Hard to say as so many teams have been hit hard this offseason. Lakers - Nobody wants to be there but they have added a few C+ players recently so they won't be quite as bad as last year. Kings - Disgraceful chain of events right before free agent season kicked off. Killed their ability to sign any self-respecting player, which is why Rondo signed. Did they NOT watch the playoffs?? Does Karl not think he's going to have issues with Rondo? Mavericks - Team. Is. Decimated. Because of their extreme loyalty and great chemistry they have lost Chandler, Ellis, Rondo, Aminu, Nelson, Wright, Crowder possibly Barea, 2016 1st Rd Pick, 2016 2nd Rd Pick and a $12.9 Million Trade Exception for NOTHING. Now fighting, I said FIGHTING, to get Lin. WTF has happened inside Cuban's skull?? They will not be in the playoffs next year. Only 2 words describe Dallas right now: EPIC FAIL Knicks - Jackson needs the boot. He is not a GM. Period. Portland - Lose Aldridge and Matthews trade Baum. Getting ready for 2016. No playoffs next year. I give Dallas the worst offseason because they have lost the most and I hate them.
I disagree. They could struggle to make the postseason. The Mavs were the 7th seed with 50 wins and may be better. The Pelicans were the 8th seed with 45 wins, and there's a very good chance they'll win more this season. Now throw OKC back into the mix to replace Portland who are heading to lottoland and it may take close to or around 50 wins just to qualify for the playoffs in the West.
I think you have to think about where they were prior to the offsesason and where they are now among the choices given: Kings before: They were a hot mess and had no real bright future despite having DMC Kings Now: Guys turning down big offers, but they made some decent signings still with Rondo, Koufos... losing Stauskas was bad but I dont think they could be any worse than they were last season. If healthy that team should still be able to win more than last season. Knicks before: complete train wreck Knicks now: Afflalo and Lopez were great signings and I do think they got a good pick to help for the future. The Knicks sort of accepted they would suck next season too - even in the east and made smart moves that still allowed them to get some talent cheaply while still giving them a chance next summer. I think at some point they may challenge for the 8th seed (but they'll fall out of the actual race after the all star break) Lakers: their direction was unclear - try to work kobe or youth movement? Lakers now: Well its clear no star would sign in LA until Kobe hangs up his shoes despite the max money. They really need to figure out their direction. Russell and Randle are a good start. Getting Hibbert and lou williams were not bad either I just dont see where they will fit going forward. Hibbert is just a one year thing to keep cap open next season. Maybe Lou Williams replaces Kobe if he does retire after this season. I do think the Lakers are in better shape now for next season, they just have to focus on the development of Russell and Randle. They have to hope for a miracle and win a top 3 pick again otherwise there is no real incentive for them to try to purposefully tank. Portland: Prior - playoff team but not a contender Portland now: lotto team - they seemed to accept that and made actually some good solid moves to sort of start the rebuild around Lillard alone. I do like some of their signings and trades to give them options. Rather than try to sign vets to big deals and all to keep them in the hunt for the last spot. They have one piece in Lillard and some intriguing young guys now around him. If they draft well (which they haven't been too lucky with historically speaking) they could be ok. I would say they lost this offseason but I think they expected that they would lose. Clippers: a game away from WCF - contending team Clippers now: playoff team only The clippers picked up Stephensen and Pierce but lost Barnes, Hawes and DJ in the process. Barnes though older probably was their "heart" of the team. Hawes didnt offer much but was a big body behind DJ. Losing DJ is the biggest blow of course. I personally think the Clippers lost the offseason because they couldnt make too many moves and now went from contender to playoff team. They have very little size now upfront. DJ could have been their most important player even if he wasn't their bench. Had they kept DJ they did address their two biggest issues -- another playmaker (Lance) and a proven clutch player and leader in Pierce and were going to be a threat again but losing both centers in the west hurts. Given that I do think the Clippers lost the most because this next season going in - barring some crazy lucky miracle trade - they went from possibly being a finals team to basically just first round playoff fodder or possibly even missing the playoffs. Portland needed that other piece still to be a contender but even though they wont make the playoffs they were willing to hit the reset button. The kings, knicks and lakers are all in the same boat but somewhat improved their overall condition though all will be pretty bad next season
That's just an example, Celts or Lakers could also be a trading partner etc. the point is they aren't totally screwed I mean Ranadive could just fire Karl and maybe that'll be enough to convince Cousins to stay. The cap rise of the Clips coincides with the cap rise of every other team in the league, considering they have zero capspace this year if they have enough cap to sign a max FA then that means every team will have space to sign max FAs...some teams would have enough to get 2 or more. Regardless, the topic is about which team had the worst summer, and so far I think it's the Clipps (with Portland close behind). Maybe the Clips rebound next year but as far this summer goes I think they had the worst time.
