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Offseason In Review

Offseason In Review: Miami Heat

November 7th, 2014 at 6:16pm 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 2014 pick No. 24 from the Hornets in exchange for 2014 pick No. 26, 2014 pick No. 55, Miami’s 2019 second-round pick and cash.

Waiver Claims

  • None

Draft Picks

  • Shabazz Napier (Round 1, 24th overall). Signed via rookie scale exception to rookie scale contract.
  • James Ennis (2013, Round 2, 50th overall). Signed via cap room for three years, $2.333MM. Second and third years are non-guaranteed.

Camp Invitees

Departing Players

Rookie Contract Option Decisions

  • None

When you lose a player who is arguably the best in the world, it’s not exactly a great start to an offseason. But that is the reality that the Heat had to deal with in the wake of LeBron James returning his talents to Cleveland. But alas, life must go on, and there are few folks around the league outside of Miami who feel sorry for the Heat. All things considered, team president Pat Riley managed to recover adroitly from the blow that LeBron’s decision struck, and Riley was able to land a number of useful new pieces while keeping a large part of the team’s core in place.

NBA: Atlanta Hawks at Miami HeatMiami’s most significant move of the summer was re-signing Chris Bosh to a five-year, $118,705,300 maximum-salary deal. The Rockets heavily courted Bosh, and Houston went as far as to deal away Omer Asik and Jeremy Lin in order to clear enough cap space to allow the team sign him. But in the end, Bosh stayed true to his word that he would return to South Beach, and the fact that the Heat were able to offer a fifth year didn’t hurt their recruitment efforts, either.

Now Bosh will get the opportunity to remind the league of his years with the Raptors when he was that franchise’s No. 1 option and averaged more than 22 points per game for five consecutive seasons. None of the “Big Three” sacrificed their games for the betterment of the Heat as much as Bosh did, and Bosh was suitably rewarded with his new deal. The 30-year-old forward has lived up to his end of the bargain thus far, averaging 24.2 PPG and 11 rebounds per game through the team’s first five contests.

Riley also re-signed franchise icon Dwyane Wade this summer, though I’m not as bullish on this deal as I am on Bosh’s, since Wade hasn’t appeared in more than 70 games in a season since the 2010/11 campaign, and he isn’t close to being the dominant force that he was during his prime. The $15MM that Miami will pay Wade this season isn’t a problem, but next season’s $16.125MM player option could hamstring Miami’s efforts to acquire another upper-tier player.

Also re-signing with Miami this summer were Mario Chalmers, Udonis Haslem, and Chris Andersen.  All three are valuable role players for the franchise, though I feel that the team overpaid for Chalmers, who had a brutal postseason last year, and with first-round pick Shabazz Napier showing enormous potential, having Chalmers and his $4.3MM salary on the books for next year could be unnecessary. As for Haslem and Andersen, both are valuable rotation pieces who bring an enormous amount of energy and tireless work ethic to the court, but both are over 34 years old and have had numerous injury issues the past few seasons. The frequency of injuries usually doesn’t abate as players age, and that’s especially true with big men. Their salaries aren’t excessive, but fully guaranteeing the second years for both could end up being problematic.

Miami already has $41,185,835 in guaranteed salary committed for 2015/16, plus another $28,447,077 in player options, totaling $69,632,912. With the injury risks for Wade, Haslem, Andersen, and the oft-injured Danny Granger, whom Riley signed on the cheap this summer, Miami could be looking at a large chunk of its salary cap sitting behind the bench in street clothes for long stretches over the next two years. The team will probably enter next summer without cap space, and depending on what it wants to do with Norris Cole, who went without a rookie scale extension and is poised for restricted free agency, perhaps close enough to the tax threshold to keep it from using the full mid-level exception. With LeBron gone, so likely are the days when veterans would be willing to take pay cuts to come to South Beach in return for a shot at a ring.

The team made a pair of other important moves during the offseason, chief among them the signing of Luol Deng. Much of LeBron’s numbers will have to be made up by aggregation, but it’s not only on the offensive side where Deng can help the team compensate for James’ departure. It is Deng’s defense and fiery demeanor that will benefit the team the most. Deng, who has a player option, may only stay in Miami for a season, depending on how strong a year he has, and how he feels about the direction of the team, but he is an excellent addition nonetheless.

I’m not particularly fond of the deal the Heat gave to Josh McRoberts, however. This signing was made prior to LeBron announcing his free agent destination, and a large part of me feels that if Riley had known he wouldn’t have James next season, he wouldn’t have done this deal. McRoberts would have been an excellent rotation piece on a contending team fronted by James, but as a starter who will be counted on for more than just spreading the floor, a four-year, $22,652,350 deal seems like a gross overpay for a 28-year-old forward who has career averages of 5.7 PPG and 4.1 RPG. The Hornets made a much wiser signing to replace the departed McRoberts with Marvin Williams, who has significantly better career numbers and has been more consistent over the course of his time in the league.

The Heat made the best of a trying situation this offseason, though a number of the deals they made could come back to haunt them next season. Riley proved his worth as an executive once again in being able to field a competitive team in spite of having been spurned by James. Miami is also lucky to reside in the Eastern Conference, so the team should factor into the playoff picture this year. Still, it’s next season when the Heat will truly feel the weight of the salary cap pressing down upon them, and absence of LeBron will begin to sting more sharply.

Photo courtesy of USA Today. 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: New York Knicks

November 6th, 2014 at 6:56pm 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

Camp Invitees

  • Langston Galloway
  • D.J. Mbenga
  • Orlando Sanchez
  • Jordan Vandenberg

Departing Players

Rookie Contract Option Decisions

The Knicks entered this past offseason in a difficult position, with the team in the luxury tax, their star player a free agent, no first round draft pick, and not much in the way of tradeable assets. This was hardly an ideal spot for new team president Phil Jackson to enter his first summer as Knicks president, but nothing in the NBA is ever easy.

The team’s first order of business was re-signing Carmelo Anthony, and despite stiff NBA: Charlotte Hornets at New York Knickscompetition from the Bulls, Lakers, Mavs, and Rockets, the team retained the star forward with a five-year, $124.065MM pact. Anthony did give the franchise a small discount, amounting to $5,071,124 over the life of the deal, with the intent that the team would use the extra cap space to try and surround him with more talented players. While every free dollar of cap room helps, the discount could be seen as more of a symbolic gesture on Anthony’s part to show that he cares more about winning than the amount in his paycheck.

Having inked his deal prior to the NBA signing its new $24 billion TV contract, I’m curious if ‘Melo would have still given the team a discount if he signed after the announcement. Perhaps he might have signed a contract similar to the one LeBron James did with the Cavs instead, though Anthony has gone on the record saying he wouldn’t have wanted a shorter deal. That would have allowed Anthony to see what changes Jackson would make to the team, giving the star forward an opportunity for an “out” if things did not improve. It also would have afforded Anthony the opportunity to really cash in when the new CBA takes effect, though a $124MM contract won’t leave ‘Melo clipping coupons anytime soon.

It is nonetheless possible that in four year’s time, Anthony’s deal will be looked at as a bargain, especially if the salary cap increases as drastically as is rumored, and even more so if the next CBA does away with max contract restrictions altogether. But for now, it can be argued that the Knicks handcuffed themselves to a max deal with a 30-year-old scorer who has only once made it past the second round of the playoffs, and whose best seasons are behind him.

The Knicks were in an extremely difficult position regarding Anthony’s free agency. Team owner James Dolan isn’t paying Jackson a record $12MM a season to allow the franchise to hit bottom and rebuild from the rubble, something that Anthony’s departure would have ensured. It would have also been a bitter pill for the team and its fans to swallow if Anthony was allowed to leave for nothing in return, especially since the franchise gutted itself back in 2011 to acquire him.

