With the NBA Season arriving in a month and a half, there are many topics to discuss before the start of the season. One of the biggest topics is the amount of off-season player movement that happened during the summer. This will be a 3 part series of articles, starting with the East and splitting the West into two different parts. Each will be listing off and analyzing certain teams with the most interesting player additions, showing their Position, Age, and averages/games played from last year.
Celtics
| New Player | Position | Games Played | Age | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | STL | BLK | TS% |
| Kemba Walker | PG | 82 | 29 | 34.9 | 25.6 | 4.4 | 5.9 | 1.2 | 0.4 | 55.8% |
Since Danny Ainge has been the GM, the Celtics have had a fairly good history for their front office, including their 2013 trade for 4 1st round picks, which helped them draft their current young talent and land players like Kyrie Irving and Al Horford, with whom they have recently part ways with. Despite young players greatly outnumbering the veterans, the Celtics have been competitive within the past few years thanks to their front office and coaching, which is in stark contrast to Kemba Walker’s old team, the Charlotte Hornets.
With a record of 263-377 since drafting Kemba Walker in 2011, his Hornet stint has not been one of glory. In that 8 year span, the franchise made history with the worst NBA win percentage of all time (7-59, 10.6%), made the playoffs only twice (last appearance being 2016), and besides Kemba, there is not that big of a list of good players, the best ones being Al Jefferson (All-NBA 3rd team in 2013-14, now retired), an older Dwight Howard (16.6 ppg and 12.5 rbg), Gerald Henderson and Nicolas Batum (solid role players at best).
This Celtics team will be the first team in a long time where Kemba is surrounded by a decent roster. They may not have as good of a lineup as teams like the Sixers or the Nets, but with their young players, their coaching and Gordon Hayward, it will be interesting to see how far Kemba Walker will take this Celtics team this season.
Heat
| New Player | Position | Games Played | Age | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | STL | BLK | TS% |
| Jimmy Butler | SG/SF | 65 | 29 | 33.6 | 18.7 | 5.3 | 4.0 | 1.9 | 0.6 | 57.1% |
Since the leave of Lebron in 2014, the Heat have had an interesting past few years. They have made the playoffs only twice since then, but they have been far from dysfunctional and have still been competitive in the playoff race. After Dwyane Wade left the Heat (who then came back eventually to retire with them) and Chris Bosh retiring due to blood clots, they have been lacking a big name star to lead the team, until now.
Jimmy Butler had an interesting past season.. Early in the season, he commanded a few headlines from wanting to be traded, to complaining about the passion of the younger players on the team, to sitting out of games due to, “General Soreness”, to rumors of showing up to a Timberwolves practice and dominating a scrimmage against the starters with the third stringers, to eventually being traded to the Sixers and having no other drama after that. Despite the events, Butler showed last season he is an NBA star and has the talent to back it up (when trying).
The Heat have been trying to land Butler since last season, and with him finally in Miami, he can be a big help to the team. His All-NBA defense, scoring and playmaking abilities is capable of bringing this team to the playoffs, but theres always the question of: will more drama ensue?
Sixers
| New Player | Position | Games Played | Age | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | STL | BLK | TS% |
| Josh Richardson | SG/SF | 73 | 25 | 34.8 | 16.6 | 3.6 | 4.1 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 53.6% |
| Al Horford | C | 68 | 33 | 29.0 | 13.6 | 6.7 | 4.2 | 0.9 | 1.3 | 60.5% |
Even though the Sixers season ended on a heartbreaking, yet spectacular note in Game 7 of the ECSF against the eventual champions, Toronto Raptors, overall their season was great for a young team. They gained the Eastern Conference 3rd seed with a record of 51-31, showed their young stars, Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid, are to be taken seriously, and even gained some mid-season help in Jimmy Butler and Tobias Harris. This offseason, the Sixers lost two key players in trading Butler and JJ Redick no re-signing, but gained two other players that will improve the team greatly in Al Horford and Josh Richardson.