Clippers getting Stephenson and Pierce then suddenly losing DJ reminds me when they convinced Baron Davis to sign long term only to find out Elton Brand signed with another team. Curse of the Clippers? Even when everything seems to finally be going right, they get caught with their pants down lol.
How are the Lakers leading when they didn't lose anyone? They got a #2 pick who has superstar potential Randle is back and healthy An elite rim protector Two solid role players, one of which was sixth man of the year.
GSW OKC HOU SAS LAC DAL NOP PHX SAC They won't be a top seed but they won't struggle either Griffin and Paul are great players and DAL, NOP, and PHX/SAC are still not better than them.
If by today's (July 6) situation, I would say the worse team in this off season will be the Kings. Its a F**King joke for their signings, Rondo is a ticking bomb, Koufas signing is just another joke to drive Cousins crazy and eventually will get Karl fired. Giving Casspi 6 mils for 2 years looks good on paper but this is also an overpaid trash contract. Neither the Lakers or the Knicks will make the playoff because their signings have no impact players. Clippers will be just like the Rockets last year when everyone looked down on you, they will still be a top 4-5 teams in the west. Portland got lots of changes, most people had them not even going to make the playoff, that maybe true. But I am also betting the Mavs will not make the playoff this year also.
I'll vote for the Heat. If you're not winning or building to win you're wasting your time. The Heat went all out committing to a team that will never win a title. If you asked me to switch our roster with Miami or the 76ers right now I'm taking the 76ers.
The West will be an even bigger dogfight than last year and while Portland is a lock for the lotto don't be surprised if the Clips or Dallas end up there as well. Utah, Minny, Lakers have young talent that could surprise and take a spot. Just takes an injury like the Thunder.
Re-signing Dragic was the first step of building. Re-signing Wade is building in the sense that they can't afford to look bad in the eyes of future free agents. They did build through the draft by stealing Winslow. Not sure what other outcome would have been better for Miami this off-season. Let Dragic and Wade walk and then trot out a line-up of Chalmers, Winslow, Deng, Bosh, Whiteside? That's still too good in the East to get in the lottery and not good enough to make any noise past the 1st round. I'd say Miami did pretty well considering their circumstances. You could say the same thing about Houston's FA moves. We simply kept our main guys and paid a few guys more than what they were making previously. Granted, we were in the WCF while Miami didn't make the playoffs, but they'll have presumably a healthy Bosh and McRoberts, more chemistry with Dragic and Whiteside, and the promising Winslow.
Haha. Pretty sure a new poll would be 99.9% Dallas. Not even Sacramento has had such a huge change in fortune.
The Dallas Mavericks by a mile! BAHAHAHAHAHAHA! (I'd rather DJ played for Dallas cause they'd suck either way, but this is hilarious)
This is what the Mavs have lost this off-season: Rondo Chandler Monta Aminu Crowder Wright Missed out on. DJ Lin and lets not forget the 2016 first rounder they lost in the trade for Rondo. It's beautiful.
Ironically, I think holding onto Wes Matthews hurts them as well. Dude won't play until December and no one knows what kind of a player he will be. The only thing for certain is his 4yr ~$60m deal
