Key Additions: Mike Bibby, Mirsad Turkcan
Key Losses: Popeye Jones
The Celts remained quiet again this off-season. They’ve been patiently waiting for their salary sheets to clear up and with Brad Daugherty on the last year of his deal and Charles Barkley with only 2 seasons left, the light is almost visible. Boston was treated kindly by the lottery gods and landed the #3 pick, importantly, as the draft is one of the few ways that they can add talent at the moment. They selected Mike Bibby, who looks like he’s going to be a very good player, it just may take some time to get there, so a solid pick. They also made a decent-looking selection at #19 in Mirsad Turkcan, who looks like he can be a 2nd stringer at SF already, so good value that late in the draft. Not much movement otherwise, a few tank FA signings and onto the lottery again. Given the salary/trade limitations and the desire to stay bad, the off-season was decent enough.
Grade: B
Miami Heat
Key Additions: Vladimir Stepania, Milos Babic
Key Losses: Dwayne Schintzius, Byron Irvin
The Heat ran into a salary crunch this off-season, with Dwayne Schintzius, Grant Hill, and Eric Piatkowski all coming off the books and expecting big salaries with Elden Campbell and Penny Hardaway already on the roster. Hill and Piatkowski were signed to max extensions before free agency, while Schintzius tested the waters and ultimately left for Utah. Piatkowski looks like he’ll be fine on his contract if he just maintains his previous level of play. Hill’s contract is more of a bet on his upside, I think. He hasn’t quite taken the star leap but still has room to grow, so it remains to be seen whether that will be a good deal. Admittedly, he likely would’ve commanded a max deal in free agency anyway. To replace Schintzius, the Heat did pretty well with limited resources to bring in Milos Babic, Chris Washburn, and what looks like a 2nd round steal in Vladimir Stepania. These big men, along with retaining Ostertag on a value contract, should be able to provide a reasonable by-committee replacement for Dwayne. Overall, they were pretty hamstrung and were going to likely lose one of the 3 pending FAs anyway, so I thought they did reasonably well.
Grade: B-
New Jersey Nets
Key Additions: Derek Anderson, Scott Haskin, Bill Curley, Hersey Hawkins
Key Losses: Loy Vaught, AJ English, Kevin Lynch
The Nets made a bold move to sell high on rebounding machine Loy Vaught, sending him to Philly for Derek Anderson and a draft pick. As a fan of Anderson’s upside, I liked the move for NJ and his development in Training Camp seems to buoy that sentiment. They may miss Vaught’s rebounding, but long term I think it was the right time to sell on him. Nothing else too splashy was done, with Bill Curley and Mark Buford being signed to value contracts with Kevin Salvadori and Dale Davis being retained on cheap deals. Late in the off-season they moved the pick they got in the Vaught deal with Kevin Lynch to San Antonio for Hersey Hawkins. I like Hawkins quite a bit better than Lynch, so with the goal of returning to the Finals, I think this was a solid move for the Nets. Overall, we will have to see whether Salvadori + Hawkins will be better than Vaught + Lynch, but that being debatable along with the added depth and upside of Anderson, I’d call the off-season a win.
Grade: B+
New York Knicks
Key Additions: Tim Perry
Key Losses: Reggie Williams, Anthony Avent, Rashard Griffith
The Knicks remain a pretty old and expensive roster and unfortunately, they weren’t able to do a whole lot with the little room they had under the hard cap. Reggie Williams, Anthony Avent, and Rashard Griffith were all pretty significant rotation pieces last year on cheap salaries, so losing them hurts a bit. Steve Nash looks to be making the leap to stardom and getting Jon Koncak back from injury helps, alongside veteran stars David Robinson and Michael Jordan. They’ll still be a tough out in the East, but with all the value signings at the minimum this off-season, would’ve liked their moves better if they could’ve snagged one or two more vet minimum pieces for the rotation.