The other primary risk with allowing Anthony to depart would have been the hit the team would have taken in trying to recruit free agent talent the next two summers. With the trend of players forming superstar tandems or trios, it’s likely the Knicks would have relived the summer of 2010, when LeBron spurned them and they instead had to settle for signing Amar’e Stoudemire, a contract the franchise will be all too pleased to get off of its books this coming summer. Anthony’s presence should make Jackson’s free agent pitches more effective, though he’s not necessarily someone other players are clamoring to play with, either. His reputation as a “ball-stopper” is not unearned, though it can also be argued that Anthony hasn’t had enough talent around him at any point in his career for him not to have had to take the volume of shots (19.7 per game) that he has in his career.

Jackson’s second biggest move of the summer was the trade with the Mavericks that sent Tyson Chandler and Raymond Felton to Dallas in exchange for Jose Calderon, Shane Larkin, Samuel Dalembert, Wayne Ellington, and two second-rounders. This deal was a big win for the Knicks, despite New York giving up arguably the most talented player in Chandler. The 32-year-old big man had grown increasingly frustrated in New York and his production took a dip last season as a result. While his 9.7 rebounds per game were quite respectable, the 8.7 points per game he averaged represented Chandler’s lowest scoring output since the 2009/10 season he spent in Charlotte. Chandler also wasn’t the defensive stopper that he had made his reputation as being. Nagging injuries and the Knicks’ porous perimeter defense that often left Chandler exposed certainly contributed, but the fire that defined his first stint in Dallas was noticeably absent, and he was rumored to be a negative influence in the locker room as well as to have had issues with now-former Knicks coach Mike Woodson.

There was seemingly little, if any, chance of Chandler re-signing with the Knicks next summer when his contract was up, so dealing him away for something of value was a wise move. But even more importantly, the trade rid New York of Raymond Felton and his player option of $3,950,313 for the 2015/16 campaign. Shedding Felton’s potential 2015/16 salary was a bonus, but removing him from the on-court equation was the true benefit, since Felton was one of the worst starting point guards in the league statistically.

The players the Knicks picked up in the trade are certainly intriguing. Point guard Jose Calderon is a huge potential upgrade over Felton, and his outside shooting and competent ball distribution should be assets in the triangle offense, though he has yet to make his regular season debut courtesy of an injured right calf. But one negative involved with acquiring Calderon is that he’s signed for two more seasons and is scheduled to make $7,402,812 in 2015/16 and $7,708,427 in 2016/17. While those dollar figures aren’t excessive for a veteran with career averages of 10.2 PPG and 6.8 assists per game, his salary cap hit won’t necessarily help the Knicks nab max free agents. The other issue is that if the Knicks intend to try to sign Rajon Rondo next summer as has been rumored, Calderon’s contract could pose a problem for Jackson and the front office unless they are able to find a taker for it via trade.

Samuel Dalembert is a stopgap at the pivot, and not in Chandler’s class as a defender. So far this season he’s averaging 2.0 PPG and 4.8 RPG, but he’s only logging 16.4 minutes per game in the Knicks rotation.  The one surprising aspect of his game that has surfaced in New York is his ability as a passer in the triangle offense, where he’s far surpassing his career 0.5 APG, logging 1.8 APG thus far.

The potential steal of the trade with the Mavs was young point guard Shane Larkin, a first-rounder in the 2013 draft who didn’t see much playing time during his rookie season. Larkin has an extremely high upside, and he has been the team’s starter early in the season thanks to an injury to Calderon. But the Knicks may have made an error in declining to pick up his $1.675MM team option for next season since the CBA bars the team from re-signing him for more than he would have made on his option. If Larkin continues to impress on the court, he’ll likely command a higher salary than that option would have paid him. This could end up being another potential Jeremy Lin scenario, where the player has a breakout season and then another team swoops in and offers more than New York will be able to match.

Outside of the personnel Jackson acquired from the Mavs, he was also able to snag two second-rounders in the draft, valuable commodities for teams that are over the luxury tax line. While neither player is expected to make an immediate impact, it’s not unreasonable to think that Jackson maximized the value of those picks by selecting Cleanthony Early and Thanasis Antetokounmpo. Both players have high upsides, and Early, who was projected by DraftExpress as a late first round pick, was a steal with the 34th pick. Antetokounmpo won’t be terrorizing arena announcers in the NBA just yet, as he declined overseas offers to join the Knicks’ D-League team in Westchester.

Another contract decision that could come back to bite Jackson is the team declining to sign Iman Shumpert to a contract extension. Shumpert hasn’t lit up the stat sheets since entering the league back in 2010, averaging 7.8 PPG, 3.5 RPG, and 2.1 APG, but his true value is as a perimeter defender, a skill that is at a premium in the league with the shift in emphasis to guard play. Shumpert was the subject of numerous trade rumors last season, which would seem to indicate that the Knicks will have competition for the 24-year-old’s services next summer, should they wish to re-sign him. I look to Avery Bradley‘s four-year, $32MM deal with the Celtics as a good indicator of the sort of numbers Shumpert’s agent, Happy Walters, will be seeking for his client, as both players’ skill sets are remarkably similar.

Jackson made a number of other minor moves that were more placeholders than franchise changers, with one exception: signing Jason Smith with the team’s taxpayer mid-level exception of $3.27MM. While the Knicks have a glut of power forwards on the roster, Smith, if he can stay healthy, has the type of skills that can thrive in the triangle offense, as his 10.4 PPG average over 20.2 minutes per game this season indicates.

New York also made some drastic changes on the bench, firing Mike Woodson and hiring Derek Fisher to implement the triangle offense. Woodson wore out his welcome in New York, and with the locker room seemingly lost to him, a change was best for all parties involved. Fisher was Jackson’s second choice, but Steve Kerr, Jackson’s main target, chose to ink a deal with the Warriors instead.

While I like the hire of Fisher, I’m not convinced yet about the triangle offense. Yes, it’s worked for a slew of championship teams over the years, but the system doesn’t fit the team’s personnel very well, especially Anthony, who thrives in iso sets. Early returns haven’t been stellar, with the team averaging only 89.8 PPG thus far and looking extremely out of synch. It’s a work in progress, and I’ll hold my final verdict until next season when Jackson will have cap room to play with and can sign players who fit the system, rather than this year when he’s trying to put a round peg in a square hole.

The Knicks’ only real avenue for improvement this season is flipping one of their expiring contracts (Stoudamire, Shumpert, Andrea Bargnani) and/or one of their younger players like Tim Hardaway Jr., for established NBA talent. One name that is being tossed around in speculation as a possibility is Lakers great Kobe Bryant. Bryant would have to waive his no-trade clause for any deal to be a possibility, but his pedigree in the triangle and previous relationship with Jackson, though rocky at times, are why people advance this theory. Bryant’s acquisition would place him alongside ‘Melo, an interesting pairing. Both players have averaged nearly 20 shots per game for their careers, so seeing how the two would co-exist would make for interesting theater. But the Knicks would also be adding Bryant’s $25MM salary for 2015/16, which isn’t an ideal situation for a franchise looking to make a splash in free agency next summer.

One report indicated the Knicks were talking about swapping mercurial guard J.R. Smith for the Pacers’ Chris Copeland. Though a follow-up report threw cold water on the possibility of such a trade happening, and Indiana would have to add more to the deal to make it legal, it’s one that New York should jump on if given the opportunity. Smith has expressed his disdain for the triangle, has had numerous issues on and off the court, and the team has a glut of two guards, so ridding itself of the headache, as well as Smith’s $6,399,750 player option for next season, for Copeland’s lower-maintenance personality and expiring contract would be wise.

