The season was over a week ago. The Milwaukee Bucks are this years champions. It is still a little weird to say that out loud, but the Bucks deserved to win. Now it is time to look ahead to the off season. It is some interesting questions heading to this off season with regards players and teams. Here is the questions I have heading to this NBA offseason,
10. What will the champs do?
Most of the Bucks salary cap are tied into three players: Giannis Antetokounmpo (he moved up my ranking), Khris Middleton (he moved up too), Jrue Holiday (he's still at the same spot with me). The organization did good enough job to build around those three to help them capture the title. Now they need to do it again. I think they need to find a player that can play those Tucker minutes. Tucker had some good moments. He was relentless on the offensive glass, especially in the last two series. He gave them an edge the Bucks need, but too many times this past postseason the Bucks basically was playing 4 on 5 basketball because Tucker was a non threat offensively. I believe that can find a guy that can give them more offensively.
9. Will CP3 be back in Phoenix?
He'll leave if ownership wants to be on some cheap shit. Sarvar is known to be cheap.
8. Will the Jazz run it back?
The Jazz end the regular season with the best record in the NBA. They had high hopes of making a deep run in the latest playoffs, but their season ended in disappointing fashion. The Jazz had 2-0 series lead against the Clippers in the second round, but they ended up losing the next four games, that's including losing the last two with the Clippers not having Kawhi Leonard. Their flaws as a team got exposed in the series. The Jazz defensively are so Gobert dependent. When he was on the floor, the Jazz was elite defensive team. Posting 103,7 defensive efficiency, which would rank number one in the league by far. When he was off the floor, the Jazz had a defensive rating of 116.4, which would rank them 29th in the league He's their anchor and strength defensively. The Clippers turned Gobert from a strength to a weakness on both ends of the floor. Do the Jazz run it back with this same team? Conley is a free agent. Gobert is signed to the max. Does Gobert have high trade value right now? Mitchell max extension starts next season. Their team is starting to become expensive. Does Clarkson have trade value for the right player in return? What are their options to improve their team and become a true title contenders next season?
7. Raptors, Retool or Rebuild?
Probably no team suffer from this shorten season more than the Raptors. They could not even play in their own home arena and they was not allow back in Canada for Covid reasons. Kyle Lowry was in trade talks at the trade deadline, but no trade occurred. Lowry is now a free agent. Does the Raptors want to bring back one of the greatest Raptors players in their franchise or do they want to start their full rebuild? Do they trade Siakam this offseason?
6. Golden State swinging for the homerun.
With Klay Thompson returning and having the 7th and 14th pick in this years draft, the Warriors could enter next season as potential favorites to come out the Western onference next season. They got the access to be major players to acquire stars like Lillard or Beal. Steph Curry is schedule to become a free agent after next season. If the Warriors don't surround him with the necessary pieces to compete for a title next year, will the two time MVP actually leave San Francisco and join forces with another team? I can't see him leaving Golden State.
5. What the Hawks are going to do with John Collins and potential other players?
The Hawks made a surprising run all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals this past postseason. Expectations from Hawks fans heading to next season is that this team can reach the NBA finals. The Hawks have a good young core, but one of them are schedule to become a free agent in a couple of weeks. His name is John Collins. Collins was an impact player in his first taste of postseason basketball. He did all the little things: crash the offensive glass, play good defense and hit timely shots. The Hawks offer John Collins a contract extension earlier in the season. Collins reject the offer. Collins believe he can get the max in the open market. He might be right. If Collins sign max offer sheet from another team, should the Hawks match? It's a tough call. As a Hawks fan like myself, I will understand either direction the Hawks will go. The real question with me is should the Hawks use their young core players to potential trade and get a star player to ATL? The players I think of is Karl Anthony Towns, Paul George (he's probably not available because of the Kawhi injury), SGA, or Pascal Siakam. It really depends how does the organization view Reddish, Hunter, Huerter and the other core guys. Can one of those players blossom to become a top 25 player in the NBA? One of those guy have emerge to that caliber of player if the Hawks are going to keep the core and expect to win a championship in the future.
4. What will the Lakers do?
The Lakers had a disappointing ending to a injury plagued season, coming off the winning the title the previous season. It was a shorten offseason for them, so the injuries should not be a surprise. This is an older team. Lebron is entering his 19th season. Anthony Davis has a litany of injury problems. They don't have appealing accents to trade for a player because of they trade most of their picks to get Davis. Can they pull off a sign and trade to get Lowry or Chris Paul? I am not sure. They desperately need shooting. I am sure though that they will be aggressive this off season. This team can't stay pack though because I don't think they will be good enough to win the west next year.
3. Can the Sixers really bring Ben Simmons back to the team?
Ben Simmons passing up a dunk to because he might get fouled in game 7 will haunt Sixers fans probably until they fucking die. It will go down in great infamy. Simmons is heading to year five and he's still a liability offensively for his team at the most inopportune times in playoff games. He still does not want to shoot and his free throw shooting has regressed. His defense has improve so much that I was saying that he might be the best defender in the league now. But his defense can't overcome how much he's hurting the Sixers on the other side of the floor. Can Philadelphia bring him back? I am not sure. What is his trade value? Most say is still pretty high. They can't trade Simmons for a bunch of picks and young players because that would not help the team right now. Can Simmons be the top package to get a star like Lillard in return? I have my doubts now.
2. Kawhi Leornad, the enigma.
Kawhi Leornard has a partially torn ACL. He's going to miss most of next season. He can opt out of his contract and become a free agent this offseason. He can sign a four year, $176.2 million contract. He can pick up his player option this year and sign a five year max contract, which will be probably be over $220 million. All of the signs are pointing towards that he will resign with the Clippers, but we can't assume anything with Kawhi. He's an enigma, so we can't be surprise if he and his camp do something left field.
1. Dame time over in Portland?
It is been interesting offseason for Lillard and the Blazers. After another first round exit, Blazers parted ways with long time coach, Terry Stoats. The team replaced him with Chauncey Billups. Lillard was on board with the hiring in the beginning. Then Lillard took heat from the Portland fans for being on board with the Billups hiring because of sexual assault allegation against the new Blazers' coach back in 1997. Lillard was not too happy about that. Lillard would like to stay, but he wants to the organization to build a contender around him. He wants to win. The real question is what accents the Blazers have to build a title contender around Lillard? The team biggest flaw for years is that they never solidify the wing position. Either they did not have enough shooting from the Harkless and Aminu days, or they're too small with the Covington and Powell combination this past season. Do they trade McCollum to get pieces in return? I never was sold that Lillard and McCollum backcourt can win you a title because they're too small. Does Zach Collins have any trade value? If Lillard is actually available, what is the price and accents a team is willing to pay and relinquish to get a player like Lillard? If you're the Knicks, you offer Barret, Quickly, Toppin, and four first round picks for Lillard? If you're the Warriors, what about Wiggins, Wiseman, 7th and 14th pick this year, and two more first picks for Lillard? If you're Philadelphia, what about Simmons, Maxley, and four first round picks for Lillard? Lillard is under contract for another four years, so Portland aren't really in the pressure to trade him now unless Lillard pulls a James Harden. At the same time, since he is under contract for that long, his value might be at an all time high. Its going to interesting to see what Lillard and the Blazers do this offseason. My guess is that he will be traded.
Sources
Basketball Statistics and History | Basketball-Reference.com
LA Clippers News: Kawhi Leonard is reportedly expected to re-sign with the Clippers - Clips Nation
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