Free Agent Stock Watch

Free Agent Stock Watch: Ryan Hollins

September 12th, 2014 at 11:07am CST by Chuck Myron

There’s always a market in the NBA for seven-footers who’ve proven capable of handling one or two specific duties, and the interest that a handful of teams are reportedly showing in Ryan Hollins is evidence. Hollins is to have met with the Heat, with the Kings, Bulls and Spurs having etched his name near the top of their remaining wish lists, too. Many NBA clubs take chances on undrafted rookies and second-tier pros as they fill out their training camp rosters this time of year, holding out hope that they can unearth a hidden gem, and while there’s no such upside with Hollins, there’s little risk involved with him, either.

The former UCLA Bruin fell out of the rotation for the Clippers late last season after the team acquired Glen Davis, even though Hollins was as efficient as ever in the minutes he did see. He put up an 11.9 PER, a number better than in all but one of his eight NBA seasons. That’s well below 15.0, the mark of an average NBA player, but for a career reserve who’s never averaged more than 16.9 minutes per game, that stat is not a discredit. More impressive is his 73.6% shooting percentage, a product of self-awareness as much as any other factor. He took 65.3% of his shots from three feet and in, and he made them count, connecting on 87.2% of those looks, according to Basketball-Reference. Just 4.2% of his shots came from farther away than 10 feet. Hollins, less than a month shy of his 30th birthday, is not part of the new breed of floor-stretching big men, and he knows it.

The Todd Ramasar client also knows to stick close to the rim on the other end of the floor. He blocked 2.3 shots per 36 minutes last season, which put him in a three-way tie with Tim Duncan and John Henson for 14th in the league in that category among those who played at least as many total minutes as he did. There’s a decent chance his block rate was artificially high thanks to a small sample size, since he only racked up 482 minutes over the course of the entire season, but it’s not too far removed from the 1.8 blocks per 36 minutes he recorded in 2012/13, when he hit the floor for 663 minutes.

The Clippers were a significantly more effective team defensively when Hollins played the past two seasons, which is surprising, considering that starting center DeAndre Jordan placed third in Defensive Player of the Year balloting this past spring. They gave up 4.4 fewer points per 100 possessions when Hollins played compared to when he didn’t in 2012/13, as NBA.com shows, and 3.9 fewer in 2013/14. Of course, there are a variety of influences that go into that statistic, and it’s far from enough evidence to suggest that Hollins is a better defender than Jordan, or even in the same class. Still, it points to the notion that Hollins should have an NBA job this year, and he probably deserves a role greater than the one he played in the second half of this past season, when he was largely an afterthought.

Doc Rivers has an opening on his Clippers roster, but Spencer Hawes figures to absorb nearly all of the backup minutes behind Jordan. Hollins would provide an inside complement to Hawes’ long-range shooting, but it’s doubtful that Hollins would want to go into the year with little hope of being more than a third-stringer. The Heat have Chris Bosh, Josh McRoberts and Chris Andersen to take the bulk of the minutes at the power positions, and Udonis Haslem will receive plenty of consideration for playing time, too, so Miami might not be the fit that Hollins seeks, even though the Heat lack a true center. The Bulls have Joakim Noah, Pau Gasol, Taj Gibson and Nikola Mirotic crowding the frontcourt. The backup center job for the Kings seems to be a tossup, but it wouldn’t be surprising if the club envisions sliding one of its many power forwards, like Jason Thompson or Reggie Evans, into minutes at center when DeMarcus Cousins sits. Few on the Spurs roster have trouble hitting the floor thanks to Gregg Popovich‘s egalitarian allocation of minutes, but Duncan, Tiago Splitter, and Jeff Ayres are all still around to play center and Hollins is just one of many free agents the team is targeting for its final opening-night roster spot.

There’s no obvious fit for Hollins among the suitors that have so far been identified, so perhaps that explains why he remains unsigned. It’s a distinct possibility that Hollins is better suited to sign after the season begins, when a team might need added depth at center because of injuries. That would allow Hollins to jump immediately into the lineup without having to compete for minutes during training camp. It would also give Ramasar increased leverage in negotiations, since in such instances the team would figure to have greater motivation to make a deal and close on it quickly than most clubs appear to have at this point. In any case, it would be surprising to see Hollins go without an NBA deal this year, and I suspect he’ll sign with a team with playoff aspirations. He’s not the sort of player that a franchise focused on the future would seem to want, but for a club that can’t afford too many mistakes this year, he’d fit right in.

