Final Report Card Grades for Every NBA Team

Hard to believe, but true, the NBA season is over. The Chicago Bulls are officially the best regular-season team, earning the top overall seed. The Charlotte Bobcats are officially the worst team ever with an all-time lowest winning percentage of .106.

Everything else is in between.

Here are grades for all 30 NBA teams. Bear in mind these are for the regular season. Obviously how they will do in the postseason has yet to be determined, and as this is 2012, not 2011, last year's postseason did not enter into the picture.

The criteria for grading was a combination of how they actually did and how they did against expectations. That's why you'll see some teams who have grades better than other teams that have better records.

I didn't grade just on records because I feel those are called "standings" and would be redundant.

At the same time I didn't want to give Cleveland an A just for not going on a record losing streak. Rather, I considered whether a team improved. How much did it improve? What was expected of it? What kind of injuries did it have, and how did it respond?

I have no strict formula here. Grades are entirely my opinion, which you, of course, are entitled to rake over the coals.

With that explanation, here are the grades for every NBA team based on their regular-season results.

Atlanta Hawks: B

Final Grade: B

Final Record: 40-26

Team MVP: Josh Smith

Summary

The Atlanta Hawks could be argued to deserve an A or a C, depending on your perspective. On the one hand they lost one of their best players, if not their best player, in Al Horford and continued to win after many counted them out.

On the other hand, management brought back what was essentially the same team that consistently gets bounced in the first or second round year after year.

The effort the team has put forth in maintaining a relatively high quality of play without Horford has been commendable, but the stagnation by management drops its grade down to a B.

Boston Celtics: A

Final Grade: A

Final Record: 39-27

Team MVP: Rajon Rondo

Summary

The saying goes, "It's not how you start, it's how you finish," and the Celtics have certainly finished strong. Before the All-Star game they were 15-17 and sitting on only the 18th-best record in the NBA. Many analysts (present company included) were ready to declare them dead.

However, a second-half revival has changed a lot of minds. The emergence of Avery Bradley, Kevin Garnett's performance at center, Paul Pierce's dominant march in March and Doc Rivers' coaching genius all came together in the second half of the year.

Since the break, only the San Antonio Spurs and Chicago Bulls have a better winning percentage. The Celtics climbed up and snatched the Atlantic Division from the 76ers' flailing hands. Boston's strong finish merits an A.

Charlotte Bobcats: F

Final Grade: F

Final Record: 7-59

Team MVP: Kemba Walker

Summary

The Charlotte Bobcats were the worst team in NBA history. Their winning percentage is the worst in the history of the NBA. They have the second-worst margin of victory in NBA history. They're just a whole new level of awful.

They were so bad it's almost impossible to qualify just how low a level of badness their badness sunk to. They have players starting who wouldn't even crack the rotation of a number of teams.

From management to coaching to player development to team play—this team is an F. If there were a worse grade than F, they would have earned that.

Chicago Bulls: A+

Final Grade: A+

Final Record: 50-16

Team MVP: Carlos Boozer

Summary

If the Bulls had done what they did this year healthy, they would have gotten an A. Winning the No. 1 overall seed earns them at least an A. 

That they did it in spite of the plethora of injuries they faced gets them an A+. 

The Bulls missed 76 starts and 87 games overall due to injuries. No team had ever repeated with the league's best record with more missed starts due to injury. 

Most projected them to win games in the mid to upper 40s. Few projected them to repeat with the NBA's best record.

Virtually no one would have given them a chance at that if they would have known that Rip Hamilton would have missed over half the season, Derrick Rose would have missed more than a third of the season and Luol Deng would have missed a sixth of it.

No one would have believed they would win two games against the Heat getting a combined two points from Rose.

From Gar Forman for putting the team together, to Tom Thibodeau for coaching and developing the players, to the players for executing on the court day in and day out, this team deserves an A+.

Cleveland Cavaliers: C-

Final Grade: C-

Final Record: 21-45

Team MVP: Kyrie Irving

Summary

Kyrie Irving has certainly emerged as a potential superstar, having one of the best rookie seasons in recent memory. He has all the earmarks of a franchise player. He has skills; he has heart. He has a maturity well beyond his years. Clearly, the Cavs picked well.

For the first half of the season, they were a very competitive team, but after the break they fell apart. Some of that is due to injury. Some is possibly due to tanking. The only team with a worse record since the break, though, is the Bobcats, and they barely qualify as a "team."

