Western Conference Offseason Grades 2024–Part 1

Blake Murphy of Sportsnet is our portal into a new kind of Raptors season having fully moved on from the old guard.What Blake thinks of this tack in the Raptors’ rebuildCan we take anything away from the limited minutes the new big 3 of Barnes, Barrett, and Quickley played with the Raps a season ago? 4:00.What to make of Darko Rajakovic after a chaotic season. 12:49.Jakob Poeltl’s ability to anchor the defense, and how the rest of the talent projects on that end. 17:26.Scottie Barnes’ evolution into an All-Star. 27:30.The competition to be the 5th starter at shooting guard and the bench rotation. 37:30.The Raptors’ rotational and statistical strengths and weaknesses. 50:53.Our predictions for the Raptors’ season. 1:00. Subscribe to Dunc’d On Prime, the only place to get every episode with Nate & Danny, plus every pod with John Hollinger & Nate as well! DuncdOn.SupportingCast.FMSubscribe on YouTube to see our hilarious faces and, more importantly, see the key moments from the pod each week.

One of the best beat writers in the business, Anthony Slater of the Athletic, is our guest to look at the upcoming Warriors seasonThe pros and cons of the Steph Curry extension.What they were last season and if they’ll miss Klay. 6:23Jonathan Kuminga’s potential to evolve into the needed second scorer. 14:00The massive burden on Steph and Draymond. 17:00The prospects for Bradin Podziemski in year two to evolve his game into a key offensive piece. 22:00The new signings replacing Klay and the lower-end rotation pieces. 29:30The possibility of a big trade, and how aggressive the Warriors should be even if they can’t necessarily get back into championship contention. 36:30The Warriors’ strengths and weaknesses heading into the season. 43:00The under-discussed Andrew Wiggins factor. 51:00Our predictions for the season. 58:00 Subscribe to Dunc’d On Prime, the only place to get every episode with Nate & Danny, plus every pod with John Hollinger & Nate as well! DuncdOn.SupportingCast.FMSubscribe on YouTube to see our hilarious faces and, more importantly, see the key moments from the pod each week.

Kings-watcher extraordinaire James Ham is our guest to kick off our offseason outlook series. Sacramento is a fascinating team this year, and we hit on all the big questions:What to make of last year’s “step back” and what needs to change this year to rejoin the playoffs?The impact of the DeMar DeRozan signing and his fit with the existing players. 11:20How the guard rotation will shake out with Ellis, Huerter, and Monk. 18:00Who are the main improvement and regression candidates. 27:00The Kings’ closing lineup as a potential strength, and the other key strengths and weaknesses for this team. 37:28Our predictions for the Kings’ season. 49:10 Subscribe to Dunc’d On Prime, the only place to get every episode with Nate & Danny, plus every pod with John Hollinger & Nate as well! DuncdOn.SupportingCast.FMSubscribe on YouTube to see our hilarious faces and, more importantly, see the key moments from the pod each week.

It’s time to hold ourselves accountable by looking back at what we originally thought each team’s 2023 offseason and decide how well that take and the teams’ offseasons themselves have aged. We start in reverse alphabetical order in the East:WASTOR-13:36PHI-22:20ORL-28:22NYK-36:25MIL-43:40MIA-58:41IND-1:10:06 Subscribe to Dunc’d On Prime, the only place to get every episode with Nate & Danny, plus every pod with John Hollinger & Nate as well! DuncdOn.SupportingCast.FMSubscribe on YouTube to see our hilarious faces and, more importantly, see the key moments from the pod each week.

It’s time to hold ourselves accountable by looking back at what we originally thought each team’s 2023 offseason and decide how well that take and the teams’ offseasons themselves have aged. Plus, we break our rules and go back to re-grade a key 2022 offseason move whose outcome has fluctuated wildly.DALDEN-17:00GSW-28:00HOU-35:05LAC-41:53LAL-51:47MEM-1:01:05MIN-1:09:28 Subscribe to Dunc’d On Prime, the only place to get every episode with Nate & Danny, plus every pod with John Hollinger & Nate as well! DuncdOn.SupportingCast.FMSubscribe on YouTube to see our hilarious faces and, more importantly, see the key moments from the pod each week.

