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Offseason In Review: Chicago Bulls

November 5th, 2015 at 7:22pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Hoops Rumors is in the process of looking back at each team’s offseason, from the end of the playoffs in June right up until opening night. Trades, free agent signings, draft picks, contract extensions, option decisions, camp invitees and more will be covered as we examine the moves each franchise made over the last several months.

Signings

Extensions

  • None

Trades

  • None

Waiver Claims

  • None

Draft Picks

  • Bobby Portis (Round 1, 22nd overall). Signed via rookie exception to rookie scale contract.

Camp Invitees

Departing Players

Rookie Contract Option Decisions

Courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

The Bulls ended their 2014/15 campaign with a playoff ouster at the hands of the Cavaliers, making it the fourth straight season that the team failed to advance beyond the second round of the postseason. The organization clearly believed that the team’s shortcomings were more a matter of coaching style than an issue with personnel, and it cut ties with coach Tom Thibodeau after the season, but not before taking some parting shots at the man who guided the franchise to an overall regular season mark of 255-139 during his tenure.

Chicago replaced Thibs with Fred Hoiberg, and the front office’s hope is that Hoiberg can revamp the team’s offense, an area that Thibodeau was heavily criticized for neglecting in favor of defense, as well as for Hoiberg to foster better working relationships between the coaching staff, players and team management. For his part, Hoiberg firmly believes that he can win with the current roster, an unsurprising stance for the new coach.

“I love this roster,” Hoiberg said during his introductory news conference. “I absolutely love this roster. I love the versatility of the players. The different lineups that we’re going to be able to play, [we] can play small, can play big. You’ve got lineups that I really think can get out and play with pace. You’ve got a great group of veteran players that know how to play. I think Tom Thibodeau is an excellent, excellent basketball coach and I think he instilled a lot of unbelievable qualities in this team that hopefully I can build on.”

Outside of shuffling head coaches, the Bulls’ most pressing offseason business revolved around re-signing restricted free agent swingman Jimmy Butler, who gambled as he passed up a proposed extension with Chicago a year ago that would have seen him earn an average annual salary of approximately $11MM. That gamble paid off handsomely for the 26-year-old. The former 30th overall pick apparently would have settled for between $12.5MM and $13MM a year during extension talks, but his performance during the 2014/15 season, which earned him the Most Improved Player of the Year award, sent his value rocketing into the stratosphere.

Butler had reportedly intended to seek short-term offer sheets this past summer, but instead he wound up re-signing with Chicago on a deal that won’t allow him to hit free agency until 2019. That’s not too great a sacrifice considering that when the Bulls tendered him a maximum qualifying offer, that meant Butler would not have been permitted to sign an offer sheet that would let him into free agency sooner than 2018 anyway, and he apparently nixed his scheduled meetings with the Lakers, Sixers and Mavs when Chicago issued its proposal. His only recourse at the time would have been to sign his standard qualifying offer, which would have been worth less than $4.434MM. That would have allowed Butler to hit unrestricted free agency in 2016, but it would have entailed a significant financial sacrifice for this season, as well as a risk that he could suffer a serious injury without the security blanket a long-term pact provides.

Now that the Bulls have secured Butler’s services for the long term, there are concerns regarding what is reportedly a strained relationship with the team’s other star, oft-injured point guard Derrick Rose. While the two have downplayed any possible rift between them, the alleged discord stems from Butler’s dissatisfaction with Rose’s work ethic, an unnamed former member of the Bulls told Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times. “Personally, the two are great. Professionally is where they have a difference of opinion,” the source said. Cowley’s source also noted that Butler took offense to a comment Rose made during the playoffs last season, when the point guard was asked if Butler had reached superstar status. “I think it’s going to take a little minute for Jimmy to get there,’’ Rose said, according to Cowley. Regardless of Rose’s thoughts on the matter, Butler is now certainly being paid like a superstar, and it will be interesting to see if his hefty payday will affect his play and preparation going forward.

Rose, the former alpha of the team, is apparently looking ahead to his own opportunity to potentially hit the open market, which he is eligible to do after the 2016/17 campaign. The veteran playmaker caused a stir during the team’s media day when he said that he’s already looking toward his next foray into free agency. “€œYou see the way all this money will be passed around in this league. My day is coming,” Rose said. And while Rose did add that he expects to stay in Chicago for the long term, it remains to be seen if both parties will be amenable to a new arrangement when the time comes.

Chicago re-signed two other valuable rotation pieces over the summer in Mike Dunleavy and Aaron Brooks. Brooks, a seven-year veteran, earned himself a slight raise, going from the $1,145,685 minimum salary he made last season to a $2.25MM slice of the taxpayer’s mid-level exception in 2015/16. Chicago can’t trade him without his consent, since he’s on a one-year deal and he’d lose his Early Bird rights if the Bulls did trade him, though that isn’t a major concern since he’s not a likely trade candidate anyway.

Dunleavy’s deal is a bit more problematic, given his age, 35, as well as his injury history, with the swingman appearing in an average of just 60 contests per season over the last seven years. He’s not likely to buck that trend as he enters the back end of his 30s, and an excellent chance exists that Chicago ends up regretting this deal by year two thanks to the luxury tax implications. The team is over the tax threshold by almost precisely the value of Dunleavy’s $4.5MM salary for this season. The Bulls did hedge their bets somewhat on Dunleavy’s deal, only partially guaranteeing the final year, a wise move on their part, all things considered.

The team’s final significant addition was selecting Arkansas power forward Bobby Portis with the No. 22 overall pick in this year’s NBA draft. Portis has the potential to be a steal, with his high motor, versatile game and scoring ability. The only shade I can throw Chicago’s way over its draft choice is that the team is currently overcrowded in the frontcourt, and barring injuries, it will be difficult for the rookie to provide early returns on the team’s investment. With more pressing needs in the backcourt and on the wing, the Bulls may have been better served to go in a different direction, but he was an excellent value pick that late in the first round, so it’s difficult to be too critical of his addition. Hopefully for the Bulls, his development won’t be stunted languishing on the bench, as Portis does have the capability to be a solid player in the league for seasons to come.

This year’s iteration of the Bulls has quite a bit to prove. It will be interesting to see where the blame falls if the team regresses, whether it’s on the new coach and his system, the players — who are the one constant after the dismissal of Thibodeau — or the front office for not recognizing the need for roster change. With approximately $64.75MM in guaranteed salaries already on the books for 2016/17, and a decision to make on center Joakim Noah, who’s set to hit unrestricted free agency next summer, the front office had better hope it was correct in identifying Thibodeau as the issue, because it will be difficult to make significant roster upgrades, even with the expected increase in the salary cap.

The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.

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Offseason In Review: Denver Nuggets

November 4th, 2015 at 11:33am CST by Chuck Myron

Hoops Rumors is in the process of looking back at each team’s offseason, from the end of the playoffs in June right up until opening night. Trades, free agent signings, draft picks, contract extensions, option decisions, camp invitees and more will be covered as we examine the moves each franchise made over the last several months.

Signings

Extensions

Trades

Waiver Claims

  • None

Draft Picks

Camp Invitees

Departing Players

Rookie Contract Option Decisions

NBA: Preseason-Denver Nuggets at Dallas Mavericks

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

The Nuggets clearly determined that a change in leadership was key. The optimism that surrounded the team when it won 57 games in 2012/13 had disappeared amid injuries, underwhelming play and disillusionment by the time the Nuggets fired coach Brian Shaw nearly two years later. Interim coach Melvin Hunt had the support of the players, but Michael Malone, who was seemingly on the right track for the Kings before they fired him last December, won over team president Josh Kroenke and GM Tim Connelly in interviews for the job. The Denver brass consulted with the new coach a few months later when they traded point guard Ty Lawson to the Rockets for four players the team waived prior to opening night, a move that cleared the way for No. 7 overall pick Emmanuel Mudiay to take the reigns.