Grade: C
Orlando Magic
Key Additions: Antawn Jamison, Pat Garrity
Key Losses: Howard Eisley
The Magic’s biggest moves were in the draft, seleting Antawn Jamison in the top 10 and Pat Garrity toward the end of the 1st round. Garrity looks like he can be a good scorer off the bench, providing good value at his draft slot and Jamison, while still pretty raw, has a lot of good tools to build on in the future. The only major rotation piece gone is backup PG Howard Eisley, so this team will maintain some continuity going into the season, relying on a lot of internal development, which it seems they got from a lot of their players. Additionally, they were able to escape the blunder of not giving Carson Tornopsky a 3-year contract after drafting him by somehow getting him to return on the MLE, which looks like pretty darn good value. It sucks that they were swindled into thinking Kevin Johnson would make them better last season, as they would have had cap space to play with in a pretty good FA class, but the future is starting to look brighter with the development of their young players.
Grade: B
Philadelphia 76ers
Key Additions: Loy Vaught, Eric Mobley, Roy Tarpley, Harold Miner
Key Losses: Derek Anderson, Tom Hammonds
The Sixers have leaned even harder into the bruising, paint-bound style of play by bringing in Eric Mobley and Carlos Rogers on minimum contracts, bringing back long-time star Roy Tarpley on value deal, and paying a pretty strong price for Loy Vaught. As previously stated, as an asset play, I liked the Anderson/pick package a bit better than Vaught, but Vaught is also pretty darn good. They also retained Luc Longley on a contract that isn’t great but also isn’t terrible I’d say. Under the radar, they also snagged a continuously improving Harold Miner for the MLE, who will likely get to show what he's capable of in a featured role this year. At this point, it’s hard to see how they’re going to get playing time for Mobley, Longley, Scott, Rogers, Tarpley, Vaught, and Maxey, so I would think a trade could come to shore up the backcourt a bit. Overall, the talent has been upgraded, just remains to be seen whether it’ll fit.
Grade: B
Toronto Raptors
Key Additions: Felton Spencer, Sharone Wright
Key Losses: Hank Gathers, Aaron McKie, John Shasky
With the high salaries already on the roster, losing the All-Star level talent on a sub-8 figure salary in Hank Gathers definitely hurts, though he was probably always going to get a raise in free agency that they couldn’t afford. Signing Felton Spencer and trading for Sharone Wright on a decent long-term contract is not a terrible way to recover but is still a downgrade that pulls them closer to the rest of the East in terms of talent on the roster. Charles Smith was importantly retained on a deal that has a discount starting salary for the short term but gets a little dicey by the end where he’ll be 38 years old, but I can understand taking the bird in the hand there over taking the unrestricted free agency risk. They have some different options in the frontcourt, where they could go big with Spencer/Wright/Smith but could also go more traditional with Spencer/Smith/Williams with Wright getting big minutes off the bench. I’d guess they probably try different iterations throughout the year. Overall, they’ll still be one of the top teams in the East but may miss guys like Gathers and Aaron McKie.
Grade: C+
Atlanta Hawks
Key Additions: Bonzi Wells
Key Losses: Harold Miner/i]
The Hawks didn’t do much this off-season besides retain their pending FAs, ‘cause that’s what they do. Brian Grant and Brett Roberts are back on what I don’t really think are great contracts. They made what looks like a solid selection in the draft at #9 with Bonzi Wells, who is showing a good amount of upside. Some of the young guys (Camby, Houston, Cato) showed some important growth, which is basically what the team is banking on for quite a while (hasn’t worked out great). One of these days I’d like to see them not overpay for one of their own FAs and try to make a splash in free agency outside the organization, as their lottery luck has not been kind. Overall, Wells was a good pick but they continue to hamstring themselves with no cap space or roster slots available to add talent.
Grade: C+
Charlotte Hornets
Key Additions: Lorenzen Wright, Vitaly Potapenko, Brevin Knight, Antonio Daniels
Key Losses: Wesley Person, Jim Brogan, Bobby Hurley
The Hornets have finally decided (or were forced to by Brogan’s retirement) to start a re-build. After losing the ageless Brogan, they sold high on pending FA Wesley Person, getting an unprotected draft pick from a team that just finished a season with 29 wins and a young PG with a lot of upside (Antonio Daniels), which is a good move, since I also don’t really think Person is worth the max contract he got. Additionally, they stole promising big men Lorenzen Wright and Vitaly Potapenko from Milwaukee…I’m still unsure what the Bucks really got out of that deal. They aren’t superstars or anything but were obtained for next to nothing, so that’s a win as well. Predictably, they lost Bobby Hurley for nothing in free agency, who is young enough to be part of a re-tool but good enough to have helped them remain competitive, if they chose to. But without bird years or a high salary to build a contract out of, that was doomed from the get-go. There was a whirlwind of moves made around the league this off-season, so I would’ve liked to see Charlotte get some assets for Walt Williams and Rik Smits, but they’re definitely not making a deal unless it’s a clear win for them, and without full rights to their pick, they don’t have any incentive to just be terrible.
