Panthers

There have been plenty of fireworks during the 2021 offseason. From blockbuster trades to notable free agents changing teams, the 30 teams around the Association have given us plenty to talk about.
Recently, our staff discussed <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-roundtable-breaking-down-this-offseasons-most-underrated-moves" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this summer's most underrated moves</a>. Today, we asked our writers:
Which NBA team had the best offseason?
Nekias Duncan: They&rsquo;re another minor move away from rounding out the roster, but I think the Heat were pretty big winners. Being able to snag Kyle Lowry without giving up a pick or their best prospect is a win. Adding frontcourt depth, young (Omer Yurtseven) and old (P.J. Tucker, Markieff Morris) was smart. Bringing back Victor Oladipo on the minimum is the kind of <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-roundtable-breaking-down-this-offseasons-most-underrated-moves" target="_blank" rel="noopener">low-risk, moderately-high-reward move</a> that could swing some games in the second half of the season.
Alex Kennedy: After being super aggressive at last year's trade deadline, Nikola Vucevic <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/bulls-nikola-vucevic-qa-were-built-to-be-successful-for-years-to-come" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told me</a> that the Chicago Bulls "sent a strong message to the rest of the league that they really want to win now." This offseason, they doubled down and were even more active &mdash; adding <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/lonzo-ball-chicago-bulls-form-a-perfect-marriage" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lonzo Ball</a>, DeMar DeRozan, Alex Caruso and <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/ayo-dosunmu-ready-to-seize-the-moment-as-he-becomes-complete-player-nba-draft-prospects-2021" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ayo Dosunmu</a> to their core of Vucevic, Zach LaVine, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/chicago-bulls-evolved-patrick-williams-offensive-game-at-nba-summer-league" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Patrick Williams</a>, Coby White and <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/examining-potential-freeagency-destinations-for-lauri-markkanen" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lauri Markkanen (RFA)</a>. Prior to the Vucevic trade, there was a month-long stretch where LaVine was averaging nearly 33.0 points. While it was incredible to watch LaVine put the team on his back, it was clear that he needed help. Now, just five months later, the roster looks completely different and the supporting cast is significantly better. This is the most talent that LaVine and Vucevic have ever had around them, and Chicago seems like a lock to make the playoffs for the first time since 2016-17 (and perhaps win a series for the first time since 2014-15). Last year, LaVine <a href="https://hoopshype.com/2020/04/28/nba-zach-lavine-chicago-bulls-michael-jordan-the-last-dance-season-workout-staying-shape-paul-seattle-arturas-karnisovas-marc-eversley/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told me</a> that he's "extremely hungry" to make his postseason debut and now it's absolutely within reach. (Also, getting Derrick Jones Jr., a lottery protected first-rounder and a future second-rounder back in the Lauri Markkanen sign-and-trade is a win.)
Jackson Frank: The Heat acquiring Kyle Lowry and P.J. Tucker, while retaining Victor Oladipo, give them the nod in my eyes. They went from a first-round out to a team that could make a deep playoff run. Lowry is a fringe All-Star and <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/what-kyle-lowry-brings-to-the-miami-heat" target="_blank" rel="noopener">offers significant offensive versatility</a> that should help reignite a stagnant attack. Tucker, although circumstantial defensively and rather limited offensively, remains a useful rotational big who helps maintain Miami&rsquo;s defensive ethos. Oladipo&rsquo;s offense is highly dependent on his jumper these days, but the defense was quite good last season and he clearly seems to want to be in Miami. Health is a looming question mark, but he can help them when out there.
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Jesse Blancarte: The Los Angeles Lakers entered the offseason with Dennis Schroder hoping to leverage the team&rsquo;s limited cap flexibility into a $100 million contract. The Lakers passed on Schroder, opting to trade for Russell Westbrook, re-sign Talen Horton-Tucker and fill out the roster with solid veterans on minimum deals (including Dwight Howard, Carmelo Anthony, Trevor Ariza, Kent Bazemore and Wayne Ellington). The Lakers even snagged a few talented, younger players with upside in Malik Monk and Kendrick Nunn. L.A. loses some points for reportedly not doing much to re-sign Alex Caruso, but the team added significant depth. Age will be an issue for this roster, but the talent and depth are there for another championship run.