This looks to be a rebuilding year in New York, with the team fortunately owning its first-round pick in next year’s draft for a change. But unless the Knicks can score in free agency next summer, which is not a given based on past history, they may find themselves stuck in a position similar to where the Hawks have been the last few seasons — good enough to make the playoffs in the Eastern Conference, but not talented enough to make it past the first or second round. That’s not a result the owner or fans will be thrilled with, and Anthony isn’t getting any younger.

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: Charlotte Hornets

November 6th, 2014 at 5:07pm 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 2014 pick No. 26, 2014 pick No. 55, Miami’s 2019 second-round pick and cash from the Heat in exchange for 2014 pick No. 24.
  • Acquired cash from the Thunder in exchange for 2014 pick No. 55.
  • Acquired Scotty Hopson and cash from the Cavaliers in exchange for Brendan Haywood and the rights to Dwight Powell.
  • Acquired cash from the Pelicans in exchange for Scotty Hopson.

Waiver Claims

  • None

Draft Picks

  • Noah Vonleh (Round 1, 9th overall). Signed via rookie exception to rookie scale contract.
  • P.J. Hairston (Round 1, 26th overall). Signed via rookie exception to rookie scale contract.
  • Dwight Powell (Round 2, 45th overall). Subsequently traded.

Camp Invitees

  • Justin Cobbs
  • Dallas Lauderdale
  • Brian Qvale

Departing Players

Rookie Contract Option Decisions

The Sixers made the 1977 Finals four years after they set the record for the league’s worst winning percentage in the 1972/73 season. The Hornets would have to reach the Finals in 2016 if they were to duplicate Philly’s feat after finishing with a winning percentage that was even worse in the lockout-shortened 2011/12 season. Such a turnaround will be difficult for Charlotte to pull off, but the Hornets made significant progress toward that end this past offseason.

NBA: Preseason-Orlando Magic at Charlotte HornetsIt was the first for GM Rich Cho as the sole head of the front office after Rod Higgins resigned from his job as president of basketball operations in mid-June. Owner Michael Jordan had envisioned transferring some of Higgins’ responsibilities to Cho, but it’s clear that Jordan exerts his power in the recruiting department when necessary. The presence of His Airness in a pitch meeting with Lance Stephenson was key in convincing the volatile shooting guard to come to the Queen City. The Pacers turned off the Alberto Ebanks client with their hard-line negotiations, and the Mavs surprisingly watched the Rockets fail to match their offer sheet to Chandler Parsons, derailing the handshake agreement Dallas had with Stephenson. The Pistons, Bucks, Lakers and Bulls all reportedly spoke with the Stephenson camp, but the Hornets, with their MVP-turned-owner in tow, swooped in and closed on a deal in fairly short order.

It’s demonstrative of the sort of sway that Jordan still holds over the players who followed him into the NBA, as well as just how important the 2013 Al Jefferson signing was for the franchise. Jefferson’s three-year, $40.5MM deal seemed somewhat of an overpay last summer, but he lived up to his salary last season, and his presence, together with the team’s up-and-coming talent, is helping make the roster attractive to free agents. The Hornets also appeared to overpay for Gordon Hayward when they signed him to a maximum-salary offer sheet this summer, and though the Jazz matched, it still represented a coup of sorts for a team that was the laughingstock of the league such a short time ago. Jordan helped influence Hayward, too, and it seems that Jordan is finally learning how to leverage his accomplishments as a player to help the team that he owns.

Part of Jordan’s formula for ownership success involves the team’s former lottery picks, and none of them is more important to the Hornets than Kemba Walker. The team made that clear with its four-year, $48MM rookie scale extension for the point guard that keeps him from restricted free agency next summer, when a team could have inflated Walker’s price point the way the Hornets maximized Hayward’s. Hoops Rumors readers dubbed it the second most team-friendly among the nine rookie scale extensions signed around the league this summer, but $12MM is still a lot to pay for a point guard with a suspect shot who’s never won a playoff game. Still, Walker is improving as a ball-distributor, and his three-point accuracy has gone up each of his years in the league, including an increase to 39.3% so far in the small sample size of this season. In an NBA with few certainties about its salary structure in the years to come, with $24 billion of TV revenue poised to flood the league’s coffers, the Hornets achieved cost certainty with a promising 24-year-old, which is no insignificant accomplishment.

Charlotte also added to its stable of lottery picks with Noah Vonleh at No. 9 in this year’s draft, a pick the Hornets lucked into thanks to the Pistons’ misfortune following the 2012 Ben Gordon–Corey Maggette trade. Vonleh is raw, having just turned 19 over the summer, and he’s injured to start the season, but he was seemingly in contention to have been the first big man to come off the draft board this past June before slipping to Charlotte. He and Cody Zeller are around seemingly to help the Hornets move on from Jefferson, who can leave as soon as this summer if he opts out. Charlotte surely hopes Jefferson will stay a bit longer, but Cho and company are already planning ahead.

The Hayward offer sheet appeared to indirectly help the Hornets secure a power forward to pair with Jefferson for the time being. It may never be clear whether the Jazz would have pushed harder to re-sign Marvin Williams if they hadn’t needed to pay the max to match the Hayward offer sheet, but giving Utah a complication certainly didn’t hurt Charlotte’s efforts. The two-year length of Williams’ deal seems like a hint that it’s geared toward having Zeller or Vonleh eventually inherit his starting role, and it also allows Williams the chance to hit free agency again precisely when the new TV money is scheduled to start coming in.

Time will tell if Williams proves better at the four than Josh McRoberts, who enjoyed a career year last season, but McRoberts feels the organization didn’t fully embrace him in free agency this summer. Charlotte will surely miss his passing, and Jordan seemed to consider McRoberts a favorite, but continued improvement from Walker and the injection of Stephenson, another ball-handler, into the starting lineup could offset the loss.

Finding the right backup to Walker appeared to be another priority for the team, which signed Brian Roberts and re-signed Jannero Pargo, letting Ramon Sessions walk. The Hornets gave Roberts better money than Sessions wound up with from Sacramento much later in the summer, indicating that Charlotte’s choice was clear. Roberts doesn’t appear to possess the same ability to score that Sessions has shown, but he’s a better outside shooter, which fills a need for the Hornets. Pargo returns as a third point guard and stabilizing force.

The success of the offseason for the Hornets will in many ways come down to the way Stephenson performs, but even if he struggles and the Hornets fail to improve in the standings, the team demonstrated its presence as a legitimate destination for top-tier free agents. That doesn’t guarantee championships or even marquee signings, but it does indicate that the Hornets chapter of the franchise’s story will be much different from the Bobcats one.

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: Atlanta Hawks

November 6th, 2014 at 8:59am 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

  • Acquired 2014 pick No. 48 from the Bucks in exchange for a 2015 second-round pick.
  • Acquired John Salmons and Toronto’s 2015 second-round pick from the Raptors in exchange for Lou Williams and the rights to Lucas Nogueira. Salmons was subsequently waived.
  • Acquired Thabo Sefolosha, the rights to Giorgos Printezis, and cash from the Thunder in exchange for the rights to Sofoklis Schortsanitis. Sefolosha was signed-and-traded for three years, $12MM.

Waiver Claims

  • None

Draft Picks

  • Adreian Payne (Round 1, 15th overall). Signed via rookie scale exception to rookie scale contract.
  • Edy Tavares (Round 2, 43rd overall). Playing in Spain.
  • Lamar Patterson (Round 2, 48th overall). Playing in Turkey.

