NBA 2007 Off Season Review: Who Are the Winners and Losers?

This off season, the NBA has literally turned into the wild wild west. With a very deep draft, tons of trades, big free agent signings and the referee scandal, anticipation is growing for the start of the 2007 - 2008 NBA season.

This years draft was one of the deepest in years. There were two franchise players in Greg Oden and Kevin Durant along with numerous other good players. In previous years, anyone of the lottery picks could have gone in the top five.

One draft night several trades were made which helped to strengthen the Eastern Conference. First Ray Allen was traded to the Boston Celtics from the Seattle Supersonics for the rights to draft pick Jeff Green, Delonte West and Wally Szczerbiak. Later in the night, the New York Knicks traded Steve Francis and Channing Frye to the Portland Trail Blazers for scoring power forward Zach Randolph. Also on draft night the Charlotte Bobcats traded the draft rights of Brandan Wright from UNC to the Golden State Warriors for slashing shooting guard Jason Richardson. These trades along with many other smaller trades kept NBA fanatics on the edge of their seats.

A few days after the draft was the start of free agency. The biggest free agent acquisition was Rashard Lewis going from the Seattle Supersonics to the Orlando Magic. This move will pair Rashard Lewis with promising big man Dwight Howard. This move also led to the Magic
renouncing the rights to Darko Milicic and him signing with the Memphis Grizzlies. The other big free agents stayed with their teams. Vince Carter resigned with the New Jersey Nets, Chauncey Billups resigned with the Detroit Pistons and Maurice Williams resigned with the Milwaukee
Bucks.

However the biggest trade of the off season was between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Boston Celtics. After lots of negotiations, the Timberwolves finally agreed to part with perennial All Star Kevin Garnett for Al Jefferson, Gerald Green, Ryan Gomes, Sebastian Telfair, Theo Ratliff and two first round draft picks.