Offseason grades: Southeast

[DrReality]

Hoopshype:

The Southeast Division was actually quite strong last season, sending three teams to the playoffs with the Orlando Magic making it all the way to the NBA Finals. Although the Washington Wizards and Charlotte Bobcats were in the lottery, they too have playoff aspirations for this upcoming season making the Southeast one of the most competitive divisions in the league. We're less than two months away from training camp and with the free agent market bare we've reached a point where we can distribute some offseason grades. We start off with the Southeast, ranking the teams' offseason from best-to-last:

Orlando Magic

Added/Retained: Vince Carter, Ryan Anderson, Brandon Bass, Matt Barnes, and Marcin Gortat

Lost: Hedo Turkoglu, Courtney Lee, Rafer Alston, and Tony Battie

Review: Shortly after losing in the NBA Finals it became apparent that the Magic were not going to be able to keep their nucleus together as Hedo Turkoglu was looking for more money than they were willing to offer. The Magic responded very well to his impending departure, arguably improving from last season. Carter will be a much better fit than everyone realizes and Dwight finally has the help he needs inside with Bass, Anderson, and Gortat returning. The addition of Barnes should pay off as well but the Magic are still looking to add another point guard. Their work for the most part is done though and they've done a great job putting together a team that can once again make it to the Finals and possibly put up an even better fight.

Grade: A

Atlanta Hawks

Added/Retained: Mike Bibby, Zaza Pachulia, Marvin Williams, Jeff Teague, and Jamal Crawford

Lost: Solomon Jones, Acie Law, and Speedy Claxton

Review: The Atlanta Hawks are the laughing stock of the league no more. They're coming off of two straight playoff appearances and this offseason they cemented their status as a playoff team for many years to come. Locking up Bibby, Pachulia, and Williams was very important but the two biggest additions are definitely Teague and Crawford. The two are very explosive offensively and should play big roles off the bench. As a young team the Hawks are going to continue to improve from within, especially now that they have playoff experience under their belt. They'd still like to add another big man or two, but overall the Hawks have done a very good job this offseason.

Grade: B+

MORE BY YANNIS KOUTROUPIS

View Yannis Koutroupis Archive Washington Wizards

Added: Randy Foye and Mike Miller

Lost: Etan Thomas, Darius Songaila, Oleksiy Pecherov, and Juan Dixon

Review: Injuries really held the Wizards back in 2008-2009, which is why the team didn't blow things up after a horrendous 19-63 finish. When healthy the Wizards feature one of the premier trios in the league with Gilbert Arenas, Caron Butler, and Antawn Jamison along with a solid young core. It's possible they could have made the playoffs if they kept the team intact, but instead the team opted to bring in Foye and Miller who will help immediately. With Flip Saunders at the helm the Wizards should be back in the playoffs next season, as long as they don't deal with the injury bug as much as they did last season.

Grade: B+

Charlotte Bobcats

Added: Tyson Chandler, Gerald Henderson, and Derrick Brown

Lost: Emeka Okafor and Sean May

Review: It's always a difficult offseason when your ownership is considering selling since the sale usually takes priority over the improvement of the team. The Bobcats' traded their first draft pick ever, Emeka Okafor, just a few weeks ago in exchange for Tyson Chandler. While Chandler has grown into one of the best defensive centers in the league, he's not the same kind of player Okafor is overall and it's a move that was done mostly to save costs. The Bobcats did manage to have a solid draft, picking up two players in Henderson and Brown that should be able to contribute next season. Brown, the 40th overall pick in the 2009 draft, could end up being quite a steal for the 'Cats. The goal is to make the playoffs next season, but until a change of ownership happens they'll likely be lottery-bound. It's vital that they work a deal out with Raymond Felton before the start of training camp.

Grade: C-

Miami HEAT

Added/Retained: Jamaal Magloire, Joel Anthony, and Patrick Beverly

Lost: Jamario Moon

Review: Poised to be one of the big-time players during free agency 2010 the Miami HEAT decided to take a passive approach this summer. The only free agent they made a big push for was Lamar Odom, who ultimately decided to stay home with the Los Angeles Lakers. They've been mentioned as one of the possible destinations for Carlos Boozer when he gets traded, but his situation has hit a bit of a standstill. More important than anything for Miami this offseason is development from within since no opportunities worth losing their cap space has presented itself up to this point. They're one of the few teams still interested in Allen Iverson's services for one year, which could end up being their big splash for this summer. Overall the HEAT did very little to improve since the plan was to stay pat barring any can't-miss deals came along.

Grade: D

Make sure to check back throughout the week as HOOPSWORLD's offseason grades continue nightly. Up next is the Pacific Division!

[MaceCase]

Again with this nonsense that Crawful will come off the bench. Is there one credible writer out there?

Good to see that some people are appreciating our moves though.

Edited August 11, 2009 by CrawfulToCrawesome

[gutz]

Again with this nonsense that Crawful will come off the bench. Is there one credible writer out there?

Good to see that some people are appreciating our moves though.

You think Crawford is going to start? He is coming off the bench so i'm not sure what your talking about. Starting lineup isn't changing from last year now that Marv is back.

[capstone21]

You think Crawford is going to start? He is coming off the bench so i'm not sure what your talking about. Starting lineup isn't changing from last year now that Marv is back.

Yes, Crawford was brought in to be our Vinnie 'The Microwave' Johnson. He is going to be our 6th man.

He will probably still get around 30 minutes but he will be coming off the bench.

[Guest]

Craw is the 6th man for sure ..only way he starts is if someone gets hurt.

[MaceCase]

I need to end my posts with /sarcasm. I'm not so obviously imitating certain posters that have accused the rest of the 'squawk for being crazy thinking that we should send a 50 point scorer to the bench citing our ignorance over his abilities. Apparently national media and outside sources are just as ignorant as us.

[DrReality]

It's more important who finishes the game rather than starts. And he will be there in the end, unless there are issues related to matchups.

[tonegully]

Yeah buddy. Having Crawford in against the other teams back ups..He should avg. 16+ easily.