2023 NBA Offseason Recap: Atlantic Division

Keith Smith
Keith Smith, Resident NBA ExpertJuly 17, 2023
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The NBA offseason is just about wrapped up. As of this writing, we’re still waiting on trades for Damian Lillard, James Harden and maybe Pascal Siakam. There are a handful of impact free agents left on the board, but every team has used almost all of their meaningful cap space. There are lots of exceptions left, but it seems as though teams are in wait-and-see mode, as the calendar moves through mid-July.

That means it’s time to reset where each roster stands. We’re going to look at who is returning, who was acquired and who has departed. We’ll also answer a few key questions about each team.

First up: The Atlantic Division

Boston Celtics

Players Returning (11): 

Malcolm Brogdon, Jaylen Brown, Justin Champagnie, J.D. Davison (two-way), Sam Hauser, Al Horford, Luke Kornet, Payton Pritchard, Jayson Tatum, Derrick White, Robert Williams

Players Added (5): 

Dalano Banton, Oshae Brissett, Kristaps Porzingis, Jay Scrubb (two-way), Jordan Walsh

Players Lost (6): 

Danilo Gallinari, Blake Griffin, Mfiondu Kabengele (two-way), Mike Muscala, Marcus Smart, Grant Williams

Roster Openings: 

1 standard spot and 1 two-way spot.

Cap/Tax Status: 

The Celtics are $2.3 million under the second tax apron.

Spending Power Remaining: 

Boston has the $5 million Taxpayer MLE, but they’d need to clear over $2.7 million in salary to use it in order to stay under the second apron. Teams are hard-capped at the second apron if they use the Taxpayer MLE under the new CBA.

Biggest Move of the Summer:

 Trading Marcus Smart (and others) in a deal to land Kristaps Porzingis. Boston went big, literally and figuratively, this summer by trading Smart for Porzingis. The Celtics are betting that Porzingis will stay healthy and will give the team another offensive weapon, along with some rim protection. Boston’s mounting payroll also played a part in Grant Williams leaving for the Dallas Mavericks via sign-and-trade. That’s a lot of toughness, versatility and defense out the door for the Celtics this summer.

Work To Do: 

Boston needs to get Jaylen Brown signed to an extension. He’s eligible for the super max, and all parties involved continue to say it’ll get done, but it’s been nearly three weeks and nothing is signed yet. That’s something to monitor.

Beyond extending Brown, Boston has to figure out if they are going to trade Malcolm Brogdon or not. He was originally supposed to be part of the deal for Porzingis, but the LA Clippers balked at Brogdon’s health and Brad Stevens pivoted to trading Marcus Smart. Now, the Celtics need to repair their relationship with Brogdon and get him healthy for this upcoming season. Or Boston needs to find another deal for the reigning Sixth Man of the Year before the season starts.

The Celtics will also fill out their roster by adding a 15th player on a standard deal and by filling their third two-way spot. That’s in addition to bringing a few players to training camp, with eyes on getting them to play for Maine in the G League this season.

Brooklyn Nets

Players Returning (10): 

Mikal Bridges, Nicolas Claxton, Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith, RaiQuan Gray (two-way), Cameron Johnson, Royce O’Neale, Day’Ron Sharpe, Ben Simmons, Cam Thomas

Players Added (6): 

Darius Bazley, Noah Clowney, Dennis Smith Jr., Lonnie Walker IV, Dariq Whitehead, Jalen Wilson (two-way)

Players Lost (7): 

Seth Curry, David Duke Jr., Joe Harris, Patty Mills, Dru Smith (two-way), Edmond Sumner, Yuta Watanabe

Roster Openings: 

1 standard spot and 1 two-way spot.

Cap/Tax Status: 

The Nets are $10 million under the luxury tax.

Spending Power Remaining: 

Brooklyn has the $12.4 million Non-Taxpayer MLE to spend. They are $12 million clear of the first apron, at which they’d be hard-capped if they used the NTMLE. That means to use the entire thing, they’d need to clear a little more space.

Biggest Move of the Summer: 

Re-signing Cam Johnson. Brooklyn sees Johnson as an important part of their core, alongside Mikal Bridges. Getting him inked to a fair value deal with $94.5 million guaranteed over four years is huge. Brooklyn also got good value with minimum signings in Lonnie Walker IV and Dennis Smith Jr., as well as intriguing draft picks in Noah Clowney and Dariq Whitehead.

Work To Do: 

The Nets are perhaps a bit light on shooting after trading Joe Harris and Patty Mills in salary-shedding deal, and losing Seth Curry in free agency. Lonnie Walker will help fill that void to some extent, but one more shooter would be nice.

Brooklyn could also use another experienced big to play behind Nic Claxton. The Nets are relying on unproven youngsters behind Claxton. The fifth-year big man has proven himself a top defender, but Claxton can still find himself in foul trouble on occasion. A proven backup would be good to have for the Nets.

It’s not a roster move, but Brooklyn really needs to find out what they have in Ben Simmons. All reports are that he’ll be ready to go to start the season. Can he find his way back to the All-Star level he was just a few years ago? Can he at least be a productive rotation player?

The Nets will also fill out their roster with another standard signing, a third two-way player and then some camp signings.

New York Knicks

Players Returning (13): 

RJ Barrett, Jalen Brunson, Evan Fournier, Quentin Grimes, Josh Hart, Isaiah Hartenstein, DaQuan Jeffries, Miles McBride, Immanuel Quickley, Julius Randle, Mitchell Robinson, Isaiah Roby, Jericho Sims

Players Added (2): 

Donte DiVincenzo, Jaylen Martin (two-way)

Players Lost (4): 

Trevor Keels (two-way), Derrick Rose, Obi Toppin, Duane Washington Jr. (two-way)

Roster Openings: 

1 standard spot and 2 two-way spots.