Free Agent Stock Watch: Earl Clark

September 5th, 2014 at 1:51pm CST by Chuck Myron

Cleveland’s ill-fated addition of Andrew Bynum last summer and the return of LeBron James this year have overshadowed another significant miss from last season’s free agent haul for the Cavs. Earl Clark signed with the team a year ago for two years and $8.5MM, and while only the first season’s salary of $4.25MM was guaranteed, GM David Griffin wasted little time in divesting the team of the deal that former GM Chris Grant had signed with the combo forward. Griffin made the best of the Clark contract, shipping it to the Sixers as part of the deadline deal that netted Spencer Hawes, a major contributor for Cleveland in the season’s second half. The Sixers promptly waived Clark and after a pair of 10-day contracts with the Knicks, the 14th overall pick spent the rest of the season out of the league.

It quickly became apparent that the Cavs misjudged Clark last summer, but it nonetheless seems like a similar market overreaction that the 26-year-old has remained without a contract for so long. The Lakers gave him consistent playing time during a 22-game stretch in the 2012/13 season, when Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol were injured, and Clark showed why the Suns made him a lottery pick in 2009. He averaged 11.6 points and 9.2 rebounds in those 22 games, and the career 33.1% three-point shooter lifted his accuracy to 37.8% during that hot streak. That performance over a small sample size helped him earn his contract with Cleveland, even though he tailed off in his final days with the Lakers once Gasol and Howard returned. Still, a regression to the mean might not be the only explanation for why Clark didn’t pan out with the Cavs.

The former Louisville standout took a total of 15 three-point shots over his first three seasons in the league, but with the Lakers, he turned the three-pointer into a significant part of his game, as 104 of his 386 field goal attempts came from behind the arc. Still, he shot more often from three feet and in than any other range on the court that season, according to his Basketball-Reference profile. In Cleveland, three-pointers constituted nearly half his shot attempts, and he took just 16.3 percent of his shots as a Cav from three feet and in. He made threes at a 34.5% clip for the Cavs, but overall, he was inefficient, posting a woeful 8.6 PER in wine-and-gold, down from the 12.4 PER he recorded over his full season with the Lakers. The three-pointer that once served as the missing piece of his game became far too much a part of it.

The Spurs certainly seem wise enough to diagnose the problem, and they were reportedly set to work out the Kevin Bradbury client this week. Clark said earlier this summer that he had fielded interest from a few teams, but otherwise it’s been quite a reversal from last year, when Clark and the Cavs struck agreement during the first week of free agency. He’s proven effective in the right system, and perhaps the key is finding an up-tempo approach that gives Clark chances to go to the basket in transition, like the Mike D’Antoni-led Lakers attack he thrived in, and doesn’t leave him too many opportunities to stand around behind the arc. Clark struggled playing for the defensive-minded Mike Brown in Cleveland and failed to find his way with the Magic when they were focused on pounding the ball inside to Howard. There is irony in that he merely passed through Philadelphia, where the Sixers were the league’s fastest-paced team last season, and never suited up. Still, the Sixers easily could have kept him if they wanted him, so he seems unlikely to end up with Philadelphia again. The Rockets and the Suns loom as other teams that run go-go offenses and possess fewer than 15 guaranteed contracts, though neither Houston nor Phoenix has been linked to Clark this summer.

The Spurs didn’t play at a particularly speedy tempo last season, finishing 12th in possessions per 48 minutes, according to NBA.com. GM R.C. Buford and his staff are reportedly working out a handful of others, so Clark still has much to overcome. Yet mere interest from the Spurs stands to drive up Clark’s value, given the respect around the league for San Antonio’s continued ability to turn lightly regarded players into key contributors. It wouldn’t be surprising to see other teams jump into the mix soon as long as the Spurs don’t reach a deal with him. There aren’t many available former lottery picks who stand 6’10” and are less than two years removed from having played effectively in the NBA. Clark probably won’t validate his draft position, but he can provide depth of the sort that helped the Lakers sneak into the playoffs in 2013. Clark would no doubt like to see guaranteed money if he were to sign, but should he open himself to accepting a non-guaranteed camp invitation, it seems he’d still be in strong position to stick on the roster all season.

