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Heat, Thunder have smallest roster turnover this summer

Miami Heat's James and teammates wait to take the court against the Spurs during the second half in Game 6 of their NBA Finals basketball playoff in Miami

Miami Heat’s LeBron James (6) and teammates Ray Allen (34), Chris Bosh (1) and Dwyane Wade (3) wait to take the court against the San Antonio Spurs during the second half in Game 6 of their NBA Finals basketball playoff in Miami, Florida June 18, 2013. REUTERS/Mike Segar (UNITED STATES - Tags: SPORT BASKETBALL)

REUTERS

Roster consistency is a good thing. Look at the final four teams left standing in the NBA last season — Miami, Indiana, Memphis and San Antonio. Every one of them is consistent. You have to make some moves to get the talent you need, but after that there is really something to be said for letting that talent jell rather than changing a lot of parts around.

So which teams stood pat and which ones shook up the roster?

John Schuhmann at NBA.com broke it down — ranked by which teams are returning players with the majority of minutes played — and found three contenders in the top four.

Despite the departure of Mike Miller, the Heat will return 95 percent of their regular-season minutes leaders, a number that leads the league by a good amount. The Thunder lost Kevin Martin, but are still returning 87 percent of last season’s minutes, a number that ranks second. The Spurs swapped Gary Neal for Marco Belinelli and obviously aren’t bringing back Stephen Jackson, but will have 82 percent of last season’s minutes on this year’s roster, a number that ranks fourth.

Who was third? The Charlotte Bobcats. Seriously. They bring a lot of players back, but they will be pretty different next season with Al Jefferson and Cody Zeller taking up a big block of minutes in the frontcourt.

By the way, the Wizards round out the top five. There were a few surprises, such as the Knicks at 16 (a lot of minutes lost with Steve Novak, Chris Copeland and Jason Kidd.

The five teams with the most turnover (in order of most to least): Milwaukee, Utah, Dallas, the L.A. Lakers and Atlanta.