They would have had a B after the first half of the year, but an 8-27 post-All-Star record sinks them to a C-. The Irving pick keeps them from falling into the D range, though.

Dallas Mavericks: C-

Final Grade: C-

Final Record: 36-30

Team MVP: Dirk Nowitzki

Summary

The Dallas Mavericks are the defending NBA champions and as such are the only team really allowed the "We're waiting for the postseason" excuse. In my most humble opinion, if you haven't won it, you don't deserve to take the regular season off.

The Mavs have been up and down all year. They started off the season getting hammered by the Miami Heat on opening day. They are a collective 3-12 against the Spurs, Thunder, Lakers, Bulls and Heat this year. There are plenty of reasons for concern from the Mavericks headed into the postseason.

Of course the same was true last year until it wasn't. The Mavs came short of preseason expectations, finishing with a seventh seed, but the regular season isn't where their season is measured.

The Mavs vs. Thunder series offers one of the most appealing matchups of the postseason. Who would have thunk that the two best contests of the first round would be No. 2 vs. No. 7?

Denver Nuggets: B+

Final Grade: B+

Final Record: 38-28

Team MVP: Ty Lawson

Summary

This was a hard team to grade because there are so many things to evaluate. The pros: They've been better than the Knicks since the Carmelo Anthony trade. They've overcome a glut of injuries. They made the playoffs and even beat the Thunder in Oklahoma City to secure the sixth seed.

The cons: They had that awful stretch in February. Yes, they had injuries, but they were really awful. They had the whole Nene sign, wait and trade, which may or may not have been above board. They overpaid on Arron Afflalo out of desperation to make a new star player rather than acquire one.

I want to give this team an A, but there are just too many minor flaws. They're the team that delineates the curve between A and B.

Mostly, they're in need of a superstar, and Ty Lawson isn't it. That doesn't mean they can't give the Lakers a serious run for their money.

Detroit Pistons: D+

Final Grade: D+

Final Record: 25-41

Team MVP: Greg Monroe

Summary

When a team is as bad as the Detroit Pistons were last year, you don't expect them to make the postseason the following year. This is their third consecutive year with about the same winning percentage and SRS (Simple Rating System, a schedule-adjusted team rating at basketball-reference.com).

It's not just the failure to improve that is bothersome. It's a borderline commitment to not improve, as evidenced by the re-signing of Tayshaun Prince to a four-year contract. It is inexplicable why the Pistons would not only extend him when his best days are behind him and they should be rebuilding, but that they would overpay him and give him four years.

The actual players played well at times. Greg Monroe looks like he could be an All-Star if the Pistons can ever put together a winning team again. Brandon Knight needs to grow, and it's too early to tell on him.

Golden State Warriors: F

Final Grade: F

Final Record: 23-43

Team MVP: David Lee

Summary

This team didn't just tank. The Warriors "M1 Abramsed." They've taken tanking to a whole new level. They were within three games of .500 on March 13 and then apparently decided it wasn't worth winning to sacrifice lottery balls.

They went 5-22 over the rest of the season, plunging down to 23rd in the standings.

There was a certain amount of genius to their tanking, though.

They sent out their best player in a trade that won't have a return until next year, when Andrew Bogut will be healthy. They no longer have an undersized backcourt.

Best of all, it just barely worked out. The Warriors descended to the seventh pick in the draft (barring a lottery miracle), which means they hold on to their first-round pick this year rather than give it to Utah. 

So next year, the Warriors' plan is to have a healthy Stephen Curry, David Lee and Bogut along with whomever they draft with their pick (Harrison Barnes?).

Next year, they can get a better grade if the plan works out, but for now, it's an F.

Houston Rockets: C+

Final Grade: C+

Final Record: 34-32

Team MVP: Kyle Lowry

Summary

For the second year in a row, the Houston Rockets were the best team in the league not in the postseason. That makes it hard to give them a grade above a C, but there are reasons they deserve it.

First, if you want to go with the whole "A for effort" argument, there's a lot to be said for this team. General manager Daryl Morey certainly tried to get the Rockets a big man, but it seemed like one player after another just used the Rockets to try to manipulate a better contract.

Then they had their best player and breakout star Kyle Lowry miss most of March due to a virus. Goran Dragic filled in admirably for Lowry, averaging 18.0 points and 8.4 assists as a starter.

Lowry returned just in time to lead Houston on a six-game losing streak, which included five consecutive losses to teams they were vying for a playoff spot with.

