The 2022 NBA offseason set off a wave of player deals. In addition to the draft, dozens of players have changed teams through trades and free agents. There is no doubt that a small number of squads have improved.
Taking into account statistics, potential team fit, and healthy subjectivity, here are the 6 teams that have improved the most this offseason.
1. Portland Trail Blazers
New Entrants: Jeramie Grant, Gary Payton II, Sheldon Sharp and Jabari Walker
Departures: Joe Ingalls and Eric Bledsoe
The Portland Trail Blazers are likely to see 2021-22 as a championship-winning season.
Damian Lillard played only 29 games before undergoing abdominal surgery. Nurkic has played only 56 games. The Trail Blazers traded Norman Powell and Robert Kavington to the Los Angeles Clippers and sent CJ McCollum to the New Orleans Pelicans before the February trade deadline.
Now, they enter the 2022-23 season, with Lillard and Nurkic Healthy, newcomers Jeramie Grant and Gary Peyton II ready to provide support.
After two years at the Detroit Pistons— the team's scoring champion — averaging 20.9 points on 16.1 shots per game — Grant is returning to a role that is better suited to his game. With the defensive focus on slowing Lillard down, he should experience a rebound in efficiency at Oklahoma City and Denver.
Grant also offers more body size and defensive versatility than McCollum. Payton, meanwhile, was one of the Golden State Warriors' best and most important guards last season. His cuts and bottom-corner three-point shots also give him an advantage on the offensive end.
In the 2021-22 season, when Payton played with Stephen Curry, the Golden State Warriors had significantly better plus-minus than when Curry didn't play without him. Don't be surprised if he had a similar impact on Lillard.
If Sheldon Sharp hits his top 10 picks sooner than expected, the Trail Blazers could be looking for a playoff spot again in 2023.
2. Boston Celtics
New Entrants: Malcolm Brogdon, Danilo Gallinari, JD Davidson and Fiondo Cabengelle
Departures: Aaron Nesmith, Nick Stauskas, Daniel Theis, Juwan Morgan and Malik Fitz
The Boston Celtics have just made it to the NBA Finals with Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown, and their two best and most important players are firmly in their prime years of their careers. This offseason, they added a starting defender from Malcolm Brogdon and a high-end role player from Danilo Gallinari in exchange for a player who continues to rotate (Daniel Tys).
If Brogdon can stay fit — a big "if" — Boston will have one of the best guard rotations in the league, Brown, Marcus Smart, Derek White and Payton Pritchard.
In three seasons with the Indiana Pacers, Brogg averaged 18.9 points and 6.3 assists while providing an all-round defense. The lineups of him, Smart, Brown and Tatum will have unparalleled organisational, shooting and convertibility.
Although Gallinari is entering his 34-year-old campaign, he is still a reliable paddle board player. Over the past four seasons, he's averaged 16.0 points per game and shot 40.8 percent from three-point range. Boston is a great place to go at the end of his career, where he is likely to create a healthy part for him.
The Celtics already have one of the best rotational lineups in the NBA. Reinforcing it as thoroughly as they did in this offseason made them one of the title favourites for the 2022-23 season, and that didn't even take into account Kevin Durant's problems.
Earlier this summer, it was reported that Boston had offered a KD package that included Jaylen Brown. The talks have yet to lead to a deal, but Charania dropped another nugget in his report about Durant's ultimatum to Brooklyn management this week.
"The Celtics, Toronto Raptors and Miami Heat remain the most important candidates to acquire Durant, and the sources say a package deal in Boston centered on All-Star forward Jaylen Brown is seen as a viable deal," he wrote. "Durant has grown in close relationships in recent years with Boston coach Imme Udoka, who previously spent a year as Durant's assistant in Brooklyn and then with team USA at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics."
Whether such a trade will have long-term implications for the Celtics is another day's topic, but adding him to Tatum now will only cement Boston's position as a championship front-runner.
3. Atlanta Hawks
New entrants: Dejuntai Murray, Frank Kaminsky, Maurice Harkless, Aaron Holliday, Justin Holliday, AJ Griffin and Teres Martin
Departures: Danilo Gallinari, Kevin Hult, Delang Wright, Gorgy Dion and Sharif Cooper
Joining Dexanete Murray and Trae Young together will be one of the craziest experiments of the NBA's 2022-23 season.
If you add assists and usage last season, these two are ranked fourth and second respectively. It may not be easy to divide touch, shoot and offensive opportunities between them.
But if they can figure it out, the Atlanta Hawks' current passing ability is simply ridiculous, let alone the best defensive player in the backcourt with Young.
In the 2021-22 season, Murray averaged 21.1 points, 9.2 assists, 8.3 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game. He ranks 95th in the estimated plus-minus, one of the most trusted comprehensive metrics among NBA executives.
Add to that a bit of flanking depth (given the departures of Kevin Hult and Danilo Gallinari is necessary) and Frank Kaminsky vs. Young (EPM 98th) building 5 spacing should allow the team to return to the playoffs to fight for the right to leave.
