2019-2020 NBA Offseason Grades and Season Preview

The NBA offseason made landfall like a category 5 hurricane sweeping across the nation with trades and signings altering the entire landscape of the league. What is left in its wake is perhaps the most wide-open title race in NBA history. 13 teams enter the 2019-2020 season thinking they can reach the finals, 6 eastern conference teams and 7 western conference teams. To find out who those teams are, welcome to part 1 of my 2019-2020 NBA season preview! I’ll break down all 30 NBA teams by division (bet you can’t name them off the top) starting alphabetically with the Atlantic division in the east and giving my predictions for their season. I will break down the team's roster giving my starting 5, decide the best and worse value players, and give my offseason grade for each team.

*Things to note before reading* 1. Quick salary cap facts: The NBA salary cap is $109.14 million. The max salary before a team must pay the luxury tax is $132.627 million; 2. For my "highest value" or "worst value" category, this doesn't mean the best or worst player on the team. This is based on their production compared to the player's contract and amount of money they're earning; 3. The win total predictions are the average of 3 predictions from sports betting sites listed on this website.

Boston Celtics

The Celtics reload for another shot at the finals.

Point Guard: Starter: Kemba Walker; 2nd string: Marcus Smart; 3rd string: Carsen Edwards; 4th string: Tremont Waters

Shooting Guard: Starter: Jaylen Brown; 2nd string: Romeo Langford; 3rd string: Brad Wannamaker

Small Forward: Starter: Jayson Tatum; 2nd string: Semi Ojeleye

Power Forward: Starter: Gordon Hayward; 2nd string: Robert Williams III; 3rd string: Grant Williams

Center: Starter: Enes Kanter; 2nd string: Daniel Theis; 3rd string: Vincent Poirier

Key Losses: Kyrie Irving, Al Horford, Terry Rozier

Key Additions: Kemba Walker, Enes Kanter

Draft pick(s): Romeo Langford (round 1, pick 14), Grant Williams (round 1, pick 22), Carsen Edwards (round 2, pick 33), Tremont Waters (round 2, pick 51)

Salary Cap: $115,842,636 million, $9,912,733 over the cap

Highest value player: Enes Kanter. After getting paid $18.6 million by the Knicks last season, the Celtics signed him to a 2 year $4.77 million contract.

Worst value player: Gordon Hayward signed a max contract with the Celtics in 2017. At the time, he was well worth the max contract. But after a horrific injury to start the 2017 season, he has struggled to justify making max money. Hayward will be paid $32.7 million this season and $34.18 million next season.

Online win total prediction: 48.5

Offseason Grade: B+

Rewind to October 4, 2018. Kyrie Irving gives a seemingly heartfelt speech and tells the Boston faithful he will stay with the Celtics. GM Danny Ainge is widely regarded as the best GM in the NBA primed to make a run at Anthony Davis. Fast forward to today. Kyrie Irving is a Brooklyn Net, Anthony Davis is a Laker, and Kemba Walker is a Celtic. Striking out on AD and losing Kyrie are tough pills to swallow. Then factor in losing Terry Rozier and Al Horford, and the Celtics went from a team primed to the East, to a team trying to poke its head in the championship picture.

For all the hate Danny Ainge has received recently, retooling with Kemba Walker and Enes Kanter at good value are solid moves to keep the Celtics relevant. Losing Horford hurts the Celtics on the defensive end considering Horford’s DBPM (Defensive Box Plus Minus) and DWS (Defensive Win Shares) last season were a 2.9 and 2.7, while Kanter’s was a 0.6 and -0.3. Horford’s also more of an outside threat shooting 36% from 3 compared to Kanter’s 25%. But Kanter’s still an efficient offensive player, and getting a player like him for $4.76 mil for 2 years is a steal.

Kemba Walker is a borderline superstar. While he’s a less efficient version of Kyrie, Walker’s offensive production should be enough to fill the void. The key is Walker’s leadership and his ability to foster a healthy locker room. The tensions between Kyrie, head coach Brad Stevens, and his teammates are well documented. But Walker is considered a much better leader and teammate than his predecessor, which should bode well for the Celtics considering this is still a talented roster. Perhaps without the ire of Kyrie Irving, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum can have an improved season. Gordon Hayward can build off of a productive end to his season. Romeo Langford and Carsen Edwards can score the ball as well. My biggest worry is their big man depth and defense, but in today’s era of positionless basketball, this team is good enough for a top 4 seed in the top heavy East. If Kemba can right the ship in the locker room and get this team clicking, they could contend in the East, though a title seems unlikely.

