Memphis Grizzlies
After a few seasons around the bottom of the West, the Grizzlies look like they’ve finally embraced a much needed rebuild. Of course, there's no replacing former franchise cornerstones Marc Gasol and Mike Conley right away, but the team sees potential in new signees Jonas Valancunias and Tyus Jones. While those two may sound like the knockoff versions of the former Grit-n-Grind stars, I think they’re being heavily underrated. No one seems to realize that Valanciunas put up a very efficient 20/10 in just 27 MPG for the Grizzlies after the Gasol trade. Those stats came after he was traded to Memphis in the middle of the season so a whole offseason to practice with the team should be very beneficial for him. He’s always been underutilized, possibly due to some poor conditioning, but I expect him to thrive as the Grizzlies #1 option. Jones on the other hand may be a bit more of a project. He’s only 23 but lead the league in assist to turnover ratio (Jones posted a 6.96 ratio; the next highest was Monte Morris at 5.76) which is impressive for such a young point guard. He may not become a strong scorer right away but I think he’ll develop a good two man game with Valanciunas. The Grizzlies definitely won’t be the sexiest team in the league next year but the duo of Jones and Valanciunas should become something to watch out for in the future.
Finally what you've all been waiting for, some Tyus Jones defensive highlights! Honestly, the Grizzlies might end up being the least entertaining team to watch next season. They're just barely talented enough to not have the lol factor that the Hornets and Knicks have.
Minnesota Timberwolves
It’s always been tough for the Timberwolves to attract free agents to the frozen wasteland that is Minnesota and that proved true once again this year. The Wolves lost the majority of their rotation in Derrick Rose, Tyus Jones, Taj Gibson, and Dario Saric this offseason but picked up Jake Layman, Noah Vonleh, and Jordan Bell. Vonleh is a bit of an improvement over Saric but overall, the Wolves lost a lot more talent than they picked up. On top of all this, KAT seemed to believe the Minnesota front office was on the verge of signing his good friend D’angelo Russell, as evidenced by this story (The “loading” sign has been Russell’s trademark since high school) posted to his Instagram just hours before the Warriors traded for Dlo. The truth is that the Wolves hands are tied due to the $147 million dollar contract they gave to Andrew Wiggins a few years ago. Wiggins put up a disappointing 18.1 PPG last year (up from 17.7 the year before but still ultimately down from the 23.6 he posted in 2016, the season before his massive extension…) and didn’t really provide anything else. He also averaged less rebounds last season than Steph Curry, which really tells you all you need to know about the effort level Wiggins plays with. With Kemba Walker finally free from the Hornets, I think that KAT may take the #1 spot on the “shouldn’t have to put up with this” leaderboard. If the Wolves can’t succeed in bringing him more help or if Wiggins can’t reach his true potential, KAT may be the next superstar to force his way out of a max deal early on. We can all thank Paul George for setting that precedent.
The Wolves need to get this guy some help before he realizes how quickly he could get out of there if he wanted to.
Oklahoma City Thunder
Speaking of PG, remember when he publicly announced he wanted Indiana to trade him a couple years ago, tanking his value and preventing the Pacers from getting a big return for him? Then remember when he told the Lakers he was coming there in free agency and told them not to trade for him like they wanted to? Then remember when he instead chose to re-sign with OKC, saying they had “unfinished business”? Well, he must have finished it pretty quick because PG triggered OKC’s first ever rebuild this summer by forcing his way out of a 4 year max deal by requesting a trade to the Clippers. The Thunder picked up Danilo Gallinari and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (who could end up being their point guard of the future) along with 5 first round picks in the trade, which is about as generous of a haul as any rebuilding team could ask for. Immediately after the trade, news broke that Russell Westbrook and OKC were working on finding a trade destination for him, something that would have sounded insane just the day before. After talk that Miami and Detrot were interested, OKC traded Russ to Houston for CP3 and 3 more first round picks as well as a pick swap (meaning if Houston has a higher pick that year, OKC can switch theirs with them).The trade seemingly came out of nowhere, but really the whole rebuild did. The Thunder still made the right moves to me. After PG left, they knew Russ would only be good enough to lead them to a 7 or 8 seed at best (and that’s no knock on Russ, the West is just too stacked) and ended up turning him and PG into 7 picks and 4 swaps going all the way up to 2025. They also moved starting forward Jerami Grant to Denver for a first round pick and even allowed free agents Mike Muscala and Alec Burks, who had both verbally agreed to sign with the team, to reconsider their decisions. Muscala stayed and Burks decided to go to Golden State but that likely didn’t matter much to OKC. They likely extended the gesture in good faith to show how considerate they could be of free agents in the future. There are still some questions surrounding the team though even with their stars gone. You’ve got to wonder if they’ll move Steven Adams for assets as well, as he eats up a good amount of their cap space, and there have been reports that the team doesn’t expect to have CP3 on the roster by the start of the season. If they move those two as well, OKC could end up with a record amount of picks in the future.
This might be a tiny bit hyperbolic but this shot ending the Thunder dynasty is BASICALLY the same thing as the meteor that killed the dinosaurs.
