The Offseason

Well, plenty of things have changed in the NBA's offseason. Things in the NBA will not be the same. There have been many surprising trades that will drastically change lots of the leagues best teams.


Shaq gets traded to Cleveland:

This one really shocked me. I mean, Shaq and Lebron, too good to be true. Shaq has brought rings to two of the NBA best stars; Wade and Kobe. Now he's going to be with Lebron, who is, in my opinion, the best player in the NBA right now. I have a feeling that next season's going to be pretty interesting for Cleveland.

Turkoglu leaves Orlando for Toronto:

Hedo leaves Orlando? Are you kidding me? Without Hedo, Orlando will not be the same. They would have definitely not gotten to the Finals without him. From what I've heard, Orlando was going to lose Turkoglu anyway. After getting Vince Carter, Turkoglu opted out of his contract to go to Toronto. I guess that's o.k because the Magic got V.C, but it's just hard to face the fact that Turkoglu left. I mean, what was he thinking? He finally gets to the finals with the Magic, who are going to soon win a championship, and then leaves for Toronto, who is not even going to get to the Playoffs any time soon. Stupid decision by him.

V.C goes to the Magic for Rafer and Courtney Lee:

This was an o.k trade. Now that Jameer Nelson is back from injury, Orlando could afford to let Rafer go. And Courtney Lee wasn't a big loss. It's all good, because now Vince is in Orlando. Just think about it. Vince and Dwight Howard working side by side, with Nelson and Rashard Lewis for backup. Sounds good to me. Too bad Turkoglu left Orlando. He might have gotten the ring he's been waiting for.

Jamal Crawford goes to Atlanta:


The ATL was already doing well, but now they have Jamal. Every year, the Hawks get better and better, and this trade is going to make them great. They also had enough money to sign back Mike Bibby and Zaza Paculia; to players needed for their team. Crawford will come off the bench as a 2 guard, because the Hawks already have Mike Bibby and All-Star Joe Johnson.

The Ron Artest, Trevor Ariza trade:

This trade took me by surprise, but what really took me by surprise is how it happened. The Lakers wanted to sign back Ariza, but for alot less money and a secondary role on the team. This really shows how messed up L.A is. Anyone who watched the Nuggets- Lakers series in the playoffs would know that the Lakers might have not gotten to the finals without him. He made very important steals in the end of two games in the series. Without those steals, the Lakers could have lost. So for L.A to sign him for less money is selfish. I'm proud of Ariza, because he rejected their offer because of his pride, now that's a NBA player. As far as Ron Artest goes, he left the Rockets to go to the Lakers to join Kobe and friends. They are paying him much less than what Houston would have payed him, but I guess he's just trying to get a ring.

There where lots of other important trades. To check them out just go to nba.com.

Also, there is a free agent tracker on the site that shows you who's been signed and who hasn't.
http://www.nba.com/freeagents/2009/