It would be nice to give the Rockets a better grade for the heart they showed for the first 57 games, but the last nine count too. Houston gets a C+.

Indiana Pacers: A-

Final Grade: A-

Final Record: 42-24

Team MVP: Danny Granger

Summary

When it comes to those who have excelled at all levels of the game in coaching and at the GM spot, Jerry West, aka "Zeke from Cabin Creek," is getting a challenge from Larry Bird, aka the "Hick from French Lick." There's still a ways to go, but Bird is proving he has a grasp of the game that few can match.

Hiring Frank Vogel, drafting Paul George, trading for George Hill and Darren Collison and inking David West all were moves that didn't draw the major headlines, but when you put them all together, the Pacers have gone from one of the worst teams in the NBA to holding the fifth-best record.

The reason they're an A- instead of an A? They are 15-20 against winning teams. To get to the next level, the Pacers are going to need to learn to win against the best. Of course, they have cap space to spend this summer.

Los Angeles Clippers: B-

Final Grade: B-

Final Record: 40-26

Team MVP: Chris Paul

Summary

There are a lot of positives to this team. The Clippers have had an almost miraculous turnaround. Let's face it—a turnaround from the Clippers at all is miraculous.

The acquisitions of Chris Paul, Caron Butler, Chauncey Billups, Nick Young and Kenyon Martin all this season should make Neil Olshey the easy winner of Executive of the Year. He made the Clippers relevant. That's just insane!

Chris Paul has been everything you could have hoped, and in one season together the team has become one of the better teams in the NBA. They don't quite get an A, though, for a few reasons.

The Clippers defense is only 18th. That would be greatly improved if they tried a defensive strategy that didn't focus on flopping. Blake Griffin's defensive development is way behind his offense. Part of that is on him, but some is on head coach Vinny Del Negro.

With the level of talent the Clippers have, they should have gotten home court in the first round. They didn't. That's not "A" material.

Los Angeles Lakers: B

Final Grade: B

Final Record: 41-25

Team MVP: Kobe Bryant

Summary

What will be interesting here is whether more people will be enraged at the idea of Kobe Bryant being called the Lakers' MVP than would be if he hadn't been. 

Many predicted the Lakers would be too old and falling apart this year. Some even went so far as to say the Lakers would miss the postseason entirely (though they were in the minority). Others, though, said that the Lakers were going to win the title. Vegas had them with the third-best odds.

In general, though, the consensus was that the Clippers were going to take over L.A. and the Pacific Division, which they didn't.

The Lakers managed to turn around from a chaotic beginning. They were arguably the biggest winners at the trade deadline, and they made enough moves to pull out a division championship.

On the other hand, Metta World Peace is still Ron Artest in all the wrong ways; Mike Brown hasn't figured out how to run an offense; they are awful on the road; they still don't get it inside to Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol enough; and Kobe Bryant still shoots too much.

When you put it all together, it comes out to a B.

Memphis Grizzlies: B+

Final Grade: B+

Final Record: 41-25

Team MVP: Rudy Gay

Summary

The Grizzlies closed about as strong as anyone, winning 16 of their last 20 games. They were picked as a preseason dark horse by many to represent the West in the NBA Finals. They have all the necessary ingredients.

They have the inside presence in Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol. They have the perimeter scorer in Rudy Gay. They have the perimeter defender in Tony Allen. They have a capable point guard to direct it all in Mike Conley, and they have a scorer off the bench in O.J. Mayo.

It seems everything is there, but that it just started to come together at the end. While Randolph's injury played into things, the rest of the season has to count for something too.

Offensively, they have just the 20th-ranked offensive rating in the league. Their SRS is just 12th. Those things would suggest they aren't quite as good as their record, but how they've been playing lately suggests they're better than their record.

In the end they come just short of proving they've done enough to warrant an A.

Miami Heat: C

Final Grade: C

Final Record: 46-20

Team MVP: LeBron James

Summary

Prior to the season, there were some who argued the Miami Heat would win 56 games or even more. Some argued that the Heat would challenge the '96 Bulls for the all-time win percentage.

Instead, they came up with the fourth-best win percentage this year. Their offense took a step back, as they went from being the third-most efficient offense last year to the sixth-most efficient offense this year.

While some have said they have improved this year, it's hard to justify that. They have a lower winning percentage, a lower SRS and a lower margin of victory. They fell off in net efficiency from the point guard position, the center position and the bench.

