NBA Breakdown — Off-Season Trades, Deals and Signings Make Clear Winners and Losers

Ready or not, here they come! NBA teams have and will continue to report to training camp to unofficially open the new season. With so many new faces in new places, we take a quick look at who won the summer of deals, trades, and signings. Here’s a quick list to get your NBA taste buds going again as we move within a month of opening night on October 30^th.

Winner: Cleveland Cavaliers

LeBron James returned home and brought his buddy Kevin Love. Is there really much more to say? Sure they gave away Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett, but when you can add King James, probably one of the best rebounders in the last 20 years, while also signing above average shooters and role players Mike Miller, Shawn Marion, and James Jones, along with reining All-Star Game MVP Kyrie Irving and a decent supporting cast of Dion Waiters, Tristian Thompson, Anderson Varajeo, how can this not be one of the best off-season team turnarounds in NBA history? Not only are the Cavs now trending upward this off-season, but they most certainly “won” the entire summer also.

Loser: Houston Rockets

Wow. Houston, under the impression that Chris Bosh was heading their way, dealt away 2 of their best 6 contributors from last season in Omer Asik (Pelicans) and Jeremy Lin (Lakers) for basically pennies on the dollar in order to save cap space. They then let budding star Chandler Parsons walk away for nothing in restricted free agency to Dallas. They also lost minutes worthy role players Ronnie Brewer, Greg Smith and Omri Casspi. So what have they yielded in return? They signed Trevor Ariza, likely over paying for him, traded away young Alonzo Gee for a 37-year-old Jason Terry who hasn’t been healthy in two years. So a team that could have potentially had Chris Bosh or Carmelo Anthony this season has instead let go of 3 of their best 6 players and have only yielded Trevor Ariza and Jason Terry. This was certainly not what GM Darryl Morrey must have envisioned at the end of last year.

Winner: Charlotte Hornets

The former Bobcats, fresh off a playoff appearance, have retooled very nicely since last season. They made quite the splash this summer by signing potential All-Star Lance Stephenson to a very reasonable contract, 3 years, $ 27 million. The drafting of lottery pick Noah Vonleh, who many believed slipped to the Hornets in this year’s draft despite potentially going in the top four, also fills a need at the power forward spot. Their bench has also found some much needed shooters in rookie P.J. Hairston and veteran Marvin Williams. Add in star center Al Jefferson, point guard Kemba Walker, and defensive stopper Michael Kidd-Gilchrist on the wing as returning players and this team suddenly looks like a legitimate threat to make it past the second round of the playoffs in a still weak East.

Loser: Brooklyn Nets

The damage here wasn’t really done this off-season, however, New York’s other team is now having previous mistakes catch up to them. The blockbuster trade for Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Jason Terry with the Celtics, in which they yielded essentially 3 draft picks and a slew of young players, has essentially backfired. The only player the Nets have on their roster from that trade is the clearly run-down Garnett (6 PPG, 5 RPG last year) with Terry and Pierce finding homes elsewhere. Add in the fact Deron Williams and Joe Johnson will be making about $50 million combined and you can see why the Nets didn’t have much money to work with to improve a team that has proven they can barely make it out of the second round (needing seven games to beat an inferior Raptors team last season). The Nets will likely give it one more go around, but expect a big shake up in this organization in the future.

The first NBA preseason games start October 4^th. Opening Night is October 30^th with the Spurs receiving their championship rings over the Mavs. Here’s to hope for another great basketball season. Indeed, the NBA is back.