Eastern Conference NBA Offseason Likes and Dislikes

Keith Smith, Resident NBA ExpertJuly 18, 2024

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The bulk of the offseason work is done around the NBA. There are a handful of impact free agents still available, but the vast majority of big names are off the board. Some teams are still looking at trades.

But we’re mostly done with the offseason. That means it’s time to start figuring out where teams are and what they’ve done this summer. Instead of grades, we’re going to bucket teams into one of four categories:

• Liked: Their moves or non-moves were solid and made sense 
• Disliked: Their moves or non-moves were questionable or didn’t make sense
• Confused: What are they doing?
• Incomplete: Feels like there has to be more to come

Let’s dive in!

Eastern Conference

Atlanta Hawks: Disliked 

The Hawks did ok in the Dejounte Murray trade. He was the only player of consequence that they lost. But they still traded him less than a year after signing him to a fair-value extension. That’s not great. Of the players the Hawks brought in, there’s a chance that only Dyson Daniels sticks and has a role. Larry Nance Jr. could be flipped in another trade, and E.J. Liddell and Cody Zeller might not make the opening night roster.

Murray was the only player of consequence that Atlanta lost this summer. The big addition for the Hawks was Zaccharie Risacher. It’s not Atlanta’s fault that they got the first overall pick in the weakest draft in a decade. But Risacher looks like he’ll be a player. However, that’s a crowded forward group that’s he’s trying to crack.

Mostly, this feels like the Hawks could and should have picked more of a direction. Instead, they feel like they are still somewhere around the Play-In Tournament. Not good enough to be a real playoff team. Not bad enough to get another high pick in a great draft. Just sort of stuck in the middle.

Boston Celtics: Liked 

Boston was miles above the second apron, so what they could do this summer was pretty limited. They re-signed Luke Kornet, Xavier Tillman Sr. and Neemias Queta at the center spot. That’s big, considering Kristaps Porzingis is likely to be out until the holidays and Al Horford will have his minutes and games managed. All three of Kornet, Tillman and Queta contributed at various points during the title run.

Most importantly, the Celtics extended both Jayson Tatum and Derrick White without even a hesitation on the part of the players or the team. Yes, the core is insanely expensive, and the team may not have a super long window with this group. But the champs are running it back. That’s great for Boston.

Adding Baylor Scheierman at the draft seems like a solid value with the 30th pick in the draft. And he played in South Dakota for part of his college career, so the cold weather in Maine won’t be anything new for him!

Brooklyn Nets: Liked 

The Nets are probably going to be awful next season. Maybe worst-in-the-NBA awful. But that’s ok! At least they have a direction.

Keeping Mikal Bridges and making some moves around him probably puts Brooklyn where Atlanta is: Play-In Tournament, but without much upside. That’s…not great.

Now, the Nets have their own picks back in the next two drafts, which look to be very deep. They have control over most of the New York Knicks draft future. That probably won’t yield much in the next few seasons, but things flip fairly quickly in the NBA. Having picks five-to-seven years out is huge.

The Nets have another trade or two in them too. Bojan Bogdanovic, Dorian Finney-Smith and Cameron Johnson won’t bring back monster returns, but all should net Brooklyn some assets.

This is going to be an ugly season. But an ugly season with purpose is a good thing.

Charlotte Hornets: Disliked 

This one is best termed as a pretty mild dislike. The Hornets didn’t really do anything bad. But they didn’t do anything great either. So, we’re just kind of in the same spot as before, but with a bit more salary on the books.

Miles Bridges’ contract isn’t bad. It declines in value year over year, which is nice. If he really pops, it’ll be hard to extend him, but that’s tomorrow’s problem. The bigger issue is whether or not Charlotte should have cut ties with Bridges entirely. It’s hard to argue against that, but they’ve already taken the PR hit that came from welcoming him back. If they believe Bridges is truly changing who he is, then it makes sense to keep working with him.

Josh Green was a pretty good flyer for the Hornets. His contract is fine and he’s already the best perimeter defender on the roster. If he shoots it well enough, Green will fit in nicely as a 3&D wing.

The knock on the offseason is two-fold. First, drafting Tidjane Salaun felt like a bit of a reach. Salaun is very young, so this is all about potential. Maybe he learns to shoot, and Salaun and Branon Miller become a like-sized switchable perimeter duo. But there were other players on the board with just as much upside, and far less downside.

