NBA Power Rankings: Where does each team stand after 2019 offseason?

Tier 5 — The Tanking Teams

The Cavaliers are still clearly a few years removed from fielding a competitive NBA team, don’t place high expectations on the team’s shoulders this season. Especially considering guards are notorious for taking longer to adjust to the NBA, Cleveland should prioritize the development of Collin Sexton, Darius Garland and Kevin Porter Jr. while searching for a solution to their Kevin Love problem.

Best move: Had a pretty impressive draft

Worst move: Letting David Nwaba leave in free agency

Just about everything the Hornets do is an egregious blunder. After years of awful draft decisions, Charlotte allows their best player to walk for nothing and replace him with three years of Terry Rozier. Jeremy Lamb was also an asset that could have been flipped for something of value. Now the Hornets have no young assets with superstar potential and are forced to bottom out. This is going to be the start of a very long and grueling rebuilding process, considering Charlotte’s draft history.

Best move: Drafting PJ Washington and Jaden McDaniels

Worst move: Offering Terry Rozier big money instead of Kemba

The “Grit-n’-Grind” era has officially come to an end with the departure of Mike Conley. And although this exit may bring up a lot of nostalgic memories, it was absolutely the right decision. Jaren Jackson Jr., Ja Morant and Brandon Clarke is an excellent start of a young core. Another year at the bottom while allowing the rookies to make mistakes and learn from them should help pick up another valuable piece before shifting their gaze back to playoff contention.

Best move: Trading Conley and giving Ja Morant the reins.

Worst move: Potentially complicating things with Josh Jackson

Entering the offseason with high hopes, the Knicks floundered to the highest degree and ended up signing plenty power forwards instead of their desired surplus of superstars. While none of their signings are all that egregious from a financial standpoint — hell, Julius Randle is possibly even a smart investment — it is disappointing looking back in retrospect all the same. The Knicks are putting all their eggs in the Barrett and Knox basket, it would be wise to bottom out again to pick up another franchise-altering player.

Best move: Signing proven veterans to lead the locker room

Worst move: Gave up on Porzingis for Dennis Smith Jr. and a pair of assumed low draft picks.

Phoenix continues to ignite the rivalry with New York for most inept management in the entire league. Instead of developing their young assets and utilizing cap space to build a playoff contender, the Suns blew it all up for… Ricky Rubio? Instead of picking up D’Angelo Russell, the Suns traded away T.J. Warren and the No. 32 pick for cap space to overpay Rubio. They also attached a talented player in De’Anthony Melton just to get rid of Josh Jackson. And swapped the Jarrett Culver pick for Cam Johnson and Dario Saric. And replaced Richaun Holmes with Cheick Diallo. Phoenix, you give me a headache.

Best move: Re-signing Kelly Oubre Jr.

Worst move: Where do I begin? 

The Hawks undoubtedly host an interesting young core. But the national sensation that is Trae Young has probably elevated this team further in most people’s minds than it should. Atlanta is bad. They won 29 games last year, and frankly haven’t done much to improve this summer. Swapping Kent Bazemore for Evan Turner was strange, completely giving up on Omari Spellman was stranger, and signing Jabari Parker to back up John Collins sounds like a party for opposing offenses. This team is far from contention and will be looking at another high lottery pick this season.

Best move: Cleared payroll and committed to rebuild by collecting draft assets

Worst move: Signing Jabari Parker to a multi-year deal