4. New York Knicks
New Entrants: Jaylen Brunson, Isaiah Haltenstein and Trevor Killes
Departures: Alec Burks, Narens Knoll, Taj Gibson and Kemba Walker
Witnessing Kemba Walker's rapid and complete decline is sad, but his departure could help the New York Knicks. Last season, when he was on the floor, they lost 9.5 points per 100 rounds, and when he wasn't there, they lost 3.0 points per 100 rounds.
Replacing his playing time (and then some) with Jalen Brunson should raise the Knicks' ceiling and floor.
Brunson's playoffs elevated Brunson's profile across the league, but he's been playing a role in non-Luka Doncic's lineup for two years. Since the start of the 2020-21 season, Brunson has averaged 22.3 points and 7.5 assists per 75 possessions per game, while Doncic's true shooting percentage is 58.3% in doncic's absence.
Putting him in the Knicks' starting five-man group should create decent shooting opportunities and immediately help one of last season's most disappointing teams.
Brunson isn't the only upgrade the Knicks have received, though. They also signed Isaiah Hardenstein, one of the league's most efficient centers last season.
Hardenstein ranks 93rd in EPM and averaged 17.0 points, 10.0 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 2.3 blocks and 1.5 steals per 75 possessions, shooting 66.4 percent from the field. New York now has one of the NBA's best bench big men, and neither he nor Brunson is under the age of 26.
The loss of The Experience of Norris Noor and Ty Gibson and the production of Alec Burks made them a bit of pain, but the Knicks made up for it, even if they didn't trade Donovan Mitchell.
5. Philadelphia 76 people
New entrants: D'Antoni Melton, PJ Tucker, Danuel House Jr., Treveling Quinn and Julian Champaigny
Departures: Danny Green and DeAndre Jordan
PJ Tucker's signing could get more publicity — he could certainly help in the short term — but the real trick for the Philadelphia 76ers this summer was to trade D'Antoni Melton.
Philadelphia sent Danny Green (who could miss the entire 2022-23 season due to a torn front cruciate ligament) and draft picks, who became Meton's David Roddy, who has ranked sixth in the league in steals rate over the past two seasons.
However, he is far from a one-move pony. In the same time period, Melton shot 38.8 percent from three-point range and also showed some decent assists.
At best, Melton will be a Mattis Sebel-level defender who can also play a role on the offensive end. At worst, he's a ball-handling Hawk and defenders must at least keep an eye on the outside.
Tucker, meanwhile, experienced a huge rebound in the 2021-22 season after seemingly bottoming out in the 2020-21 regular season. (He was steady in the playoffs, though, with world champion Milwaukee Bucks having a better playoff score difference when he played.) ）。 If he can provide an average defense and 40+ three-point shooting, he will be a useful player.
The 76ers are likely to ask Danuel House Jr. to do the same. The last time he was on a team formed by Darryl Morey, he averaged 9.7 points per game and shot 37.3 percent from three points in three full seasons for the Houston Rockets.
It makes sense for James Harden, Joel Embiid, Teres Maxi and Tobias Harris to have as many three-pointers as possible. That's exactly what Morey did in the offseason.
6. Minnesota Timberwolves
Newcomers: Rudy Gobert, Kyle Anderson, Austin Rivers, Brin Forbes, Wendell Moore Jr., Josh Minott and A.J. Lawson
Outgoing: Jared Vanderbilt, Patrick Beverley, Malik Beasley, Josh Okoji, Walker Kessler and Leandro Bormaro
There's a lot of understandable pain about the price the Minnesota Timberwolves paid for Rudy Gobert (four draft picks, one rookie and multiple role players), but it's hard to see how that won't help in the short term.
Over the past six seasons, Gobert has ranked first in the league in terms of total blocks, second in rebounds, second in true shooting percentage, and fourth in victory contributions (behind James Harden, Alphabet Brother and Nikolai Jokic).
During the same period, the Utah Jazz scored 9.2 points per 100 possessions while he was present and 0.9 points in his absence. Despite receiving little help from outside players in this regard, Utah is still the best defense in the league. Meanwhile, the Timberwolves' defense ranked 26th during that time.
Gobert's arrival added instant credibility to that end of the pitch, and it's not hard to imagine how he'll fit into Karl-Anthony Downs. Gobert rolls the ball hard under the basket, Kate pulls away on the court, and opponents will constantly pick up their poison in front.
But Gobert isn't the only player who should help Minnesota in 2022-23.
Kyle Anderson was one of the more unique organisers in the game and was a defensive stalwart himself. Playing With Anderson at the No. 4 position with Towns or Gobert would be an interesting question.
Austin Rivers adds some toughness to the outside defense, and Brin Forbes' three-pointer can hit a quarter.
Losing multiple rotation players is nothing to sneeze on, but Minnesota will almost certainly raise the short-term cap.