The Raptors have to be disappointed with the loss. They shot 59% from the field and 65% from long range, but were outrebounded by nine and committed five more turnovers than the Spurs. Considering that San Antonio was without Duncan and Parker, that shouldn’t happen.

This was a big win for the Spurs, who avoided a 2-4 start…thanks to Ginobili.

The final score should be no surprise. The game was in Utah, and the Jazz had their backs up against the wall a little bit as they started out the season with a 1-3 record, which included a home loss to the Rockets.

Spurs rookie DeJuan Blair had another nice game, posting 14 points and nine rebounds in 21 minutes. He’s averaging 9.8 points and 8.5 rebounds through four games and is shooting better than 70% from the field. The Spurs will use him extensively during the season to keep Duncan as fresh as possible for a playoff run.

This year, we’re doing a division-by-division preview with quick-hitting analysis for every team in the league. If a franchise is a legitimate championship contender, I’ll focus on what stars have to line up for a title run. If a team is a playoff “also-ran,” I’ll identify the weaknesses that have to be shored up via trade, free agency or draft over the next couple of seasons to make it a contender. If a team is likely to miss the playoffs, I’ll take a look at the salary cap, and provide a blueprint for how the team should proceed in the near future to get back in the postseason. At the end of each divisional preview, I’ll provide some (random) thoughts for the fantasy hoopsters out there.

For each division, I’ll pick the order of finish. You’ll also see the team’s league-wide preseason rank in parenthesis. Be sure to check back over the course of the next couple of weeks for previews of each division.

San Antonio Spurs (3)
Did the Spurs do enough this summer to make another title run? On paper, it sure looks like they did. They added Richard Jefferson to shore up the small forward position, which has declined as Michael Finley and Bruce Bowen have aged. He’s a good defender, especially when he’s not asked to score 20 points a game, and the Spurs won’t put him in that position. The Spurs also signed Antonio McDyess, who is 35 years old, but was quite productive last season as he proved that he still has some gas left in the tank. San Antonio also had the luxury of a top 10 talent (DeJuan Blair) falling into its lap in the second round of the draft due to concerns about his knees, which served him quite well at Pitt. And, of course, the Spurs return their three principals. Tony Parker has developed into one of the best point guards in the game, Manu Ginobili is a clutch closer, and Tim Duncan is still Tim Duncan. Since his game isn’t dependent on athleticism, it continues to age well. The key for the Spurs is staying healthy. If Parker, Ginobili, Duncan and Jefferson are all healthy heading into the playoffs, San Antonio will be a very tough out, even for the Lakers.

Dallas Mavericks (7)
Despite the general consensus that the Mavs mortgaged their future when they traded away Devin Harris for an over-the-hill Jason Kidd, Dallas is still defending that move and thinks that they can win a championship now. Kidd is still a productive player, but he has trouble covering quick point guards on the defensive end, and when he’s asked to cover guys like Tony Parker, Chris Paul or even Deron Williams, things can get ugly. The Mavs tried to upgrade at center by adding Marcin Gortat, but was sideswiped by the Magic at the last minute. Orlando also managed to poach Brandon Bass, an up-and-coming power forward. However, the Mavs did manage to acquire Shawn Marion who, at just 31 years of age, still has quite a bit of basketball left to play. He wasn’t used in the right way in Miami, but played well down the stretch (16/9 in April) for the Raptors last year as they made a late-season run. Along with a still-in-his-prime Dirk Nowitzki, the ever-entertaining Josh Howard, and the instant offense of Jason Terry, the Mavs have a formidable core of players. Even with all this talent, it’s going to take a minor meltdown by the Lakers and the Spurs to give Dallas a legitimate shot at making another run to the Finals. However, if the Mavs gel quickly, they will be a factor in the West.