New coach and new point guard aside, the Nuggets largely remain the same, and judging by their moves this summer, they actively sought to keep it that way. A late September deal with Mike Miller was their only free agent signing that wasn’t a re-signing, and they took advantage of a salary cap rule that no other team has used since the existing collective bargaining agreement went into effect in 2011 to secure Danilo Gallinari and Wilson Chandler for the long term. Thus, the fate of Malone and Mudiay will largely define the 2015 offseason for Denver.

Malone is a hard-nosed coach whose Kings teams played at a relatively controlled pace, but he acknowledges that the Nuggets want an up-tempo attack and insists he can direct one. He also sought to dispel the notion that he has any hard feelings toward Pete D’Alessandro, whom the Nuggets hired to a front office role this summer and who was Sacramento’s GM when the Kings fired Malone. Conflicting reports painted different pictures of the role D’Alessandro played in Malone’s dismissal.

Still, that relationship is likely secondary to the bond that Malone and Mudiay must form. The coach has expressed an understanding that while he doesn’t have much stomach for losing, it behooves the future of the team that he give Mudiay every opportunity to learn this season. Jameer Nelson will be around to help, thanks to the deal the Nuggets gave the 33-year-old point guard who initially had his doubts about Denver. The Steve Mountain client opted out but re-signed with the Nuggets at a raise, even though he was coming off a career-low 8.3 points per game. He’s embraced the leadership role that the Nuggets value him highly for, as Matt Moore of CBSSports.com detailed. Nelson can also mentor another developing point guard, as the Nuggets elected to eat two fully guaranteed seasons on Nick Johnson‘s deal to keep former second-round pick Erick Green on his partially guaranteed contract.

Not every veteran the Nuggets kept this summer is around merely for leadership purposes. Denver clearly wants to benefit on the court from the rejuvenated Gallinari, who looked strong down the stretch last season and over the summer while playing for the Italian national team. The Nuggets “absolutely could have” traded for multiple first-round picks for either Gallinari or Chandler, as Zach Lowe of ESPN reported, and while they explored the idea of a Gallinari swap at the deadline and apparently at draft time, too, Gallinari’s affection for Denver helped secure his place there, Lowe wrote. Indeed, Gallinari has said he wants to finish his career with the Nuggets, and thanks to the team’s deft use of the renegotiation-and-extension rule, he’s set to remain under contract until 2018, unless he opts out a year early. The former No. 8 overall pick was previously poised to hit free agency in 2016, just as the cap is set to surge.

Chandler also could have elected free agency in 2016, but he decided against wading into a lucrative market to lock in as many as four eight-figure annual salaries on his new deal with the Nuggets. He’s been the subject of frequent trade rumors the past year, and as a 28-year-old role player on a rebuilding team, those aren’t necessarily going to go away, even though the Nuggets can’t trade him until January. The combo forward gave up the chance to choose another team that might offer a more logical fit, but he was well-compensated for that choice.

Darrell Arthur also had financial motivation to stick with Denver. He admits he almost bolted for the Clippers in free agency this past summer, but the Clips could only have paid him the minimum salary, and the Jerry Hicks client wound up with almost twice that to stay in Denver. It’s a pay cut from the more than $3.457MM he made last season, but he remains in place as part of a crowded frontcourt. So, too, does Kenneth Faried, in spite of trade rumors that have surrounded him the past couple of years, and chatter about the idea of a Faried trade hasn’t stopped, Lowe wrote recently. Stability marked the Nuggets offseason, but that doesn’t mean the same will be true going forward.

Denver invested in youth as well as its veterans, locking in Will Barton on a three-year deal and signing draft-and-stash prospect Nikola Jokic to a four-year deal. Both are in the rotation to start the season. Barton originally came via last season’s Arron Afflalo trade, a positive signal that if the Nuggets do start offloading more of their veterans, the front office is savvy enough to identify prospects who can become contributors. Jokic also proves Denver’s acumen for drafting big men, as he and Jusuf Nurkic, a product of the 2014 draft, form an intriguing combination at center.

The Nuggets seemingly have one foot in the future and the other planted firmly in the present. That’s a challenge for Malone to navigate, but it’s clear that player development is a priority even as the Nuggets hesitate to strip down their roster and go for a full-scale rebuild. The strength of the Western Conference will likely keep them out of the playoffs, enhancing their chances in a draft in which they could have as many as four first-round picks. The Nuggets, if they continue to draft well, have a decent chance to climb back into the Western Conference elite before the deals they made with their vets this summer run to term.

Eddie Scarito contributed to this post. The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of it.

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Offseason In Review: San Antonio Spurs

November 3rd, 2015 at 11:58am CST by Chuck Myron

Hoops Rumors is in the process of looking back at each team’s offseason, from the end of the playoffs in June right up until opening night. Trades, free agent signings, draft picks, contract extensions, option decisions, camp invitees and more will be covered as we examine the moves each franchise made over the last several months.

Signings

Extensions

  • None

Trades

Waiver Claims

  • None

Draft Picks

Camp Invitees

Departing Players

Rookie Contract Option Decisions

Courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

The Spurs could have stopped with the LaMarcus Aldridge deal, and they still probably would have had the most successful offseason of any team in the league. Still, the true measure of San Antonio’s summer is reflected in the rest of the moves that the Spurs made. The addition of David West at the minimum salary and the retention of all three members of the starting lineup who reached free agency, plus Manu Ginobili, give this year’s Spurs team extra depth and weapons that could prove key, given the age of the team’s mainstays and the thin margin of error in the Western Conference. The signing of West, in particular, underscored the allure of the winning culture that coach/president of Spurs basketball Gregg Popovich and GM R.C. Buford preside over, and it clearly played a role in allowing the team to snag Aldridge, too.

Family ties also swayed the former Trail Blazer, a Texas native, but regardless of his motivation, his arrival is as transformative for the Spurs as it is for him. Aldridge acknowledged that he had concerns about San Antonio’s egalitarian offense, given his long track record of high scoring in Portland, but assistant coach Ime Udoka reassured him that the Spurs wouldn’t ask him to make wholesale changes to the way he plays. Still, a significant on-court adjustment is taking place for the former No. 2 overall pick, who was averaging only 16.0 points per game through his first four regular season appearances with the Spurs, a mark that would be his lowest since he put up 9.0 points per game as a rookie. That’s a small sample size, of course, but the Spurs, as witnessed by Aldridge’s off-kilter 44.6% shooting in those four games, have yet to find a way to properly utilize their most talented inside counterpart to Duncan since they had David Robinson.

West presents yet another challenge, since the Spurs have to figure out to squeeze the most out of what he has to offer without that many minutes to go around. Much has changed on the inside, where centers Tiago Splitter and Aron Baynes are no longer around and Aldridge and West, who are power forwards, have replaced them. Splitter’s departure was necessary if the team was to both sign Aldridge and re-sign Danny Green, and thus San Antonio sent Splitter to the Hawks for virtually nothing aside from cap space. Popovich admitted it wasn’t a move he particularly enjoyed making, and he executed the trade without yet knowing that Aldridge would sign, making for a nervous few days in the Spurs front office.

Still, the salary cap math didn’t give San Antonio much of a choice, and the team had even less recourse with Baynes, who left for a tidy $19.5MM over three years with the Pistons. The Spurs recruited 7’3″ All-Euroleague First Team center Boban Marjanovic with a sliver of their cap room, but out of all the adjustments going on in San Antonio, none may be more profound than the ones Marjanovic must endure as the 27-year-old receives his first taste of the NBA.

The Green deal that played such a significant role in the team’s decision to shed Splitter was a surprise, given all the teams lined up to poach the swingman and the report that identified him as “a goner.” Green expressed platitudes toward the Knicks, about whom he told Marc Berman of the New York Post, “anybody turning down a meeting with them would be crazy,” but he doesn’t think the Knicks were as interested in him as he thought they’d be, Green said to Chris Mannix of SI.com. The Mavericks, Pistons, Blazers and Kings were also linked to the Bill Duffy client, but the Spurs won out in part because he was attracted to the idea of playing with Aldridge, who consulted Green about his own free agency. Once more, the signing of Aldridge proved a catalyst for another of the team’s summer moves.

