NBA Offseason Flux Ultimately Won't Mean Much

(Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

Shaquille O’Neal. Ron Artest. Hedo Turkoglu. Vince Carter. Rasheed Wallace.

All of these NBA players will play for new teams in the 2009-2010 NBA season, and the five aforementioned players bring either championship pedigree or veteran experience.

It is my contention, however, that the upheaval and flux resulting from this summer’s NBA trades and free-agency signings are much ado about nothing, and not only because of next season’s prized free-agent crop, a group led by one LeBron James.

The current signings and trades have failed to change the hierarchy of power in the NBA. The Los Angeles Lakers, the current NBA champions, were one of arguably four teams with realistic title aspirations at the start of the 2008-2009 season; the Boston Celtics, the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the San Antonio Spurs were the other three teams. That list sits at five teams in the midst of the current offseason , add Orlando to the bunch of teams that will vie for a championship.

All five of the teams mentioned above have made “key” acquisitions during this offseason, but only one team has upgraded from last season.

THE LOS ANGELES LAKERS ACQUIRE ARTEST, BUT LOSE TREVOR ARIZA VIA FREE AGENCY. Artest was one of the key cogs on a Houston Rockets team that forced a seven-game series with the Lakers, and the eccentric forward came of age as a reliable scorer, rebounder and leader on a team riddled with injuries. Artest will join Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, and Andrew Bynum to form a potent lineup that, on paper, should be as efficient on offense as it is on defense. However, the Lakers lost Ariza, ironically enough, to the Houston Rockets via free agency. Ariza provided the Lakers with clutch play during the postseason, whether it came from his perimeter shooting or his timely steals in the Lakers’ series against the Denver Nuggets. Essentially, the Lakers traded away Ariza, a player approaching his full potential as a dangerous wingman and flourishing under the tutelage of Kobe Bryant, for a player in Artest poised to suffer decline in the coming years and has had off-the-court issues in the past. More importantly, I fail to see where Artest, a modest perimeter shooter at best, will be able to match Ariza’s contributions from behind the arc.

THE ORLANDO MAGIC ACQUIRE CARTER, BUT LOSE HEDO TURKOGLU VIA FREE AGENCY. The Orlando Magic recently signed Carter, a native of Orlando, which virtually guaranteed Turkoglu’s departure from the team. The problem with Turkoglu’s departure was that he, not Magic center Dwight Howard, was arguably the most valuable player of Orlando’s run to the NBA Finals. Turkoglu, a gifted 6’10” forward, made clutch shots for the Magic and served as the team’s primary facilitator. Turkoglu averaged almost 17 points, five rebounds, and five assists for a team that suffered the loss of its starting point guard near the All-Star break, was the primary go-to option in the crunch and displayed a strong shooting touch from behind the three-point line. Carter, whose best basketball seems to be behind him, certainly enjoys a touch of clutch in his repertoire, but will be a downgrade from Turkoglu, whose range in the clutch extended to 25-30 feet. Additionally, Carter’s penchant for settling for jumpshots will essentially force him to languish in Orlando’s system, which relies on long-range shots to establish Howard in the post.

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