The second knock is that the Hornets didn’t maximize their cap space. They took on Green, which was fine. But they ate Reggie Jackson’s contract for a second time. They got some second-round picks out of that, which is ok. But why not use that space to bring in someone who can actually help?

Chicago Bulls: Disliked 

If we were ranking the worst offseasons, the Bulls would near the top, if not at the very top, of the list. This is a real mess.

Trading Alex Caruso for Josh Giddey may end up working out fine. Giddey is good. He’ll have even more on-ball freedom in Chicago. We’re going to find out what he can really be this season. The downside, beyond his inability to shoot? Giddey is extension-eligible right now. That’s a tough needle to thread. It’s probably best to let it play out, but that could backfire if Giddey has a great season. Pay him now and he doesn’t play well, you’re stuck with his contract. Oh…and how do you not get even a single pick when making a deal with the Oklahoma City Thunder? They gave five second-round picks to the Knicks for a single late first-round pick. The Bulls couldn’t have gotten a second or two in this deal? Sheesh.

As for the rest of the summer, there were things that look good. Matas Buzelis looks like a steal. He’s incredibly competitive and he’s skilled. That’s a great combination. Plus, Buzelis is playing with a giant chip on his shoulder after slipping in the draft.

Patrick Williams’ contract is fine. There’s been some handwringing about the deal, but it’s fine. By the end, Williams will be making MLE money. He should at least deliver that kind of value. At least!

Jalen Smith’s deal is also a good one. The value is very fair at $9 million AAV. He’s young enough to fit on a rebuilding team, or good enough to fit on a team making a push for the Play-In Tournament.

And therein lies the rub: What is the plan here? Did the Bulls get caught trying to bottom out, but couldn’t find trades for Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic? Do they not want to trade one of both of those guys?

As it stands, Chicago is going to be bad, but if they have both LaVine and Vucevic, they won’t be really bad. And really bad is where they want to be in this draft. This is more of the same, half-in stuck-in-the-middle stuff. That’s not good enough, nor bad enough and not what Bulls fans deserve.

Cleveland Cavaliers: Disliked 

This assessment is strictly about a summer of mostly inaction. Cleveland did well to get Donovan Mitchell extended, even if he’ll hit the market earlier than hoped for. The Cavs also didn’t cave to pressure and trade away Jarrett Allen or Darius Garland. Making no deal far outweighs making a bad deal.

But making no deals at all, of any kind, that’s not a good thing. The only new player Cleveland has added is first-round pick Jaylon Tyson.

That’s the whole list.

And it’s not like Boston, who re-signed a bunch of guys off a title, or Memphis, who is welcoming back players who missed large chunks of last season.

The Cavs are just the Cavs.

That’s not necessarily bad, but as the rest of their Eastern Conference standings neighbors got better, Cleveland didn’t. That sort of doing nothing isn’t helpful. And it’s likely to cost the Cavaliers this season.

Detroit Pistons: Confused 

Look, the Pistons had to add some veteran talent. That part makes sense. Especially adding a couple of shooters. The worst thing you can do for young playmakers is to tell them to drive and kick, only to watch the jumpers repeatedly clank of the rim. Those drive-and-kicks become contested off-the-dribble shots instead. No one gets better that way.

Adding Malik Beasley and Tim Hardaway Jr. makes sense. They should both help open the floor the Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey, Ausar Thompson and rookie Ron Holland II (who was a good upside pick for Detroit).

But did they really have to sign Tobias Harris? And who were the Pistons competing against? And don’t say “Well, they need to hit the salary floor!” One, they don’t. That’s a choice. Two, there are a lot of other ways to hit the salary floor. And that’s true even if we recognize Harris isn’t nearly as bad as some pretend and that he’ll help the Detroit this season.

Swinging back to positives…Simone Fontecchio got a really good deal. Paul Reed was a terrific waiver claim. Bobi Klintman might be a steal in the second round.

Are the Pistons better? They should be. Are they good? Nope. Not yet. Did this knock them out of the running for a top-five pick in a deep draft? Unclear. And that’s where the confusion comes in.

Indiana Pacers: Disliked 

This one is really probably more of a “Meh” than a true dislike. Did the Pacers do anything truly bad? Nope. Did they do anything really good? Not really.

