For the Bulls, Bucks and Nuggets, pursuing Dwyane Wade seemed to clash with the direction of their roster. It's best to provide context by examining where each team exists on the competitive cycle of the NBA and what their interest in Wade says about their approach. Read more »

Without the development of friendships as teammates and the on-court test drive of playing with each other as part of Team USA, the 2010 Heat and 2016 Warriors probably never happen. Read more »

Players will always be interested in Miami with its advantages of weather, culture and no state income tax, but the reality of even Dwyane Wade being unable to trust his 13-year relationship with Pat Riley has caused irrevocable damage. Read more »

A small-market team fought for championships every year, gaining global prominence and pride as Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook defied the long odds facing a multi-national entertainment product that stakes its identity in the middle of a state most known for its unbeautiful dust. Read more »

Kevin Durant hasn't done anything wrong, per se, and he's created something we've never seen before, but the novelty of it will only carry us so far. Is this really going to be so wonderful to watch? Read more »

Harrison Barnes is not the transcendent talent many expected him to be as a hyped high school kid in Iowa, but he's figured out how to be productive and valuable as a prototypical combo forward. Read more »

On the immediate upgrade of Kevin Durant replacing Harrison Barnes, the endless possibilities of their sets and the concerns of how he'll adapt to the flowing randomness of the Warriors' base offense. Read more »

The Warriors' center rotation of Zaza Pachulia and Damian Jones won't be as effective as Andrew Bogut and Festus Ezeli, but it will come at a fraction of the cost. Read more »

The Spurs could have instead pursued a younger, more athletic big with upside to emerge to another level within their system, but they went with the safe plug and play option of Pau Gasol. Read more »

Signing Kevin Durant with an existing team so young and talented that just won a record-breaking 73 regular season games is an NBA miracle. Durant's legacy will now be playing within the greatest offense in the history of basketball and however many titles they win. Read more »

The Bulls didn't need a ball dominant, high profile point guard who more than likely still can't shoot and has become disinterested in defense but at least the risk in years and dollars is minimal. Read more »

Marvin Williams was always destined for this combo forward role as soon as he worked on his perimeter shot and the NBA evolved to match his physical gifts. Read more »

Courtney Lee has always seemed like an ideal complementary shooting guard with his stable all-around game, yet he's been traded five times in his career and has never last more than two seasons with any single team. Read more »

From the early moments of the 2013 offseason until this spring three years later, there were stark parallels between the 76ers and Celtics despite vastly different on-court results. It finally changed with Boston signing Al Horford. Read more »

Houston is loading up on shooters in Ryan Anderson and Eric Gordon to surround James Harden within Mike D'Antoni's system and must be assuming the defensive side of the floor will be a layup line regardless. Read more »

Al Horford quintessentially demonstrates the sum of being pretty good at everything makes you really good in the aggregate. This is also the type of team the Celtics have been over the past two seasons. By landing an All-Star without losing any assets, they've accomplished the first step in becoming great. Read more »

Seemingly out of nowhere, Bismack Biyombo became a plenty respectable generic drug version of Dikembe Mutombo. Now he joins a crowded yet talented Magic frontcourt on a reasonable contract. Read more »

The Lakers have rebuilt in the past at a light-speed pace full of shortcuts and since that’s clearly not happening this time around, they've instead now shifted to signing players that are effectively human gauze to stop the bleeding. Read more »

Kent Bazemore parlayed his increased opportunity with the Hawks over the past two seasons to become one of the NBA's better 3&D wings and is now one of the best paid ones. Read more »

Unless Joakim Noah becomes his 2014 self again in 2016, the Knicks had a better center on a better contract in Robin Lopez. The problem with this way of team building the Knicks have found themselves pursuing an uncountable number of times is that it is unsustainable even if it breaks perfectly right. Read more »