New Orleans Hornets (9)
It’s hard to figure out just what the Hornets are thinking. Last season, they tried to give Tyson Chandler to the Thunder in a salary dump, but OKC sent him back after their doctors said his foot was no good. Then this offseason they trade him for Emeka Okafor, who has four years and $52 million remaining on his contract. Were they trying to move Chandler because of his foot? Given the investment they made in Okafor, it would appear so. The Hornets looked to be on the cusp of a title run heading into last season, but the team regressed instead of progressing, and much of this can be blamed on poor play at the wing positions. Peja Stojakovic just isn’t what he used to be, and he’s only worth a fraction of the $28 million he’s due to make over the next two seasons. Morris Peterson also isn’t aging very well, prompting the team to sign James Posey two summers ago. He wasn’t the answer, so now Byron Scott is turning to Julian Wright (something he probably should have done last summer) at small forward, while Peterson seems to be holding off rookie Marcus Thornton for now. We know Chris Paul and David West are going to give the Hornets All-Star caliber play, so Wright can raise his game and a healthy Okafor can provide a steady double-double and defensive presence inside, the Hornets might find themselves in the thick of things in the West.

Houston Rockets (14)
Houston got rid of its most memorable player from last season – Ron Artest – because he was just too nutty. When the Lakers signed Ron-Ron away, GM Darryl Morey was happy to step in and sign the up-and-coming Trevor Ariza to a mid-level deal. Unfortunately, Yao Ming has another foot injury and is going to miss the entire season, so unless Tracy McGrady can come back completely healthy – and it’s a contract year, so I wouldn’t put it past him – the Rockets are going to have a tough time equaling last year’s success. T-Mac hasn’t yet played in the preseason, so there’s no telling what kind of season he’s going to be able to produce. Without their two stars, the Rockets have a lot of good players – Ariza, Shane Battier, Aaron Brooks, Luis Scola, Carl Landry, Kyle Lowry, Chuck Hayes – but no great ones, so it’s going to be difficult make a deep playoff run if T-Mac isn’t near 100%. Still, they play good defense and have great chemistry, so the Rockets will compete on a nightly basis during the regular season.

Memphis Grizzlies (29)
Ah, the Grizzlies. Just when you think that GM Chris Wallace is starting to redeem himself for the Pau Gasol fiasco by acquiring O.J. Mayo on draft day, he goes and trades for Zach Randolph and the $33 million remaining on his contract. Randolph isn’t a bad fantasy player, but I don’t know that any GM in the league would use him as part of a plan to get back to the playoffs. What’s worse, this move will make it impossible for the franchise to be much of a player in 2010’s free agency bonanza. The Allen Iverson deal is understandable. The Grizzlies need to put butts in the seats and AI can do that. Only it’s tough to rebuild with a couple of veterans who have a reputation for poisoning the locker room. Rookie Hasheem Thabeet will vie for minutes in a front line that includes Marc Gasol, Darrell Arthur, Sam Young and DeMarre Carroll. Don’t expect anything from the Grizzlies this season. They are a good bet to once again finish at the bottom of the division.

Fantasy Thoughts: Shawn Marion isn’t going to be the stat beast he was in Phoenix, but he showed flashes of his old self late in his stint with the Raptors, so he’s a nice value pick in the middle rounds…The Spurs look like they’ll be very balanced with the addition of Richard Jefferson and Antonio McDyess that the stars will probably be a little overvalued (though I love Tony Parker in the 4th) while guys like Jefferson, McDyess and Roger Mason, Jr., might be a little undervalued…Julian Wright isn’t shooting the ball all that well in the preseason, but he’s averaging 7.8 points and 5.8 rebounds in 25 minutes. If he can get his FG% up around where it was in his rookie year (53%), while playing at a level deserving of starters’ minutes, then he could be a nice sleeper in the late rounds…Look for Shane Battier to be more aggressive offensively with Yao out for the season and T-Mac trying to make his way back from injury. He’s not going to set the world on fire, but given his production in the other areas of the game – steals, assists, rebounds, blocks – he could be a valuable pick in the later rounds…Luis Scola should be one of the Rockets’ go-to players as well, and is a great value in the 7th…Zach Randolph isn’t a bad pick in the 6th round. He’s not going to get you much in the way of steals, assists or blocks, but he’ll hit the occasional three and rack up the points and rebounds.

The NBA offseason is by no means over, but the lion’s share is behind us, so it’s a good time to take a look back at a few of the…um…let’s say “questionable” decisions of the summer. Here are my Top 10, in no particular order. Feel free to add to the list if I missed something.

