It wasn’t until The Decision 2.0 occurred that other free agents really felt allowed to make their own decisions. Once again, The King dictated the way that off season player movement occurred. Lucky for teams and players, this time James was a bit more diligent with his timing and his decision, allowing teams to start making moves rather quickly. Now we sit at the end of July and most of the key names available this off season have either picked their new homes, or have locked themselves up long term with their NBA sweethearts. So how has player movement impacted how teams position themselves for a chance to win the Eastern Conference title this season?
Atlanta Hawks D+
The Hawks have stayed relatively quiet this summer with their biggest addition being Thabo Sefolosha. Thabo will add some much needed perimeter defense for Atlanta, but his career appears to be on a downward trajectory the last couple seasons in OKC. Adriean Payne will be an interesting addition to a crowded front court and the lengthy Walter Tavares will be a project player over the next few years. Unfortunately for Atlanta, they’re still a middle of the pack team in the East, a 4 seed and second round exit at best.
Boston Celtics B+
The Celtics continue to position themselves as a rebuilding team, and are doing a great job of acquiring assets and potential stars. Rondo remains a valuable trade chip should they choose to move on from the triple double machine. They had a terrific draft, snagging two guys that are oozing with potential, but can also contribute right away in Marcus Smart and James Young. Evan Turner is a safe pick up and still could be a high reward guy, after a terrible second half of the season after being traded to Indiana last year.
Brooklyn Nets F
The situation in Brooklyn continues to get uglier after getting burned in the trade by Boston last year. They had no first round picks and really haven’t made any moves this off season. The Jason Kidd situation got them their only real publicity, and Paul Pierce wisely got himself out of this ugly situation, bolting for a team that can make some noise in the East with his career on it’s tail end. Shaun Livingston was a lone bright spot in 2013 and left to join the best back court in the NBA. The last three years, the Nets have made desperation move after desperation move looking for a chance to compete right away, destroying their future for what seems like eternity.
Charlotte Hornets B
The Hornets are a team on the rise, which is a sentence that was probably never uttered in the franchises ten seasons as the Bobcats. They add two first round picks, snagging one of the most intriguing prospects in the monster hands of Noah Vonleh, and the scoring machine PJ Hairston. Both players can be considered question marks, but have high upside. Lance Stephenson was acquired at a bargain after stating he feels he’s worth “much more” than the Pacers offer of 5 years $44 mill. Losing McRoberts hurts, but if Big Al can play at the high level he did last season, the Hornets should certainly make the playoffs. To garner fan interest, this team really just needs to start making the playoffs consistently, and they seem to be well on their way.
Chicago Bulls A-
The Bulls could have added two first round picks in a deep draft, but instead parlayed that into Dougie McBuckets. Time will tell if that decision will pay off, but he is a safe pick and much more than just a shooter. They added an aging Gasol, an improvement over Boozer, to form one of the best front courts in the league. While hoping Rose comes back at a high level, they have plenty of point guard insurance retaining Hinrich and adding the speedy scorer Aaron Brooks. Good news for AB is he should be more than just the insurance that he was in Houston last year, because with Hinrich’s defense, the Bulls will be able to have a combo of two point guards at a time without losing ground on either offense or defense.
Cleveland Cavaliers A+
Does this even need an explanation. The King is coming home, the Cavs added the top prospect in the draft, and brought in LeBron’s buddy in Mike Miller. While it remains to be seen if Wiggins will play alongside James or be shipped to Minnesota for Love, they can’t go wrong either way. They either put the best player in basketball alongside someone who can immediately defend the best opposing wing, or they pair up LeBron with another top ten player. With LeBron coming home, I think Cavs fans will be able to stomach the losses of Luol Deng and Spencer Hawes just fine.
Detroit Pistons C
The Pistons biggest move was in the front office, saying goodbye to Joe Dumars and warmly welcoming Stan Van Gundy. Aside from a good draft pick or two, Dumars hadn’t made a good move since putting together that championship team consisting of Billups, Rip, Prince, and the Wallace’s. While it was a quiet start for SVG, he has a proven track record and Pistons fans have hopefully learned to exercise patience after dealing with Dumars’ waywardness in building a roster. Van Gundy seemingly overpaid for Jodie Meeks, but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt considering his success in the past.
Indiana Pacers C-
The Pacers picked up CJ Miles at what may turn out to be tremendous value, but he doesn’t make up for the production of Lance Stephenson last season. What remains to be seen is whether replacing Lance’s unstableness could actually be a blessing in disguise. They brought in Rodney Stuckey in hopes that he can bring what they expected from Evan Turner last season after acquiring him at the deadline. They’ll hope for Damjan Rudez to carve his way into the rotation and add some offense, but he’ll need to add some muscle mass if he’s gonna bang with other big men. Why do I keep using the word hope? Because it’s just that, an off season of hope for the Indiana Pacers.