Of course, the Aldridge deal couldn’t have come about unless the Spurs had elected against signing Kawhi Leonard to an extension in the fall of 2014, a maneuver that kept his cap hold as small as possible and allowed the Spurs to use cap space until they circled back to re-sign Leonard for the max. Leonard could have sought out and signed a short-term offer sheet with another team to punish the Spurs for making him wait, and he even could have signed his qualifying offer, but neither such option was truly in play for the unassuming client of agent Brian Elfus. Such was Leonard’s commitment to the Spurs that he agreed to the framework of what would become a five-year max deal within the first 15 minutes of free agency. The Spurs waited to formalize the arrangement until after they’d used the cap space that the Leonard maneuver gave them the chance to create.

Like Leonard, Duncan and Ginobili weren’t going to make their respective free agencies competitive affairs. It was Spurs or retirement for both, and while it took until July for them to announce their intentions, publicly at least, they came back to San Antonio, with Duncan’s choice — the first among the two — seemingly influencing Ginobili’s to some degree. Each took a significant pay cut, with Duncan consenting to play for about half of his salary from last season and Ginobili taking just the $2.814MM room exception this season after he made $7MM in 2014/15.

Ginobili might have been able to command more, though his game, unlike Duncan’s, is showing its age. That underscored the importance of retaining Green, since Ginobili, at 38, probably isn’t fit for the starting job at two guard. The other incumbent, Marco Belinelli, seemed an unlikely candidate to inherit the job, and the Spurs never appeared in the mix to re-sign him as he departed for Sacramento.

The Spurs wound up with a guard in exchange from Sacramento, in a roundabout way, relinquishing only a second-rounder (and likely a late one at that) for Ray McCallum, who takes over the third point guard duties from Cory Joseph, who signed with Toronto. Most third point guards don’t see much playing time, but with Tony Parker, like Ginobili, seemingly in decline, and given San Antonio’s penchant for resting its veterans, McCallum figures to get his chance. So, too, should Rasual Butler, who made the team out of camp over Jimmer Fredette and others. Butler has played significant minutes for the Pacers and Wizards the past two years despite having signed non-guaranteed deals with them, too.

Butler is 36, and like so many of the Spurs, his days in the NBA are numbered. Yet Aldridge showed with his commitment of at least three years that the end for the team’s lengthy run as a title contender remains a ways off. Perhaps even more significantly, Leonard is locked in through at least 2019, when he’ll only be turning 28. The Spurs spent the offseason trying to build a champion for this season, but they also put together a bridge to championship opportunities in the future.

Eddie Scarito contributed to this post. The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of it.

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Offseason In Review: New York Knicks

October 31st, 2015 at 3:06pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Hoops Rumors is in the process of looking back at each team’s offseason, from the end of the playoffs in June right up until opening night. Trades, free agent signings, draft picks, contract extensions, option decisions, camp invitees and more will be covered as we examine the moves each franchise made over the last several months.

Signings

Extensions

  • None

Trades

  • Acquired the draft rights to Jerian Grant, the No. 19 overall pick in the 2015 Draft, in exchange for Tim Hardaway Jr.
  • Acquired Kyle O’Quinn from the Magic via sign-and trade in exchange for cash and the option to switch second-rounders with New York in 2019. O’Quinn inked a four-year, $16MM deal that includes a player option for the final season.
  • Acquired the draft rights to Guillermo Hernangomez, the No. 35 overall pick in the 2015 Draft, from the Sixers in exchange for cash and New York’s second-round picks in 2020 and 2021. Hernangomez is playing overseas.

Waiver Claims

  • None

Draft Picks

Camp Invitees

Departing Players

Rookie Contract Option Decisions

  • None
Courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

The Knicks entered this offseason fresh off a disastrous 2014/15 campaign that saw the team notch only 17 victories, flush with approximately $28MM in available cap space, and possessing some lofty free agency dreams of adding a star player or two. LaMarcus Aldridge, Greg Monroe, Marc Gasol, DeAndre Jordan, and Goran Dragic were among those available to pair alongside returning star Carmelo Anthony. But things rarely seem to go as planned in New York, and the franchise was forced to go with Plan B, adding a collection of role players whom team president Phil Jackson hopes will mesh together and lay the groundwork for the Knicks’ return to relevance.

The organization put a different spin on missing out on some of the top names, with GM Steve Mills insisting that the team didn’t strike out in free agency but instead focused on building a solid team around Anthony. “We tried to be as clear as we could possibly be that we weren’t chasing the biggest stars,” Mills told Mitch Abramson of The New York Daily News. “That’s not how we’re trying to build this team. Obviously, when LaMarcus Aldridge says he wants to meet with you and he’s going to meet with six teams, we agree to go meet with him. DeAndre Jordan was willing to meet with us, so of course we go and meet him. And when you go in, you want guys to say yes. But our goal starting out with this was to spend our money wisely and to get guys in who we thought would bring this team along together and fill holes and as it turned out, we were better suited going with multiple guys as opposed to just going after one.”

Whether or not Mills’ statements were truly indicative of the team’s offseason strategy or merely face-saving bravado is up for debate, but he was correct in his assertion that the Knicks filled a number of holes with their additions this summer. New York is unquestionably a superior team to the one that took the court in 2013/14, but that isn’t necessarily a ringing endorsement considering the D-League-quality roster the Knicks trotted out a season ago.

New York’s offseason rebuild began with the NBA draft, where the team held a top-five pick for the first time since 1986, and Jackson used the No. 4 overall pick to nab Latvian big man Kristaps Porzingis. The wisdom or folly of selecting Porzingis will take some time to assess, as the player is most certainly a project who will require a few seasons to develop. The early signs have been positive, and Porzingis has shown flashes of talent that portend good things to come for the player and his new team.

But the addition of Porzingis may have had an unintended downside for the franchise, possibly shutting the door on any chance that the Knicks had to land Aldridge via free agency. New York had reportedly informed Aldridge that due to the presence of Porzingis, it wanted him to play center full-time, an idea that nixed the scheduled meeting between New York and the marquee free agent. “If they’re going to tell me that I have to play center and I don’t want to play center, then of course it’s mutual after that. But before that I was excited to meet with them. I was interested,” Aldridge said in regard to the canceled powwow. “But they wanted to have their draft pick play and I get it.”

The Knicks also made a significant trade on the day of the draft, flipping Tim Hardaway Jr., whose game had regressed during his sophomore campaign, to the Hawks for No. 19 overall pick Jerian Grant, who fills a major need for New York in the backcourt. Anthony was reportedly upset at the loss of Hardaway, one of the team’s few offensive threats, but it was a solid trade for New York, and I expect ‘Melo to sing the rookie’s praises by the end of the 2015/16 season. New York’s other draft day addition, Guillermo Hernangomez, expressed his desire to continue playing for Real Madrid of Spain for many years before considering a move to the NBA, so he’s not likely to help the franchise anytime soon.

It’s doubtful that the Knicks were ever a realistic option for many of this summer’s free agents, though the team was linked to many of the biggest available names in the weeks leading up to July’s signing period. The one miss that stung the most for the team and its fans was Monroe passing on the glitz and glamour of playing in New York City to instead join the Bucks in Milwaukee, especially after Monroe’s agent, David Falk, had indicated strongly back in April that the Knicks would be one of the big man’s top choices.

Jackson moved on from Monroe and instead added veteran center Robin Lopez, whose rebounding, toughness and defense are all traits that last year’s Knicks squad lacked, especially in the pivot. Lopez can no doubt help the Knicks, though he’s definitely not the marquee name the franchise had designs on landing when the offseason commenced. Lopez’s deal is a fair one for both sides, with a $13.5MM average annual salary certainly being in line with Lopez’s production. Plus, this contract will likely look better once next offseason’s deals are signed, since the cap is expected to increase significantly as a result of the league’s new TV deal kicking in. The only major concern is Lopez’s injury history, with the big man averaging 66 games per season over his NBA career, including just 59 appearances in 2014/15.