Spencer Davies: This may be an unpopular opinion since all of their additions came via trades, but the Washington Wizards intrigue me as a playoff contender in the Eastern Conference. Spearheaded by the acquisition of Spencer Dinwiddie &mdash; who should fit like a glove next to Bradley Beal and take some of the playmaking load off the three-time All-Star &mdash; <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/wizards-retooling-led-to-a-competent-roster-surrounding-bradley-beal" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the team has retooled well</a>. Something tells me that Kyle Kuzma will be able to breathe a little easier in D.C., and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is easily the best sniper with defensive upside that Washington has thrown out there in years. Montrezl Harrell is going to be highly motivated after being dealt away, and perhaps he can develop a rapport with Aaron Holiday as a part of an energetic second unit. Let&rsquo;s not forget that Deni Avdija and Thomas Bryant will return at some point from their injuries too. Throw in a growing Rui Hachimura and Daniel Gafford &mdash; plus a new head coach in Wes Unseld Jr. &mdash; and the Wizards have some real firepower and could make a solid push.
Imman Adan: It&rsquo;s definitely the Nets; they managed to get better despite already being the favorites. However, I&rsquo;m going with the Miami Heat because they got their guy &mdash; Kyle Lowry &mdash; and didn&rsquo;t have to give up very much to get him. They also managed to pick up P.J. Tucker and, if he has anything left in the tank, he can help fill the void Jae Crowder left.&nbsp;&nbsp;
Evan Sidery: Although it remains to be seen how exactly all the new parts fit together, credit to the Chicago Bulls for finally going for it. Lonzo Ball is a <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/lonzo-ball-chicago-bulls-form-a-perfect-marriage" target="_blank" rel="noopener">perfect backcourt complement</a> for Zach LaVine, while DeMar DeRozan provides a legit scoring punch as well. If 2020 No. 4 overall pick Patrick Williams takes a leap &mdash; and Summer League is showing that&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/chicago-bulls-evolved-patrick-williams-offensive-game-at-nba-summer-league" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a strong possibility</a> &mdash; Chicago looks the part of a top-six team in the Eastern Conference. Ever since Derrick Rose&rsquo;s prime, Chicago has been yearning for a competitive team. In 2021-22, they have an opportunity to make noise.
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Ethan Fuller: The Miami Heat reeled in the biggest available free-agent name in Kyle Lowry without giving up a treasure trove of talent. Sure, Precious Achiuwa is a tough loss for an aging team, but Lowry is a clear upgrade over Goran Dragic in the short-term. The Heat also signed two underrated additions in P.J. Tucker and Markieff Morris without losing rotation players of consequence. Miami is older, more expensive and potentially injury-prone, but the squad is also more talented and more potent as a defensive unit.
Drew Maresca: Shockingly, the Washington Wizards. Most importantly, they got out from under Russell Westbrook&rsquo;s contract, swapping Westbrook for Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Montrezl Harrell. They also added Spencer Dinwiddie, who better complements Bradley Beal than Westbrook did &mdash; a hugely important aspect of his addition. If Dinwiddie bounces back to his old self, the Wizards will compete for a playoff spot in a newly competitive Eastern Conference &mdash; and that might enough to convince Beal to extend.
Chris Sheridan: It is a close call between the Nets, Heat and Lakers... so close that I am going to make it a three-way- tie. I absolutely love Brooklyn's acquisition of Patty Mills. He is a fourth star, if you ask any Australian. They needed a second perimeter defender aside from Bruce Brown, whom they were lucky to keep, and they needed someone off the bench to replace Jeff Green. Miami got Kyle Lowry, which is HUGE, along with Markieff Morris on a one-year deal, which should incentivize him to play to his full potential. Also, they got P.J. Tucker, which I feel is <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-roundtable-breaking-down-this-offseasons-most-underrated-moves" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the offseason's most underrated move</a>. For the Lakers, acquiring Russell Westbrook may go down in history as the biggest and best move they could have ever made to facilitate another championship run with LeBron James. He is a vast upgrade over Dennis Schroder, who ended up being too greedy for his wallet's own good. The other role players the Lakers added seem to fit nicely, especially Carmelo Anthony, Kent Bazemore and Wayne Ellington for perimeter shooting and Dwight Howard for messing with the minds of opposing centers. They will miss Alex Caruso's defense (and it remains to be seen who can provide that), but they had an impressive offseason.
Jannelle Moore: The Lakers had the best offseason because they knew they didn&rsquo;t have much salary-cap space, but they got creative and still managed to land a star in Russell Westbrook. Many people doubted whether the Lakers could make a splashy move, but they managed to pull off a blockbuster trade with the Wizards. Carmelo Anthony and the role players they brought in were great additions as well.

