NBA Offseason Report Cards: Part IV

NBA OFFSEASON REPORT CARDS. Click here for Part I, here for Part II, and here for Part III.

NEW ORLEANS HORNETS — They were a punching bag around here, and rightfully so, but did turn it on quite admirably at the end of the season. They have a new owner in Tom Benson who brings more stability than they’ve ever had, they made the wise move of extending coach Monty Williams, they made a great draft pick in selecting Austin Rivers, they got Ryan Anderson (for the relatively low price of Gustavo Ayon) and will see if he can his replicate his 3-point production with about one-third as many open looks, and they have their building block in Anthony Davis – who grew up considerably this summer, much like Kevin Love – by being surrounded by so many talented teammates on Team USA. Note to fantasy players preparing for their drafts: You won’t find more value in a starting point guard than you’ll find in Greivis Vasquez. Robin Lopez is a nice player to have, but he’s no Brook (even Nets and Magic fans chuckled at that). I’ve got ’em winning 22-25 games. More analysis here.

Grade: B

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NEW YORK KNICKS – The GeriatKnicks are all-in to win a title in the next three years, and they’ve traded away all of their future draft picks, young projects and guys who do nothing but draw charges (Jared Jeffries) in the hope that the center trio of Tyson Chandler, Marcus Camby and Kurt Thomas, combined with Amar’e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony gives them a frontcourt edge against the Heat. Pablo Prigioni of the Argentine national team will be the NBA’s oldest rookie, but he’ll still be called a young buck by Jason Kidd, who is another guy pushing 40. Ray Felton has about 10 times as many good NBA games as Jeremy Lin, so don’t cry over that loss – or the loss of Landry Fields, the consistent weak link over the past two seasons. They need Iman Shumpert to get healthy, and in the meantime they need J.R. Smith to be the kind of prolific 3-point shooter he was in Denver and hadn’t yet signed in China. I think they’ll be better than the Nets and capable of pushing any playoff opponent to seven games, while NYC-based columnist Moke Hamilton isn’t so sure. The Nets-Knicks debate should be lively this year, but not on the level of the Lakers-Clippers debate. More analysis here.

Grade: B –

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OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER – We will hold off on the Rob Hennigan jokes and the Hasheem Thabeet jokes. One left, one arrived; and you really can’t bag on a team that beat the Spurs four times in a row to reach the NBA Finals, where they quickly learned that you can’t just treat it like a garden-variety seven-game series. Perhaps the experience will spur Scott Brooks to install a zone defense that he actually has the confidence to use. His stubbornness in that area cost them a chance at defeating the Heat as much as anything. Thabeet replacing Nazr Mohammed and the jettisoning/languishing of Derek Fisher were their only real moves of note aside from signing Serge Ibaka to a contract extension, and the new guessing game around the league is “Will they trade James Harden?” to avoid being a luxury tax team. The deadline for Harden to agree to an extension is Oct. 31, and he is a max player. But if he signs a max extension, he becomes a base-year compensation player and will be exceedingly difficult to trade. Would it behoove the Thunder and Kings to do this five-player trade: Harden and Kendrick Perkins for DeMarcus Cousins, Tyreke Evans and Jimmer Fredette? Just askin’. More analysis here.

Grade: B

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ORLANDO MAGIC – You know why they had concerns about Brook Lopez and Andrew Bynum and ended up with neither of them in the Dwight Howard trade? Because they’ve been spoiled. When you trade in a Rolls-Royce at a Cadillac dealership, you ain’t coming off the showroom floor with the same type of thing. So while the Magic’s future superstars complete the 7th grade, Otis Smith and Stan Van Gundy will spend this season either laughing or making us laugh, and the warm winter weather will be the main thing keeping Jameer Nelson, J.J. Redick and Glen Davis from openly campaigning for a one-way ticket to a contending team. The “Dwightmare” is going to linger and hurt as much and for as long as Shaquille O’Neal’s departure did. On the upside, Moe Harkless and Nikoka Vucevic are keepers. More analysis here.

Grade: F

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PHILADELPHIA 76ERS – They weren’t fooling anybody, including themselves, with their unlikely voyage deep into the second round of the playoffs. That is why Elton Brand is gone, Andre Iguodala is gone, and Lou Williams is gone. Those might have been the three best players on the team, although Brand is clearly fading. But ditching those players and starting anew with Andrew Bynum is a pretty darn good rebuilding plan, and there is certainly enough on this roster to compete with Boston, New York and Brooklyn for the top of the Atlantic Division. Dorell Wright was a nice pickup if he can stroke it the way he did two years ago, and you can certainly say the same thing about Jason Richardson. Nick Young? We’re not so enamored of that one. But there is a lot of new, legitimate talent here, there is room for Thaddeus Young to play a more major role, Bynum, Spencer Hawes and Kwame Brown (OK, maybe not Kwame Brown) allow them to outsize Miami and Boston in the post, and they are a breakout season from Evan Turner away from being a top 3 team in the East. More analysis here.

Grade: A-

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PHOENIX SUNS – Steve Nash is gone. Hakim Warrick is gone. Josh Childress is gone. Robin Lopez is gone. And yes, one of those guys will be missed. On the good fortune front, they convinced themselves it would be a good idea to make a trade with their long-time archrivals, and they picked up two No. 1s and two No. 2s for Nash. They also lucked into Luis Scola when the Rockets amnestied him in the belief that they would land Dwight Howard, and they brought back Goran Dragic, who they spent lavishly for on draft night a few years back and then unwisely dealt away for Aaron Brooks. Why on earth they wanted to give $18 million to Michael Beasley is beyond our comprehension, but they did fairly well for a team that lost the face of the franchise (Nash) and didn’t land its No. 1 offseason target (Eric Gordon). If they had lost Shannon Brown, they’d be ‘D’ or ‘D-minus’ material. More analysis here.

Grade: C-

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