The NBA season is nearly upon us! I know most of you are stuck in the NFL-holes, but it also feels like the NBA never left us with how busy it has been. Let’s go over some stuff!
If you are the casual fan of the NBA or have had a very busy summer and wish to just be caught up on the broad strokes of the NBA off-season this piece should satisfy your needs. If you are a huge NBA nerd there may be a few points that you missed or opinions that will rile you up so read on! It is now time to stock all your brains with little talking points to make you sound NBA savvy in the office! Do not expect every single signing or trade to be on this primer, but if I did miss something major – let me know.
In “Part 1” I will be going over the draft picks, trades, and transactions of teams in the Eastern Conference. I will start with the team with least number of expected wins, per Vegas, and work my way up.
Chicago Bulls (22.5 wins)
Draft Picks – (Round 1 – Pick 7) Lauri Markkanen (from Minnesota)
Trades – Jimmy Butler and the 16th pick sent to Minnesota for the 7th pick, Zach LaVine, and Kris Dunn (that deal was just before the 2017 draft).
Transactions – They waived Rajon Rondo, signed Justin Holiday, and named Doug Collins the senior adviser to Basketball Operations.
If you aren’t a Bulls fan the biggest takeaway from this is that you no longer get Doug Collins as a commentator (big loss in my eyes), and if you are then you’ve known since June your team is rebuilding when they got 60 cents on the dollar for Jimmy Butler.
Atlanta Hawks (26 wins)
Draft Picks – (1, 19) John Collins, (2, 41) Tyler Dorsey, (2, 60) Alpha Kaba
Trades – Traded Dwight Howard and the 31st pick to Charlotte for C Miles Plumlee, G Marco Belinelli and the 41st pick. Traded F Ryan Kelly for cash.
Transactions – Waived Jamal Crawford after buying him out.
The big move here was that they traded Dwight Howard the day before the draft. Addition by subtraction?? You will hear that phrase spoken when a talking head is speaking about Dwight Howard. This a rebuilding year and a good time for it. Hey, they drafted a guy named “Alpha”. They didn’t sign him though…
Brooklyn Nets (27 wins)
Draft Picks – (1, 22) Jarrett Allen, (1, 27) Kyle Kuzma, (2, 57) Aleksandar Vezenkoz
Trades – Traded Brook Lopez and Kyle Kuzma to the Lakers for Timofey Mozgov and D’Angelo Russell.
Transactions – Signed G Archie Goodwin to a multi-year deal. Nothing else.
They lost Brook Lopez to the Lakers, so yeah, this franchise is doing really well. It’s ok Brooklyn fans, your masochism may pay off in 10 years.
New York Knickerbockers (29.5 wins)
Draft Picks – (1, 8) Frank Ntilikina, (2, 44) Damyean Dotson
Trades – None. JK. Carmelo Anthony to the Thunder for Enes Kanter, Doug McDermott and a 2018 second round pick.
Transactions – Fired Phil Jackson. Applause. They signed Jarrett Jack (I too did not realize he was still in the league) and signed Tim Hardaway Jr to a four year contract.
So they decided that Porzingis was better off without Phil Jackson (yes) and Carmelo Anthony (questionable but makes sense) and that Tim Hardaway Jr. got so much better in Atlanta after they let him go. They also still have to pay Joakim Noah $17 million a year. Get that money.
Indiana Pacers (31 wins)
Draft Picks – (1, 18) T.J. Leaf, (2, 47) Ike Anigbogu
Trades – Traded Paul George to the Thunder for Victor Oladipo and Domanta Sabonis. Thunder making moves.
Transactions – Signed F Bojan Bogdanovic. Larry Bird resigned.
This is all about the Paul George trade. It is widely known Paul George wants to go to LA next year. He had let them (the Pacers) know that he was not signing an extension next summer so the Pacers did the smart thing, swallowed hard, and traded him for 50 cents to the Thunder. At the time, everyone was wondering how the Celtics did not make a better offer, but that is explained further into the article. Foreshadowing.
Orlando Magic (33 wins)
Draft Picks – (1, 6) Jonathan Isaac, (1, 25) Anzejs Pasecniks (traded to 76ers), (2, 33) Wesley Iwundu
Trades – None of note.
Transactions – They fired their GM and signed SF Arron Afflalo and Jonathan Simmons to multi-year contracts.
Their back up center is making $17 million this year. The above know makes sense. Clearly there is a race in the Eastern Conference to take advantage of the last old draft lottery. Golden State comes to town December 1st Orlando, so get out those Durant and Curry jerseys. Frank Vogel is a good coach though, or so the masses (me included) think.
Detroit Pistons (38.5 wins)
Draft Picks – (1, 12) Luke Kennard
Trades – Avery Bradley from the Celtics, sent Marcus Morris
Transactions – Aron Baynes declined his player option and took his talents to Boston. The rich get richer.
They withdrew their offer to Kentavious Caldwell-Pope – good move as Stanley Johnson is the starting 3 which he isn’t a big upgrade but sitll. He does have the most fun name I believe. They did pick up Avery Bradley on a great trade taking advantage of when Boston needed to make cap room for Gordon Hayward.
