With the Cavaliers going from owning the No. 1 pick of the draft this past June to being the number one pick to hoist the Larry O’Brien trophy next June, it’s safe to say they’re the overwhelming choice as the team that enjoyed the NBA’s best offseason. But who finished second? Believe it or not, there were other transactions that occurred this offseason that didn’t involve LeBron James or Kevin Love. Here’s a rundown of which non-Cavs team fared the best this summer:
- Bulls: Despite losing out on the big-ticket free agents, the Bulls signed Pau Gasol, brought Nikola Mirotic over from Europe and wound up with NBA-ready Doug McDermott in the NBA Draft. These are additions to a team already good enough to tally 48 wins last season. Their most positive offseason development, however, has been the health of Derrick Rose, who is currently participating in the Basketball World Cup.
- Hornets: Charlotte built on their first playoff appearance in four years by signing ultra-talented Lance Stephenson along with Marvin Williams and Brian Roberts, all to deals that look reasonable compared to some of the monster numbers thrown around this summer. The Hornets also got what looks like great value in Noah Vonleh and P.J. Hairston in the draft.
- Mavericks: Where to start? The Mavs stole Chandler Parsons from a division rival, signed veteran point guard Jameer Nelson and reunited with Tyson Chandler. And don’t forget, this was the team that gave eventual champ San Antonio their toughest test in the playoffs. Dallas also retained star Dirk Nowitzki on a very team-friendly deal.
- Timberwolves: Bear with me here. If you consider the loss of Love a foregone conclusion going into the offseason, it can be argued that Minnesota did pretty well for itself, as Hoops Rumors readers displayed in a recent poll. If Andrew Wiggins is a star and Anthony Bennett progresses, the Wolves may have dodged a total rebuild. Adding Thaddeus Young in the Love deal and the high-ceiling of Zach LaVine in the draft certainly doesn’t hurt either.
- Wizards: Adding Paul Pierce, Kris Humphries and DeJuan Blair while subtracting Trevor Ariza and Trevor Booker may not seem like a giant net improvement on paper. However, considering the weakness of the East and the youth and potential on Washington’s roster, you can argue the Wiz positioned themselves as the best of the second tier teams in the conference. Retaining Marcin Gortat was also an important move for Washington.
- Someone else: Feel free to offer your opinion in the comments section if none of these five squads would be atop your list as the winner of the offseason’s silver medal. Maybe you think it’s the Spurs for maintaining most of their championship roster, the Knicks for convincing Carmelo Anthony to stay or even the Sixers for trying something just crazy enough to work. Regardless, we want to hear it.
What about the Rockets for simply not matching that Chandler Parsons offer sheet?
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I think it was dumb in the first place for them to have declined his extremely cheap team option. The fact that they didn’t match the Dallas offer sheet is irrelevant, they lost a year of Chandler Parsons, plain and simple. Not to mention the fact that the only decent player they added this offseason was Trevor Ariza. The Rockets had an awful offseason.
couldnt they have even traded Parsons during his cheap option year and gotten something in return for him instead of letting him walk?
at that low salary, for a team above the cap, it would haven’t returned much. plus the team receiving him would then have to try and re-sign him as a UFA
How about the Raptors? They were able to re-sign their key free agents in Kyle Lowry, Greivis Vasquez, and Patrick Patterson to fairly reasonable deals. Then they went out and turned John Salmons into a much needed offensive weapon off the bench in Lou Williams, signed the wing defender they so desperately needed in James Johnson and signed a true backup center in Greg Stiemsma. They managed to keep their playoff team from last year together while filling the few holes they had on their roster; all while maintaining substantial cap flexibility for a Kevin Durant run in 2016.
as a pistons fan, i’m happy with their off season, not that it was anywhere near the best or 2nd best but the fact that we werent trying to get splashy with an economic eye on the future instead of going after a lance stephenson with a max contract or something crazy like that. Monroe is leaving after this year, and we lost our first round top ten draft pick this year, but thats what it took to get rid of the last remnants of Joe Dumars. Hopefully SVG will sign Drummond to an in season extension and we’ll then be able to start committing money and committing to players to build around Dre. Instead of making short contracts so that they arent in the way when its time to give Dre his payday.