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Offseason In Review

Offseason In Review: Brooklyn Nets

November 17th, 2012 at 10:09am CST by Luke Adams

Throughout the month of November, Hoops Rumors will look 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

  • Tyshawn Taylor (Round 2, 41st overall). Signed via minimum salary exception.
  • Tornike Shengelia (Round 2, 54th overall). Signed via minimum salary exception.
  • Ilkan Karaman (Round 2, 57th overall). Will play overseas.

Camp Invitees

  • Stephen Dennis
  • James Mays
  • Carleton Scott

Departing Players

Rookie Contract Option Decisions

Ever since the NBA's new Collective Bargaining Agreement took effect, teams around the league have been preaching cap flexibility, asset-gathering, and the benefits of staying out of luxury-tax territory. The defending Western Conference champions traded a star player to ensured they remained flexibile, picked up a few assets, and avoided amassing a huge tax hit.

But there's something to be said for zigging when others zag. With other teams clearing salaries and ensuring they'll have big chunks of cap space in future offseasons, the Nets came into this summer with both guns blazing, committing a staggering amount of money to free agent contracts and ensuring that they won't have cap space to work with anytime soon.

Of course, there are plenty of reasons why such an approach made sense for the Nets. Owner Mikhail Prokhorov isn't shy about throwing his cash around if it means building a winning team. And with the franchise making its Brooklyn debut this fall, there was a need to make a splash — playing in a new arena in New York City would have only sustained fan interest for so long if the team continued to perform on the court like the Nets have in recent years.

The first step to the team's mammoth offseason was ensuring that Deron Williams chose Brooklyn over Dallas. GM Billy King and the Nets front office undoubtedly had a Plan B in place if D-Will bolted for the Mavericks, but it certainly would have paled in comparison to Plan A. While I always believed the Nets were the favorites for Williams based on how much more guaranteed money they could offer, the team's acquisition of Joe Johnson from the Hawks sealed the deal.

The Nets' trade for Johnson is a perfect example of the team's ability to capitalize on the rest of the league's aversion to cap inflexibility. With the Hawks looking to clear future salary from their books, Johnson's contract was an ideal fit for the Nets. The money and years left on the deal make it something of an albatross, but Johnson is still a very good player, one of the league's best shooting guards. His bad contract meant it wouldn't cost the Nets much in trade assets to acquire him, and the club's willingness to blow past the luxury tax line meant Johnson's exorbitant salary wouldn't hinder the Nets as much as it did the Hawks.

Acquiring Johnson and re-signing Williams ensured that the Nets wouldn't have any cap space to work with in the offseason, which meant the best way to fill out the rest of the roster was by signing the team's own free agents. From this perspective, you could make a case that Brooklyn's in-season trade for Gerald Wallace was necessary, since the team wouldn't have had his Bird rights and wouldn't have been able to sign him without that trade. I still view the deal as something of a disaster for the Nets, who allowed the Trail Blazers to draft a potential superstar in Damian Lillard with that sixth overall pick, but the Nets got what they wanted out of the move, using Wallace's Bird rights to ink him to a long-term contract.

Throw in big new contracts for Brook Lopez and Kris Humphries, along with a handful of smaller additions such as Mirza Teletovic, C.J. Watson, and Andray Blatche, and the Nets' total free agent commitments exceed $235MM. And that doesn't even take into account the $89MM they assumed when they acquired Johnson.

The Nets didn't quite achieve the perfect offseason, having failed to acquire Dwight Howard from the Magic. But when you stack it up against a worst-case scenario that would have included D-Will wearing a Mavericks jersey, the summer has to be considered a huge success. Sure, Brooklyn now has over $70MM committed to team salary every year from now until 2016, but when so many other teams are trying to create cap space to pursue the same few free agents, the Nets did well to spend whatever it took to lock up the talent available to them.

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Offseason In Review: Philadelphia 76ers

November 14th, 2012 at 4:44pm CST by Luke Adams

Throughout the month of November, Hoops Rumors will look 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 and Claims

Draft Picks

Camp Invitees

Departing Players

Rookie Contract Option Decisions

For the first month or so of the offseason, it was difficult to understand exactly what the 76ers were doing. Elton Brand was amnestied in the last year of his contract to clear cap room, but the Sixers used that space to lock up players like Spencer Hawes, Lavoy Allen, and Kwame Brown — decent frontcourt options, but not exactly the sort of high-impact signings you'd expect after clearing an $18MM salary from your cap.

