Here are my thoughts of the scenarios as of today:
1. Cleveland Cavaliers acquiring Shaq, re-signing Varejao - This, I should say, is a great improvement on the Center spot. Ilgauskas is injury-prone and could never get to match up well with Dwight Howard and Kevin Garnett. This acquisition is a reaction to their playoff series loss against Orlando. Putting a body against Howard and Garnett while providing instant offense will help this team. However, if you look deeper into their roster, they are still lacking the right role players. Varejao’s signing signified that the Cavs failure to get top free agents this year is not all because of Danny Ferry’s fault but hugely on Lebron being a free agent next year. Players wanting a championship ring feared his departure could leave them hanging around. Dan Fegan sure has gotten in the way of Varejao's line of thinking. Also, I believe the tandem of Mo Williams and Delonte West is not as good as advertised. They need a lot of offensive explosion from the backcourt and with the way they were eaten up by the defense of Orlando, they'll just continue to outshine a weak Eastern Conference backcourt while continue to rattle over top-tier Eastern Conference teams.
2. San Antonio Spurs acquiring Richard Jefferson, Antonio McDyess - Now this is a reaction to the season-ending injury of Manu Ginobli. And while this team has had its way over other Western Conference playoff contenders, they still won't match up well with the Lakers nor the Nuggets and Blazers. This is just an upgrade on their scoring options and while Roger Mason continues to improve, after this season, I think they should start to rebuild this team. I don't think this team has enough tank left in them to push Lakers to its limit and bully upstart playoff contender teams for years to come. The Blazers now have an official playoff experience and will only get better together with the Nuggets. Meanwhile, this is an acknowledgment that they no longer need toughness but instead embrace the fact that they do not have that offense anymore.
3. Orlando Magic acquiring Vince Carter, Brandon Bass, losing Marcin Gortat, Hedo Turkoglu - It’s a wise decision on their part to end hopes of Turkoglu’s reunion with this team. His new contract with the Toronto Raptors suggests that he’s in for the money and not for the opportunity to be in a championship caliber team anymore. Meanwhile, they certainly do hope that Vince Carter has a lot left in his tank to help this team. It may take some time before he can adjust as he isn’t capable of being the second or third option mostly in the teams he’s played for. Losing Gortat left a huge hole on the Center spot. If Howard gets injured, which I hope not but may actually get more chance to this season, who will they go after? Luckily, they brought in Brandon Bass which is a hustle player. Although it still leaves them with Howard in the C spot alone.
4. Boston Celtics acquiring Rasheed Wallace - It's been a very clear theme of this off-season to find cheap and old free-agent players who want to experience or relive the championship run in their NBA career. While it is believed that they won’t sign Leon Powe and is still in the hunt to sign their very own Glenn Davis, Rasheed is a huge pickup since his championship experience will definitely help them. Besides, I read that Rasheed defends well against Dwight Howard. He won’t be getting a starting position but he will take up a lot of playing time as a back-up for Garnett. The only problem for them I think is his eccentricities added to Rajon Rondo’s locker room problems. His triple doubles in their last playoff run didn’t convince Danny Ainge enough to offer him a huge contract. So much so that Ainge wanted to trade him for a chance to get a quality point guard in this year’s draft class.
5. Los Angeles Lakers acquiring Ron Artest losing Trevor Ariza - While we are still awaiting the Laker’s offer to Lamar Odom, losing Ariza and acquiring Artest in return is a double-edge sword for them. Ariza has a lot of upside in his talents and as much as Mitch Kupchak wanted to keep him, his stocks went so high the past playoff run that they decided they wouldn’t gamble taking him on and losing Odom at the same time. Enter Artest. A surprising $18 million contract for 3 years made it clear that he wants to win a championship by also departing with the Rockets with the news of Yao Ming’s foot injury. But beware Lakers fans, Pau Gasol is going to take part of the Euro league this summer. And while we hope he comes back still healthy, it will really make Artest upset if Gasol gets injured. And while he is in his prime, it still is a big gamble on the Lakers part although Yahoo Sports made a nice take away that the Lakers needed him purely because they have to re-learn themselves again to rise up to the occasion again. While many praise Artest’s defense, his shot selection may be one of their biggest headaches on him. Also, I think Kobe Bryant should’ve considered taking a paycut this year instead of earning his usual $23 million. Many superstars often complain and demand a trade if they are not satisfied with their GMs transactions. But they also tend to forget that their salaries are what’s hurting the team’s salary cap by being unable to resign potential supplementary and role players.
6. Dallas Mavericks acquiring Shawn Marion and Marcin Gortat, re-signing Jason Kidd, losing Jerry Stackhouse, Brandon Bass - Finally, Mark Cuban makes his move. A nice getting rid of Stackhouse’s salary and mouth as well and a signal of their admission of failure in their acquiring of Erick Dampier were their greatest off-season moves followed by the acquiring of Shawn Marion. Eventhough he is not a high level player eversince he broke ties with Steve Nash and the run-and-gun Phoenix Suns, he is still a special tweener who could take on multiple positions on court much like Lamar Odom. Marcin Gortat is a pretty nice steal against Houston’s hot pursuit of him. The failure to re-sign Brandon Bass who is a consistent role player and who constantly provides energy on the team will be a big factor that will hurt them when the playoffs come. Re-signing Jason Kidd to a large contract, which I’m also wondering why plenty of teams are still in the hot pursuit eventhough he is quite old to do damage in this league, is a big no-no for this team. This just basically puts them in the map of the Western Conference top four teams expected to at least appear in the playoff semifinals because of four all-star players and one sixth man awardee but that’s just about it for them. The Lakers are just that strong and that versatile to be worn out by teams like the Mavs.
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