By Elijah Silverman
Los Angeles Lakers: The Lakers have made some questionable moves this offseason. They brought in Russell Westbrook which was definitely a good move on their part. People would call some of their moves bad like bringing Dwight Howard back again. Two more very questionable signings were Trevor Ariza and Melo Anthony. The thing with Melo is he was only brought in because he is LeBron’s best friend. LeBron is getting everything he wants and the Lakers aren’t looking at their future at all. One of their youngest players is Malik Monk and the thing is he will never be the future of any team because he just isn’t as good as people wanted him to be. The Lakers have two shots at a world title left and then they will be one of the worst teams in the NBA again and this time LeBron won’t be there to save them. The Lakers need to start looking at the future. Overall, I give the Lakers a C for this offseason and this season they will go 50-32 through 82 games.
Los Angeles Clippers: The Clippers have made very little moves this offseason and they have the same team but their best player Kawhi is ruling himself out for an extended period of time. This puts the Clippers at a very big disadvantage. The Clippers were very good last year and were not far from winning it all. This year I do still expect them to be very good. I give them a B for their offseason and they should go 53-29 through 82 games.
Golden State Warriors: The Warriors have had some very tough two years and have not been able to make the playoffs. Large part was because Klay Thompson was injured. Fear no more Warriors fan he is targeting a Christmas day return. The Warriors are looking for trades that would get them another very good player and they want to get rid of Andrew Wiggins which could be beneficial in the long run. Curry is back for another year and he appears to only be getting better. The Warriors are going to have a make or break season if they don’t make the playoffs then we might see some of their major players get traded and start a major rebuild. I give them a B- for this offseason and they will go 42-40 through 82 games.
Phoenix Suns: The Suns are a great team. They didn’t do much this offseason because they like where they are at. I do too, they have a bright future but a great present. Devin Booker is awesome and CP3 is one of the best point guards to ever step foot on a court. This team has talent in role players and they all blend together well. I would give the Suns an A- for their offseason and they should go 60-22 this season through 82 games.
Milwaukee Bucks: The Bucks are the reigning NBA champions and in my mind they are also one of the all around best teams in the league. The problem is they didn’t do much this offseason. Some say they didn’t get any better and some say not only did they not get better they might have gotten worse. The Bucks didn’t lose a lot but they didn’t gain anything. I give them a D for this very poor offseason. Through 82 games they should still go 62-20 but come playoff time they are in trouble.
Brooklyn Nets: The Nets have awesome big huge terrible problems caused by one player. His name is Kyrie Irving also known as Uncle Drew. Uncle Drew has been one of the NBA’s best players for a while. He has a championship and he has always been known to finish at the basket with ease. Now though he will most likely miss the entire season because he won’t get vaccinated and some people would say the Nets organisation is being a little harsh others think Uncle Drew deserves this. Either way Uncle Drew has been causing problems for years and this is just another problem the NBA has had to deal with from him. Soon he will just retire or something and we won’t hear from him again. This does affect the Nets and this is why I have to give them an F for this offseason. If they trade Uncle Drew before the season starts I will just give them an A but until then, they failed. This season without Uncle Drew the Nets will manage a 52-30 record but will be out immediately in the playoffs most likely.
New York Knicks: Let me start off by giving the Knicks an A. This young team is amazing, not because of talent but because they play the most like a team out of anyone in the league. There isn’t much to say about them except for the Kemba move which was the final piece to the puzzle. The Knicks are my hot take this year because I favor them to win the finals going into the season. Through 82 games they should go 62-20 and finish by holding a trophy up at the end of the year.