What’s the opposite of “underrated”? Not “overrated,” exactly ...
at least for the purposes of this exercise. Earlier this week, I wrote about five positive moves from the NBA offseason that aren’t getting enough attention, both for their potential impact and the creativity involved in executing them. Now it’s time for the other side of the coin — some moves that haven’t really received much negative press despite having significant downside.
I wouldn’t call them “overrated” as much as “under-scrutinized” — and they left me with some questions. Advertisement I’ll note that not every iffy move from this summer qualifies. The entire internet took turns hammering the Chicago Bulls for trading Alex Caruso for Josh Giddey without getting any picks in return , so I’m not going to bother piling on.
Similarly, the Denver Nuggets’ offseason was somewhere between underwhelming and depressing, but I’m not the first person to point that out. I also didn’t include “non-moves” here, although it wouldn’t be hard to come up with a few. For instance, I’m still waiting to find out what the New Orleans Pelicans’ likely opening day lineup looks like — this can’t be it, right? I’m also assuming the Cleveland Cavaliers will eventually sign another player or three and fill out their roster.
Finally, there’s another class of contracts that technically might seem “bad” relative to an analytic model of expected return, but the teams had lit.