Because You Wanted a 2nd Opinion

Winners

Nets – Although they didn’t get Dwight Howard they have transformed themselves into a playoff team. Would I say contender? No, but they should be significantly better than they were last year. Joe Johnson and Gerald Wallace are both good players, maybe not as great as the Nets would have liked but can be very complimentary to Deron Williams. Another thing that people fail to recognize is that Brook Lopez and Kris Humphries aren’t scrubs. Lopez is a good inside scorer and Humphries is a great rebounder and can clean up around the basket. Plus, they still have Marshon Brooks to either come off the bench or use as a trade chip. To quote Nets partial owner Jay-Z, “Hello Brooklyn” welcome to the NBA.

Lakers – Overnight the Lakers have shot to the #2 team in the West and the #3 team in the NBA just by signing Steve Nash. The missing point guard the Lakers have been missing since Magic Johnson. Although Nash is 38-years-old he is a player that keeps himself in great shape and is still considered one of the top-5 point guards in the league. Kobe should have no problem giving up ball control duties because he has never played with a genuine PG like Nash. Nash will also compliment Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum in getting them easier baskets. The Lakers now need to focus on adding depth to the bench; shooters, athletic wings and backup bigs should be targets for this team which is built to win now.  They still have their amnesty which they could choose to use on Metta World Peace or Steve Blake and have an expiring contract in Josh McRoberts that some teams would love to take off the Laker’s hands.

Heat – What do the defending champs do in the offseason to get better? Maybe just sign one of the best shooters of all-time to come off the bench. They also added Rashard Lewis, who is not nearly the player he was when he signed a huge contract to play for the Orlando Magic, a contract he never lived up to. However he can still shoot the ball. Miami is now loaded with shooters that compliment Dwayne Wade and LeBron James’ ability to drive and kick out, and Chris Bosh’s ability to post-up and kick out. The Heat will definitely be favored to win the NBA championship next year, but the Thunder and Lakers might have something to say about it.

Celtics – They lost Ray Allen and that’s never a good thing. However they added the best 6^th man in the NBA Jason Terry, kept Kevin Garnett, Brandon Bass and Jeff Green, and added two bigs in Fab Melo, and Jared Sullinger. This team is designed to win right now and although they don’t look like they should beat the Heat on paper they definitely will have more tools at their disposal compared to last season.

Hornets – After being left for dead following Chris Paul’s departure, the Hornets have been sold and are looking to be on the comeback trail. After drafting Anthony Davis and Austin Rivers, they kept Eric Gordon and lured Ryan Anderson away from the Magic. Are they a playoff team? Not this year but maybe in a few years giving time for Davis and Rivers to develop and maybe a few more moves here and there.

Pending

Hawks – In his first two weeks as GM Danny Ferry got rid of two contracts (Marvin Williams and Joe Johnson) that cleared up a lot of cap space. In return they got a good point guard in Devin Harris, a lot of expiring contracts and the cap room to sign Lou Williams and trade for Kyle Korver. The cap space they’re freeing up will help them make a run at both Dwight Howard and Chris Paul (both will be unrestricted free agents) next year. No matter what the moves were great because they weren’t getting full value for Johnson or Williams but the potential of what the Hawks can do with the money saved could be extraordinary.

Clippers – The Clippers made a few moves that can either make or break what they tried to build last season. Lamar Odom is a risky move because if they get Lamar Kardashian that was on Dallas last season it’s a wasted body on the bench. If they get the Lamar Odom, who played for the Lakers then they are in business and get a player that can take loads of pressure of Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan. They also chose not to pursue Ray Allen in favor of re-signing Chauncey Billups and signing Jamal Crawford.  Allen would give the Clippers a sharp-shooter that could’ve easily slid into the starting lineup. Instead they chose to go with Billups coming off surgery that ended his 2011-2012 season. Crawford will give them a steady scorer off a bench that has been depleted this off-season.

