While LeBron-mania is on pause until the season begins and breakdowns about every Miami Heat game absorb media outlets, many of the other 29 NBA teams are still making moves.
The busiest team this off-season has been the Chicago Bulls. First they inherited the Utah Jazz by signing Carlos Boozer, Kyle Korver and Ronnie Brewer. Then they signed 7-foot center Omer Asik from Turkey. Now, there are reports the Bulls are going to sign ex-NBA superstar Tracy McGrady, assuming he shows signs of life in workouts scheduled this week.
The life in McGrady’s knees is faint to say the least. His once impressive leaping ability has been belittled to less than a bunny hop. The highlight reel of him thunder dunking has turned into elementary layups. This doesn’t mean he is a horrible player, but his vertical was his greatest asset.
If he can keep his ego in check, he could be a phenomenal role player for Chicago. He has experience and could teach Derrick Rose, Brewer, Korver and other perimeter players a thing or two. McGrady has always been able to create his own shot — something Korver can’t do — and defend, something the whole team will need to be better at if it wants to excel in Tom Thibodeau’s defensive system.
Another huge story is Chris Paul not demanding a trade when he met with the New Orleans Hornets front office Monday. He said he is happy with the direction of the organization. This is hard to believe as the Hornets are the exact same team they were last year, finishing with a 37-45 record and failing to make the playoffs.
If Paul wants to win, he should have looked at real estate and bought a plane ticket to another NBA city.
The Miami Heat are putting together the pieces of a dynasty. After signing Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh, they only had four players on the roster. Since then they have signed Mike Miller, Carlos Arroyo, Juwan Howard, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Udonis Haslem, Joel Anthony and Dexter Pittman.
Miller is a great pick up. He is versatile and will do whatever he needs to do to win games, although, he won’t have to do much. Bosh wants to return to power forward, so the Heat signed three centers. Ilgauskas is on his last leg but has one more go in him. Haslem will get boards and is a strong defensive player in the low post.
The Golden State Warriors, who are known for ignorant trades, made a great move for once. They sent forward’s Anthony Randolph, Kelenna Azubuike, Ronny Turiaf and a 2012 second round pick to the New York Knicks for David Lee.
Lee will be great on the up-tempo Warriors. He will run the court and grab rebounds for Monta Ellis and Stephen Curry if they have off nights. The Knicks couldn’t keep Lee after they signed Amare Stoudemire, so there was no doubt he would be gone. But, he should have been traded for more than Randolph, some scrubs and a pick that could be a role player.
Another loser would have to be the Minnesota Timberwolves. They traded their best player Al Jefferson to the Utah Jazz for two first-round draft picks. The deal would be great, if Minnesota’s Director of Basketball Operations David Kahn didn’t select players of the same position in every draft. In 2009, he selected three point guards in the first 20 picks of the draft. In 2010, he mirrored his performance with small forwards.
Last but not least, are the teams who have not done anything to help their team. The Hornets should fall in this category, but they did get Chris Paul to stay on the roster. The Sacramento Kings are heavily relying on draft selections to make their team relevant. Tyreke Evans is a great player, but he needs veteran help. The Kings are young with little to no playoff experience. Again, DeMarcus Cousins, great pick, but he has not played one NBA game.
Los Angeles Clippers were in the LeBron running and McGrady worked out with them, but besides these little discussions, they have been invisible.
The top teams have been set. The Western Conference is still the Los Angeles Lakers and the Heat made themselves the dominant team on paper in the Eastern Conference.
There is still plenty of time for other teams to build a stronger lineup. Pickings are becoming limited but there is always a young player or aging veteran who has a breakout year.