26. DEN, Chuck
- 2020: 86-54-4 (7)
- 2019: 81-106-2 (19)
- aODE: 4 / 11 / 16
Our reigning champions didn’t start the season as the title favorites. In fact, DEN wasn’t even a playoff threat in 2019, as they took a backseat during our inaugural season, sitting on injured stars while plotting a championship run. With the healthy return of Kevin Durant, Gordon Hayward, and a leap from budding star Michael Porter Jr., DEN took home the first Razzball Dynasty Association trophy and enshrined themselves in history.
Accolades are abundant for any title winner, but there’s no question that the huge January trade for Damian Lillard — exchanged for five future firsts from HOU — really pushed DEN over the top. Now touting a starting lineup of Lillard, Porter, Hayward, Durant, and Domantas Sabonis, there was no one capable of challenging them come playoff time. The depth was there too, as Tyler Herro, Derrick White, Kyle Kuzma, Gary Harris, and Enes Kanter gave DEN a fantastic second unit. Keep in mind, DEN didn’t even get that much from their three 2020 draft picks: RJ Hampton (RD1.18), Malachi Flynn (RD1.26), and Zeke Nnaji (RD1.29).
DEN’s strength last season was its incredible offense, which was ranked first in scoring and rebounding, while also being top-five-ish in 3PT, FT%, and AST. The only question about their team was if the defense would hold up, as both STL and BLK were about average. In their biggest upset against POR, DEN took both categories, cinching up their defense when it mattered most.
In the end, GM Chuck made all the right moves on his way to a title, from acquiring Durant at an absolute bargain during the setup auction to selling his draft capital for a game-changing star — DEN has only one first-rounder left in 2024. Congrats to DEN, the king of Razzball!
27. MIN, Jesse
- 2020: 50-93-1 (24)
- 2019: 126-63-0 (4)
- aODE: 23 / 30 / 13
While some of the other top teams from the inaugural 2019 season dropped in the standings in their second season, none fell further than MIN, who went from a legitimate title contender to a cellar dweller pretty fast. It wasn’t quite first-to-worst but it was pretty close. This is a team at a crossroads and they will need a bounceback season to right the ship.
Not only did MIN get instantly younger by a bit — offloading several aging veterans like Trevor Ariza and Paul Millsap — they also may have cursed both Wood and Davis to half-seasons last year. Here’s hoping the Beal and Wood combination can stay healthier than the Beal and Davis one. All in all, MIN reshaped their roster almost entirely last season, holding onto only Beal, Kevin Knox, and Shake Milton from the previous year. Of the new non-Wood imports, Eric Paschall and Payton Pritchard seem to have some upside, but the rest of the roster could be quickly turned over again, given the opportunity.
While playing an almost league-average Games Played mark, MIN exhibited only one strength: free-throw shooting. They’re generally lacking in stats across the board and will need help everywhere. MIN is without first-rounders in the next four drafts — their pick would have been no.4 for this upcoming draft — and it’ll be interesting to see how they can improve the roster in the next few seasons. If MIN can’t dig themselves out of this sudden hole, could Beal be the next one out the door?
Note: The 2021 MIN RD1.4 was originally traded to NYK for Kevin Knox back in Jan 2020 during the 2019 RDA season. More than a year later, right before the 2020 trade deadline (when it was clear MIN was going to have a bottom-five regular season record), IND acquired the pick — and Torrey Craig — by trading away Jae’Sean Tate.
28. POR, J.T.
- 2020: 95-46-3 (1)
- 2019: 101-85-3 (13)
- aODE: 6 / 9 / 13
After a solid first season, POR took a leap their second year and ascended all the way to first place in the 2020 regular season, sporting a 0.670 winning percentage — good for third all-time — while capturing a Northwest division crown and a Most Wins trophy. After stomping sixteenth seeded TOR in round one, POR was upended by eventual champion DEN in the second round, but there’s no doubt JT’s team will be ready to challenge for a title next year.
On the year, POR had an adjusted ODE that saw them ranking near the top in PTS, REB, AST, STL, and FG%. Even their lesser categories — 3PT, BLK, FT% — were right around league average, making them a very tough beat for anyone. The jury is out on whether Zach Collins will ever play more than zero games, but in theory Collins is a young piece that can further build upon POR’s depth.
For now, POR is mainly a stellar five man unit that orbits around Doncic and Jokic, with only one first-rounder in 2024 — and one more round-two in 2023 — to build out around them. However, there is no real limit to how good Doncic and Jokic can get, and the synergy between them, plus the great coaching of J.T., has already proven to be more than enough to create a true contender.
29. OKC, Zeya
- 2020: 38-105- 1 (30)
- 2019: 69-118-2 (26)
- aODE: 27 / 22 / 3
OKC isn’t trying to lose, but it’s not exactly trying to win either. Okay, who are we kidding?! OKC is trying to lose and they’re doing so marvelously! After finishing too high as only the fifth-worst team in 2019, OKC completely tanked and hit their goal of becoming the worst team in RDA last season. By putting in only 333 GP — good for second-worst — OKC was barely even trying. So far OKC is 107-223-3 over two seasons, with a 0.324 winning percentage, good for third-worst team in the league. While we hate to applaud losing, it’s all part of GM Zeya’s plan to build a sustainable contender from the ground up.
OKC was a little less busy on the trade front in 2020 but still put up ten trades — making thirty total in two seasons — highlighted by sending out two future firsts for Onyeka Okongwu (2020 RD1.4), giving them essentially three of the top seven rookies drafted last season. He’ll be a nice frontcourt add for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Wiseman. And with Mikal Bridges making a leap last year, that’ll cover a starting wing spot for OKC. Now the waiting game continues on Wendell Carter, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Sekou Doumbouya, Goga Bitadze, and Romeo Langford.
We called Zeya a genius after last season’s draft, will we call him “Grand Master” after this one?
30. UTA, Shane
- 2020: 79-64-1 (15)
- 2019: 125-61-3 (3)
- aODE: 14 / 6 / 24
Despite making two playoff appearances and coming a top-five combined regular season record, previous UTA owner, and co-commissioner, Viz decided to leave RDA for reasons that are best left unexplored. Suffice to say, there was some disgruntlement with how our league of extraordinary magnitude was shaping up, and Viz decided to head for the exit.
Similar to the real-life Jazz, UTA is built around a defensive mindset, with Rudy Gobert and Royce O’Neale playing for their RDA/NBA counterparts. Gobert alone probably helped get UTA into the top ten in REB, FG%, and BLK, and this team is strong in all the defensive categories while being excellent at passing as well. They could use some more offense, as they are about league-average there in adjusted ODE.
Under the old regime, UTA made only one trade, way back in 2019 for JJ Redick. We can likely expect more action from UTA moving forward, as they have a roster of goodies and a full set of draft picks from 2022 and on — they have no picks for the upcoming draft though.
Recall that UTA was the third-best team in 2019 before injuries -- mainly to Kyle Lowry, George Hill, TJ Warren, and Aaron Gordon — took them down to a mere fifteenth-seed in the 2020 playoffs. It wouldn’t be hard to picture a bounceback season for everyone from that list. However, aside from twenty-one year old Coby White and a sort-of youngish Gordon, there are not really any growth orientated players on this team. GM Shane will have to maneuver around his crew of veterans to climb back up atop the standings. We’re pretty sure he’s up to the challenge though so good luck Sugar, now go get that money!