Camp Invitees

Departing Players

Rookie Contract Option Decisions

The Hawks returned 12 players from the end of last season, more than all but two NBA teams, but turmoil defined Atlanta’s offseason. Controlling owner Bruce Levenson’s September announcement, well-timed to coincide with the first Sunday of the National Football League season, that regret over a 2012 email with racial overtones had prompted him to sell the team touched off a full-blown scandal. It soon enveloped GM Danny Ferry, who took an indefinite leave of absence amid pressure after it was revealed that he read a racially charged scouting report during a conference call with the team’s owners in June, and at least one report has suggested that Ferry is unlikely to return to his position.

NBA: Atlanta Hawks at Miami HeatFortunately for the team and coach Mike Budenholzer, who’s acting as GM in Ferry’s stead, the business of the offseason was largely over by the time the imbroglio began. The Hawks arguably made their most noteworthy moves even before free agency began in July. They consummated a trade in the final hours of June that sent the rights to Lucas Nogueira, who was the 16th overall pick in 2013, along Lou Williams to Toronto for John Salmons. Ferry and his staff promptly waived Salmons, turning his $7MM partially guaranteed salary into just a $1MM vestige on Atlanta’s books. It was a naked attempt to clear even more cap room by a team that had the ability to open roughly $15MM in cap flexibility before the move. The trade brought the team’s flexibility into the $18MM neighborhood, which wasn’t quite enough to legitimately chase LeBron James or Carmelo Anthony but was suitable for a run at a pair of second-tier free agents.

One such target was Luol Deng, whom Ferry was in favor of signing in spite of the racist scouting report impugning Deng that Ferry verbalized in the fateful conference call. The Hawks offered Deng a package similar to the one he wound up with from the Heat, and his acquisition would have addressed what’s been an area of weakness for the team over the past few seasons. Instead, the Hawks made a much less flashier move for a wing player, agreeing to terms with Thabo Sefolosha for average salaries of $4MM over the next three seasons. Ferry did the Thunder and fellow former Spurs front office hand Sam Presti a favor when he structured the move as a sign-and-trade that involved the swap of two draft-and-stash prospects who’ll probably never play in the NBA. The Hawks took Sefolosha into their cap space while the Thunder created a trade exception. Budenholzer simply must hope that Sefolosha regains his shooting touch and that he doesn’t regress too drastically on defense over the life of the contract, which runs through his age-32 season.

That Sefolosha is likely the team’s most significant offseason addition, outside of 15th overall pick Adreian Payne, is a significant disappointment for a franchise that clearly signaled its intention for a more significant upgrade with the cap-clearing Williams trade. The Hawks have tried to wedge their way into the mix for Anthony, Dwight Howard and other splashy names over the past two summers, but they’re not gaining any traction. They failed to land a meeting with ‘Melo after doing so with Howard in 2013, and they were also unable to pull off a deal with a Plan B free agent analogous to 2013’s Paul Millsap signing. The Hawks possess the skeleton of a championship-caliber team, with Al Horford and Kyle Korver standing out as players who’d play key roles on a contributor, but without a true star, Atlanta faces long odds to avoid its annual first- or second-round playoff exit.

No one will mistake Mike Scott and Shelvin Mack for stars, but the Hawks welcomed back both of their restricted free agents with similar three-year deals that help solidify the team’s second unit. Injuries helped force Scott into action last season, and the power forward showed he was capable of handling NBA minutes even in the postseason, so he proved worth the investment of the 43rd overall pick in 2012. His new contract pays him like a rotation-caliber player, and it shouldn’t be difficult to trade if the Hawks want to swap some of their depth in a deal for a star, which might be the franchise’s easiest path to acquiring a marquee player given the failure to attract one via free agency.

The same is true of Mack’s deal, though it signals a lack of confidence in Dennis Schröder, the 17th overall pick from 2013. Schröder saw just seven minutes total in the playoffs and his performance when he did see time during the regular season made it plain that he’s still a ways off from making a meaningful contribution. Atlanta’s investment in Mack as the team’s backup point guard isn’t a hefty one, but it nonetheless signals that the team isn’t going to hesitate to move on from Schröder if he doesn’t show he’s capable of performing at the NBA level before too long.

A similar dynamic is at play between offseason signee Kent Bazemore and John Jenkins, whom Atlanta drafted 23rd overall in 2012. The Hawks picked up Bazemore after he averaged 13.1 points in 28.0 minutes per game across a 23-game stretch with the Lakers at the end of last season. It’s a relatively small $2MM-a-year gamble that his performance wasn’t simply a product of a small sample size, playing in Mike D’Antoni‘s up-tempo attack, or both. It’s also a move that seemingly made it easier for the Hawks to decline their fourth-year option on the rookie scale contract of Jenkins. Unlike Schröder, it’s not as if Jenkins hadn’t shown he could produce, since he canned 38.4% of his three-point attempts as a rookie. Jenkins missed most of last season with a back injury, and with Bazemore in tow, the Hawks have a chance to evaluate the health of Jenkins this season without having a guaranteed $2.228MM for him on their 2015/16 books.

Of course, whether Ferry had it in mind to decline the Jenkins option when he signed Bazemore is unknown, since the Jenkins decision came after Budenholzer assumed control of the team’s basketball operations. That, along with the decision to bring back Elton Brand for another season, were the only major moves that the coach has made since assuming his dual role, but he’ll probably have to make more. Hawks executive Dominique Wilkins, fellow former players Dikembe Mutombo and Chris Webber, attorney Doug Davis and former Grizzlies CEO Jason Levien have expressed interest in buying the team, but it’s still unclear how much of the team is up for sale, and until the existing ownership group determines that, the sale process can’t begin in earnest. It seems there’s a decent chance, if not a strong one, that Budenholzer will still be in charge of Atlanta’s decision-making come the trade deadline. Ferry left him plenty of flexibility, but with as the team’s difficultly in attracting free agents became only more profound this past summer, the deadline stands a a crucial pivot point for the club’s future.

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

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Offseason In Review: Toronto Raptors

November 4th, 2014 at 10:39am 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

  • Bruno Caboclo (Round 1, 20th overall). Signed via rookie exception to rookie scale contract.
  • DeAndre Daniels (Round 2, 37th overall). Playing in Australia.
  • Lucas Nogueira (2013, Round 1, 16th overall). Signed via rookie exception to rookie scale contract.

Camp Invitees

Departing Players

Rookie Contract Option Decisions

The results of this past offseason seem rather tame for GM Masai Ujiri, who made his mark with splashy moves in Denver and in his first months in Toronto. Still, it’s not as if the former Executive of the Year award-winner didn’t put in his fair share of work this summer. Kyle Lowry admitted that the Raptors weren’t always the favorite in the race to re-sign him but said that Ujiri’s enthusiasm for bringing him back influenced his decision to stay north of the border. There was a relatively slim field of suitors for the point guard who wound up with a four-year, $48MM deal, with the Rockets, Lakers, Mavs and Heat seemingly the only legitimate competition for Toronto, and reports later in the summer indicated that Miami’s interest was overstated.

NBA: Toronto Raptors at Oklahoma City ThunderThat weak market for Lowry had much to do with a glut of quality point guards around the league, but it also speaks to the uneasiness that comes with projecting Lowry’s performance. Last season was a career year for the now 28-year-old, and while it could be a signal that he’s entering his prime, it could also be a blip on the radar that precedes a regression during the season ahead. Many reports have documented Lowry’s attitude change for the better over the past year, but it remains to be seen if his demeanor is truly the key to his on-court production. The Raptors bet heavily that the 2013/14 version of Lowry more closely resembles the one who’ll be around for the next few years, but in Toronto, where free agents aren’t known to flock, the need to take such risks is higher than it is elsewhere.

