This Offseason has been more ridiculous
than most I can remember. A lot of players moving clubs and a lot of teams
really are improving. A good offseason to me is one that addresses team
weaknesses by signing players who are an upgrade to last season. Let’s take a
look at the teams who have made the biggest impact in free agency this season.
Honourable Mentions
New Orleans Pelicans: They added Tyreke Evans and Anthony Morrow both who will be given an important role for this season. They also traded Nerlens Noel for Jrue Holiday giving them a lot of flexibility at the Point Guard position. They will be around the mark this season to make playoffs but expect them to be a real threat in the next 2-3 years.
Dallas Mavericks: Monta Ellis, Jose Calderon, DeJuan
Blair, Devin Harris and Samuel Dalembert have all been added onto this roster.
However this is another case of Plan A failing for the Mavericks. They couldn’t
land Deron Williams last season and they failed to get Dwight or CP3 this
season. It may look like they’ve had a good offseason but in reality its not
what they wanted and they will struggle to make playoffs. Jose Calderon is
being overpaid too, especially when they have enough young talented guards
already.
Houston Rockets: This may come as a surprise as I
don’t have them in my top 5 but it is for good reason. The other 5 teams have
had great offseasons and addressed their weaknesses. However with Houston I
feel as if they just took the best option available and sat on their laurels.
Dwight Howard, Marcus Camby and Omri Casspi are the new inclusions but due to
this they lost Thomas Robinson and Carlos Delfino also Asik is upset and wants
a trade. I think they will make 5th-6th seed in the West
and lose first round. Despite many people saying otherwise Jeremy Lin and
Parsons are not stars.
Cleveland Cavaliers: I’ve written a full article on the Cavs
earlier see that for full details. They landed Andrew Bynum, Earl Clark and
Jarret Jack. This improves their team immensely having two players who can come
off the bench and add offense and energy while now having a legitimate centre
who is the best offensive big man in the game when healthy. He will fit nicely
alongside Varejao. Furthermore they chose Anthony Bennett with the first draft
pick, a small forward who is a big upgrade from last year. I expect they will
challenge for 6th seed in the East with Detroit but next year they
should be aiming to take LeBron and compete for titles.
The Top 5
5. Los Angeles Clippers
The Clippers have had an interesting
offseason with early speculation that CP3 might not have resigned. But they
removed Vinny Del Negro from head coaching position and added Doc Rivers. They
only shot 35.8% of threes last season and obviously they noticed this as a
weakness and recruited hard to fix it. JJ Redick, Jared Dudley and Byron
Mullens were signed and all of them are 3-point specialists. This cost them
Caron Butler and Billups also left, two ageing players anyway. Their biggest
loss was Eric Bledsoe, an athletic backup point guard, however they signed
Darren Collison to replace him. They have a deep roster and a lot of guys that
can really play. If it all fits in to place they can win the West this season.
4. Detroit Pistons
There’s no denying that Detroit have had a
great offseason with the likes of Josh Smith, Brandon Jennings and former
Champion Chauncey Billups however I don’t think they’ll be a great team. There
are too many players who take too many bad shots on this team now. It will be
Brick City and won’t be as good as most people think. They have had a great
offseason and will be able to put a decent show on the court for the fans, but
they will get destroyed come playoff time. If they could tank for Wiggins then
they may be able to contend but as long as they have Brandon Jennings and Josh
Smith two of the most erratic shooters they will struggle. Expect a 7th
seed in the East
3. Golden State Warriors
They opened their campaign by dumping
Biedrins, Jefferson and Brandon Rush. All players who weren’t given big roles
and aren’t important to the team’s core. They used this extra cap room to sign
Andre Iguodala. He is athletic and a great defensive player something that the
warriors can really use. He isn’t the best shooter but he doesn’t need to be
with Curry, Barnes and Klay Thompson all on the team. The loss of Jarrett Jack
and Carl Landry however hurt them. Carl Landry especially he added a lot of
toughness to this team. Jarrett Jack sometimes makes bad decisions in games so I
don’t believe it was vital to sign him. They did replace these two with Toney
Douglas and Marreese Speights. Toney is similar to Jack and Speights is a bit bigger
than Landry and is a better rim protector, as his block rating is higher than
Landry’s. They are both less experienced but signed for cheap so these are good
signings. The last signing was Jermaine O’Neal an old Vet who gives the team
experience and will help on the boards if needed. They have a strong team and
could even win the West, however I have them coming second maybe third.
2. Brooklyn Nets
Many probably have these guys as number 1,
and they easily could’ve gone there. They had an incredible offseason by trading
Gerald Wallace, Marshon Brooks and Kris Humphries for Paul Pierce, Kevin
Garnett and Jason Terry. However there are injury concerns over these players,
they are all older now and their minutes will have to be monitored closely. The
fun doesn’t stop there for the Nets they were able to lure Andre Kirilenko a
great all around player and Shaun Livingston to replace CJ Watson. They have a
complete roster with little weaknesses and have a lot of players who hate their
rivals the Heat. Those Boston players would like nothing better than to destroy
Miami this season and they could possibly do it. They should get 4th
seed in the East and will cause trouble to some of the top teams especially if
they get the chemistry right. Jason Kidd’s first role as head coach is going to
be surrounded with high expectation.
1.
Indiana Pacers
It may be surprising that I have them here
but they really have had a flawless offseason. They only lost Sam Young, DJ
Augustin and Tylor Hansbrough, all players who did little to nothing in the
playoffs. If we remember what happened in the post-season the starters for
Indiana really dominated while the bench stank it up. So they addressed this
issue and picked CJ Watson to replace Augustin, Chris Copeland to replace Tyler
Hansbrough and they even managed to make a trade that sent Gerald Green to
Phoenix for Luis Scola! An incredible move that now gives them a really good
big to come off the bench behind Hibbert and West. Obviously a move to prepare
them for Miami as Miami are weak in this area. Even better for the Pacers is
that Danny Granger is back from injury which means Lance Stephenson will go to
the bench, further bolstering that. To put things in perspective last season in
the playoffs they played Young, Augustin, Hansbrough and Mahinmi off the bench,
this season it will be Watson, Copeland, Scola and Stephenson with Granger and
George starting on the floor together. It is an incredible turnaround and one
that will see them win the East this season. Check out the full Pacer article
for more details.
Which Team had the Best Offseason?
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This is quite an awesome article! Thank you for adding them so often! But it's already been 2 days!! WRITE ANOTHER! :D The polls are awesome :D keep on keeping on
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