NBA Free Agency 2012: 10 Deals Driven by Pressure to Win Now

NBA free agency is an interesting period in which teams can fill in holes, ruin cap space, complete teams, tear teams apart, steal a good free agent, stumble into horrible contracts like stepping in dog poop in the middle of the sidewalk or mortgage the future of their team to win as soon as possible.

Basically, it's a horrifying period for fans in which they're all just hoping for the best, wishing that their team isn't the one to sign someone to the dumb contracts that always come along every summer.

One thing that makes free agency especially intriguing is that you can always tell which teams are playing for that particular season and which ones are letting the season come to them.

This year, a handful of teams have shown pressure getting to them, ending up making moves to put together a team that they think will win this year, but that doesn't necessarily mean it has screwed them in the long haul. Some teams did a good job of balancing the now with the future, but they still acted with this year in the highest regard.

All transactions from the past week are summed up nicely on CBSSports.com.

Dallas Re-Tooling

The Dallas Mavericks had the biggest whiff of the offseason when they missed out on Deron Williams, who would have been their future after Dirk Nowitzki faded away and eventually retired.

Williams decided to stay in Brooklyn, Jason Kidd left and they began tossing jetsam off their ship as water surged into the hold, bringing them down quickly with no choice but to fill holes on the go.

Picking up Darren Collison in exchange for Ian Mahinmi was a good enough move, but what followed is going to be interesting moving forward. Dallas picked up Elton Brand after he was waived by Philadelphia and Chris Kaman via free agency after using their amnesty clause on Brendan Haywood.

Dallas doesn't have a team that's going to win a title, but perhaps they can still get a decent playoff spot with this cobbled-together lineup.

San Antoino Re-Signing Guys, Bringing in Nando

The San Antonio Spurs have been in win-now mode for the past decade, and it seems like they make a dozen good moves for every bad move, which means they're still going to be using up good moves after trading for Richard Jefferson a few years back.

Basically, San Antonio just decided to run back the team they had last season, re-signing Tim Duncan, Boris Diaw, Danny Green and Patty Mills, but also threw in a nice little monkey wrench when they announced that Nando De Colo would be coming over from Europe this year.

San Antonio has pulled together yet another fine team via free agency and should be a threat in the Western Conference yet again.

Indiana Clinging to Roy Hibbert

The Indiana Pacers made one of the best no-brainer moves for both the future and the present when they decided to match Portland's offer for Roy Hibbert.

Portland offered Hibbert a maximum deal, which Indiana should have realized about two minutes later is exactly what Hibbert was worth with the short supply of big men in the league.

Aside from that, Indiana shipped Darren Collison away with Dahntay Jones for Ian Mahinmi, handing the starting point guard spot over to George Hill, signed D.J. Augustin as his backup and took a gamble on the possibly rejuvenated Gerald Green.

Indiana has taken some calculated risks, but they all seem to be for the greater good of this team, both for the future and the present.

Nets Taking Joe Johnson's Contract, Overpaying Lopez

The Nets may not have felt the pressure to win right away, but there is definitely some pressure to go into Brooklyn with more than just Gerald Wallace and MarShon Brooks as reasons for people to buy season tickets.

Instead of limping out of the offseason a shell of themselves, the Nets gave the middle finger to financial stability and traded for Joe Johnson's albatross with a bunch of dudes that you wouldn't notice walking down the street (save DeShawn Stevenson and his Abraham Lincoln neck tattoo).

Brooklyn was able to re-sign Deron Williams from that trade, as their team was considerably better. As Dwight Howard dreams came and went, the Nets re-signed Brook Lopez to a deal too rich for him, but ultimately good for the team. Now they might just be better than the Knicks. Only time will tell.

Clippers Nab Jamal Crawford, Lamar Odom

The Los Angeles Clippers should have started to eye the end of this season with a bit of concern if they're smart, as this is the final year in Chris Paul's contract.

It's impossible to tell right now whether or not Paul is going to re-sign with the Clippers, but it sure helps a hell of a lot if the team makes it deep into the playoffs this year, which is a good enough reason to gamble on guys who can contribute and be interesting X-factors one way or the other.

Over the past three years, both Lamar Odom and Jamal Crawford have been key to excellent basketball teams and huge failures at new teams, the biggest concern being that the latter is a more recent development than the former.

Toronto Accidentally Overpaying Landry Fields

The Toronto Raptors' big offseason plans had their sights set on Steve Nash, which led to them offering an interestingly large contract to Landry Fields.

As Steve Nash caromed off the rim as a loose rebound, Toronto boxed out New York by offering Landry Fields a three-year, $18.7 million deal, meaning New York could no longer use him as a piece in a sign-and-trade because—well, no team is crazy enough to give Landry Fields a backloaded deal under normal circumstances.

Fields is a decent signing should he go back to his form as a rookie, but he's still going to be overpaid for the life of his contract.

Ray Allen Leaves for Miami

This wasn't a pressure move for the Miami Heat; it was a pressure move for Ray Allen.

Looking at the difference between the Miami Heat and Boston Celtics is not necessarily night and day, as they met in the Eastern Conference Finals last season, but one is a team clinging to anything left and the other is a team still surging.

You can't say that Ray is chasing a ring here, as he's already got one to his name, but he didn't make this move to win over any more fans.

Minnesota Reaching and Overpaying

The Minnesota Timberwolves have had one of the most interesting offseasons, and it seems like the deals they made are wise for them but would look dumb if anyone else did them.

Brandon Roy was a calculated risk, and it would be crazy if the T-Wolves signed him without a doctor or two tapping him in the knee with a little rubber hammer, so it could end up being a great signing.

Otherwise, Minnesota extended a huge offer sheet to Nicolas Batum, which seems like a crazy number at $46 million over four years, but if the Timberwolves don't do something to keep Kevin Love happy, then the team could be falling apart before anything good can come together.

With or without Batum, Minny has made some good moves this summer.

Celtics Gamble on Jeff Green

Little known fact about basketball: Heart surgery actually makes a player more desirable, or at least that's what it seems like when you look at the deal the Celtics gave Jeff Green.

Before the 2011 season, Green commanded all of $9 million from Boston for a single season deal, during which he was sidelined for the duration, of course. Now Boston is looking at giving the guy a four-year, $40 million deal, although his deal has been put on hold along with Jason Terry's.

Other than that, Boston has refilled with the likes of Kevin Garnett, Brandon Bass and Chris Wilcox, which should allow them to have a better foothold in the post moving forward.

Lakers Trade for Steve Nash

The deal of deals of the summer that eclipsed anything the Nets did, even though Brooklyn traded half their team away, was without a doubt the Lakers stealing Steve Nash away from the Eastern Conference.

New York, Brooklyn and Toronto were jostling for Nash before the Lakers swooped in and grabbed him for some draft picks.

Not only did this give Los Angeles a fourth All-Star, it made their three other All-Stars better as well.

This Lakers team may not be better than the Oklahoma City Thunder on paper, but it's not impossible to think that they could take them down in a seven-game series with the team they've put together now.

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