The former Villanova standout isn’t the only Raptors point guard who’s back after having been a free agent. Greivis Vasquez made it clear that he longed to stay in Toronto, where he’d spent only a partial season after stops in Memphis, New Orleans and Sacramento during a whirlwind tour of the league on his rookie scale contract. Vasquez is only a season removed from having averaged 9.0 assists in New Orleans during his only full year as a starter. The buyer’s market for point guards surely didn’t help Vasquez, either, though he still probably could have ended up with a starting job somewhere, provided the Raptors didn’t exercise their right to match offers for the restricted free agent. The Raptors paid a premium of a contract valued slightly above the mid-level salary to keep him, but Vasquez is probably worth it, particularly since he gives the team a solid Plan B in case Lowry indeed regresses, and his presence tacitly puts pressure on Lowry to perform.

The Raptors were reportedly worried at one point that they wouldn’t be able to keep both Vasquez and Patrick Patterson, their other restricted free agent, but thanks in large measure to the Steve Novak trade, they were able to accommodate new deals for both under the tax line. The only cost of unloading Novak’s nearly $3.446MM salary on the Jazz, other than Novak himself, was a second-round pick that Ujiri had acquired from the Knicks in 2013’s Andrea Bargnani trade. Toronto took back the non-guaranteed salary of Diante Garrett and promptly waived him, opening the flexibility to give Patterson a three-year deal with salaries similar to Vasquez’s two-year pact. Patterson, the last pick of the lottery in 2010, never had the breakout year that Vasquez had, though he’s never had the opportunity to be a full-time starter, except for the first half of the 2012/13 season before the Rockets traded him to Sacramento. Vasquez has done more to merit his deal than Patterson has to earn his, but Patterson is nonetheless a floor-spacing power forward who provides a complement to the inside game of starting power forward Amir Johnson. Fit often trumps talent when it comes to building benches.

The Raptors had enough flexibility left over to bring in a player who once started for them and slot him for a bench role. James Johnson‘s stock had cratered before the Grizzlies signed him last December, but he made it plain that he deserves a place in the league, helping Memphis stay afloat while the team was dealing with numerous injuries. The 16th overall pick from 2009 can play either forward position, and though his lack of three-point shooting makes it a tougher go for him at small forward, Patterson’s floor-stretching ability once more comes in handy, since he and Johnson will likely see plenty of time together. Reports indicated the Rockets had interest while the Grizzlies were split on whether to re-sign him, but that doesn’t suggest there was a robust market for the 27-year-old, making his $2.5MM salaries seem pricey for the Raptors.

They’re still much less than what the Raptors would have had to pay John Salmons, whom Ujiri shipped to Atlanta before his $7MM salary for this season became fully guaranteed. The Raptors are shelling out more this year to the two players they received in return, but the 28-year-old Lou Williams, a double-figure scorer for the past seven seasons, has much more upside than the 34-year-old Salmons. Lucas Nogueira, the raw big man from Brazil whom the Raptors also received in the trade, ostensibly has more upside than Salmons, too, though his potential won’t be realized for a while.

Ujiri is clearly not averse to raw Brazilian big men, as he proved when he made one of the most shocking draft picks in the past several years, taking Bruno Caboclo with the 20th overall pick. Just 18 years old on draft day, Caboclo had spent the past season in the lightly regarded Brazilian league, scoring 5.2 points in just 13.0 minutes per game. There were other teams that reportedly planned to draft him before the Raptors would have had a chance to nab him with their second-round pick, at No. 37, but it’s unclear if those clubs would have had the temerity to go through with such a bold move when their picks came around. Perhaps most surprisingly, the Raptors signed him over the summer, starting the clock on his rookie scale contract and committing two years of guaranteed salaries to him rather than letting him develop overseas. That could pay off if he hits restricted free agency before he truly breaks out, allowing the Raptors to re-sign him at a discount, but there’s certainly no promise that he’ll ever truly pay off for the Raptors or anyone else in the league.

Ujiri filled his team’s final opening-night roster spot with Greg Stiemsma, an experienced backup center who can supplement an otherwise unproven (Nogueira, Caboclo) or undersized (Chuck Hayes) group of reserve big men. Stiemsma beat out Jordan Hamilton and Will Cherry in a spirited preseason competition, and with both Hamilton and Cherry now under contract with other NBA teams, it’s clear the Raptors are paying a premium for using a pair of roster spots on long-term projects. There’s an opportunity for the Raptors to go to the Eastern Conference Finals this season if they play well and catch a break, with Derrick Rose‘s health a question mark and many uncertainties surrounding the way the new Cavs will mesh. Still, the Raptors are at their heart a young team, with DeMar DeRozan, Jonas Valanciunas and Terrence Ross still gaining steam and Lowry seemingly just hitting his stride. Ujiri has as much of an obligation to look toward the future as he does to the present, and in that context, the Brazilian big men are just two more examples of Ujiri’s fearlessness.

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: Boston Celtics

November 3rd, 2014 at 3:37pm 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

Draft Picks

  • Marcus Smart (Round 1, 6th overall). Signed via rookie exception to rookie scale contract.
  • James Young (Round 1, 17th overall). Signed via rookie exception to rookie scale contract.

Camp Invitees

  • Tim Frazier
  • Rodney McGruder
  • Christian Watford

Departing Players

Rookie Contract Option Decisions

It was supposed to be the summer of Love in Boston. Alas, Kevin Love‘s early summer visit to the city turned out to be just that — a visit. The Celtics didn’t possess the sort of trade assets the Timberwolves were demanding for their All-Star power forward, and try as president of basketball operations Danny Ainge might, he never acquired them. The return of LeBron James to the Cavs stoked Love’s interest in playing in Cleveland, and once that happened, no team was able to match Cleveland’s package that included consecutive No. 1 overall picks. That left Ainge holding on to the perennial All-Star he already had and again enduring several more months of on-again, off-again Rajon Rondo trade rumors.

NBA: Boston Celtics at Cleveland CavaliersIn a twist of fate, the C’s helped the Cavs clear the cap room necessary to sign James, and in turn trade for Love, when they participated in a three-team trade with Cleveland and the Nets. Boston gave up only a second-round pick that’s so heavily protected it will almost certainly never end up having to surrender it to receive a what’s likely a late first-round pick in 2016 plus Tyler Zeller and Marcus Thornton. It’s debatable whether Zeller, the 17th overall pick from the 2012 draft, or the future pick is the most intriguing asset out of this swap for Boston. In some sense it could be Thornton, a double-figure scorer in four of his five NBA seasons, but his $8.575MM salary this season casts him merely as the booby prize of the deal for now. The C’s might be able to use his Bird rights to re-sign him and turn him into a bargain next summer, but for the time being the presence of his salary stands as an obstacle.

The acquisition of Thornton along with Boston’s decision to re-sign Avery Bradley wiped out whatever cap flexibility the Celtics might have had. The C’s entered the summer with only about $44.7MM in guaranteed salary, not counting their pair of first-round picks. A touch of creativity would have given them enough money to throw a max offer at a restricted free agent like Gordon Hayward, who played for coach Brad Stevens when both were at Butler. Of course, the Jazz proved they were going to match any offer for Hayward when they matched the max deal that the Hornets gave him. Still, in this summer’s wild restricted free agency market, in which Eric Bledsoe and Greg Monroe idled without contracts for months, that flexibility might have come in handy for the C’s.