New York made four other significant additions over the offseason, signing shooting guard Arron Afflalo, combo forward Derrick Williams, center Kevin Seraphin, and executing a sign-and-trade with Orlando for power forward Kyle O’Quinn. Of the three, O’Quinn has the highest upside, with his energy and hustle certainly making him an intriguing prospect, though his minutes will be limited thanks to the Knicks’ current frontcourt logjam. Inking Williams was the riskiest move of the offseason for Jackson, with the player struggling mightily since entering the league as the No. 2 overall pick in 2011. While nearly $4.5MM per season isn’t an exorbitant amount in today’s NBA, the team may need every bit of cap space next summer when it hopes to be in contention for the likes of Kevin Durant and Mike Conley. Williams also doesn’t appear to be a great fit for the triangle offense, and he’s never quite carved out a defined position for himself in the league, a factor that presents its own set of problems for coach Derek Fisher‘s rotation plans.

Afflalo certainly fills a need for the Knicks, who will count on him to help take some of the scoring burden off Anthony. How he’ll mesh with Anthony and the rest of the roster still remains to be seen, with the 30-year-old having been severely limited in training camp and the preseason thanks to a hamstring injury. He has yet to make it onto the court in the regular season. Afflalo can opt out of his deal after this season, and I’ll go on record and say that the franchise should hope that he does so. As a one-season stopgap, I like adding a healthy Afflalo to the mix, especially given the Knicks’ other remaining free agent options. While Afflalo has been a solid, if unspectacular, performer for the bulk of his career, he’s on the wrong side of 30, and he’s not a building block the franchise can count on to help lure big name free agents.

One of the Knicks’ major missteps this summer was failing to upgrade their point guard position, with holdover Jose Calderon well into his decline. Thus far, it hasn’t appeared like he’ll be able to guard any of the league’s top playmakers. New York was reportedly trying to find a taker for the veteran this offseason as the team attempted to free up cap space, but with Calderon still possessing one more year on his deal beyond this one, and scheduled to earn approximately $7.7MM in 2016/17, it was no surprise the Knicks couldn’t find a taker. I wouldn’t be surprised if the two sides agreed to a buyout at some point this season, though that may be just wishful thinking on my part.

New York desperately needs this summer’s signings to pan out so that the franchise can demonstrate some forward progress. This isn’t just so Jackson can be validated as an NBA executive, or Fisher as an NBA-caliber head coach. It’s also vital for the way pending free agents around the league perceive the team. If the Knicks hope to land the top names, not just next summer, but over the next few seasons, the team will need to prove to players that inking a deal to play in Madison Square Garden isn’t going to be a dead-end career move. Until then, it looks like Plan B is the best the fanbase can look forward to.

The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.

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Offseason In Review: Memphis Grizzlies

October 30th, 2015 at 9:59am CST by Chuck Myron

Hoops Rumors is in the process of looking back at each team’s offseason, from the end of the playoffs in June right up until opening night. Trades, free agent signings, draft picks, contract extensions, option decisions, camp invitees and more will be covered as we examine the moves each franchise made over the last several months.

Signings

Extensions

  • None

Trades

Waiver Claims

  • None

Draft Picks

Camp Invitees

Departing Players

Rookie Contract Option Decisions

Courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Nothing the Grizzlies did or realistically could have accomplished this summer was as significant as the re-signing of Marc Gasol was. Granted, no real doubt ever emerged that the Spanish center with longstanding Memphis connections would re-sign, even though he maintained at least some level of mystery in his comments leading up to free agency. That disappeared when Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported that Gasol had no plans to meet with other suitors, like the Spurs and Knicks. Grizzlies officials traveled to Spain to hash out a deal, and while it took longer than a true open-and-shut negotiation might, Gasol recommitted to the Grizzlies, and vice versa, through 2019 at the maximum salary, with Gasol given the choice for a another max season in 2019/20.

He’ll turn 35 in January of that season, but even though he might not be as productive as he is now at the back end of the deal, it was one the Grizzlies had to make. Gasol had just made a leap as an offensive player, lifting his points per game from 14.6 in 2013/14, when he tied his career best, to a new high of 17.4 in 2014/15, and while he had a corresponding decline in his defensive performance, it showed his versatility. He can adapt his style as the Grizzlies see fit over the next five years, and Memphis may indeed ask for a different contribution from Gasol as the team’s core ages and particularly once Zach Randolph, now 34, is no longer a reliable inside scoring force.

It’s difficult, if not impossible, to accurately predict what the salary cap will look like by the time Gasol’s deal runs to term, since the players and owners could decide to tear up the collective bargaining agreement in 2017. Still, it’ll almost certainly be significantly higher than the $70MM it is now, suggesting that as Gasol’s game declines, so will the percentage of the cap his salary occupies.

Days before Gasol reached free agency, Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace signaled that he was already operating under the assumption that Gasol would be back, using a trade exception Memphis created in the Jeff Green deal to absorb Luke Ridnour for no salary in return and flipping Ridnour for Matt Barnes. Perhaps no acquisition would fit as well into the character of the Grizzlies than the rough-and-tumble Barnes, and surely trading for the 35-year-old small forward was a signal that Memphis has no intention of making major changes. That Barnes has added a more reliable 3-pointer to his game is significant, too. He canned 136 3-pointers last season, a career mark, and his 36.2% accuracy was close to his best. That will help the Grizzlies, as notoriously short on floor spacing as they are, but the team would be misguided to expect Barnes to mimic Kyle Korver.

Memphis tried to acquire additional outside shooting, reportedly pursuing Danilo Gallinari at the time of the draft and apparently engaging in talks with the Nets about Joe Johnson at around the same point. No such deal materialized, and if one criticism of the Grizzlies offseason exists, it’s that the team failed to acquire a three-point shooter with a long track record of success or, Barnes notwithstanding, the potential to become one. The Grizzlies could have used the No. 25 overall pick in this year’s draft on R.J. Hunter, who went at No. 28 to the Celtics, or on Anthony Brown, whom the Lakers took 34th. Instead of those two sharpshooters, Memphis went with combo forward Jarell Martin, who shot 30.8% from behind the arc in his two years at LSU. Martin is a gifted scorer at the basket and a proficient rebounder, but he won’t solve the spacing issues in Memphis. Of course, it’s arguable whether Hunter or especially Brown are ready to play meaningful minutes for a team with legitimate title aspirations, so it’s tough to say the Grizzlies missed a realistic opportunity with their draft choice.

The Grizzlies didn’t address their shooting needs, but they did sufficiently fill the hole that Kosta Koufos left when he departed in free agency for the Kings. Memphis committed the full value of the $5.464MM mid-level exception to Brandan Wright, a remarkably efficient offensive player who’s posted PERs of 20 or better each of the past four seasons. He’s not the rebounder or defender that Koufos is, but he comes at an average annual value roughly $2.5MM cheaper than the deal Koufos signed with the Kings. The Grizzlies enter the season about $4MM shy of the luxury tax line, so while they could have afforded to retain Koufos at a price similar to what the Kings paid, it would have cost them flexibility that they instead have at their disposal this season in the continued hunt for outside shooting.

Otherwise, the Grizzlies essentially stood pat. They cycled through eight camp invitees and nearly kept one of them, Ryan Hollins, over Jarnell Stokes, the 35th overall pick from 2014. Memphis ultimately decided to retain Stokes over Hollins, even though the extra time it took to make that decision cost the Grizzlies two days’ worth of salary for Hollins, who stuck on the roster past Saturday’s deadline to cut non-guaranteed money without it counting against the cap.

It leads into a season in which the expectations and challenges are the same. The Grizzlies are still a member of the Western Conference elite, but they’re rarely thought of as the favorites to escape the West, much less win the NBA championship. That said, they’re close enough to the title that it’s worth a continued effort toward it, even as their core keeps aging. Mike Conley, the youngest member of that core, is set for free agency next year, and though multiple reports suggest he’ll quietly re-sign just as Gasol did, that’s not a given. It’s another reason why, in Memphis, tomorrow doesn’t matter nearly as much as today does.

