. But after my scouting during the season, I really wanted to grab on of my top 4. Cost me a bit too much probably, but so far I'm really happy how Murray looks and how he hopefully fits besides Okoro and Naji.
Compared to the original plans, it was not a optimal offseason though. B+ maybe high.

[Silogical]

Going down the list id hand out a lot of C's

Memphis did really well A
MIN did really well for their short window A
DET did well bringing in wiseman B

Not a fan of what MIl did, theyd get the only D. I am most interested in MIL this season. I can see them anywhere from 5th to 12th

[emplep7]

Can’t argue with our grade as it’s spot on. We made a good run once I figured out the best lineup but we still aren’t contender status at all.

As for Indy, just gonna put this out there that I think Suggs is going to go down as the best player in this class when all is said and done (but yes, TJ needs to be active).

[Flaming Homer]

Agree with Suggs ... that was my main target but unfortunately didn't work out to get him.

[Marcos_Beck]

It's not that I don't like P-Will. Just think he's not better than having a likely lotto first (based on last few seasons) and money to spend elsewhere as picks are cost controlled for 4 years + RFA.

Williams is a nice starter, he's a good PF but doesn't have anything great except for defense. His rebounding is below average for a big, his offense is efficient but very low on volume IMO and there was way more upside in keeping McCoy and using the pick.

Doom has potential to become a franchise player.
I need to better instruct him first, as he's driving too much and taking away some efficiency but he definitely can score and defend at high level. And no I'm not looking to trade him at all. Him and Coulibaly I want them to grow and be the foundation of the roster along with some high end draft picks.

[drumr]

appreciate the kind words. I think we'll have a few break out players on the roster I hope that give us a leg up on Brooklyn whom I don't think added anything except Huerter's fantastic shooting so we'll see.

[drumr]

I think Jovic is about to go absolutely nuts. The Hornets are very well built and Collins deserves to be a winner.

[rh0xxy]

Fantastic read as always!

I agree with most of the grades and reasonings aside from some listed below...

Cleveland: A-

I just think they did not get the most for their picks. They could have done much better of they waited a bit.

Washinton: A+

GM of the Year candidate for me with all those moves this off season, regardless of the outcome.

[bt]

Love these articles of yours Marcos, great work mate.

I'm at work but I'll have a good read later. Just off the top of my head I'm still not sure how Gary managed to pull off what he did with the assets he had.

Kudos!

[blackice]

I love these type of articles as well Marcos, this clearly took time and effort and I love the detail and reasoning behind your grades. I don't think we had a D- offseason but I completely get your rational. We'll have to see the results on the court. I also like Doom for you, I think he's a keeper.

[bt]

Man if you liked Kofi before camp, you'll love him after so that bodes well for us. Still spewing Dylan stole Collins from us after we offered a lesser one year deal but great pickup for them.

Wizards probably deserve an A+ purely as I didn't think they had the assets to get those moves done. I think they need more trades to balance it but they can do that now with what they have.

Agree with most others.

[cb4raptorscb4]

Awesome article Marcos. Thank you for the generous A. Problem is, a lot of other top teams in the West also got As

[hardenwithnod]

Thanks for the high grade, as we certainly feel we have taken a big step forward from this off-season. Hopefully I can find a way to make it all work!

[WillyJakkz]

Yeah we could've done better.

Still have capspace picks and young guys to make a play which should be enticing for a team to rebuild and go after a FA vs short or long term contracts.

We'll see!

[drumr]

Yeah we could've done better.

Still have capspace picks and young guys to make a play which should be enticing for a team to rebuild and go after a FA vs short or long term contracts.

We'll see!

I think it's great you didn’t just blow it to spend it because your youth is gonna need extentions. You should have a great cap sheet if done right

[Marcos_Beck]

Yeah we could've done better.

Still have capspace picks and young guys to make a play which should be enticing for a team to rebuild and go after a FA vs short or long term contracts.

We'll see!

You drafted well, tried to get a high profile player and saved great cap space to extend your youth and grab a SF that fits your roster.
Obviously could have gotten a SF but you tried your best and did well with what you could.