Ainge instead decided to retain his own restricted free agent. Bradley was never in line for max money, but an improved shooting season and continued stellar defense helped him earn annual salaries of $8MM a year. The Celtics showed little hesitancy in committing to Bradley on the second day of free agency just months after the sides had failed to come to terms on an extension, suggesting that the former 19th overall pick made a significant impression last season. It was nonetheless an impression that didn’t stop the Celtics from drafting Marcus Smart sixth overall a few days before they reached a deal with Bradley, and the Smart pick prompted Ainge to once more deny rumors that Rondo would be the odd man out in what had become a crowded backcourt.

It nonetheless seems that the notion of a Rondo trade, or at least the concern that he’ll leave via free agency next summer, helped fuel Ainge’s choice to draft one guard and commit $32MM over four years to another. Smart’s rookie scale contract will see to it that Boston isn’t committing an overwhelming sum to its backcourt, but given the star potential of the former Oklahoma State standout, it could quickly become difficult for Stevens to distribute minutes. Perhaps Ainge is taking a cue from former understudy and current Suns GM Ryan McDonough, who’s doubled down on a strategy of stockpiling point guards that worked to surprising success last season, but time will tell if either experiment pays dividends in the playoffs.

James Young, whom the Celtics took at pick No. 17 this year, can also play guard, but he can swing to the small forward, too, and he’s less of an immediate threat for playing time. Jeff Green, who fits the Bradley mold as an above average player on a salary that’s above average as well, holds down the starting job at the small forward, where Gerald Wallace figures to see minutes if the Celtics have any hope of flipping his decidedly player-friendly contract.

The C’s entered the offseason hoping to use the nearly $5.3MM non-guaranteed salary of Keith Bogans as bait in a trade that would have significant consequences, but Ainge instead used it on the eve of training camp to acquire four players and two future second-round picks. Dwight Powell, the only one of the four players who remains on Boston’s roster, holds some intrigue after having been the 45th overall pick in this year’s draft, and the future second-round picks are not without value, either. But the trade exception equivalent to Bogans’ salary is the most intriguing asset from this transaction as far as Boston is concerned, and it essentially gives Ainge another year to turn Bogans into a player who can help the team. The C’s acquired Bogans in the Pierce/Kevin Garnett trade, so coming away with a contributor of some value would serve as a meaningful bridge from the last Celtics championship to the next one.

The Bogans trade did allow the C’s to accomplish one goal they’d set out to do since July, as before the exchange they’d been carrying too many players to consummate their free agent deal with Evan Turner. The stock of the former No. 2 overall pick isn’t what it used to be, as evidenced by a deal that represents a sharp pay cut even from his rookie scale contract, but he’s a versatile swingman who, at age 26, gives Stevens a chance to unlock the potential that’s yet to fully develop. He’s also another candidate for minutes in the backcourt in what shapes up as a season-long complication for the coach.

Turner’s contract, which fits within the taxpayer’s mid-level exception rather than the full mid-level, also speaks to Boston’s salary crunch, one the team alleviated only slightly in sending Joel Anthony‘s larger salary to Detroit in a one-for-one deal for Will Bynum. Boston is only about $2MM clear of the tax line, and that will present a challenge not just as the Celtics scour for midseason pickups, but also as Ainge tries to construct trades involving Rondo and/or others. This clearly isn’t the sort of team that Wyc Grousbeck and his fellow owners would deem worth paying the tax for, barring the unlikely event that Ainge can strike gold with with a swap.

Such “fireworks” simply failed to launch this summer, to borrow a term from Grousbeck and Ainge, and the reality is setting in that the moves that brought Garnett and Ray Allen to Boston in 2007 are exceptions rather than the rule in the NBA. The Celtics are stuck in no-man’s land, too strong to have a decent chance at the top pick, and too weak to make the playoffs. They possess one key to unlocking the door that leads out of that territory in the form of Rondo, the sort of legitimate star whom successful teams almost always have. Whether the C’s can get where they’re going with him and a team of good-but-not-great players is the key decision that Ainge must make in the months ahead, and it will probably determine whether Rondo remains in Boston for 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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2013 Offseason In Review Series

November 29th, 2013 at 8:50am CST by Luke Adams

Over the last several weeks, Hoops Rumors has been looking back at the 2013 offseason, team by team. Chuck Myron, Zach Links, and I have recapped and examined the offseason moves for each of the league’s 30 clubs, starting with the June draft and going all the way up to October extensions and option decisions. If you missed any of our Offseason in Review posts, be sure to check them out below, where we’ve rounded them all up in one place:

Atlantic Division

Central Division

Southeast Division

Northwest Division

Pacific Division

Southwest Division

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Offseason In Review: Los Angeles Clippers

November 28th, 2013 at 6:28pm 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

Trades

  • Acquired the rights to head coach Doc Rivers from the Celtics in exchange for an unprotected 2015 first-round pick.
  • Acquired J.J. Redick from the Bucks and Jared Dudley from the Suns in exchange for Eric Bledsoe (to Suns), Caron Butler (to Suns), and a 2015 second-round pick (51-60 protected; to Bucks). Redick was signed-and-traded for four years, $27.76MM.

Draft Picks

  • Reggie Bullock (Round 1, 25th overall). Signed via rookie exception.

Camp Invitees

Departing Players

Rookie Contract Option Decisions

  • None

Those who believe NBA head coaches have little effect on the game and are largely interchangeable can’t point to what the Clippers did this offseason as evidence. The team engaged in a lengthy back-and-forth with the Celtics over coach Doc Rivers, with negotiations seemingly stalling at multiple points before Rivers finally settled on heading to L.A. and the Clippers and Celtics agreed on a second-round pick as compensation. Clippers owner Donald Sterling, notoriously thrifty with coaches and executives, no doubt swallowed much harder at the prospect of giving up $21MM over three years in salary for the new coach, who’ll also head up the front office.

Securing Rivers also cost the team any chance it had at acquiring trade targets Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, since the league has banned any further transactions between the clubs this season. Exchanging active players for coaches would be a violation of league rules, and the NBA doesn’t want to open itself to speculation that another swap was always in the works as further compensation for the Celtics’ decision to let Rivers go. Garnett and Pierce wound up with the Nets instead, and while it’s possible they could eventually end up in L.A. via Brooklyn, I wouldn’t be surprised if the league put the kibosh on that, too.

Of course, it was commissioner David Stern who famously blocked a trade that would have sent Chris Paul from New Orleans to the Lakers, giving the Clippers the opportunity to acquire the All-Star point guard for themselves after the 2011 lockout. The bill came due this summer when Paul hit unrestricted free agency, but he made it clear from the start of the 2012/13 season that he didn’t want it to be his last with the Clippers, who’d begun to give Paul some input on their front office decision-making.

There were some tense moments, as teams like the Hawks and Rockets dreamed of teaming Paul with Dwight Howard, the other prize on the free agent market. If there was any serious doubt about Paul re-signing, it happened when the club let go of coach Vinny Del Negro in the spring. The superstar was reportedly upset when owner Donald Sterling intimated that Paul was behind the coach’s ouster. That tempest didn’t last, and oddly enough, it was when the Clippers hired Rivers, a move Paul seemed to push for, that the point guard’s return to the team finally seemed 100% assured. The Clippers and the 28-year-old veteran of six All-Star games agreed to a max contract on the first day of free agency. It was the rare case of a nine-figure outlay that drew little criticism for being too lucrative, and Paul’s 12.2 assists per game to start the season, which would be a career-high, have done nothing to fuel any skeptics.