Eddie Scarito contributed to this post. The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of it.

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Offseason In Review Series

December 9th, 2014 at 7:11pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Hoops Rumors has spent the past few weeks taking an in-depth look back at how each NBA franchise fared this past offseason. We covered all of the trades, free agent signings, draft picks, contract extensions, option decisions, camp invitees, and more as we examined the moves each team made over the last several months. These posts covered all of the activity that occurred from the end of the playoffs in June right up until the first jump ball on opening night.

Here is a team-by-team recap of the series:

Eastern Conference

Atlantic Division

Central Division

Southeast Division

Western Conference

Northwest Division

Pacific Division

Southwest Division

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Offseason In Review: Sacramento Kings

December 8th, 2014 at 11:00am CST by Chuck Myron

Hoops Rumors is in the process of looking back at each team’s offseason, from the end of the playoffs in June right up until opening night. Trades, free agent signings, draft picks, contract extensions, option decisions, camp invitees, and more will be covered, as we examine the moves each franchise made over the last several months.

Signings

Extensions

Trades

Waiver Claims

  • None

Draft Picks

  • Nik Stauskas (Round 1, eighth overall). Signed via rookie scale exception to rookie scale contract.

Camp Invitees

Departing Players

Rookie Contract Option Decisions

Three players averaged more than 20 points per game for the Kings last season, and while it seemed Sacramento didn’t mind losing one of them this summer, the team focused an inordinate amount of attention on keeping another. The Kings made a hard push and an elaborate presentation to Rudy Gay in hopes that he would opt in for this season, one in which he’s making more than $19.317MM. The team put an unusual amount of effort into ensuring that a player who’s talented but less than a superstar would be on the books for a salary usually reserved for the NBA’s truly elite. It was yet another sign of owner Vivek Ranadive’s faith in a player whom the analytics community had roundly criticized and who was playing some of the most inefficient ball of his career at the time of the trade that brought him from Toronto to Sacramento a year ago. Ranadive and GM Pete D’Alessandro made trading for Gay one of their first priorities when they took their respective posts during the 2013 offseason, and since they accomplished that, Gay has proven the Kings wise with increased efficiency and production in numbers both simple and arcane.

Rudy Gay (vertical)Gay picked up his player option, but Sacramento’s ultimate plan was to secure him for a longer period of time. Talks started and stopped over the summer, but the Octagon Sports client finally signed an extension in the season’s first month that will keep him under the control of the Kings through 2016/17, with a player option for 2017/18. The now 28-year-old small forward will make salaries more in line with his market value on the extension after his lucrative payday this year. Gay will see an average of more than $14.829MM over four years, taking both the opt-in and the extension into account and assuming he once more opts in with the Kings in 2017. That’s not cheap, by any means, but it slots him second behind DeMarcus Cousins in the team’s salary structure, mirroring the pecking order on the court. It also gives Sacramento the chance to enter 2016 with Cousins and Gay locked in and max-level cap flexibility to go with them, though there are plenty of variables the team will have to resolve between now and then.

One of those variables won’t involve Isaiah Thomas, whom the Kings removed from the equation when they saw him off to the Suns with a sign-and-trade deal. D’Alessandro and company seemingly ensured they wouldn’t be bringing Thomas back when they struck a deal with fellow point guard Darren Collison, as Thomas later said he felt like that move was a signal that the Kings were pushing him out the door. In any case, Thomas and the Suns did the Kings a favor, perhaps to ensure that Sacramento wouldn’t match Phoenix’s offer for the restricted free agent, when they agreed to make it a sign-and-trade rather than a straight signing. That allowed the Kings to come away with a trade exception worth nearly $7.239MM, one of the largest still-valid exceptions in the league. It’s far too valuable for the Kings to let it go unused, particularly given D’Alessandro’s propensity for trades, even if he’s holding off on any moves for the time being.

The Kings committed nearly their entire $5.305MM exception to Collison’s starting salary for this year, wisely leaving a sliver just large enough to tack a third year onto Eric Moreland‘s contract for the rookie minimum, thus giving Sacramento greater power to retain Moreland. The outlay for Collison, coupled with the Gay opt-in, nonetheless left the Kings in a salary crunch that would influence much of the rest of their offseason.

Collison had spent 2013/14 making just $1.9MM while rehabilitating his value with the Clippers. He started 56 of the 66 games the Pacers played during the lockout-shortened 2011/12 season, helping the team to a 42-24 mark, but he lost his job to George Hill for the playoffs, and Indiana traded Collison the following summer to the Mavs. The former 21st overall pick cratered in his year in Dallas, where he watched 37-year-old Mike James start ahead of him by season’s end. So it was off to the Clippers last year, and the BDA Sports Management client proved his worth as a backup and injury replacement for Chris Paul, just as Collison had done as a rookie when he and Paul were teammates in New Orleans. Collison has been stuck between starting and the bench for much of his career, so the Kings have to hope that as the 27-year-old enters his prime, they’ll benefit from his best work.

Ultimately, Collison is paid like an upper-tier backup on the mid-level deal, so the price is right, and just low enough for the Kings to avoid crossing the luxury tax threshold. Giving Thomas the same deal he received from the Suns would have put the Kings in tax territory, though backloading that Thomas contract rather than frontloading it would have allowed the Kings to have paid him the same money while just barely ducking the tax line. Still, Sacramento wouldn’t have had the space available beneath the tax for Omri Casspi, as the Kings were able to scrape together just enough for a one-year offer for the minimum salary. Casspi is playing 18.6 minutes a night for the Kings with a new offensive game that relies much less on three-point shooting and more on scoring in the paint. His PER to 16.9, 3.8 points better than his previous career high.

The Kings afforded themselves the chance at more slightly more breathing room beneath the tax when they pulled off a trade that sent Quincy Acy and Travis Outlaw to the Knicks for Wayne Ellington and Jeremy Tyler. The exchange of salaries itself lessened Sacramento’s payroll by only about $196K, and Tyler’s non-guaranteed salary was $33K greater than Acy’s non-guaranteed pay, so the Kings gained slightly more flexibility in that regard, too. They also saved about $76K more when they used the stretch provision to waive Ellington instead of doing the same with Outlaw. Yet perhaps the most important benefit that the Knicks trade gave the Kings was the removal of the protection on the 2016 second-round pick that Sacramento later used to sweeten the pot in the trade that sent Jason Terry and his salary of more than $5.85MM to Houston. The Kings received only non-guaranteed salaries in that exchange and promptly waived them to pocket the savings.

D’Alessandro used some of that extra wiggle room beneath the tax line to ink Ramon Sessions and Ryan Hollins, strengthening the Kings’ bench. The addition of Sessions, to whom Sacramento committed its biannual exception, seems particularly key, since it gives the Kings a measure of insurance in case Collison fails to prove worthy of the starting job. Sessions, too, has floated between starting and reserve roles, but he played well down the stretch last season for the Bucks, and it wasn’t long ago that his 2012 trade deadline acquisition was to have given the Lakers the missing piece they lacked for another title run.

Still, the decision the Kings had to make with the eighth overall pick in this year’s draft was perhaps as important as any in front of the team this offseason, aside from what to do with Gay. Thus, it’s perplexing to have seen Sacramento use a lottery selection on a shooting guard for the second straight year. The Kings immediately pledged their support for Ben McLemore, last year’s pick, after seemingly drafting Nik Stauskas as his replacement this year and in spite of a draft-night report that indicated that Sacramento and the Celtics were in talks about a potential trade involving McLemore. The seventh overall pick from 2013 has proven the Kings wise to have hung onto him, as he’s shooting much better from just about every point on the floor than he did in his rookie season, according to Basketball-Reference. That appears to have come at the cost of playing time for Stauskas, who’s yet to find his shooting stroke amid just 13.1 minutes per night. Sacramento risks stunting his growth, lowering his trade value, or both if it can’t give him either more playing time or a new home.