Besides letting go of Brand, the Sixers also elected to let Lou Williams walk, signing Nick Young in his place. Presumably Philadelphia didn't want to be on the hook for the lengthy multiyear deal that Williams would command, but from an on-court perspective, Young certainly represented a step down from last year's runner-up Sixth Man. To make matters worse, the Sixers agreed to pay Young more ($5.6MM) than Williams will earn this season in Atlanta ($5MM).

Throw in the fact that the Sixers seemed to be stockpiling small forwards, having drafted Maurice Harkless and traded for Dorell Wright, and it was unclear exactly what direction this team was headed. It was unclear, that is, until the second week of August, when the team landed Andrew Bynum.

By dealing Andre Iguodala and Harkless in the four-team blockbuster, the Sixers cleared their glut of small forwards and acquired another shooter in Jason Richardson to go along with Bynum. At that point, the previous roster moves made a little more sense. With Bynum in the middle, shooters like Richardson, Young, and Wright could thrive on the outside, and the team would have the go-to guy it had been lacking over the past several seasons.

The team's previous moves still aren't entirely defensible, but it's easier to understand the thinking with Bynum on board. Clearing Brand's salary was likely necessary to avoid bumping up against the tax threshold when all was said and done, and it's not like the club needed to save the amnesty provision for another undesirable contract. Additionally, while going from Williams to Young may represent a downgrade, at least having Young on a one-year deal wouldn't affect the Sixers' cap flexibility when it came to locking up Bynum and Jrue Holiday past this season.

One problem, of course, with the team's offseason strategy is clear now that the season is underway and Bynum has yet to make his Philadelphia debut. The Sixers are building around a franchise player that has appeared in more than 65 games in a season just once, back in 2006/07. Even though he's only 25 years old, Bynum has a history of knee issues that have kept him out of action so far this fall and appear to have delayed his Sixers debut until 2013.

While the Sixers are off to a solid start without their star center this season, the roster isn't one that's built to make a playoff run, or perhaps even earn a spot in the postseason, without Bynum. That's true of many contenders and their star players, but it's of particular concern in Philadelphia, where the team went all-in to land the ex-Laker this past offseason, and will have to decide by next offseason whether he's worth a pricey long-term commitment.

With solid secondary options and young players like Holiday, Hawes, Evan Turner, and Arnett Moultrie under contract past this season, the Sixers have a decent core in place to complement Bynum. And the club's willingness to take a risk and make a splash this summer is commendable. But given Bynum's health questions, it's still too early to say whether the acquisition will be a success. It's certainly possible that we eventually look back on these few months as a mere blip on the radar in a long, fruitful marriage between Bynum and the 76ers. If not, this offseason could be remembered as the summer the Sixers gambled and lost.

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Offseason In Review: Toronto Raptors

November 13th, 2012 at 4:41pm CST by Luke Adams

Throughout the month of November, Hoops Rumors will look 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 and Claims

Draft Picks

  • Jonas Valanciunas (2011, Round 1, 5th overall). Signed via rookie exception.
  • Terrence Ross (Round 1, 8th overall). Signed via rookie exception.
  • Quincy Acy (Round 2, 37th overall). Signed via cap space.
  • Tomislav Zubcic (Round 2, 56th overall). Will play overseas.

Camp Invitees

Departing Players

Rookie Contract Option Decisions

The Raptors entered the offseason with cap room to spare and one clear-cut top target they wanted to use that room to sign. When the clock struck midnight on July 1st, the Raptors put a full-court press on Canadian star Steve Nash, hoping to lock him up quickly to a deal that would bring him to Toronto.

Since July, Nash has said on multiple occasions that he was seriously considering the Raptors' pitch, likely weighing it against a similar offer from the Knicks. However, when the Lakers entered the fray and offered Nash a three-year deal to go along with the chance to stay close to his children on the West Coast, the Raptors saw their number one choice in free agency heading to Los Angeles instead.

The major developments of the Raptors' offseason stemmed from the pursuit of Nash and what happened after they missed out on him. While they were still in the running for ex-Sun, the Raptors signed restricted free agent Landry Fields to a pricey offer sheet, at least in part to hinder the Knicks' chances of landing Nash — Fields was considered a likely candidate to be included in any sign-and-trade deal involving the veteran point guard.

