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Offseason In Review: Cleveland Cavaliers

November 9th, 2013 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

Trades

  • Acquired a 2015 second-round pick and a 2016 second-round pick from the Trail Blazers in exchange for the No. 31 pick in the 2013 draft.

Draft Picks

  • Anthony Bennett (Round 1, 1st overall). Signed via rookie exception.
  • Sergey Karasev (Round 1, 19th overall). Signed via rookie exception.
  • Carrick Felix (Round 2, 33rd overall). Signed via cap space for four years, $3.29MM. Third year is non-guaranteed. Fourth year is team option.

Camp Invitees

Departing Players

Rookie Contract Option Decisions

The Cavaliers sure weren’t afraid to take a few chances this summer. Risk-taking might be necessary for a small-market team to succeed in a league where the Nets are spending $180MM+ in payroll and luxury taxes this season. Maybe it’s part of the team’s plan to show LeBron James they’re willing to do whatever it takes to win as the former Cav eyes potential free agency in the summer of 2014. Whatever it means for the franchise down the road, the team’s bold moves must help the team to the playoffs this season to satisfy owner Dan Gilbert.

The Andrew Bynum signing was the splashier gamble, but the risk with the most long-term consequences for the club could be the decision to draft Anthony Bennett with the No. 1 overall pick. Few anticipated that the UNLV forward would be the choice, and there was speculation on the eve of the draft that he could slide all the way to the Blazers at tenth overall. That same report said the Cavs were deciding between Alex Len and Nerlens Noel, while another dispatch within 10 days of the draft specifically mentioned Bennett as a player the Cavs wouldn’t draft unless they traded down. The Cavs took Bennett even though his injured rotator cuff prevented him from working out prior to the draft and kept him out of summer league, but neither Noel or Len were healthy at draft time, either.

GM Chris Grant seemingly had ample opportunity to trade the top pick, and he appeared willing to seek a deal of some kind for all four of the team’s selections, as a slew of trade rumors linked the Cavs to Paul Pierce, Kevin Love, Luol Deng and Shawn Marion, among others. They ultimately hung on to both of their first-round picks and converted the top pick in the second round into a pair of future picks that will probably fall somewhere in the middle of the second round. They open a playoffs-or-bust season with three June draftees and undrafted signee Matthew Dellavedova, and none of their four rookies are starting.

Grant’s most prominent free agent signing isn’t starting either, and Bynum has already hinted that he may be much closer to retirement than his old All-Star form. Hitching their wagon to Bynum’s creaky knees was a risk, to be sure, but the Cavs at least gave themselves an out, guaranteeing less than 25% of his nearly $25MM contract. The team can write the $6MM guarantee off as a loss if they don’t like what they see by January 10th, but doing so wouldn’t erase thoughts of what the Cavs might have done if they had used their ample cap space to go after another center, either through trade or free agency.

Nikola Pekovic went weeks without signing an offer from the Timberwolves or any other team, and if the Cavs had swooped in, the worst-case scenario would have involved the offer sheet tying up their cap room for a scant three days before Minnesota decided to match. Pekovic’s $12.1MM salary this season is slightly less than what Bynum will get if he remains on the roster past January 10th, so Grant and company probably wouldn’t have had to significantly alter their other free agent plans to come away with Pekovic.

Of course, Bynum’s upside, like Bennett’s, appeared higher than competing options, and Grant made it clear this summer that he would be bold. The GM gambled on another signing, betting that the half-season of helpful production that Earl Clark gave the Lakers was a greater indicator of Clark’s ability than his three and half years spent as a non-factor. I figured Clark would get a deal worth about $2MM a year when I examined his free agent stock in May, but the Cavs gave him double that.

Another of Grant’s moves seemed more on target. I thought Jarrett Jack would wind up with approximately $6MM annually, and that’s just about what the Cavs gave him. Jack is another bench piece, but he, not Stephen Curry, had the ball in his hands for key stretches with the Warriors last season, when Golden State emerged from the lottery to mount a serious challenge in the second round of the playoffs. Grant no doubt envisions Jack doing the same alongside Kyrie Irving this year.

Clark has opened the season as the starter at small forward, but all of the other additions for the Cavs this season are to the team’s bench. The eight players who departed the team were reserves, too, but Cleveland didn’t lose 58 games last season simply because its bench was substandard. The team’s first string has to improve for it to make the playoffs, and unless Bennett, Bynum or another player currently not in the starting lineup nabs a spot at some point, it seems the Cavs had a summer of lateral movement. The return of Anderson Varejao will certainly help, but his injury history cautions against banking on a full season from him. The pressure’s on Irving, Dion Waiters and Tristan Thompson to show marked improvement this year. The former top-five picks certainly seem capable of doing so, but an improvement of 17 wins, which would bring the team to .500, is not an easy leap.

The specter of LeBron returning to the team he left behind will tempt Cleveland all season, even if he refuses to talk about his ability to opt out of his contract with the Heat. The Cavs will be able to clear enough space to welcome him back to northeast Ohio with a max deal, and they’ll have plenty of talented young players with upside to surround him. But unless Grant continues to upgrade the roster with in-season trades, it’ll be a stretch for the Cavs to demonstrate to LeBron that they can put a playoff-caliber roster around him.

Luke Adams contributed to this post.

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Offseason In Review: Orlando Magic

November 8th, 2013 at 6:09pm 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

  • None

Draft Picks

  • Victor Oladipo (Round 1, 2nd overall). Signed via rookie exception.
  • Romero Osby (Round 2, 51st overall). Signed via mid-level exception for three years, $2.45MM. He was subsequently waived, earning a partial guarantee of $100K.

Camp Invitees

Departing Players

Rookie Contract Option Decisions

As this summer’s Dwight Howard sweepstakes played out, the Magic left the drama for other teams to worry about. No longer does Howard’s indecisiveness grip the franchise in the stasis of a daily soap opera. GM Rob Hennigan has instead focused on making forward progress on a rebuilding project that began the moment he shipped D12 away in the four-team blockbuster that the other three franchises involved have little to show for 15 months later. The Magic came away from the deal with a pair of building blocks who took major strides last season in Nikola Vucevic and Maurice Harkless. The first of the three first-round picks that Hennigan arranged for in the deal will arrive next summer. Orlando is well-positioned for a rise back into the Eastern Conference elite, even if last season’s league-worst 20-62 record shows there’s still a long climb ahead.

