Hoops Rumors Polls

Despite losing Andre Iguodala this week, Philadelphia appears to have improved its basketball team by adding the league's second best center, Andrew Bynum. In an offseason filled with player movement, the Atlantic Division most represents an arms race, with nearly all five teams making a push to win it all. Which team has positioned itself best to win the Atlantic?

Everything always seems to just work out for the Lakers, doesn't it?  Landing Dwight Howard gives them a dreamworthy starting five that will undoubtedly cause many pundits to pick them as the favorite to win the upcoming season's NBA title.  But the West was loaded before they landed Howard and is now even more so with the Nuggets adding Andre Iguodala in the same deal.  No one is going to hand the Lakers the conference title, and the last time I checked the Miami Heat looked pretty incredible in the NBA Finals. 

Asked for his thoughts on the Howard deal after the United States defeated Argentina in the Olympic semifinal, LeBron James didn't take the bait, predictably stating, "I don't have a thought.  My mindset is now on Spain" (via Sen Deveney on Twitter).  Kevin Durant gave a more entertaining quote, simply responding, "I really don't care" (via Jeff Zillgitt on Twitter).  While his intentions are unknown, it doesn't make it any less entertaining – especially considering the elongated circumstances of Howard's trade. 

So what do you think?  With Howard in purple and gold, who is the favorite to win the NBA title?  Feel free to make your case in the comments section. 

It's Christmas in August for NBA fans tired of the constant Dwight Howard trade rumors and speculation — the Magic finally moved their franchise center today in a huge, four-team deal that netted them six players, five picks, and some cap relief.

It will likely be years before we can truly determine which teams "won" and "lost" this trade, but with the deal officially announced, we can at least examine each franchise's present-day thinking and take a stab at which club we think came out on top.

So was it the Lakers, who parted with the league's second-best center but landed the prize of the 2012 trade market? Or the Sixers, who were finally able to move Andre Iguodala and acquired a potential franchise center in return? How about the Nuggets, who unloaded arguably their two worst contracts and received an All-Star for their troubles? Maybe you even like the deal for the Magic, who loaded up on draft picks and did about as well as they could, given their lack of leverage.

Before making your pick, you can read up on the full details of the trade right here.

The Olympics can be a career-altering experience, even for the world's greatest players. It's a time when work ethic is observed, and little bits of helpful advice are shared. Team USA is loaded with several young, up and coming talents, but beside them even the greatest of superstars, like LeBron James, are currently finding themselves in new roles that could help the rest of their professional careers. Here, we're asking which player on the 2012 Olympic team's 12-man roster will benefit the most from playing in London. 

We recently asked you, the reader, which free agent signee is the most overpaid player of the summer—a list from which there are plenty of worthy options. Now we’re flipping the question around, asking who may have signed for less than what was expected. 

Each time it negotiates a new CBA, the league seems to prioritize finding ways to limit ways for teams to overpay players. Yet as the first offseason under the latest CBA demonstrates, there's really no way to completely eliminate deals that seem regrettable from the start.

Of course, many of the players listed below could exceed expectations and live up to their contracts, but it seems likely they all owe thank-you cards to their agents. Some, like Omer Asik, Landry Fields and Jeremy Lin, benefitted from the Gilbert Arenas Provision in an unprecedented fashion. Others, like Gerald Wallace, Jameer Nelson and Jason Thompson re-signed with their own teams for amounts of money and lengths of time that raised eyebrows. Feel free to use our Free Agent Tracker to compare these signings with others and see if there's another player out there who seems even more overpaid to you.