Since my colleague, itemplora, wrote a great article about the offseason changes the Cleveland Cavaliers, Orlando Magic and San Antonio Spurs have made, I’m going to tackle other NBA teams’ offseason moves. The NBA season is still a couple of months away but contenders have reinforced their line-up to the extent that some sports analysts have called it the ‘arms race’. Meanwhile the Rockets lose Yao Ming for the entire upcoming season.

Los Angeles Lakers

Usually after teams have won a championship, they don’t make major moves in their line-up. This is to preserve the chemistry and camaraderie the team shared during the championship run. But the Lakers have gone the opposite direction. Instead of keeping Trevor Ariza they opted to sign Ron Artest.

Sure, Ron Artest is a bigger and tougher defender than Ariza but Artest is an inconsistent shooter. Ariza benefitted from the double team Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant received from other team because he kept knocking down open three’s. Ariza became a knock down spot up shooter for the Lakers and was highly effective. He punished the Nuggets for leaving him open. Ariza accepted his role as a defensive stopper and a spot-up 3-point shooter.

Artest on the other hand has to have the ball to be effective in offense. He is only 34% from three point range. Not to mention Artest’s behavior on and off the court. Will Artest be willing to sacrifice some of his game to compliment Kobe’s? Maybe the Lakers signed Artest so that Kobe would have one less tough defender to deal with.

Well, if there is any coach in the league who’s had experience dealing with ‘crazy’ players, its Phil Jackson. Just ask Dennis Rodman.

The thing that I don’t understand is that the Lakers are also willing to let Lamar Odom go. During the writing of this article, the Miami Heat looks like the team that’s going to land Odom.

Boston Celtics

The Boston Celtics came up short in last year’s playoffs. After Kevin Garnett went down, the overall team defense of the Celtics went down with it. Now Boston has signed Rasheed Wallace. Wallace will serve as KG’s insurance policy if Garnett succumbs to injury again.

I wonder though if the Celtics winning mentality and defensive mind set will rub off on Wallace. Wallace is known as an underachiever, posting up only when he feels like it and electing to stand by the 3-point line and launch three’s. If anyone can set any professionalism into Wallace’s game its Garnett and the Celtics.

They also deepened their backcourt by signing former Mavericks and Pacers guard Marquis Daniels. The Big Three’s window is closing fast, they hope that their offseason moves will land them a second championship in three years.

It would be fun to see if Garnett’s exaggerated intensity will cause Rasheed Wallace to blow up and start a fight in the Celtics locker room.

Houston Rockets

The biggest blow to the Rockets and perhaps to the hopes of global expansion of the NBA is the potentially career ending injury to Yao Ming.

The Rockets are in need of a center because while Luis Scold is a solid power forward, he is too small to play center. Scola would get abused down low by Dwight Howard, Al Jefferson and Pau Gasol. Just imagine how many players would dunk on Scola’s grill if he was assigned to protect the basket.

The superstar formerly known as T-Mac is just another player named Tracy McGrady. McGrady is on the downside of his career and never really had the motivation to lead the Rockets.

The biggest acquisition they made was Trevor Ariza. But Ariza just doesn’t seem to fit the Rockets. He can’t create his own shot and is not known as a volume scorer.

It is sad to see Yao Ming’s foot injury happen and it will not be surprising to see the Rockets as a lottery team next season.