Probably the most important decision Hennigan had this summer involved what to do with the No. 2 overall selection in June’s draft. The choice was a little harder than usual, since the Cavs left everyone guessing about their pick at No. 1 until the moment David Stern called Anthony Bennett’s name. Hennigan admitted that he fielded some “tempting” trade offers for the pick, but ultimately hung on to it. A trade rumor involving a swap of Arron Afflalo to the Clippers for Eric Bledsoe and Caron Butler persisted for a month leading up to the draft, and its proliferation seemed to signal that the team was interested in drafting a shooting guard. The Magic’s $22.5MM commitment to Afflalo over the next three years represents the team’s largest commitment, so there might have been plenty of reason to either draft a player at another position or move Afflalo’s contract elsewhere. Again, Hennigan decided against a trade, and though Orlando was reportedly interested in Nerlens Noel, the Magic instead picked Victor Oladipo, who had won out over fellow two-guard Ben McLemore in the team’s eyes.

The Magic have curiously tried Oladipo at point guard, and while that figures to steepen the rookie’s learning curve, he’s still receiving plenty of Rookie of the Year buzz in what should be a wide-open race. Oladipo wasn’t even a starter on his high school team as a junior in 2008/09, when the Magic’s last wave of talent peaked with a berth in the NBA Finals, but his rise has been just as precipitous as the team’s fall. He, clearly, is a building block along with center Vucevic, forwards Harkless and Tobias Harris, and, to a lesser degree, power forward Andrew Nicholson.

That group is an unbalanced one, with too many frontcourt pieces and not enough guards. The Magic may envision more players learning new positions, as they’re attempting to have Oladipo do, but their complete lack of trades this summer suggests the team still has some evaluations to make. Oladipo, Vucevic, Harkless, Harris and Nicholson will all remain on their rookie scale contracts through at least 2014/15. None are close to reaching their potential, as last season’s record indicates. That makes this year a crucial one, particularly for the three forwards, as Hennigan decides which players he keeps as he pivots toward a run at the playoffs.

For now, the sharpest focus is on growth, not wins. Hennigan initially suggested he wouldn’t use the team’s mid-level exception, but he wound up spending part of it on Jason Maxiell, a veteran who’s been on plenty of both winning teams and losing teams in his eight years with the Pistons. Maxiell’s contract is guaranteed only for this season, one in which the Magic don’t have legitimate playoff hopes, and he plays at the already crowded power forward position. It seems the Magic intend for the 30-year-old to act as a mentor for the club’s young guys, making his signing more about what he can bring off the court than on it.

By contrast, the Magic clearly don’t want the player with the most experience on the roster hanging around the locker room. They told Hedo Turkoglu to stay home before training camp, and he hasn’t been with the team since as Hennigan tries to find a taker for his contract. The Magic already have nearly $6.4MM on this season’s payroll committed to players who aren’t on the roster anymore, including more than $3.8MM for Al Harrington, whom the team waived in August. Hennigan would surely like to avoid adding to that dead money, even though Turkoglu’s $12MM contract is, like Harrington’s, only 50% guaranteed. It will be a challenge to come up with a team willing to trade for Turkoglu, and the team’s decision to keep him at home only makes it tougher.

Hennigan probably spent a lot of time this summer trying to find trade partners for a few of his other veterans. He’s seeking a first-round pick for Jameer Nelson, though it seems unlikely he’ll get one for Nelson alone, given the commoditization of first-rounders these days. The Magic’s best-case scenario might involve finding a team that would take Nelson and either Turkoglu or Glen Davis for some combination of young players and picks, but Davis, due $13MM in guaranteed cash over this season and next, will also be difficult to deal. He represents the team’s second-largest commitment behind Afflalo, who’ll no doubt continue to be a trade candidate, too.

It was a quiet offseason after draft night for the Magic, a welcome relief for a franchise still reeling from Dwight’s departure. Still, the front office remains at work trying to accelerate the shedding of the veterans left over from the last iteration of the team while keeping an eye on which among a growing store of talented young players emerge as keepers. The Magic have only about $33.5MM in guaranteed money for next season, not counting cap holds and two first-round draft picks. Hennigan and company probably have enough room to make a max offer to a marquee free agent this coming summer, with Orlando’s warm climate and lack of state income tax as carrots on a stick. The summer of 2014 figures to be more exciting for the Magic than the one that preceded it.

Luke Adams contributed to this post.

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Offseason In Review: Chicago Bulls

November 7th, 2013 at 4:54pm 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

  • None

Draft Picks

  • Tony Snell (Round 1, 20th overall). Signed via rookie exception.
  • Erik Murphy (Round 2, 49th overall). Signed via minimum salary exception. First year is partially guaranteed for $250K. Second year is non-guaranteed.

Camp Invitees

Departing Players

Rookie Contract Option Decisions

For the last couple years, Bulls fans have been waiting on the team’s front office to make the move that will turn Chicago from a perennial contender into an Eastern Conference powerhouse. While the Heat have come out of the East in each of the last three seasons, the Bulls finished atop the regular season standings in two of those seasons, only dropping off in 2012/13 when Derrick Rose was sidelined for the year. The perception is that if the Bulls could find one more star to complement Rose, it may be Chicago, not Miami, that enters the playoffs as the odds-on favorite for the title.

But multiple offseasons have come and gone without the Bulls trading or amnestying Carlos Boozer. Luol Deng‘s contract inches closer to its end date. And future assets like 2011 first-round pick Nikola Mirotic and a future Bobcats’ first-rounder remain unused. Are the Bulls failing to take advantage of what could be a fleeting championship window, or is the front office simply biding its time, waiting for the best opportunity to strike?

