Well, Bill Simmons recently wrote in his "12 Days of NBA Xmas" ( http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7360397/the-eleventh-day-nba-christmas ) about the remaining free agents left on the board and the signings thus far. It painted an interesting picture and allowed for some serious speculation on the upcoming NBA season. So, I'd like to just make a couple notations and allow for conversation in the comments below.

-First, there are some interesting free agents left out there, including but not limited to:

• Arron Afflalo
• Samuel Dalembert
• Andrei Kirilenko
• Kris Humphries
• DeShawn Stevenson
• A couple other guys: Reggie Evans, Michael Redd, Peja Stojakovic, Rodney Stuckey, Yi Jianlan, Al Thornton, Julian Wright, Nick Young, Ike Diago.
• JR Smith, Kenyon Martin, and Aaron Brooks are stuck in China for the moment, but are likely to come back to the NBA after their respective seasons end in March. Same with Shasha Vujacic
• Gilbert Arenas and Baron Davis are recent amnesties, and will likely fall to teams for veteran minimums, making for valuable, cheap contracts.

-I'm a huge Afflalo fan, and I think he could really help a team. DeShawn is a shut-down defender. And I'd take a flier on just about any amnestied player (with the exception of Trout!) for a veteran's minimum contract (not for the Blazers though).
-Of course, there were plenty of signings.

• Jamal Crawford in Portland (hooray!)
• Chris Paul to the Clips
• Tyson Chandler to the Knicks
• Tracy McGrady in Atlanta
• Chuck Hayes to Sactown
• Big Baby traded for Brandon Bass (man, did this signing seem beneficial only to Celtics; I'm a Bass fan)
• Richard Hamilton to the Bulls
• Josh Howard to the Jazz
• Vince Carter & Lamar Odom to Dallas
• Kwame (!) Brown to GS, after the Warriors failed to land their first 6 choices
• David West to Indiana
• McBob to the Fake Show
• Shane Battier to the Heat
• Eric Gordon to NO
• Aaron Gray to Toronto (I seriously thought he'd be good for PDX)

I think several teams made great moves, some teams made lateral moves, and a lot of teams got worse.

• NY got a lot better defensively
• Clippers just got way more interesting, and should be in the playoff running for at least the next 2 years
• the Heat picked up a quality veteran in Battier, though I think you'll slowly see him falling off. But dang, love that guy's D.
• NO did well for having to lose a superstar, but they'll continue in mediocrity.
• the L*kers just got worse

I think Portland got a little worse but made significant progress for the future. It looks like management is slowly viewing a rebuild around LaMarcus, while trying to stock up on-the-run both young assets and draft picks, while sending out overpaid veterans (Wallace, Camby) near the trade deadline (just a guess). I think the Crawford deal was one of the best signings this offseason, as we hopefully replaced a lot of what Brandon brought to the table.
Anyways, I'd like to hear your thoughts about any of the signings or any of the free agents left, and what you think this means for any team in general.
You can track player movement at ESPN: http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/page/transactions-11-12/2011-12-nba-player-movement-tracker