Free Agent Stock Watch: Jason Maxiell

September 2nd, 2014 at 10:57am CST by Chuck Myron

Two years ago, it appeared Jason Maxiell was just hitting his stride, as he’d started 71 games for the Pistons and blocked a career-high 1.3 shots per game, an impressive number for an interior player listed at only 6’7″. The performance came in a walk year, but the market was nonetheless unkind to the former 26th overall pick, who saw his annual salary cut in half when he took a two-year, $5MM deal with the Magic. A reduced role in Orlando has only seemed to compound Maxiell’s problems this summer, which sees the forward/center back on the market after the Magic waived him in advance of the date that his salary would have become fully guaranteed for this coming season.

Maxiell started the first 10 games of this past season for Orlando, but he made only three more starts, and by mid-January, he was an afterthought, appearing in just five games from that point forward. The veteran didn’t seem to fit in with the Magic, and his role on offense was different from the one he played in Detroit, where he spent all of his first eight seasons in the league. He took fewer shots from point blank range than ever before in his lone season with the Magic, but the percentage of his field goal attempts that came from between three to 10 feet away from the hoop was more than double his career rate, per Basketball-Reference. He made 60.5% of those attempts, much better than usual, but he was worse than he normally is from inside three feet, offsetting any gain. His 44.8% shooting percentage overall was below his career 50.1% mark, and he notched just 8.0 points per 36 minutes, a career low and a woeful number even for a player not counted on for scoring.

The former University of Cincinnati standout also took a step back defensively after showing improvements in his final two seasons with the Pistons. Detroit was a better defensive team with him on the floor than when he sat during the 2011/12 and 2012/13 seasons in terms of points per possession, according to NBA.com, a reversal from the first six years of his career. This past season, the Magic were better off defensively when Maxiell sat, though there wasn’t a vast sample size, since he played fewer than 500 total minutes.

It’s hard to quantify Maxiell’s effect on a game when he’s performing well, since he’s not a scorer or an elite rebounder, he doesn’t rack up assists, steals or, outside of his last season with the Pistons, blocks, and he hasn’t been a plus defender for much of his career. Still, at his best, he was an efficient player for a strong team. He put up a PER of 16.7 in his third season in the league, the last of Detroit’s six straight appearances in the Eastern Conference Finals. The next season, the year before he signed a four-year, $20MM contract, was the only other time in his career in which he recorded a PER above 15.0, the mark of an average player. That was also the last time one of his teams made the playoffs, and that’s probably not a coincidence.

Last season’s Orlando experience underscored the notion that a team can’t simply plug Maxiell into the lineup and expect results. He seems like the sort of player who needs a specific set of circumstances to thrive. His track record suggests he plays better for winning teams, so the Heat, who have made preliminary inquiries about the Andy Miller client, would make sense. The Clippers are looking to fill up their roster, since they’re carrying 11 players and newfound space beneath their hard cap, but they haven’t been linked to Maxiell. That’s in spite of the ties that coach/executive Doc Rivers has to Lawrence Frank, the coach for whom Maxiell seemed to play his best defense. Frank is under contract with the Nets, another team that figures to win more games than it loses this year, but just what sort of role Frank will play for Brooklyn is unclear. Maxiell performed efficiently for Flip Saunders when he coached the Pistons, but the Wolves have 15 guaranteed deals, so it doesn’t appear there’s room there.

There aren’t many who have this much trouble finding a deal after having been a full-time starter just one season prior. Such a fall-off happens occasionally with older players, but Maxiell is 31, so he’s not far removed from what should be his peak years. It’s conceivable that he’s fielded a few non-guaranteed offers and is waiting for guaranteed money, or perhaps he’s reluctant to accept the label of minimum-salary player, one that’s probably firmly affixed at this point. Playing in China is a consideration if he’s thinking about boosting his stock and signing with an NBA team for the stretch run, but Chinese teams generally prefer high-scoring perimeter players, so he might not find an offer that makes it worth his while. It’s not an attractive set of circumstances that sit before Maxiell, but he and Miller must be careful to take the offer that would best help him return to his stature as a valuable NBA contributor. Finding the right coach and teammates is more important than securing the most money at this juncture in Maxiell’s career.

Free Agent Stock Watch: Antawn Jamison

August 29th, 2014 at 3:29pm CST by Chuck Myron

Two years ago, Hoops Rumors readers overwhelmingly voted for Antawn Jamison as the best minimum-salary signee in the league soon after his decision to sign with the Lakers for what looked like a steep discount. A year and a half later, Jamison’s stock had plummeted, and he’s been out of the NBA since the Hawks waived him shortly after acquiring him from the Clippers at the trade deadline this past February. No one is immune to the ravages of age, but it’s tough to imagine that Jamison’s skills have eroded so quickly after he scored 17.2 points per game for the Cavs in 2011/12 that he’s become unworthy of a place on an NBA roster.