I’m inclined to give the Bulls the benefit of the doubt, and assume that any major changes the club plans to make will happen next summer. Deng’s contract expires at that point, while Boozer’s becomes an expiring deal, making it easier to move, or at least easier to swallow via amnesty. There’s a chance Mirotic will finally come stateside for the 2014/15 season, and the club will have a clearer idea of when that Charlotte pick will finally change hands (it’s top-10 protected in 2014, top-8 protected in 2015, and unprotected in 2016).

Since the opportunity to make the biggest possible splash is still a few months away, it comes as no surprise that this past offseason was a fairly quiet one for Chicago. Despite not having Rose for the 2012/13 season, the Bulls still managed win 45 games and a playoff series. Re-adding a former MVP to a team that performed admirably without him qualifies as a big enough splash to make the Bulls a legit threat to topple the Heat and Pacers and win the conference.

Although much has been made about the lack of a second star to play alongside Rose, it’s worth noting that Deng is now a two-time All-Star, while Joakim Noah is coming off a top-five finish in Defensive Player of the Year voting. Throw in a still-productive Boozer, a solid third big man in Taj Gibson, and a rising star in Jimmy Butler, and there are certainly enough pieces here to compete. The Bulls may have missed out on putting together a Heat-like Big Three of their own when LeBron James hit free agency in 2010, but the current roster compares favorably to recent Finalists like the Mavericks and Spurs.

So with the promise of a returning superstar, the Bulls’ summer was about making small tweaks here and there. Mike Dunleavy was one of the first free agents off the board in July, and he’s an excellent fit for a team that lost Marco Belinelli. The veteran Dunleavy is said to be a fan of Chicago’s work ethic under head coach Tom Thibodeau, and the fact that he can make a three-pointer doesn’t hurt, since that’s not a huge strength for the Bulls’ starting wings — over his last three seasons, Dunleavy has averaged 1.6 threes per game on 41.1% shooting from downtown.

The return of the Bulls’ star point guard meant there wasn’t a strong need to retain Nate Robinson, who was likely out of the team’s price range anyway. In his place, the club re-acquired Mike James, a veteran who is already familiar with Thibodeau’s system and one who was willing to sign for a non-guaranteed minimum salary. Nazr Mohammed was also re-signed, and the Bulls added a pair of rookies in the draft, though neither Tony Snell nor Erik Murphy figure to get big minutes anytime soon.

The Bulls have always been a cost-conscious franchise, paying the luxury tax last season for the first time in club history. That’s likely a big reason why Chicago is one of only two NBA teams carrying the minimum 13 players into the regular season. Nonetheless, the club is well into the tax again this year, with $78MM+ in guaranteed salaries. Sneaking below the threshold looks nearly impossible, barring a huge salary dump, so it appears ownership is willing to pay those penalties again. I’d guess Bulls ownership would even be willing to use those open roster spots to add a veteran or two to fill out the roster in the second half, when they wouldn’t be earning full-season salaries.

Outside of the excitement of seeing Rose return to the court, it wasn’t a dramatic summer for the Bulls, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Some of the league’s most successful teams are the ones with the least amount of annual roster turnover, and Chicago has enough talent to be a serious contender without any major changes. If the Bulls fall short again in the postseason in 2014, the club could seriously shake things up next July, but the decision to stand relatively pat this time around makes sense.

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Offseason In Review: Toronto Raptors

November 6th, 2013 at 4:10pm 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

Draft Picks

  • None

Camp Invitees

Departing Players

Rookie Contract Option Decisions

If one of the keys to assembling a successful NBA roster involves buying low and selling high on assets, Masai Ujiri‘s return to Toronto is somewhat ironic. After all, Ujiri had been with the Raptors previously, working in a more under-the-radar position as the team’s assistant GM under Bryan Colangelo, before he was hired away by the Nuggets. After he was named Executive of the Year earlier in 2013, the Raptors lured him back to Toronto with a lucrative multiyear offer to run the team’s basketball operations. Now the Raptors are hoping that, with Ujiri running the show, the GM himself is the last asset the team has to “buy high” on anytime soon.

With no picks at his disposal in the 2013 draft, the first task facing Ujiri upon his arrival in Toronto was figuring out what to do with Andrea Bargnani. The former first overall pick had been the subject of a few amnesty rumors leading up to the offseason, but a trade was the preferred option, since Linas Kleiza always looked like the team’s most likely amnesty victim. Coming off a 2012/13 season in which he appeared in just 35 games, posting an 11.2 PER to go along with a .399 FG%, Bargnani’s stock was at an all-time low.

Yet somehow Ujiri managed to land a first-round pick for Bargnani, along with a pair of future second-rounders and a couple of the Knicks’ unwanted mid-level contracts. The first-rounder headed to Toronto in 2016 will be the less favorable of Denver’s and New York’s picks that year. Such a pick wouldn’t have been all that desirable in 2013, but who knows what the Nuggets and Knicks will look like three years from now — it’s not out of the realm of possibility that both clubs could be in the lottery.

For Ujiri, who engineered the deals that shipped Carmelo Anthony and Nene out of Denver, the Bargnani trade was the latest example of his ability to extract more value than expected in situations where he didn’t have much leverage. It’s a talent that could come in handy in the next year or two for the Raptors, since players like Rudy Gay, Kyle Lowry, and DeMar DeRozan may not fit in the team’s long-term plan. If Ujiri decides to move any of those players, Raptors fans should have confidence that he won’t settle for 50 cents on the loonie.

Outside of the Bargnani deal, Ujiri’s first offseason back with the Raptors lacked a major splash. As mentioned earlier, Toronto didn’t have a first- or second-rounder in June’s draft, and the absence of any real cap flexibility ensured that the club was fairly quiet in free agency. The front office also took a wait-and-see approach with head coach Dwane Casey, who is in the final year of his contract.

