NBA Rankings: How Texas Teams' Offseasons Stack Up

The San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks and Houston Rockets will each look to make next year’s postseason behind work done in this offseason, after just the Spurs and Mavs made it this past year.

Each team’s executives have worked countless hours on evaluating college and international players as well as working with other teams on trades and players' agents for free agents.

Some teams have been more active than others over the past few weeks, and it will be interesting to see how their new players perform next season.

Which of the three Texas franchises had the best offseason? Here are my rankings.

*These rankings are based on moves made or not made during the offseason, not which team will be better in 2012-13.

3. San Antonio Spurs

The San Antonio Spurs haven’t done much to improve their roster from last season that earned them the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference.

San Antonio’s biggest deal of the offseason was making sure that future Hall of Famer Tim Duncan remained a Spur for life, signing him to a three-year, $36 million contract.

The Spurs also signed guard Danny Green to a three-year deal and forward Boris Diaw to a two-year contract. Other than that, the Spurs haven’t done anything besides get older.

San Antonio only had one pick in the NBA draft, selecting Marcus Denmon with the 59th overall pick, but have yet to sign him to a deal.

The lack of activity from San Antonio is a little concerning.

Yes, the Spurs were incredible last season despite losing in the conference finals to the Oklahoma City Thunder, but how will they be better next season?

Duncan along with Tony Parker, Stephen Jackson and Manu Ginobili aren't getting any younger, each playing at least 10 seasons in the NBA. The Spurs are in decent shape now, but I’m not sold on the post-Duncan era just yet.

2. Houston Rockets

The Houston Rockets are doing everything in their power to ensure a postseason appearance next season. They’ve had their fair share of highs and lows this offseason, mainly though trades.

Houston has been working diligently to clear its payroll in order to make an offer to the Orlando Magic to acquire Dwight Howard, according to ESPN’s Marc Stein and Chad Ford.

Through several trades, the Rockets have acquired Shaun Livingston, Jon Leuer, Jon Brockman, Toney Douglas, Josh Harrleson and Jerome Jordan. They’ve lost Kyle Lowry, Goran Dragic, Marcus Camby, Chase Budinger and Samuel Dalembert in those trades.

The Rockets will definitely miss some of those pieces from last year’s team but are truly hoping to have Howard in Houston next season. If that doesn’t work out, though, they aren’t in horrific shape.

Houston drafted three impact players in the 2012 NBA draft in Jeremy Lamb, Royce White and Terrence Jones. The Rockets have signed an offer sheet for Chicago Bulls forward Omer Asik and await to hear whether the Bulls will match or not.

They’ve also signed an offer sheet for New York Knicks guard Jeremy Lin—an offer the Knicks won't match, according to Yahoo! Sports’ Marc Spears.

Adding Howard would make the Rockets immediate playoff contenders, but even without him, they should be competitive next season.

1. Dallas Mavericks

Losing veterans Jason Kidd and Jason Terry will not be a factor for next season’s Dallas Mavericks, as they’ve been busier and more proactive than either of the other two Texas teams.

Dallas dealt big man Ian Mahinmi to the Indiana Pacers in exchange for guard Darren Collison and forward Dahntay Jones. Collison is a great pickup who will serve as a long-term replacement for Kidd.

They also shipped Lamar Odom off to the Los Angeles Clippers as a part of a four-team deal.

The Mavs amnestied big man Brendan Haywood and then won the bidding on Elton Brand after he was amnestied. They also signed Chris Kama via free agency and drafted Jared Cunningham, Bernard James and Jae Crowder.

It was time for Dallas to part with the two veterans, and it has opened up a decent amount of cap space for the future. I’m not sold on any of the three draft picks, as they probably won’t have much of an impact in the near future.

The trade to acquire Collison was huge, though.

The team lost over 20 points per game with the departing of Kidd and Terry, and Collison could help with some of that next season. He’s a younger, better point guard for the Mavs going forward.

As ESPN Dallas’ Tim MacMahon writes, all of their offseason moves keep the dream alive of signing big-name free agents at the conclusion of next season. As long as Howard isn’t dealt in the meantime, Dallas remains a legitimate contender.