In other words, statistically speaking the team has become even more reliant on LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh than it was last year.

The Heat consistently struggled to beat winning teams on the road over the second half of the year. After the All-Star break they were a mere 19-13, just 12th-best. They grew tired over the course of the season as the "Big Three" wore down because of the continued over-reliance on them.

Now the team enters the postseason with ambiguity as to who its starting center even is.

For a team that was picked to break records for winning but finished the season that weakly, it is hard to figure a way to give a grade higher than C, particularly when it had the presumptive and deserving MVP winner in LeBron James.

Milwaukee Bucks: B-

Final Grade: B-

Final Record: 31-35

Team MVP: Brandon Jennings

Summary

Quick, raise your hand if you knew that the Bucks had the second-highest-scoring offense after the trade deadline. The Bucks had a bit more than a buck, averaging 104 points per game since landing Monta Ellis in the trade.

They made an unexpected playoff run, securing a winning record with Ellis, which bodes well for the second half of the season. Their strong finish pushes them from a C to a B-.

However, they still have a number of issues. Their defense was anything but stalwart over the same period of time, yielding over 100 points per game. It remains to be seen who their new long-term replacement is going to be at center, and it's questionable whether Ersan Ilyasova will come back.

Depending on what they do in the offseason, the Bucks could be an exciting team to watch next year.

Minnesota Timberwolves: B-

Final Grade: B-

Final Record: 26-40

Team MVP: Kevin Love

Summary

Apart from Luis Scola, who doesn't love Kevin Love? The Timberwolves briefly flirted with relevance this year, and for that reason we're giving them a C+. Winning teams are not built in a season; they're built over a few seasons.

Ricky Rubio, Derrick Williams and Love are the foundation for a winning franchise, and they showed that during the part of the season they played together. Rubio's unfortunate injury knocked them out of contention, but there was at least something promising to look forward to.

The Timberwolves are a little bit of health and a player away from being a team that contends for a division title and perhaps even more.

The 'Wolves also get credit for locking up Love to an extension.

Having said that, they were only a 26-win team, and it's hard to give them more than a B-.

New Jersey Nets: D-

Final Grade: D-

Final Record: 22-44

Team MVP: Deron Williams

Summary

The New Jersey Nets were expected to improve and even contend for a playoff spot. They didn't. They didn't even come close.

Yes, they were without Brook Lopez for the bulk of the season. Then again, it's Brook Lopez, not Dwight Howard they were missing. There comes a point where consistent badness can't be excused anymore.

Over the last three years the Nets have just been bad. They have a league-low 58 wins over that span, and they have been outscored by a league-worst 7.1 points per game.

They traded for Deron Williams, mortgaging their future, then failed to acquire to get anyone to come help him.

They get a D- instead of an F because of the Lopez injury, but they have major issues with this team.

New Orleans Hornets: C-

Final Grade: C-

Final Record: 21-45

Team MVP: Jarrett Jack

Summary

The New Orleans Hornets were absolutely clobbered with injuries this year. They weren't able to put any lineup on the court more than eight games all year. In all they ran out 27 different starting lineups, only six of which were used more than twice.

Needless to say, that makes continuity a little hard to come by.

Yet if you watched the Hornets this year, they left you with one impression: No matter how bad things got, these guys competed night in and night out. They might have been overmatched, and they lost, but they played hard and they played for 48 minutes. You rarely saw quit in this team.

Give head coach Monty Williams a ton of credit for that. The Hornets might have been the 27th-best team in the NBA, but that's not nearly as bad as it could have been. New Orleans gets a passing grade because it gave more than a passing effort.

New York Knicks: B-

Final Grade: B-

Final Record: 36-30

Team MVP: Carmelo Anthony

Summary

It's pretty much impossible to give the Knicks a singularly correct grade because they've been so up and down all season. At times they've looked like they should be an A, and at times giving them an F would be a generous gesture.

They have two losing streaks of six games, a win streak of seven and another of five games. They are the only team in the NBA to have both a winning streak and a losing streak of six games or more. That's what makes it hard to settle on what to make of this team.

I mean, how many teams have four different eras in a single season? There's the pre-Lin era, which runs up to the game before Jeremy Lin's first shot; the Lin sans Anthony era, which ran through the time that Lin played with Carmelo Anthony sidelined; the Lin and Anthony with D'Antoni era, which lasted until Mike D'Antoni was fired; and then there was the Mike Woodson era.

Whew! That was a mouthful.