Grade: B
Chicago Bulls
Key Additions: Rashard Lewis, John Amaechi
Key Losses: Isaac Austin
The re-building Bulls were relatively quiet. They acquired John Amaechi on a long-term contract I don’t love, and they drafted teenager Rashard Lewis in the top 10. He doesn’t look like anything special as of yet but is very young so it may end up working out in the long term. They also retained Billy Owens on a large 1-year contract, which I’m not sure how to feel about. He’s not worth the salary but is competent enough to be in a rotation so he may be able to net an asset from a contender. On the other hand, that 8-figure salary is going to be tough for most contenders to match in a trade for a guy who would likely be a 4th/5th starter in most cases. I think they would do well to try & get a small asset for him and also attempt to move off of the contracts of Amaechi/Larry Johnson, as Chauncey Billups and Rashard Lewis are going to need time to develop before the team can make any noise.
Grade: C
Cleveland Cavaliers
Key Additions: Cuttino Mobley, Eddie Jones
Key Losses: John Amaechi, Drazen Petrovic, Vin Baker
The Cavs started the off-season getting a minor asset for Amaechi on a less than desirable contract, who they likely weren’t going to keep around anyway. In the draft, they did not hold their own pick, unfortunately, but did pretty well at #27 with Cuttino Mobley, who looks like a ready-made rotation player on the wing. They also took a gamble on Eddie Jones in free agency, whose $10mil salary is a bit bloated, but being only one year eliminates most of the downside risk. Otherwise, it looks like Hakeem the Dream will spend what may be his final season tanking for the #1 pick in the draft, which will hopefully yield good long-term results for the franchise.
Grade: C+
Detroit Pistons
Key Additions: Vince Carter, Danny Manning, Bimbo Coles
Key Losses: Isiah Thomas, Duane Causwell
The Pistons managed to get themselves a top 5 draft pick (Vince Carter) and also sign the best FA on the market (Danny Manning) for significantly less than a max contract. Carter still looks like he has a bit to go on skill development but showed some promising tools to work with in pre-season, so while it will take a while to know for sure, he looks like a solid pick at #4. Manning was likely waiting for a big pay day from the team he gave so many great years to, but the GM was allegedly on their annual free agency deep-sea fishing trip at the time. By the time Danny was ready to move on, the Pistons were the team with the most money left to spend. It probably would’ve been better to get a 3rd year on the contract to acquire bird rights, but it’s hard to argue with the stellar value. He’ll either make them a much better team on the court or net them a good package in trade. The team also brought back Jim McIlvaine and Terry Mills on solid contracts and added cheaply to their backcourt depth with Bimbo Coles on the LLE. Overall, not a crazy volume of moves but all seem to be good ones.
Grade: B+
Indiana Pacers
Key Additions: Kevin Garnett, Eurelijus Zukauskas, Pooh Richardson
Key Losses: Magic Johnson, Ray Allen, Dell Curry
The Pacers took a huge gamble in trading future star Ray Allen with some salary flotsam for tools-y big man Kevin Garnett, Eurelijus Zukauskas, Ricky Davis, Mike James, a 1st, and multiple 2nd rounders. I struggle with this one. I don’t like the idea of letting someone like Shawn Kemp influence major personnel moves (trying to get inside scoring to match his skills). Garnett is also an expiring rookie contract, the most high-risk contract situation in the league. Garnett is also a still bit more theoretical than tangible at this point, as his production has yet to match his raw skills. He is obviously a high-upside player and if he re-signs in Indy while also realizing his potential, it’ll work out great. Allen seems like a safer bet, though, so it will be interesting to see how it works out. I like that they got Zukauskas in the deal, and draft equity (as underwhelming as it may be) is always nice to have. Additionally, the fit between Ray Allen and Allen Iverson may not have ever worked out, so the deal makes some sense from that perspective. Other than that mega-deal, Magic Johnson finally retired, leaving a hole at PG that I don’t think Pooh Richardson or Mike James are going to be able to fill and they retained Todd Day on a cheap contract for big wing scoring (though again I would’ve preferred to add a 2nd year to obtain bird rights). Overall, tough to grade with all the unknowns on their big trade…for now I’ll be skeptically positive.
