Sheridan: Midsummer Report Cards – Atlantic Division

When I was a kid, I never got a summer report card, which was because I never had to attend summer school. The months of June, July and August were reserved for fun, fun and more fun, a practice I carried through my 20s, 30s and 40s and now bring into Year 50.

Fun, of course, is relevant when you hit the Big Five-Oh.

Beating your 16-year-old in tennis? Yes, that’s fun. Teaching your dog to swim? Doesn’t get much better than that. Watching the British Open with one eye on the TV screen and the other on the DraftKings scoreboard as the winnings pile up? Yup, fun.

But then there are the pitfalls. Chasing money from companies that do not honor their contracts? Well, put it this way: You can not spell frustrating without the letters f-u-n, but banging your head against a wall is no way to feel at peace. Trying to spend 30 seconds underwater at a swimming pool because it is something you have always been able to do in the past … and then coming up gasping for air at the count of 25? No, that is not a good thing.

But you take the good with the bad, you look at the big picture, and move on day to day.

That is what is happening in the NBA now that the free agency signing season is all but over, summer league has finished and we are about to embark on the month and a half lull between anything of significance happening and the start of FIBA’s Olympic qualifying tournaments. I will be in Mexico City in September to see if Andrew Wiggins and Team Canada can qualify for Rio, and I will also spent three days in Vegas in late August with Team USA as they fulfill their contractual obligation to the Thomas & Mack Center. Let’s hope they have some new basket stanchions.

So before we embark on said lull, it is time to take a look at each of the 30 NBA teams and grade their offseason moves. Warning: I am not an academic, so I do not grade on a curve nor give extra credit for going-through-the-motion efforts that will produce no tangible improvement.

So without further ado, the grades are in. We’ll handle this division by division, starting with the Titanic Atlantic.

BOSTON CELTICS: They’ll be spending $27.5 million on their new set of power forwards, Amir Johnson and David Lee, and they’ll have a nifty point guard battle on their hands between Isaiah Thomas and Marcus Smart. Did they do anything else of significance aside from throwing $35 million at Jae Crowder? No. But keep in mind they have a $12.9 million trade exception from last December’s Rajon Rondo deal, they own the rights to Brooklyn’s next three first-round picks, and they also have No. 1 picks formerly belonging to Dallas (protected 1-7) and Minnesota (1-12) in 2016 and Memphis (1-12) in 2018. Grade: Incomplete.

(RELATED: CELTICS SALARY CAP SITUATION AND ANALYSIS)

BROOKLYN NETS: The buyout of Deron Williams amounts to addition by subtraction, keeping Brook Lopez and Thaddeus Young was crucial, I am a big fan of Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, and I think the Nets made two low-risk signings by adding ex-Knicks Shane Larkin and Andrea Bargnani. So those are all good things. The head-scratcher was Brooklyn allowing Jonathan Simmons to get away after they had him in the Orlando Summer League. He jumped to the Spurs, won MVP of the Las Vegas Summer League championship game, caught A.J. Mitnick’s eye and signed for the season with the Spurs. Grade: B.

(RELATED: BROOKLYN NETS SALARY CAP AND ANALYSIS)

NEW YORK KNICKS: They won 17 games a season ago, and I can’t see them winning more than 22 next season. Two of Phil Jackson’s three trades (Pablo Prigioni for Alexey Shved and two second-round picks being the exception) were utterly disastrous, they could not even get a meeting with LaMarcus Aldridge, and they whiffed on Greg Monroe because the free agent forward sees brighter days ahead for the Bucks than for the Knicks. Of their four free agent signings, getting the lesser Lopez was probably the best. But he is far from a home run. Arron Afflalo will be gunning lots of shots in a quest for his next contract, which won’t make ‘Melo happy. Derrick Williams stinks. Kristaps Porzingis is a mystery. There are no draft picks next June. And Kevin Durant is not walking through that tunnel (oh, yeah, the tunnel at MSG is gone) in the fall of 2016. Grade: D. C-Minus. Bump-up comes after the signing of Kevin Seraphin.

(RELATED: KNICKS SALARY CAP SITUATION AND ANALYSIS)

PHILADELPHIA 76ERS: The mad scientist lost Joel Embiid for another year to a broken foot, so before you start making the Greg Oden comparisons, consider that Oden actually played 105 career games for Portland and Miami. But Sam Hinkie is going to have his hit-or-miss moments as he builds the NBA’s next dynasty, and a front line of Jahlil Okafor and Nerlens Noel is going to be nice to have around for the next decade or so. As for the backcourt? That remains an unanswered question, because Philly still has $20 million in cap space to use, and the recommendation made here was for them to sign Norris Cole to a front-loaded contract that the Pelicans will have no interest in matching. They have nothing on the wings, but they do have two likely lottery picks (along with the Thunder’s pick and the Heat’s pick) in 2016, plus the right to swap their own pick with Sacramento. They’ll be fine. No, they’ll be better than fine. It’ll just take another year or two. GRADE: B-plus. UPDATE: After trading Jason Thompson to Golden State for Gerald Wallace, I am dongrading Hinkie to a C-minus — same as Phil Jackson. This deal makes no sense whatsoever, I wrote after these grades were originally published.

(RELATED: SIXERS SALARY CAP SITUATION AND ANALYSIS)

TORONTO RAPTORS: Can’t understand the decision to let Lou Williams go. Absolutely love the DeMarre Carroll pickup. Will withhold judgment on Cory Joseph and Bismack Biyombo. Not in love with the signing of Luis Scola, who was good eight years ago but not so much anymore. Wondering how they plan to find minutes for Delon Wright behind Kyle Lowry and Joseph. No doubt they will win the division, but remember that winning a division will no longer carry a guaranteed top-4 seed. A guy to keep an eye on is Lucas Noguiera, who impressed at Summer League. Something important to keep in mind: They own the Knicks’ unprotected first-round pick. GRADE: B.

(RELATED: RAPTORS SALARY CAP SITUATION AND ANALYSIS)

TOMORROW: CENTRAL DIVISION

Chris Sheridan is publisher and editor-in-chief of SheridanHoops.com. Follow him on Twitter.