Cap/Tax Status: 

New York is $4.7 million under the luxury tax.

Spending Power Remaining: 

The Knicks have the $4.5 million Bi-Annual Exception to spend, but are unlikely to do so.

Biggest Move of the Summer: 

Signing Donte DiVincenzo. The Knicks traded big for small by signing DiVincenzo and trading Obi Toppin. The rotation is very wing- and guard-heavy, but getting DiVincenzo for the MLE is good work. He’ll be a productive player and can allow New York to deal from a position of strength in any future trades.

Work To Do: 

The Knicks are still looking for an Evan Fournier trade. At this point, it seems likely they’ll keep Fournier and his $18.8 million pseudo-expiring deal (Fournier has a $19 million team option for 2024-25) in case they need to match salary in a bigger trade.

New York is still looking at potential backup power forward options. They need someone for about 10-12 minutes per game behind Julius Randle. But that player has to come in with the understanding that that’s the role. The Knicks don’t want to get caught with another player looking for a bigger role.

Beyond that, extension talks will continue with Immanuel Quickley, and the Knicks will fill out their roster with a couple more two-way signings and one more standard deal.

Philadelphia 76ers

Players Returning (11):

 Joel Embiid, James Harden, Montrezl Harrell, Tobias Harris, Danuel House Jr., Furkan Korkmaz, Tyrese Maxey, De’Anthony Melton, Paul Reed, Jaden Springer, P.J. Tucker

Players Added (6): 

Mo Bamba, Patrick Beverley, Ricky Council IV (two-way), Filip Petrusev, Terquavion Smith (two-way), Azuolas Tubelis (two-way)

Players Lost (6): 

Dewayne Dedmon, Louis King (two-way), Mac McClung (two-way), Jalen McDaniels, Shake Milton, Georges Niang

Roster Openings: 

1 standard spot.

Cap/Tax Status:

 Philadelphia is $2.8 million under the first tax apron.

Spending Power Remaining: 

The Sixers have the $12.4 million Non-Taxpayer MLE, but are functionally limited to spending no more than the $5M Taxpayer MLE, due to room under the first apron/hard cap.

Biggest Move of the Summer: 

Signing Patrick Beverley…so far. In reality, nothing will top whatever happens with James Harden and the potential package Philadelphia gets for trading him. Alas, we wait…

Work To Do: 

As referenced above, the 76ers need to find a James Harden trade. They’ve done some moves while waiting for that deal to develop, but this roster has a very unfinished feel to it. Patrick Beverley is a nice addition, no matter if Harden is on the team or not. Mo Bamba is fine, as is re-signing Montrezl Harrell. But the Sixers have a lot of bigs now and the wing and the backcourt feel a bit thin.

Nothing else of substance is likely to happen until Harden is dealt. That’s likely to be at least a 2-for-1, if not a 3-for-1 or 4-for-2 type of deal. Because of the likelihood of an unbalanced trade, Philadelphia has to somewhat conserve roster spots. You don’t want to pitch a free agent on joining you team, then not have a roster spot for them when the regular season starts.

Toronto Raptors

Players Returning (12): 

Precious Achiuwa, OG Anunoby, Scottie Barnes, Chris Boucher, Malachi Flynn, Christian Koloko, Jakob Poeltl, Otto Porter Jr., Pascal Siakam, Gary Trent Jr., Joe Wieskamp, Thaddeus Young

Players Added (4): 

Gradey Dick, Jalen McDaniels, Markquis Nowell (two-way), Dennis Schroder

Players Lost (5): 

Dalano Banton, Will Barton, Jeff Dowtin, Ron Harper Jr., Fred VanVleet

Roster Openings: 

2 two-way spots.

Cap/Tax Status: 

The Raptors are is $3.3 million under the luxury tax.

Spending Power Remaining: 

Toronto has only veteran minimum contracts to offer.

Biggest Move of the Summer: 

Re-signing Jakob Poeltl. Toronto got a nice deal on Poeltl, as they re-signed him for $78 million guaranteed over four seasons. That’s a very good value for a starting center. The Raptors also got Jalen McDaniels for a relative bargain of $9.3 million over two seasons via the Bi-Annual Exception. And Dennis Schroder was a nice addition for $25.4 million over two seasons via the Non-Taxpayer MLE. Gradey Dick was also a solid value pick in the middle of the first round of the draft.

Work To Do: 

Toronto’s roster remains very unbalanced. They have approximately 87 forwards, a few centers and two guards. OK…maybe it’s not quite that drastic, but the Raptors remain very heavy in forwards and light in the backcourt. You have to assume that eventually a trade will come to balance things out a bit, otherwise Dennis Schroder is going to have to carry a very heavy load at point guard, unless Malachi Flynn makes a major leap in his fourth season.

Rumors continue to bubble to the surface about Pascal Siakam trade interest. It feels like Toronto has hit a breaking point to extend Siakam or trade him. Letting things play out seems unnecessarily risky. OG Anunoby is in only slightly less of an uncertain position, given his player option for the 2024-25 season.

Fred VanVleet is gone. Siakam and/or Anunoby could be next. Toronto has the pieces in place to be a playoff team, but the possibility of trades given the unbalanced roster still loom over this team. After years of being rock solid, it feels like everything is built on an increasingly shaky foundation. Eventually, this needs to be torn down or reinforced, with the former seeming the more likely path than the latter.

 


#nba #boston celtics #boston celtics #brooklyn nets #brooklyn nets #new york knicks #new. york knicks #philadelphia 76ers #philadelphia 76ers #toronto raptors #toronto raptors
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