Grade: B
Milwaukee Bucks
Key Additions: Peja Stojakovic, Sasha Danilovic, Sean Higgins
Key Losses: Vlade Divac, Kendall Gill, Dennis Scott, Sharone Wright, Brevin Knight
Where to begin…so many transactions. The Bucks have moved on from their entire starting 5 on last year’s 58-win team. I’m pretty “meh” on the Divac trade. Peja, Wright, and two mid-1sts is a decent package if you’re high on Peja, but I’m really not. Unfortunately, they followed up with giving away Wright (along with two other young rotation pieces), who was not an insignificant piece of the value here for a weird bit of current and/or future salary relief, which I don’t understand at all. There’s lots of cheaper ways to clear cap room. They killed it in their Gill trade with the Suns, fleecing them for 3! 1st round picks in addition to a former #1 pick in Glenn Robinson, who isn’t the superstar his draft status would indicate, but he still has lots of upside and can get ~18ppg with plus defense and rebounding at SF. Rather than gamble on that upside with a max contract, though, the Bucks flipped him to Denver for Sasha Danilovic and their own 1999 pick, allowing them to freely tear everything down without the PR hit of not owning their own draft pick when doing so. In another puzzling move, they shipped Dennis Scott to D.C. for just a worse version of him in Sean Higgins. No age or salary benefit, no draft equity, just a gift, it would seem. Not sure about that one. I thought they made out like bandits getting an unprotected pick from Sacramento for Alain Digbeu, who was getting a bit of the Vlad treatment, I think
. Lastly, they re-signed Sharone Wright to what is probably a value contract over multiple years and shipped him to Toronto for what looks like a late 1st. I’m not a huge fan of Wright but I would think he had a bit more value around the league, but maybe not. Overall, I don’t know that I agree with tearing the team down in the first place. Conceding that point, they definitely have tons of draft picks to play around with and they are a lot worse, so that mission was accomplished. I thought it was a mixed bag on getting there, though.Grade: B-
Washington Bullets
Key Additions: Dennis Scott, Michael Doleac
Key Losses: Sean Higgins, Juwan Howard
The Bullets flirted with the idea of resetting by putting Kenny Anderson on the trade block, but ultimately decided to run it back after winning 49 games last year. Their issue for the last few seasons has been a thin frontcourt and losing young PF Juwan Howard in free agency certainly doesn’t help that. Howard is far from a star but may have been a decent trade chip at the deadline, since the Bullets’ cap situation is tough to navigate. They probably didn’t have the room under the hard cap to re-sign him and Mitch Richmond, who was also a FA. They prioritized Richmond, which was the right call, as he’s one of the best players in the league and forms an elite backcourt with Anderson. In the frontcourt, they were able to snag a couple of cheap options in Michael Doleac at #22 in the draft, who looks like he may end up the starting center from day 1, as well as Thomas Jordan in free agency on the LLE. These guys are fine value for what they are but being the team’s best frontcourt options leaves a lot to be desired. They still have a way to go on that front. Separately, they made a steal of a deal with the Bucks in swapping Sean Higgins for Dennis Scott, who is a significant upgrade that they didn’t have to pay anything extra for, so that’s a home run. After retaining Richmond on a 1-year deal, they are going to sport a dangerous perimeter trio that will be hard to stop and likely get them quite a few regular season wins; however, the frontcourt woes may hurt them come playoff time. Overall, the Scott trade was ridiculously good but they failed to be creative in filling out the frontcourt so far.
