TheBasketballJunkie.com

1. Spurs attain Richard Jefferson for Bruce Bowen, Kurt Thomas and Fabricio Oberto.

The Spurs always find a way to improve their team seemingly every off-season, but this move was San Antonio's biggest off-season splash of the Duncan era. They typically get good role players to fill the spots around the drafted Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili. This time they went and got a bonafide scorer who's still very young and athletic. On top of that, the players they gave up were on their last legs as professional basketball players. Who knows how much they would have contributed? Now we don't have to find out. Instead we get to see an already solid Spurs team add a tremendous player. I wouldn't be surprised if we see San Antonio as the site of game 1 of the NBA finals.

2. Celtics sign Rasheed Wallace.

The Celtics' biggest problem last year was their lack of depth up front. Once Kevin Garnett went down, that lack of depth really became glaring. Boston put together a patchwork frontcourt, and once Leon Powe tore his ACL in the playoffs, Doc Rivers actually had to put Mikki Moore in the games for meaningful minutes. The horror. Enter "Sheed." Rasheed Wallace is not quite as good of a basketball player as he once was, and he still can be a loud mouth, but he still has talent and he still has a good basketball mind. You also can't deny his heart and drive to win. He'll be the best backup big man in the league, and he'll allow the Celtics to do different things like spread the floor at the end of games if they decide to have him in there instead of Kendrick Perkins. As long as Kevin Garnett stays healthy, this Celtics team suddenly looks very stacked and poised for banner number 18.

3. Clippers trade away Zach Randolph.

Zach Randolph is an enigma. If one were to simply look at his stats quickly they'd see "20-10" and think he was a good player. He's not, not by any means. Good players make those around him better. Randolph doesn't do that, as his other stats are always much lower than a good power forward should be. He also has documented attitude issues and anyone who watches him play can see that he's out of shape. I don't understand why the Clippers trade for him in the first place, unless it was to make them so bad that they'd get the first pick, which would then make the trade genius because it worked. In any case, the Clippers are trying to build a good young core around veterans such as Baron Davis and Marcus Camby, and Randolph's presence would have hindered number one pick Blake Griffin's on and off court development.



4. Wizards trade the number 5 pick for Randy Foye and Mike Miller.

Washington has a very significant question mark in Gilbert Arenas and his knee. He's barely played the last two seasons. However, he looks to be back and ready to earn the large contract he received before last off-season. But thanks to his and Brandon Haywood's "injury-prone" status, along with Antawn Jamison's age and Caron Butler being in his prime, the team wants to go for it now. So instead of getting a project at number 5, they turned it into the dynamic Foye and the underrated long-range shooter Mike Miller. Foye can play either back court position and will be a great compliment to Arenas. Miller will be a tremendous asset off the bench, as the Wizards didn't have much in terms of consistent (or any) three-point shooting on the team in previous years. The Wizards are suddenly a very deep team, as long as they stay healthy, and could make a run in the playoffs.

5. Trail Blazers sign Andre Miller.

The Blazers needed a point guard, badly. Steve Blake was just a place holder for whomever that was going to be. Miller is getting older, but he's still a very good point guard. The one problem is his inability to score from beyond the three point line, and that seems to be an overall issue for the Blazers. However, his ability to run a team and distribute is the important thing to focus on, and he should definitely be able to make the Blazers a better team this year.

Worst Off-season Move: Raptors sign Hedo Turkoglu and the Magic trade for Vince Carter.

These two moves need to go together here. The biggest reason the Magic were so good last year was because of their ability to create matchup problems due to their size. No one could match up with this team well because the Magic were just bigger than everyone else. The 6'10" Turkoglu was the best example of this, as he could simply shoot over the other team's small forward or work him in the post. He was a perfect player for the way Orlando played and was much more valuable to the Magic than to any other team. The Raptors don't play like the Magic and they have a seemingly disgruntled superstar who seems already ready to leave in 2010. Throw in the fact that Turkoglu is already 30 years old and his signing with Toronto will not help them get anywhere further than they are now, and it is simply a bad signing by the Raptors.

Now if the Magic had re-signed Turkoglu, it would have made more sense because of his fit with that system. Instead they traded for Vince Carter (while giving up the talented and very young Courtney Lee) and now have a team that looks like many others in the league. The matchup problems that they used to be able to give other teams are no more and although Vince Carter has the talent, he's not exactly the most reliable player with regards to injuries or attitude.