The offseason is when teams analyze what was done the previous year and plan for the next season.  Free agency becomes the most interesting part of the summer in the NBA, especially when players such as LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony are available and looking for options.

One signature, or the lack thereof, can change a team’s future and perception throughout the league.  For every team that is successful in free agency, there is a team that lose.

Loser: Miami Heat

No matter what other additions it makes, when a team loses the best  player in the world, they are considered losers.  LeBron James’ return to Cleveland changes the entire landscape of the Eastern Conference and leaves Miami with a lot of doubts.

After recommitting to Miami, Dwyane Wade took a pay cut, but his health and effectiveness throughout a complete season remain huge question marks.  Wade’s pay cut seems to be negated by the Chris Bosh deal, who flirted with the possibility of leaving Miami also.

There are a lot of people that think the Heat would have been able to get Bosh for less money, but after LeBron’s departure, they could not afford to lose Bosh as well.

Additions such as Luol Deng, Danny Granger and Josh McRoberts are solid, but none has the ability to even come close to what LeBron provided Eric Spoelstra’s team on a nightly basis.  

The Heat are not going to be an afterthought, like some would like to believe, but the days of being a conference finals guarantee are definitely over, and that has them on the losing side this summer.

Loser: Houston Rockets

Carmelo Anthony was option number one, but that was never a real possibility.  For a moment there, after LeBron’s announcement, Houston appeared to be the second-biggest winner of free agency 2014.  Dwight Howard, James Harden and Bosh made an already dangerous Houston pretty terrifying.  Instead, Bosh resigned with Miami and the Rockets were left without Omer Asik, Chandler Parsons, Jeremy Lin and a future first-round pick.

 For a team that underachieved by being bounced out in the first round of last year’s playoffs, Houston hoped Bosh would bring the ingredients needed to put the Rockets on the same level as San Antonio and Oklahoma City.  The marriage looked great on paper.

 To make Bosh a real possibility, Houston risked a lot, trading both Asik and Lin with a first rounder and eventually letting Parsons leave to Dallas.  

The departures and arrivals leave the roster with less depth and in worse shape than last year.  Houston went all in–reeling in one of this summer’s big fish–they gambled and it could not have gone worse.

Loser: Indiana Pacers

At a time when the Eastern Conference is as open as ever, the Indiana Pacers had the opportunity to come out of free agency as the favorites.  Instead of making a statement, the roster ends up in worse shape.

With the departure of Lance Stephenson, who signed with Charlotte, Indiana, they are left with Paul George as the only real explosive threat on the offensive side.  For all his antics and controversial behavior, Stephenson was the Pacers’ best option when penetrating to the basket.

The offensive woes in Indiana, even when they weren’t falling apart in the second half of the season, have been well documented and Stephenson’s departure makes an unwatchable offense probably that much
more unbearable.

Just a year ago, Indiana appeared to be the only viable threat to the then-mighty Miami Heat, now they are just another team in the second-best conference of the league.

Teams’ future possibilities can change dramatically when losing out on a certain free agent they failed to lure or keep.  Miami, Houston and Indiana all appear to be on the wrong side of this summer’s action, but we won’t know for sure until the ball begins to bounce come October.

Luis Gonzalez may be reached at [email protected]