That move backfired when Nash chose the Lakers, leaving the Raptors on the hook for a contract that the Knicks weren't about to match. I defended the deal to an extent at the time, pointing out that it was a worthwhile risk if the Raps considered New York to be the strongest competition for Nash. Additionally, a three-year deal worth only about $6MM annually isn't the type of contract that will handicap a team for years to come. Even if Fields might not have been worth that price, it wouldn't be a disaster if he bounced back from his horrible 2011/12 season and submitted a performance more similar to rookie year. However, the early returns on Fields aren't good, and even his $6MM annual salary could become a major albatross if he can't turn things around.

While the Fields signing doesn't look great, missing out on Nash did allow the Raptors to acquire a point guard I think could outproduce the 38-year-old over the next couple years. GM Bryan Colangelo sent a first-round pick to the Rockets in exchange for Kyle Lowry, who was coming off his best season and looked even better early this year before he was derailed by a sprained ankle. Besides being a younger alternative to Nash, Lowry came cheaper, with his total salary over the next two seasons (about $12MM) making him one of the best bargains in the league.

Of course, acquiring Lowry came at the cost of that first-round pick, which is protected in such a way that it will almost certainly be a lottery selection. Still, since it's protected at the very top of the draft, the Raptors are unlikely to miss out on a superstar, and if there was ever time to trade out of the first round, it was now — Toronto will already be working two lottery picks into its rotation this season, in No. 8 pick Terrence Ross and 2011's No. 5 pick Jonas Valanciunas.

It goes without saying that the Raptors aren't a title contender, and the team probably won't even be in the playoff hunt this season unless Ross and Valanciunas make incredible strides. This is a fairly young team, and there's still work to be done on the roster, which could include trading Jose Calderon's expiring contract or even fielding offers for Andrea Bargnani.

This summer's acquisition of Lowry was a step in the right direction though. The Raptors haven't drafted particularly well in the Colangelo era, and contracts like Fields' and DeMar DeRozan's four-year extension could be the latest of the club's ill-advised long-term deals. So using a draft pick to trade for a very good player who is already signed to a team-friendly contract represents perhaps the best use of the Raptors' assets. The Lowry acquisition alone doesn't necessarily make the Raptors' offseason a success, but it certainly stands out as a bright spot in a summer that could have otherwise been awfully dreary.

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Offseason In Review: Oklahoma City Thunder

November 9th, 2012 at 4:16pm CST by Luke Adams

Throughout the month of November, Hoops Rumors will look 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

Camp Invitees

Departing Players

Rookie Contract Option Decisions

If you're wondering why we waited until the regular season was underway to begin our Offseason In Review series, let the Oklahoma City Thunder serve as Exhibit A. Had we recapped the Thunder's offseason even a week before opening night, we would've missed the move that easily overshadowed the rest of their summer transactions put together: the trade that sent James Harden to the Rockets.

For all of the talk and speculation about Harden vs. Serge Ibaka that preceded the team's decision, I didn't actually believe the Thunder would have to choose one or the other. It seemed more likely that Oklahoma City would lock up both players, perhaps to slight discounts, and find a way to make it work long-term financially. And it may have played out that way had Harden elected to accept the team's final extension offer, rumored to be worth about $54MM over four years. But when Harden didn't take that offer, the team didn't hesitate in flipping him to Houston.

And the more I look at the Thunder's options, the less I mind their decision to move Harden when they did. After all, here were a few of Oklahoma City's choices, if the club had determined the Sixth Man of the Year wasn't signing for less than the max:

  • Sign Harden to a max-salary extension and move forward with the current roster: This may have been the ideal choice for the players and management, but if ownership wasn't willing to foot the exorbitant tax bill it would've created, it wasn't really a viable option.
  • Sign Harden to a max-salary extension and amnesty Kendrick Perkins next summer to reduce the tax bill: The Thunder would still have been over the tax threshold, and would still be on the hook for Perkins' salary. The overall savings would've been minimal, and not having Perkins on the team would've hurt the frontcourt, especially against players like Dwight Howard.
  • Trade Harden at the deadline: If the team knew it had to deal Harden, making that move before the season started was the best time to do it. The Thunder might easily have lost leverage by February, and any players they acquired at that point would've had less time to adjust to the OKC system before the postseason rolled around.
  • Signed Harden to the max either last month or next summer and traded him before the end of the 2013/14 season: Was this a viable option? Sure. The Rockets or plenty of other teams would've been interested in acquiring Harden even if he was locked in at a maximum-salary price. But would it have helped the Thunder's tax problem? If Harden was earning a salary around $14MM in 2013/14, trading him would likely mean taking back nearly that much salary in return, which would still put Oklahoma City way over the tax line.

