2023 NBA Offseason Recap: Southeast Division

Keith Smith
Keith Smith, Resident NBA ExpertAugust 21, 2023
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#nba #atlanta hawks #atlanta hawks #charlotte hornets #charlotte hornets #miami heat #miami heat #orlando magic #orlando magic #washington wizards #washington wizards
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The NBA offseason is fully into the dog days of August. We’re still waiting to see when (if?) Damian Lillard or James Harden gets traded. One situation has been curiously quiet, while the other has been contentiously loud. But both Lillard and Harden remain in Portland and Philadelphia, respectively.

But everyone else is filling out training camp rosters at this point. 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.

We covered the Atlantic Division, Central Division, Pacific Division and Southwest Division already. Next up: The Southeast Division!

Atlanta Hawks

Players Returning (11)

Saddiq Bey, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Clint Capela, Bruno Fernando, A.J. Griffin Jr., De’Andre Hunter, Jalen Johnson, Garrison Mathews, Dejounte Murray, Onyeka Okongwu, Trae Young

Players Added (6)

Kobe Bufkin, Mouhamed Gueye, Seth Lundy (two-way), Wesley Matthews, Patty Mills, Miles Norris (two-way)

Players Lost (5)

John Collins, Trent Forrest (two-way), Aaron Holiday, Tyrese Martin, Donovan Williams (two-way)

Roster Openings

1 two-way spot.

Cap/Tax Status

Atlanta is $9.7 million under the luxury tax line.

Spending Power Remaining

The Hawks have the full $12.4 million Non-Taxpayer MLE left, plus the $4.5 million Bi-Annual Exception. Atlanta also has the NBA’s largest TPE at $23 million from the John Collins trade.

Biggest Move of the Summer

We’re going to give this one a tie. One move involved a player moving on and one move involved retaining a player.

Atlanta finally traded John Collins, following years of speculation that they would do so. In the end, Collins was salary-dumped to Utah Jazz. Atlanta created necessary room under the tax line, and also freed up some frontcourt playing time. No one who can replace Collins is nearly as accomplished as he is, but they are all significantly cheaper. And for an expensive team that’s achieved average results, something had to give for the Hawks.

On the retention side, Atlanta agreed to a four-year, $114 million extension with Dejounte Murray. That’s far less than the max Murray was eligible for, but a good example of the new extension rules in the CBA getting a deal done. For better or worse, Atlanta is now committed to a backcourt of Murray and Trae Young, and Quin Snyder has to find a way to make it work.

Work To Do

The Hawks roster is basically finished. They have a two-way spot to fill. Atlanta waived Vit Krejci recently, which got them down to 15 players on standard spots.

With the roster complete, Quin Snyder can spend camp implementing his systems, while figuring out his rotation. Collins and his 30 minutes per game need to be replaced. The guess here is that some combination of Saddiq Bey, Jalen Johnson and maybe some small-ball lineups will be the way the Hawks do it. Keep an eye on Johnson. He started to come on late in his second season and seems ready to make a leap this year.

Charlotte Hornets

Players Returning (11)

LaMelo Ball, James Bouknight, Gordon Hayward, Kai Jones, Cody Martin, Bryce McGowens, Nick Richards, Terry Rozier III, Kobi Simmons, J.T. Thor, Mark Williams

Players Added (6)

Amari Bailey (two-way), Leaky Black (two-way), Miles Bridges, Brandon Miller, Frank Ntilikina, Nick Smith Jr.

Players Lost (6)

Theo Maledon (two-way), Svi Mykhailiuk, Kelly Oubre Jr., Xavier Sneed (two-way), P.J. Washington

Roster Openings

1 two-way spot.

Cap/Tax Status

Charlotte is about $46.7 million under the luxury tax

Spending Power Remaining

The Hornets have the full $12.4 million Non-Taxpayer MLE left, plus the $4.5 million Bi-Annual Exception.

Biggest Move of the Summer

Signing LaMelo Ball to a five-year, maximum contract rookie scale extension. Ball is Charlotte’s most important player and they got him to sign a five-year extension to stick around long-term. That’s huge for building out this roster and what the Hornets hope to be.

Behind extending Ball is drafting Brandon Miller. Charlotte chose Miller instead of Scoot Henderson, who most thought was the second-best player in the draft. But Miller is a better positional fit for the Hornets, and he’s got a ton of talent himself. If Miller can develop into a running mate for Ball, Charlotte will have two important positions covered for years.

