Outside of Miami, which team has had the most impressive off-season?

[Roy Hobbs]

The two contenders have got to be Chicago and New York, right?

New York Knicks

Incoming: Amare Stoudemire, Raymond Felton, Anthony Randolph, Kelenna Azubuike, Timofey Mozgov, Ronny Turiaf

Outgoing: David Lee, Al Harrington, Chris Duhon, Sergio Rodriguez

Chicago Bulls

Incoming: Carlos Boozer, Ronnie Brewer, Kyle Korver, Kurt Thomas, C.J. Watson, Omer Asik

Outgoing: Kurt Hinrich, Brad Miller, Hakim Warrick

I go back and forth on which team improved more, but for now, I'm going with the Bulls.  They filled the holes they needed to fill, without taking on any question marks.

[the_Bird]

Since the Bulls ended up not signing LeBron or Wade, did they really need to give up Heinrich in the end?  I mean, they had to make the trade to have a shot at one of those guys, but did they ultimately use up the cap space that trading him created?  The one thing that team really still needs is a shooter, ideally a shooter at the off-guard.....  Mike Miller would have been perfect, but Heinrich would have been pretty good too!

The Knicks may be improved, but after all the hype and expectations of the past two years, this offseason has to be considered a failure.  They gunned for the big three, and expected to sign at least one, maybe two of them; the worst-case scenario was that they would come out of this summer with Amare (who's better than David Lee, but not by a huge margin).

I mean, they're clearly better, but they sold their fans on two years of tanking on the expectation of getting so much more.  

[GreenFaith1819]

I'd say CHI, easily. Talent-wise, they added a top PF in Boozer. They still have Deng, Rose, and Joakim. They added Korver, who may not be known for his defense, he will stretch the floor with his range.

Chemistry-wise - I would not be surprised to see them win 50 games this year.

Chemistry-Wise - I also would not be surprised if they met MIA in the playoffs and knocked them out.

They are stronger up front with Boozer, Joakim and Deng. Man for Man, at least up front, they match up quite well with MIA.

In a matchup with MIA, Bosh would be smart to keep his game on the perimeter. Even though Boozer is only 6'9", he's too strong for him down low. And I don't see anyone on MIA stopping Boozer down low on offense.

[CelticsWhat35]

I think you have to give the nod to the Bulls, because they look like they could be a contender now.  The Knicks?  Well, they're still the Knicks.  They may make the playoffs next year, but it will probably be more by default since the Cavs are opening up a spot for them.

[mahonedog88]

Yeah I'd say the Bulls have done the best.

Unfortunately, I'd say the Lakers did a very underrated job with building more of their bench.

Steve Black I think is an EXCELLENT addition for them.  And say what you want about Matt Barnes, I understand he can't seem to stay with a team for more than a year, but still...he can knock down shots and brings a "tough aspect" to that Laker team.  He's a perfect fit to help give Ron Artest some rest.

[wdleehi]

Utah Jazz.  Replaced Boozer with Jefferson giving them more flexibility to play him with AK at PF or Millsap.

Added Bell to shoot and defend. 

[pearljammer10]

Definitely Chicago by a long shot. They put themselves in a great position to put themselves into the top 4 slot in the East.

And now the Bulls have just added Kurt Thomas as well to give them a great veteran locker room guy and extra dept at the big man spot. Great great offseason for the bulls.

A team that not a lot of people are talking about are the Bucks. They havent made incredibly huge moves but i like what they have done. They needed a scorer alongside Bogut and Jennings and they got a terrific one in Maggette. They were able to boost their PF spot by giving Drew Gooden a contract (even if they needed to overpay). I like how they added Douglas Roberts and Dooling to the bench.

On paper, and if healthy, they've got themselves a pretty darn good team.

PG: Jennings/Dooling
SG: Salmons/ Redd/ Roberts
SF: Maggette/Delfino/Roberts
PF: Gooden/Illyasolva/Mbah a Moute/Brockman
C: Bogut/Jackson

With Salmons, Maggette, and a healthy Redd they have a crazy good wing rotation that can score very well. Add Jennings and Bogut to that and these guys can put points on the board. Illyasova played some good defense last year and is a great rebounder, they have good shooting from the outside. They still need a back up center and tooo many power forwards but if they can get Bogut a good back up these guys can be a legit team fighting for home court advantage.

[guava_wrench]

Bulls, then NY.

One reason why the Bulls were far superior to NY is that the Bulls didn't have to sacrifice last season to make moves. It seems like emptying your roster for 2 seasons in order to seem improved for the upcoming season disqualifies a team from this kind of analysis.

Even with the sacrifices that NY made,this offseason is still a bit of a disappointment since they were not able to get a transcendent player. Did they really have to sacrifice last season to end up with this team?

[CelticsWhat35]

Utah Jazz.  Replaced Boozer with Jefferson giving them more flexibility to play him with AK at PF or Millsap.

Added Bell to shoot and defend. 

I hope you're right.  I'd hate to see the Lakers be able to coast to the Finals again.  I hope Big Al can stay healthy.  It will be nice to see him play on a semi-contender.

[RebusRankin]

Bulls. They'll be the trendy sleeper pick to win the East I think.

Milwaukee did an awful job. Gooden is overpayed and not that good. Maggatte is a selfish volume scorer. I think they will regress.

[GreenFaith1819]

Utah Jazz.  Replaced Boozer with Jefferson giving them more flexibility to play him with AK at PF or Millsap.

Added Bell to shoot and defend. 

Yep - I forgot all about The Jazz. Big Al will flourish big time on that team with D-Will, Mehmet and Milsap backing him up.

[kozlodoev]

Kurt Hinrich

Ouch

[ssspence]

The two contenders have got to be Chicago and New York, right?

New York Knicks

Incoming: Amare Stoudemire, Raymond Felton, Anthony Randolph, Kelenna Azubuike, Timofey Mozgov, Ronny Turiaf

Outgoing: David Lee, Al Harrington, Chris Duhon, Sergio Rodriguez

Chicago Bulls

Incoming: Carlos Boozer, Ronnie Brewer, Kyle Korver, Kurt Thomas, C.J. Watson, Omer Asik

Outgoing: Kurt Hinrich, Brad Miller, Hakim Warrick

I go back and forth on which team improved more, but for now, I'm going with the Bulls.  They filled the holes they needed to fill, without taking on any question marks.

The edge goes to the Bulls, but the Bucks deserve honerable mention -- they've had a sneaky good off-season.


The Cavs and Hornets have also had solid summers 

[boscel33]

as much as i hate them, the lakers landing steve blake and barnes is really good.  add in a vet like ratliff.  god, they will probably three-peat.  i can't believe i'm saying that.  i should lose tommy points!   

[Mike-Dub]

I'd say it's the Bulls, Jazz, Bucks, Lakers, and then Knicks in that order IMO of teams who have had the most impressive off-seasons.  Other than Miami that is.