Which team is the big winner of the 2021 NBA offseason? Our writers share their thoughts.

Roundtable: Which NBA team had the best offseason?

OK, Lakers Nation: Your team is stacked like never before in the LeBron James era.
Anthony Davis will be back healthy. Russell Westbrook is coming aboard. So is Dwight Howard, along with Carmelo Anthony, Wayne Ellington, Malik Monk, Kendrick Nunn, Trevor Ariza and Kent Bazemore.
This team is loaded.
And while they are certain to win the NBA&rsquo;s geriatric award, a championship is no sure thing. But when it comes to dominating the regular season, both in terms of media coverage and watchability, nobody is even a close second.
Bear that in mind for a couple of reasons, not the least of which is that the writers and broadcasters who vote for the NBA&rsquo;s Most Valuable Player award watch a whole lot of basketball on TV. And it is safe to say we will see a heck of a lot more of the Lakers than we will of, say, the Thunder.
The Lakers have three legitimate MVP candidates in Westbrook, Davis and James. But for whatever reason, the major U.S. sportsbooks have listed all three of them with very long odds for MVP. At DraftKings Sportsbook, Davis and Westbrook are listed at +2500, to use the new parlance, and James is +1500.
At FanDuel Sportsbook, Westbrook is an astonishing 85-1. He is 55-1 at PointsBet, and 50-1 at WilliamHill.
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And if you think those odds are going to stay that high in the long-term, we have a bridge in Brooklyn that we will sell you for a very low price.
Here is the thing about the legalized U.S. sports gambling market: The books are not all that great at setting the futures odds accurately. They are very good at most things they do. But on some of these future markets, they are off by a country mile. The sharp gamblers know this, and you should, too.
Westbrook, in case you have forgotten, spent last year with a Washington Wizards team that closed the season with a tremendous finishing kick after having their campaign hugely disrupted by COVID-related postponements. They won 17 of their final 24 games, and Westbrook had triple-doubles in 19 of those contests. He was one assist shy of two more triple-doubles.
The guy gets bashed a lot for a variety of things (including switching teams so often in recent years), but do not let the haters convince you that he is a bad player. He remains a super-stud, and there are worse things you can do with one Benjamin than lay it on Russ at 85-1 for the MVP. If he opens the season with three of four triple-doubles in a row, you are going to see that number shrink considerably (perhaps to single digits).
Of course, Davis is a legit MVP contender as well, and there is a chance that the Lakers spread the wealth around so much that these guys cancel each other out. And while that may indeed be the case, there is still questionable logic in having Luka Doncic (+400), Joel Embiid and Kevin Durant (+700), Giannis Antetokounmpo and Steph Curry (+800) and Damian Lillard (+1200) listed with lower odds than any of the Lakers. Also at +1500 along with LeBron is reigning MVP Nikola Jokic (+1800). Trae Young (+1800), Devin Booker (+2000) and James Harden (+2000) are also listed lower than Westbrook and Davis. (All of those odds from DraftKings Sportsbook).
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Jokic won the MVP award last season for a lot of reasons, not the least of which was his durability as he appeared in all 72 games while averaging 26.4 points, 10.8 rebounds and 8.3 assists. But the Denver Nuggets finished tied for third in the Western Conference, and it is pretty rare for a player from a third-seeded team to win the award.
Voters typically look at individual stats first and a team&rsquo;s record second. Last season, because of the amount of injuries around the NBA, Jokic sort of won it by default, getting 91 of 101 first-place votes. Embiid, who finished second, got just a single first-place vote (from Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic). Steph Curry, who finished third, got five first-place votes.
Assuming the senescent nature of the Lakers roster does not lead to the same type of injury problems they had last season, they will finish atop the Western Conference. FanDuel Sportsbook currently lists them as +195 to win the West, followed by the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers at +500, and the Utah Jazz at +650.
The Brooklyn Nets (+230) and the Lakers (+400) are the two favorites to win the NBA title.
But remember: The Most Valuable Player award only takes into account what happens during the regular season. If Westbrook plays the same way for the Lakers as he did at the end of last season for the Wizards, churning out triple-doubles on a nightly basis, he could win MVP in the same sort of runaway fashion as Jokic did last season. Dennis Schroder and Alex Caruso are gone, and Kendrick Nunn (who&rsquo;s more of a shooter than a playmaker) is now the de facto backup point guard.
There are no sure things in the gambling world. But there are reasonable risks.
Wagering on Westbrook, who has 184 career triple-doubles, is not the worst idea in the history of ideas. Give it some thought, especially because others are not.
BetMGM spokesman John Ewing said that Curry has taken a league-leading 14.8% of tickets to Westbrook&rsquo;s 2.3%. PointsBet&rsquo;s Wyatt Yearout said that Doncic is taking a league-leading 10.71% to Westbrook&rsquo;s 7.14% (the same as Antetokounmpo, Durant and Curry).