Over/Under Win Projection/Playoff Seeding Prediction: Over/4th

Brooklyn Nets

Who would've thunk?

Point Guard: Starter: Kyrie Irving; 2nd string: Spence Dinwiddie; 3rd string: Theo Pinson; 4th string: Jaylen Hands

Shooting Guard: Starter: Caris LeVert; 2nd string: Garrett Temple; 3rd string: Dzanan Musa;

Small Forward: Starter: Joe Harris; 2nd string: Wilson Chandler; 3rd string: Kevin Durant

Power Forward: Starter: Taurean Prince; 2nd string: Rodions Kurucs

Center: Starter: Jarrett Allen; 2nd string: DeAndre Jordan; 3rd string: Nicolas Claxton

Key Losses: D'Angelo Russell, DeMarre Carroll, Allen Crabbe, Rondae Hollis Jefferson

Key Additions: Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, DeAndre Jordan, Wilson Chandler, Garrett Temple

Draft pick(s): Nicolas Claxton (round 2, pick 31), Jaylen Hands (round 2, pick 56)

Total Salary: $126,074,941, $16,934,941 over the cap

Highest value player: Spencer Dinwiddie had a career season in almost every offensive statistical category averaging 16.8 points, 4.6 assists, with an effective field goal percentage of 51.7%, and is only making $10.6 million this season.

Worst value player: None.

Vegas win total prediction: 48.5

Offseason Grade: A+

I wanted to find a reason not to give the Nets an A+: maybe they could’ve spent the money on DeAndre Jordan on other players instead of getting a starting caliber big man to stunt the growth of the emerging Jarrett Allen. Then I remembered DeAndre and KD have a strong friendship, and KD and Kyrie took pay cuts to play with DeAndre. This shows getting DeAndre was a priority for KD and Kyrie making the grade simple.

The Brooklyn Nets were the laughing stock of the NBA after giving up key assets for an aged Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, trading for Gerald Wallace, Joe Johnson, and Deron Williams. Other than a couple 1st round exits in the playoffs, the Nets became a heaping pile of trash competing with the other heaping pile of trash next door (the Knicks) to see which franchise was worse.

But over the past couple of seasons, the Nets have looked competent. While never in any real contention, NBA fans could sense something was changing in Brooklyn culminating in the 2019 NBA offseason. KD and/or Kyrie to the Knicks was almost a foregone conclusion.

But like Paul George a year before, KD and Kyrie did the unthinkable proving we NBA fans truly don’t know shit as to where players are going to go. Seriously, we don’t. If you told me 2 years ago KD and Kyrie will be Brooklyn Nets in 2019, I’d laugh in your face and take away your NBA card. Now, they’re in the house Jay-Z built ready to take the NBA by storm.

We all know of KD’s awful achilles injury keeping him out for basically the entire 2019 season. But Kyrie is good to go, and the Nets have a 10 man rotation of quality players who will know their roll. This is Kyrie’s dream. But will his shown lack of leadership skills turn this into a nightmare only KD can wake Brooklyn up from?

Over/Under Win Projection/Playoff Seeding Prediction: Under/5th

New York Knicks

"So what had happened was..." -Knicks owner James Dolan

Point Guard: Starter: Dennis Smith Jr.; 2nd string: Elfrid Payton; 3rd string: Frank Ntilikina; 4th string: Tremont Waters

Shooting Guard: Starter: RJ Barrett; 2nd string: Alonzo Trier; 3rd string: Reggie Bullock; 4th string: Damyean Dotson

Small Forward: Starter: Kevin Knox; 2nd string: Wayne Ellington

Power Forward: Starter: Julius Randle; 2nd string: Marcus Morris; 3rd string: Taj Gibson; 4th string: Ignas Brazdeikis

Center: Starter: Mitchell Robinson; 2nd string: Bobby Portis

Key Losses: Mario Hezonja, DeAndre Jordan

Key Additions: Julius Randle, Elfrid Payton, Marcus Morris, Taj Gibson, Bobby Portis

Draft pick(s): RJ Barrett (round 1, pick 3), Ignas Brazdeikis (round 2, pick 47)

Total Salary: $113,103,707, $3,963,707 over the cap

Highest value player: Julius Randle had the best season of his career averaging 21 points and 8.9 rebounds per game shooting 34.4% from 3 improving from 22% the season before, and the Knicks signed him for only $18 million.