We don't know the ins and outs of the financial situation facing Thunder ownership, so we can't say definitively whether it was in the franchise's best interests to move Harden. But if we assume that paying Harden a maximum salary simply wasn't viable for the Thunder, GM Sam Presti chose the right time to strike. And it's hard to argue that Oklahoma City didn't get great value — Kevin Martin isn't Harden, but he's an excellent scorer to having come off the bench.

The real coup for the Thunder, however, involved all the future assets they landed in the deal. The way Oklahoma City originally built a championship contender was by drafting well and gathering assets, whether that meant draft picks or players on rookie deals. Having drafted Perry Jones III and acquired Jeremy Lamb to go along with multiple first-round picks, the Thunder are ensuring their success will be sustainable for years to come. With Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and Ibaka locked up, the Thunder can surround those stars with cheap, controllable players that will develop over the next several years.

The Thunder's 2012/13 title chances undoubtedly took a hit when they sent Harden to Houston. And for that reason, it's fair to say that the club took a step back with its offseason moves. But this team isn't the Knicks or Lakers, a veteran-heavy squad whose title window could be closing within a year or two. The Thunder still have two of the league's most dynamic scorers and one of the NBA's best interior defenders, all under the age of 25. Throw in rookies like Lamb and Jones, and the flexibility to add even more young prospects to the core over the next couple years, and this is a team that can contend for a championship for years to come, with or without Harden.

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Offseason In Review: Minnesota Timberwolves

November 8th, 2012 at 1:32pm CST by Luke Adams

Throughout the month of November, Hoops Rumors will look 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

  • Acquired Chase Budinger and the rights to Lior Eliyahu from the Rockets in exchange for their 2012 first-round pick (No. 18 overall; used to select Terrence Jones).
  • Acquired a conditional 2017 second-round pick from the Hornets in exchange for Brad Miller, the Nets' 2013 second-round pick and their own 2016 second-round pick.
  • Acquired Dante Cunningham from the Grizzlies in exchange for Wayne Ellington.
  • Acquired the Nets' 2013 second-round pick (from the Hornets), the Lakers' second-round pick (from the Suns), and their own 2016 second-round pick (from the Hornets) in exchange for Wesley Johnson and their own 2013 first-round pick (both sent to Suns).

Draft Picks

  • Robbie Hummel (Round 2, 58th overall). Will play overseas.

Camp Invitees

Departing Players

Rookie Contract Option Decisions

When Kevin Love and the Timberwolves negotiated an extension for the All-Star forward back in January, the two sides agreed to a four-year deal with an opt-out after year three. The contract, which gave Love the opportunity to explore the open market two years earlier than if Minnesota had given him the max (five years), signaled that the T-Wolves had a limited window of opportunity to surround Love with a playoff-caliber lineup. Love drove this point home early in the offseason, when he publicly urged Wolves management to upgrade the team's roster, dropping ominous lines like: "My patience is not high" and "If I don’t make the playoffs next year I don’t know what will happen."

If GM David Kahn and the Wolves hadn't already been committed to making a splash this summer, Love's comments certainly seemed to act as further motivation. The Timberwolves were one of the most active clubs in the NBA this offseason, participating in four separate trades and using their cap room to land a handful of free agents.

Besides swapping Wayne Ellington for Dante Cunningham with the Grizzlies, a deal that saw both teams dealing from a position of strength, the rest of the Timberwolves' trades involved clearing out salary and future assets in order to land players that would help the team immediately. Minnesota gave up its first-round picks in both the 2012 and 2013 drafts in order to land Chase Budinger and to clear Brad Miller's and Wesley Johnson's salary from the books.

On the surface, giving up two first-rounders to clear a few million dollars in salary and acquire Budinger, a solid but unspectacular rotation piece, looks like a mismanagement of resources. But neither draft pick was expected to bring in a star — 2012's first-rounder was No. 18 overall, while the future pick ticketed for Phoenix is top-13 protected for the next two years, meaning it'll almost certainly be a mid-to-late first-rounder. Additionally, clearing Miller's and Johnson's salaries helped the Wolves with their free agent signings, creating the necessary cap space to add players like Andrei Kirilenko, Brandon Roy, Alexey Shved, and Greg Stiemsma.