Grade: B
Dallas Mavericks
Key Additions: Duane Causwell, Nazr Mohammed, Michael McDonald
Key Losses: Greg Foster, Rony Seikaly, LeRon Ellis
The champs are coming back to defend their title and do not look like they’re going to give up the trophy easily. With star PG Kevin Ollie receiving a max contract extension, there was some salary crunching that had to be done, so the frontcourt looks a little different. Gone are Greg Foster, Rony Seikaly, and LeRon Ellis, replaced by cheaper alternatives like Duane Causwell, Nazr Mohammed, Michael McDonald, and Eric Montross. I think they’re going to miss some of the rim protection that Foster provided, as none of the new arrivals can really call that a strength, but with the stars they have at other positions and Mount Mutombo manning the middle, I see no reason to believe they won’t be right back in the title mix this season. Overall, they did reasonably well with limited resources, found a couple of bargains, and didn’t upend the championship roster.
Grade: B-
Denver Nuggets
Key Additions: Glenn Robinson, Sean Elliot, Khalid Reeves, Matt Harpring
Key Losses: Chris Gatling, Sasha Danilovic, Gary Payton, Bo Outlaw
The Nuggets might’ve been the second most active team in the league this off-season after the Bucks. They took a similar road in re-acquiring their own draft picks so that they could focus on a proper re-build. They got Sean Elliot and 2 draft picks for an expiring Chris Gatling, while also getting off of the contract of Gary Payton, who is a good player but tough to fit on a good roster without an underpaid star. They paid a bit to get their 1st back from Seattle, but the picks they sent are likely to be pretty late and if they decided to re-build, it’s well worth the price. They did make a puzzling deal with Boston, where they paid a Knicks ’00 1st, which has some upside, to move up just 3 spots for Raef LaFrentz in the draft. I know Raef theoretically fits an outside-focused offense but not sure I’m a fan of the asset play there. They also made a deal with Vancouver to get one of their future pick’s rights back, giving up young PG Damon Stoudamire to do so. He’s a tough price to pay, but as with the other deal, there’s something to be said for the re-build security. Quietly, they also received a nice supplementary piece in Matt Harpring, who could actually be a rotation piece. The Nuggs also took the gamble on Glenn Robinson and his pedigree as a highly touted prospect, giving up a 1st round pick for him. As mentioned previously, it’s an expensive gamble but going into a re-build, it’s easier to stomach if it doesn’t work out. Overall, it was a long, strange trip that I suppose will end up working out alright since they won’t have high expectations. If they can get a good package for Elliot, the whole off-season looks a lot better.
Grade: B-
Houston Rockets
Key Additions: Robert Traylor, Juwan Howard, Jason Williams
Key Losses: Roy Tarpley, Derrick Chievous, Mark Macon
The Rockets made a commitment to getting younger mid-season and continued that path this off-season. They had two mid-1st round picks at #14 and #17 and ended up seeming to do very well with Robert Traylor and Jason Williams, both of whom project to be solid players, where Williams could end up being a real gem. The other major transaction made was signing young PF Juwan Howard to a 1-year deal at just under $8mil. Not sure I’m crazy about that one…if you’re banking on potential then I would think you want a longer-term deal. It’s nice that you’re only committed to one season if it doesn’t work out, but if he does develop, you’re unlikely to be able to retain him with no bird rights and a lower salary to build off. Though the downside risk is mitigated, I’m not sure where the upside is. All told, it would’ve been nice to see them use their cap flexibility on something more fun, but they made two good draft picks, and for a rebuilding team, that’s important.
Grade: B-
Minnesota Timberwolves
Key Additions: Greg Foster, Eric Leckner, Rex Chapman
Key Losses: Julius Hernandez, Randy Breuer, Reggie Miller
After Melvin Booker’s breakout season, the Wolves committed to a ‘Big 3’ of Booker, Derrick Coleman, and Steve Smith by giving Booker a maximum contract extension. They did not have any draft picks so were left bargain hunting in free agency. They snagged Greg Foster from the champs for the MLE, which will do well in replacing the rim protection from the departed Julius Hernandez. They also did reasonably well for the vet minimum with John Shasky, Drazen Petrovic, Rex Chapman, Steve Alford, and Eric Leckner. Steve Smith just keeps getting better and better somehow, but I think this team will need an underpaid “star” type guy added if they want to get into the upper echelon of the West. Overall, I’d call their off-season a very articulate “fine.”
