The NBA offseason continues to be characterized with big trades and signings. It is shaping up to become one of the best NBA seasons in recent memory.

Contenders like the Magic, Cavs, Spurs, Lakers and Celtics have improved their roster. The upcoming NBA season will also feature a race between Bryant, O’Neal and Duncan on who’s going to get their fifth championship first.

But let’s not get carried away with the contenders. NBA teams like the Detroit Pistons, New Orleans Hornets and Los Angeles Clippers have welcomed new editions to their roster.

Detroit Pistons

The Allen Iverson experiment didn’t work last season but the Pistons only took on Iverson’s contract to clear cap space because the Pistons believe that they have a legitimate chance of signing LeBron James when he becomes a free agent in 2010.
While waiting for next summer, the Pistons have signed undersized shooting guard Ben Gordon and forward Charlie Villanueva. The Pistons are now stacked at the shooting guard position with Richard Hamilton and Gordon. It doesn’t make sense for the Pistons to sign Gordon because they should’ve signed a pure point guard to run their offense. Maybe Joe Dumars has not realized yet that Rodney Stuckey is not a pass-first guard and is incapable of running an offense. Gordon does bring added firepower to Detroit’s offense but he is a shoot-first guard that doesn’t play a lick of defense.

Villanueva is also not known for his defensive skills. He will try to replace the offense, versatility and occasional defense of Rasheed Wallace.

New Orleans Hornets

The Hornets acquired Emeka Okafor from the Charlotte Bobcats in exchange for center Tyson Chandler. Chris Paul has a new alley-oop playmate in Okafor. This is an improvement for the Hornets because Okafor rebounds, scores and plays more defense than Chandler. Plus, Okafor is not as fragile as Chandler. He played all 82 games last season while Chandler missed games due to injury.

The problem with Okafor is that he loses focus during games. At times he seems uninterested in playing basketball. But let’s hope that playing with Chris Paul will motivate him to jump and dunk those lob passes.
Just for comparison; Okafor averaged 13 points and 10 rebounds while Chandler averaged only 8 points and 8 boards last season. Nice pick-up by the Hornets.

Los Angeles Clippers

The Los Angeles Clippers have been known as the worst franchise in the NBA. But their fortunes seem to improve with the drafting of athletic forward Blake Griffin. The Clips now feature a stacked line-up with Baron Davis, Marcus Camby, Chris Kaman and budding sophomore guard Eric Gordon. Gordon had flashes of brilliance last season; let’s just hope that the Clippers curse doesn’t kill it.

Blake Griffin will definitely be an impact player for the Clippers but he needs to learn how to shoot from 15 feet. He can’t just rely on strength and athleticism to grab rebounds and score like he did in the NCAA. NBA players are bigger and stronger than those college kids he played against last year.

It has been a busy NBA offseason but expect more changes to come. The Heat are currently interested in signing Iverson, un-retiring guard Jason Williams is available and trade rumors around Carlos Boozer continue to swirl.

Expect an exciting NBA season folks. Enjoy before LeBron James dominates the NBA for the next ten years.