Cramer: NBA Offseason Grades for Contenders

A lot of moves have been made thus far in the NBA off-season, but rather than including all of the signings and trades in a synopsis, it's really only worth focusing on the contenders of the East and the West. I narrowed my search down to 6 teams worth looking at, and 1 team worth saying good-bye to. Keep in mind, the grades given are compared to the other 5 teams.

Cleveland Cavaliers- The Cavs have effectively gotten rid of Sasha Pavlovic, and Ben Wallace and brought in Anthony Parker and Shaq. Hard to say that this is a bad offseason. One sour note that cavs fans likely will look at for the next few years is the grossly large contract that Danny Ferry gave to Anderson Varejao. Hard to justify a man not averaging double digits in points or rebounds getting close to 10 million dollars a year. All in all, a team that went 66-16 lost 2 worthless players and added 2 pieces that will be key components of a team looking to get back to the finals. They match up better with orlando with the addition of parker, and still have money to offer players of the caliber of Matt Barnes or Hakim Warrick.
Grade: B+

Boston Celtics- Many people will tell you that the addition of Rasheed Wallace makes Boston the team to beat again in the East. This may be true, but Boston is sacrificing its future in order to win now which is a risky play. Unless they are able to resign Powe and/or Glen "Big Baby" Davis, one would have to consider the Celtics losers in this offseason. It's hard to imagine a team with Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, and Rasheed Wallace would be able to get through an entire season and postseason without suffering any kind of serious setback due to injuries. In the end, the Celtics will enter the season with a significantly better roster than they had in the playoffs where they brought the Magic to a 7th game.
Grade: A- (pending Davis and Powe)

Orlando Magic- The Magic have been the topic of a lot of debate so far this off-season. They conceded that they wouldn't be able to sign Turkoglu, and traded a future star for Vince Carter. 5 years ago I'd say the Magic were looking like a championship contender, but now? I'm not so sure. They have to get a lot of credit for their work concerning Brandon Bass and Marcin Gortat, where they essentially played with the Maverick's emotions. They led the Mavs to believe they were getting rid of Gortat which allowed them to get Bass for 4 mil a year, and then they decided to take Gortat back... leaving the Mav's empty handed, and leaving them with a very formidable frontcourt. Still... can they make up for the loss of Turkoglu, and did they sacrifice too much of their future in getting rid of Lee? Ryan Anderson's production and time will tell.
Grade: A-

Los Angeles Lakers- There's really no way to tell how the Laker's off-season has gone until Lamar Odom decides where he is going. They essentially traded Ariza for Artest, which on paper may look like a good trade, but on the court there may be a different story waiting to be told. Ariza came into his own in the playoffs, becoming a spot up shooter and pretty much a guarantee to make a wide open 3 (which he got/would have gotten plenty of with Kobe Bean running the team). If Odom goes to another team like Portland or Dallas, this team takes a serious step backwards, and may no longer be the favorite to win the finals, let alone the Western conference. Finally, I think the Lakers may have made a serious mistake in trading the draft rights of Toney Douglas. Toney was one of my sleepers going into the draft, and I believe with their pick he would have been a steal... I guess they thought otherwise. Once again, time will tell with Odom's decision.
Grade: B- (pending Odom)

Denver Nuggets- They've added Ty Lawson and Arron Afflalo... no, but seriously, are they gonna do something other than sign Chris Anderson and possibly lose Kleiza. I sure hope so for their sake. They even lost Dahntay Jones... J.R. Smith as a starter is a terribly frightening thought. That man needs to be kept on a ball and chain as a 6th man.
Grade: C- (pending ANYTHING)

San Antonio Spurs- Once again the Spurs are looking like the team, or one of the teams to beat. They added Richard Jefferson, and Antonio McDyess for Bruce Bowen and... yeah exactly. How the Spurs always manage to make the right moves is beyond me, but they do. They even got DeJuan Blair in the second round. A guy projected to go top 15 a lot of the time leading up to the draft dropped to the second round and now gets to learn and play behind Tim Duncan. A starting 5 of parker, ginobili, jefferson, duncan, and mcdyess looks, frankly, better than the lakers at this point. We'll see if age and injuries catches up to them, but we could be looking at a Spurs/Cavs rematch in the finals, or an extremely exciting Spurs/Magic series... Anyway, Kudos to San Antonio for being this off-season's winner (so far)
Grade: A+



Other teams that have made moves: Atlanta, Detroit, Dallas
Teams we're waiting on: Portland, Utah, Miami
Teams we can say good-bye to: Houston (Maybe McGrady will get out of the first round by himself)

In the next edition of off-season moves I'll examine Atlanta, Detroit, and Dallas, and say some words about moves I think may take place between now and the start of the season. NBA fans get ready for a very memorable season to come.