The 37-year-old Jamison told DeAntae Prince of The Sporting News recently that he has options in free agency, as we passed along, but the one-time No. 4 overall pick didn’t specify whether any of those options included offers from NBA teams. The Wasserman Media Group client has signed with teams that figured to contend for titles the past two seasons. Should the right NBA opportunity materialize for him this year, it wouldn’t necessarily matter if it involved going to a team without a reasonable chance of winning the title, as Jamison also told Prince.

Jamison was reportedly among the players the Knicks were considering in February, shortly after his release from the Hawks, but that was before Phil Jackson took over the team’s front office. The Wizards were eyeing him around that same time, and Washington GM Ernie Grunfeld was in place there for the entirety of Jamison’s five and a half seasons in the nation’s capital. Still, one report suggested Washington’s interest in a reunion was only “lukewarm.” The Hawks and Jamison appeared to share interest in parting ways with each other last season, so it doesn’t seem like he’ll be returning to Atlanta anytime soon, even if he’s more willing to consider teams outside the title picture. Reports have linked the former University of North Carolina star to the Hornets (then Bobcats) in previous offseasons. Charlotte has 14 guaranteed deals, as our roster counts show, and while the team appears to be reluctant to use the final spot on a center, that probably doesn’t apply to a stretch four like Jamison. Still, there’s been no chatter connecting Jamison to the Hornets this summer.

The Spurs were apparently another team interested in Jamison this past February, and they wouldn’t force him to give up his title dreams. However, San Antonio is carrying 14 fully guaranteed pacts and three partially guaranteed deals, and the team still has a qualifying offer out to restricted free agent Aron Baynes, so it doesn’t appear there’s room for Jamison there. The Bulls were also linked to Jamison in that same report, and while the team only has 12 players, Taj Gibson, Pau Gasol, Nikola Mirotic and second-round pick Cameron Bairstow crowd the power forward position, so Jamison wouldn’t be a logical fit in Chicago, either.

Jamison took 17.5 shots per game in 2011/12 with the Cavs, matching a career high. His PER that season was 16.1, which set a career low at the time. That suggests that his high scoring average was at least in part the product of a stripped-down roster that gave then-coach Byron Scott few other choices for creating offense. Jamison’s efficiency has continued to decline over the past two seasons, coming in at a still-respectable 15.3 in his lone season with the Lakers before bottoming out at 7.8 in the small sample size of his 248 total minutes with the Clippers. There’s no doubt that Jamison is fading, but it’s debatable whether he’s any worse at this point than most of the players taking up space at the back end of NBA rosters.

He’s not going to win another Sixth Man of the Year award, as he did back in 2003/04, but the 6’8″ Jamison is not far removed from having nailed 36.1% of his three-point attempts with the Lakers in 2012/13, the third highest percentage he’s ever recorded. He’s been consistent from behind the arc, making 34.6% of his treys during his career, save for last season’s 8 for 41 performance in his brief stint as a Clipper. Last year might have soured the league’s front offices on Jamison, but in an NBA increasingly obsessed with analytics, I’m not sure his time with the Clippers provided an acceptable amount of evidence.

There’d be little call for Jamison to reprise the high-volume shooting role he played for the Cavs a few years ago, so even as he opens himself to signing with a non-contender, it seems Jamison is best suited to help teams that want to win now. There are plenty of teams with which he wouldn’t make sense, but it only takes one club that believes in him for the two-time All-Star to wear an NBA jersey again. Jamison said in Prince’s report that while he’s not ruling out retirement, he won’t know what he’s going to do next for at least another month, perhaps suggesting that he envisions signing with a team at midseason rather than going to training camp. Waiting a full year to return to the league would be risky, but when teams are allowed to issue 10-day contracts again in January, such a deal would allow Jamison to make at least small slice of guaranteed money while keeping a team’s initial investment minimal. There’s a strong chance that we’ve seen the last of Jamison in sneakers, but don’t bet on it.

Free Agent Stock Watch: Dante Cunningham

August 19th, 2014 at 10:06pm CST by Charlie Adams

Dante Cunningham never looked like a player who was going to draw significant attention in free agency this summer, but his arrest for domestic abuse last April seems to have all but eliminated interest from teams around the league. However, as Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN passed along Monday, the charges filed against the 27-year-old power forward have been dropped, and a report from Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press indicates that Cunningham plans to sue his accuser in an attempt to clear his name. It remains unclear how much the recent development in his legal narrative will influence teams’ perceptions of him, but Cunningham spoke with several clubs this offseason, each of which wanted to wait for the legal process to play out before discussing a contract, as Krawczynski details.