Now, was it worth clearing room for all those free agent signings? Kirilenko's two-year, $20MM deal drew some criticism when it was announced, and there are certainly no guarantees on Roy's knees, raising questions about whether it was wise to commit eight figures to him. However, I don't particularly mind either deal. Kirilenko had a tremendous 2011/12 campaign in Russia, and the T-Wolves managed to protect themselves a little with the wording in Roy's contract. Those deals may not end up being bargains, but Minnesota isn't exactly a top destination in free agency, and the Wolves paid the necessary price to land a pair of players with upside. At two years each, neither contract will cripple the team's flexibility.

Approaching the offseason with the sort of win-now mentality that Kahn and the Wolves had may have seemed like an oddity for a team coming off a 12th seed in the West. But the 2011/12 T-Wolves were better than their 26-40 record, having hung around the fringes of playoff contention before an ACL injury ended Ricky Rubio's season. With a healthy Rubio and Love eventually coming back to play alongside the new additions and returning players like Luke Ridnour, J.J. Barea, and the ever-improving Nikola Pekovic, the T-Wolves were a trendy preseason pick to end their eight-year playoff drought and make some noise in the Western Conference.

The summer of 2015, when Love can opt out and Rubio is scheduled to hit restricted free agency, is still a ways off, so I don't expect there to be a win-or-bust mandate on this year's team. But the Wolves' front office has made it clear with this summer's moves that the club is looking to contend sooner rather than later. Kahn and the Wolves have answered Love's offseason challenge. Now it's time for the players to take the next step.

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Offseason In Review: Utah Jazz

November 7th, 2012 at 2:57pm CST by Luke Adams

Throughout the month of November, Hoops Rumors will look 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

  • Kevin Murphy (Round 2, 47th overall). Signed via minimum salary exception.

Camp Invitees

Departing Players

Rookie Contract Option Decisions

For some Jazz fans, the team's eighth-place finish in the Western Conference last season represented of a worst-case scenario of sorts. With Utah's first-round pick lottery protected, a playoff berth ensured that the pick would be ticketed for Minnesota, denying the Jazz the chance to add another young player to the roster going forward. However, as the No. 8 seed, Utah's postseason ended prematurely when they were swept by the top-seeded Spurs, whose margin of victory for the series was 16 points per game.

Despite the quick playoff exit though, it had to be encouraging for the Jazz to even be in a position to qualify for the postseason so soon after the team traded its star player, Deron Williams. With a young roster that includes four players on rookie scale contracts, Utah heads into the 2012/13 season knowing that players like Derrick Favors, Gordon Hayward, and Enes Kanter should only continue to improve.

But before we get to this season's outlook, let's backtrack a little to the summer in Utah. The team got off to an early start, getting in on a four-team deal with the Mavericks, Clippers, and Rockets that landed them Mo Williams for, essentially, nothing but a trade exception. Williams is entering the last year of his contract and may not be a long-term piece for the Jazz, but he's still a capable veteran point guard, and his arrival served as a precursor for Utah's second deal of the summer: acquiring Marvin Williams for Devin Harris.

New Hawks GM Danny Ferry received plenty of accolades this summer not only for unloading Joe Johnson's contract, but also for flipping Williams, who had two years remaining on his deal, for an expiring contract in Harris. While the deal certainly worked out nicely for Atlanta, it's hard to argue that the Jazz were swindled. Williams is a former second overall pick, and is slightly cheaper than Harris in 2012/13, meaning the only downside for the Jazz is that extra year on his deal — Williams has a player option worth $7.5MM for 2013/14 that he'll likely exercise.

While such a commitment might put a serious dent in another team's flexibility, the Jazz have so few salaries on their books beyond this season that Williams' option shouldn't exactly hamper their flexibility. Besides Williams' $7.5MM figure, a modest $1.66MM guarantee for Jeremy Evans, and a non-guaranteed minimum salary for Kevin Murphy, those four rookie-scale contracts mentioned earlier are Utah's only '13/14 commitments.

Sure, the Jazz may have had room for two maximum-salary players if the team hadn't taken on Williams' salary, something that will be difficult to do now. But I don't think anyone in Utah believes that two maximum-salary free agents (Chris Paul and Dwight Howard?) are eyeing the Jazz as a potential destination. The club still has a ton of potential cap space to either re-sign its own free agents or pursue players on the open market — or both.

