SB Nation NBA Reacts: Most Wizards fans believe team improved in the offseason, give front office a “C”

As we head into the 2020-21 NBA season, we will have weekly surveys on various moves on the NBA through SB Nation NBA Reacts. If you haven’t signed up, you can do so in the link below.

Here are the results from our most recent survey which as earlier this week.

Most Wizards fans thought the team got better in the offseason

SB Nation

60 percent of our voters believe the Wizards improved after the 2020 NBA Draft, free agency, and most notably, the blockbuster trade for Russell Westbrook. Of the 40 percent who thought the Wizards didn’t improve, I wish this result was broken down into two categories: Some of this 40 percent probably thought the team remained about the same while others thought the team got worse.

Based on the buzz of the Westbrook trade, I guess that few people believe the Wizards got worse on paper in the offseason.

Fans give the Wizards front office a “C” overall

SB Nation

Based on the results and breakdown here, I think this is a fair grade. The Wizards were able to retain Davis Bertans in the offseason, acquire Westbrook in a deal for John Wall, draft Deni Avdija with the No. 9 pick when he probably should have been a Top-5 pick AND keep Bradley Beal. These were good or expected moves (or non-moves), but not extraordinary.

I mean, it wasn’t like the Wizards were able to trade Wall to the Milwaukee Bucks for ... Giannis Antetokounmpo and a first round pick. That’s when I would have given Tommy Sheppard an “A!” (And that’s when Brew Hoop would give their front office an “F” for the ages.

National Results: The Chris Paul to the Suns trade is the biggest move in the NBA ... and the Wizards are No. 22 in power rankings...

The Westbrook trade should provide the Wizards an impact in the backcourt right away, even though you never know if John Wall has a Breanna Stewart-like comeback in the months ahead for the Houston Rockets.

But when you look at how the national NBA landscape is, they believe the Chris Paul trade from the Oklahoma City Thunder to the Phoenix Suns will have the biggest impact. Westbrook’s move to D.C. didn’t make this graphic.

SB Nation

And as Wizards fans, sometimes we feel more pessimistic about the team than the nation at large. Or lately, we may feel more optimistic about the team than the nation at large.

The Wizards ranked 22nd in the first set of power rankings.

SB Nation

I don’t think this list is a ... fair shake because of the way this question was formatted in the survey. That’s because people had to specifically rank each team with a number, making this a cumbersome task — at least that’s how it looked for me.

But anyway, it’s interesting to see that Washington is 22nd in these rankings after the Westbrook trade. Meanwhile, the Rockets, Wall’s new team is 14th. Hmmm.

Anyway, let us know how you feel about these initial findings in the comments below. They are very early returns, and we’ll see how everything shapes out in the real word in the weeks and months ahead!