The Raptors’ handful of small signings were uninspiring, as the team added a pair of players who contributed to a subpar Pacers bench last season: Tyler Hansbrough and D.J. Augustin. In addition to the ex-Pacers duo, the Raps signed Austin Daye, Dwight Buycks, and Julyan Stone to deals worth the minimum or close to it. Toronto liked Buycks enough to offer him a guaranteed non-minimum salary in his rookie year, and Stone’s time in Denver put him on Ujiri’s radar. Still, it’s unlikely that either player, or Daye, will play significant minutes this season unless injuries plague the team’s regular contributors.

The Raptors head into the 2013/14 season in a tough spot. The team is playing in the right conference to contend for a postseason berth, and there’s enough talent on the roster that it’s a real possibility. But unlike his predecessor, Ujiri reportedly doesn’t believe the current roster is capable of turning the Raptors into a legit contender, so he’ll be tasked with figuring out the best way to change that.

While blowing up everything and building around Jonas Valanciunas is one option, another extended rebuild doesn’t sound overly appealing for a team that has only advanced past the first round once in its history. The best-case scenario for Ujiri involves finding a way to turn his veteran assets into 2014 picks or young players that would help the Raptors improve their long-term prospects without considerably compromising the club’s short-term outlook.

That’s much easier said than done, though if there’s a GM capable of it, it’s the NBA’s reigning Executive of the Year. For Ujiri, the Bargnani trade was a step in the right direction, but the toughest decisions are still to come.

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Offseason In Review: Washington Wizards

November 5th, 2013 at 6:15pm 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

Draft Picks

  • Otto Porter (Round 1, 3rd overall). Signed via rookie exception.
  • Glen Rice Jr. (Round 2, 35th overall). Signed via minimum salary exception for two years, $1.31MM. Second year is partially guaranteed for $400K.

Camp Invitees

Departing Players

Rookie Contract Option Decisions

The pressure’s on in Washington. GM Ernie Grunfeld, like coach Randy Wittman, is entering the final season of his contract, and owner Ted Leonsis says he expects the Wizards to be a “playoff-caliber team” this year. That’s not quite a playoffs-or-else declaration, but it’s about as close as it gets. It would be surprising to see either Grunfeld or Wittman still on the job if the Wizards miss the postseason, and that’s evident in the trade the team pulled off just before the regular season began.

The news that Emeka Okafor‘s neck injury threatens to keep him out all season broke shortly after the Wizards traded him to the Suns. The Wizards had no doubt known already that Okafor could miss significant time, so Grunfeld pulled the trigger on a deal he’d been working on for a few weeks. The acquisition of Marcin Gortat, a replacement at center for Okafor, came at the cost of a first-round pick, a precious commodity these days made even more so by the likelihood that the pick will go to Phoenix this coming year, meaning the Wizards will miss out on a heralded draft class. The selection is top-12 protected for 2014, meaning there’s a disaster scenario in which the Wizards miss out on the playoffs and lose their 2014 first-rounder. The trade had a negligible financial impact, and Gortat’s on an expiring contract, so there’s a chance that come July, the Wizards will have nothing to show for having done the deal. That’s why it served to tighten the screws on a postseason mandate.

Still, not all of Grunfeld’s offseason moves were made solely with the present in mind. The Wizards committed a five-year maximum-salary extension to John Wall, banking on the notion that a brilliant second half of the season in 2012/13 is a harbinger of the point guard’s future performance. The five-year deal makes Wall the team’s designated player, essentially meaning Grunfeld and company are confident they won’t draft a superior talent either of the next two years. That’s probably a safe assumption, but it was nonetheless a risky move to give max money to a player who hasn’t definitively proven he’s worth it. That’s doubly so since the Wizards could have waited until Wall hit restricted free agency next summer to either do the same deal or match another team’s offer sheet that would have locked Wall up for only four seasons.

Wall was the first player eligible for a rookie-scale extension this summer to sign one, and the Wizards wasted no time getting their other major deals done, reaching agreements with Eric Maynor and Martell Webster on the first and second days of free agency, respectively. The Wizards re-signed Webster to a four-year deal for the full value of the non-taxpayer’s mid-level exception. It’s another potential overpay, especially considering Webster’s not in the starting lineup, but the sixth overall pick from 2005 is still just 26 years old, so he should still be producing at his current rate when his contract expires in 2017.

Maynor lost out to Reggie Jackson for the backup job in Oklahoma City, but he recouped some of his value when he helped shore up Portland’s bench after a midseason trade. Using the biannual exception on him somewhat limits the team’s flexibility for next summer, since, as the name suggests, the biannual can only be used every other year, but few teams make use of it as frequently as that. Like Webster, Maynor is a bench player and doesn’t figure to see too much time at the point behind Wall, but perhaps Maynor will see significant minutes in small backcourts alongside Wall.

The Wizards were fortunate in the lottery this past May, moving up to the third spot, though that luck was tempered by the weakness of the draft field. Grunfeld went with the hometown choice in Georgetown’s Otto Porter, a small forward with polish but limited potential. The team’s high-profile draft failures of the past, and former No. 6 overall pick Jan Vesely in particular, might have made Grunfeld hesitate to go with a bolder choice. Porter’s selection and the speed with which the team came to a long-term agreement with Webster is an odd juxtaposition, since they primarily play the same position. The team’s desire to make a playoff run this season also likely factored into their decision to draft Porter, since the 20-year-old was supposed to be able to contribute immediately. Of course, an injury prior to training camp caused him to miss all of preseason and the start of the regular season, so there’s been no immediate return on the team’s investment.

It’s possible that minimum-salary addition Al Harrington makes a greater impact than Porter does this season. Harrington missed most of last season with a staph infection, but he’s only a year and a half removed from playing a key role on a Nuggets team that made some noise in the postseason. He’s a stretch power forward who duplicates some of the same skills that Martell Webster has, but he offers Wittman a chance to field an intriguing lineup of Harrington, Webster and Bradley Beal, all of whom offer the outside shooting that Wall and the team’s centers don’t.

The Wizards might have hoped they could pencil Vesely in at power forward this year, but they instead began the season by declining his 2014/15 team option. The Wizards also did the same for former 18th overall pick Chris Singleton, further underscoring the need for Porter to at least hit the relatively low ceiling most draft analysts predicted for his career.

