5 Under-the-Radar NBA Signings That'll Morph Playoff Pretenders into Contenders

We've been so distracted with the talk surrounding Chris Paul's move to the Los Angeles Clippers and Kobe Bryant's injured wrist that we might have missed a few key signings that flew under the radar.

This free agency class wasn't prolific in the slightest. David West, Nene Hilario and Marc Gasol led the way for a weak class that greatly lacked the star power that the 2010 class provided and what the 2012 class is set to provide. With Dwight Howard and Deron Williams set to lead that group, teams utilized the 2010 offseason to sign role players that could possibly entice the top free agents into joining their team.

Rather than look again at the prevalent free agent moves, we'll take a look at the moves that received little attention but could provide great dividends to their new team. These five players all either received minimal attention or just weren't as hyped up as they should have been when the moves were made, but they all address key issues that should greatly benefit their team.

Let's take a look at five free agents who went on the move and could turn turn their team from a pretender to a contender.

Jamal Crawford to the Portland Trail Blazers

Spending the past two seasons with the Atlanta Hawks, Jamal Crawford will be looking to add a significant offensive boost to a Portland Trail Blazers team that could use it.

After unexpectedly losing Brandon Roy to retirement, the Blazers found themselves in an awkward position. They had solid offensive threats in LaMarcus Aldridge, Wesley Matthews and Raymond Felton, but lacked that spark that could come through in specific instances. With no Roy, the Blazers were missing out on a team leader and 20 points per game.

Now with Crawford on the squad, the Blazers will possess one of the league's deadliest and most volatile players. He's coming off a tough season where he only averaged 14 points per game on 42 percent shooting, including hitting only 34 percent of his shots from beyond the arc. But he's only two years removed from winning his sixth Man of the Year when he averaged 18 points per game and converted on 38 percent of his three-pointers.

Crawford will help to give the Blazers some more help at the perimeter next to Matthews, who quickly established himself as a formidable perimeter threat. The two will swap out with each other at shooting guard throughout the season, with both players essentially providing the same aspect in perimeter shooting and the potential to drive.

The Blazers are an even more dangerous team, despite not having Roy and their center Greg Oden suffering another setback. With a three-point shooter as deadly as Crawford, they should make a significant postseason push.

Samuel Dalembert to the Houston Rockets

After the Miami Heat and Dallas Mavericks backed out of the Samuel Dalembert sweepstakes due to the money he was commanding, the Sacramento Kings center was coming extremely close to not being on an NBA roster at the start of the season.

However, that all changed once the Houston Rockets finally finished their negotiations with the nine-year veteran. By signing him to a two-year deal, the Rockets will address a key issue in the middle that was left vacant upon the retirement of Yao Ming. Without Yao last season, Houston struggled mightily on defense as it let allowed a substantial amount of points in the paint.

It turns out that a 6'6" Chuck Hayes and Jordan Hill weren't enough to deter slashers from attacking the  paint and scoring near the rim at will. Houston didn't appear to improve in the slightest over the offseason either, as their depth chart had Hill, Hasheem Thabeet and Marcus Cousins as the possible starters at center. Whether they were unproven or just bad, the Rockets weren't ready to send out any of those players.

Dalembert is perfect for Houston. He's not too prolific of a scorer and mostly relies on his teammates to get scores, but he addresses the need for a strong defensive and shot-blocking presence in the middle.

He's averaged eight boards and two blocks per game for his career and is coming off a solid season with the Kings where he averaged eight points, eight boards and two blocks per game.

Reggie Williams to the Charlotte Bobcats

Reggie Williams won't make the Charlotte Bobcats into a contender, but he will provide some key aspects that the 'Cats were previously lacking.

Last year, the Bobcats ranked 29th in the league in points per game. A major reason for these struggles comes directly as a result of the lack of three-point shooting that the team possessed. Stephen Jackson, D.J. Augustin and Boris Diaw were the only players on the team to average one three-pointer each game, and no one on the team averaged better than the 1.8 per game that the departed Jackson averaged.

Charlotte finished tied for 27th in three-pointers converted, 26th in three-pointers attempted, and 29th in overall three-point percentage. The best percentage the Bobcats got out of their roster was the seldom used Matt Carroll, who shot 37 percent from deep. Their leading perimeter threat in Jackson only shot 34 percent.

Going into his third season and his first outside of Golden State, Williams will greatly assist his new team in their perimeter shooting troubles. He was one of the league's top perimeter threats last season as he converted over one three-pointer per game, while nailing 42 percent of his shot attempts from the land of three.

By picking up Williams and Kemba Walker over the offseason, the Bobcats have shown that they're at least attempting to make some sort of improvement in the offense, especially along the perimeter.

Josh Howard to the Utah Jazz

It was in 2008 when Josh Howard had just averaged a career high 20 points per game with the Dallas Mavericks.

It's now 2011, and Howard was one of the last free agents to be picked up after receiving little to no attention from an organization, including his former team in the Washington Wizards. That star swingman who once averaged 20 points per game on some of the best Dallas Maverick teams that we've seen was an afterthought for many organizations who considered Howard to be a backup plan.

Eventually, it would be the Utah Jazz who would pick him up to address their needs of adding depth in the back court and at small forward. Considering Raja Bell, Alec Burks, Earl Watson and Jamaal Tinsley will be the backup shooting guards and that there was not one backup small forward, adding Howard was the best thing the Jazz could have done at that point in the offseason.

But at what point did Josh Howard become this afterthought? He was one of the most dangerous players in the league only three years ago, so what happened?

Injuries happened.

After playing only 52 games in the 2008-09 season and then showing signs of regressing the next year, the Mavericks traded Howard to the Wizards after only 31 games. It was quite the lopsided deal too, as Dallas got Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood and DeShawn Stevenson in return for Howard, Drew Gooden and two nobodies.

Over the short time he spent with the Wizards, Howard would barely play and would constantly deal with setbacks that impeded his return. In one-and-a-half years, Howard only played in 22 games and averaged eight points on 36 percent shooting in the 2010-11 season.

The Jazz give the 31-year-old Howard a new lease on life, as they hope that he can come alive and produce as their main backup in the back court and at small forward.

Reggie Evans to the Los Angeles Clippers

They already had the best offseason of any other team, so why would the Los Angeles Clippers stop there when they could pick up one of the NBA's top rebounders and bruisers?

By adding Evans, the Clippers not only get the needed support in their front court, and the bench overall, but they also add a tough, hard-nosed veteran that can play scrappy basketball once Blake Griffin is off the court. Evans has always been looked at as one of the NBA's most intimidating figures as well as one of its most disliked, for obvious reasons.

Evans will be a tremendous upgrade from Griffin's previous backup in Brian Cook. Cook wouldn't have provided nearly as much as Evans is projected to contribute, and he certainly wouldn't have added the intimidation factor that his replacement gives to the team.

Reggie was averaging four points and 12 boards per game last season through 30 games before an injury forced him to the bench for the rest of the year. It was the second consecutive year that Evans has been hurt as he only played in 28 games the previous year with Toronto. Prior to these past two seasons, however, Evans had been relatively healthy and was playing in around 70 games per year.

He's not much of a scorer, but the Clippers have enough players to handle that. The Clippers wanted to find a strong rebounding and defensive presence in the front court to backup Griffin, and they find their man in the nine-year veteran.