Many people may have envisioned Kawhi Leonard leaving the
Toronto Raptors this summer after leading the franchise to their first NBA
title. Many expected him to go to the Lakers or the Clippers but what happened
next came out of the blue and Kawhi Leonard ended up with the Clippers, but to
everyone’s surprise, he did not come alone after convincing Paul George to
request a trade through a series of secret meetings. The Clippers were able to
execute a sign and trade deal with the Oklahoma City Thunder, which teamed up
Leonard and George on the Clippers and sent the Thunder a lavish package of draft
picks, (5 first round picks) 2nd year guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
and Danilo Gallinari.
Although they gave up a lot to secure this deal, Gilgeous-Alexander
is an extremely promising prospect who the Clippers would have expected to take
another leap in his production. This would be coming off a year, which ended in
him averaging 10.8 points and 3.2 assists on 36% shooting from 3-point range, in
the regular season, which ended in an all-rookie second team selection. His
performance in the play-off series against the Golden State Warriors also
highlighted his potential in which he upped his production to 13.7 points on
50% from 3-point range also setting a career high points total with 25 in a
game 4 loss.
Danilo Gallinari is the second piece of the trade and
although the less desirable part of the trade he lends to be a very important
asset for the Oklahoma City Thunder in the short term and long term future of
the franchise. Firstly, for cap flexibility, Gallinari is on an expiring
contract, he is owed just north of $22 million this year and then he will
become a free agent next year. This is beneficial to the Thunder if they want
to reboot, it either allows them to let Gallinari walk for nothing if he is not
part of their longer-term plans or is not worth the value for a new deal. He’s
expiring contract also makes him very desirable for contending teams and maybe
makes him a buyout candidate. Gallinari is coming of a career year in terms of
points and field goal percentage, shooting 46% from the field and scoring
nearly 20 points a game.
The Clippers have been the Lakers smaller brother from years
but with these acquisitions, they turn from a fringe play-off contender into a
legitimate title threat. The wheels were put in motion mid-season when they
traded off key star Tobias Harris to the Sixers, along with Boban Marjanović
and Mike Scott for Wilson Chandler, Mike Muscala, Landry Shamet and a number of
future draft picks. This was key as they were able to get Chandler off the
books this summer, traded Muscala on for Ivica Zubac, who had shown glimpses of
promise in a limited role on the Lakers particularly on offence and they got a talented
shooter in Landry Shamet. This allowed the Clippers to open up two max slots
and they filled them up with Paul George and Kawhi Leonard, they also resigned
Pat Beverley and extended Ivica Zubac, whilst adding Moe Harkless in a trade.
Young draft picks Mfiondu Kabengele and Terance Mann add athleticism and energy
to the bench unit. They have also resigned JaMychal Green, who is coming off a
career year percentage wise from three-point range and that will help them with
the bench unit and with scoring.
Overall, the Clippers have assembled quite the squad and
they have done it without the usage of the leagues more veteran players, which
is a contrast to how the Lakers have built their roster. One main issue for me
is the lack of a true distributor and ball-handling playmaker for the team, Lou
Williams led the team in assists at 5.4 per game but besides Patrick Beverley,
no one on the team (who is still on the roster from last year) averaged more
than three assists a game. It is going to be interesting to see who gets the
ball in crunch situations, Paul George and Kawhi have shown at times that they
are capable of creating their own shots as well as for other team mates
something that they struggled with earlier in their careers.
I would say across town but across that shady corridor that
Chris Paul managed to pop his head out of, The Los Angeles Lakers are back,
fresh of a 37-45 record last season. The Lakers missed the play-offs in
LeBron’s first season with the franchise. The season never really got going,
despite a 20-14 start, a spate of injuries for the team, LeBron, Rajon Rondo,
Lonzo Ball and Brandon Ingram amongst the main ones derailed the team’s chances
of play-off glory. There was also loads of speculation during the season of the
Lakers pursuit of all-star Anthony Davis and in the off-season, the long drawn
out saga ended. This happened when the Lakers shipped out a lavish package of Lonzo
Ball, Josh Hart, Brandon Ingram, the draft rights to De'Andre Hunter, two first
round picks, a first-round pick swap right and cash for Davis. Anthony Davis
gives the Lakers another star to pair alongside James, who will be running the
point this year. Davis gives the Lakers a legit two-way super-star, a six time
All-Star who has led the league three times in blocks and has been All-NBA
first team three times and has averages of 23, 10 and 2.1 blocks.
What has been extremely pleasing for me is the progression
that Davis has made to make his game more rounded to a point where he has
recorded season career highs over the last 2 seasons in the following
categories; points per game, rebounds per game, steals per game, assists per
game, minutes per game, games played and 3pt and FT percentages. The Lakers
were able to compensate for the loss of two key players in Brandon Ingram and
Lonzo Ball by adding valuable depth to the squad in the form of Quinn Cook and
Danny Green who were all involved in this season’s NBA Finals and bring
different skills to the bench. They have added more experience in Jared Dudley
and Avery Bradley as well as adding sharpshooter Troy Daniels who is a career
40% three-point shooter, they’ve also added Dwight Howard to provide cover for
DeMarcus Cousins who was signed this season but has been ruled out indefinitely
with a Torn ACL injury.