Some of this is the nature of Indiana making a pre-agency move by trading for Pascal Siakam last year. They were always going to re-sign him. He was always going to get the max or really close to it. So, good on the Pacers for making it for only four years. That part is probably a minor win.

This space also really likes Obi Toppin. And he got a pretty team-friendly deal too. If he played around 30 minutes per game, this deal would probably look even better.

But that’s the problem! The Pacers gave almost $250 million over the next four years to two guys who play the same position and can’t really play together. Maybe they’ll start putting Siakam and Toppin on the floor together, but in 17 playoff games (when Indiana was missing players due to injuries), the two power forwards logged only 8.9 minutes together. That was up from 6.0 minutes per game together in the regular season.

If Siakam and Toppin can’t play together, having that much money invested in overlapping players isn’t a good use of resources. That’s especially true of a team that has often acted with the luxury tax as a self-imposed hard cap.

To close on some positives: James Wiseman was a terrific flyer. Indiana did really well with Jalen Smith, who had failed to live up to his draft position. If they can work similar magic with Wiseman, they’ll have a steal for a partially guaranteed contract. Also, Johnny Furphy was a nice pickup in the second round. Most had a first-round grade on him, so he seems like a good value pick.

Miami Heat: Disliked 

The Heat lost a key rotation player in Caleb Martin, and it’s not entirely clear why. Martin ultimately took less money from the Philadelphia 76ers than the Heat reportedly offered him. This may have been about playing time or a bigger role. No matter what, Miami lost a good player and they lost him to a conference competitor.

Alec Burks was a nice pickup for the veteran minimum. He’ll play a big role while Josh Richardson works his way back. Richardson said recently that he’s hoping to be ready for training camp. That gives Burks an immediate avenue to playing time.

The draft delivered Kel’el Ware. He’s got talent for days, but his work ethic and hustle were question marks. It’s a good bet Miami believes they can correct that. Summer League has been a good indicator that they were right.

In the end, the Heat are kind of bringing the same team back as last year. And the year before that. But some of their key guys are older and just as injury-prone as before. And Jimmy Butler doesn’t seem happy. That’s never a good sign for a team.

Milwaukee Bucks: Liked 

When you start the process of considering, or grading, NBA offseasons, you have to keep in mind what the team had to work with in the first place. In Milwaukee’s case, they didn’t have much to work with, but made the most of their limited resources.

Adding Gary Trent Jr. (who should start), Taurean Prince (who will probably start when forwards miss time), and Delon Wright (ditto for when Damian Lillard is out) all on veteran minimums is great work. All three can play and are upgrades over the players they are replacing.

A.J. Johnson and Tyler Smith were upside picks at the draft. Doc Rivers isn’t about to play either rookie, so we’ll be tracking their development through the G League this season.

The Bucks probably didn’t close the gap on the Celtics by a significant margin or anything. And the Knicks and Sixers are now on the same tier as the Bucks are. But Milwaukee got deeper and better with only minimums to work with. That’s a solid summer.

New York Knicks: Liked 

The Knicks gave up a lot to get Mikal Bridges, but it was probably worth it. Especially if Bridges being in the fold influenced Jalen Brunson to sign such a team-friendly extension. They probably overpaid a tad to re-sign OG Anunoby, but it’s not by a glaring margin or anything.

The only real hole on this roster is at backup center. It’s kind of a big one, given Mitchell Robinson’s track record of missing games. But New York has enough tradable players to fill that spot when they find the right guy to acquire. In the interim, re-signing Precious Achiuwa to a reasonable deal is more than a serviceable get-by, should that come to pass.

There are some long-term questions, even with Brunson leaving some money on the table. Will Mikal Bridges do the same? What happens with Julius Randle? What if there are too many overlapping players for everyone to play enough?

But none of those questions are “right now” questions. The Knicks are deep, versatile and better. This is the best team New York has entered a season with in several years.

Orlando Magic: Liked 

The Magic had a busy summer. The big move was that they essentially replaced Markelle Fultz with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. As much as Fultz is a feel-good story for making it back from injuries to become a solid rotation player, Caldwell-Pope is a huge upgrade. He’s probably the best shooter on the roster now. And a Caldwell-Pope and Jalen Suggs backcourt is going to make life really difficult on opposing ballhandlers.

