Paul Pierce’s Decision to Take Less Money Means Celtics Will Stay at Head of Atlantic Class

There are still some 90 players available in the most-heralded free-agent class the NBA has ever seen. But the big pieces have signed (except for Adam Morrison), and most teams in the NBA are now in fill-out-the-rest-of-the-roster mode.

That leaves us to decide who the “winners” and “losers” are at this point of the offseason.

While we keep in mind that moves still could be made and more than a couple of serviceable players are left on the market — Josh Howard, Larry Hughes, Tracy McGrady, Shaquille O’Neal and Brian Cardinal (OK, OK, just kidding about that one) — it’s not too early to determine who had the best and the worst offseasons in the Atlantic Division.

Winners

Boston Celtics
This was kind of a break-even free agency for Danny Ainge and the Boston brass. They brought back Ray Allen, Nate Robinson and Marquis Daniels all while getting head coach Doc Rivers to commit to another season. They lost Tony Allen to Memphis but were able to draft Avery Bradley and likely will sign another swingman before the preseason begins. Rasheed Wallace retired, but the Celtics went out and grabbed Jermaine O’Neal to help fill that void.

Perhaps the biggest offseason move, though, was the one made by Paul Pierce. By opting out and re-signing at a lower annual rate, Pierce allowed all of the above to happen.

Guys in this league simply don’t do that anymore (other than LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade — and something about the way they did it felt much less unselfish, and much more, “Look at me, I’m so unselfish!”). My sense is that team-first mentality will carry into the 2010-11 season.

New York Knicks
I know, I know. They could be considered losers purely on the grounds that they spent years shedding salary and dumpster-diving for no-name players to fill a roster, all in the pursuit of landing LeBron. Then they watched him flee for South Beach.

But Donnie Walsh and Mike D’Antoni rebounded nicely, bagging Amare Stoudemire (actually, that happened before the LeBron rejection), then shipping David Lee off to Golden State for Anthony Randolph, Kelenna Azubuike and Ronny Turiaf.

While losing Lee hurts, he would have been redundant with Stoudemire on the floor. Randolph adds an element of pure athleticism to the fast-paced D’Antoni system, and Turiaf can give the Knicks the defensive presence at the power forward position that they lacked with Lee (great on offense and the boards but defensively deficient, to say the least).

Walsh also picked up a legitimate starting point guard in Raymond Felton, an easy 15 points, eight assists in the Knicks’ system, and a guy they inked for just two years, giving them plenty of cap space down the line.

No LeBron means no Eastern Conference title, but this Knicks club will get more than their 29 wins in 2009-10.

Philadelphia 76ers
They didn’t do much, but picking No. 2 in the NBA draft was all the Sixers needed.

Although Timberwolves draft pick Wesley Johnson might have more upside and a better attitude, the Sixers’ first-round pick, Evan Turner, will be a serious contender in the NBA. He’s 6-foot-7 with an efficient jump shot to go along with Kevin Durant-like smooth athleticism and a killer instinct at the end of games.

Philly also picked up Andres Nocioni and 7-foot-1 Spencer Hawes in a trade for the unhappy Samuel Dalembert.

If the goal is to do better than the 27 wins the Sixers managed in 09-10, they’re winners.

Losers

New Jersey Nets
Here’s a quick sequence of events this offseason for the lowly Nets:

• Russian dude Mikhail Prokhorov takes over as owner, declaring the Nets will be champions within five years.
• He announces he’s ousting longtime president Rod Thorn just as free agency is getting under way (not exactly the sign of stability an incoming free agent would find attractive).
• LeBron rejects another team that has spent years in the cellar in order to clear the cap space needed for the King.
• Russian dude opts instead for Travis Outlaw (five years, $35 million), Jordan “Feivel” Farmar (three years, $12 million) and Johan Petro (three years, $10 million).

In other words, Brook Lopez remains the only high-impact player on the team.

Toronto Raptors
Goodbye, Chris Bosh and Hedo Turkoglu. Hello, Linas Kleiza!

That pretty much sums it up. Sure, Kleiza played well in Greece last season, and Toronto gets back its 2011 first-round pick from the Heat in exchange for Bosh, but this team was already just shy of abysmal in 2009-10, and the outlook for improvement is bleak.

The Raptors did get Leandro Barbosa from the Suns in return for Turkoglu, but that’s not gonna get them over the hump. They’ll be lucky to win 40 games.

All told, the Atlantic Division will remain weak — with the Celtics, for the fourth-straight season, sitting pretty atop the pile.