Wittman is already drawing mention as perhaps the coach most likely to meet an end to his tenure at midseason, and while Grunfeld seems like a safer bet to at least finish the season, these are nervous times in the capital city. The Wizards are married to Wall and Webster for years to come, and Nene‘s contract doesn’t run out until 2016, but next summer represents a chance for Leonsis to green-light major changes to the roster. If the Wizards on the court look different this time next year, expect the Wizards in the executive suite to have new faces, too.

Luke Adams contributed to this post.

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Offseason In Review: Charlotte Bobcats

November 5th, 2013 at 12:05pm 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

  • None

Draft Picks

  • Cody Zeller (Round 1, 4th overall). Signed via rookie exception.

Camp Invitees

Departing Players

Rookie Contract Option Decisions

If you want to make an argument against the benefits of tanking in the NBA, pointing to the Charlotte Bobcats would be a good place to start. Despite finishing in the bottom three of the NBA standings four times since 2004/05, the Bobcats haven’t had much luck in the draft lottery or the draft itself.

After winning 18 games in ’04/05, Charlotte landed the fifth pick and drafted Raymond Felton immediately after two other point guards (Deron Williams, Chris Paul) had come off the board. In 2006, the Bobcats nabbed the third pick and selected Adam Morrison, one spot after LaMarcus Aldridge was drafted. Charlotte set an NBA-record for futility in the lockout-shortened 2011/12 season, but missed out on consensus first overall pick Anthony Davis and settled for Michael Kidd-Gilchrist at No. 2. Most recently, the 21-win Bobcats used the fourth pick in the 2013 draft on Cody Zeller.

This brief trip through the team’s recent history illustrates in large part why the Bobcats’ rebuilding process has been long and laborious. The team has been neither lucky nor particularly shrewd when it comes to the draft, having narrowly missed out on several franchise-altering players, and passing on others. It has left the team in a tough spot — there’s plenty of young talent on the roster, including players like Kemba Walker, Bismack Biyombo, Kidd-Gilchrist, Zeller, and others. But none of those guys are likely to develop into stars, meaning the club will face some tough decisions on exactly how much to pay to keep those players when their rookie contracts end.

On the plus side, while the Bobcats haven’t been entirely successful in the draft, the club is at least reducing the number of bad contracts clogging its cap. DeSagana Diop‘s deal finally came off the books this summer, while Tyrus Thomas‘ was forcibly removed (via amnesty). The team still has one year left on Ben Gordon, who will earn $13MM+, but that was the price Charlotte paid to obtain a Pistons first-round pick that could ultimately become very valuable.

The absence of those overpriced contracts and the abundance of rookie deals on the Bobcats’ cap meant that the team had room to make a splash this summer. It’s unclear if there was a deal out there for Charlotte similar to the one Utah made with Golden State, which landed the Jazz a pair of first-round picks along with a pair of bad contracts (Richard Jefferson, Andris Biedrins). But if there was, it’s not hard to figure out why the Bobcats didn’t choose that path. For a team that has spent the last several years getting unlucky in the draft lottery and waiting for overpriced players to come off the books, the idea of doubling down by taking on more toxic contracts and acquiring more draft picks probably looked less appealing than pursuing free agents.

The Bobcats’ pursuit of free agents led them to Al Jefferson, who immediately becomes the biggest offensive threat the team has ever had in the low post. The price for Jefferson – $13.5MM annually for three years – was a little high, but I imagine it had to be to lure him to Charlotte. The Bobcats were also able to make a couple other solid buys in free agency, bringing back Gerald Henderson and Josh McRoberts for fair prices. In the draft, the Bobcats passed on Nerlens Noel‘s upside in favor of Zeller’s ability to contribute right away, another decision that reflected the club’s desire to improve in the short-term.

Still, while the acquisition of Jefferson and continued improvement from Charlotte’s young players should add up to more wins in 2013/14, this still doesn’t look like a playoff team, which likely means a spot in the NBA’s no-man’s land — somewhere between a postseason berth and a top-five pick. Depending on how the Bobcats, Pistons, and Blazers perform this season, Charlotte could have as many as three first-round picks in 2014, which is good news, considering how strong the draft is expected to be. But the addition of Jefferson means the club is probably just good enough not to be involved in the Andrew Wiggins sweepstakes, which could leave the Bobcats where they’ve been for the last several years: Narrowly missing out on the opportunity to draft an impact player.

It’s hard to blame the Bobcats for not deliberately tanking the season, especially after owner Michael Jordan publicly suggested it’s not a strategy he believes in. But after a couple seasons among the NBA’s bottom-dwellers, the timing of the decision to improve now is unfortunate. There are several prospects projected to be difference-makers in the 2014 draft, meaning that even a team with the fourth or fifth pick could land a star. In other words, if there was ever a time to have a bad season, this is that time.

On a move-by-move basis, you could make the case that the Bobcats had a strong offseason. Jefferson is probably a bit overpaid, and Zeller was a surprising pick at No. 4 overall, but the Bobcats added and retained more talent than they lost, and will be better this season than they were a year ago. Although the club’s summer approach may not be in its best long-term interests, the strategy wasn’t surprising, considering how the last several years have played out in Charlotte.

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Offseason In Review: Miami Heat

November 3rd, 2013 at 9:03am 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 No. 50 pick in 2013 from the Hawks in exchange for a 2017 second-round pick (31-40 protected).

Draft Picks

Camp Invitees

  • Larry Drew II
  • Eric Griffin
  • Charlie Westbrook

Departing Players

Rookie Contract Option Decisions

Most NBA executives spend their time trying how to figure out how to build a championship team. The task for Heat president Pat Riley is figuring out how to keep a two-time champion together. Riley may have trademarked the term “three-peat,” but he’s never overseen one as a coach or an executive. This could be the last chance for Riley, now 68, to do so, and the last chance for him to show he’s capable of providing LeBron James with a place where he can continue to compete for titles before the four-time MVP can opt for free agency next summer.

