Now that we're nearing the playoffs and can judge how teams did in the off-season, who do you belive did the best job of improving during the off-season. Personally I believe New Orleans would have had the best turnaround, however they have had many injuries therefore taking them out of discussion. There are many capable candidates here, some being the Toronto Raptors, Houston Rockets, Chicago Bulls, or even arguebely the Dallas Mavericks due to them bringing in smart veteran role players who can really mentor the younger guys on the squad. Now, the team that I look at and believe did the most to improve in the off-season was the Chicago Bulls. _____Chicago drafted Tyrus Thomas who before the all-star break many believed was a bust. However since then he has showed his potential. There are games that I've seen Tyrus be the most dominant player on the floor. Thomas is still inconsistent, however that comes with being a rookie. Chicago then got rid of Tyson Chandler due to it being proved that he did not belong in Chicago. The Bulls recieved in return a young shooting guard (JR Smith) that would be later traded to the Nuggets and a veteran PF to start and mentor Tyrus Thomas in PJ Brown.The biggest move the Bulls made this off-season was signing Ben Wallace. Big Ben creates a massacre in the paint for teams that love pounding it in side and allows the Bulls to rarely have to double team opposing centers which stops many open lanes and shots.The continued improvement of Ben Gordon, Luol Deng, and Kirk Hinrich contributed to the team tremendousely to them recieving the 2 ____So who do you think improved the most during the off-season?
<span style="color:#008080">definetly the bulls and raptors, the rockets have improved tremendously also</span>
Jazz did a pretty good job. they added Derek Fisher while giving up Devin Brown, Andre Owens, and Keith McLeod. they drafted Paul Millsap, they got rid of Kris Humphries, and they didn't make a stupid trade and get rid of Boozer.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (redneck @ Apr 8 2007, 07:24 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Jazz did a pretty good job. they added Derek Fisher while giving up Devin Brown, Andre Owens, and Keith McLeod. they drafted Paul Millsap, they got rid of Kris Humphries, and they didn't make a stupid trade and get rid of Boozer.</div>Although the Jazz did improve significantly and draft a hidden gem in Milsap/sign Fisher, the improvements were mostly made through the roster staying healthy unlike years before. Most of the teams mentioned made their improvements during the off-season by specifically signing/drafting certain studs.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (WELCOMEtotheJUNGLE @ Apr 8 2007, 07:33 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Jazz, Bulls, Raptors, and the Knicks to some degree</div>I agree with those three. The Jefferies signing was pretty good, the Balkman and Collins drafting was great.
Give me the Raptors and Rockets. Raptors did VERY good in the draft and FA, and the Rockets got rid of a lot of the old players they had and replaced them with player in their prime/still coming up.
Raptors...firstly..signing Bryan Colangelo (late 06 season though)...second trading an injury-prone Villanueva for TJ Ford who is one of Chris Bosh's best friends...drafting Bargnani..signing Garbajosa..they've made like a 20 win improvementEDIT: lmao at this Warriors homer..they have pretty much the exact same record as they did last season...they didn't make any fantastic moves in the offseason and really the only improvements have been the development of their own players..your such a homer bro
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (playaofthegame @ Apr 8 2007, 05:04 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>EDIT: lmao at this Warriors homer..they have pretty much the exact same record as they did last season...they didn't make any fantastic moves in the offseason and really the only improvements have been the development of their own players..your such a homer bro</div>Look at all the injuries the Warriors had this year. J-Rich for 30 games, Baron for around 15-20, Ellis for 10 or so this whole year. Our scheduele was much easier last year.
how can your schedule be much easier last year?you play the same teams every year...this is about offseason improvements and resultsthe warriors didn't make any good offseason moves and haven't gotten any results..
Yeah, Raptors and Rockets did great in the offseason. Raptors made a great move hiring GM Bryan Colangelo first of all, who practically saved that franchise, adding key pieces in TJ Ford, Andrea Bargnani, and Jorge Garbajosa. The '05-'06 Rockets' record did not indicate that the Rockets were a bad team that year.. they were riddled by injuries from TMac and Yao, they were having the season Memphis is having now (slightly better, record-wise). Carroll Dawson made a savvy move that draft night, exchanging Rudy Gay for Shane Battier. A lot of people thought the trade was questionable, but it helped Houston in the end. I knew the Jazz were going to be special this year.. just look at their roster.. Deron Williams, Andrei Kirilenko (under-performing this year, but still a complete player), Carlos Boozer, Mehmet Okur, etc. Add that along with the coaching of Jerry Sloan (my COY), the Jazz were going to be dominant.
<span style="font-family:Century Gothic">I have to give it to the Toronto Raptors, too. I mean, the Raptors didn't make the Playoffs last season and this season they're in... what? The 3rd seed, right? Strange.</span>
I think the rockets offseason was nice...but not the main reason they are better. they're just healthier this season.
I think that the Raps did a pretty good job....Trading for Ford did great things for them, Bargnani and Garbajosa, Parker is doing great, Rasho is helping downlow, and they also got Dixon at the deadline...Great job for them.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (MaRdYC26 @ Apr 8 2007, 07:51 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I agree with those three. The Jefferies signing was pretty good, the Balkman and Collins drafting was great.</div>The Knicks did a great job on draft day however the Jeffries signing was awful. They have enough guards/swingmen and didn't need to give Jeffries a 30 mil+ deal. Sure, he turned out better than he was on the Wizards but still isn't worth a 30 mil deal.
I have to go with the Raptors. They've had a huge turnaround. With the amount of personnel changes in the offseason and success rate.Also, I don't get the bust comments around Thomas. Are there really people saying that?
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Rok @ Apr 8 2007, 09:40 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I have to go with the Raptors. They've had a huge turnaround. With the amount of personnel changes in the offseason and success rate.Also, I don't get the bust comments around Thomas. Are there really people saying that?</div>There were before the all-star break. I haven't heard it since.
For Sixers best of season move was not trading AI, but what do they do? Turn around and trade him not even half way thru the season. And to not even get the best offer due to benching him I mean awful how Billy King handled this. I am not even going to start going into how that idiot gave AI nothing really to work with to win.Anyway Bulls, Raps, Rockets best of seasons I think.