Another potential use for all that impending cap space? Making an in-season trade this year. With a number of contracts set to expire, the Jazz could kill multiple birds with one stone if they decided to move Al Jefferson, for instance. That would not only show Paul Millsap that the team is committed to him, rather than Jefferson, long-term, but it would clear a frontcourt logjam, allowing Favors and Kanter to play more. Plus, Utah's future cap flexibility would allow the team to take on a bad contract in such a deal if it meant acquiring an extra asset or two.

We're getting ahead of ourselves in looking ahead to Utah's next move though. The team's offseason itself was rather quiet — no first-round picks, no free agent signings worth more than $2.5MM annually, and, despite the pair of trades, no blockbuster deals that brought in a significant long-term piece.

It's not hard to imagine that this summer was the calm before the storm, however. With only about $26MM in salary on the books for 2013/14 and barely $10MM in likely commitments for 2014/15, the Jazz have set themselves up beautifully to add complementary pieces to their young core, as well as eventually retaining those young players long-term.

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Offseason In Review: Denver Nuggets

November 6th, 2012 at 3:07pm CST by Luke Adams

Throughout the month of November, Hoops Rumors will look 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 and Claims

Draft Picks

  • Evan Fournier (Round 1, 20th overall). Signed via rookie exception.
  • Quincy Miller (Round 2, 38th overall). Signed via mid-level exception.
  • Izzet Turkyilmaz (Round 2, 50th overall). Will play overseas.

Camp Invitees

Departing Players

Rookie Contract Option Decisions

While it was a reasonably busy summer for the Nuggets, it wasn't one that saw the roster overhauled too drastically. The team made a series of moves earlier in the calendar year and at the end of the offseason that ensured many of their core players would be locked up going forward: Danilo Gallinari and Kosta Koufos had their contracts extended in January, Wilson Chandler was re-signed long-term when he returned from China in March, and more recently, Ty Lawson received a four-year extension from the team.

Of course, even after we add JaVale McGee and Andre Miller to the list of players to be re-signed by the Nuggets this summer, it's not fair to say that the team was simply retaining its current players and hoping for the best. After all, the Nuggets were involved in the biggest trade of the summer, August's four-team blockbuster that sent Dwight Howard to the Lakers and saw Andre Iguodala head to Denver.

Critics of the Iguodala acquisition may ask why the Nuggets played an active role in ensuring a superstar like Howard was traded to a conference rival. But as Grantland's Zach Lowe wrote today, the Nuggets only got involved in trade negotiations after Howard was earmarked for Los Angeles in three-team talks featuring the Lakers, Magic, and 76ers. As such, the Nuggets' involvement comes off as a clever way of piggybacking on an existing deal, ensuring they upgraded their own roster right along with the Lakers.

And it's hard to argue that Iguodala won't be an upgrade in Denver. The Nuggets may still lack a true go-to scorer in crunch time; the former Sixer wasn't that guy in Philadelphia and isn't expected ot be that guy in Denver. But he's a capable scorer and an All-NBA defender, an upgrade on veterans like Arron Afflalo and Al Harrington, who were sent out in the deal. For other teams, swapping two rotation players for one may not be quite so viable, but the Nuggets' bench is still a strength, featuring players like Miller, McGee, Chandler, and Corey Brewer.

Given the depth they have behind their starting five, it doesn't come as a huge surprise that the Nuggets elected to tab French sharpshooter Evan Fournier as their first-round pick in June. Heading into the draft, Fournier, who just turned 20 a week ago, was viewed as a player that would likely play overseas for at least another season. He requires some seasoning, but that's fine with Denver, who elected to sign him immediately — considering the number of viable rotation options the Nuggets already have, the 20-year-old won't be required to provide major minutes and production right away.

With so many players having signed multiyear extensions or free agent deals within the last year, the Nuggets are moving forward without a whole lot of cap flexibility. The team has about $53MM in salaries committed to 2013/14's roster, and that's without taking into account Iguodala, who could exercise a $16MM+ player option or negotiate a new deal with the team. Either scenario would see the Nuggets approaching the tax threshold, barring a trade.

All those contracts on their books suggest the Nuggets' roster won't undergo significant changes in the next couple years, but GM Masai Ujiri has shown that such an assumption is never safe. Ujiri managed to deal both Afflalo and Nene in major trades just months after signing them to new, long-term contracts, which should indicate that Lawson, Gallinari, McGee, and others aren't necessarily locks to still be playing in Denver four years from now.