Not all of the team’s moves this summer were immune to second-guessing, and even Sterling quickly soured on the next most important transaction the team made this summer. The owner reportedly gave his approval to the three-team trade that netted J.J. Redick and Jared Dudley, but revoked it after executives from all three clubs and agent Arn Tellem, who represents Redick, had agreed to the package. That left Tellem, Redick and the executives outraged, and the trade only happened after Rivers pleaded with Sterling to once more change his mind.

The owner got over his fears of committing more than mid-level money to Redick, a player who’s never started more than 22 games in a single season. Sterling also consented to the departure of Bledsoe, whom he was fond of even though Paul’s presence at point guard assured the 23-year-old would never reach his full potential in a Clippers uniform. The owner wasn’t alone in having those misgivings, but Redick and Dudley, whose reasonably priced contract offsets the notion that the team is overpaying Redick, give the team a pair of desirable complementary offensive weapons to soup up an already potent attack. The aging Caron Butler‘s bloated expiring contract and Bledsoe, who’d be nailed to the bench in L.A., was a fair price.

Acquiring two starters for the price of one in that deal allowed the Clippers to use the mid-level exception on their bench. They gave the better part of it to Matt Barnes, whose limited Non-Bird rights wouldn’t have been enough to retain him after his valuable performance as a reserve last season. More than a half-dozen teams were after the gritty small forward, who wound up inking the most lucrative deal he’d ever signed. That’s not an achievement most 33-year-olds are able to pull off, but Barnes is becoming more efficient as he ages, notching career-high 15.5 PERs in each of the past two seasons. His toughness is an asset on a club so worried about being considered a finesse team that it called for an end to its “Lob City” nickname in training camp.

The rest of the mid-level went to Darren Collison, a point guard coming off a disastrous season with the Mavericks. Collison lost his starting job in Dallas to journeyman Mike James, and the Mavs decided against tendering a qualifying offer to the player who’d at one point looked like a steal as the 21st overall draft pick in 2009. The Southern California native returns to familiar surroundings with an old teammate in Paul, whose injury when Collison was a rookie paved the way for the former UCLA Bruin to have a breakout year in 2009/10. The Clippers are banking on Collison to right himself so they don’t feel too much of a squeeze from Bledsoe’s departure.

Another player who’s experienced flameout in Dallas was on the Clippers’ radar this summer, but the team elected not to re-sign Lamar Odom when his off-court troubles made it too risky a proposition. It sounds like he’ll join the team at some point this season, but L.A. brought on veteran Antawn Jamison instead of Odom this summer. Jamison seemed perhaps the best bargain of 2012 when he signed his minimum-salary contract with the Lakers, but the 37-year-old’s steep regression last season made the minimum-salary price tag a fit this time around.

The Clippers aren’t deep at center and there are questions about whether they can get defensive stops when necessary, but the 2013/14 team is as well-positioned for a title run as any in franchise history. Paul, perhaps the best point guard in the game, is surrounded with Blake Griffin and a strong starting five, with capable backups at nearly every position and a coach with championship pedigree. Any organization tied to a pair of max contracts that are guaranteed through 2016/17 will have concerns about its flexibility, but neither of them will turn 30 until 2015, so there’s no reason to expect a drop-off in their games anytime soon. Unless the Lakers can convince LeBron James to sign with them in the near future, the best basketball in Staples Center will be played on a red-and-blue court for years to come.

Luke Adams contributed to this post.

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Offseason In Review: New Orleans Pelicans

November 28th, 2013 at 3:23pm CST by Luke Adams

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

Trades

  • Acquired Jrue Holiday and the No. 42 pick in 2013 from the Sixers in exchange for the No. 6 pick in 2013 and a 2014 first-round pick (top-5 protected).
  • Acquired Tyreke Evans from the Kings and the rights to Jeff Withey from the Trail Blazers in exchange for Greivis Vasquez (to Kings), Robin Lopez (to Blazers), and Terrel Harris (to Blazers). Evans was signed-and-traded for four years, $44MM. Withey was signed for two years, $1.31MM via the minimum salary exception (second year is non-guaranteed).

Draft Picks

Camp Invitees

Departing Players

Rookie Contract Option Decisions

One of the most misunderstood aspects of Michael Lewis’ Moneyball was the belief that the Oakland Athletics’ strategy always involved targeting the same specific kind of player. In fact, the Moneyball approach outlined in Lewis’ book (and later on the big screen) revolved around targeting qualities that had been undervalued by the market. In other words, zigging when the rest of the league was zagging.

In that sense, the Pelicans’ first major move of the offseason could be viewed as a Moneyball-type deal. Even on the night of the 2013 draft, many fans and pundits were already looking ahead a year, salivating at the prospect of landing a top pick in what should be a loaded 2014 draft. But while the rest of the league may have been trying to find a way to trade into the 2014 first round, the Pelicans recognized that trading out of that first round gave them the opportunity to land a player who was already an NBA All-Star.

So New Orleans made perhaps the NBA’s biggest splash on draft night, essentially announcing that the club was moving away from its rebuilding stage and intended to become a playoff contender. That meant the Pelicans sent the sixth overall pick (Nerlens Noel) and a top-five protected 2014 pick, two assets that wouldn’t help the team for another year, to the Sixers in exchange for up-and-coming point guard Jrue Holiday. The move certainly doesn’t reduce New Orleans’ window for contention — after all, Holiday is just 23 years old. But it gave the club a 2013 All-Star in Holiday to pair with a player who could be a 2014 All-Star (Anthony Davis), which looks like the start of an excellent core.

To go along with Holiday and Davis, the Pelicans also entered July with Eric Gordon, Austin Rivers, and Ryan Anderson as key pieces. Question marks surrounded Gordon and Rivers, due to health concerns and a disappointing rookie year, respectively, but there was enough talent on board that New Orleans could use its assets and cap flexibility to add another piece; an impact small forward or a true center looked like the most likely targets.

Instead of addressing one of those positions though, the Pelicans aggressively pursued Tyreke Evans, a restricted free agent and a player whose best fit is in the backcourt. New Orleans liked Evans enough to offer him $44MM on a four-year deal, and to give up Greivis Vasquez and Robin Lopez in a sign-and-trade on top of that. The idea of a Holiday/Gordon backcourt with Evans as a dangerous sixth-man scorer off the bench is intriguing, but the team’s focus on the ex-King was a little perplexing, given the more pressing areas of need on the roster.

Having committed most of their available cap room to Evans, the Pelicans found more modest solutions at small forward and center, re-signing Al-Farouq Aminu and inking Greg Stiemsma to a one-year deal. Aminu, who has been in the starting lineup for the first few weeks of the season, will have a larger role in the rotation than Stiemsma, but neither player should have a big impact on whether or not the Pelicans earn a playoff spot.

Lucking into the first overall pick in 2012 and drafting Davis was a huge boon for New Orleans, and I don’t even mind the decision to acquire Holiday for what could be end up being two top-10 picks. He’s an above-average point guard signed to a fair contract, and the draft never offers any guarantees. However, the Pelicans’ other major decisions in the last two years have been questionable. Gordon has yet to show he can be healthy and productive for a full season in New Orleans, and the cost to Evans was greater than I would’ve liked. Both players are locked into expensive long-term deals, which will reduce the Pelicans’ flexibility to add complementary pieces around them — the lack of a 2014 draft pick will also hinder the team’s ability to acquire young talent.