New Orleans Pelicans
There's been a ton of roster upheaval in New Orleans the last few years and even after the big Anthony Davis trade, I still can’t quite figure out what direction the Pelicans or going in this year. Generally when a team trades their franchise player, you would expect them to rebuild. The Pelicans are set up very well for that. They drafted Zion Williamson with the first pick. They acquired Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart, and Brandon Ingram from the Lakers, along with 3 future picks as well. They may have even found a steal in Jaxson Hayes who’s been a standout player in the summer league. All these moves would indicate that the Pelicans aren’t planning on competing any time soon but they seem to be in a weird spot where they might have a bit too much talent for that. New Orleans opened their free agency by signing JJ Redick, a 35 year old veteran, to a 2 year $27 million dollar contract. This signing is what confuses me. The move might have been made to provide all the young players with some veteran leadership, but the Pelicans already had plenty of that between Jrue Holiday, E’Twaun Moore, and the newly acquired Derrick Favors. I also don’t see where Redick fits into the team. Sure, he could start in the backcourt besides Holiday, but that would force Ball into a bench roll, which would likely stunt his development. Ball and Holiday could start besides one another (which would be an incredible defensive backcourt) but then the Redick contract looks like a bit of an overpay for an old shooter coming off the bench. Then there’s still the issue of finding where Zion fits in. Does he start at the 3, forcing Ingram to come off the bench, or does he start at the 4? The 4 might be his more natural position but I don’t know if he’s prepared to deal with the physicality of NBA level big men night in and night out. Then does the team picking up Jahlil Okafor’s option mean that he’ll start at center? Will the pels front office choose to trade Holiday during the season to clear up more playing time for the young guys? The entire Pelicans team seems like a gigantic question mark to me. They’re just as likely to challenge for the 8 seed as they are to sit around the bottom of the West all year. Either way, I think that Alvin Gentry’s fast paced offense mixed with the abundance of young talent on the team should at least keep things entertaining for New Orleans fans.
Fun fact, Hayes only started playing basketball three years ago because he grew too tall to continue playing football. That's got to suck. Getting too big and strong to make millions of dollars playing your favorite sport so you instead have to make millions of dollars playing your second favorite sport's got to be real rough.
Phoenix Suns
The Suns opened up free agency in typical Suns fashion by shockingly trading their second leading scorer TJ Warren (18ppg on 48/43/81 shooting last season) to Indiana for...cash. This move rightfully had a lot of people confused. The Pacers were even convinced it was a joke when Phoenix initially approached them with the idea. Still, Suns fans held out hope that the team was simply clearing cap space to sign a big free agent, like D’angelo Russell who had been being recruited by Devin Booker. Of course, they didn’t get him but they got the next best thing, by Suns standards. Phoenix signed Ricky Rubio to a 3 year contract, giving them a true point guard for the first time in a long time. Phoenix hasn’t had a legitimate point guard (who actually wanted to play for them) since 2015 when they somehow had three of them in Goran Dragic, Eric Bledsoe, and Isaiah Thomas. Rubio’s signing allows Devin Booker to play more off ball as a traditional shooting guard, which should help to take a lot of pressure off of him. The last few years Booker had to be the main facilitator and scorer, which is a lot to ask of a young star like him. Watch for his efficiency to go up this season. The Suns also picked up Frank Kaminsky, Dario Saric, and Aron Baynes, three players who seem destined to have their careers fade into oblivion in Phoenix. In the end, the Suns did solve their point guard problem which is great but they did so by essentially dropping one of their few promising young players. None of the other moves they made scream improvement to me though. I expect to see them playing for lottery balls again next season, though Booker and Ayton will still be fun to watch.
I think Ayton flew under the radar a bit last year because of the hype around Luka and Trae Young. He put up 16/10 on good efficiency and he did it with the Suns barely even featuring him. I think his scoring goes up with Rubio running the offense now.
Portland Trail Blazers
There’s been a lot of change in Portland so far this summer. The most notable move was the trade for Hassan Whiteside. The Blazers shipped out Mo Harkless and Meyers Leonard (who were both incredibly overpaid) in exchange for the disgraced Miami big man. Whiteside had some maturity and conditioning issues in Miami which lead to the team keeping him on the bench in most fourth quarters and close games. This eventually lead to their break-up but he should still be great insurance for Nurkic while he recovers. He also provides some amazing rim protection, something that Portland hasn’t had in a long time. Once Nurkic is back though, it’ll take some great coaching on Terry Stotts’s part to keep Whiteside motivated if he ends up coming off the bench again. The Blazers also moved Evan Turner (who’s somehow being paid $70m over 4 years) for Kent Bazemore, who fits the team more as a 3&D player. Portland had been trying to move Turner for a while due to his crazy contract but Bazemore is pretty overpaid as well so there’s not much of a change there besides him being a better fit. The Blazers depth took quite a hit as well as they lost Al-Farouq Aminu, Seth Curry, Enes Kanter, and Jake Layman to free agency. They managed to keep Rodney Hood, who will likely start at the 3 next season, but the bench was still gutted. The only reinforcements Portland picked up were Mario Hezonja and Anthony Tolliver who haven’t contributed much of anything to their teams the last couple years. Much of the reason why the Blazers were able to make a run to the WCF last year was because of how deep they were as a team. Everybody was able to contribute and give Dame and CJ the help they needed to push the team over the top in some really tight playoff games. Portland doesn’t have that luxury anymore and will be forced to ride their backcourt even harder. Now that might sound like a recipe for disaster but fans and analysts alike have been counting the Blazers out for years and they still seem to waltz into the playoffs with no problem. While I don’t see them picking up home-court advantage in the playoffs this year, I still think they’ll comfortably make it in.
If Stotts can get this version of Whiteside to make a comeback this year, he'll have a tough decision to make once Nurkic returns.