16. GSW, Brent
- 2020: 122-67 (11)
- 2019: 83-59-2 (6)
- aODE: 7 / 14 / 26
Harking back to the Bay Area’s Run TMC days, our version of GSW has been molded in much the same manner, with an offensive-heavy playstyle that has led to two straight Pacific division titles. Entering the 2020 postseason as the sixth seed, GSW unfortunately suffered a first-round upset via those tricky magicians down in NOP, but Anthony Davis presumably returns to full health next season and that could spell doom for the rest of the league.
In all, Brent engaged in nine trades last season, bringing in not only that Davis haul, but also the likes of Bojan Bogdanovic and Steven Adams in November, Jordan Clarkson and Trey Lyles in January, and then re-acquiring Joe Ingles and Justise Winslow in February. (Ingles was an auction pick for GSW, shipped out to MIL in October 2020, and then brought back four months later. Winslow had a similar journey being auction drafted by GSW, shipped out in January to MIN, and then brought back again.)
There are so many offensive-forward talents on this team, with the likes of Reggie Jackson, Derrick Rose, and Will Barton barely even mentioned so far. In sum, this is a deeeeep, veteran-heavy, championship-caliber team with no first-round picks over the next four years — and actually only one RD2 in 2023 upcoming — so Brent is totally going for it!
With one of the top offenses in the league and a just good enough defense — one that could vault up quickly with Davis’ return — GSW is positioned to challenge for a ring next year. It’s championship or bust in the Bay Area, let’s gooooo!
17. LAC, Joe
- 2020: 80-62-2 (12)
- 2019: 74-112-3 (23)
- aODE: 15 / 11 / 17
Despite showing up to the inauguration auction three days late, LAC might have lucked/strategized themselves into the type of roster than wins thirty-team leagues: lineup depth! We anticipated a rebuild for LAC coming out of 2019 but instead they surprised by not only becoming a winning team after a moribund first season, but also a playoff-bound one as the twelfth seed. Despite losing in the first round to SAS, the foundation is set for LAC to push their success up another level. Hitting on 2020 RD1.3 LaMelo Ball can really change a franchise, and LAC likely hit on their RD1.12 as well, with defensive stopper Isaac Okoro getting big minutes in his rookie season.
With the rest of the roster featuring workable veterans like Patty Mills, Patrick Beverley, and Andre Iguodala, LAC goes twelve or thirteen deep with serviceable players. In addition, LAC Joe was second in the league in Games Played, with 571 GP, which was worth 17% more production than the average.
LAC was about league average in almost all nine categories last season, with highs in steals and free throw percentage. Their one significant weakness was field goal percentage, which ranked a lowly twenty-seventh in either ODE calculation. Most of the scorers on this team are inefficient or errant, but they produce in the counting stats and there’s enough team synergy to cover all the bases. For a LAC team that was looking a little light on star power, getting an exciting Rookie of the Year winner in Ball rightly changes their entire trajectory.
18. LAL, Son
- 2020: 72-70-2 (18)
- 2019: 115-71-3 (8)
- aODE: 24 / 16 / 24
From on-the-fringe contender to out of the playoffs, our esteemed commissioner had championship aspirations entering 2020 but bad luck and injuries convened to tear their title chances apart. Spencer Dinwiddie played only three games total and well, when the franchise cornerstone goes down, the whole team suffers. Dinwiddie for MVP!
In 2020, LAL played about average across the board, with slightly more Games Played than average, a middle of the road combined ODE, and generally speaking, a little blah overall. Their entire offense could use an upgrade as well, as they were bottom ten in PTS, 3PT, FT%, and AST. Getting Dinwiddie back will actually help a lot there, as will a return to form from Davis Bertans, who took the Wizards’ money and then promptly lost his shooting touch. With the no.14 and no.15 picks in the upcoming draft, LAL will need to hit on one or both of them to boost their talent base.
Having said all that, LAL are still owners of a top-ten combined regular season record, and as many RDA teams have shown, good ownership can vault a team up the standings pretty fast. After all, going 0.500 in a season is good enough to qualify for the playoffs and after that, anything is possible! A puncher's chance at a title is all LAL can hope for heading into 2021, unless maybe LeBron and Anthony Davis will make a power move to fantasy LAL-land as well?
19. PHX, Chad
- 2020: 49-94-1 (23)
- 2019: 49-135-5 (29)
- aODE: 19 / 25 / 21
Unfortunately, this is the worst team in the league over the first two years of RDA. With a 0.301 winning percentage, PHX is the only team to not hit triple digits in category wins yet — 97 W to 107 for the next closest team up. However, the good news is PHX improved from being the second-worst team in 2019 to eighth-worst in 2020! With that upward trajectory, it’s possible they could jump into the postseason conversation this year right? If this were a startup, the CEO would definitely be touting this sort of linear growth and asking for a hundred million dollars in funding. Alas, this is basketball…
Somewhat eyebrow raising is that six of PHX players heading into the 2021 season were free agent acquisitions from 2019 [our first season!], which might be seen as roster continuity if you squint, but Georges Niang, Jordan Poole, Justin Jackson, Patrick Patterson, Svi Mykhailiuk, and Tacko Fall are not necessarily the pieces Zion and Ben will be looking to win with. All three of last year’s free agent pickups from PHX were cut and not on the current roster. Movement doesn’t necessarily equate to improvement but no movement can often signal indifference. Fans have to be wondering what’s going on in the Valley of the Sun.
Still, despite all this, PHX was still somehow better than seven teams last year — and ranked third overall in FG%, plus not bad at scoring and passing the rock. The story seems to be that if this PHX team shoots it scores, but fans just wish they would shoot more…. on and off the court. If not, paying customers may start to revolt and Williamson will be looking for another city to move to.
20. SAC, Andrew
- 2020: 66-78-0 (20)
- 2019: 69-115-5 (25)
- aODE: 3 / 18 / 20
While not exactly a winning organization, SAC has been an incredibly busy one, participating in thirty-two trades total — good for third all-time — and a whopping nineteen alone in 2020. While their overall regular season record is just a smidge above the totally tanking teams, SAC is now set for a full-on worst to first type of season, as evidenced by their new franchise cornerstones: LeBron James and Steph Curry!
SAC could’ve had Victor Oladipo as a fourth ex-All Star wild card as well, but he was dealt away at the trade deadline last year for two firsts. Note: Original auction pick Paul George was here early on too, along with D’Angelo Russell and Kyrie Irving. SAC had a rotating roster of insane names this season didn’t they?
Assuming decent health, Curry, James, and Thompson are an airtight trio and there’s enough on the roster to complement them, with Dennis Schroder and Marcus Smart making fine backup guards. Mason Plumlee, Blake Griffin, and Dario Saric don’t inspire that much confidence in the middle but that may not matter with so much scoring from the backcourt and the wings.
SAC will be offense-first and are potentially top-three ranked in five categories. After all that wheeling and dealing, there are only two more first-rounders in the trade coffer — TOR’s 2022 and 2023 — but we can be certain that SAC will be fiddling with their team all season long. It’s time to win some hardware SAC, and not just earn Uber credits shuttling All-Stars back and forth to the airport. Also Andrew, give your marketing team a raise, they worked overtime last season!