What Does it All Mean? (NBA Free Agency Edition)

Turkoglu to Toronto. Artest to the Lakers. Ariza to Houston. Sheed to Boston. Kidd....still with Dallas. Gortat to Dallas (is that confirmed? whatever). Gordon and Villanueva to Detroit. Other stuff that I'm likely forgetting.

For a much maligned free agent class, it's been an interesting week or so. What does it all amount to? Well. To me, it doesn't look like anyone's drastically improved their team. Sheed comes to Boston with little downside. Even if he coasts through the season, like he did with Detroit, he'll still add something they didn't have- a guy who can guard the likes of Rashard Lewis. And if he's motivated? Well, then he's a motherfucking good sixth man. No matter what, Sheed and KG on the same team will be fun.

Turkoglu to Toronto...whatever. I thought it would have been a bad move for Portland to pick him up, and I don't like his contract, but...whatever. He'll be alright, and I guess he gives them another ball handler. I'm not sure if that's actually a good thing, as Calderon is pretty nice with the rock (ugh), but we'll see. Toronto really wants that 7th or 8th spot, I guess.

Artest to LA and Ariza to Houston....come on. Everyone and their mother has written about that already. If Artest takes bad shots, it could kill the Lakers. And signing him was obviously a huge risk. But it could definitely work out, and if it does Phil Jackson will (rightly) be praised. Ariza to Houston makes them more athletic, but it won't really matter next season. After that, everything depends on what they do to replace McGrady and whether Yao can get right.

Gordon and Villanueva, well, I've covered that. Meh. Meh squared, even. Gortat and Kidd with Dallas is...whatever. They'll likely be pretty much the same "pretty good but not great" team they've often been over recent years. The Kidd contract is awful, but Cuban obviously doesn't care. So, like I said. The last week has been interesting, but hasn't changed things THAT much.