Michael Lemaire takes an in-depth look at the stock value of each team before training camp begins. This is part one of a five part series. In this edition Lemaire believes Danny Ainge's offseason moves could be a detriment to Boston's repeat championship aspirations.

The Olympics are over, and there aren’t many more basketball games worth watching on TV. In fact, the news has been slow in the basketball world since the gold-medal victory.

But hoops fans, have no fear, hardwood all around the country is being shined, and players names are being emblazoned on jerseys. Why you ask? Training camp is just four weeks away.

What better time to evaluate where each team stands than before they begin playing meaningful basketball and they are still ironing out their rosters.

This will be Part One of a Five-Part series where I will take a look at where each team’s stock sits before training camp begins. The teams are chosen alphabetically.

Atlanta Hawks

Stock Value - Steady

The Hawks had the chance to keep Josh Childress and make themselves the dark horse for the 2008-2009 season in the Eastern Conference. Unfortunately, they insulted Childress with their paltry contract offers and let their sixth man and jack-of-all-trades run off to Greece to play for Olympiakos. In his stead, the Hawks signed veteran Maurice Evans, a good defender, but not the same caliber player as Childress.

They are lucky to be retaining the services of their budding superstar Josh Smith, who was another member of the Hawks free agent class who got low-balled by the stingy Atlanta front office. The Hawks finally decided to match the Grizzlies offer of $58 million and keep their best player.

The Hawks seem to believe Marvin Williams is poised to have a breakout season, and adding Flip Murray gives them an extra weapon and depth in their backcourt.  But for now, losing Josh Childress prevents their stock from rising.

Boston Celtics

Stock Value - Falling

The team only lost one key component of their championship team from last spring, James Posey, and they were able to replace him with two young, and more athletic swingmen who may be able to defend like Posey sooner rather than later. Unfortunately, it will be tough for the league’s best team to duplicate the 66 wins they had last season if only because they are not getting any younger.

Ray Allen is 33, Kevin Garnett is 32, and Paul Pierce will turn 31 in October. These three still have a few good years left in the tank, but Allen looked like a shell of his former self down the stretch, and Garnett is not the same dominating force he used to be either.  Danny Ainge has made some questionable moves this offseason as well.

He seems to be banking on the leadership and intimidation of Garnett and Pierce to help stay the course. For a team that didn’t have a single questionable character guy on the team a year ago, the team decided to load up on them this season.

Bill Walker, and J.R. Giddens were the two draft picks, both have incredible athletic ability but sketchy work ethics and backgrounds. These could pan out for Ainge, but then Ainge decided to take a flyer on the ultimate cancer, Darius Miles…hasn’t Ainge ever heard the phrase “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it?”

They are still the class of the Eastern Conference, but it will take some herculean efforts from their veterans and significant contributions right away from their rookies if they plan on winning 66 games again.

Stock Value - Rising

The Bulls basically added zero impact players through free agency, added a rookie coach, and alienated their sixth man, yet their stock is still rising.

How? Well for one thing, they vastly underachieved last year, especially when you consider the amount of talent on the team and their record from the 2006-2007 campaign. Now, relatively everyone is comfortably situated with a new contract and is ready to get back to the top of the heap in the Eastern Conference.

The reason I say relatively is because Ben Gordon, a great scorer but lackluster defender and smaller combo guard, still does not have a contract and his future remains uncertain. He did say that he had probably played his last game in Chicago, but no other team seems willing to pay him what he wants, so there he sits, available, yet unwanted.

Chicago may not have added anyone during free agency, but they did add a bonafide future superstar at point guard in Derrick Rose, who will make a huge impact this season despite his injury during the summer league and his lackluster play before that.

The pick of Rose allows Kirk Hinrich to move off the ball, where his shooting prowess will be of greater value, and gives the Bulls the type of franchise talent that rarely comes along, especially at such a crucial position.

Another year of seasoning for Tyrus Thomas, Joakim Noah, Thabo Sefolosha, and others, and now if Vinny Del Negro can find a rotation and avoid ruining the young players confidences, the team should return to the postseason without any trouble.

Stock Value - Rising

You have to give Danny Ferry credit for trying at least. He is moving on to stage four of “Finding LeBron some kind of legitimate help”. He has tried Larry Hughes, he has tried Ben Wallace, he has even tried Wally Szcerbiak, but now it seems he has actually found a worthy sidekick to King James.

By trading for Maurice Williams of the Milwaukee Bucks, Ferry gave LeBron someone who can not only help share the scoring burden but can also handle to ball and make sure that LeBron doesn’t have to play scorer and distributor at the same time.

In the three team deal, the Cavs only sent Joe Smith away. Smith averaged right around 10 points and five rebounds last season, and also added depth to a thin front line. However, the Cavaliers are hoping that first round pick J.J. Hickson and fellow rookie Darrell Jackson combine to make the loss of Smith a wash.

The reason their stock really rose if that they kept LeBron happy. They may not have kept him from eyeing the free agent market, but at least they showed their star they were trying their hardest to surround him with the best possible team.

Stock Value - Steady

The Pistons will continue to flat line for what feels like the eighth season in a row.

They added Walter Sharpe, Trent Plaisted, and Deron Washington in the draft. Washington might carve out a niche on the team with his athleticism and defense, but he probably won’t make an impact. The loser of the Sharpe v. Plaisted battle is an early favorite to be headed for the D-League considering the lack of spots in the front-court.

Free-agency did not exact yield anyone any better. In fact, the free-agent savior the Pistons signed…? Former No. 1 pick Kwame Brown. Yes, the same Kwame Brown who has bounced from team to team just in case the team in question needed a big body if every other big man got injured.

Jason Maxiell, Rodney Stuckey, and Amir Johnson offer Detroit the foundation for a bright future. But Chauncey Billups, Rasheed Wallace, Lindsey Hunter, and Rip Hamilton are not nearly as fresh as they used to be, and it showed in the playoffs last year.

Similar to the Celtics, they will drop off slightly, yet still make the playoffs as a top-four seed in the East. However, the end of the cliff is near.  If the Pistons don’t make efforts to trade Wallace or Billups and reinvigorate this team, they could crash hard.