Grade: C+
Phoenix Suns
Key Additions: Kendall Gill, Chris Gatling, Gary Payton, Julius Hernandez
Key Losses: Lafayette Lever, Sean Elliot, Glenn Robinson, Bimbo Coles
The Suns made some big changes mid-season, moving off Charles Smith for Big Dog Robinson and draft extra draft equity, which they used in the off-season to immediately cash in for another run at contention. Giving up Robinson and 3 1st rounders for Gill is a bad deal from an asset management perspective, but it undoubtedly makes them better on the court. The other big change was sending out longtime Sun Sean Elliot with draft capital to Denver for super scorer Chris Gatling and Gary Payton, who fills a need at PG. Payton’s contract is a lot to handle but with Gatling being one of the few stars on a sub-8-figure contract, they’re able to handle it reasonably well. They added some solid FAs for the MLE (Hernandez) and minimum (Lichti, Avent, Wolkowyski, Eisley). If you believe in the ability of any of their cheap big men (Hernandez, Wolkowyski, Nordgaard, Duckworth) to man the PF position, then they did very well, even if it took a million draft picks to get there. If you don’t like the PF options, then they still have some work to do. Overall, the asset management was not great but the product on the floor is much improved.
Grade: B+
San Antonio Spurs
Key Additions: Bo Outlaw, Clyde Drexler, Kevin Lynch
Key Losses: Hersey Hawkins, Todd Lichti
The Spurs made some interesting moves. They’re in a very tight cap situation after bringing back Hersey Hawkins on a pretty good contract, so there wasn’t a whole lot of room to maneuver. They managed to snag Bo Outlaw on the MLE, which is pretty good value at a position where they don’t have a lot of depth. Clyde Drexler on the LLE is not a bad deal, but theoretically they could’ve given that to Todd Lichti, who was a big part of their rotation last year. He left for Phoenix on a minimum deal. Maybe the Spurs didn’t offer him more, maybe he just wanted to leave, who knows. The other big move made was moving Hersey Hawkins to New Jersey for Kevin Lynch and a 1st round pick. I know Hawkins had a bit of a down year last year, but it seems that was largely due to a decrease in shot attempts and he still brings very good defense on the perimeter and 3pt shooting when he gets a look. I suppose Lynch probably fits a bit better as an inside scorer with Mourning, Outlaw, and Gugliotta, but a few 3s never hurt and I wonder how much the perimeter defense will suffer with that tradeoff. Getting a pick is nice, so if they use it to make another move to get better, maybe it works out. But if they’re continuing to shoot for a title, by itself I’m not sure I would’ve done it.
Grade: C
Utah Jazz
Key Additions: Michael Dickerson, Dwayne Schintzius, Zeljko Rebraca, Aaron McKie, A.J. English
Key Losses: Scottie Pippen, Lawrence Moten, Scott Haskin
The Jazz kicked off their off-season with 3 1st round picks in the draft: Michael Dickerson (#13), Radoslav Nesterovic (#18), and Andrae Patterson (#25). All of these guys have an abundance of potential but have a loong way to go before becoming contributors. Nesterovic has shown the most signs of life so far of the 3, which at #18 is pretty good value. In hindsight, there were better picks than Dickerson at #13, but it would’ve been hard to predict the Training Camp development of some of those guys and he was always going to be a project, so you never know. Free Agency saw them bring back Terrell Brandon on a pretty solid contract for 3 years without needlessly overpaying. The splashy moves were signing center Dwayne Schintzius and PF Zeljko Rebraca. Schintzius is a phenomenal big man, though signing him to only a 1-year deal brings with it some risks. His salary is high enough, though, that they may be able to bring him back if they choose. Rebraca I’m not as big a fan of, especially on a 3-year max contract. They had Priest Lauderdale already on the roster and a pretty simple path to re-signing George Ackles and Scott Haskin (which they did). I wouldn’t really be a fan of Rebraca on that salary even if they had a hole in the frontcourt, much less on a squad where the frontcourt is a bit crowded. Not really sure what he gives you that you can’t get on the MLE. I suppose he’s young enough to still have a bit of untapped potential but seems doubtful. I did like their MLE signing of Aaron McKie as a rotation piece and their roster balancing trade of Haskin for A.J. English and Rodney Rogers from New Jersey. They can probably cobble together a pretty good defense, but I worry if they’ll have enough scoring. Overall, kind of a mixed bag for me.
