7 NBA Teams That Completely Revamped Their Roster in the Offseason

While most teams in the NBA held the status quo throughout the offseason, seven teams have taken a leap and revamped their rosters in hopes of finding success into the postseason.

With this being the first time in two years we are sure there will be an NBA season, there was quite a bit of turnover in the league during the offseason. Most teams just added a piece here or there. These teams found it necessary to make changes on a grander scale. For better or worse, they have each altered a decent amount of starters and depth from last year's version. 

Through the draft, trades or free agency these teams have taken a leap of faith and made massive changes to their rosters.

Toronto Raptors

The Toronto Raptors are early sleepers for next season. The return of star Andrea Bargnani has a lot to do with their predicted improvement in 2012-2013, but there is more to it than that. 

Thanks to a trade with the Houston Rockets, Toronto acquired PG Kyle Lowry. All they surrendered was a future first rounder and Gary Forbes to get Houston's floor general. Lowry played well last season but ultimately wanted out of Houston after averaging 14.3 points 4.5 rebounds and 6.6 assists per game. He will slide into the starting role while Jose Calderon goes to the bench to back up the 26-year-old.

Joining Lowry in the backcourt will be a mixture of two more newcomers. Rookie Terrence Ross is sure to see a lot of time after being selected eighth overall in the 2012 draft. Pairing with him at shooting guard could be free-agent signee Landry Fields, whom the Raptors signed away from New York after two seasons. Both players are young, and while Fields has more experience, Ross should ultimately win the starting job. 

Another newcomer to Toronto will be last year's first round pick, Jonas Valanciunas. The highly touted prospect out of Lithuania was taken fifth overall by the Raptors last summer but stayed overseas for an additional year. Now he joins the new-look Raptors for the 2012 season, and could start at center. The 20-year-old stands at 6'11", has a lot of game and won numerous awards in Europe, including the FIBA European Young Player of the Year in 2011. 

Another newcomer to the fray will be second-round pick Quincy Acy who could see time in the frontcourt. Toronto has not yet filled out its entire roster, but for now the Raptors are looking pretty new and impressive.

Phoenix Suns

While the biggest change the Phoenix Suns will have to go through next season is moving on from the Steve Nash Era, they have a lot of newcomers who will need to adapt to the change of scenery. 

A new duo will be in town to help last season's backup Sebastian Telfair to cover Nash's void. The Suns signed one of the more sought after free agents of 2012 in Goran Dragic from Houston. They will pair him with rookie first-rounder Kendall Marshall. 

Dragic is the most experienced and figures to be the starter. He played very well in his starts last season for the Rockets. Marshall was taken with the No. 13 overall pick in 2012 out of North Carolina where he controlled the offense superbly. Together the two should do a good job filling Nash's hole.

The Suns have newcomers elsewhere in the starting lineup as well. Luis Scola was amnestied by the Rockets and has found a home in Phoenix. When the Suns won the amnesty auction, they found their new starting power forward.

Jared Dudley is still probably the best option to start at small forward, but the Suns added a very talented player to help him at the position in Michael Beasley. The free agent was acquired by Phoenix after a down year in Minnesota where he lost his starting job and saw his production fall by nearly eight full points per game.

The Suns will move on from Nash in a hurry with this new group and are sure to add a few more faces before the season begins. 

Dallas Mavericks

Now more than a full year removed from their fantastic run to a NBA championship, the Dallas Mavericks are making moves to stay relevant in a strengthening West. 

Key parts like Jason Kidd and Jason Terry have departed, but the Mavericks have brought in some intriguing players to revamp their roster. 

The point guard spot will now be manned by newcomer Darren Collison, who was acquired via a trade with Indiana. Collison started all but four games he played in two seasons for the Pacers. There he averaged 10.4 points and 4.8 assists per game last season.

The whole backcourt will have an overhaul, as Collison is joined by free agent acquisition O.J. Mayo. Mayo was left unsigned for a long period of time before accepting a contract with Dallas. He will start immediately for the Mavericks, as they hope he can return to the form of his early career. Back when he was starting in Memphis, Mayo was an elite scorer. With a return to that role, a uptick in production is expected.

The Mavericks also picked up two free-agent bigs in Chris Kaman and Elton Brand. Kaman should start at center for Dallas, as he was unwelcome in New Orleans. He still has some good years left in him and was once one of the best offensive big men in the NBA. Brand will backup in the frontcourt and provide solid depth for the team. 

Another new face is Dahntay Jones, who was included in the Collison trade and will backup Mayo. Also new are first-round pick Jared Cunningham out of Oregon State, and second-rounders Jae Crowder from Marquette and Bernard James from Florida State.

