(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
The NBA's 64th season is now upon us. The defending champion Los Angeles Lakers begin their title defense against the now Blake Griffin-less Los Angeles Clippers, but they will look just a little different than they did last year. All of the league's top teams added a piece that they hope will get them over the top.
Shaquille O'Neal Traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers: When this move was first made, I loved it. The Cavs were one of the best teams in the league, but Orlando was a horrible match-up for them because they didn't have any front court players who could hang with Dwight Howard.
Zydrunas Ilgauskas was once a very good center, but he's not at that level anymore.
After thinking about it, the problem I have with it is Shaq's health. He's had a problem staying healthy throughout his entire career. Shaq played as many games last season as he's ever played in any season, so he's bound to miss 10 to 20 games.
Granted, that leaves him rested for the playoffs, but Mike Brown will probably only have him go for 20-25 minutes a game anyway. Will Shaq provide anything more than a presence—which is still an upgrade—in an offense that LeBron James has dominated?
This is a wait and see move.
Rasheed Wallace Signed With the Boston Celtics: Wallace is one of the few people in the league today who can match Kevin Garnett's passion and drive for the game of basketball. He came up painfully short a few times with Detroit after they won a championship in 2004, so he'll be hungrier than ever.
However, this is by no means an absolutely perfect fit. The first concern is age. Garnett has played a ridiculous amount of games for someone his age and he is coming off of knee surgery.
Paul Pierce and Ray Allen are also getting up there and Rasheed Wallace is not a young man.
The second concern is the personalities. They were already an emotional team and adding Wallace does nothing to decrease that. As long as they can stay healthy and control their emotions, they should be the class of the Eastern Conference.
Vince Carter Traded to the Orlando Magic: Vince Carter has never played on a team that is as good as this Orlando Magic squad. The closest he's ever come was probably the 2001 Toronto Raptors and that team couldn't hang with this one.
Carter was also "The Guy" on that team. Now he'll be the second or third option every time down the court.
This could work if Carter stops settling for jump shots, a bad habit that he's picked up over the last few years. They won't be better than the Celtics or the Cavs when it counts, but they will be very good. The loss of Hedo Turkoglu will hurt because he may have been a better fit for Orlando than Carter is.
Richard Jefferson Traded to the San Antonio Spurs: This was the best move by any team this offseason. He is a perfect fit for the Spurs and they gave up almost nothing to get him. Jefferson will mesh with this team nicely and help them get past the Los Angeles Lakers.
On top of this trade, the Spurs were able to steal DeJuan Blair in the draft and they added Antonio McDyess and Theo Ratliff for depth on the front line. Their version of the Big Three in Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili are all healthy for the first time in a while as well.
As long as this team can avoid too many injuries, there are not too many teams that can play with them.
Ron Artest Signed With the Los Angeles Lakers: In this system, Artest is a downgrade from Trevor Ariza. Ariza did a lot of little things for the Lakers last year that Artest does not do. Ariza is definitely a better shooter and he came up huge in the playoffs for the Lakers.
On the other hand, Artest shrunk in the last few games of the Lakers/Rockets semifinals series last year. In addition, Artest is not the defender he was a couple of years ago.
He's still better than most on the perimeter, but he's not a lockdown guy anymore. The Lakers will be around until the very end, but they would have been better off with Ariza still in their line-up.
Allen Iverson Signed With the Memphis Grizzlies:
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