Free Agent Madness

Lebron James was the obvious prize in this summer's free agent market. With him breaking up his Big 3 in Miami to return home to Cleveland to play alongside budding superstar Kyrie Irving and #1 overall pick Andrew Wiggins, the rest of the chips began to fall around the league. Carmelo returned to the Knicks on a bloated 124 million dollar contract, and Miami saw Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade remain loyal to the Heat. However, it's the smaller teams beefing up their rosters in attempts to contend with the usual suspects that truly interest me.

Lets first take a look at the newly renamed Charlotte Hornets. They already have a huge buzz coming off their first playoff appearance in 5 years, and now Michael Jordan is bringing back the classic Hornet Purple with the excellently timed name change. This is a team that in recent years has been the laughing stock of the NBA, consistently hovering in the cellar of the standing. However last years big signing of free agent center Al Jefferson was the first piece in what now appears to be a very formidable team in a relatively weak Eastern Conference. Starting with the draft they have been quietly stockpiling talent, beginning with 6'10" rookie Noah Vonleh. They have also added relatively unknown backup point guard Brian Roberts, and established veteran scorer and former #2 overall pick Marvin Williams. And now they have finally made the big splash fans had been looking for by signing tremendous talent Lance Stephenson.

Last year during a career year, Stephenson led the NBA in triple doubles. As a third option on a fairly loaded Pacers team he still managed to average nearly 14 points and 7 rebounds a game. Coming into Charlotte he will have much more freedom playing alongside Jefferson and Kemba Walker on a team that at times last year severely struggled to score. While these moves don't jump them into immediate contention in the East, they are surely steps in the right direction into becoming a relevant franchise like in the Good Ol' Days.

Another team making big under the radar moves is the Dallas Mavericks. For a team that last year was an old middle of the road team with only two truly reliable scorers, they have made great strides to get back atop the Western Conference.  Free agency started early for them with a trade that brought in former Maverick Tyson Chandler and Raymond Felton.

Chandler's grade A defense sures up the back end and Felton's shooting and ability to run an offense from the point guard spot relieves some pressure from Dirk Nowitzki and Monta Ellis. Those moves alone along with the growth of Rhode Island's own Ricky Ledo, who looks poised to make an impact in the NBA this season, would have made them a strong contender. Yet they weren't done making plays in the free agent market. Superstar and future hall of famer Dirk Nowitzki took a pay cut to free up cap space and billionaire owner Mark Cuban took full advantage. First he brought in sharpshooting young star Chandler Parsons from Houston.

His explosive offense and underrated defense will more then make up for the loss of aging veteran Vince Carter who signed a deal with the Memphis Grizzlies. They have also brought in three point specialist Rashard Lewis for some needed off the bench scoring. These are all highly underrated and overlooked moves that I predict leapfrog the Mavericks from mediocrity and back into a top 3 spot in the Western Conference. Now comes the hard part, waiting until the season tips off 3 months from now.