The Kings are still a work in progress two offseasons into the Ranadive-D’Alessandro era. They secured Cousins, their superstar, last year on a long-term extension that’s already paying dividends as he continues to mature on and off the court. They acquired Gay, watched him become a top-flight complement to Cousins, and this year made sure that he, too, would be around for the long term. There are a few signs of hope elsewhere on the roster, one that nonetheless includes too many players who are either poor fits or not skilled enough to contribute significantly to a playoff-caliber team. Sacramento’s optimism appeared misplaced when the team entered the regular season with the intention of competing for a playoff spot in the rugged Western Conference, but more than a month in, the Kings are in the thick of the race for the eighth seed. There’s a long way to go in this season and an even longer road ahead in Sacramento’s journey to relevance in the title picture, but the Kings are making progress.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.

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Offseason In Review: Los Angeles Clippers

December 3rd, 2014 at 8:35pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Hoops Rumors is in the process of looking back at each team’s offseason, from the end of the playoffs in June right up until opening night. Trades, free agent signings, draft picks, contract extensions, option decisions, camp invitees, and more will be covered, as we examine the moves each franchise made over the last several months.

Signings

Extensions

  • None

Trades

Waiver Claims

  • None

Draft Picks

  • C.J. Wilcox (Round 1, 28th overall). Signed via rookie exception to rookie scale contract.

Camp Invitees

Departing Players

Rookie Contract Option Decisions

It would be logical to think it would be a given that a team that notched a franchise-record 57 victories and advance to the conference semifinals would have quite a bit of momentum heading into the offseason. That’s especially true of a club that was returning the bulk of its core and seemingly only needed to make some minor roster tweaks in order to maintain its forward progress. But the last year’s Clippers were in a unique and thoroughly distressing spot. The Donald Sterling scandal hit during the playoffs and threatened to derail the entire franchise, and it cast a pall over what the team had accomplished in recent years.

NBA: Los Angeles Clippers at Detroit PistonsSterling, the league’s longest-tenured owner prior to his ouster, set off a league-wide chain of events when his racist remarks were revealed during the team’s first-round series against Golden State. The shocking comments almost led the players to walk off the court during the series. But commissioner Adam Silver, in his first major test in his new position, swooped in and issued a lifetime ban to Sterling. While the litigation is ongoing regarding his departure and sale of the team, the franchise largely moved on after months of turmoil when it sold for a record price of $2 billion to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

Ballmer immediately injected a breath of fresh air into the “other team” in Los Angeles, and he arrives with a seeming willingness to spend whatever it takes to win, in direct contrast to Sterling. Ballmer also brought a fresh batch of enthusiasm to the franchise. Ballmer’s arrival quelled any talk of Doc Rivers departing, which would have been a devastating blow to the franchise and might have led to discord among the team’s players, many of whom are extremely loyal to Rivers. It shouldn’t have been too much of a surprise when Ballmer gave the coach/executive a new contract worth more than $50MM over the next five years shortly after closing on his purchase of the team. The deal was well-earned, since Rivers essentially held the Clippers organization together during those difficult weeks that followed the TMZ report which outed Sterling’s comments. He’s one of the game’s best ambassadors and a true class act.

Rivers’ job title also received an upgrade from senior vice president of basketball operations to president of basketball operations. Kevin Eastman, who served as an assistant coach with the Clippers last season and had been with Rivers as an assistant for the past nine years, moved into the role of vice president of basketball operations, where he’ll serve under Rivers. Dave Wohl became the team’s GM after working as the team’s director of professional scouting last season, giving the Rivers yet more front-office assistance while he’s focusing on his coaching duties.

The revamped front office staff was given the task of finding the right complementary pieces to address the team’s two most glaring weaknesses — perimeter defense and outside scoring. An inability to stop Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook had led to the downfall of the Clippers in their playoff series versus the Thunder last year. This isn’t an issue that was unique to the Clippers, as both of those players are more than a handful for even the stoutest defenses. But if the Clips dreamed of playing in the NBA Finals, they needed to improve markedly. The team’s offseason additions did little to help the Clippers toward that goal.

The Clippers’ weakest position in terms of talent is at small forward, where the gritty Matt Barnes returns as the starter. Barnes offers toughness and hustle, two vital skills that would be more valuable if he were a reserve. Paul Pierce was mentioned in connection with the Clippers during the summer, and he seemed like a fit given his history with Rivers and desire to play for a contender. But the Nets wouldn’t play along in sign-and-trade talks, and Pierce chose to head to Washington and the easier route to the Finals in the East.

So, Rivers and company instead signed Chris Douglas-Roberts to a minimum-salary deal, and they gambled that Reggie Bullock, their 2013 first-rounder, could develop into a useful rotation piece. It hasn’t worked out thus far, considering the two players are averaging 5.0 points combined through the team’s first 16 contests. The Clippers do play small-ball quite often, which lessens the need for more production from the three-spot, but come playoff time, the Clippers will regret not better fortifying this position, unless they’re able to address the need via a trade prior to the February deadline. This isn’t a very likely scenario given that the team is hard-capped and less than $1MM beneath the $80.829MM threshold the collective bargaining agreement doesn’t allow them to cross, even if Ballmer would be willing to spend more.

The Clippers’ largest offseason outlay was the signing of Spencer Hawes via the non-taxpayer’s mid-level exception. This is a move that I have extremely mixed feelings about. Hawes certainly can help address the franchise’s need for more outside scoring, and at 7’0″ he can play center as he does so. But Hawes is a luxury, and inking him to a four-year, $22.652MM deal when the team clearly had more important needs hardly seems wise. It’s not that I don’t believe Hawes is worth in excess of an average of $5.66MM per season, especially when compared to the more than $8.5MM annually that Channing Frye received from Orlando or Ryan Anderson‘s $8.5MM per year with the Pelicans. He’s just not the right fit for this Clippers squad considering the team’s cap position and shrinking window of contention. This is a contract that will weigh the team down and with a 15% trade kicker included, it won’t be an easy one to get off the books when Rivers and company come to their senses.

The free agent departure of Darren Collison, who inked a three-year, $15MM deal with the Kings, was the other offseason turning point that will significantly impact the Clippers’ title hopes. Collison declined his player option, and since the Clippers only held his Non-Bird rights, they could only pay Collison 120% of last season’s $1.9MM salary. The Clippers could have fit Collison into the mid-level exception that they instead used on Hawes, and that would have been a wiser move for the long term, especially given the efficiency that Collison displayed playing on a career-low 25.9 minutes per game last season.

The departure of Collison makes it two straight offseasons in which the Clippers lost an upper-tier reserve at the point, following the trade of Eric Bledsoe to the Suns a year prior. In this suddenly injury-heavy NBA, a strong backup point guard is a vital cog in any successful team. That’s especially so considering that Collison made 35 starts a season ago and kept the Clippers in the thick of the playoff race while Paul was in street clothes. Signing Jordan Farmar this summer to fill Collison’s spot is a less-than-inspiring move, and if Paul is forced to miss any significant time this season, it will probably knock the Clippers into a lower playoff seed, and in the difficult Western Conference, that portends an early playoff exit.

The Clippers would have been much better off to re-sign Collison, pass on Hawes, and focus on adding some much-needed rebounding and defense through minimum-salary deals or through trades. The Clippers are currently 29th in the league in rebounding (37.9 per game), and they are a middling 15th in points allowed (99.1 per game), which is not a winning formula long-term.