1. Trevor Ariza plays spiteful hardball…and loses.
Let’s get this straight — the Lakers offered Ariza the same deal he was getting on the open market, and he refused since the Lakers could have offered more, but didn’t? Um, okay. David Lee (the agent, not the Knicks forward) says that Ariza wanted to go somewhere where he’d be “appreciated.” Lee overestimated the market for his client, and the Lakers quickly moved on to acquire Ron Artest. Now instead of playing for the world champs, Ariza is stuck in Houston on a team that faces a very uncertain future. Lee now says that Ariza turned down a deal worth $9 million more, but still picked Houston. It sounds to me like he’s just trying to save face.

2. Grizzlies acquire Zach Randolph.
Once the Clippers traded for Randolph (and his toxic contract) last season, I thought the bar for NBA general managers had hit a new low thanks to Mike Dunleavy and his wily ways. But Dunleavy proved that he wasn’t the dumbest GM in the league when he convinced the Memphis Grizzlies to take on the final two years Randolph’s contract at the tune of $33.3 million. Remember that $25 million or so of cap space that the Grizzlies were going to have next summer? Yeah, that’s down to about $8 million with this brilliant move. Just when it looked like Chris Wallace was going to rehab his image after the Pau Gasol trade — Marc Gasol panning out, trading for O.J. Mayo — he goes and does this. Sigh.

3. T-Wolves draft both Ricky Rubio and Jonny Flynn with no (good) plan in place.
When GM David Kahn drafted two point guards with back to back picks, everyone around the league thought that he had a trade in place. Not so, according to Kahn, who likes the idea of playing two smallish, ball-dominating guards in the same backcourt. Now Rubio is threatening to stay in Europe for another year or two, and Kahn is seemingly happy to wait until Rubio finally makes his way to the NBA to see if his unorthodox plan (and that’s being kind) will ultimately work.

4. The Magic trade for Vince Carter.
Let’s see, your team just lost in the Finals — losing two games in overtime — and your main ballhandler is a free agent. What do you do? It’s tough to create the kind of chemistry that gets a team to the Finals, so you re-sign him, right? Not the Orlando Magic, who balked at Hedo Turkoglu’s $10 million-per-season asking price and instead pulled the trigger on a trade for Vince Carter. So essentially they gave up their most consistent player (Turkoglu) and a budding star (Courtney Lee) for the 32-year-old Carter. A healthy Jameer Nelson (along with a savvy mid-level signing) may have been enough to put this Magic team over the top, but now we’ll never know.

5. Pistons sign Ben Gordon for $11 million per season.
Look, I like Ben Gordon…for about $8 million per season. The guy is a great scorer, but he has sketchy shot selection at times and is a big liability on defense. For years, the Bulls didn’t even deem him good enough to start, but the Pistons are going to throw $11 million per year at him? And it turns out that they were bidding against themselves, as the Bulls didn’t even bother to make an offer before Gordon signed with Detroit.

6. No one makes an offer (that we know of) to Ramon Sessions.
7. The Bucks don’t extend one-year offer to Charlie Villanueva and lose him without compensation.
8. The Bucks give away Richard Jefferson.
Let’s tackle my beloved Bucks all at once. First, they give away a former All-Star Jefferson in a salary dump. Then, they elect not to take the option to make Villanueva a restricted free agent, which allows the Pistons to sign him away without having to give the Bucks anything in return. I know why the Bucks made these moves — they don’t feel that this roster is worthy of being in luxury tax territory and I don’t disagree, but small market teams can’t give away assets for nothing. Yeah, maybe signing Villanueva for the final year of his rookie contract would have cost them $4 million or more, but they could have traded him for a young prospect or maybe a draft pick. And why didn’t they get a first rounder out of the Spurs for Jefferson? Small market teams have a tough time signing stars, so they have to build through the draft and via trade. Giving away the rights to a $7 million-per-season player (which is what the Pistons paid Villanueva) is not the way to get better. Lastly, why hasn’t anyone made RFA Ramon Sessions an offer? The Bucks have proven that they are trying to cut salary and they picked up Brandon Jennings in the draft. Does anyone really think that they’d match a significant ($4-$5 million per year) offer for Sessions? He had the 13th-highest PER amongst all point guards, and the 5th-highest amongst all point guards under the age of 26. Moreover, his +/- numbers are the best on the team for anyone who played more than 1200 minutes. Why hasn’t a team in need of point guard help (Portland?) jumped on this guy?

