Dunc’d On podcast: Offseason Grades

Last week Nate Duncan and Danny Leroux did their offseason grades for the Western Conference teams on the Dunc’d On NBA Podcast. I know a lot of posters are already listeners, but if you haven’t heard the episode, here is the idea and cliffs.

Each offseason Nate and Danny give each NBA team a grade for their offseason. For the most part, they are decently harsh graders. The grades are not just a “who did they get” but instead, they each grade based off of the offseason choices and decisions that were actually available to the specific team. For example, the Nuggets got a higher grade than the Clippers (I think B and B+ vs. C+ and B-) even though they made minimal moves because Nate and Danny took into consideration their tight cap space and limited ability to actually improve their roster.

Cliffs of what they said about the Pels:
Nate - A
+ Liked the AD trade, but loved the #4 trade and the Pels ability to not only dump Hill, but essentially turn his space into Redick
+ Thinks we got the best player in the #4 swap (NAW) and thinks there’s a strong possibility that NAW and Hayes are both better than Hunter
+ Likes the Favors trade, specifically that we now have his bird rights too.
+ Thought the Darius Miller signing was sneaky and creative cap maneuvering. Said the roster was already deep and was better to use his signing as a “human trade exception” especially since it cost us nothing. (To the chagrin of some posters here)
+- Neutral on the Melli signing. Hasn’t seen anything about him that is impressive but willing to give benefit of the doubt.
- The only knock he gave was that he wished that the Pels would have down more to put more shooting around Zion. Doesn’t like the lack for shooting from the 3-5 starters. Only thing keeping Pels from A+

Danny - A
+ A and never really questioned it. (Danny doesn’t believe in giving A+’s)
+ Parrots everything that Nate says
+ Loves all of the off the court upgrades with Griffin, Facilities, and Nelson all being huge pluses
+ Talks about the smart decision for the Pels to be competitive early because a complete tank would be hard with Jrue and the Lakers additions. (Both think Pels will be competitive next year)
- Wishes the Pels would have gotten more shooting from the forward positions, but doesn’t hold it against them too much because there wasn’t an obvious player for them to go after.

*Neither grade included drafting Zion since it was more lottery luck than decision making.
*Also, just as an aside, they think that one of Lonzo or Ingram will not be part of the future plans (Many here have said the same thing). In other pods, they’ve mentioned Ingram as the the more likely mover due to his pending free agency.

Overall, both had glowing reviews of the Pels offseason. If you’ve listened to any of their summer league episodes, this shouldnt surprise anyone as they’ve been praising the Pels all offseason. None of this is new information for anyone here, but I like to point it out because they said almost everything that we’ve said on here. It’s nice to reach outside the echo-chamber and to see affirmation of a lot of this boards opinions on the Pels offseason decisions. Also helps to know the national perception of the Pels is so positive.

If you have a chance, you should listen to the podcast and give it a follow (their Lakers offseason discussion in particular is interesting). I hate to cliff it and them not get any benefit. Both Nate and Danny do good work, specifically with analytics, cap rules, and how trades and signings affect future cap flexibility. Here is the link to the pod website if interested. Dunc’d On