Worst value player: Taj Gibson is my pick here, but only because he's making $9 million at age 34. But this contract isn't too bad considering it's only for 2 years.

Vegas win total prediction: 29

Offseason grade: C-

Lol. Watching Knicks fans react to not getting the top pick gives my heart joy. Then watching Stephen A. Smith react to KD and Kyrie going to the Nets is like Christmas in July. The 2018-2019 New York Knick season was a catastrophe. First they traded their franchise center Kristaps Porzingis to the Mavericks and tanked the entire season in hopes of getting the top pick. Then people made edits of KD, Kyrie, and Zion in Knicks jerseys, and with the fait of the Knicks in the hands of one NBA offseason, the Knicks front office stepped up to bat.

Strike 1, Knicks get the 3rd pick missing out on Zion and Ja Morant. Strike 2, KD chooses Brooklyn. Strike 3, Kyrie chooses Brooklyn. After three strikes, the Knicks were supposed to be out, and this grade is supposed to be an F. But let’s take a step back and look at what the Knicks did do with their massive cap space.

They signed Julius Randle to a reasonable contract. Elfrid Payton, Marcus Morris, Taj Gibson, and Bobby Portis were all signed to 2 year deals meaning their contracts will be off the salary books for the 2021 free agency class, which is supposed to be loaded. And lastly, they drafted RJ Barrett with the 3rd pick, the best available player left and someone I’m high on contrary to a lot of my friends who send me tweets about RJ all the time.

But for the first time in a while, we can see the resemblance of a plan for the Knicks. Albeit all this plan does is set them up for the 2021 free agency class in hopes of landing a big name free agent. Though if RJ Barrett, Dennis Smith Jr. Kevin Knox, and Mitchell Robinson develop well, the Knicks will be in a much better position to land a big name free agent in 2021.

Over/Under Win Projection/Playoff Seeding: Over/no playoffs

Toronto Raptors

2019 NBA Champion Toronto Raptors. Peep who's not in the pic...

Point Guard: Starter: Kyle Lowry; 2nd string: Fred VanVleet; 3rd string: Cameron Payne

Shooting Guard: Starter: Norman Powell; 2nd string: Patrick McCaw; 3rd string: Matt Thomas; 4th string: Jordan Loyd

Small Forward: Starter: Pascal Siakam; 2nd string: OG Anunoby; 3rd string: Rondae Hollis Jefferson; 4th string: Stanley Johnson

Power Forward: Starter: Serge Ibaka; 2nd string: Chris Boucher

Center: Starter: Marc Gasol; 2nd string: Duwan Hernandez

Key Losses: Kawhi Leonard, Danny Green

Key Additions: Rondae Hollis Jefferson, Stanley Johnson

Draft pick(s): Dewan Hernanzez (round 2, pick 59)

Total Salary: $ $125,812,070, $35,041,938 in cap holds, $-51,714,008 over the cap because of the cap holds

Highest value player: None really, though one could say Kyle Lowry considering his play has justified his max contract, but he's still 33 entering his final season in this contract. Once it is up, I doubt he makes max money next offseason.

Worst value player: None considering their 3 biggest contracts ($33.3 million for Kyle Lowry, $25.6 million for Marc Gasol, and $23.3 million for Serge Ibaka) are up at the end of the year opening up a lot of cap space for the 2021 free agency class.

Vegas win total prediction: 46

Offseason Grade: C+

Raptors GM Masai Ujiri made the biggest trade of last year’s offseason trading DeMar DeRozan and Jakob Poeltl and a 1st round pick to the San Antonio Spurs for disgruntled superstar Kawhi Leonard coming off of a mysterious quad injury keeping Kawhi out for all but 9 games of the 2018 season.