Houston Rockets

The Houston Rockets come to mind when thinking about which NBA teams went through the biggest overhaul this offseason. When they take the court later this year, they will look very different. 

For starters, The Rockets lost their two best point guards in Kyle Lowry (trade) and Goran Dragic (free agency). They will replace them with Jeremy Lin, who they signed away from New York. Lin will have some competition at the PG spot but if he plays to his potential, he should earn the starting gig.

While still unclear how many or if any will start, the Rockets drafted and signed three first round picks. Jeremy Lamb, the No. 12 overall pick, will contend with Kevin Martin for minutes at the shooting guard spot. Royce White will join to power forward competition with a few other names after being taking 16th. Terrence Jones will have to beat out last year's darling Chandler Parsons for the lion's share of the minutes at SF.

The Rockets will also be joined by last summer's No. 20 pick Donatas Motiejunas. He will battle free-agent acquisition Omer Asik for time at center.

Also new is backup PG Shaun Livingston, who was acquired in the trade of Samuel Dalembert. Livingston does have starting experience if the Lin experiment goes belly-up. Rounding out the Rockets newbies are JaJuan Johnson, Toney Douglas, Gary Forbes, Josh Harrellson, Sean Williams and others. 

New Orleans Hornets

You would be hard-pressed to find a NBA team that improved this dramatically with one draft. The New Orleans Hornets instantly went from an after-thought to one of the more exciting looking teams in the league.

The biggest reason for this is the revamping of the roster, which started with two top-10 picks in the 2012 draft. Those were spent on Anthony Davis (No. 1) and Austin Rivers (No. 10). Davis will start right away in the Hornets frontcourt. Rivers is a bit more of a question mark. He will be duking it out with third-year player Greivis Vasquez, who improved greatly last season with expanded playing time.

The Hornets made another smart move to fill the spot next to Davis. While Orlando and the league was concentrating on Dwight Howard, New Orleans pulled off a sign-and-trade for Ryan Anderson. He lit it up last season, averaging more than 16 points per game and hauling in nearly eight rebounds.  

While not necessarily a newcomer, Eric Gordon has played only nine games for the Hornets, and is worth mentioning. The Hornets still have some spots to fill up, but they have already gone a long way towards relevancy by revamping their lineup.

Atlanta Hawks

Like Phoenix, Atlanta will be struggling to replace their star player, but have done a good job at acquiring new assets to fill Joe Johnson's void. 

With Johnson traded to the Nets, shooting guard was the biggest hole on the team. In the trade they acquired Anthony Morrow who may likely start at the spot when the season begins. Morrow scored 12 points per game, mostly as a reserve in New Jersey last season. 

The Hawks also sent Marvin Williams to Utah in exchange for their starting point guard Devin Harris. In Atlanta Harris will have to fight Jeff Teague for the starting job. Teague came on strong at the end of last season and had a great series against Boston in the playoffs. 

Atlanta must now fill Williams' spot as well, and figure to do so with two newcomers and Josh Smith a little bit. DeShawn Stevenson came over as a part of the Johnson trade and will see some minutes at the small forward. Also on the depth chart there is veteran Kyle Korver who was traded for from Chicago.

Perhaps the biggest new name is Lou Williams. Philadelphia's super sub led the 76ers in scoring while coming off the bench last year. He signed with Atlanta as a free agent and may see that same role down south.

Other newcomers include 2012 first-round pick John Jenkins, a power forward out of Vanderbilt and second-rounder Mike Scott, a shooting guard from Virginia. 

Charlotte Bobcats

Everyone knew the Charlotte Bobcats were going to get a top-notch draft pick. What they didn't know was the other moves the team would make this offseason. 

With the No. 2 pick in the 2012 NBA draft, Charlotte took Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. MKG should have the inside track to start immediately at the small forward spot, where his main competition is fellow rookie Jeffrey Taylor out of Vanderbilt. 

That alone would signal change in Charlotte, but they were not done. After rescinding their qualifying offer to D.J. Augustin, the Bobcats agreed to terms with Ramon Sessions. He will man the point guard spot, at least until they feel Kemba Walker is up to the task.

At shooting guard there should be another good battle. Charlotte packaged up Corey Maggette to bring in Ben Gordon from Detroit. Gordon will adjust to the new city while battling the established Gerald Henderson for the starting role and playing time.

The Bobcats also brought in a new center who will have the opportunity to start over Byron Mullens. Brendan Haywood was amnestied by the Mavericks and scooped up by Charlotte. The 11-year veteran stumbled last season, but is still a rebounding beast, averaging six boards in just 21.2 minutes per game.

The Bobcats have overhauled the depth of their roster and should become a team worth watching once in a while.