The Joel Bell client just completed a respectable year in which he came off the bench for the Timberwolves, but he still finds himself without a contract heading into the latter part of August. While Cunningham has reportedly been maintaining interest in a return to Minnesota, it doesn’t seem as though the team shares his desire. It could have been the legal issues keeping the Wolves from calling his name, but the more probable road block keeping Cunningham from returning to Minnesota is the club’s likely acquisition of Anthony Bennett and/or Thaddeus Young in the looming Kevin Love trade.

Retaining Cunningham would give the Wolves depth at the power forward position, which would certainly help the team, given that they don’t feature a true four outside of Love as it stands. However, Minnesota is already carrying 15 fully guaranteed contracts, and the team still hasn’t worked out a deal with second-round selection Glenn Robinson III. Unless the pending Love/Andrew Wiggins swap shakes up the Wolves roster more than current reports indicate, Cunningham seems like a long shot to return to the squad with which he’s spent the last two seasons.

As far as we know, the Rockets have been the only team outside of the Wolves who have been in discussions with Cunningham about a possible deal this offseason, as our rumor page for the big man shows. But, like Minnesota, Houston has limited flexibility to bring aboard Cunningham, currently rostering 13 players on fully guaranteed deals and four guys on non-guaranteed pacts. They could waive someone to make room for Cunningham, but they’re already set to open camp with Terrence Jones, Donatas Motiejunas, Josh Powell, Jeff Adrien, Robert Covington, Joey Dorsey and Clint Capela all under contract, each of whom, like Cunningham, mans the four.

Despite a lack chatter surrounding him, there’s more than likely a team out there willing to offer Cunningham a deal with at least a partial guarantee. He was part of the Wolves’ rotation for the past two years, averaging 6.3 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 1.0 assists across 20.2 minutes per night this past season, when he appeared in 81 games. His career 12.9 PER is below the league average of 15.0, but he was never expected to put up superstar-caliber numbers when he was drafted 33rd overall out of Villanova.

Now that Cunningham’s legal issues seem to be resolved, it would be especially surprising to see him without a deal when training camps open up in late September. While Cunningham might be hard-pressed to land anything but a deal worth the minimum, his modest production on the hardwood over the past two seasons should at least help him find a home with an NBA club next season, even if it isn’t with the Wolves.

Free Agent Stock Watch: Jermaine O’Neal

August 17th, 2014 at 6:41pm CST by Zachary Links

In his limited time on the floor last season, veteran big man Jermaine O’Neal proved that he still has plenty of basketball left in him. In a little over 20 minutes per contest, the 6’11” O’Neal averaged 7.9 PPG and 5.5 RPG, good for a respectable 15.3 PER rating, just above the league average. Sure, those aren’t the kind of numbers O’Neal posted during his best years (18.6 PPG, 9.6 RPG, and 2.4 BPG with a 19.5 PER) but at 35, J.O. can still be a solid piece off of the bench.

As we learned last month, the Warriors are still in regular contact with O’Neal, but he’s also giving some thought to retirement. O’Neal hasn’t lost his love for the game of basketball, but he badly wants to spend time with his family. It’s hard to blame him. The 35-year-old (36 in October) has spent the last 18 years on the road, bouncing from city to city ever since he went pro out of Eau Claire High School in Columbia, South Carolina.

In a chat with Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle in May, O’Neal admitted that he felt that he had unfinished business.

“It’s been a fantastic run,” the six-time All-Star said, while adding that he’d ask his 8-year-old son for input. “You never picture your last game being one where you can’t be effective in a Game 7. That’s a tough pill to swallow.”

O’Neal went on to thank his teammates in Golden State for “injecting life back into [his] soul” and said that he would consider a front office job with the Warriors if he doesn’t continue his playing career. You never know what might happen if an attractive contender comes calling, but as far as we know, it’s a two horse race between the Warriors and retirement at this point for O’Neal. With a long, accomplished career, plenty of cash in the bank, and a young family at home, no one would fault O’Neal for calling it quits this summer.

Free Agent Stock Watch: Jordan Crawford

August 16th, 2014 at 4:11pm CST by Charlie Adams

The offseason is winding down, and most free agents capable of contributing on the hardwood have found homes by now. One player who’s been unable to secure a deal is the well-traveled Jordan Crawford. The 25-year-old out of Xavier has been a useful piece throughout his career, which has consisted of stops with the Hawks, Wizards, Celtics, and Warriors. Most teams’ rosters are looking pretty well-set as the regular season approaches, so Crawford’s options appear to be dwindling.