Miami Heat B
The Heat have earned this grade after fielding a competitive team, despite losing the best player in basketball. In the end it seems that losing LeBron was out of their control. They were able to retain Bosh at the max contract, which he is deserving of, but the question remains, can they put enough around him to legitimately contend in the East? The answer is probably no, but they’ve done a nice job of filling out the roster. They re-signed nearly every free agent not named Lebron. They overpaid Wade, but for only two seasons, and got him at cheaper than they would have had he opted in. They signed a top notch free agent in Deng who will fit in nicely next to Bosh. McRoberts adds toughness and allows them to stretch the floor whether Bosh is in the game or not. All in all, Heat fans couldn’t ask for a better off season, with the stipulation that LeBron was not coming back.
Milwaukee Bucks A-
The Bucks really didn’t do anything except for draft who they were supposed to draft, but they get a high grade based solely on that. Jabari Parker goes to Milwaukee and GUESS WHAT, he wanted to go there! When is the last time anybody was hoping to join the Milwaukee Bucks? I think the answer is never, but I haven’t fully dove in on that yet. This could be a saving grace for the team, but they have a lot of work to do to get there. They started by adding Kendall Marshall to share the point guard duties with Brandon Knight. This is still a team on the rebuild and will not be expected to be a playoff team next season. Larry Sanders and OJ Mayo remain question marks after getting big pay days just a year ago. Is Jason Kidd up for the daunting rebuild task? He better do it quickly and diligently, because 4 years goes fast, and if they don’t put help around Parker, he could very well be looking at other options in 2018.
New York Knicks B
Phil convinced Melo to stay. That was really the only goal this off season. It’s so difficult to add a star caliber talent to a team, and if Melo had left after finally landing him just 3 years ago it would have made all the maneuvers to clear cap space moot. The Knicks are still a long way from becoming a contender, but it all starts with retaining your star. They’ve done that. They were ecstatic to see Cleanthony Early fall all the way to them in the draft, and then picked up the Greek Freak’s older brother in the 50’s. While he’s not expected to be on the same level as Giannnis, I seem to remember another brother of a star international NBA player that was drafted at the tail end of the second round and turned out to be a pretty good player. Here’s a hint, he’s from Spain. When it’s all said and done, the Knicks couldn’t ask for much more, considering the chips that Phil was given to play with.
Orlando Magic D+
The Magic keep their flexibility, but are bound for yet another lottery season. They took Aaron Gordon and Elfrid Payton in the draft, both nice selections, but considering they went point guard at 12, it could be argued that nabbing Exum or Smart at four would have been better value. If Aaron Gordon really was their guy, then they may have been better suited to trade down and acquire another asset. They then added another Gordon, Ben Gordon making him the second highest paid player on the roster. While Gordon is a shell of his young self with the Bulls, the veteran will join a young team and try to be the locker room leader. It’s clear that the Magic are trying to remain flexible for future moves, but it seems foolish to assume that their future star is already on the roster, and it’s difficult to imagine them acquiring one in the near future.
Philadelphia 76ers C
Another team that is looking to remain flexible, and wants to be in the lottery in 2015, the Sixers were able to add the prospect with the most upside in Joel Embiid, but when he’ll play, if at all this coming season remains to be a question mark. They were hoping for Wiggins to fall to them, but had no problem selecting Embiid to once again join the lottery next year. Nerlens Noel will be an interesting addition in his official rookie season and should be a high energy guy, but the team still doesn’t have the talent to compete any time soon. While they accomplished their goal of retaining flexibility for the future, the question becomes, how long can they play this tanking game for? Do the fans want any part of it? Do players or free agents want any part of it? Hinkie’s project of gathering assets to get good in the future was well taught by his counterpart in Houston Daryl Morey, but the difference is the Rockets never got really bad in trying to get good.
Toronto Raptors B-
The Raptors are essentially the same team this season that they were last year. Whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing is up to the fan. They could very well be a second round team, but is that enough to keep the fans happy? They were able to keep Lowry at a more than reasonable price and added James Johnson from the Grizzlies. Their draft remains to be seen, as their pick on draft night, Bruno Caboclo, was described as being “two years away from being two years away.” His 7-foot-7 wing span is something that can’t be taught, though. The Raptors are almost certain to be a playoff team, and if that’s enough for the fans after being a below average team since Bosh left, then there will be no complaints in Toronto.
Washington Wizards B
Their was a decent amount of player movement in Washington this season, but the message remains clear. The focus is to build around a back court of John Wall and Bradley Beal, while holding out hope for Durant in 2016. They were able to re-sign Marcin Gortat, one of the better true centers in the NBA. While losing their glue guy in Trevor Ariza, they were able to add veteran Paul Pierce, in hopes of contending in the East right away. Kris Humphries and Dejuan Blair are nice signings to round out a front court centered around Gortat. They appear to still be a second round team in the East, but don’t be surprised at all if they get themselves to the conference finals, especially since what will happen with Chicago remains a question mark.
As a whole, the Eastern conference doesn’t appear to be much improved, but player shuffling changes the balance of power in the East to Cleveland and Chicago. Miami, Toronto, Indiana, and Washington all seem to be the second tier of teams in the East, all with possibilities of making the conference finals. Consider the Hornets and Knicks the dark horses, though it would be a huge accomplishment for either of those teams to get to the second round of the playoffs.
The powerful conference is still far and away the West. Expect my Western Conference off season grades to be up sometime this weekend.
Dropping Dimes 
Very well written with the relevant information and insights. Looking forward to your continuing posts!!!!
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