Still, the Nuggets' current core is strong, and the team figures to evaluate it with some patience this season. If Iguodala fits in well with his new team and Lawson continues to develop in one of the conference's top point guards, the Nuggets have the talent and the depth to compete with some of the top squads in the West.

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Offseason In Review: Portland Trail Blazers

November 5th, 2012 at 3:35pm CST by Luke Adams

Throughout the month of November, Hoops Rumors will look 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

  • Acquired Sasha Pavlovic, two 2013 second-round picks, and cash from Celtics in exchange for the rights to Jon Diebler (sent to Rockets). Part of three-way Courtney Lee sign-and-trade deal. Pavlovic was signed-and-traded for three years, $4.08MM (second and third years not guaranteed).
  • Acquired Jared Jeffries, Dan Gadzuric, the rights to Kostas Papanikolaou, the rights to Giorgos Printezis, cash, and a 2016 second-round pick from the Knicks in exchange for Raymond Felton and Kurt Thomas. Jeffries was signed-and-traded for three years, $4.62MM (second and third years not guaranteed).
  • Acquired cash from Nets in exchange for No. 41 pick (Tyshawn Taylor).
  • Claimed Justin Holiday off waivers from the Cavaliers.

Draft Picks

Camp Invitees

  • Demonte Harper
  • Justin Holiday
  • Cody Karl
  • Dallas Lauderdale
  • Adam Morrison

Departing Players

Rookie Contract Option Decisions

The Trail Blazers were one of the league's busiest teams at last season's trade deadline, as they attempted to flip their useful veteran players for expiring contracts and draft picks. One move in particular paid huge dividends — in sending Gerald Wallace to Brooklyn, the Blazers acquired not only a big expiring contract in Mehmet Okur, but landed the No. 6 overall pick in the 2012 draft, which they used to select Damian Lillard.

The move, which was widely praised at the time, might look even better in retrospect. Not only did Portland manage to carve out a little extra cap space, but the club swapped a player it wasn't going to re-sign for one who already looks like he'll be a cornerstone for years to come.

While the team's best move of the year may have come at the trade deadline, the work that new GM Neil Olshey and his staff did on draft day shouldn't be overlooked. Lillard certainly wasn't considered a consensus top-six pick back in June, so the team's willingness to select him with confidence at No. 6 overall should be commended. The jury's still out on both Lillard and No. 11 pick Meyers Leonard, but the early returns are good.

The team also did an admirable job on the trade market, working out a sign-and-trade deal to move Raymond Felton, a player that didn't have a future in Portland, and getting involved in the sign-and-trade deal that sent Courtney Lee to Houston. Neither deal was massive, but stockpiling second-round picks is never a bad thing, especially when the price is so minimal.

With the cap space they obtained when they let contracts like Felton's, Hasheem Thabeet's, Jonny Flynn's, and others expire from their books, the Blazers first locked up Nicolas Batum, matching a pricey offer sheet put forth by the Timberwolves. The $46MM+ price is likely a little more than Portland hoped to pay, but it's not so exorbitant that the contract will become an albatross. It ensures Batum is locked up through his age 27 season, meaning the Blazers should either get many of his best years or have no problem trading the contract later on.

The rest of the Blazers' cap space was spent primarily on bringing over international players whose rights the team had previously drafted — Joel Freeland and Victor Claver. J.J. Hickson and Ronnie Price also received one-year guarantees, and while neither player appears to be a part of the team's long-term plans, the Blazers will hold Hickson's Bird Rights next summer, and could bring him back if he has a solid year.

While it wasn't the splashiest of offseasons in Portland, the team took steps in the right direction by drafting Lillard and Leonard, and retaining Batum. Within the last few months, the Blazers have clearly focused on gathering assets, such as the second-round picks they acquired in their offseason trades, and gaining as much cap flexibility as they can, as they showed when they declined all three of their 2013/14 options on Luke Babbitt, Nolan Smith, and Elliot Williams.

It remains to be seen how quickly Lillard and Leonard can develop, and how good they (and Batum) can be, but if all goes well, the Trail Blazers hope to build a contending team around LaMarcus Aldridge. It will probably require some patience, since a playoff berth this year would be a major surprise. But given what Portland did this offseason and the position the team has put itself in going forward, it's not unreasonable to think the Blazers could acquire another solid veteran or two within the next year and make a real run at the postseason in 2013/14.

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