It is not just the Lakers and Clippers who have been making
a splash this off-season, we will take a look at what has happened around the
other contenders for the NBA Championship.
The Houston Rockets traded for
former MVP Russell Westbrook for Chris Paul in exchange for two protected first
round picks, and other draft considerations. The big question that stems from
this trade is whether the former team mates can make it work on this team, with
both being high usage players it will be interesting to see how the coaching
staff use them in different situations throughout the season.
The Milwaukee Bucks are the favourites in the Eastern
Conference; they only boast the current MVP in Giannis Antetokounmpo. The
re-signing of All-Star Khris Middleton is a big boost for the ball club and the
addition of Robin Lopez, Wesley Matthews and Kyle Korver bring great
experience, toughness and skill to the bench unit, they did lose Malcolm
Brogdon to free agency but they have also re-signed George Hill to a 3-year $29
million deal.
The Golden State Warriors have had a busy summer after their
defeat in the NBA Finals, first they lost All-Star forward Kevin Durant to the
Brooklyn Nets via a sign and trade deal, which brought All-Star, guard D’Angelo
Russell to the team. The Warriors also lost experienced players including
DeMarcus Cousins (Lakers) Andre Iguodala (Grizzlies) and Shaun Livingston
(Retirement) . They did however manage to retain key pieces Klay Thompson, who
is currently out with a torn ACL for 5 years and $190 million, Draymond Green
for 4 years and $100 million and Kevon Looney who is an important glue guy for
the team for 3 years and $15 million. They also secured a coup when they signed
Centre Willie Cauley-Stein for 2 years and $4.4 million.
The Philadelphia 76ers are one of the other big contenders
in the Eastern Conference and they have seen a fair few transactions over the
summer, the big one concerning a sign and trade deal for Jimmy Butler which
sent him to the Miami Heat in exchange for Josh Richardson as a part of a wider
4 team deal. The main addition was that of Al Horford who joins from the Boston
Celtics on a 4-year $109 million deal and should form a potent frontcourt pairing
with Joel Embiid. The loss of JJ Reddick to the New Orleans Pelicans is a key
loss but the fact that Tobias Harris and Mike Scott as well as the additions of
Matisse Thybulle and more playing time for a healthy Zhaire Smith should offset
some of the loss.
The Brooklyn Nets have gone through years of The Boston
Celtics holding their cards in regards to draft assets and they’ve came through
the period still alive. Coming off a year in which they made the play-offs and
took the Philadelphia 76ers on in a physical encounter and although they came
out on the losing end, they showed a lot of character. Instead of retaining
most of their guys from the play-off run, they shook it up and nine of that
roster departed to make way for Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and DeAndre Jordan
to make them a contender in the East for the next few years. The retaining of
Caris LeVert as well as other talented young pieces such as Joe Harris, Jarrett
Allen and Rodions Kurucs should have the Nets firmly entrenched at the top half
of the conference.
The Denver Nuggets have been one of the quietest teams in
terms of transactions this year, re-signing Jamal Murray was one of the keys of
the summer for the team. Drafting Bol Bol, a prospect with a huge upside who
slid to 44th in the draft due to injury concerns can become a huge asset
for the team as can 2018 first round pick Michael Porter Jr who missed the
whole of last season due to injury.
The Toronto Raptors will go into this season as defending
champions and without last year’s finals MVP Kawhi Leonard, expectations will
not be as high as last year but with Marc Gasol, Kyle Lowry and an increased
leadership role for Pascal Siakam, the Raptors should be play-off bound once
more. In all honesty for the ball club, they went all-in last season and
achieved their aims, a modest play-off run will appease the fan base this year.
The Utah Jazz made a few interesting moves to add to their
team to complement their two stars in Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell. They added
Mike Conley in a trade to run the point whilst making astute signings in Ed Davis
and Jeff Green. They also made the move to bring in Bojan Bogdanović, who is
fresh off a career year with the Indiana Pacers.
Predictions for
this year:
Western Conference Champions: Los Angeles Clippers over
Houston Rockets
Eastern Conference Champions: Milwaukee Bucks over
Philadelphia 76ers
Dark Horses: Utah Jazz (Western Conference) Brooklyn Nets
(Eastern Conference)
Most exciting: New
Orleans Pelicans (Western Conference) Atlanta Hawks (Eastern Conference)
Rookie of the year: Ja Morant (Memphis Grizzlies)
Defensive Player of the year: Anthony Davis (Los Angeles
Lakers)
Most improved player: Mitchell Robinson (New York Knicks)
Most Valuable Player: LeBron James (Los Angeles Lakers)
Photo Credits: (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu)
Darrell Ann-LakersNation.com
The Salt Lake Tribune
BasketballInsiders.com