Rockets – They have freed up a lot of cap space and still have many assets to trade, all they need is the right pieces to come along. They are clear that they want Dwight Howard or Andrew Bynum; the problem is in order to get either one the Lakers and/or Rockets would need to take back contracts of Hedo Turkoglu and Jason Richardson. In theory the deal can get done but a fourth team would need to be involved to absorb the contracts of the aforementioned players. It seems like the Knick will not match the offer sheet signed by Jeremy Lin which will once again make him a Rocket. As good as Lin showed he can be the jury is still out on if this deal which will pay him $14million in his final year is justifiable.

Losers

Mavericks – They cleared so much cap space to get Dirk some help. They were poised to get Dwight Howard and/or Deron Willams and ended up Chris Kaman, Elton Brand and Darren Collison. No where are they near the caliber of Howard and Williams but they’d be better served to have Kaman and Brand in their Clipper days and Collison in his UCLA days. The truth is they did not get better; in fact they got older and slower. They are better equipped to win a championship between 2003-2007 then they are right now. I don’t see them doing much more than a 7 or 8 seed in the playoffs at most. Mark Cuban has money to spend and since winning a championship he hasn’t spent it wisely; rather than buy superstars they need to build a team like they did when they won the NBA Championship.

Suns – They lost the player who had been the face of their franchise for years and didn’t get much in return because a few draft picks can’t replace what Steve Nash has done for the Suns. They also didn’t get Eric Gordon as the Hornets matched the qualifying offer. They did get Michael Beasley and Luis Scola who are both good players but don’t fit into the Suns style of basketball. It may take a while before you see the Suns in the playoffs again because this team will need some time to rebuild.

Bulls – Coming off a season in which they owned the league’s best record despite not having Derrick Rose for most of it, the Bulls still have the same problems they had last year. They still don’t have a capable shooting guard and a consistent threat in the post. The chips that they have to trade (Carlos Boozer, Taj Gibson and Luol Deng), they don’t want to move and some pieces other teams don’t want. So unless some moves are made I don’t see them advancing past the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals.

Magic – Not only have they not been able to trade Dwight Howard, they haven’t been able to move Jason Richardson, Hedo Turkoglu, or Glen Davis; not to mention they lost Ryan Anderson. They still have no coach and a plethora of players who are greatly overpaid. They have not made their team better in any way and need to get a move on with trying to move pieces around or it’s going to be a long time before you hear anything positive about the Magic.

When I was a little kid I would always be excited for the NBA draft. I remember there was even a routine behind it. I would hang out all day with my oldest cousin, who is practically my brother, and we would have lunch go swimming and eat otter pops until it was time to start. Then we would go watch it in my grandparent’s room because it was by far the coolest in the house and was the only air conditioned room. We would like to see what teams our favorite college players would go to and get mad when the Lakers drafted “nobody’s”. Some of the more memorable drafts my cousin and I watched included:

 1993 Chris Webber was drafted and then traded for Penny Hardaway, creating one of the most dynamic duo’s in the NBA (Shaq and Penny)

 1996 – A high school kid by the name Kobe Bryant was taken 13^th by the then Charlotte Hornets and traded to the Los Angeles Lakers for Vlade Divac. Little did we know this move would change basketball in LA for years to come.

However, now the draft doesn’t have that aura around it like it once did. I don’t know if the players aren’t as talented or do we just have to wait for the next generation of stars to emerge. Since players are forced to go to college now it takes away from the game of college basketball. College basketball used to be based on guys who wanted to go college and develop before going to the NBA and you were able to become familiar with them because they would stay for 3-4 years. Now players come and go so fast in college you really don’t get a chance to really like them because by the end of the year they’re gone. For example Kyrie Irving, last year’s number one pick, was at Duke for all of maybe half a season and was still the number one pick. John Calipari’s Kentucky teams two out of the last three years were basically filled with freshmen who were one and done.

 No matter what we love the draft and no matter if it’s a deep draft or a weak draft we will watch it. We will cheer when our team selects a future superstar and groan when they pick someone we never heard of. We will continue to boo David Stern every time he comes to the podium and we will cheer Adam Silver when he comes out to replace Stern for the second round. We look back five years after the draft and see who flopped and who flew under the radar to exceed expectations. The draft can set you up for the next few years like the Oklahoma City Thunder or leave you flailing for help like the Charlotte Bobcats. I can’t wait to see how these picks are going to turn out because there are an exciting core of players that can be really good if they can reach full potential.