Throughout the season, Hoops Rumors takes a closer look at players who will be free agents or could become free agents this off-season. We examine if their stock is rising or falling due to performance and other factors. This week, we take a look at players from the Southwest Division:
DeMar DeRozan, Spurs, 31, SG/SF (Down) – Signed to a five-year, $139MM deal in 2016
DeRozan threw in a clunker in San Antonio’s play-in game against Memphis, shooting 5-for-21 from the field. The master of the mid-range game now enters unrestricted free agency in a league that craves 3-point shooters at the wing.
DeRozan does more than just knock down 18-footers. He’s got a knack for drawing fouls and this season he averaged a career-high 6.9 assists. What will that package of skills draw on the open market? We’ll find out if DeRozan doesn’t reach an extension agreement with San Antonio. The Spurs have an exclusive window to reach a new deal with DeRozan before free agency begins at the start of August.
Lonzo Ball, Pelicans, 23, PG (Up) – Signed to a four-year, $33.5MM deal in 2017
Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram said glowing things about Ball in their post-season press conferences. Ball said he would “love” to remain in New Orleans. Now, the proverbial ball is in the front office’s court.
Will the Pelicans extend a $14.36MM qualifying offer to Ball to make him a restricted free agent? If so, will they match any offer sheet? Should the Pelicans do so, they’re basically telling everyone they believe the trio of Williamson, Ingram and Ball is a championship-caliber core. That’s a pretty big leap of faith, considering the Pelicans went 31-41 this season with each of them playing at least 55 games. But Ball’s going to get paid this summer, one way or another.
Josh Richardson, Mavericks, 27, SF/SG (Down) – Signed to a four-year, $42MM deal in 2018
Richardson was acquired from the Sixers in a draft-night deal to upgrade their perimeter defense. According to the numbers, Richardson hasn’t made much of an impact in that area. He ranked 22nd among shooting guards on ESPN’s defensive real plus-minus ratings. Richardson’s offensive rating was even lower after averaging 12.1 PPG on 42.7% shooting (33% on threes) despite playing with a premier play-maker.
Richardson holds an $11.6MM option on his contract for next season. Perhaps he’ll seek for a multi-year deal on the open market but it may be prudent for him to take the guaranteed money and test the waters next summer.
Kelly Olynyk, Rockets, 30, PF/C (Up) – Signed to a four-year, $50MM deal in 2017
Anyone want a stretch four who averages 19 PPG, 8.4 RPG, 4.1 APG and 1.4 SPG? Those are the stats Olynyk posted in a 27-game stint with the tanking Rockets. Those numbers can be taken with a grain of salt – Olynyk didn’t suddenly turn into an All-Star level talent at 30 years old. He did show that he can still be a highly productive rotation player. For obvious reasons, Olynyk enjoyed his stint in Houston and that will factor into his decision as he heads into unrestricted free agency. If nothing else, he gained more leverage over the past two months.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Ingram and Ball are overrated. They are not championship caliber core – per article
Lakers fans, please let me know how many wins they have with Lakers and how many playoffs appearances they have
Try reading it again, it clearly does not say that they are.
It says that if the Pelicans re-sign Ball that it would tell everyone that they believe the Zion, Ball, Ingram trio is a championship-caliber core.
At this moment. No, they aren’t a contender with those 3. But, I think they can be in couple of years. Got to remember that they are extremely young. Now, if they could somehow manage to acquire Beal. They would be instant contenders. They have tons of 1st round picks from LA, Milwaukee, and their own. If I was the Pels. I’d offer almost all of my 1sts and see if the Wizards would fall for it. The Pels do have a nice couple of young guards in NAW and Lewis. I also like Hayes. Think he could be good in a couple of years. It’s a good time to be a Pels fan. With a good trade or 2. They can be contenders for the for the next 6-7 years.
Remember when Olynyk lost minutes to Myers Leonard?
No one else does either.
At least Miami got a good player in return for Meyers Leonard (Ariza).
IDK if I agree that Lonzo’s stock is up. I’d say maybe flat? His 3 has improved but he gets to the line 1.2 times in 31 min. There are mascots who get to the stripe more. Assists are down too.
For a guy who came in with Kidd comps he’s basically become a spot up shooter with a ho-hum TS%. Right now he’s closer to Josh Richardson than Jason Kidd.
Not sure I agree w/ DeRozan being down either. IDK what the expectations were there. Did we expect him to become LeBron in his 30’s?
He posted over a 3:1 ast:to ratio and got to the line 7 times per and shot 88%. The 3 pt criticism is fair—but he’s transformed himself essentially into a large PG, which mitigates his weakness from deep. Ironically kind of what people expected Lonzo to be.
I would say out of Ball, Dinwiddie, Schroeder, Powell, and Hardaway he’s the best available guard by a decent margin this offseason.
How many teams are going to want Derozan take over their offense as a point something? He did not even do that in Toronto. He just has a green light for quick counters.
DDR should be angling to stay with the Spurs, who have decent guards that are unselfish and let forwards have sway, maybe to a fault.
Of course the Nix have same.
I think DDR would be a nice piece in a lot of places, but it’s a matter of who has $$ to sign him and/or stuff SAS would actually want. That I agree is probably pretty small list.
But regardless of the peculiarities of the mkt I think he’s played above expectations for a guy in his 30’s who for was for about a decade just a pure slasher/scorer.
Other than CP, no guy who actually played starter minutes had a better than ast/to ratio this year, which is something I would have never expected when he left Toronto. And that’s on a team without a lot of great scorers in SAS.
Put him on NY, BOS, DAL, MIA, and I think he’s a real impact guy next year
The Spurs deserve a huge congratulations for missing the playoffs in back-to-back seasons for just the first time in franchise history. Since joining the NBA in 1976 they had only missed the postseason 4 times before their historic 22-year run ended last year. Congrats to the Grizzlies as well for winning their play-in tournament game.
As a Memphis fan, we appreciate the shout-out. I guess I can reciprocate your praise, with the Rockets having made a league-leading eight consecutive postseason appearances prior to this season. It is a testament to Houston’s consistency and Harden’s ability to drive a team to the playoffs
I don’t recall Morant having that floater last year… anyway GSW did not look prepared for it tonight.
Team got 14 steals!
And I love how ja Morant nailed his three last night as opposed to 1-6 last week against the Warriors. You knew he was working on that because the Warriors would give him space and time to shoot it.
In the pregame or early on, they were talking about how Morant said he made that miss his focus.
I wonder if GSW’s method of defending Morant’s drives help get him open for all those 9-ft floaters, because they dropped back so far when he looked to drive. I think usually he prefers to bulet past shotblockers and flip underhanded behind them.