Making the task more difficult is the luxury tax, which for the first time includes escalating incremental rates that make it more than a dollar-for-dollar arrangement in 2013/14. Heat owner Micky Arison appears OK with paying some tax penalties, but there is a limit to the depth of his pockets. So, the Heat sacrificed Mike Miller, using the amnesty clause to get rid of the final two years and $12.8MM of his contract. Miller’s $6.2MM salary for this season alone could have cost the team more than three times as much, considering the tax.

The Heat could have saved a more modest amount if they’d chosen to amnesty Joel Anthony and the two years and $7.6MM remaining on his deal, but neither Miller nor Anthony were mainstays in the team’s rotation during the team’s back-to-back championship seasons. Of course, Miller proved his value during the playoffs, but the odds that he could resurface with a heroic performance at just the right time for a third season in a row were low enough to convince the Heat that they were better off removing his salary from their books.

The team’s new austerity kick showed up in its deal with Greg Oden. Riley convinced Oden to take a one-year, minimum-salary contract rather than a two-year pact that included a player option. That allowed the Heat to reduce the cap hit for Oden’s five-year veteran’s minimum to the equivalent of a two-year veteran’s minimum, a savings of a few hundred thousand dollars that makes it easier for the team to carry 15 players rather than the minimum 13 to begin the regular season. Those extra men on the roster could prove handy as Oden continues to recover at a slow pace from the injuries that derailed his career. The former first-round pick may make a negligible contribution to the Heat, but Riley’s ability to twist his arm into accepting less when the volume of his suitors suggested he could have commanded more shouldn’t be understated.

Chris Andersen wound up re-signing for a two-year deal with a player option, the kind of contract that Oden gave up, but he, too, probably sacrificed what might have been more money after his energetic play off the bench last season invigorated the bench and revived his career. The Heat have been keen on such reclamation projects of late, and took on another this summer in Michael Beasley. There was little wrangling required to get him to accept a non-guaranteed minimum-salary deal that amounted to a training camp invitation, but Oden’s sacrifice helps the Heat keep him on the roster as the regular season dawns. Beasley’s contrition for his past transgressions has been the other key to his continued presence on the roster, but ultimately, as with Oden, there are few expectations that he’ll make a difference on the court this year.

Roger Mason Jr., the Heat’s least-heralded new addition, could be the most important. He played a fairly significant role for New Orleans last season, averaging 5.3 points and 41.5% three-point shooting in 17.7 minutes per game over 69 contests, 13 of them starts. He, more than anyone else, could wind up the replacement for Miller’s occasional sharpshooting, and the 33-year-old’s veteran presence and leadership ability as a union executive should offset the addition of Beasley and his questionable demeanor to the locker room. Like Beasley, he’s essentially a training camp invitee, so the Heat could cut his non-guaranteed deal anytime before January 10th.

Perhaps the most significant move the team made was to give coach Erik Spoelstra an extension. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, who revealed that the deal is for four years, argues that the deal is an important step toward convincing James to stay, given the close relationship between coach and superstar. It nonetheless ensures some stability for the franchise in what could be some tumultuous years ahead.

The ability for James to opt out of his contract after this season will hang over the franchise all year. Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh also have early termination options, meaning it’s possible that the Heat could look much different in a year’s time. Riley and the rest of the front office have prepared as best they can, saving money on little-used players, strengthening the bond with LeBron’s trusted coach, and largely maintaining a championship roster. James has said he won’t spend the season giving hints about his next move, so we’ll have to wait until the summer to know whether the Heat have done enough to convince him to stay. For now, the task is how to help James cement his legacy — no matter how much more time he’ll spend building it in Miami — with that “three-peat” that’s proven so elusive for Riley.

Luke Adams contributed to this post.

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Offseason In Review Series

December 19th, 2012 at 2:03pm CST by Chuck Myron

Since the regular season tipped off, Hoops Rumors has been looking back at how every NBA team fared in the offseason, recapping all of their moves and providing analysis. We've now gone through all 30 teams, and if you missed your favorite, or want to look at the league as a whole, a link to each Offseason in Review is below.

Southwest Division

Northwest Division

Pacific Division

Atlantic Division

Central Division

Southeast Division

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Offseason In Review: Memphis Grizzlies

December 18th, 2012 at 1:30pm 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 and Claims

Draft Picks

  • Tony Wroten (Round 1, 25th overall). Signed via rookie exception.

Camp Invitees

Departing Players

Rookie Contract Option Decisions

The Grizzlies got a new owner over the summer, but despite the fast start Memphis has enjoyed this season, the team did little to help vault itself from the fringes of the title chase into serious contention. Former owner Michael Heisley's unwillingness to pay the luxury tax played a role in the team's unwillingness to bring back O.J. Mayo, which might have been a mistake given his early-season scoring output for the Mavericks. It had been obvious for a while, though, that Mayo was on the way out, and Heisley went above the tax line to retain other free agents before handing the team over to Robert Pera's new, celebrity-laden ownership group. 

When Luke Adams of Hoops Rumors previewed the team's offseason, he predicted the Grizzlies would shop Rudy Gay over the summer, suggesting that a trade prior to the draft would be beneficial, since they could swap him for a high lottery pick without having to take back any salary. Such a move would have saved significant cap space that the team could have used to re-sign Mayo and seek out another free agent, since Gay is due more than $53.6MM through 2015. Memphis reportedly tried to move him, but Heisley denied that was the case, and the draft came and went. Still, many around the league maintained the belief that the Grizzlies wanted to get rid of Gay's salary, and GM Chris Wallace fielded lowball offers for him over the summer, rejecting them all. The team remains open to trading Gay, according to HoopsWorld's Alex Kennedy, though that possibility appears more remote given the team's winning ways this season.

