With the NBA season starting soon, which teams have made the biggest moves this offseason?
Starting out with the Atlanta Hawks, who had a huge offseason extending Trae Young and re-signing John Collins and Lou Williams and drafting Jalen Johnson with the 20th pick, the Hawks are looking to make another deep playoff run this year; however, they will not be able to compete with the Nets and Bucks. The Heat had a great offseason as well, extending Jimmy Butler and re-signing Duncan Robinson. They also added PJ Tucker, Markieff Morris, and Dewayne Dedmon. The Heat also got the best free agent, Kyle Lowry in a sign and trade. The Heat seem to be headed to be part of the top 3 or 4 in the east this year.
The other big jumps in the East were the Chicago Bulls, adding Alex Caruso, Lonzo Ball, DeMar DeRozan, and Derrick Jones Jr. I think these key pieces will mesh well with Zach Lavine and Coby White, so the Bulls goal this season is to land as high as the fourth seed, but should be no lower than the 7th. The Knicks also made a splash in free agency this year by re-signing Derrick Rose and Nerlens Noel while also adding Taj Gibson, Evan Fournier, and Kemba Walker. After making the playoffs this year, another big year from Julius Randle is needed as well as another step up from RJ Barrett to make the playoffs in a stacked east this year.
In the West, the Lakers reset by adding Russel Westbrook, Kendrick Nunn, Carmelo Anthony, Malik Monk, Dwight Howard, Trevor Ariza, Kent Bazemore, and Rajon Rondo. They lost Dennis Schroder, Kyle Kuzma, KCP, Montrezl Harrell, Alex Caruso, Andre Drummons, and Markieff Morris. The Lakers just got a whole lot older, and with that comes experience, but also age, which means limited minutes and a limited future, but they are going all in now. This may work, and I think another championship is on the horizon, but each year everyone else gets better and getting older is not the solution.
While teams like the Suns, Bucks, and Nets made some signings like the Bucks getting George Hill, the offseason for these teams is mainly, to get rest and suit up for next season. The team with the most uncertainty is Philadelphia. Will Ben Simmons be traded? It seems that is still up in the air, but is leaning towards he will be traded at the moment, but to where and for who is uncertain. With recency bias in full effect, the sixers are not able to get as good of a package as they would have. But one of the NBA’s premier defenders and a gifted offensive talent when he is at his peak is still on the table, if Philadelphia makes a big move, they could shoot up in the rankings, but I would not be worried about Philly, with Embiid and Tobias Harris, they will make the playoffs for sure, but the future is uncertain.