Miles Bridges will be back this season, after he signed his qualifying offer. When he last played in 2021-22, Bridges looked like he was on the verge of being an All-Star. An ugly domestic violence incident kept Bridges out all of last season, and he’ll serve a 10-game suspension to open next season. (Bridges was given a 30-game total suspension, but deemed to have served 20 games when he did not play last season.) Bridges has an opportunity to show he’s an improving and better person, to go along with his basketball talent. But he has a lot of work to do to prove himself again.

Off the court, Michael Jordan sold the Hornets to a group led by Gabe Plotkin and Rick Schnall. This ends Jordan’s up-and-mostly-down reign running the Charlotte franchise. It’ll take some time before we can judge what sort of owners Plotkin and Schnall will be.

Work To Do

Charlotte only has a two-way spot left to fill, but they aren’t done with their roster yet. P.J. Washington remains a restricted free agent. Washington reportedly wants a contract that averages $20 million per season. That’s pretty far away from where the Hornets have been.

That means we’re in range of Washington signing the qualifying offer, a la Miles Bridges, and playing out the year before unrestricted free agency in 2024. The other option is to find a sign-and-trade for Washington. That’s occasionally happened late in the offseason, with Lauri Markkanen joining the Cleveland Cavaliers from the Chicago Bulls as a recent example.

If Washington is back, that makes a somewhat crowded frontcourt even more so, especially after Bridges returns. Washington, Bridges, Gordon Hayward and rookie Brandon Miller will all need plenty of minutes and one or two of them will have to go to the bench. That’s a potentially combustible situation, with Bridges, Hayward and Washington playing for their next deals and Miller needing run as a rookie.

Miami Heat

Players Returning (11)

Bam Adebayo, Jimmy Butler, Jamal Cain (two-way), Tyler Herro, Haywood Highsmith, Nikola Jovic, Kevin Love, Kyle Lowry, Caleb Martin, Duncan Robinson, Orlando Robinson

Players Added (5)

Jamaree Bouyea (two-way), Thomas Bryant, Jaime, Jaquez Jr., Josh Richardson, Dru Smith (two-way)

Players Lost (6)

Udonis Haslem, Victor Oladipo, Max Strus, Gabe Vincent, Omer Yurtseven, Cody Zeller

Roster Openings

2 standard spots.

Cap/Tax Status

Miami is $1.8 million below the second tax apron.

Spending Power Remaining

The Heat have the full $5 million Taxpayer MLE remaining. However, Miami doesn’t have enough clearance under the second apron to use more than $1.8 million of it. And using the Taxpayer MLE would hard cap the Heat at the second apron. That makes the Taxpayer MLE unlikely to be used for the time being.

Biggest Move of the Summer

Signing Josh Richardson…we guess? We all know the story here. Miami is trying to figure out a way to collect the necessary assets to trade for Damian Lillard. That pursuit has more or less put the rest of the Heat’s offseason on pause. Until Miami trades for Lillard, or moves on from trading for him, their offseason has an air of incompleteness around it.

That said, signing Richardson at the veteran minimum was a great pickup. He’ll play a big role for Miami and returns to the team where he had the best years of his career. His ability to play on- or off-ball, and as a starter or a reserve, is also helpful for a roster that is still being molded.

Jaime Jaquez Jr. just feels like a Heat player. He could add some nice depth as a rangy forward who can do a little bit of everything.

Thomas Bryant is a nice rehab project for Miami. He was pretty good for the Washington Wizards a few years back before tearing his ACL. The Heat have a history of getting players right, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Bryant have a bounce-back season.

Work To Do

The Heat need to trade for Lillard or not. There really isn’t a whole lot else to do. If they don’t trade for Lillard, they’ll wage a five-way battle for roster spots in training camp. And it’s a pretty good bet that one of those players will eventually play key rotation minutes for Miami.

But really, this is all about a Lillard trade. Nothing else here can approach the impact of getting that deal done.

Orlando Magic

Players Returning (14)

Cole Anthony, Paolo Banchero, Goga Bitadze, Wendell Carter Jr., Makelle Fultz, Gary Harris, Kevon Harris (two-way), Caleb Houstan, Jonathan Isaac, Chuma Okeke, Admiral Schofield (two-way), Jalen Suggs, Franz Wagner, Moritz Wagner

Players Added (3)

Anthony Black, Jett Howard, Joe Ingles

Players Lost (3)

Bol Bol, Michael Carter-Williams, Jay Scrubb (two-way)

Roster Openings

1 two-way spot.