An ode of appreciation to LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Stephen Curry as they carry the Americans to another gold medal in Paris over a game French squad. We break down what they’ve meant to American basketball, plus a deep dive on the gold medal game itself.  We also discuss our theories for why Americans (relatively) struggle in FIBA basketball, and pick our All-Olympics teams. Subscribe to Dunc’d On Prime, the only place to get every episode with Nate & Danny, plus every pod with John Hollinger & Nate as well! DuncdOn.SupportingCast.FMSubscribe on YouTube to see our hilarious faces and, more importantly, see the key moments from the pod each week.

We give our observations and predictions for the knockout round of the Olympic basketball tournament, then get into offseason grades for the rest of the East:MIL and CLE after signing Trent and Allen 23:00ATL-30:00CHA-39:00CHI-44:51DET-53:00MIA-1:04:15PHI-1:15:40TOR-1:20:00WAS-1:27:30 Subscribe to Dunc’d On Prime, the only place to get every episode with Nate & Danny, plus every pod with John Hollinger & Nate as well! DuncdOn.SupportingCast.FMSubscribe on YouTube to see our hilarious faces and, more importantly, see the key moments from the pod each week.

TNT sues the NBA to enforce its matching rights, what are the early indications on how it could play out? Andrew Nembhard’s extension negotiations were some of the more fascinating in recent memory. (8:00) Tyus Jones joins Phoenix, is this a game-changer for the Suns? (16:00) Plus the rest of the transactions around the league.Then, our wrap-up of every roster player in Summer League continues!CHI: Matas Buzelis, Julian Phillips (36:30)OKC: Dillon Jones, Ajay Mitchell, Ousmane Dieng (45:20)SAC: Keon Ellis, Colby Jones (54:00)MIA: Kel’el Ware, Pelle Larsson, Josh Christopher, Keshad Johnson (58:00)PHI: Jared McCain, Adem Bona (1:09:00)LAL: Dalton Knecht, Bronny James, Maxwell Lewis (1:16:00)ORL: Tristan Da Silva, Anthony Black, Jett Howard (1:26:44)TOR: Ja’Kobe Walter, Jonathan Mogbo, Jamal Shead, Ulrich Chomche, Gradey Dick (1:34:40) Subscribe to Dunc’d On Prime, the only place to get every episode with Nate & Danny, plus every pod with John Hollinger & Nate as well! DuncdOn.SupportingCast.FMSubscribe on YouTube to see our hilarious faces and, more importantly, see the key moments from the pod each week.

Our wrap-up of every roster player in Summer League begins!ATL–Zaccharie Risacher and Co.WAS–Alex Sarr, Bub Carrington, Kyshawn George (13:40)HOU-Reed Sheppard, Cam Whitmore, AJ Griffin (33:30)Then, the news including our reaction to the Evan Mobley extension (54:00), TNT’s intent to match the Amazon TV deal (1:04:18), and Gary Trent Jr. signing with the Bucks (1:16:10) among other things. Subscribe to Dunc’d On Prime, the only place to get every episode with Nate & Danny, plus every pod with John Hollinger & Nate as well! DuncdOn.SupportingCast.FMSubscribe on YouTube to see our hilarious faces and, more importantly, see the key moments from the pod each week.

The first part of our look at the Western Conference offseasons, with NO business school grade inflation! A “C” is average folks.Oklahoma City ThunderDenver NuggetsL.A. ClippersDallas MavericksPhoenix SunsLos Angeles LakersGolden State Warriors Subscribe to Dunc’d On Prime, the only place to get every episode with Nate & Danny, plus every pod with John Hollinger & Nate as well! DuncdOn.SupportingCast.FMSubscribe on YouTube to see our hilarious faces and, more importantly, see the key moments from the pod each week.