21. DAL, T.A.
- 2020: 76-65-3 (16)
- 2019: 75-106-8 (21)
- aODE: 17 / 9 / 11
Right as last season’s draft started, DAL pulled off a mega-deal that reshaped their roster, sending out three first-rounders — and Goran Dragic — for Kyrie Irving and parts. One of those round-ones became Kira Lewis (2020 RD1.10) and we’ll see what else will come of it. By acquiring Irving, DAL got the scoring and late-game closer they needed to pair with Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kristaps Porzingis. Unfortunately, while DAL had a nice improvement from year one, they were just outside the playoffs despite being the sixteenth-best team in RDA. Pushed out of the postseason by conference seeding rulings, DAL had to sit on the sidelines and watch the playoff festivities.
As expected with Giannis attacking the paint, DAL is outstanding in field-goal percentage, ranking second overall in ODE. Adjusted to 475 GP, DAL also shows clear strengths in rebounding and protecting the rim, but are sorely lacking in FT%, AST, and STL. Having a healthy Irving can address all those areas of weakness.
DAL did have slightly under the leaguewide average for Games Played, but that can’t be helped, as Irving and Porzingis tend to miss chunks of games each season. If they can remain somewhat healthy, a postseason berth should be coming DAL’s way next season. Here’s hoping T.A. can use some of his future picks — mostly round-twos — to continue building around Antetokounmpo, recent NBA champion and Finals MVP!
22. HOU, Brian & Joe
- 2020: 47-97-0 (27)
- 2019: 105-80-4 (12)
- aODE: 25 / 28 / 18
Recall when HOU found out there was a league Slack midway through the 2019 season and came in hot? Co-GMs Brian and Joe traded for a championship caliber team in what seemed like mere seconds, exchanging everything that wasn’t nailed down for LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, and Kevin Love? That was an exciting time wasn’t it? They also brought in Carmelo Anthony, DeAndre Jordan, and Dwight Howard, completing an incredible 2012ish All-Star team. Barnstormng their way into the playoffs as a not-so-dark contender, they were hard stopped by the pandemic shut down. Fast forward to January of 2020 and a fresh season, and the great sell off had already begun.
The new-look HOU team features Bogdan Bogdanovic, De’Andre Hunter, and Danuel House as their big three, a far cry from James, Westbrook, and Love. However, with seven first-round picks coming in the next four years — plus many many extra round-twos — HOU is gearing up for a full rebuild. They also have last year’s no.9 pick, Deni Avdija — acquired for two future firsts — as an intriguing sophomore.
Going from a 0.566 win percentage to 0.326 isn’t easy but HOU has shown us the way. That’s how you tank baby! While it’s unfortunate that we won’t get to see HOU in the postseason any time soon, we’re positive the franchise won’t stay stagnant in the conversation or on the trade market. Let’s see what this team can do in year three to shake things up yet again!
23. MEM, Grizz
- 2020: 79-63-2 (14)
- 2019: 108-80-1 (11)
- aODE: 29 / 4 / 6
At this point we know what MEM is going to do: they’re coming for their categories — FG%, STL, BLK, TOS — and there’s not much anyone can do to stop them. With such a specific build, it’s mostly guaranteed that MEM can get into the playoffs, but there’s also one blight on their record: a lack of rebounds for such a heavily defense-focused squad. They’re ranked only thirteen in REB for adjusted ODE.
With Mitchell Robinson, Nerlens Noel, Jarrett Allen, and DeAndre Jordan aboard, cleaning the glass should seem like no problem, but the team wide rebounding drop off is steep after those four. Getting a healthy Marquese Chriss back would help, as would further growth from 2020 RD2.8 gem Xavier Tillman. Also, with Robinson having missed half of last season, perhaps the rebounding problem will disappear once the big Knick hits the floor again.
There do seem to be a few miscasts on this team, with Justin Holiday and Furkan Korkmaz providing high-volume, mostly inaccurate, shooting that doesn’t quite dovetail with what a big ball team could maximize. But with a Southwest division title, two playoff berths, and a top-ten combined regular season record, MEM is clearly always in the mix, just waiting to punish teams with their unorthodox play. MEM was just ten three-pointers away from possibly upsetting a strong WAS team in the first round last season, so grit and grind is just looking for a puncher’s chance in the postseason.
MEM is tapped out of picks for the foreseeable future — minus a lone HOU round-two in this year’s draft — so GM Grizz will have to get creative to improve. Luckily, there is no more active owner than Grizz on the trade market, as MEM has made sixty-six total trades in two seasons, nearly doubling the next closest team in trade volume — MIL with thirty-four. What will 2021 bring for MEM? We’re excited to find out!
24. NOP, Khang
- 2020: 84-58-2 (10)
- 2019: 88-95-6 (16)
- aODE: 16 / 15 / 6
After taking over as the new owner in NOP, Khang was quick to establish himself with a win-now attitude and no hesitation to pull off deals. Our resident magician and in-house entertainment took over a fringe playoff team and turned them into a top-ten organization rather quickly. Despite entering the postseason as an eleventh seed, NOP showed their bonafides by upsetting sixth-ranked GSW in round one, before bowing out versus a strong WAS team. All in all, Khang’s first season in RDA was a roaring success!
Leonard and Grayson Allen were the only leftovers from the 2019 team and the new-look NOP featured the George and Leonard duo along with Ricky Rubio at point, Dorian Finney-Smith as glue guy, and Jusuf Nurkic mashing things up in the middle. Some better health all-around health could get NOP even higher up in the standings, as Nurkic, Serge Ibaka, and Eric Gordon all missed nearly half the season.
Still, NOP was able to put up a higher than average Games Played mark, and for adjusted ODE, was league average nearly everywhere save field-goal percentage. What they are stellar at is swiping the ball and shooting from the free-throw line, which are two underrated strengths to any winning team. Tapped out of future first, NOP will have to get creative to build around their star duo, just like the real life Clippers. It’ll be exciting to see what Khang can do in 2021 as an encore!
25. SAS, Aaron
- 2020: 88-54-2 (6)
- 2019: 60-124-5 (28)
- aODE: 13 / 2 / 27
Another worst-to-first success story, SAS didn’t quite reach the playoff heights they were hoping for, but they did improve dramatically from season one to two, owing to a great 2020 draft class and turning a healthy Stephen Curry into Jimmy Butler and a high first-rounder. SAS finished the regular season as the sixth best team in the league — taking the Southwest division — and was the fifth-seed in the postseason, eliminating LAC before getting upset by BKN in round two. Despite that loss, it was overall a tremendous turnaround season.
That’s an incredible starting five of Fox, Edwards, Butler, Williams, and Embiid, who together cover all the statistical bases. There’s some depth too, as Terence Ross, Reggie Bullock, and Jakob Poeltl come off the bench to provide offense, distance shooting, and big man depth. SAS ranked top-ten in five separate categories — PTS, REB, AST, STL, BLK — and are fairly balanced everywhere. The one thing this franchise lacks is more floor spacing and three-point shooting, as they were bottom-five in 3PT according to adjusted ODE.
With no first-round picks in the next four years, SAS will be looking to grow internally while quietly being one of RDA’s least talked about teams but a true contender.