Preview 2021: East / Atlantic

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Welcome to the 2021 team preview -- including the 2020 post-view! Keep in mind these were written without any 2021 transactions in mind and yes, we are aware some huge trades have already gone down. The editorial staff here at RDA wanted a moratorium but nobody listened so here we are, an outdated piece of work... Good luck everyone with their drafts and to a fantastic new season!

[ Historical W/L | RDA Transactions | ODE 2020 ]

1. BOS, Kostas

  • 2020: 89-51-4 (5) [Overall regular season record aka Power Ranking]
  • 2019: 74-111-4 (22)
  • aODE: 9 / 21 / 3 [aODE is adjusted to 475 GP, the league average]
After a bumpy inaugural season in RDA as one of the worst teams in the league, BOS really turned it around in 2020 by taking the Atlantic Division crown and making it into the playoffs as a top four seed. Despite being upset in the first round by a surging BKN team, year three for BOS should be full of promise and hope for a bright future as they’d laid a solid foundation for growth. In two years, the BOS franchise has played almost exactly 0.500 ball, and are a showcase for the swings that a team can undergo from season to season. With three first-round picks in both of the upcoming drafts — plus two more first rounders in 2023 and 2024 — BOS is in great position for continued success.

Last year’s team featured some great management from Kostas as BOS was top four in Games Played, highlighted by both a top ten offensive and efficiency ranking. Adjusted to 475 GP, BOS looks even better, with a top three mark in efficiency — this team is the best free-throw shooting group in the league — while still maintaining that top ten offensive ranking.

The steady hand of Malcolm Brogdon is one of the reasons for all that, as he pilots BOS alongside co-stars Khris Middleton and Tobias Harris. In-season trade imports Cam Johnson and Miles Bridges brought in more youth and wing depth, to go along with Gary Trent Jr. and Dwayne Bacon. Both of those acquisitions can be considered solid wins for GM Kostas. (Bridges was acquired from ORL pre-2019 draft, for RD1.9 —which ended up being Deni Avdija — while Cam Johnson was brought in in-exchange for Nicolas Batum.)

However, while there are plenty of offensive minded, careful, and versatile players on this team, BOS is sorely lacking a defensive big man who can pound the boards and protect the rim. Larry Nance is a highlight dunker and an impressive ballhawk — he leads this team in steals by a wide margin — but he isn’t exactly a defensive deterrent. And how many RDA teams have gone on the Kevon Looney merry-go-round? Six? Seven? With the no. 12, 21, 26 overall picks in the upcoming draft, look for BOS to go big or maybe even package up to go even bigger as they pursue the title.

2. BKN, Trieu & Jon

  • 2020: 80-62-2 (13)
  • 2019: 109-76-4 (10)
  • aODE: 2 / 5 / 11

Long one of the more top-heavy teams in the league, BKN put together a scintillating postseason run in 2020, upsetting higher-ranked BOS and SAS before falling to eventual champion DEN in the semi-finals. Entering the playoffs as the thirteenth seed, BKN lost Jamal Murray right as the postseason began but managed to eke out a successful year anyway.

Injury-riddled for much of the regular season, BKN was only the thirteenth-best team during the year as they started off ice-cold before turning it on midseason. The core trio of Karl Anthony-Towns, Jayson Tatum, and Murray didn’t see much floor time together — with Kemba Walker and Evan Fournier also missing significant time — but by adjusted ODE, BKN still managed to be the top overall team — with CHI and NYK trailing by a slim margin. Along with MIL, BKN was one of two teams with both a top-five rating on offense and defense. The only individual categories BKN wasn’t near the top of was FG% and REB, which spoke to their lack of big men aside from Towns and Daniel Theis.

Even with Murray likely out for the upcoming 2021 season, BKN has no choice but to press forward with their win-now plan as they have no picks — literally none — for the next four years. And while BKN was highly active swapping their roster around in 2019, a smaller volume of trades in 2020 made less headlines but still managed to move out half their team from the previous year.

TJ McConnell was a nice pre-2020 draft acquisition, although moving Serge Ibaka around the same time for Luke Kennard, Taurean Prince, and Rajon Rondo ended up being mostly a wash. One key transaction was the pre-deadline trade for Carmelo Anthony and Lou Williams — in exchange for Marquese Chriss and a future-second — which provided much-needed depth for BKN’s playoff run. Of course, Anthony and Williams could soon both be retired so the rentals with no ring could prove to be costly. Can BKN stay healthy enough in 2021 to win it all, or was one memorable playoff run all this group has in store?

3. NYK, Brian

  • 2020: 84-56-4 (8)
  • 2019: 136-51-2 (1)
  • aODE: 10 / 8 / 10

The start of the pandemic and subsequent NBA shutdown really hurt NYK, as they were rampaging through the 2019 season and likely headed toward a title. Instead, there’s a chance they might’ve missed their championship window already with Chris Paul pulling into his thirty-seventh birthday and Hassan Whiteside relegated to back up status. NYK still managed to make the playoffs as a ninth seed last year, but were eliminated in the first-round by eventual 2020 champion DEN, which has to sting a little. The championship torch was passed but NYK never really got to hold onto it…or win it.