9. The Suns give away Shaquille O’Neal.
Regular readers know that I’m not fond of the job Steve Kerr is doing in Phoenix. First, he trades Rudy Fernandez away for cash. Then he ruins one of the most exciting teams in NBA history by trading Shawn Marion for Shaquille O’Neal. Now he seemingly admits that the Shaq trade was all for naught by giving him away in a salary dump. Shaq made the Third Team All-NBA last year, and Kerr traded him for Ben Wallace and Sasha Pavlovic’s expiring contracts. Geesh.

10. Six teams pass on DeJuan Blair IN THE SECOND ROUND!
When I first heard that there were concerns about Blair’s knees, I thought he might fall into the bottom third of the first round. Even if the guy is missing ligaments in his knees, he was still one of the best rebounders in all of college basketball last season and he ate up #2 pick Hasheem Thabeet in Connecticut. When Blair fell into the second round I was stunned as the Kings, Wizards, Blazers, Nuggets, Pistons and Grizzlies all passed on Blair. A second round pick doesn’t require the same kind of financial commitment as a first round pick, so there’s very little downside if the guy doesn’t pan out. Blair fell and fell, right into the inviting arms of the Spurs, who will be lucky to have him on the roster for the foreseeable future.

There’s an old Beatles song, “Getting Better,” that goes…

I’ve got to admit it’s getting better
A little better all the time (It can’t get no worse)
I have to admit it’s getting better
It’s getting better since you’ve been mine

Now Paul McCartney and John Lennon were talking about a girl, but those lyrics could easily be applied to an NBA team during the summer. With that in mind, here are three teams that are getting better and three that are getting worse. (And, by the way, just because a team is adding talent, it doesn’t mean that they’re making the right moves.)

GETTING BETTER

San Antonio Spurs
The Spurs’ willingness to take on salary to improve their roster resulted in the acquisition of All-Star-caliber forward Richard Jefferson from the Bucks, who were looking to dump salary. To add Jefferson, they only had to give up Kurt Thomas, Bruce Bowen and Fabricio Oberto. RJ is a good all-around wing that can score and defend. The Spurs also added Antonio McDyess with a three-year, mid-level deal. McDyess is 34, but his PER of 16.63 last season is still well above average. To top it all off, San Antonio benefited from DeJuan Blair’s free fall on draft night. Blair is arguably the best rebounder in this year’s draft class and he’ll provide immediate toughness on the inside. Really, at the cost of a second rounder, do the Spurs care if his knees break down in three or four years? If San Antonio has everyone healthy come playoff time, they have a great shot of upending the Lakers in the West.

Dallas Mavericks
After giving up Devin Harris for Jason Kidd, Mark Cuban couldn’t very well let Kidd walk in free agency this summer. The Mavs would be better off this season and in the long term had they held onto Harris, but that ship has long since sailed. This summer, they signed a good value at center (Marcin Gortat) and executed a convoluted four-team sign-and-trade to acquire Shawn Marion from the Raptors. The Mavs can now start a lineup that features four former All-Stars and the up-and-coming Gortat, with Jason Terry assuming the role of sixth man. If they fail to retain Brandon Bass, it will hurt their chances of contending in the West because other than Erick Dampier (and maybe Ryan Hollins), the Mavs don’t have a whole lot of beef coming off the bench.

Update: In a fairly surprising move, the Magic matched the Mavs’ offer for Gortat, so that puts a dent in Mark Cuban’s otherwise solid offseason.

Cleveland Cavaliers
I’m not sure how anyone could argue that the Cavs haven’t gotten “better” this summer. While it remains to be seen whether or not the acquisition of Shaquille O’Neal was really the final piece of the championship puzzle, there’s no doubt that, if healthy, the “Big Jester” helps Cleveland’s chances of making a Finals appearance and potentially retaining the services of King James next summer. The team also re-signed Anderson Varejao, signed Anthony Parker and is making a run at Channing Frye. There are a lot of naysayers who may prove to be right about Shaq, but on paper, the Cavs have improved.

