As I always say when it comes to these ranking/prediction posts - basketball guru I may be - take from them what you will. There are too many variables - health, roster retention, roster compatibility, rigging, etc. - for someone like me to know who's going to end up where by the end of the day. Also, there's so many dudes coming in and out of the NBA that after following the league for some decades, your brain sorta starts to blur.
So the assertions I make are based on how things appear on the surface, albeit using a critical eye, taking into consideration all information at hand and not just going along with what the public or media may say. Also, I don't play favorites. If there's a particular team I want to win, then I'll just say so. But I'm not going to predict they're going to win just because I want them to.
That said, here are my preseason grades, based on notable transactions that may or may not have been made thus far. And I'm going to do this division by division so that hopefully, I can eventually get to all 30 teams:
BOSTON CELTICS: B
The Celtics didn't make any additions and by the looks of things didn't particularly need to. But the one thing that concerns me, in terms of why I didn't give them a higher grade, is because they're once again banking on the health of Kristaps Porzingis. Well, kinda sorta.
The same thing can be said when they acquired him last season. But by the end of the day, all things considered, it was like they didn't even need him.
I'm not dissing Kristaps. His exceptional skillset and effortless adaptation to Boston's style of play helped the team dominate the regular season and secure home court advantage, which I guess did matter. But there no reason to believe that he'll be able to ever like make a full playoff run.
The good news is that, it doesn't appear any team in the East upgraded to the point of being able to dethrone the Celtics, except maybe Philly or maybe the Knicks, if they're lucky enough to be healthier come playoff time. And that's kinda my thing. Players like Tatum, Brown, Holiday and even White are incredibly sturdy. But it ain't like the Celtics got any younger. So they must really feel confident in this unit to run it back. And well, that disposition did payoff last season. But still, it ain't like they should be applauded for having achieved anything this offseason, unless you consider paying Tatum a gazillion dollars as an accomplishment.
BROOKLYN NETS: F
The Brooklyn Nets are like the team time has forgot. They have like the most famous arena in the NBA, albeit coupled with what is perhaps the least-exciting roster this coming season.
I didn't give them an F because they had a bad offseason per se. For instance, it's cool that the underappreciated Nic Claxton finally scored a payday. Also, I'm glad that Mikal Bridges was able to get himself out of there. But that F is more along the lines of like who even really gives a F*ck about the Nets anymore?
Again, this is an organization with a world-famous arena, representing what's arguably the most famous city (or borough) in hip-hop. They're also supposed to have this like multi-billionaire majority owner, and that's the best they can do? And the icing on the cake is still having Ben f*ckin' Simmons on the roster. Oh well. You never really know until the whistle actually blows.
NEW YORK KNICKS: B+
The reason I give the Knicks a B+ isn't because they signed Mikal Bridges, but rather because they weren't stupid enough to throw a bunch of money at Isaiah Hartenstein, who's overrated. I'm not trying to diss dude, as I think OKC is in a position to capitalize on his attributes a lot more than NYK. Personally, I believe that the departure of Bogdanovic was a bigger loss, because the Knicks were absolutely destroying opponents from deep.
Even with Bridges, they're basically in the same position they were last season, keeping their fingers crossed that dudes remain healthy which, all things considered, may not be particularly likely. At least Mikal, as far as I know, doesn't have any type of troubling injury history.
But the two players you have to particularly keep your eyes on are Anunoby and especially Randle. Like you already know that Mitchell Robinson is going to unavailable at one key time or another. So now with Hartenstein gone, it becomes more imperative that Julius can make the playoffs. But that said, whatever happened to Jericho Sims?
PHILADELPHIA 76ERS: C
I'm not impressed by the acquisition of Paul George for two reasons. One is that, there really isn't any reason to believe that both he and Embiid will be healthy enough to play throughout an entire playoff run. And second, throughout the last decade the Sixers have been able to perennially maintain more impressive rosters than any other team in the NBA. There were a couple of seasons in the recent past where I would even argue that they had the best roster, in terms of depth + talent. That was true pre-Jimmy Butler, post-Jimmy Butler and even post-Simmons.
But none of those iterations ever resulted in championship success, and there's really isn't much reason to believe it will now. In fact their current roster may even be too talented, esp on the wings.
But the biggest issue currently facing this squad is its unwillingness to move on from Embiid, you know, while dude is still tradeable type sh*t. He may arguable be the best C in the league when healthy, but a lot of times he isn't. By this point, I think it's safe to say that he'll never be 100% again, at least not over a lengthy timespan, like an entire playoff series. Also even when healthy enough to play and contribute (for three quarters), he sometimes acts like a brat.
I predict that by the middle of this season, other people may finally start to that it's time for Philly to move on from Joel and enter the Maxey era, so to speak. They really need to focus on making sure that Drummond gets ample playing time and familiarity with his new teammates, like just in case. Forcing Joel to run himself into the ground, even if he is a max player, is not the ideal strategy.
TORONTO RAPTORS: C
I recently came across an article, I believe on Yahoo!, which criticized the Raptors for behaving like they don't know what TF they're doing. I more or less agree, but at least their roster is such that if they make one key addition (whoever that may be), the squad could be like really formidable.
My main criticism I guess is it appearing that Toronto is building around Scottie Barnes. Barnes is an exceptional player though one who has always been, at least imo, overrated. But now he's been handed the keys to the car, so we'll see if he really is an NBA superstar. That said, he doesn't strike me as being better than Siakim or even really Anunoby for that matter.
And I guess that's why Toronto deserves the type of criticism as highlighted above. They seem to have this tendency to give up more than they gain or even when pulling off sound trades (like Anunoby for Quickley and Barrett) still appearing as if they haven't made any progress.
CONCLUSION
It looks like the Celtics will once again prevail, as they only have one injury-prone star as opposed to their main competitors (the Knicks and Philly) having at least two.
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