Cap/Tax Status

The Magic are $34.3 million under the luxury tax line.

Spending Power Remaining

Orlando has the full $7.7 million room exception remaining.

Biggest Move of the Summer

For this season: signing Joe Ingles. For the long-term: drafting Anthony Black and Jett Howard.

Orlando is trying to push up the standing. After last season’s disastrous 5-20 start, Orlando went 29-28. The Magic believe they are closer to that .500 team of the final two-thirds of the season, than the injury-plagued group that opened the year.

We’re inclined to believe them. That’s why signing Ingles makes sense. He’ll be the grownup in a young locker room, while providing some shooting and a lot of ball movement on the floor. Ingles is more 3/4 now, than the 2/3 he used to be, but that’s fine. He’ll play about 20 minutes a night and help this fledgling group mature.

Black and Howard were this year’s first-round picks. Black is ready to defend in the NBA right now, but the rest of his game needs work. He has to improve his shot and his playmaking, but he oozes potential. Howard is closer to ready to contribute as an NBA shooter, but the rest of his game is where he needs to improve. Because Orlando’s roster is pretty loaded with young talent, neither Black nor Howard might make much of an impact this season.

Work To Do

Jamahl Mosley can have some fun in training camp this year, assuming his guys stay healthy. The Magic are deep in guys who can play. Just as importantly: Orlando is deep in guys who need to play. Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner will come into camp off a summer of national team experience, along with a few others. But it’s those two burgeoning stars who are ready to take another big step forward.

This season is about figuring out who fits around Banchero and Wagner, while also winning more games. The Magic have a lot of the rotation to figure out, especially in the backcourt, but that’s better than the “no healthy perimeter players” situation that Mosley started last season with. This time, things are starting from a far better place.

Washington Wizards

Players Returning (8)

Deni Avdija, Xavier Cooks, Johnny Davis, Daniel Gafford, Anthony Gill, Corey Kispert, Kyle Kuzma, Delon Wright

Players Added (10)

Jared Butler (two-way), Patrick Baldwin Jr., Bilal Coulibaly, Danilo Gallinari, Tyus Jones, Mike Muscala, Eugene Omoruyi (two-way), Jordan Poole, Ryan Rollins, Landry Shamet

Players Lost (9)

Bradley Beal, Taj Gibson, Jordan Goodwin, Jay Huff (two-way), Quenton Jackson (two-way), Monte Morris, Kendrick Nunn, Kristaps Porzingis, Isaiah Todd

Roster Openings

1 two-way spot.

Cap/Tax Status

The Wizards are $26.9 million under the luxury tax.

Spending Power Remaining

Washington has the full $12.4 million Non-Taxpayer MLE left, plus the $4.5 million Bi-Annual Exception.

Biggest Move of the Summer

Leaning fully into a rebuild. Washington traded away Bradley Beal and Kristaps Porzingis, and shed a lot of the long-term salary they had on their cap sheet. They also picked up several draft picks in the Beal trade, in addition to the new cap flexibility. These moves truly mark a new direction for the Wizards.

Washington committed some of that newfound cap flexibility to Jordan Poole, who they acquired by flipping Chris Paul after the Beal trade, and by re-signing Kyle Kuzma. The two veterans will give the Wizards scoring and shooting, as the roster develops over the next few years.

Tyus Jones was a very solid pickup in the Porzingis trade. He’s long been thought of as someone who could handle a starting role. It looks like we’ll find out, as Jones is the best Washington has at the point guard position.

Everyone else the Wizards acquired this summer is a mix of flyers on young players and veterans that were included for salary reasons. Washington will have opportunities for players to emerge or for vets to get their careers back on track.

Work To Do

The Wizards have to cut or trade a player with a guaranteed standard salary to get into roster compliance. They also have a two-way spot to fill.

Beyond that, Washington could extend Deni Avdija, as he’s eligible for a rookie scale extension. Given the in-progress nature of the Wizards roster, that one might play out to restricted free agency next summer. For now, only Kyle Kuzma, Jordan Poole and rookie Bilal Coulibaly seem to have guaranteed long-term futures with the Wizards. Everyone else is playing for a spot for this season and beyond, both in Washington and, for some, in the NBA as a whole.

 


#nba #atlanta hawks #atlanta hawks #charlotte hornets #charlotte hornets #miami heat #miami heat #orlando magic #orlando magic #washington wizards #washington wizards
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