The NBA offseason has been a wild one as everyone tries to catch up to the NBA champion New York Knicks. LeBron James has a new home, there's a Kawhi Leonard trade in the works if the NBA will ever decide what to do about the Aspiration scandal, Giannis Antetokoumpko is in Miami and a lot of dominoes fell.
Not everyone participated as actively in the offseason, however, with some teams opting to stand pat and others making puzzling decisions to not seize windows of opportunity. Let's look at five NBA teams who didn't do enough this offseason, starting with the New Orleans Pelicans.
New Orleans Pelicans
It's bad enough that the Pelicans had to miss out on a loaded lottery class thanks to an ill-fated decision to give an unprotected pick to the Atlanta Hawks to get Derik Queen last summer. While it is commendable that New Orleans didn't tank last season when half the league seemed to be punting, they followed it up by punting on the summer.
The only notable change that the Pelicans made was hiring Jamahl Mosely as their new head coach, which they hope will get them to raise the floor on a talented roster that has underachieved for years. It would make more sense to cash out on someone like Zion Williamson or Trey Murphy to begin a proper rebuild, but New Orleans appears pot committed to a group that won 26 games last year, which is not an optimal strategy.
Denver Nuggets
The Nuggets acted aggressively last summer to bolster their bench in a bid to win a second title with Nikola Jokic. That expensive roster couldn't get out of the first round, losing in six games to the Minnesota Timberwolves, and ownership has pulled back this offseason to avoid going over the second apron.
There have been some modest additions so far but nothing that will blow your socks off as Denver appears to be falling behind in the Western Conference arms race. There is also an expensive high-risk game of chicken going on with restricted free agent Peyton Watson, who wants a bigger contract than the Nuggets are willing to offer right now, and it could lead to some discord if he ends up coming back on a short-term arrangement.
Orlando Magic
Choking a first-round lead against the Detroit Pistons cost Mosely his job, leading long time Spurs' assistant Sean Sweeney to take over as Orlando's new head coach. The problem is that the Magic's roster got quite expensive after the Desmond Bane trade, leaving the front office few avenues to improve the team without getting too deep into the luxury tax.
A reunion with Nikola Vucevic is Orlando's most notable offseason addition and all of the contracts they handed out are cheap one-year deals or two-ways. Sweeney is going to have to get a lot of internal work done in order to get this group to play up to its potential before the conversation becomes more about which players should be moved to shake up the core.
Golden State Warriors
It's hard to blame the Warriors for taking a swing at LeBron in the hopes of building the NBA's version of the Expendables, but King James correctly ascertained his path to winning a title would be quite difficult with this version of Golden State. The end result is that the Warriors had to settle for running back a team that was old and oft-injured last season, with the only notable addition being lottery pick Yaxel Lendeborg.
There should be mid-season additions coming as Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody work their way back from knee injuries but it may not be enough to elevate the Warriors out of the Play-In conversation. With Stephen Curry due for a new deal soon, Golden State will have some tough calls to make if they want to ensure their star stays a Warrior for his entire career.
Indiana Pacers
A big part of Indiana's misfortune this offseason came from bad lottery luck, when their trade for Ivica Zubac resulted in the fifth pick conveying to the Clippers, who ended up with Keaton Wagler instead of the Pacers. Getting Tyrese Haliburton back from his torn Achilles tendon will be massive but the Pacers didn't do much to augment the roster around him, with their big rotation adds being a two-year deal for Kelly Oubre Jr. and a one-year flier on Larry Nance Jr.
There is a belief that Zubac can fill the Myles Turner role in time, allowing him to team with Haliburton and Pascal Siakam to give the Pacers a trio of stars to lead a deep team in a more challenging Eastern Conference. Its hard to bet against Rick Carlisle as a head coach but the offseason didn't do them many favors on that front.
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