Crawford was shipped from Boston to Golden State last January as part of a three-team deal with Miami. Prior to the trade, Crawford was a big part of the Celtics offense, putting up nightly averages of 13.7 points and 5.7 assists while seeing 30.5 minutes per game. The combo guard has displayed good scoring instincts throughout his career, which his mark of 17.8 points per 36 minutes speaks to.

The strong start Crawford had in Boston had him looking like a potential candidate for the Most Improved Player Award, but his 2013/14 campaign took a dramatic shift post-trade. After being dealt to the W’s, Crawford saw his minutes drop to an average of just 15.7 per night, as he was not a major part of Golden State’s rotation. At season’s end, backcourt peers Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Steve Blake all played more minutes per contest than Crawford, who was never able to find regular playing time on his new club in spite of a strong start to the year with Boston. To no surprise, the financially limited and guard-stocked Warriors chose not to extend Crawford his $3,206,867 qualifying offer, making him an unrestricted free agent. The four-year veteran is still without a team midway through August.

Several squads were said to have interest in the former first-rounder, with the Bulls, Mavericks, Lakers, Knicks, and Nets all being mentioned as possible suitors. Since more than a couple of those teams have now supplemented their backcourts with other players, a question arises: why hasn’t Crawford found a team? It’s possible that the Creative Artists Agency client is holding out for more than the minimum salary, which is the most any of those clubs could offer him, as Hoops Rumors details. However, his lack of playing time in Golden State might have hindered his chances at drawing anything above that sum, so he might need to settle on such an amount.

It wouldn’t be shocking to see him on the Bulls next year, given their apparent dedication to bolstering their scoring. The Lakers would make sense too, given their dearth of backcourt depth and concerns regarding Kobe Bryant‘s health. The Mavericks, Knicks, and Nets all have rosters that currently boast at least 15 players so they seem like a less logical destination. There’s still time between now and the beginning of the regular season, and teams are capable of shuffling their roster, so really a move to any of the aforementioned teams wouldn’t be out of the realm of feasibility.

I’d be surprised if Crawford isn’t on an NBA by roster by the beginning of the season, as he’s proven throughout his career he can pack a scoring punch off of the bench. He’s lacked efficiency at times, taking too many shots, but his strong, albeit short campaign as a Celtic demonstrated he’s a player with the ability to contribute in a meaningful way. If he’s truly holding out for more than the minimum, and no team offers him an amount greater than that, he’ll have little choice but to simply take what he’s offered.

Free Agent Stock Watch: Andrew Bynum

August 15th, 2014 at 10:40am CST by Zachary Links

It has been a rough couple of years for center Andrew Bynum. Prior to the 2012/13 season, the big man was shipped from the Lakers to the 76ers as a part of the four-team Dwight Howard trade. Unfortunately, knee troubles cost him the entire year and he never suited up for Philadelphia.

The Cavs then seized the opportunity to sign a potentially elite big man at a discounted rate and inked him to a two-year, incentive-laden deal. Bynum conceded early in the season that his knees were still holding him back and, for one reason or another, he wanted out of Cleveland. He wrote his ticket out by shooting every time he touched the ball in practice regardless of where he was on the floor. Apparently unimpressed by his confident approach to offense and his long-distance range, the Cavs packaged his contract and draft picks to acquire Luol Deng from the Bulls. The Bulls dropped him, the Pacers picked him up, and he played in a grand total of two games for Indiana.

This isn’t quite how we all envisioned things working out for the former No. 10 overall pick. Of course, while the last couple of years have raised major concerns about Bynum’s health and general attitude, it’ll be hard for teams to overlook the potential upside in signing him. After all, he’s only a few years removed from his 2011/12 campaign where he averaged career highs in points (18.7) and rebounds (11.8) on his way to his first career All-Star nomination.

Thanks to his physical condition and reputation, one has to imagine that Bynum can be had for the minimum salary. And, even though he might not be the consummate teammate, we’d be surprised if someone wasn’t willing to roll the dice on him. Earlier this month, the Clippers reportedly auditioned the big man while also scoping out Andray Blatche and Greg Oden in the same week. Agent David Lee said in July that the Knicks could also have interest in his client while Bynum himself would like to reunite with the Lakers. One has to wonder whether the Doc Rivers-led Clippers would want to chance tinkering with locker room chemistry. Same goes for Phil Jackson in New York who waived fellow former pupil Lamar Odom after his conduct was apparently not up to par.

