Southwest Division Offseason Recap

[Smitty731]

Hi all!

The last in the round of Offseason Recaps is up for RealGM. Southwest Division is covered in this one!

http://basketball.realgm.com/analysis/243470/2016-NBA-Offseason-Review-Southwest-Division

Any and all feedback is always appreciated!

Smitty

[Chinook]

Appreciate the effort and attention to detail as always, Smitty. But as you may know from the T&T board, I'm more bullish on the team's off-season than you are. With Manu coming back, getting the best big(s) they could whlie also getting youth was the best outcome. I think there were better players than Pau, but my ideal candidate is still in Boston after having his contract guaranteed, and the others were PFs who have defensive question marks. Pau on a short-term deal is a great compromise.

They obviously weren't going to be able to keep their rotation while drafting blue-chip guys. So I think cashing in their stashes and taking a flier on Murray was almost ideal. They don't need any to succeed right now, and they don't need more than one to succeed eventually for this to be a good off-season. If two or three become rotation players, this could be huge to the post-Gasol era.

[Nolan]

I have to say that I do disagree with our grade and the Rockets grade as well. How do they get a B while we only get a C?

The Rockets invested a ton of money in two very very injury prone one way players. Yes their spacing is going to be better but they're going to have some serious issues on the other end.

I can't say I'm the biggest fan of what we did but I still think we did pretty good considering our situation. Replacing Duncan is impossible but between Gasol and Dedmon I think we'll be fine at center. Losing Diaw and West hurts a bit but I think we'll be fine with Lee and Bertans stepping in and with Anderson taking on an expanded roll. Still wish we would beefed up the guard rotation but doing that would of been tricky.

[Smitty731]

I have to say that I do disagree with our grade and the Rockets grade as well. How do they get a B while we only get a C?

The Rockets invested a ton of money in two very very injury prone one way players. Yes their spacing is going to be better but they're going to have some serious issues on the other end.

I can't say I'm the biggest fan of what we did but I still think we did pretty good considering our situation. Replacing Duncan is impossible but between Gasol and Dedmon I think we'll be fine at center. Losing Diaw and West hurts a bit but I think we'll be fine with Lee and Bertans stepping in and with Anderson taking on an expanded roll. Still wish we would beefed up the guard rotation but doing that would of been tricky.

The Rockets grade was as much about addition by subtraction as it was about pure additions. The crew they lost had created such a toxic environment that almost anyone would be better. The health issues are true for sure, but the guys they got are basically perfect for the D'Antoni system.

And as Chinook mentioned, I'm just really down on the Gasol signing. I personally think he should come off the bench (essentially a combo of the West/Diaw role) and Dedmon should start. Some Spurs people think the same as well from comments at Summer League.

Overall, I think they lost more than they brought in and that is going to make the difference between being a true contender and being in the next tier.

[Nolan]

I have to say that I do disagree with our grade and the Rockets grade as well. How do they get a B while we only get a C?

The Rockets invested a ton of money in two very very injury prone one way players. Yes their spacing is going to be better but they're going to have some serious issues on the other end.

I can't say I'm the biggest fan of what we did but I still think we did pretty good considering our situation. Replacing Duncan is impossible but between Gasol and Dedmon I think we'll be fine at center. Losing Diaw and West hurts a bit but I think we'll be fine with Lee and Bertans stepping in and with Anderson taking on an expanded roll. Still wish we would beefed up the guard rotation but doing that would of been tricky.

The Rockets grade was as much about addition by subtraction as it was about pure additions. The crew they lost had created such a toxic environment that almost anyone would be better. The health issues are true for sure, but the guys they got are basically perfect for the D'Antoni system.

And as Chinook mentioned, I'm just really down on the Gasol signing. I personally think he should come off the bench (essentially a combo of the West/Diaw role) and Dedmon should start. Some Spurs people think the same as well from comments at Summer League.

Overall, I think they lost more than they brought in and that is going to make the difference between being a true contender and being in the next tier.

I can agree with you on the addition by subtraction as far the Rockets go.

But how did we lose more than we brought in? We're going to take a bit of a hit on the defensive end especially around the rim, Duncan's impact just can't be replaced. But we should be okay, Gasol's a capable defender and rim protector and Dedmon is that physical presence that we've been missing for a while. Our offense should be significantly better just with the additions of Gasol and Bertans.

I feel like you might be overvaluing Diaw and West a bit. Both had some nice stretches for us last season but for the most part they were average. Replacing them isn't going to be too hard.