NBA Offseason Grades Roundtable: Pacific Division

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Another year, another NBA offseason dwindling down. Before we know it, media days and camp will be here, and the preseason will be tipping off. However, for now, the hottest topics are how all of the teams did this offseason in order to prepare themselves for this year. So, we will be breaking down each division in roundtable fashion, and we started with the Southwest Division last week, and the Northwest Division before that.

This week we will be assessing the Pacific Division which is composed of the Phoenix Suns, Sacramento Kings, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, and Golden State Warriors. Our participants are…

Martin Soaries – @marsoaries

Alex Fischbein – @thatkidfisch

Ryan Hayes – @rphayes21

Mike Hess – @Hessy_22

Kyle Allan – @kallan441

General Consensus Grades:

Los Angeles Clippers, Deandre jordan, Blake Griffin, Chris Paul

Los Angeles Clippers: C+

Analysis from Ryan Hayes: The Clippers only made one move they brought in a veteran presence with championship experience in Marreese Speights. As far as moves go, keeping Blake Griffin was a good choice. After many rumors surrounding him this offseason keeping him was the right move Griffin was the start for this turnaround for the Clippers. I think a lot of other teams in the west made moves to improve their roster while the Clippers did nothing to improve.

Lowest grade – C- from Kyle Allan: The Clippers resigned guys like Jamal Crawford, Wesley Johnson, and Austin Rivers to keep stability for the franchise this upcoming season. They were trying to bid for Kevin Durant but were a long shot in the race and lost out. It may be another year for them in the middle of the pack in the West

Sacramento Kings, DeMarcus Cousins, Rudy Gay

Sacramento Kings: D

Analysis from Martin Soaries: I give Sacramento credit for pulling in Arron Afflalo and Matt Barnes, but nothing of note was done to shift the tide of irrelevance going into the season.

Lowest grade – F from Mike Hess: No big time free agents even looked at the Kings. They signed defender Matt Barnes and stretch four Anthony Tolliver but they won’t make a huge difference. The Sacramento Kings are looking at another year of being irrelevant in the NBA.

Jordan Clarkson, Los Angeles Lakers, D'Angelo Russell, Julius Randle

Los Angeles Lakers: C

Analysis from Mike Hess:  The Lakers again failed to bring in a super star during the offseason, but the Lakers did add veteran forward Luol Deng. I love that move because he is a quality player and locker-room leadership guy. Ingram showed a lot during the summer league and showed he could be the next face of this franchise.

Lowest grade – C- from Kyle Allan: The Lakers off season didn’t turn too many heads, but the Lakers did make some significant moves. They signed Timofey Mozgov to a five year contract that seemed aggressive to most other teams around the league. But with the Lakers guards being there center pieces, they need to add that presence to help their offense. Also, the addition of Luol Deng will be great with the veteran presence.

Phoenix Suns, Devin Booker

Phoenix Suns: B-

Analysis from Kyle Allan: The Suns had a great offseason for a team that is in the rebuilding process. They added two lottery picks and two veterans in Jared Dudley and Leandro Barbosa. The Suns are heading in the right direction.

Lowest grade – C+ from Martin Soaries: No major changes happened in Phoenix and that’s a good thing. They’ve added another young prospect by drafting Dragan Bender and have more floor spacing and veteran savvy in bringing back Jared Dudley.

Golden State Warriors, Kevin Durant, Steve Kerr

Golden State Warriors: KD

Analysis from Alex Fischbein: Do we have to even give them an “A” for this offseason? Let’s just grade them with Kevin Durant’s initials because I’m honestly still in disbelief that they actually landed him this offseason…

Lowest grade – B from Ryan Hayes: Obviously the big landing of the free agency should be good for an A but the Warriors lost a lot foe Kevin Durant. The Warriors lost two homegrown talents in Harrison Barnes, Festus Ezili and Andrew Bogut. They did bring in two veteran frontcourt players in David West and Zaza Pachulia. The Warriors will have a lot to figure out with their new super team. Their offseason had good and bad points this summer but mostly for good as they area lock to return to the Finals.

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