GETTING WORSE

Houston Rockets
The Rockets are in a bad way and it’s not entirely their fault. Yao Ming’s career is very much up in the air, Tracy McGrady can’t stay healthy, and they just lost Ron Artest to the Los Angeles Lakers. GM Daryl Morey did manage to sign up-and-comer Trevor Ariza, but at this point in his career, he is no Ron Artest. Without Yao to build around, Morey may be realizing that it’s time to blow this thing up and start over. It’s a shame, because if Yao had stayed healthy, the Rockets might very well have upset the Lakers in the Western Conference Semifinals.

Milwaukee Bucks
GM John Hammond shipped Richard Jefferson off to the Spurs in a salary dump then decided not to make the one-year tender offer to Charlie Villanueva, which effectively allowed him to walk away from the Bucks with no compensation. The tender was just over $4 million and Villanueva reportedly signed for $8 million per season, so Hammond essentially gave up another asset to cut payroll. Since the team drafted Brandon Jennings, restricted free agent Ramon Sessions may or may not be the team’s point guard of the future. Will the Bucks match if he gets a significant offer in the next week or let another asset go with no compensation? Small market teams aren’t going to attract the big-name free agents, so they have to acquire talent through the draft and via trades. It doesn’t do you any good to have a ton of salary cap space if no one wants to play for you. We may look back on this summer and see how the Bucks set themselves up for success in the future, but in the short term, the team just got worse.

Phoenix Suns
What in the world are the Suns doing? I’m not sure even GM Steve Kerr knows. By trading away Shaq, they really hurt their playoff aspirations this season, but they haven’t yet decided whether or not they want to build around Amare Stoudemire. Steve Nash is getting older, yet the Suns want to sign him to an extension. I like the pick of Earl Clark in the draft, and am semi-stunned that the Suns haven’t already traded him away for cash or spare parts (like they previously did with Luol Deng, Rudy Fernandez and Rajon Rondo). The sad thing is that before they traded away Shawn Marion a few years ago, this was the most exciting team in the league. Now they’re just the most schizophrenic.

Chad Ford is reporting that the Bucks and Spurs have agreed to a swap that would include star swingman Richard Jefferson.

The Milwaukee Bucks agreed to trade Richard Jefferson to the San Antonio Spurs for Bruce Bowen, Kurt Thomas and Fabricio Oberto a Bucks source told ESPN.com.

The two teams have agreed to the deal in principle. A trade call to make the deal official is coming later Tuesday.

The move gives the Spurs a dynamic wing scorer to play alongside Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. The Spurs had promised to make their team better this summer and adding Jefferson for role players should give them a huge shot in the arm.

The Bucks incentive to make the trade is largely financial. Bowen, Oberto and Thomas are all in the last year of their contracts. The deal will clear $15 million off the books for the Bucks next season and give Milwaukee more flexibility for next year. It also saves them roughly $3 million this year. That may give the Bucks the wiggle room to sign one of their restricted free agents — either Charlie Villanueva or Ramon Sessions — next year.

Largely financial? How about purely financial, Chad?

For the Bucks, this is a straight salary dump. Jefferson has two years and $29 million remaining on his deal, and the Bucks are dangerously close to the luxury tax threshold. They have two pretty good free agents in Villanueva and Sessions that need to be addressed. It looks like they’ll have an extra $3 million this season to sign one or both to long-term deals.

The funny thing is that I just saw an interview with Bucks GM John Hammond where he said that the franchise wasn’t in a position where they had to dump salary just to dump salary. Yeah, right. Talent-wise, the Bucks just lost a big piece in this trade, but if they’re able to retain Sessions and Villanueva, they might be able to recover some of that talent. The move may be a sign that the team is ready to give Villanueva starter’s minutes at one of the forward spots while playing defensive specialist Luc Richard Mbah a Moute at the other forward position.

For the Spurs, if this trade does indeed go down, it will go a long way to getting the franchise back into serious contention in the West. Jefferson is an energetic defender who can hit the three and score on the break. He is just a good all-around player. The Spurs know that their championship window is closing, and if the do acquire Jefferson, they will prove they are willing to pony up to put a championship-caliber supporting cast around Tim Duncan.