Bynum is also thinking about undergoing German Regenokine therapy on his knees which would cost him the entire 2014/15 season, so he might not sign with anyone for the upcoming season. And, if Bynum decides to never return at all, he won’t be hurting for cash as he has earned nearly $80MM over the course of his career.

Free Agent Stock Watch: Andray Blatche

August 11th, 2014 at 10:30am CST by Chuck Myron

It’s worth wondering why Andray Blatche is without an NBA contract in the middle of August. He’s 27 years old, stands 6’11”, and is coming off a season in which he averaged 11.2 points and 5.3 rebounds in 22.2 minutes per game with an 18.8 PER for a Nets team that went to the conference semifinals. He’s an unrestricted free agent, without the encumbrance of restricted free agency that’s holding up deals for Eric Bledsoe and Greg Monroe and without the strong leads on a job that Shawn Marion has. He’s not considering retirement like Ray Allen. There are questions about his character, dating back to his pre-amnesty days with the Wizards and reverberating most recently in a report about the Heat’s longstanding reservations about his maturity and behavior. Another dispatch asserted that Blatche’s midseason absence this past year was a de facto suspension meted out by then-coach Jason Kidd, a punishment that left Nets management impressed with the coach. But such trouble has not kept lesser players out of the league.

There could easily be more than meets the eye to Blatche’s locker room issues, but those reports may also be the extent of it. His continued free agency might stem simply from a demand for more money than the market is bearing. He turned down a player option to stay with the Nets for a salary of nearly $1.438MM, slightly more than the minimum, so he probably envisioned a raise, which wouldn’t be easy to find at this stage of free agency. He’s been linked to a few teams in some form or fashion this summer, dating back to a mid-June report that he and the Pelicans had mutual interest, though a follow-up indicated that Blatche was the only party eyeing such an arrangement. Around the start of July, Blatche had apparently been telling many around the league that he would end up in New Orleans, but there’s been no movement toward that end.

The Raptors were reportedly to have met with Blatche about a week or so into free agency, but Toronto appears to have moved on. There was a report that he would work out along with a few other big men of note for the Clippers, but agent Andy Miller quickly dismissed that as false. Whether or not the Clippers enter the picture legitimately at any point, it seems a reunion with the Nets isn’t forthcoming. Blatche was the only one of the team’s free agents to whom GM Billy King declined to reach out at the start of free agency, a strong signal that there’s little, if any, interest from the club.

That might have more to do with the emergence of Mason Plumlee and the expected return to health of Brook Lopez than any shortcoming of Blatche’s. Kidd is gone, having jumped ship to Milwaukee, so any clash between Blatche and his coach is no longer germane. Brooklyn had its greatest success last season playing small ball, so an abundance of big men probably isn’t what the team has in mind.

Blatche’s minutes and production increased slightly this past season over 2012/13, his first in Brooklyn, though his PER and per-minute output went a hair in the other direction. He’s still at an age that suggests he’s entering his prime, if he’s not already there, and he still has a few more years before any precipitous decline should start to set in. He’s not the shot blocker he was in his early 20s, swatting fewer shots per game last season than he did in any season except for when he only saw 6.0 MPG as a rookie. Still, his defensive win shares have exceeded his offensive win shares every season of his career, demonstrating his impact when the other team has the ball. The Nets were slightly better defensively when Blatche was off the court than when he was on it in each of the past two seasons in terms of points allowed per 100 possessions, according to NBA.com, but each year the team’s net rating went up when he played.

The 49th overall pick from 2005 seems to be a plus on the floor, so unless teams have universally decided his off-court reputation is simply too much to bear, which doesn’t seem likely, there are certain to be NBA teams in touch with Miller as the summer wanes. The Lakers joined a list of 11 other teams I recently outlined as being limited to paying the minimum salary for this coming season, but while Blatche’s options for a non-minimum deal are dwindling, they aren’t gone yet.

There’s no urgency for either Blatche or teams to come to an agreement with training camp still about six weeks off, and as the Paul George injury showed, a need could crop up at any time to spur the market for someone who can fill it. The unresolved situations of Bledsoe and — for Blatche in particular — Monroe loom over part of the landscape. So, perhaps a team like the Hawks, who have cap space and have been linked to Monroe, could look to Blatche should the Pistons big man end up elsewhere. It was a little surprising to see his agent so quickly deny the Clippers rumor, so maybe there’s traction with other teams that such news would jeopardize, though that’s just my speculation. In any case, Blatche probably would find a guaranteed minimum-salary deal to sign this week if he wanted to, but he’s probably best advised to continue to wait until the pace of the market quickens and teams are more aggressively filling their rosters for the season ahead.