If you're a Knicks fan, the good news is that they finished on more or less an upswing. Now we'll see if they can handle the Heat, or if they'll be forced out of the kitchen.

Oklahoma City Thunder: B+

Final Grade: B+

Final Record: 47-19

Team MVP: Kevin Durant

Summary

I know. They're supposed to get a A, right? Precisely why, though? The team was projected to finish first in the conference. The Thunder are way too young to be talking about the "waiting for the postseason" nonsense. They haven't proven enough to be there.

Yet they really stumbled down the stretch, going 7-7 over their final 14 games. They led the NBA in turnovers. They were also last in the NBA in assists. That particular combination means that they also were dead last in assist-to-turnover ratio.

For all the shot-blocking that Serge Ibaka does, the Thunder give up the seventh-most field goals in the paint and sixth-most at the rim. His opponent's points per play is .87, good for 252nd in the NBA. His OPER (Opponents Efficiency Rating) is a decent but not great 12.4.

In short, the Thunder's interior defense is not as good as reported. 

At the same time, they have the most dynamic scoring trio in scoring champion (and possible MVP) Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden.

They also, for the most part, have avoided health problems to their stars for most of the season and don't have a lot of injury concerns headed into the postseason.

In all, two weeks ago, they'd have gotten an A+, but the way they ended drops them to a B+.

Orlando Magic: D-

Final Grade: D-

Final Record: 37-29

Team MVP: Dwight Howard

Summary

The Magic get docked serious points for everything related to the Dwight Howard saga—whether it's the colossal joke of a lineup they overspent on to put around him, Stan Van Gundy's constant refusal to budge from his "dunk or three" strategy or the absolutely horrible way that Howard and the Magic handled the whole trade deadline scenario.

How bad did things get? Bob Vander Weide's drunk dial that happened in the preseason has been reduced to an "Oh yeah, I forgot about that!" moment.

The Magic get a passing grade for two reasons. First, they did make the playoffs as a sixth seed. Yes, they had to stave off a furious comeback form the mighty Bobcats to hold on to that seed and are likely to be drubbed by the Pacers sans Howard in the first round, but they did make it.

Second, I feel sorry for the rest of the team. Ryan Anderson has actually had an impressive season, and he and the rest of the team have had to endure the circus around them. Just for staying sane, they get a passing grade.

Philadelphia 76ers: C+

Final Grade: C+

Final Record: 35-31

Team MVP: Andre Iguodala

Summary

The Philadelphia 76ers played just a tad bit better over the first part of the season than the second. Over the first 29 games, they were 20-9. After that they were 15-22. Whatever Evan Turner thinks, that's not where you want to be heading into the postseason.

On the other hand, if you want to be optimistic, they won four of their last five games.

The Sixers basically just got solved. They don't have players who can get into the paint and score. They get the third-fewest points at the rim. They've been turned into a jump-shooting team, and they aren't good jump shooters. Jump shots make up 62 percent of their shots, and they shoot a meager .378 as a team off their jump shots.

They have a stellar defense, though, and they won enough games with it to get into the postseason. Head coach Doug Collins has done a great job of getting the most out of the talent on this team, but he needs a bona fide star if they're going to improve from here.

Phoenix Suns: B+

Final Grade: B

Final Record: 33-33

Team MVP: Steve Nash

Summary

The Phoenix Suns put together a remarkable second-half charge with a 19-13 run to put themselves close to a chance to make the playoffs before they dropped their final three. Credit the Suns with getting the most out of their talent, but it wasn't enough to get to the postseason.

It's probably going to be the end of the Steve Nash era, and you have to appreciate the way the fans sent him off in his final game. In many ways this might have been his finest season as he epitomized the notion of making the players around him better. It's hard to believe any other point guard could have done as much with Phoenix.

Portland Trail Blazers: D+

Final Grade: D+

Final Record: 28-38

Team MVP: LaMarcus Aldridge

Summary

The Portland Trail Blazers had a midseason mutiny after the team went into a skid that eventually led the team to jettisoning a number of players either through trade or outright cutting them. Essentially they gave up on the team that had been developing and quit on the season. The Trail Blazers were 10-22after the break as a result.

The one thing that keeps them from getting a worse grade is that they may get the chance to get a high draft pick, depending on how the Nets do in the lottery. If they get one of their balls drawn, the Trail Blazers will get that pick as well as their own.

That would give them two of the top 11 picks in the draft to add to the team they already have, which includes LaMarcus Aldridge, one of the top 10 or 20 players in the league. 