Entering the 2019 season, questions surrounding Kawhi’s health and whether he will be the same dynamic 2-way player he was before the injury swirled around the team. The consensus was the Raptors will be a contender in the east, but whether they can win the conference depends on Kawhi’s health. As the season went on, these questions were answered and more. The Raptors found their cold blooded closer they’ve been lacking for years. Kawhi changed the entire mindset of a team plagued by underwhelming showings in the postseason. Add a key midseason trade for Marc Gasol, and this new look Raptors team led by Kawhi brought Canada an NBA title.

Trading DeRozan for Leonard was always a gamble considering Leonard was likely leaving after the season. The ideal situation for the Raptors was to win a title hopefully showing Kawhi what the team and the city has to offer Kawhi if he were to stay, which is exactly what happened. Except, Kawhi chose to leave Toronto anyway for the LA Clippers.

The number 1 priority for the Raptors this offseason was to resign Kawhi. Considering they couldn’t do that, I can’t give them a good grade. But this is no fault of the Raptors. They won an NBA title and embraced Kawhi like one of their own. Unfortunately, the allure of returning to southern California was too much, and the Raptors are left with basically the same team as last season without Kawhi. Rondae Hollis Jefferson and Stanley Johnson are decent pickups, but they’re not enough to move the needle. This is still a playoff team, but definitely not a contender to win the conference.

Over/Under Win Projection/Playoff Seeding: Under/6th

Philadelphia 76ers

Once sworn enemies, Al Horford and Joel Embiid team up to conquer the East.

Point Guard: Starter: Ben Simmons; 2nd string: Shake Milton; 3rd string: Raul Neto

Shooting Guard: Starter: Josh Richardson; 2nd string: Zhaire Smith

Small Forward: Starter: Tobias Harris; 2nd string: Matisse Thybule 3rd string: James Ennis III 4th string: Marial Shavok

Power Forward: Starter: Al Horford; 2nd string: Mike Scott; 3rd string: Johnah Bolden

Center: Starter: Joel Embiid; 2nd string: Kyle O'Quinn

Key Additions: Josh Richardson, Al Horford

Draft pick(s): Matisse Thybule (round 1, pick 20)

Total Salary: $123,445,721, $-14,305,721 over the cap

Highest value player: Josh Richardson is the key to this 76ers offense considering the entire flow of the offense will depend on his ability to make 3s. With that said, he's an above average 3-point shooter at 35.7% and a positive defensive player with a +2.6 defensive win share rating meaning his defense helps the team win 2.6 more games than if he weren't playing. All of this for $10 million isn't bad.

Worst value player: Al Horford was a great signing for the 76ers. But I can't help but cringe at the idea of a 34 year old set to make $26.5 million at age 36.

Vegas win total prediction: 53.5

Offseason Grade: B

Feast your eyes on 1 of the 2 best game winners of the 2019 season by Kawhi Leonard sending the Philadelphia 76ers home. This shot made Joel Embiid ugly cry and led him to say, “I don’t give a damn about the process.” Sports can be cruel. One bounce the wrong way, and the 76ers could’ve been in the Eastern Conference Finals with a legit chance at an NBA title. Instead, they entered the 2019 offseason looking for a way to take that difficult last step towards a championship.

The 76ers completed a 4 team trade sending Jimmy Butler to the Heat getting Josh Richardson in return opening up cap space to sign Al Horford from the Celtics as well. Tobias Harris chose to stay in Philly, a definite win for the team, and the 76ers drafted one of my favorite players Matisse Thybulle from Washington. Boasting perhaps the best starting 5 in the NBA, Horford and Embiid make up a dynamic frontcourt coupled with the scoring of Tobias Harris and playmaking of Ben Simmons.

Though with that said, the success of this team depends on Josh Richardson’s ability to spread the floor and be a positive player on defense. I can’t give a grade higher than a B because JJ Reddick was integral to the offense providing the spacing necessary for Simmons and Embiid to operate effectively. Jimmy Butler is one of the best two-way players in the NBA and a bonafide closer come crunch time. With Butler gone, who do you tell to get a bucket to win the game? Their best off the dribble creator is Tobias Harris, but I don’t really trust him in those situations. This team will have some growing pains to get over, but once they figure things out, I like this 76ers team a lot and consider them the favorite the win the East.

Over/Under Win Projection/Playoff Seeding: Over/1st

Look out for part 2 next week where I breakdown the Central division!