2010 NBA Off-Season Champion

Now that the most anticipated Off-season in NBA history is practically over, it’s time for me to hand out some awards. Please note, that while in 2007 and 2009 I gave out Offseason Championships, this year, that award obviously goes to the Miami Heat. The focus of this article is on the other teams in the league, since most teams went through dramatic makeovers as a result of everyone trying to cash-in on the bonanza of all the 2010 free agents.

Runner-up 2010 Offseason Champion

Chicago

Gained: Boozer, Kyle Korver, Ronnie Brewer, Kurt Thomas

Lost: Kirk Hinrich, Hakim Warrick, Brad Miller

Adding 3 players from Utah (Brewer was on Utah for the 1^st half of last season) was a major coup for the Bulls. Brewer is more athletic than Hinrich at this point, and Boozer should be more effective than Warrick or Miller was, plus Korver provides a 3-point weapon that was desperately needed on last year’s team. This should be one of the tougher teams next year, so long as Derrick Rose plays unselfishly.

Sneaky transactions to help playoff powers

Dallas

Gained: Tyson Chandler for the corpse of Erick Dampier!

Plus, they re-signed Brendan Haywood! That’s the best defensive center duo in the league, no doubt! If they can make it to the conference Finals to play the Lakers, they actually have the size to play them fairly even.

Lakers

Gained: Matt Barnes, Steve Blake, Theo Ratliff

Lost: Jordan Farmar, Josh Powell

Basically… the Lakers upgraded at PG (Blake over Farmar), upgraded their wing defender (Barnes over Shannon Brown, who still re-signed w/ the Lakers), and they upgraded their center depth (Ratliff over Powell). Fantastic off-season, and they didn’t overspend on anyone.

Milwaukee

Gained: C. Maggette, Drew Gooden, Salmons (re-signed), J. Brockman

Lost: L. Ridnour, K. Thomas, C. Bell

I really like this off-season for the Bucks. Adding Maggette, another scorer, is a great addition for their young PG, Brandon Jennings. Plus, they were able to get Salmons to re-sign. I can’t actually endorse the long-term deal of Drew Gooden, but big-men were in high demand this offseason so sadly, they paid what was 2010 market value (5 years, $30 million).

I have no idea how this will turn out, but I do know someone got swindled

Golden State

Gained: PF David Lee, PG Jannero Pargo, Undrafted Jeremy Lin from Harvard, and Charlie Bell and Gadzuric from Milwaukee

Lost: Maggette, Azubuike, A. Morrow, A. Randolph, R. Turiaf, CJ Watson

The sign-and-trade of David Lee for Anthony Randolph, Azubuike, AND Ronny Turiaf is just ridiculous. I haven’t seen someone give up so much in a sign-and-trade since the Suns swindled the Hawks for three 1^st round draft picks and Boris Diaw in exchange for Joe Johnson. Anthony Randolph was injured most of last year, but is still considered a possible future superstar… but I don’t understand why Golden State had to also throw-in Azubuike and Turiaf. I don’t know how this will play out or if the Warriors were just desperate to put David Lee in there along with Monta Ellis and Curry, or what the goals are for this team, or whether Don Nelson is still just trying to get fired… but we will soon find out I guess. On the bright side, the team has new owners, so I’d imagine by this time next year they will have a new GM, a new coach, and an actual gameplan.

Big spender, questionable results?

New Jersey

Gained: PF T. Murphy, SF T. Outlaw, SG A. Morrow, PG J. Farmar, C J. Petro, C/PF Sean May

Lost: C/PF Tony Battie, SG C. Lee

I guess their starting lineup is:

PG D. Harris

SG A. Morrow

C B. Lopez

SF T. Outlaw

PF T. Murphy / D. Favors (#3 pick)

I actually really like this lineup, assuming Devin Harris is healthy this year and back in All-Star form. That’s a huge “if.” Harris can’t shoot 3s, but Morrow, Outlaw, and Murphy provide proper spacing and 3-point shooting for this team. They will be horrible defensively though, but this should be a decent team, assuming Brook Lopez can recover from his mono this fall (he was unable to go to Europe for the World Championships this August).