Beyond that, Orlando took care of their own guys. They re-signed Moe Wagner, Gary Harris, Goga Bitadze and renegotiated-and-extended Jonathan Isaac. All four of those players got fair-value deals. And the Magic have some level of team control/protection on Wagner, Harris and Isaac too. That’s good for future flexibility as the team gets more expensive.

Part of that “getting more expensive” is because the Magic extended Franz Wagner on a max deal. That might be a bit of an overpay, but it’s probably fine. Even in a terrible shooting year, Wagner played pretty well. If he can rediscover his shot, and he should be able to, Wagner is an All-Star candidate. And Wagner was the first to extend of a trio that also includes Suggs (this summer) and Paolo Banchero (next summer).

Orlando still needs to extend Suggs too, but unless they make a major mistake there, this was an outstanding summer for the Magic.

Philadelphia 76ers: Liked 

The Sixers put together their plan a year in advance. For a year, Daryl Morey made moves while preserving 2024 cap space. It all paid off in a monster summer for Philadelphia.

Paul George is the headliner, obviously. He’s the best player to change teams this summer, and it’s by a decent margin too. George is the only All-Star to jump to a new team. Even at his age, a max deal is perfectly fine.

Are there injury concerns for George and Joel Embiid? 100%. Anyone saying otherwise is trying to convince themselves that an alternate timeline has merged with ours.

Injury issues being acknowledged, George is an outstanding fit. He’s the big versatile wing the 76ers needed between Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. He can carry the offense when Embiid or Maxey are off the floor or missing a game. George is also a good, versatile defender, which Nick Nurse will love.

Beyond landing George, Morey worked some cap magic to fill out the roster. Maxey got his max deal, as we all knew was coming. Well-earned by him. Kelly Oubre Jr. was re-signed via the Room Exception. Andre Drummond is a luxury when Embiid plays, but a necessity when Embiid doesn’t play. That’s $5 million well spent.

Caleb Martin for the remaining cap space? Perfect fit. Kyle Lowry and Eric Gordon as the backup backcourt for the minimum? Yes, please! Jared McCain and Adem Bona as developmental players from the draft? Sign me up!

Even re-signing K.J. Martin to a perfectly tradable “human trade exception” contract is a win for both player and team.

The Sixers have been good before, but always a touch overrated. Is this team a title favorite? No. But they are close. Closer than ever since getting Embiid, actually. It’ll all depend on health come April, May, and Philadelphia hopes, June.

Toronto Raptors: Confused 

The Raptors have a nice collection of players. You look at the roster, and you’ll probably say to yourself, “I like him!” about at least 10 guys. But is this really a team?

They’ve got wings for days. Big wings, small wings, shooters, defenders, playmakers. It’s a grab-bag of talented guys who we have no idea if they fit together.

Maybe this one should have gotten more of the “Incomplete” moniker. But it’s more confusing than it is incomplete.

All of that said, Scottie Barnes is worth the max. He’s an All-Star level guy and the franchise building block. Immanuel Quickley’s deal might seem like some massive overpay, but he’s the 16th highest-paid point guard in the NBA this season. Deal doesn’t look so bad now, right?

They haven’t traded Bruce Brown yet, so that will probably linger into the season and maybe to the trade deadline. The Sasha Vezenkov situation is still playing out. It’s unclear how there will be minutes for so many wings, or which players will miss out.

None of these are necessarily bad things. They are just things that need sorted out that don’t have clear answers. Thus, the confusion about where this team is and where they are headed.

Washington Wizards: Incomplete 

The Wizards are on a path. They’re still working on the teardown process. Rather than simply letting players walk for nothing, Washington has retained players on tradable contracts, while making trades for others. The Jordan Poole acquisition, might have been a misstep, but that was last year.

This summer, it sort of feels like the Wizards aren’t done yet. Kyle Kuzma and Poole are both still around. Poole is probably going to stick for a while longer, but Kuzma could be on the move at any moment.

The same is true of Malcolm Brogdon, who was acquired this summer for Deni Avdija and draft picks. Heck, Richaun Holmes was extended on a deal that is specifically designed for him to get traded.

The Wizards did well at the draft with Alex Sarr, Bub Carrington and Kyshawn George. Saddiq Bey was a nice flyer on a good contract. But those guys won’t pay dividends this year, beyond development for the rookies and ACL rehab for Bey.

So, we’re just sort of waiting for the other shoe to drop. And that might carry on for a bit. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s just sort of incomplete.