With the NBA off-season winding down, it is time to take a look back at which teams came away as winners this summer. At the top of my list, the Brooklyn Nets who went all-in by acquiring two future Hall of Famers.
Here is my breakdown of every NBA off-season free agent signing and trade.
Brooklyn Nets
Mikhail Prokhorov went all in this summer by acquiring Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce and as a result, giving Brooklyn one of the best, if not the best starting five in the NBA. Signing Andrei Kirilenko might have been the free agent steal of the summer since he will only be making $3.1 million this year and Jason Terry adds some needed scoring off the bench. The Nets also re-signed Andray Blatche for the league minimum and brought in Shaun Livingston which are two moves that should solidify their bench. It was a risky and expensive summer for Brooklyn, but one that definitely improves their chances of dethroning the Heat in the Eastern Conference.
Golden State Warriors
The Warriors already had a team on the rise but didn’t hold still this summer but instead, was extremely aggressive by landing one of the more versatile wings in the NBA in Andre Iguodala. To free up the cap space need to sign Iggy, Golden State found a taker for the expiring contracts of Andris Biedrins, Richard Jefferson, and Brandon Rush which wasn’t an easy thing to do hence why they had to give up a couple of draft picks in the process. Golden State added some depth on the cheap by bringing in Marreese Speights, Jermaine O’Neal, and Toney Douglas. Suddenly, the Warriors are becoming a sexy sleeper team in the Western Conference.
Portland Trail Blazers
The Blazers had the worst bench in the NBA last year but made some smart moves to improve their depth this summer. To replace free agent J.J. Hickson, Portland traded for Robin Lopez and Thomas Robinson without having to give up much in return. They added needed scoring punch off the bench by drafting C.J. McCollum and Allen Crabbe while also signing Dorell Wright. These moves won’t suddenly turn the Blazers into a major threat but is certainly the upgrading of the bench that the team needed this summer.
Come back tomorrow for the NBA off-season losers
David Kay is a senior feature NBA Draft, NBA, and college basketball writer for the Sports Bank. He also heads up the NBA and college basketball material at Walter Football.com and is a former contributor at The Washington Times Communities. David has appeared on numerous national radio programs spanning from Cleveland to New Orleans to Honolulu to Milwaukee. He also had the most accurate 2011 NBA Mock Draft and the most accurate 2012 NBA Mock Draft on the internet , AND the second most accurate 2013 NBA Mock Draft. (Yup, nearly 3peat champ… #humblebrag.)
You can follow him on Twitter at David_Kmiecik.