THESE 3 Teams CRUSHED NBA Free Agency: Rockets, Nuggets & Hawks

THESE 3 Teams CRUSHED NBA Free Agency: Rockets, Nuggets & Hawks

Give me the three teams that you think have made the most impressive moves, maybe even with limited resources in the first couple days of free agency.
Hey man. Hey man, it’s it’s it’s a dead heat. I’m I’m not gonna I’m Do I have to rank them or could I just name three teams?
No, you can just name his name. Let’s start. Houston Rockets. So Houston Rockets basically took Jaylen Green, upgraded him into Kevin Durant. They took Dylan Brooks, upgraded him into Dorian Finny Smith,
and then they also added Clint Capella in there for good measure. and all it cost them really was a first round pick and and five seconds. That’s that’s tremendous. They they really they’ve loaded their roster in a way where they can play any style of basketball. They can play up, they can play down, they can play fast, they can play slow, they can play half court, they can play full court, they can shoot threes, uh they can they can switch everything if they want. You know, they’ve got such flexibility and so much options. Um, and obviously Eime Udoka, you know, the quality of coach he is. This team is poised to, you know, I I just I kept thinking about after game seven, people talking about, oh, the Thunder, they’re going to run the table and they got the next three years on lock and all that stuff. And a week later,
ain’t nobody scared,
dude. A week later, a week later, we’re like, I I don’t know, bro. Cuz like Houston’s doing it thing. Then the second name I’m going to say and I’m not going to I’m not ranking it too because I put it right there with Houston is a Denver Nuggets, right? You go out, you get a new front office, John Wallace and Ben Tanzer and they went out and number one talk about managing up the thing that got Michael Malone kicked out. They got done which is I don’t want Michael Porter Jr. on this team
right now. They paid a pretty penny. That’s the difference between them and the Rockets. Maybe that’s the the the separation. They paid a pretty penny cuz that unprotected 2032, ladies and gentlemen, 7 years is a long time in the NBA. Vinnie, do you remember what what the NBA was like seven years ago? I I do. I do. Seven years ago, 2018. That was Kevin Durant going into his last year in Golden State. That was Toronto like trying to figure out, hey, we just picked up Kawhi Leonard. Is he any good? Like the league moves faster than ever. It moves even faster now than it did then. Ben Simmon. So yeah, who knows what the league is going to look like. Seven years.
Ben Simmons was at a place where we said if he does this for like six more years, he’s a Hall of Famer.
That’s how far goes seven years. Like he’s like he doesn’t need to add a jump shot. If he just does this for six more years, the resume will say Hall of Famer at the end of it.
That’s how far we’ve gone. Right. So the Zion was was starting his
freshman year at Duke and who who would have predicted Zion would be a flame out, right?
So the seven years is a long time to say like we’ll be fine. It’ll be a late late first. The hell it will you don’t know what’s going to happen. You don’t know what Joker is going to do. Whether he’s going to be healthy, whether he going to want to want to go somewhere else, whether he just wants horses, that’s it. So to give up an unprotected first, I felt like, man, that’s a dangerous game. But if we’re just looking at what they did, they took a guy, even if you tell me Michael Porter Jr. is better than Cameron Johnson, I’ll be okay. Is he $17 million better? Cuz that’s the game we’re playing. We’re not playing who’s better. We’re playing, is he $17 million better? And if he’s not, do I have a better use for that $17 million? And so they go out, they get him, they go out, they trade for Valenunis, they go out and they bring back Bruce Bound on a minimum. They bring in Tim Hardway Jr. on a minimum. And all of a sudden, this Nuggets team where we said, “Look, Joker on the floor, they’re great. As soon as he steps off, this thing falls apart. Now they got depth. They’re not relying on rookies. They’re not relying on secondyear players. They’ve got real dudes who can come in right now. All of them have experience, have played well, and that’s the name of the game.” If you look at Golden State at its height, they had their main dudes. And what did they always have? An old dog, a a David West, an Andrew Bogat, a someone who had Leando Barbosa. Like, I’ve lived somewhere else. I’ve done this. I’ve come here just to win. That’s what that’s the name of the game, right? So, Denver, I would say I will rank them now. Denver’s two because of the pick. And then the third. Ah, man. Atlanta.
I’m Can That’s all I about to say. It’s got to be Atlanta, right?
Atlanta. Yeah. Atlanta. I look I to me Houston and Denver, they have every right to look in the mirror and say we are an NBA championship caliber club. If we see Oklahoma City, we’ll beat their ass. They have every right to feel that way. Particularly Denver, cuz Denver could say, “We could have beaten them.
We came close to beating you.” Yeah. with with half a roster and half a hamstring and all that stuff. You give us you give us a full year under David Adelman, not just kind of like picking up the job two days before the playoffs start, right? So Atlanta though on paper really good. On paper I got to see how it works. I really like I thought when they were when Jaylen Johnson was healthy, they were really good and he got hurt and then they became same old Atlanta and people kind of just
painted the whole season as same old Atlanta. It wasn’t that way.
They started to have an identity. Him, Dyson Daniels, uh, Aongu, they really brought a defensive presence. Right now they’ve gotten even better. Nquille Alexander Walker adds to that. They’ve added shooting with him and Luke Canard and Christophs Porzingis. And so now this is my thing. This this this shout out goes to Trey Young for years. I think he’s had a valid excuse. I can’t I got to do everything. I have to carry this offense. I can’t worry about being efficient. We got to score to win this game. I can’t devote energy on the defensive end. We I got to carry this whole offense. He’s been right, but now you got all the help, bro. You needed shooting, they got you shooting. You needed defense around you, they got you defense around you. So now he’s got to adjust. And I I wonder if Quinn Snider’s having these conversations with them. Like you got to adjust. You have to be more judicious with your shot selection,
right? I know people are going to point, oh yeah, I mean, he led the league in assists.
It’s very easy if the ball is in your hands and
you can manipulate the game. manipulate the game. You can manipulate the game. Like, I don’t care what the assist number is. I care about how he plays, how quick you get off that ball, how quick you make a decision, and the judiciousness of your shot selection. And then now knowing I don’t have to reserve every last calorie of energy for offense. I need you more on the defensive end. Again, I don’t think you’re going to become Gary Payton, but I need you to move your feet. I need you to send people towards the help. I need you to take charges. I need you to be a better team defender because now all the excuses are out. You have all the the help you need. Now it’s time you raise up and become the the leader that this team needs.

Who’s winning the NBA offseason so far? Vincent Goodwill and guests break down the three teams that made the biggest impact early in free agency — with or without cap space. The Rockets landed KD, the Nuggets revamped their depth, and the Hawks may have finally built the right roster around Trae Young. But which of these teams truly leveled up?

Watch as the crew analyzes the moves, the money, and the pressure facing each franchise heading into next season.

👇 Let us know in the comments: Which team had the best offseason so far?

0:00 – Who’s winning 2025 free agency?
1:35 – Why Houston’s flexibility matters
3:15 – Denver’s smart depth additions
4:18 – Hawks quietly have a huge offseason
6:05 – Who has the most pressure next season?

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