The Clippers only needed to make some minor tweaks this offseason, but the moves the front office executed can easily be second-guessed. A trip to the NBA Finals would prove me wrong, but I can’t help but feel that the team took a step back this summer. The Clippers must ask themselves if adding Hawes, Douglas-Roberts, and Farmar while subtracting Collison, Jared Dudley, and Ryan Hollins make the team better than the 57-win squad of a year ago. Any way I look at it, the answer is a resounding “no.” Unless one of the team’s role players has a career season or help arrives via trade, the Clippers won’t be raising their own title banner to the rafters of the Staples Center anytime soon.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post. Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

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Offseason In Review: Phoenix Suns

December 3rd, 2014 at 2:15pm CST by Chuck Myron

Hoops Rumors is in the process of looking back at each team’s offseason, from the end of the playoffs in June right up until opening night. Trades, free agent signings, draft picks, contract extensions, option decisions, camp invitees, and more will be covered, as we examine the moves each franchise made over the last several months.

Signings

Extensions

Trades

  • Acquired Isaiah Thomas from the Kings in exchange for the rights to Alex Oriakhi. Thomas was signed-and-traded for four years, $27MM.

Waiver Claims

  • None

Draft Picks

  • T.J. Warren (Round 1, 14th overall). Signed via rookie scale exception to rookie scale contract.
  • Tyler Ennis (Round 1, 18th overall). Signed via rookie scale exception to rookie scale contract.
  • Bogdan Bogdanovic (Round 1, 27th overall). Playing overseas
  • Alec Brown (Round 2, 50th overall). Unsigned.

Camp Invitees

Departing Players

Rookie Contract Option Decisions

When last season began, many around the league reportedly expected the Suns would trade Goran Dragic before the 2014 trade deadline, in part because the Suns had acquired Eric Bledsoe to play point guard and in part because the team appeared to be rebuilding. Dragic instead enjoyed a career year and Phoenix never came close to letting him go during a 48-win season. Unbowed, Suns GM Ryan McDonough tripled down on point guards to team with Dragic for 2014/15, re-signing Bledsoe, signing-and-trading for Isaiah Thomas, and drafting Tyler Ennis, a collection of moves that few would have predicted.

Eric Bledsoe (vertical)The Suns made it clear long before the offseason began that they intended to keep Bledsoe in restricted free agency, threatening to match any offers for the Rich Paul client. That, coupled with a knee injury that limited him to just 43 games last year in his first season as a full-time starter, appeared to have the effect of scaring away would-be suitors, and Phoenix took advantage, holding the line on a four-year, $48MM offer through much of the summer. Bledsoe’s camp stewed, and he even put pen to paper on a qualifying offer that would have allowed him to hit unrestricted free agency in 2015 had he ever sent that signed QO back to the Suns. Phoenix explored all of its options, including a proposal to the Wolves that would have sent Bledsoe to Minnesota in a sign-and-trade in exchange for Kevin Love. Minnesota, already on the verge of closing on its deal to send Love to the Cavs, didn’t bite, but the Wolves later tried to engage the Suns on a different sign-and-trade idea that would have given Bledsoe the max he was seeking. This time, Phoenix was the team saying no, and soon thereafter, the Suns finally said yes on a deal to re-sign the 24-year-old, who shelved the qualifying offer for good.

The sides met roughly in the middle, with Phoenix granting Bledsoe a five-year, $70MM deal with average annual salaries of $14MM, or $2MM greater than their initial offer but almost $3MM less than Bledsoe would have received in a five-year max deal. The Suns absorbed the risks that the small sample size of Bledsoe as a starter wasn’t misleading and that his knee trouble won’t become a long-term issue in exchange for cost certainty as the salary cap escalates drastically in the years to come. There are no options in the arrangement, meaning Bledsoe is locked in through 2018/19. The Suns will have an elite point guard at a relative discount if he continues to develop.

They’ll also have another potent force at the position through 2017/18 thanks to their deal with Thomas, who felt jilted after the Kings refused to make him an integral part of their plans even after he put up 20.3 points per game for Sacramento last season. Thomas isn’t seeing nearly as many opportunities to score in Phoenix, and he won’t as long as the Suns backcourt is as crowded as it is. He’ll nonetheless make an average of about $6.75MM a year, better than mid-level money, to play in tandem with Bledsoe, Dragic and others, and that amount was enough for Phoenix to ward off a handful of other teams with interest, reportedly including the Mavs, Pistons, Heat and Lakers.

The Thomas deal went down nearly three months before the Suns re-signed Bledsoe, suggesting that perhaps the Suns viewed Thomas as insurance in case they couldn’t come to an agreement with Bledsoe. Thomas would have been wading into cluttered waters either way, given the presence of Dragic and Ennis, but as it is, the ex-King is an odd fit whose salary could become a complication if the Suns intend to lure other free agents to the warmth of the desert in the next few years.

Still, the Suns demonstrated plenty of times this past summer that they’re not averse to paying the sort of middle-tier salaries that other front offices avoid in favor of maximum-salary stars and minimum-salary role players. They committed money in the neighborhood of the mid-level exception to re-sign P.J. Tucker, who proved his worth as an outside shooter and strong rebounder for his size. They also handed out average annual values of $8MM and $4MM, respectively, to twins Markieff and Marcus Morris in rookie scale extensions, ensuring the former lottery picks who present matchup problems along the front line continue to do so for Phoenix. Their games don’t resemble each other’s as much as their faces do, as Markieff provides the rebounding and Marcus the three-point shooting. Neither is an elite talent, though both thrived in reserve roles last season that will change with the absence of Channing Frye, who bolted for Orlando.

It’s somewhat difficult to see why the Suns were willing to spend so liberally for mid-tier players but weren’t able to bring back Frye, who reeled in $32MM over four years from the Magic. That sort of salary wouldn’t have been particularly troublesome for a player whose inside-out game proved as effective as ever last season, even if the Magic turned a few heads when they shelled out that much for him. That’s particularly so in light of Phoenix’s willingness to shell out an average of $12MM annually for the Morrises.

Anthony Tolliver came in as a much cheaper alternative, and while he fits the profile of a stretch four, he hasn’t been able to stay on the floor much for the Suns, who’ve given him just 11.4 minutes per game so far. Still, at $3MM this season and with the vast majority of his salary for next season non-guaranteed, Tolliver represents a trade chip if coach Jeff Hornacek can’t carve out a more consistent role for him.

Playing time has been difficult to come by for the team’s 2014 lottery pick, too. Combo forward T.J. Warren has seen action in only seven games so far, rarely getting the chance to display the knack for scoring he honed at N.C. State. He was a bit of a stretch as a lottery pick, as Eddie Scarito of Hoops Rumors noted in his Prospect Profile, but at No. 18, the Suns came away with a point guard who for much of last season seemed destined to become a top 10 pick. The fortunes of Ennis stumbled down the stretch just as his Syracuse team did, but he was nonetheless a coveted prospect, and the Raptors were particularly keen on drafting the native of Ontario before the Suns got in the way. Phoenix used its third first-round pick on draft-and-stash prospect Bogdan Bogdanovic, who probably won’t be coming stateside until 2016, at the earliest.

The draft isn’t the only way the Suns used a European player to prepare for the future. The Suns brought Zoran Dragic from his Spanish team with a two-year guaranteed contract that will no doubt play on brother Goran Dragic’s mind next summer, when Goran has a $7.5MM player option. Goran Dragic unsurprisingly intends to turn that option down, and he seems prepared to test the market even though he’ll reportedly give the Suns the first swipe at him. The Rockets and Lakers have already been linked to him, and it appears that for a second straight summer, there will be some uncertainty about one of Phoenix’s elite point guards.

It’s nonetheless unlikely that those negotiations will drag on nearly as long as Bledsoe’s did, and the hard part of keeping the core of the roster intact is probably over for McDonough. Now, the even more difficult task of taking a playoff contender and turning it into a title contender looms. Regardless of how or whether the Suns get to that point under his leadership, this past offseason is further evidence that the GM is unafraid to cut an unconventional path to make it there.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.

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Offseason In Review: Los Angeles Lakers

December 2nd, 2014 at 1:31pm CST by Chuck Myron

Hoops Rumors is in the process of looking back at each team’s offseason, from the end of the playoffs in June right up until opening night. Trades, free agent signings, draft picks, contract extensions, option decisions, camp invitees, and more will be covered, as we examine the moves each franchise made over the last several months.