Portland has had a fantastically disappointing season, which started with Brandon Roy's retirement and Greg Oden's injury and got worse from there. Sooner or later its luck is going to turn around, but it wasn't this year.

Sacramento Kings: F

Final Grade: F

Final Record: 22-44

Team MVP: DeMarcus Cousins

Summary

Can you appreciate the irony of Cousins being named the MVP here? While there's probably room to disagree here, he has been the team's most consistent performer this year. Of course, that says as much about the rest of the team as it does Cousins.

The Kings have been the second-worst team in the NBA since 2009 with the Timberwolves being the first. The Timberwolves, however, have more to show for their draft picks. The Kings are growing frustrated with former Rookie of the Year Tyreke Evans, who has regressed each year.

Isaiah Thomas was a nice surprise, but it's hard to believe that you can build a team around him. He could be a realistic long-term sixth-man option, but he's going to struggle with bigger point guards his whole career. He was a great pick with the final choice of the draft.

This should have been a year for the Kings to start to break out, but they didn't. It's just more of the same old bad from the same old team.

San Antonio Spurs: A+

Final Grade: A+

Final Record: 50-16

Team MVP: Tony Parker

Summary

This is about as easy a grade as there is. The Spurs are an easy A+. They've exceeded expectations, but to an extent that's because they didn't get enough respect in the preseason. Now they aren't getting enough respect heading in the postseason.

This team is absolutely rolling headed into the playoffs. They are destroying everyone in their path. They are peaking at the optimal time. They made all the right moves in the draft and got Kawhi Leonard. They made the right move at the trade deadline in getting Stephen Jackson. They made the right move at waiver-wire time when they inked Boris Diaw.

Gregg Popovich has made a case for Coach of the Year. Tony Parker has made a case for MVP. Tim Duncan has been Tim Duncan. This is the team to beat headed into the postseason, and from management to the players, everything is clicking.

Toronto Raptors: D

Final Grade: D

Final Record: 23-43

Team MVP: DeMar DeRozan

Summary

Another team in the "perpetually bad" category is the Toronto Raptors. Since they came into the league, only four teams have had a worse winning percentage, four if you don't count the younger Charlotte Bobcats.

The Raptors weren't expected to really do anything this year, and they didn't disappoint, as the Raptors won just a third of their games this year. That had some issues with injuries, as Andrea Bargnani missed 35 games.

Mostly they aren't expecting much to happen until next season, when they will get their first-round pick from last year, Jonas Valanciunas, along with whomever they draft this year. Adding a pair of high-profile young players should go a long way towards making Toronto an improved team.

That's next year, though. This year the Raptors are still one of the worst teams in the league.

Utah Jazz: A

Final Grade: A

Final Record: 36-30

Team MVP: Al Jefferson

Summary

Can we at last give some love to the Utah Jazz? With the way they finished off last season, they were looking like they were lottery-bound this year, not playoff-bound.

Yet here we are with the playoffs ready to begin, and the Jazz are in the postseason. People give the Pacers a lot of credit for overachieving, but really, they didn't overachieve. People who think they did just didn't realize how good the Pacers were going to be.

The Jazz, on the other hand, just improved. They've developed one of the better frontcourts in the NBA, headlined by big Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap. The Jazz had the ninth-best offensive rating in the NBA this year.

What's really fascinating about this is that they still are just scratching the surface of Enes Kanter and could have the eighth pick in this draft depending on how the Golden State situation pans out.

Washington Wizards: D-

Final Grade: D-

Final Record: 20-46

Team MVP: John Wall

Summary

There were times this year that the Washington Wizards looked like they were a comedy of errors. Then at a certain point it stopped being funny. Maybe it was after JaVale McGee ran back on defense while his team had the ball.

Other times you literally believed the Wizards were going to actually fight for the ball to take the next shot. It was an ugly situation.

Then, inexplicably, the Wizards won their final six games of the season, which included a pair of wins over the Heat (who were resting starters) and the Bulls (who were without Derrick Rose and Luol Deng). Sure, they beat those teams when they weren't at full strength, but they still go down as W's in the standings.

The addition of Nene makes the Wizards a more mature team, as does the subtraction of Nick Young (no pun intended). Between the finish, the trades and the upcoming draft, there's actually room for Wizards fans to have a slither of optimism headed into the offseason. That's why the Wizards get a passing grade, albeit barely passing.