Pacific Division Off-Season Grades

[superheadcat]

it surprises me this hasn't been posted yet.


By Chad Ford
NBA Insider
Monday, August 25
Updated: August 29
9:07 AM ET
Has anyone ever had a better summer than Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak?

For a mere six million dollars, Kupchak added two future Hall of Famers, Karl Malone and Gary Payton, to a team that already has the two most dominant players in the league, Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant.

Write off Kupchak's miracle all you want. Sure, it's a short-term fix. We'll give you that neither Payton nor Malone is in his prime. Yes, the Lakers' mystique allowed him to pull something off that no other team could've accomplished. Still, you have to hand it to Kupchak. He understood what Malone and Payton desired and he was in a position to give it to them.

While other prognosticators (including me) were urging him to sign role players like Juwan Howard or P. J. Brown, Kupchak was thinking big. Sixty wins next season wasn't enough to rectify a disappointing 2002 campaign. Kupchak wanted to dominate one of the toughest conferences in all of sports. Seventy wins isn't out of the question this year. Anything less than a NBA title will be a disaster.

The Lakers have rewritten the playbook on how to lock and load in the summer. The Kings, T-Wolves, Spurs and Mavs? Nice moves, but all in desperation.

The only thing that can stop the Lakers? Themselves. A Kobe rape conviction. A Payton hissy fit. A Malone ego surge. A Shaq toe stub.

The Lakers aren't invincible. But they're pretty damn close.

Today, Insider wraps up our grades special with the Pacific Division. Next week I'll be in Africa with Tony Ronzone and a delegation of NBA players and coaches checking out the top 100 young prospects in the continent.

Lakers Key Additions: Karl Malone, Gary Payton, Brian Cook, Luke Walton
Key Subtractions: Robert Horry, Samaki Walker, Mark Madsen
Roster breakdown: Lakers Depth Chart | Free Agent Watch
The Skinny: The Lakers take losing hard. In the aftermath of an embarrassing second-round defeat, GM Mitch Kupchak didn't try to just add some depth. He added two Hall of Famers, giving the Lakers arguably the most impressive starting four of any team in the last 15 years. To make matters worse for Western Conference teams, they also had a stellar draft, adding versatile forward Cook and Walton, who many scouts claimed was the best passer in the draft. It's not often a team fixes its short-term situation and bolsters its future prospects. The Lakers did both this summer. Whatever you think of them, it's hard to come up with a team that's had a better summer. Now, if Kobe can just stay out of jail.
Grade: A+

Sacramento Kings Key Additions: Brad Miller, Anthony Peeler, Tony Massenburg
Key Subtractions: Keon Clark, Hedo Turkoglu, Scot Pollard
Roster breakdown: Kings Depth Chart | Free Agent Watch
The Skinny: The Kings couldn't sit idly by and watch the Lakers stock up. Their most pressing need was down the road. The team knows that Vlade Divac has only one or two good years left in him. Credit the Maloof brothers for taking the initiative and grabbing the best center left on the free-agent market now before disaster strikes. How will Miller fit in this year? That's less important than how he'll fit in next year when Divac comes off the books.
Grade: B

Phoenix Suns Key Additions: Zarko Cabarkapa, Leandrinho Barbosa
Key Subtractions: None
Roster breakdown: Suns Depth Chart | Free Agent Watch
The Skinny: The Suns were one of the pleasant surprises of 2002. This year, they appear poised to make some noise in the West. The team has young players at every position, but used the draft to bolster its small forward and point guard positions. If Cabarkapa's play in the summer league and Barbosa's play at the Olympic qualifying tournament are any indications, the Suns are fortifying their lock on the label of best up-and-coming team in the NBA. If they could move Tom Gugliotta now (his contract expires this summer) for a little more depth, their grade moves up to an "A".
Grade: B-

Los Angeles Clippers Key Additions: Chris Kaman, Eddie House
Key Subtractions: Lamar Odom, Michael Olowokandi, Andre Miller, Eric Piatkowski
Roster breakdown: Clippers Depth Chart | Free Agent Watch
The Skinny: The good news is Donald Sterling forked out a record $124 million to re-sign Elton Brand and Corey Maggette. The bad news is that he balked at paying Gilbert Arenas and Odom what it took to build a young dream team in L.A. Brand and Maggette are good starts. But without Odom (albeit his contract was a huge risk) and Arenas (they should've thrown the cash at him) the team is still a player or two away from being a serious contender for the playoffs. Oh well, at just a $35 million payroll this year, Sterling should turn another profit this season.
Grade: C+

Seattle Supersonics Key Additions: Nick Collison, Luke Ridnour, Antonio Daniels
Key Subtractions: Elden Campbell, Kevin Ollie
Roster breakdown: Sonics Depth Chart | Free Agent Watch
The Skinny: The Sonics made their big move in February, trading Gary Payton to Milwaukee for Ray Allen. The team's biggest need, power forward, was addressed in the draft, but Collison won't be enough to turn the Sonics' fortunes around in the paint. Daniels should be a pretty good fit at point guard, but until the Sonics find a way to package one of their incredibly overpaid centers with Brent Barry for a legit power forward, they're just too weak up front to make any sort of run in the West.
Grade: C