Russell Westbrook was dominant for the Wizards at end of last season. Now, after joining the Lakers, he's an interesting MVP bet.

Russell Westbrook's MVP odds range from 25-1 to 85-1

Hall-of-Famer and Boston Celtics legend Tommy Heinsohn has passed away at the age of 86.
The Celtics sent out a <a href="https://www.nba.com/celtics/news/pressrelease/celtics-statement-tommy-heinsohns-passing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">team statement on Heinsohn's death</a>:
It&rsquo;s hard to imagine the Boston Celtics without Tommy Heinsohn. There isn&rsquo;t a generation of Celtics fans for whom Tommy&rsquo;s presence hasn&rsquo;t been felt. He is the only person to be an active participant in each of the Celtics&rsquo; 17 World Championships, an extraordinary and singular legacy.
His career with the Celtics had an auspicious start, as he earned NBA Rookie of the Year honors in 1957. Even more notably, he was the best player on the floor in the decisive Game 7 of that season&rsquo;s NBA Finals against the St. Louis Hawks, leading the team with 39 points and 23 rebounds as the Celtics delivered their first championship banner. Dominant performances and championships were no mere opening act; they would come to define his NBA playing career (1956-65), in which he was named to six All-Star teams and won eight NBA Championships, the team&rsquo;s leading scorer for four of those title runs.
Red Auerbach named Tommy the team&rsquo;s Head Coach in 1969. Like his playing career, Heinsohn's coaching tenure was punctuated by prosperity, as he directed the 1974 and 1976 squads to World Championships, won five Atlantic Division crowns, and was picked the league's Coach of the Year in 1973 during which he won a team record 68 games.
Tommy was honored on multiple occasions as a player, a coach, and a broadcaster. Among those honors, his number 15 was retired by the Celtics in 1965, and he was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame as a player in 1986, and then as a coach in 2015. He is one of just four people to be inducted as both a Player and Coach, joining former teammate Bill Sharman, John Wooden and Lenny Wilkens.
For all of his accomplishments as a player, coach, and broadcaster, it is Tommy&rsquo;s rich personality that defined the man. A loving father, grandfather, and husband. A talented painter and a lively golf partner. Unofficial mentor to decades of Celtics coaches and players. A frequent constructive critic of referees. Originator of the most &ldquo;Celtic stat&rdquo; of them all, The Tommy Point. And a boundless love for all things Boston Celtics, a passion which he shared with fans over 64 years.
We take this time to celebrate his life and legacy, and to share in the sorrow of his passing with his family, friends, and fans. As long as there are the Boston Celtics, Tommy&rsquo;s spirit will remain alive.
STATEMENT FROM WYC GROUSBECK, STEVE PAGLIUCA AND THE BOSTON CELTICS OWNERSHIP GROUP
This is a devastating loss. Tommy was the ultimate Celtic. For the past 18 years, our ownership group has relied hugely on Tommy&rsquo;s advice and insights and have reveled in his hundreds of stories about Red Auerbach, Bill Russell, and how the Celtics became a dynasty. He will be remembered forever.
BasketballNews.com extends its deepest sympathies and condolences to Heinsohn's loved ones at this difficult time.

BasketballNews.com extends its deepest sympathies and condolences to Heinsohn's loved ones at this difficult time.

Hall-of-Famer Tommy Heinsohn passes away at 86

Spencer Davies talks to Marvin Williams Sr. about his new book and Marvin Williams Jr.'s entire career (from a father's vantage point).