With Gay still in the fold once the draft was done, the Grizzlies declined to tender a qualifying offer to Mayo in advance of the June 30th deadline to do so, turning Mayo from a restricted free agent into an unrestricted one. That meant Memphis no longer had the right to match offers for Mayo, and while that may have seemed like a drastic move to take with someone who had been a critical piece on back-to-back playoff teams, it probably wound up saving the Grizzlies a lot of money for a player they didn't want. Mayo's qualifying offer was $7.39MM, which would have meant significantly more for him this season than the $4MM he gets as part of the two-year, $8.22MM deal he signed with Dallas. The Grizzlies almost traded Mayo to the Pacers on at least two occasions, and came close to a deal at the trade deadline last season that would have sent him to the Celtics for Ray Allen. Wallace and company seem to have decided long ago that Mayo wasn't a fit, so given that context, the non-tender isn't surprising. Mayo's strong start this year might make the move seem a little puzzling in hindsight, but it's likely the Grizzlies wouldn't have given him the opportunity to carry the offensive load he's taken on with the Mavs, so he would probably be doing less for more money if he were still in Memphis.

The Grizzlies turned to another would-be restricted free agent for Mayo's replacement as sixth man. Jerryd Bayless had initially been tendered a qualifying offer by the Raptors, but Toronto later withdrew it, making him an unrestricted free agent. Bayless posted career highs in minutes and points per game last season, and his 17.7 PER, also a career best, indicated he was markedly more efficient than the average player. The Grizzlies gave him the taxpayer mid-level exception, which means he'll make about $1MM less than what Mayo's earning this year. The deal might have been a springboard for Bayless, who has a player option for next season and can opt out for a more lucrative deal on the open market if he puts up numbers similar to last season. Yet the problem for Bayless and the Grizzlies is that he's so far been nowhere near the player he was in Toronto. Multiple injuries limited him to just 31 games last season, and that's not much of a sample size. It could be that last year's performance was an aberration, in which case the Grizzlies could once more find themselves tethered, for this season and next, to a backup guard they don't want. 

The team did tender qualifying offers to its other restricted free agents, using almost precisely the amount of money that would have been tied up in Mayo's offer for the first-year salaries that backup big men Darrell Arthur and Marreese Speights will make in their new deals. Memphis also re-signed unrestricted free agent center Hamed Haddadi. It seems odd that they would hold on to all those inside players, since that's an area of strength for the team anyway, but coach Lionel Hollins likes to keep two bigs on the floor as often as possible, and significant injuries to Arthur and Zach Randolph last season challenged his ability to do so. Of the three, the deal for Arthur appears the most dubious, particularly since it's also the longest. He's missed more than half the team's games from 2009/10 through 2011/12. His valuable contributions in the middle season, the year the Grizzlies upended the Spurs in the playoffs thanks in part to Arthur's career year, obscure the much less encouraging story of his track record as a whole.

The Grizzlies divested themselves of one of their big men, shipping Dante Cunningham to the Wolves for Wayne Ellington in a rare one-for-one trade facilitated by their nearly identical salaries this season. Cunningham has a team option for 2013/14 and Ellington is set to hit restricted free agency, meaning both are essentially under team control for one more season. They were taken just five picks apart from each other in the 2009 draft, but their resumes since then do not match up nearly as well as their contracts. It's difficult to compare a power forward to a shooting guard, but one way to do so is using PER, a catch-all statistic that Grizzlies fans will no doubt become quite familiar with now that its inventor, John Hollinger, has joined the front office. Cunningham put up a career-best 14.9 PER in his single year in Memphis, and his career PER of 12.8 entering the season was significantly better than Ellington's 9.2. Ellington's skill set is a better fit than Cunningham's for a team seeking depth on the wing, but I don't think the Grizzlies had to sacrifice as much production as they did to address that need.

The other trade of the offseason looked like a straight salary dump, as they swapped Jeremy Pargo, who saw nearly 10 minutes per game as Mike Conley's backup, and his guaranteed $1MM salary to the Cavs for D.J. Kennedy, a veteran of all of two NBA games who had a non-guaranteed minimum-salary deal. The Grizzlies also gave up a second-round pick and cash in the deal, a tipoff that Memphis simply wanted to rid Pargo's salary from the books. Kennedy was waived in September, re-signed a week later, and let go again shortly after training camp began. The signing of Bayless, who can play point guard as well as shooting guard, apparently gave Wallace and company enough leverage to give up Pargo, though Pargo's strong showing for Cleveland early this season for Cleveland when Kyrie Irving was out, coupled with Bayless' lackluster play, makes this one hurt.

Pera officially took over the team the day the regular season opened for the Grizzlies, and quickly installed Jason Levien as CEO. Despite the team's cost-cutting moves, Heisley left the Grizzlies about $4MM above the tax line, and did so with the blessing of the new regime, Levien told Chris Herrington of the Memphis Flyer. Levien is wary of becoming a repeat taxpayer, which would trigger additional penalties under the new CBA, but he expressed a willingness to pay the tax this year if it's necessary to do so for the team to win. The salary figures used to compute the tax are the ones on the ledger at season's end, so Levien will have the opportunity to get the Grizzlies under the tax line if he wants to.

The decision on shedding salary or paying the tax may come down to whether or not Memphis can be considered a legitimate contender when the February 21st trade deadline hits. Regardless of where the team finds itself in the standings, I wouldn't be surprised if the Grizzlies try to save some money by swapping Haddadi, Arthur or Speights for a draft pick at the trade deadline if all their big men stay healthy this season. They may also shop Bayless, though getting rid of him would leave them thin at guard unless rookie Tony Wroten makes some strides in the next couple of months. In any case, we'll learn a lot this season about the Grizzlies, both on the court and in the executive suite. This might have been Wallace's last summer at the controls, as there are rumors he may be on his way out, and at the very least he appears to have less power under the new owners. If that's the case, he may regret an offseason filled with tinkering that left only mixed results, as well as the organization's misplaced disenchantment with Mayo.

Luke Adams contributed to this post.

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Offseason In Review: Dallas Mavericks

December 14th, 2012 at 8:53pm 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 and Claims

Draft Picks

  • Jared Cunningham (Round 1, 24th overall). Signed via rookie exception.
  • Bernard James (Round 2, 33rd overall). Signed via minimum salary exception.
  • Jae Crowder (Round 2, 34th overall). Signed via cap room.

