NBA: 5 most improved teams in 2014-15

Every summer, we watch in fascination as the landscape of the NBA radically changes. The offseason often brings dramatic changes to the balance of power in the league, and the summer of 2014 was no different. Since we’ve already covered the teams that will likely regress heading into the 2014-15 season, who are the teams that stand to make dramatic improvements next year?

To make things simpler, we’ll narrow our criteria to teams that will see the biggest increase in win totals during the 2014-15 season. These are the teams that missed the playoffs last year and will be back in contention in 2014-15. These are the teams that have elevated their status from fringe playoff contender last year to legitimate playoff team. They may not all be title contenders, but here are the five NBA teams that should improve the most from last year during the 2014-15 season.

Honorable Mentions:

Chicago Bulls – They get a healthy Derrick Rose back and added Pau Gasol, Nikola Mirotic, Aaron Brooks and rookie Doug McDermott, but they already won 48 games last year and I need to see D-Rose stay healthy before I can fully buy in.

Golden State Warriors – Adding Shaun Livingston, Brandon Rush and Leandro Barbosa adds a lot more backcourt depth, and this team should improve if its core can finally stay healthy. But Andrew Bogut’s health is never guaranteed and it’s hard to improve from 51 wins in the brutal West, even with a fully healthy squad.