Free Agent Stock Watch: Ramon Sessions

August 6th, 2014 at 9:35pm CST by Cray Allred

One of the most productive free agents who still hasn’t found a team this summer is Ramon Sessions. In fact, of the 30 point guards who scored at least 10 points per game while averaging over 4 assists, Sessions is the only player without a contract. Sessions wasn’t far off his career PER average of 16.7 last season, a number that ranks with many of the league’s better rotation players. Perhaps Sessions’ situation will look less bleak in the coming days, but at the moment there are not a lot of landing spots where Sessions could sign for at or above the $5MM annual salary he just earned on his (expired) two-year deal. As our own Chuck Myron detailed in today’s Ray Allen Stock Watch piece, the teams with much more than the veteran’s minimum to offer are dwindling.

Sessions’ skill set is an odd mix for today’s NBA. In four of his first five seasons in the league, Sessions averaged over 7 assists per-36 minutes, but that rate slipped well below 6 per-36 over his last two seasons. The point guard position is evolving from a pass-first mold, however, with unconventional scoring guards becoming more accepted. Sessions’ most glaring weakness is his poor three-point shooting, which stands at 31.1% over his career, and 28.2% last season. As the league moves away from mid-range shots to emphasize the three-pointer, teams are increasingly unenthusiastic about perimeter players with no long distance range. In fact, Charlotte traded away Sessions last season in order to bring in shooting specialist Gary Neal as the Hornets geared up for the 2014 playoffs.

One of Sessions’ greatest strengths does fit the advanced team-building strategies in today’s NBA, however. Sessions has an elite free throw rate. At 6.6 free throw attempts per-36 minutes, Sessions ranked 12th in the league last year, behind only Ty Lawson at the point guard position. Teams increasingly value trips to the charity stripe as one of the most efficient elements of a strong offense; if Sessions could convince teams he could put up even mildly below average shooting averages to go with his ability to draw fouls, I can’t imagine he’d still be unsigned today.

Charlotte trading the veteran to the Bucks blindsided Sessions, but he was still open to reuniting with the Hornets as his free agency approached this summer. The Hornets sent mixed signals as to their own interest in a reunion, but eventually signed veteran backup Brian Roberts along with Lance Stephenson, a combo guard capable of running the point to complement starter Kemba Walker. In any case, Charllote was just one of many teams that had the point guard on their radar as free agency began. One of those teams was the Bulls, but they have since re-signed Kirk Hinrich alongside newcomers Pau Gasol, Nikola Mirotic, and Doug McDermott. Considering Derrick Rose‘s return, it would be surprising if they even wanted Sessions at the minimum now, considering the cap ramifications.

Some of the teams with cap flexibility might not be interested in upgrading their point guard slot. The Bucks haven’t been reported as interested in bringing Sessions back, and have already added the cheaper Kendall Marshall to a backcourt that includes Brandon Knight and Nate Wolters. The Jazz have two young point guards in Trey Burke and Dante Exum, but appear comfortable letting the raw Exum grow alongside Burke, rather than developing behind a veteran like Sessions. The Sixers have the most money available, and the thinnest roster, but have done nothing to bring in solid talent this offseason via free agency.

The Pacers haven’t been named as a Sessions suitor, but stand as a potential match. The team is seeking offense after losing Stephenson to free agency and Paul George to injury, and that is definitely Sessions’ strength. They are also applying for the disabled players exception, which would allow them over $5MM in signing ability if granted. The Rockets are another team without a reported connection to Sessions, but could theoretically be a good match for his talents. After trading away Jeremy Lin, Houston was left with Patrick Beverley as their only proven commodity at point guard. Beverley is a much better defender than Sessions with more success behind the arc, but Sessions has a longer track record than the likes of Ish Smith or Isaiah Canaan, Houston’s current bench pieces behind Beverley. Houston also has the flexibility to sign Sessions for significantly more than the minimum.

The Allegiant Athletic Agency client will hope that his strengths will eventually outshine his weaknesses in the eyes of a front office with money to spend. Just two years ago, the point guard was confident enough in his market value to decline a player option of over $4.5MM, and wound up getting a raise. It remains to be seen if the market will provide such a soft cushion this time around.