The Pelicans will likely take until at least this season’s trade deadline to see how the current roster gels, but in my opinion, it makes sense to seriously consider shopping Gordon or Evans at some point. Based on the club’s aggressive offseason pursuit of Evans, I’m guessing he’s not going anywhere, so perhaps Gordon, who has been the subject of trade rumors before, will find himself on the block in February. His injury history remains a concern, but he’s started every game for the Pelicans so far, so if he stays healthy into the new year, that multiyear contract should start to look a little more palatable for potential trade partners.

I don’t think the Pelicans turned themselves into a playoff team with their offseason moves, but the team did add plenty of talent to a roster that already featured one of the most promising young players in the league, in Davis. Although it remains to be seen if the current core will stick together in New Orleans long-term, the next few months should provide plenty of evidence for whether or not more significant changes are required for a team that underwent some major offseason changes.

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Offseason In Review: Memphis Grizzlies

November 26th, 2013 at 9:58pm 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 Kosta Koufos from the Nuggets in exchange for Darrell Arthur and the No. 55 pick in 2013.
  • Acquired the rights to Nick Calathes from the Mavericks in exchange for a fully unprotected 2016 second-round pick. The Mavs had already acquired that 2016 second-rounder, but it had previously been top-55 protected. Calathes was subsequently signed for two years, $1.31MM via the minimum salary exception (second year is non-guaranteed).
  • Acquired Fab Melo and $1.66MM in cash from the Celtics in exchange for Donte Greene. Melo was subsequently waived.
  • Acquired a 2014 second-round pick (31-50 and 56-60 protected) from the Sixers in exchange for Tony Wroten.

Waiver Claims

Draft Picks

Camp Invitees

Departing Players

Rookie Contract Option Decisions

  • None

Rarely is there so much turmoil for a team that just had its best regular season and playoffs in franchise history. For the first time, the Grizzlies won 56 games and made the Western Conference Finals, but the front office chain of command isn’t clear. Chris Wallace has the title of GM, but his powers appear greatly reduced from what they had been under former owner Michael Heisley. CEO Jason Levien, vice president of basketball ops John Hollinger and even new owner Robert Pera all appear to have some say-so in the day-to-day decisions that shape the roster, along with Wallace. Whoever’s in charge clearly wasn’t a fan of Lionel Hollins, whom the team decided not to re-sign in spite of his success. Hollins clashed with the team’s new analytics-heavy approach, and the Grizzlies found one of his assistants, Dave Joerger, more willing to apply advanced statistics on the floor. Joerger’s installation as head coach is probably the most significant change to a veteran roster that has a shot at the championship, but still must exceed expectations to make it happen.

The key task the Grizzlies had to complete this summer to remain in the championship race was bringing back free agent Tony Allen, an All-NBA defender each of the past three seasons. At least a half-dozen other teams were after the 31-year-old, but it seemed his heart was in Memphis all along. The Grizzlies nonetheless wound up paying market price, if not a little more, for a swingman who excels on defense while creating spacing problems on offense with his lack of long-range shooting. He’ll be 35 by the time the fully guaranteed four-year deal is up, so it’s worth wondering if age will cause him to lose his ability to keep up with opponents by the back end of the contract. The move also used up most of the flexibility the team had beneath the luxury tax line, the space the team tried so hard to create with the Rudy Gay trade and other moves in 2012/13. Allen is nonetheless an elite defender, the likes of whom the team would struggle to replace, and a contract with an average annual salary of $5MM — slightly less than the full value of the non-taxpayer’s mid-level exception — isn’t too much to pay.

Memphis snagged another sought-after free agent when it picked up Mike Miller after he cleared amnesty waivers from the Heat. As with Allen, half-dozen other teams were also linked to Miller, but all it took was a guaranteed one-year deal for the minimum salary to bring the 33-year-old aboard. Concerns about his health likely prevented any team from making an offer for more than one guaranteed season, since his long list of ailments nearly provoked him to retire in 2012. A report suggested he was considering fusion surgery on his back this summer, though that might have been a ruse to dissuade the Cavaliers from claiming him off waivers and keeping him from free agency, as our Luke Adams suggested. Injuries nonetheless kept Miller off the court for most of his tenure with the Heat, though he surfaced at the most opportune moments. The Grizzlies have been giving him heavy minutes so far, hoping his three-point stroke will offset the spacing issues the Allen signing perpetuated. It’s unclear how long he’ll hold up, but if he can sustain his contribution, he’ll be a serious bargain.

Conversely, an injury to Marc Gasol has magnified the benefit of another of the Grizzlies’ offseason moves. While Gasol recovers, Memphis has Kosta Koufos to insert as the starting center, reprising the role he played for the Nuggets last year before Denver traded him for Darrell Arthur and a late second-round pick. The trade made financial sense for the Grizzlies as well, since Koufos is slightly cheaper than Arthur, and only $500K of his $3MM salary for 2014/15 is guaranteed. Arthur has a player option on his deal for next season. The trade seemed driven by Denver’s front office, which sought to clear the way for JaVale McGee to see starter’s minutes. Memphis has been the beneficiary, acquiring a 24-year-old seven-footer who’s averaged double-digit rebounds per 36 minutes in each of the past three seasons.

Memphis invested in another young player with its extension for Quincy Pondexter. The 25-year-old showed enough improvement last season to apparently convince the Grizzlies that he may be an eventual replacement for Tayshaun Prince at small forward, or at least a capable rotation-level player. His 39.5% three-point accuracy in 2012/13, a rate that jumped to 45.3% in the playoffs, might be the key metric. He’s off to a slow start from behind the arc this season, but if he can regain his form from last spring, he’ll be well-worth the sub-$4MM salaries he’ll see over the course of his new deal. Teams and former first-round picks don’t often agree to extensions for such small amounts, but Koufos is another example of a player who did, and his deal has proven team-friendly. Locking up promising non-stars for the long-term could emerge as a cost-effective strategy for the small-market Grizzlies.

The team made another move for its future with its acquisition of Nick Calathes, a 2009 second-round pick and former University of Florida standout who had been playing overseas. The cost was another late second-round pick, so the Grizzlies clearly believe Calathes will outperform most players taken long after many draft-watchers have lost interest. He’ll slot in as a third-string point guard behind Mike Conley and Jerryd Bayless, and his development will likely determine whether the team re-signs Bayless, its putative sixth man, next summer.

The Grizzlies poked around at the fringes of the market this summer, claiming Josh Akognon off waivers from the Mavs and waiving him before opening night. They also traded Donte Greene for Fab Melo in what amounted to a money-grab, waiving the former Syracuse center just two weeks after acquiring him. Memphis took on Melo’s slightly larger cap hit, which is guaranteed money that remains on the team’s books, but acquired enough cash to cover his salary and then some. The result was slightly less room underneath the tax line this season, but a little extra money for a skinflint franchise bent on making the most of its limited resources.

The team’s creativity surfaced again in its use of the mid-level exception, usually a tool for signing veterans. The Grizzlies instead committed a part of it to second-round pick Jamaal Franklin, allowing themselves to lock him up for three years and have full Bird rights when he’s eligible for restricted free agency. Most over-the-cap teams are limited to the minimum-salary exception for their second-rounders, leading to the sort of inflated offer sheet that former Bull Omer Asik signed with the Rockets via the Gilbert Arenas provision.

The new Grizzlies regime is carefully studying every move it makes, a hands-on approach that cost it a proven coach. The team’s strategy is not for everyone, but traditional methods can only take a small-market team so far. What’s happening in Memphis will probably have ripple effects across the league. If Joerger loses the locker room and the team’s careful penny-pinching doesn’t move it any closer to a title, the analytics movement will take a hit. If Memphis can take the next step despite not having a superstar, the NBA will be full of number-crunching copycats.

Luke Adams contributed to this post.

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