Grade: C+
Golden State Warriors
Key Additions: Michael Olowokandi, Rafer Alston
Key Losses: Lamond Murray, Danny Manning, Carlos Rogers, Rex Chapman, Steve Alford
Michael Olowokandi looks like he was a half-decent 1st round selection at #12. That’s about the only positive thing I can say here. The management of the organization either couldn’t be bothered to participate in free agency for what looks to be the 2nd or 3rd year in a row, or they just don’t have an inkling of how it works. They lose key pieces every off-season and have to have their roster filled out by the league office. This time, it was long-time superstar Danny Manning and up-and-coming SF Lamond Murray who left for nothing. Neither got close to a big contract for them either, which is even more disappointing. Only the Kandi Man pick keeps it from an F.
Grade: D-
Los Angeles Clippers
Key Additions: Ray Allen, Hank Gathers, Griffin McAdoo, LeRon Ellis
Key Losses: Kevin Garnett, Eurelijus Zukauskas, Robert Churchwell
The Clipps have decided to start to try to be more competitive, after accidently doing so last season. They used their cap space to pick up some solid vet rotation pieces in Griffin McAdoo, a sharpshooter for the backcourt and Hank Gathers, a beast on the block. These guys will help carry the young players who are still growing into their skills. The contract for McAdoo might be a little rich, but with a lot of other contributors on rookie deals, it works out ok. It is helpful that both guys’ contracts line up with the end of the rookie contracts of Tim Duncan and Tracy McGrady, as they are expected to get big paydays and that would’ve been tough to navigate. They also notably made a big move in trading Kevin Garnett, Eurilijus Zukauskas, Ricky Davis, Mike James, a 1st and multiple 2nd round picks for Ray Allen, as previously mentioned. From the Clippers’ side, I like it pretty well. As mentioned, KG still has to prove he can be an efficient contributor on offense before he matches his reputation, and his expiring contract is a bit scary. Allen is cost-controlled for one more season and has a more easily defined projection for the future. They may still have to wait for Duncan, Allen, and McGrady to develop a bit more before they’re title contenders but they’ll be a tough team to handle in the meantime as well.
Grade: B+
Los Angeles Lakers
Key Additions: Rony Seikaly, Duane Cooper, Dontonio Wingfield, Tyson Wheeler
Key Losses: Griffin McAdoo, Zeljko Rebraca
The Lake Show has been having a bit of a rough go. They traded draft equity last season to push for the playoffs and immediately sank in the standings to the lottery without their draft pick. Then lost the player they got in that trade (Griffin McAdoo) in free agency for no return, which adds insult to injury. They lost Zeljko Rebraca in free agency as well, but for the price he got, it’s better they didn’t retain him, I think. Yinka Dare and MLE signing Rony Seikaly can provide what he brought. They picked up a couple of decent minimum signings in Dontonio Wingfield, Tyson Wheeler, and Duane Cooper, but weren’t really able to get anything done that would tangibly improve their team. If their vets (Jerome Lane, Clarence Weatherspoon, Isaiah Rider) can bounce back with better seasons, they might be able to sneak into the playoffs, but if that is a goal, they should look to get creative on the trade market to be more sure of that.