Signings

Extensions

  • None

Trades

  • Acquired 2014 pick No. 46 from the Wizards in exchange for $1.8MM cash.
  • Acquired Jeremy Lin, Houston’s 2015 first-round pick (lottery-protected), and the Clippers’ 2015 second-round pick if it falls anywhere from 51st through 55th from the Rockets in exchange for the rights to Sergei Lishchuk.

Waiver Claims

Draft Picks

Camp Invitees

Departing Players

Rookie Contract Option Decisions

  • None

In October 2012, just as the Lakers were beginning their sudden and shocking descent into also-ran status, Lakers co-owner and executive VP of basketball operations Jim Buss said that he planned for the team to “make a big splash in the free agent market” in 2014. The belly flop that took place this year surely wasn’t what he had in mind. The Lakers never had a realistic shot to land LeBron James, and though they reportedly floated a max offer to Carmelo Anthony after meeting with him, ‘Melo’s top two choices were instead the Knicks, whom he eventually re-signed with, and the Bulls, who would have required him to take a sharp discount. Chris Bosh and Eric Bledsoe, two other marquee free agents to whom the Lakers were linked, never appeared close to wearing purple-and-gold. None of the 10 players in the 2014 Hoops Rumors Free Agent Power Rankings signed with the Lakers, even though they entered July with just four players under contract and loads of cap flexibility.

NBA: Preseason-Portland Trail Blazers at Los Angeles LakersJulius Randle was poised at that point to become the fifth player on the Lakers roster, and though he’s lost for his rookie season with a broken leg, seemingly fate’s way of rubbing it in for a downtrodden franchise, the power forward nonetheless represents the promise of a brighter future. This year’s No. 7 overall pick was No. 2 behind only eventual top selection Andrew Wiggins in the rankings of both Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress and Chad Ford of ESPN.com when the season began last year. Randle failed to stand out quite as well as expected in his lone year at the University of Kentucky, but on a roster that’s always full of top-flight NBA prospects, that’s not altogether surprising. His size and strength give him a natural advantage on offense, and though his short arms will likely keep him from becoming a strong defender, he has the capacity to become a marquee player.

That won’t be for a while, however. He turned 20 just last week, and because of his injury, he won’t see the floor for the Lakers again until he’s nearing his 21st birthday. There will be a learning curve, to be sure, as well as an adjustment to playing again after such a long absence, so there’s a strong chance that the real Randle won’t emerge until 2016/17 at the earliest. Even the silver lining for the Lakers has gathered tarnish.

The Lakers drafted Randle and entered free agency without a coach, in part because the team wanted to be able to choose a coach to fit the roster, which was still largely a mystery. Still, it appeared unseemly that the job that Pat Riley and Phil Jackson had lifted to iconic status would be left open for so long, even if it was by design. Nevertheless, there was reason for the Lakers to take a deliberate approach to their choice after their hasty and unpopular decision to hire Mike D’Antoni early in the 2012/13 season, just weeks after firing Mike Brown and days after getting Jackson’s hopes up about a return. Jackson was off to the Knicks to serve as team president by the time D’Antoni resigned rather than coach 2014/15 on an expiring contract, so there was no chance at a do-over.

The Lakers interviewed Lionel Hollins, Mike Dunleavy and Alvin Gentry, and perhaps Kurt Rambis, too, though it was unclear whether Rambis, a Lakers assistant coach at the time, was given a formal interview. The team also considered George Karl but settled on Byron Scott, who had spent 13 years as an NBA head coach with the Nets, Pelicans (then Hornets) and Cavs. Scott had long ago forged a relationship with Kobe Bryant, mentoring Bryant when their playing careers overlapped as Lakers teammates in Scott’s final season and Bryant’s first. Scott began conversing with Bryant in coach-player terms even before the Lakers formally hired him on a four-year, $17MM deal with a team option on year four. D’Antoni’s tenure began with Bryant as an admirer of him, too, so there’s no guarantee that Scott and the star of the Lakers will always get along, but the lack of any rift at this point will help the emotional tenor of a team that faces an uphill battle nearly every night.

The Lakers didn’t make Scott’s job any easier when they lavished their most lucrative free agent contract of the summer on Nick Young. Most teams would do well to secure their leading scorer from the year before on a deal worth the rough equivalent of the non-taxpayer’s mid-level exception, but Young’s production last year was one-dimensional. He put up 17.9 points but dished only 1.5 assists and grabbed 2.6 rebounds per game. His 16.0 PER represented the first time that the 16th overall pick from 2007 had put up a better-than-average number in that category. Young’s season was reminiscent of the one he delivered in 2010/11 for the Wizards, when he scored 17.4 PPG for a similarly moribund Washington team. That, too, was a walk year for Young, but the Wizards didn’t tether themselves to a long-term contract that next summer. Young signed the team’s qualifying offer, watched his production plummet after a midseason trade to the Clippers, and didn’t recoup his market value until parlaying a minimum-salary contract with the Lakers last season into this summer’s jackpot.

The outgoing personality of “Swaggy P” was made for Hollywood, and he’ll help the Lakers sell tickets and capture TV ratings as he and Bryant hoist jumpers from all over the floor and pile up inflated point totals, but he seems like a poor fit in any traditional basketball sense. Young has so far taken a back seat to Bryant after returning from a preseason thumb injury that caused him to miss the start of the regular season, and it’s worked to help the Lakers win more games than they had while Young was out. Yet it remains to be seen if he and Bryant can co-exist peacefully even though both prefer the ball in their hands.

The Lakers were otherwise conscious of preserving cap flexibility for next summer. Jordan Hill netted an above-market $9MM for this season, particularly so given that he was only a part-time starter last year, but the second year in his deal is a team option. Jeremy Lin comes in via trade with a nearly $8.375MM cap hit and an actual salary close to $15MM, but he’s on an expiring contract, and the Lakers netted a first-rounder in that transaction, even if it’s destined to come in the 20s, given Houston’s strong play. Ryan Kelly received a two-year deal, but his room exception salary is a pittance to pay for a young player with some degree of upside. The same is true of Ed Davis and his two-year, minimum-salary deal. All of the other Lakers signees are without any guaranteed money or player options past the 2014/15 season, leaving the team with only about $35.1MM in commitments for next season, not counting the player option for Davis.

Still, the acquisition of Carlos Boozer‘s expiring contract came with a high cost. The Lakers put up $3.251MM in an effort to ensure that they’d have the high bid on him in amnesty waivers, a process that functions much like a blind action. That amount meant the Lakers would have to cut salary to reopen the cap room necessary to make a few of their pending agreements official, and Kendall Marshall‘s non-guaranteed salary was the casualty. The Lakers waived the now 23-year-old 13th overall pick from 2012 even though he’d averaged 8.8 assists in 54 games for the team last season. D’Antoni’s up-tempo offense played a part in that assists number, to be sure, but it still seems odd for a rebuilding team to cut ties with a productive player who was just two years removed from having been a lottery pick. That goes double when it happens just so the team can accommodate a declining veteran like Boozer, who plays the same position as Randle, whom the Lakers had drafted just a few weeks prior. Milwaukee wisely picked Marshall off waivers, and the Bucks can match offers for him in the summer of 2015.

Such missteps have not been uncommon the past few years, but the Lakers rewarded GM Mitch Kupchak in large measure for his work during the team’s more decorated past with an extension that runs through at least 2016/17. Buss and Kupchak have promised Jeanie Buss, the ultimate decision-maker for the Lakers, that the team will pick up ground in the win column with each season to come, but that’ll be a tough vow to keep this season, even though the Lakers set the bar rather low with 27 victories in 2013/14. Jim Buss said in April that he’d step down from his role in charge of the team’s basketball operations in a few years if the team doesn’t bounce back, and that clock is ticking. The Lakers will always have inherent advantages, based on their history and geography, but they’ll have to do a better job of putting those to use if Buss and Kupchak are to keep their jobs much longer.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.

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