Still, two Atlantic division titles, one Most Wins season in 2019, and a 0.673 combined regular season winning percentage — good for second all-time — is nothing to scoff at. Paul is still a top tier fantasy option and NYK remains incredibly deep. Nearly everyone on the roster — one through thirteen — is a contributing piece. Robert Covington actually led this team in minutes last season, just a smidge above Lonzo Ball and Paul. The space age shooting of Duncan Robinson, Joe Harris, and Seth Curry are essential components for any winning squad — helping NYK rank second overall in threes — and GM Brian even turned a FAAB pickup (Torrey Craig) and a future first into promising Rockets rookie Jae’Sean Tate. What NYK lacks — a little bit in raw PTS and REB — they make up for in sheer volume.

The frontcourt could use a bit of an upgrade, with Marc Gasol possibly re-retiring, leaving just Whiteside and Derrick Favors around the rim. But NYK is all about the whole being greater than the sum of its parts, and they have the right mix of pieces to be one of two teams that ranked top ten in all three ODE rankings. The title window is going to have to stay open for NYK, as they only have one first-round pick in the next four years. If Paul can remain motivated and healthy, and continue playing for several more years, NYK can probably stay in the championship conversation even if they were denied a proper 2019 title run.

4. PHI, Alvin & Joachim

  • 2020: 49-94-1 (25)
  • 2019: 84-104-1 (18)
  • aODE: 20 / 24 / 18

With a 0.402 regular season winning percentage over two seasons, PHI has been, in sum, a bottom five regular season team despite almost making the hypothetical playoffs in 2019. There was some hope that 2020 would be a year for PHI to continue rising as postseason contenders, but a poor start shook management’s confidence and they were quick to throw in the towel. By January, the win-soon philosophy was gone, evidenced by PHI trading Damian Lillard to SAC in an eight-player deal that brought back D’Angelo Russell, Kevin Huerter, and Kendrick Nunn — along with two future firsts.

As if that wasn’t enough, Victor Oladipo was shipped out five days later to SAC as well for Cam Reddish and Cameron Payne — along with one of the future firsts that was acquired from the Lillard deal. All in all, the two deals between PHI and SAC ended up looking like this:

• PHI received: D’Angelo Russell, Kevin Huerter, Kendrick Nunn, Frank Ntilikina, Cam Reddish, Cameron Payne, 2021 PHI RD2, 2022 POR RD2, 2023 DAL RD1

• SAC received: Damian Lillard, Victor Oladipo, Dennis Schroder, Brad Wanamaker, Dzanan Musa, 2021 NYK RD1

The new-look PHI franchise didn’t improve after those trades but that was part of the new tanking plan. They have three round-one selections in 2023 and two this season — at no.7 and no.13. Without many strengths that can be pointed out, PHI needs anything it can get from the upcoming draft so co-GMs Alvin and Joachim better be scouting hard.

At least this team can hit some threes and are decent at swiping the ball, but all those category strengths and minuses won’t matter as management will surely be shuffling players in and out as they look for quality pieces to fit around Russell and Huerter. The youth movement is on in PHI so it’ll be interesting to see when they’ll be able to sniff the postseason once again.

5. TOR, Ghita

  • 2020: 71-66-7 (17)
  • 2019: 78-106-5 (20)
  • aODE: 20 / 24 / 18

Making the playoffs as the sixteenth seed, TOR incrementally improved themselves from year one but there seems to be some confusion from upper management about which way this team is supposed to go.

The 2020 draft featured four TOR first-rounders with Patrick Williams (1.11), Josh Green (1.19), Isaiah Stewart (1.25), and Immanuel Quickley (1.30) all being considered nice picks — minus Green, who didn’t get much playing time in Dallas as a rookie. An early trade off of Lonnie Walker and a future first for De’Andre Hunter in January fit the youth-orientated timeline, as did bringing in Malik Monk — along with Bogdan Bogdanovic — for Jordan Clarkson and Trey Lyles five days later.

However, GM Ghita then hit the eject button and sold off the promising Williams for three future firsts, and then pushed Hunter and Bogdanovic out the door for two more number ones. All fine moves in a vacuum maybe but then what followed made slightly less sense. Two future firsts and Josh Green were swapped out for twenty-nine year old Victor Oladipo. Hunh?

With the core of this roster in their young twenties — Lauri Markkanen (24), Rui Hachimura (23) Monk (23), Quickley (22), Stewart (20) — it was a puzzling move that hinted at a franchise being pulled in opposite directions. Which way are you going TOR? Up or down?

All these moves were still good enough for a postseason berth though, as TOR was excellent at protecting the ball and shooting from the field. They were also seventh ranked in Games Played, a significant advantage that gave them twelve-percent more production than the league average 475 GP mark.

What TOR’s roster lacked was a solid point guard to lead the offense, as well as slightly more defense and doing a better job teamwide in securing rebounds. The frontline of Markkanen, Hachimura, Stewart, and Montrezl Harrell are a little underpowered and undersized and there are now no defensive-minded wings with the departure of Williams and Hunter.

TOR is no stranger to roster makeovers — recall that this is where LeBron James started his RDA career — but when it’s all said and done, are they getting better or just treading water?