Golden State Warriors Key Additions: Nick Van Exel, Clifford Robinson, Mickael Pietrus, Speedy Claxton
Key Subtractions: Gilbert Arenas, Antawn Jamison, Earl Boykins, Danny Fortson
Roster breakdown: Warriors Depth Chart | Free Agent Watch
The Skinny: There's a lot of debate about the Warriors' big moves this summer. If you believe that Van Exel will play like an all-star, second-year forward Mike Dunleavy will bloom, and Robinson and rookie Mickael Pietrus will solve the Warriors' defensive woes, then they probably deserve a higher grade. If any one of those factors fails to happen, however, the Warriors are in trouble. Losing Arenas was a major blow. Compounding it by dumping Jamison and Boykins probably will make things worse. As it stands, it seems impossible that the Warriors can keep up the scoring pace they set last year. Given that the team is still terrible defensively, that can't be a good thing.
Grade: C-

Portland Trail Blazers Key Additions: Travis Outlaw
Key Subtractions: Scottie Pippen, Arvydas Sabonis, Antonio Daniels
Roster breakdown: Blazers Depth Chart | Free Agent Watch
The Skinny: Poor John Nash. He takes one of the most coveted jobs in the league only to find out that his free-spending owner has now turned into a fiscal conservative. Nash was supposed to clean house, but so far, all he's done is let three of the Blazers top citizens walk away. The team undoubtedly still has talent, but with five teams in the West all making major advances, is this the year the Blazers finally slip out of the playoffs? Things got much tougher out West and Outlaw won't be enough to counter the moves by the Lakers, Kings, Spurs, Mavs and T-Wolves .
Grade: D

[OutletPass]

Sorry Headcat...that's usually my job but I've been off with Doc and U2 and these 3 strange girls that we met at the MTV awards last night. My Bad.

[Hitman]

As far as the grades go, I don't think the Lakers are "invincible". I think that we match up talent wise with them quite well, and three out of their 2 acquisitions are past their prime and used to shooting quite a bit.

We shall see.

[JamisonJigga]

I don't agree with the Kings getting a B. Brad Miller will not even be close to All Star material. Plus the Queens had to give up Clark, Turkeyglue, and Pollard just to get MIller.

[jayC]

Im inclinded to agree with the lakers grade they filled their two biggest needs with 6.1 million dollars, at pg, and pf. GP is still one of the games elite pg, and karl malone still can get to the line and body opposing defenders. I don't know about unstoppable no team is unstoppable. It all comes down to shaq and big men usually start to go down at age 33. It will be very interesting to see if shaq is once again. Its funny too kobe is so good already and hes only 25.

I can't wait to open the season in LA.

[superheadcat]

i always believe this is the make-or-break year for laker.

if they can't win it all, heck, if they can't win it all in convincing fashion, all hell could break loose.

they better win it this year, 'cos this is quite possibly the last chance they have now. this is a team that does not have a bright future.

[TVI]

This article is giving waaayyyyy too much credit to Kupchak. Getting Payton and Malone wasn't even a remote thought. He's admitted this! He was looking at typical MLE type players like everyone else. Malone was the one who called him, and told him that he would come play for nothing, and that Payton would do the same. Kupchak doesn't deserve any credit for this. There is nothing shrewd about two desperate bandwagoners decing to gang up on the rest of the league, and go to a team with two of the top five players in the world.

[Fidel]

There is nothing shrewd about two desperate bandwagoners decing to gang up on the rest of the league, and go to a team with two of the top five players in the world.

And if Malone would have gone for the money you would have said: "what a greedy bastard. He doesn´t deserve a ring". Sometimes you just can´t do right he? I say hats up to Malone for singning for much less then he could have gotten just to fullfill his dream of getting a ring. You could say well he has earned enough money allready. And that´s true. But 90% of the players never seem to get enough.

[tekrider]

i thought it was funny that when malone said he was going to sign with the lakers, the spurs, kings, and mavs all called him up immediately in desperation and threw more cash at him just so he wouldn't sign with the lakers.

all these grades are moot anyway. it all boils down to the playoffs. which ever team can perform in the clutch under pressure situations will almost always win, even if it's a game 7 OT win on the road. the mavs still need to address their center situation. shaq will drop 40 and 20 at will on the mavs "big" men.

[superheadcat]

Originally posted by: tekrider
i thought it was funny that when malone said he was going to sign with the lakers, the spurs, kings, and mavs all called him up immediately in desperation and threw more cash at him just so he wouldn't sign with the lakers.

all these grades are moot anyway. it all boils down to the playoffs. which ever team can perform in the clutch under pressure situations will almost always win, even if it's a game 7 OT win on the road. the mavs still need to address their center situation. shaq will drop 40 and 20 at will on the mavs "big" men.

hmm, i smell somthing stink...

anyway, let me take ur post serious for this once: make a little effort to check shaq's season average and his number against mavs, then you can notice how shaq "will drop 40 and 20 at will on the mavs".

[thebac]

As a matter of fact, Shaq seems to play sub-par against the Mavs, at least according to the numbers. His stats in three games against the Mavs last year are

G MIN FGM-FGA FG% FTM-FTA FT% STL BLK TO PF OFF DEF TOT AST PTS
3 37.7 8.3-15.0 .556 7.0-12.0 .583 0.33 2.33 3.3 3.3 5.0 7.7 12.7 1.3 23.7
compared to his season average
67 37.8 10.4-18.1 .574 6.7-10.8 .622 0.57 2.37 2.9 3.4 3.9 7.2 11.1 3.1 27.5

So Shaq plays about the same minutes, gets off fewer field goal attempts, shoots a lower field goal percentage (plus, the Mavs free-throw defense is better than average, too [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]), gets fewer steals, more turnovers, fewer assists, and fewer points. He does go to the line more often and gets more rebounds, but Shaq really eats up Dallas inside, doesn't he? I'll grant you that he does, but not more than he does the rest of the league. His highs in points and rebounds against Dallas were 31 and 17. Impressive numbers, but not 40/20.