Off-Season Grades: Southeast Division

Miami Heat: D+

Draft: None
Trades: Luke Babbit
Signings: Hassan Whiteside (4 yr, $98mm), Tyler Johnson (4 yr, $50mm), Udonis Haslem (1 yr, $4mm), Wayne Ellington (2 yr, $12mm), James Johnson (1 yr, $4mm), Derrick Williams (1 yr, $5mm), Rodney McGruder, Willie Reed (2 yr, $2.1mm)
Departures: Dwyane Wade, Luol Deng, Joe Johnson

Breakdown: Pat Riley said it himself. This has been a bad off-season for the Heat. Headlines have swirled around the Heat for the past two weeks after Wade announced he would be leaving Miami for the Chicago Bulls. Long story short the Heat are going to be worse this year.  After losing Wade, Deng, and Johnson, Miami is awfully shorthanded on the perimeter. The free agent additions of Ellington, Johnson, and Williams will add depth, but they aren’t exactly exciting moves.
On the other hand, the Heat did a good job of retaining their young players in Whiteside and Johnson, but it is yet to be seen if these deals will pay off or come back to haunt them. This off-season wasn’t pretty in Miami and it could still get worse depending on the health of Bosh. The Heat essentially took a year off from free agency, but should be extremely active in the summer of 2017.

Atlanta Hawks: C+

Draft: Taurean Prince, DeAndre’ Bembry, Isaia Cordinier (Stash)
Signings: Kent Bazemore (4 yr, $70mm), Dwight Howard (3 yr, $70mm), Jarrett Jack (1 year, Minimum), Kris Humphries (1 yr, $4mm)
Departures: Al Horford, Jeff Teague, Lamar Patterson

Breakdown: The Hawks have been a perennial Eastern Conference playoff team and one of the reasons for this is the consistency of their core. That core will look very different next season after the departure of both Jeff Teague and Al Horford. Teague has been replaced by the promotion of Dennis Schroder into the starting lineup. The log jam at point is finally gone and we will be able to see exactly what Schroder can bring to the table as a starting point guard. Horford has been replaced by the Hawks biggest splash in free agency, Dwight Howard. Howard is looking to have a bounce back season and will provide the Hawks with the rim protector that they’ve been missing. The Hawks biggest free agent signing could prove to be Kent Bazemore. Bazemore is primed for a starting role in Atlanta’s new look backcourt and has steadily improved over his 4 year NBA career.
The Hawks killed it in the draft, scoring two NBA ready swingmen in the first round. Prince will have the opportunity to compete for a starting job this year and Bembry should be a contributor off of the bench for years to come. The moves to bring in Kris Humphries and Jarrett Jack on team friendly contracts are low risk, medium reward moves that could end up being important pieces of their rotation.

Charlotte Hornets: C

Draft: None
Trades: Marco Belinelli
Signings: Nicolas Batum (5 yr, $120mm), Marvin Williams (4 yr, $54.5mm), Roy Hibbert (1 yr, $5mm), Ramon Sessions (2 yr, $12.5mm), Brian Roberts (1 yr, $1mm), Christian Wood
Departures: Al Jefferson, Courtney Lee, Jeremey Lin, Troy Daniels, Malachi Richardson (Draft Pick)

Breakdown: The Hornets were able to retain their number one free agent target Nic Batum to a lucrative 5 year extension. The French forward is a versatile player on both sides of the ball and was a big reason for the Hornets success this past season. Another key contributor from a year ago was the former Tar Heel, Marvin Williams. Williams is a top level rebounder at his position and does all the little things well. Unfortunately for the Hornets, re-signing the two forwards limited their financial flexibility, resulting in the departure of Courtney Lee, Jeremey Lin, and Al Jefferson.
Roy Hibbert will come in as a replacement for Jefferson and may end up being viewed as an upgrade when it’s all said and done. Hibbert is in a contract year and his time to get another big deal may be running out. Ramon Sessions was also brought in to replace Lin. Sessions is a capable back up, but this has to be viewed as a downgrade. The Hornets haven’t done much to improve their standing in the East.

Washington Wizards: C+

Draft: None
Trades: Trey Burke
Signings: Bradley Beal (5 yr, $128mm), Ian Mahinmi (4 yr, $64mm), Andrew Nicholson (4 yr, $26mm), Jason Smith (3 yr, $15.6mm)

Departures: Nene, Jared Dudley, Ramon Sessions, Garrett Temple

Breakdown: The Wizards didn’t have a pick in this year’s draft after the midseason trade that brought in Markieff Morris. While Morris is a talented player, the Wizards could have certainly used the lottery pick. Washington’s off-season approach wasn’t as much about adding outside help as it was about keeping Bradley Beal. If Beal can stay healthy, the Wizards should be poised to return to their 2015 form and make it back to the playoffs. The trade for Trey Burke should also help solidify their backcourt. Burke is a talented young player who ran out of playing time in a crowded Jazz backcourt. He’ll have the opportunity to resurrect his career in Washington behind John Wall. The addition of Ian Mahinmi is intriguing since Gortat is still under contract. Gortat could be used as trade bait for a wing that would help the Wizards stretch the floor.

Orlando Magic: B-

Draft: Stephen Zimmerman
Trades: Serge Ibaka, Jodie Meeks
Signings: Evan Fournier (5 yr, $85mm), Bismack Biyombo (4 yr, $72mm), Jeff Green (1 yr, $15mm), D.J. Augustin (4 yr, $29mm)
Departures: Victor Oladipo, Brandon Jennings, Jason Smith, Andrew Nicholson, Shabazz Napier, Ersan Ilyasova, Domantas Sabonis (Draft)

Breakdown: This was a hectic off-season for the Magic. There were a lot of moving pieces and the dust has yet to fully settle. Orlando started off with a splash on draft night when they moved Oladipo, Ilyasova, and the 11^th pick (Sabonis) for Serge Ibaka. While I think they gave up too much to get Ibaka, they addressed a major concern in adding a big time rim protector. The move also frees up playing time for last year’s top 5 pick, Mario Hezonja.
Free agency was also noteworthy for the Magic. They re-signed Fournier to a 5 year extension, in what I see as one of the best contracts given out this year. They were also able to bring in D.J. Augustin, on a fairly team friendly deal, to back up third year point Elfrid Payton. Bringing in Biyombo is where things got interesting. It is difficult to see where Biyombo fits in with the Magic’s plan. Ibaka is expected to start at the four and starting center Nikola Vucevic is coming off a career year in which he averaged 21 points and 10 rebounds. There has been some speculation on the trade market for Vucevic, as he isn’t a perfect fit in new head coach Frank Vogel’s system. Either way with the addition of Jeff Green and the development of Aaron Gordon, the Magic now have a long jam in their front court.

Grayson Gold-Garvey