Big spender, questionable results, Part Deux

New York

Gained: Consultant Isiah Thomas, PF/C Amare Stoudemire, PG Felton, PF A. Randolph, SG K. Azubuike, SG R. Mason, PF R. Turiaf

Lost: Consultant Isiah Thomas, PF, D. Lee, PG Duhon, SF A. Harrington, SG E. House, PG S. Rodriguez

I guess their starting lineup is:

PG R. Felton

SG K. Azubuike

C ? / Turiaf?

SF D. Gallinari

PF A. Stoudemire

or maybe… Stoudemire at Center with Anthony Randolph at PF? I’m not sure. I’m irrationally still more in love with the Nets lineup because of the strength of their PG and traditional center (Brook Lopez). The Knicks are still coached by D’Antoni, so this team certainly is bred to run up and down the floor, but I think the lack of a true center (and of any players who enjoy rebounding), will doom this team. Shawn Marion was a very important cog to those Suns teams because he was able to gobble up tons of rebounds if need be. I don’t think any of these players can do that. A mid-season trade would do wonders for them and would change my outlook for this team, as would a trade for Carmelo of course, depending on what they give up.

Biggest losers (This is a “loser by choice” category… whereas Cleveland and Toronto didn’t choose to lose their superstars)

Charlotte

Gained: Shaun Livingston (the post-injury one), and Erick Dampier (who they plan on waiving and/or not playing)

Retained: Tyrus Thomas (re-signed)

Lost: PG Felton, C Tyson Chandler

After finally making the playoffs, they already are in cost-cutting mode. Very nice, I’m sure the fans appreciate it. I also don’t have much faith in DJ Augustin as the starting PG.

Minnesota

Gained: Darko, Luke Ridnour, M. Beasley, S. Telfair (again!)

Lost: Al Jefferson, R. Sessions, R. Hollins

Seriously? Al Jefferson in a salary dump? He still has value, I know he’s not as good as he was before the ACL injury, but he still is a center getting 17 ppg and 10 rebs. You could have at least tried to get something else.

Most interesting off-season

Phoenix

Gained: Turkoglu, J. Childress, H. Warrick

Retained: Channing Frye (re-signed)

Lost: Amare, Barbosa

Everyone is up-in-arms about the loss of Amare. I don’t think Amare is that important to this team. Just to provide one fact in favor of that argument, is that according to the data file you can download from http://basketballvalue.com/index.php, Amare Stoudemire actually was the 289^th-best player last year based on adjusted plus-minus, below the “average” rating of the 140^th-best player, and was outperformed on his own team by Steve Nash, Dragic, Frye, Dudley, Richardson, and even Barbosa. This team is still all about Steve Nash being a facilitator and having 3-point shooters and big-men that can run. That’s still in place. I think this team is still a solid playoff team, and Turkoglu will fit in well in this insane offensive team.

Best Trade that Could Help Catapult a Team from 25 wins to the Playoffs

Sacramento Kings

I still can’t believe they were able to acquire Dalembert, one of the best defensive centers in the league, for the LONG-TERM contract of Nocioni (2 more years at $6.5) and Spencer Hawes (a throw-in below-average big-man).

The Kings should be serious playoff contenders this fall with the continued maturation of Tyreke Evans and his young, athletic supporting cast (O. Casspi, Jason Thompson, Carl Landry, Donte Greene, and rookie Demarcus Cousins).

Best Trade that Could Help Catapult a Team from 32 wins to the Playoffs

Indiana Pacers

Getting rid of the expiring contract of Troy Murphy in exchange for a young, fast, starting PG in Darren Collison was a magnificent trade. I have no idea who’s playing PF now (Tyler Hansbrough? Solomon Jones?), but it should be a more traditional player with better defensive skills. If Collison improves at PG and Hibbert improves at Center, this team could indeed make the playoffs.