Camp Invitees

Departing Players

Rookie Contract Option Decisions

It didn't take long for the Mavericks offseason to become about Plan B. Dallas-area native Deron Williams announced his intention to re-sign with the Nets on the third day teams could negotiate with free agents, and that reshaped the entire summer. Regardless of owner Mark Cuban's contention that the team is better off without D-Will, or whether Cuban submarined his team's efforts to sign the point guard by skipping their meeting with Williams to tend to his reality show "Shark Tank," the Mavs had to move on.

The post-Williams strategy appears similar to what governed the team's moves before last season, when they dumped multiple parts from their 2011 championship team to clear enough cap space to go after Williams. The Mavs have a preponderance of expiring deals that set the team up to make a run at another star next summer. It's a risky move, considering Dirk Nowitzki is 34 and already showing signs of breaking down, having missed the first month and a half of the season following arthroscopic surgery on his right knee. And, as I outlined in August, it will be tough for the Mavs to make the numbers work if they want to go after Dwight Howard, the biggest name scheduled to hit free agency this summer. Chris Paul would be a little bit easier to swing, but there's no guarantee either of them are willing to turn back on their apparent satisfaction in L.A. A flurry of rookie-scale extensions at the October 31st deadline this year knocked many of the cheaper would-be restricted free agents out of the market, so the Mavs might just be better off sticking with the team they assembled this summer.

The key piece has turned out to be O.J. Mayo, who was signed for a relative pittance after the Suns, who appeared to be Dallas' primary competition, took a pass on him. It's not often you can acquire a former third overall pick just a few months shy of his 25th birthday, but that's what the Mavericks did, and he's become the team's leading scorer in Nowitzki's absence. Mayo had been relegated to a bench role by the Grizzlies, who went so far as to fail to tender him a qualifying offer this summer, eschewing their right to match other offers for him. While that may have been as much about cost-cutting as anything else, it reflected a down market for Mayo, despite the fact he posted career highs in PER (14.7) and win shares per 48 minutes (.094) last season. Cuban, a devotee of advanced metrics, no doubt took notice. While odds are slim that Mayo will exercise his player option for next season, the Mavs would at least have to be considered one of the frontrunners to re-sign him if they want to do so.

Dallas signed Chris Kaman to a one-year deal that gives him close to twice as much as Mayo is getting this season. That doesn't seem like an overpay, especially considering the more lucrative long-term deals that other teams handed out to JaVale McGee and Omer Asik, far less polished centers. Kaman is quietly off to a strong start, increasing his scoring average to 14.2 points per game, second on the team behind Mayo, and posting a career-high 17.9 PER. The true test for Kaman will come when Nowitzki returns and the two big men are forced to mesh, but the Mavs GM Donnie Nelson has expressed confidence about their fit. 

The Mavs created the cap room necessary to sign Kaman when they amnestied Brendan Haywood. They also used the amnesty system to pick up Elton Brand from the Sixers. Between Kaman and Brand, the Mavs have plenty of size inside, just as they had when Haywood and Tyson Chandler teamed with Nowitzki for the title-winning squad in 2011. It's a little surprising that another team didn't put in a higher bid for Brand, who put up 11.0 points, 7.2 rebounds and an 18.0 PER as the starting power forward for the Sixers last season, and it's even more puzzling considering teams didn't have to commit to him for more than one year. He's one reason why the Mavs haven't completely fallen apart with Nowitzki out.

Trading Lamar Odom to the Clippers also represented a fortunate turn for Dallas, since the team would have been on the hook for his partial guarantee of $2.4MM if they couldn't find a trading partner. Considering Odom, who spent his lost year in Dallas pining for a return to L.A., probably wasn't amenable to the vast majority of NBA cities, Nelson and company wisely negotiated with one of the L.A. teams. 

The Mavs thought they had found a starting point guard in the trade with the Pacers that netted Darren Collison, but he's already been replaced in the starting lineup by Derek Fisher. It's early yet, and most of Collison's numbers are up over last season, so it might be premature to say this didn't work out for Dallas. It seemed to make sense to go with a 25-year-old over incumbent Jason Kidd, who's 39. Kidd probably wouldn't have minded a role as Collison's backup, but the Mavs clearly had no interest in matching the three-year deal for more than $9MM he got from the Knicks. Kidd's surprisingly effective play in New York this season isn't helping matters, but even if Collison doesn't work out, the move was low-risk. Collison will be a restricted free agent this summer, and Dahntay Jones, the other player the Mavs got in that deal, can also come off the books in unrestricted free agency, even if he's somewhat overpaid at $2.9MM this season. Acquiring both Collison and Jones was preferable to the four-year, $16MM deal the Pacers gave Ian Mahinmi as part of that trade. 

While the team's parting with Kidd was somewhat acrimonius, Cuban said recently that he would have liked to have kept Jason Terry around but "couldn't make the numbers work." He's likely referring to the number of years, which was three, that Terry got from the Celtics as opposed to his annual salary, which averages $5.225MM over the life of that deal. If the Mavs had convinced Terry to take a one-year deal, however, they probably wouldn't have signed Mayo, so parting ways with Terry was probably for the best as far as Dallas is concerned.

The Mavs probably aren't going to win the title this season, and they'll have difficulty upgrading the roster next summer. Before the season, Mavs coach Rick Carlisle likened his team's chances to those of a wild-card team in baseball and football that counts on a strong playoff run to overcome an up-and-down regular season. Those teams don't emerge nearly as often in the NBA, but the 2011 Mavericks are probably the closest example of that kind of team the league has had in recent years. Nowitzki, Mayo and Kaman give the team plenty of offensive firepower, and they have the size that's traditionally been necessary to win in the postseason. That may have changed when the small-ball Heat broke through last season, but the Mavs are hoping the 2013 playoffs have more in common with 2011 than 2012.

Luke Adams contributed to this post.

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