Philadelphia 76ers (39.5 wins)
Draft Picks – (1, 1) Markelle Fultz, (2, 36) Jonah Bolden, (2, 39) Jawun Evans, (2, 46) Sterling Brown, (2, 50) Mathias Lessort
Trades – Traded Boston the Lakers pick for the #1 overall. Sixers moved up two spots and the Celtics moved back two and picked up an extra #1.
Transactions – Signed: JJ Redick, Amir Johnson, Kris Humprhies, and Emeka Okafor. As I am writing this they just signed Joel Embiid to a moster contract extension worth five years – $148 million with all kinds of options to make it a possible $178 million.
Has the process finally paid off? It did for Embiid. I’m not proud I made that joke either. The bad news is that Markelle Fultz, the touted overall number 1, is injured and Embiid isn’t exactly a stalwart on the court. They did pick up some vets that worth something so if nothing else this will be an exciting team to watch.
Miami Heat (43 wins)
Draft Picks – (1, 14) Bam Adebayo
Trades – Traded Josh McRoberts to Dallas for (C) A.J. Hammons and a 2023 second rounder.
Transactions – Picked up Kelly Olynyk from free agency (fiercely holding in my inner Wizards fandom) when the Celtics were pursuing Gordon Hayward. In today’s NBA just over $10 million/yr is not a terrible deal. Udonis Haslem signed another one year deal; he started one year before LeBron in the NBA but it feels like 30 years.
I guess having three legitimate centers is a good idea – said no NBA analyst. But really they are just trying to constantly stay in the game for the big free agents as every talking head says they are in the hunt. Being around 500 is not a good thing this year but they should slip into the playoffs.
Charlotte Hornets (43.5 wins)
Draft Picks – (1, 11) Malik Monk (steal of the draft? I guess that is Dennis Smith), (2,31) Frank Jackson (traded to New Orleans),
Trades – See the Dwight Howard trade above in the Atlanta section. Beach Boys me (God Only Knows).
Transactions – signed Malik Monk.
Really every Charlotte fan is waiting to see how Kemba Walker will gel with Malik Monk. This is Kemba’s team. We already know Kemba won’t gel with Dwight Howard – no one does who is competitive. Right now in the pre-season Malik Monk is their leading scorer.
Milwaukee Bucks (47 wins)
Draft Picks – (1, 17) D.J. Wilson, (2, 48) Sindarius Thornwell (traded to Clippers)
Trades – None other than draft day.
Transactions – Re-signed (G) Tony Snell, Greg Monroe exercised his player option to stay with team.
Jabari Parker has torn his left ACL two times in three NBA seasons. That’s just terrible luck. Giannis Antetokounmpo has become an all-star and really started to spread his wings last year. But he needs help because in the playoffs last year he was completely gassed in the last game. They will make it back to the playoffs though.
Toronto Raptors (47.5 wins)
Draft Picks – (1, 23) OG Anunoby (the OG stands for Ogugua apparently)
Trades – None.
Transactions – Kyle Lowry has a new deal which is worth $33 million a year for three years.
This team is really the 4th best in the East and will have to make a trade to get better but they really don’t have any options. They have a good team and maybe a full year of Serge Ibaka will make a difference. DeMar DeRozan is carrying on the banner of really good 2 guards since this has become a small forward league.
Washington Wizards (49.5 wins)
Draft Picks – None.
Trades – Picked up G Tim Frazier from New Orleans for their second round pick.
Transactions – John Wall got a contract extension through the “Bird” rule so he becomes an unrestricted free agent in 2019. Don’t worry he will get paid by the Wizards.
They are rolling it back with the same crew. Last time I checked they lost to Boston in the playoffs and Boston got better in the off-season (because there is no God) so maybe Otto Porter will continue to be excellent – I am worried as a fan. This smells like a loss in the second round, but if things don’t work for either team in the Boston – Cleveland trade then they could take advantage. Excuse that last sentence; pure fandom.
Boston Celtics (54 wins)
Draft Picks – (1, 3) Jayson Tatum, (2, 37) Semi Ojeleye (They also picked up the 76ers conditional first rounder in 2018 or 2019. I hate that Ernie Grunfield is the GM of the Wizards)
Trades – The trade of the summer – Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic, and the Brooklyn pick for Kyrie Irving.
Transactions – Signed Gordon Hayward in free agency.
They want to win next year and they have made the moves necessary to put themselves in the best position. They traded away an injured Isaiah Thomas (won’t play till January) and parts for a blue chipper. The Brooklyn pick shows how serious they were. Expect them in the conference championship yet again, except with the second best player on the court – not the third or fourth.
Cleveland Cavaliers (54 wins)
Draft Picks – None.
Trades – See trade above.
Transactions – Signed Jeff Green, Jose Calderon, Derrick Rose, and Dwyane Wade
That’s right, Derrick Rose is the starting point guard and Wade and LeBron have been re-united once again. The big story looming over this team all year is that LeBron has no intention of re-signing in Cleveland after this season. Nothing is confirmed of course, LeBron is too smart for that, but it’s like an open secret that he wants to got to the Lakers. Speculated as part of the reason that Kyrie demanded a trade. They still got a draft pick out of it too!
There has been no real slow part to the NBA off-season! This wraps up the very short, very general primer of the Eastern Conference. Western Conference coming soon!!
All win totals were obtained from the Westgate September 29th numbers. They may change during pre-season but I am also not a bookie.
