This Summer in Free Agency: DeMar DeRozan

 DeMar DeRozan completed his 7th season with his Raptors falling to the Clevland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals in 6 games. He has spent all his career representing the 6ix but is now a free-agent with a player option, which he is likely to opt out of to sign a well-deserved max contract. He is a star in this league, but his play in the playoffs is too often inconsistent and he is yet to even win the Eastern Conference.

DeMar is going to be a big name this offseason which many teams would like to get their hands on. An athletic, versatile scorer who lacks a decent touch from the three-point line, DeRozan will be offered from many teams but it is rumored that his mindset had always been with Toronto. It is basically a tug of war between the Lakers and Raptors. Here is a case for them both:

Los Angeles Lakers

THE GOOD: Born and raised in the Compton area, DeMar had been a huge Lakers fan growing up. He loves it in L.A and the market is attractive to any free-agent. Not only do you play in Hollywood, but you have an excellent fan base who have stood by the team through the thick and thin. And with Kobe retiring, DeRozan will be the clear-cut leader of this team. It is a relatively young team, but has a lot of promise. D'Angelo Russell, Julius Randle, and Jordan Clarkson seem to be the future of the Lakers and have gelled well on many occasions. They even have the 2nd overall pick in the draft this year who will end up in either Brandon Ingram or Ben Simmons (Depends who gets picked first) and have a solid chance of making the playoffs with DeMar on the team.

THE BAD: Even though he plays for his home team, he leaves a good situation in Toronto. He goes to an inexperienced team without any current stars. It may pan out in the future, but as of now he may have to struggle a bit. He will get a lot of money however as he is likely to sign the max and the Lakers will look to get other free-agents as well with all the cap space they possess.

Toronto Raptors

THE GOOD: Coming off their first Conference appearance, the future looks good for The North. DeRozan and Lowry boast one of the best backcourts in the entire league and the team has many pieces to have a good post-season run. They ended up in the 2nd seed behind Clevland by only a game and fought their way through the playoffs until they were defeated by the Cavs. Toronto has some of the best fans in any sport. Even after losing the playoff round to the Cavaliers, their fans stood by them chanting "We the North".

THE BAD: This team doesn't have a lot of negatives, but lack of experience hurt them a little this postseason. The pressure was also massive, being the only team outside the states, it really got to some of the players to perform well, but just the opposite occurred. The pressure got to DeRozan and Lowry at times and caused them to struggle massively.

This Summer in Free Agency: Dwight Howard

After an awkward interview on Inside the NBA on TNT and with the Rockets signing Mike D'Antoni as their head coach, it is almost certain that Dwight will be heading somewhere else this off-season. It seemed like he was a lost piece in the disastrous Rockets season this year. He has the capability of taking over games, but people often point out his fun-loving, childish nature as a problem from him to be a dominant center.

Him and James Harden cannot play together which was quite evident this year and it even got to a point where they both wanted the other to get traded. Harden had been awful this year, laughed at for his defense and confused at times on offense. But Dwight couldn't get a good opportunity to show what he he is capable of, so here is a list of my top 3 destinations for where Howard could land this off-season. Please keep in mind that this list has nothing to do with what Durant has been offered, but where he has shown interest and where he can thrive:

• Portland Trailblazers
• Orlando Magic
• Boston Celtics

1.) Portland Trailblazers

The Blazers are on the rise. After putting up a good fight against the defending champions Golden State Warriors, Dwight might be the missing piece for this team to claim a title. Damian Lillard and C.J McCollum are lights-out scorers and can go off on any given night, but they move the ball around well and Dwight can find some success with the All-Star back-court. And even though Mason Plumlee is doing a great job as of now, Dwight can make an immediate impact for a good couple of years. 

2.) Orlando Magic 

Why not go to the team that got you to where you are? Dwight was one of the most dominant big men in all of basketball in his Orlando days. He led his team to the 2009 NBA Finals where they fell to the Lakers and even claimed 3 Defensive Player of the Year honors. The team right now is very young with some promising talent, but no real superstar. This could either be attractive to Dwight since he will get most of the shot attempts, or it will be overlooked since they aren't a championship contender as of now. 

3.) Boston Celtics

The Boston Celtics are definitely showing a lot of promise for the near future. With All-Star point guard Isiah Thomas, the 3rd overall pick in this years draft (via Brooklyn), and many more key pieces, all that is missing is a big presence down low. Howard fits the mold perfectly, adding a lot more size and scoring in the low post. The current big man unit for this team is Tyler Zeller and Kelly Olynck, but both of them lack on either side of the ball (Olynck struggles on defense and Zeller isn't a polished offensive player). With Dwight, and the draft pick alongside the current Celtics roster, they could be a team to watch next year. 

This Summer in Free Agency: Kevin Durant

After spending 9 strong seasons with the OKC Thunder, there are various rumors that KD is on the move. The NBA's 2-time scoring champion and the 2014 NBA MVP has often been overshadowed by fellow point-guard Russell Westbrook and while the dynamic duo has been dominant, their team just can't finis h in the fourth quarter and aren't in many people's minds as the champions this year.

This year, there have been various reports of possible destinations for the superstar. Here is my list for 3 teams where he will land this off-season and why. Please keep in mind that this list has nothing to do with what Durant has been offered, but where he has shown interest and where he can thrive:

• Washington Wizards
• Toronto Raptors
• Golden State Warriors

1.) Washington Wizards

With a surprising missed shot at the playoffs this year, the Wizards are still a good team with a chance at Kevin Durant. He can team up with point-guard John Wall and shooting-guard Bradley Beal and give the Wizards a realistic chance to win the title. He has shown interest many times in interviews and Washington is his hometown so this could turn out to be a LeBron to Cleveland situation. The odds of this signing happening is very low, but if he does sign with them and if they can put together a legitimate team, the Wizards could possibly be the champions again next year. 

2.) Toronto Raptors

This is another fairly realistic situation. With Lowry and DeRozan already in Toronto, the signing of KD will take them to the next level. They already showed capabilities of being a championship contender, with being the 2nd seed in the Eastern Conference. The only concern is how they will mesh together. With all 3 of them being All-Stars, the question will be how they will play together and who will sacrifice from the 3 to make a championship run. The case for any Big 3 is always for at least one player to sacrifice shot attempts for the others to score more.

3.) Golden State Warriors

OK, here's the home-run, Kevin Durant going to the Warriors. In my opinion, this will disintegrate how the Warriors play, with another scorer. The other players need to give the ball up more for Durant, but if this team can gel together, they can even have a chance at winning 82 games! This idea is possible, but just would be unfair. With the Warriors already being so good, it seems like it would almost be boring to watch NBA basketball because you know this team would win every game. 

This Summer in Free Agency

This page will have links to the hottest names in the free agent market this off-season. I will add their situation, as well as possible destinations for this off-season.

• Kevin Durant
• Dwight Howard
• DeMar DeRozan