Grade: C-
Portland Trailblazers
Key Additions: Kobe Bryant, Bobby Hurley, Lamond Murray, Rashard Griffith
Key Losses: Erick Dampier, Terrence Rencher, Martin Muursepp
The Blazers made two huge splashes in trades, first sending 3 lottery picks (#5, #8, #11) to the Kings for superstar SG Latrell Sprewell. In a 3-4 player draft at the top, this was a home run for Portland as a transaction. They were worried they didn’t have enough around Spree to make use of his talents, though, so they ended up re-routing him to Vancouver for young phenom Kobe Bryant. The kicker here, though, is that they added promising young center Erick Dampier and 3 1st round picks to the deal, making it possibly the biggest package ever traded, for a 20-year-old who has a bright future but is definitely not a sure thing at this point. Crazy stuff. They made a couple of really nice signings in free agency with Lamond Murray at the wing and Bobby Hurley at the point (who would’ve looked pretty damn nice next to Sprewell). Both guys project pretty well into an outside-oriented offense. They also seemed to find themselves a gem in the 2nd round of the draft in Slava Medvedenko, who showed in pre-season he can be part of a rotation at age 19. Tough to grade here…the Kobe trade was crazy but everything else was pretty good.
Grade: B
Sacramento Kings
Key Additions: Isaac Austin, Al Harrington, Larry Hughes, Alain Digbeu
Key Losses: Latrell Sprewell, Eric Mobley, Gary Collier
Not crazy about the Kings’ moves here. I don’t really think there was a reason to trade Sprewell at all, being a top 5-6 player in the league in the middle of his prime. But after prioritizing getting an elite prospect in a ‘quality over quantity’ approach in a trade, they moved him for the #5 pick in a draft where the surest things were gone after #3. Al Harrington could end up being very good, but he comes in without a single above-average skill so now they’re left with a sort of ‘quantity over quality’ package where there were undoubtedly better ‘quantity’ based packages out there. They also aren’t really bottoming out, keeping Jason Kidd and Donyell Marshall around while giving up an unprotected pick for Alain Digbeu, who’s just a crappier version of Sprewell who doesn’t play defense. I’m just not really seeing the vision. Also I hate the Ike Austin contract
. They have a lot of young talent, will score a lot of points, and may even sneak into the playoffs, but I think they could’ve done that WITH Sprewell and had an easier path to getting to the top of the standings.Grade: D+
Seattle Supersonics
Key Additions: Paul Pierce, Wesley Person, Jerome James
Key Losses: Eric Montross, Antonio Daniels
After multiple years of having a dismal roster and not owning their draft pick, the Sonics FINALLY were able to pick in the lottery to start building their talent pool. They selected Paul Pierce at #2, who has a way to go still but looks like he’s going to be a very good player for a long time, so that’s great for them. Less great, I thought, was moving their 2000 1st plus Antonio Daniels to Charlotte for the right to overpay Wesley Person. He’s a good scorer if you run a 3pt-heavy offense but is a mediocre defender and poor rebounder, so I’m not really a fan of using a max salary slot on him. I would have much rather kept the pick and maxed out Lamond Murray as an alternative. They nabbed a pretty solid pick at the end of the 1st round in Jerome James as well, so the draft was kind to them. They importantly brought back Thomas Hamilton on a 1-year contract as well, which was good. They received a young prospect (Predrag Drobnjak) and a couple of 1st round picks for the Nuggets pick this year, which is tough to measure, but gives them more trade chips. I think they’re still a few years away from being a threat but there is a half-decent foundation there.
Grade: C+
Vancouver Grizzlies
Key Additions: Vlade Divac, Latrell Sprewell, Dirk Nowitzki, Damon Stoudamire, Erick Dampier
Key Losses: Kobe Bryant, Peja Stojakovic, Lorenzen Wright, Khalid Reeves
The Grizz did what they do and made out like bandits this off-season. The lottery treated them to the #1 overall pick AGAIN, where they selected German sensation Dirk Nowitzki, who looks like a future star already. They also decided it was time to compete, so sent some debatably middling assets for stud big man Vlade Divac, making their frontcourt very dangerous. As mentioned earlier, they also received arguably the best trade package ever moved for Kobe Bryant, netting them one of the best players in the league in Latrell Sprewell, Erick Dampier to add to their stable of bigs, and multiple picks to add to that stash…nuts. They also had tons of other draft picks where they snagged Brad Miller, Charles Jones, Earl Boykins, and Tyronn Lue, all of whom look like present or future contributors. They also just happened to use the cap space they had left for super role player Scottie Pippen, whose defense and rebounding will be invaluable alongside the team’s stars. Can’t do much better here.
Grade: A