The 33 year old Al Horford has been in the league for quite some time. Drafted by the Hawks in 2007, signing with the Celtics in 2016, and now with the Sixers, the 12 year veteran has experience under his belt and despite his age, his play style can still be of great two-way help to the team. Horford might not be the quickest on his feet, but he has great defensive positioning and rim-protection to make up for it and will help a lot on defense. He is also a great fit for the Sixers offense, where he can be in the post, be the roll-man/shooter after setting a screen, stretch the floor, and even pass from the high post if needed. Horford’s skill set will need to be utilized for the Sixer’s team to win.
In contrast to Horford, Josh Richardson is a young two-way guard who was starting to come to his own with the Heat before being traded. Formerly just a 3&D wing, Richardson showed great improvement on the offensive end, creating scoring opportunities off the dribble for himself and others, while still being a good defender. The most attractive part for the Sixers, however, is how he fits with the Sixers core timeline for growth. Richardson is 25 years old like Embiid, only two years older then the 23 year old Simmons, and two years younger then the 27 year old Tobias Harris.
With the addition of Richardson, the Sixers now have an even better young core with veteran leadership from Horford. That starting lineup is one of the best in both the Eastern Conference and the whole league, and it will be exciting to see how far they will go into the playoffs this upcoming season.
Nets
| New Player | Position | Games Played | Age | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | STL | BLK | TS% |
| Kevin Durant | SF/PF | 78 | 30 | 34.6 | 26.0 | 6.4 | 5.9 | 0.7 | 1.1 | 63.1% |
| Deandre Jordan | C | 69 | 31 | 29.7 | 11.0 | 13.1 | 2.3 | 0.6 | 2.2 | 67.4% |
| Kyrie Irving | PG | 67 | 27 | 33.0 | 23.8 | 5.0 | 5.9 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 59.2% |
Similar to the Sixers in the past, the Nets have gone from a disaster of an organization, to a young promising team in a short period of time. Having just entered the playoffs for the first time since 2015, the Nets looked to make some big overhauls to the team to bring them closer to championship contention, and after this off-season, they look to be heading in the right direction in signing Kevin Durant, Deandre Jordan (to a lesser extent), and Kyrie Irving.
Even though he recently injured his achilles in the finals, the Kevin Durant sweepstakes was one of the biggest topics of the whole off-season, with multiple teams rumored to be in the hunt, including both New York teams. After some time for speculation (and the Knicks not wanting to give him a max contract), KD decided to sign with the Nets. Although we most likely will not see him play this season, Nets fans will have even more to look forward to in the future.
The Deandre Jordan signing may not be as big as the Kyrie or KD signings, but it is still important to discuss. The Former Lob City center became somewhat of a journeyman last season, finally signing with the Mavericks, who ended up trading him to the Knicks. The Nets signing Jordan would be considered a good pick up and nothing else in any other situation. However, the situation for the Nets happens to be a logjam at the center position, with Jarrett Allen already being on the team.
Allen and Jordan play the same position and role on a team. Both are athletic 7 foot centers, whose main jobs are to protect the rim and finish strong off the pick and roll, where both players have great examples of doing so. However, the 31 year old Deandre Jordan has 10 years on the young 21 year old Jarrett Allen. In the end, when you decide which to start and which to bench, it’s a choice between having an experienced veteran on the floor versus developing your future starting center. It has been reported that Jordan is fine with whatever is needed to win, so we will see who will be starting when the season comes.
After winning a championship with Lebron on the Cavaliers, Kyrie Irving has had an interesting stint with the Celtics. He left the Cavs in hopes to lead his own young team with potential, and it was an experience. Statistically speaking, Kyrie has been great for the Celtics, averaging great numbers while he was there. Kyrie’s leadership, however, has been middling. There have been times where he was frustrated with his team, and voiced his feelings to the press. Even so, teammates like Marcus Smart stood up for Kyrie, although admitting the dysfunction in the locker room. It will be interesting to see how he fits with this Nets team, as he is faced with almost the same situation again; traded to a team with young talent and potential. It is obvious that Kyrie has the playing ability to lead a team, but we will have to wait and see if he is able to lead the team while Kevin Durant recovers, or if he ends up with a mirror of his Celtics stint.
Full-Court Press 