If NBA Teams Aren't Getting Better This Offseason, They're Getting Worse

(Photo by Matt Sullivan/Getty Images)

There's never been a "holding steady" in sports. If you're not busy getting better, you're busy getting worse—because everyone else is getting better.

Never has that been more true than in this NBA offseason.

The teams that have gotten better come quickly to mind—Cleveland, San Antonio, Orlando—and the teams getting decidedly worse come just as quickly—Phoenix, Chicago, and Milwaukee, among others.

In an unprecedented way, the strong teams are getting stronger. The two teams that played in the Eastern Conference Finals, Cleveland and Orlando, both added several-time All-Stars in Shaquille O'Neal and Vince Carter. And the NBA Champion Lakers added another big name, Ron Artest, to their already star-studded roster.

And at whose expense?

In a bizzaro Robin Hood way, the rich have robbed the poor of what little they had. Cleveland and Orlando's additions came from Phoenix and New Jersey, neither of whom made the playoffs this year. And the Lakers performed their small-forward swap with Houston—who was one of their victims en route to their title.

But what of the teams who haven't made waves with offseason personnel moves? Denver and Dallas made good runs in the Western Conference Playoffs. And the East has some budding teams in Atlanta and Miami.

Unfortunately for them, if they haven't made moves to get better, they may be doomed to be worse. The Utah Jazz, for example, were thrilled to retain Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur—but that's still a front line that only got them to the eighth seed in the West this past season.

And that's in a West that has now added Ron Artest and Richard Jefferson to its only teams that have won titles this decade.

And in the East, this is why we've seen the Boston Celtics working so hard to get Rasheed Wallace. They've realized that just getting Kevin Garnett back from injury won't actually improve their standing in the East over last year. By just holding steady, they'd find themselves outmatched by everyone else's improvements.

The Chicago Bulls put together a dynamic first-round performance against those Celtics in this year's playoffs, and made themselves a future conference contender in many peoples' eyes. But even less than holding steady, they lost their top scorer, Ben Gordon—and pending a breakout scoring season by Derrick Rose could find themselves sitting at home during next year's playoffs.

While all breaths are held for the 2010 free agent summer, 2009 has turned out to be a surprisingly potent arms race for teams that were already title contenders. Parity has taken a back seat, and the gap between the elite and the hoi polloi has widened dramatically.

The team's who haven't improved their rosters yet this summer had better hurry.

Or they'll get worse.

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