Which lottery team has had the best offseason?
Honorable Mention:
Philadelphia 76ers: On draft night the 76ers decided to blow the ship up and start rebuilding. The Sixers traded their best player, Jrue Holiday, to the Pelicans in exchange for the rights to the sixth overall pick Nerlens Noel and the Pelicans 2014 first round draft pick. Then with the 11th pick they selected PG Michael Carter-Williams out of Syracuse. Noel is the real prize here; he could potentially be a dominant post defender. This move puts the Sixers right in the chase for a prospect such as Andrew Wiggins or Jabari Parker in the 2014 NBA Draft.
Phoenix Suns: The Suns are also in the process of rebuilding, and they added some nice assets this offseason. Alex Len represented great value at the fifth overall pick and should be their center of the future. They also traded for Eric Bledsoe who will step in and take over the reigns as starting PG and they can move Goran Dragic to SG, he should be able to operate in a Manu Ginobili-type role. That could be a really fun young lineup to watch and they’re also on good track to land a top-5 pick in the 2014 draft.
New Orleans Pelicans: One the Pelicans biggest needs headed into this offseason was PG. So what do they do? They add not one, but two of the premier PG’s in the NBA. The biggest acquisition they made was trading for Jrue Holiday on draft night. However they gave up the rights to Nerlens Noel and a 2014 first round draft pick to Philadelphia, that’s A LOT. Still, the Holiday acquisition alone put them in prime position to make the playoffs. Then just a few weeks later they made a sign-and-trade for Tyreke Evans. They shipped out two key players in Robin Lopez and Grevis Vasquez then proceeded to sign Evans to a 4 year deal worth 44 million dollars. These moves should make them a playoff team, so it should definitely be considered a successful offseason for New Orleans but they gave up a lot to pull some of this off.
Detroit Pistons: A lot of people are skeptical on what the Pistons did this offseason. They added two of the biggest name FA’s of the offseason in Josh Smith and Brandon Jennings, but the question is if the team can mesh and learn how to play together. If they can accomplish this feat this team can be scary good, there is so much raw talent. On the other hand, Josh Smith is a PF. The Pistons already have one of the best PF’s in the NBA in Greg Monroe, and I question whether Smith can effectively operate as an SF for an extended period of time as he often takes a lot of bad shots. In Brandon Jennings you have one of the best young scoring PG’s in the league, but will he be able to distribute and effectively run this offense? There are a lot of questions remaining around Detroit right now, and I can’t wait to watch this team play next year. They also drafted Kentavious Caldwell-Pope 8th overall in the draft, let’s not sleep on him either. The Pistons, like the Pelicans, could have made themselves a playoff team this offseason.
Top 3
#3 – Portland Trail Blazers: Last season the Blazers had one of the worst benches in the NBA. Luke Babbit was their most productive sub. In the draft they selected CJ McCollum who will probably enter the season as Portland’s sixth man, he can come in and play PG and SG when needed. In a few years he could be one of, if not the best, sixth men in the NBA. They also stole Robin Lopez from New Orleans; he can start next to LaMarcus Aldridge and help develop Meyers Leonard. They proceeded to add some more solid bench depth in Allen Crabbe, Thomas Robinson, Earl Watson, Mo Williams, and Dorrel Wright. They made one of their most prominent weaknesses a strength. They also could have made themselves a playoff team this offseason. The only significant loss they suffered was J.J. Hickson and Robin Lopez could potentially be able to replicate his production.
#2 – Charlotte Bobcats: Some of you may be surprised to see the Bobcats ranked this high, but I absolutely love what they have accomplished this offseason. First off in the draft they took Cody Zeller fourth overall, he’ll be another key piece in their puzzle. They drafted him to mainly operate as a stretch four, he and Kemba Walker could create a deadly pick & roll and pick & pop combination. Then they made the biggest free agent signing in Charlotte basketball history when they signed center Al Jefferson. I was a little skeptical on this deal at first, but I have warmed up to it. It’s only a three year deal and could only be two years. It’s a very tradeable contract and Big Al is still in his prime averaging 18/9 per game. He should be a great mentor to some of our younger big men such as Cody Zeller and Bismack Biyombo. Some may argue this will hurt Charlotte’s position in the 2014 NBA Draft, but I really don’t think it will be a big difference. Before signing Big Al, I had Charlotte winning 26 games this season at most. After the Big Al signing I still say they max out at 30, so I really don’t think it will make a significant difference. GM Rich Cho continued the solid work by handling the Gerald Henderson situation perfectly. Henderson has turned himself into a top-12 SG in the league and still hasn’t hit his prime, so the team definitely wanted him back but they didn’t rush to overpay. They were patient and ended up bringing Henderson back on a 3 year deal worth 18 million dollars, with a third year player option. This is a huge steal as far as I’m concerned; I think Henderson will be a 17-18 PPG scorer this year. Charlotte also resigned PF/C Josh McRoberts to a 2 year deal worth just fewer than 5.5 million dollars. He’ll be a great backup off the bench.
#1 – Cleveland Cavaliers: And the award for the best offseason of any team in the lottery goes to the Cleveland Cavaliers. First off they surprised much of the league selecting Anthony Bennett first overall, but he’s a very nice addition nonetheless and will provide some extra offensive firepower right off the bat. he Cavaliers also drafted Sergey Karasev in the first round of the draft; he has potential to be a deadly three point shooter down the road and fills a hole on the wing. In free agency the Cavs signed Jarrett Jack and Earl Clark to very reasonable deals, both these players will be great bench players in Cleveland. The biggest free agent Cleveland signed though was Andrew Bynum as they gave him a 2 year deal worth about 25 million. This is a high-risk, high-reward type of signing. Bynum is only 25 and just two years ago he averaged 19/12 and was considered without a doubt to be the second best C in the NBA. Even if he doesn’t pan out in Cleveland, it’s only a two year deal so he’ll be off the payroll soon. If he does, Cleveland could be as high as the fifth seed in the East next year.
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