Offseason In Review

2021 NBA Offseason In Review: Atlanta Hawks

September 8th, 2021 at 1:13pm CST by Luke Adams

Hoops Rumors is breaking down the 2021 offseason for all 30 NBA teams, revisiting the summer’s free agent signings, trades, draft picks, departures, and more. We’ll evaluate each team’s offseason moves, examine what still needs to be done before opening night, and look ahead to what the 2021/22 season holds for all 30 franchises. Today, we’re focusing on the Atlanta Hawks.

Free agent signings:

Note: Exhibit 10 deals aren’t included here.

John Collins: Five years, $125MM. Fifth-year player option. Re-signed as restricted free agent using Bird rights.
Lou Williams: One year, $5MM. Re-signed using Bird rights.
Gorgui Dieng: One year, $4MM. Signed using mid-level exception.
Solomon Hill: One year, minimum salary. Re-signed using minimum salary exception.
Skylar Mays: Two-way contract. Accepted two-way qualifying offer as restricted free agent.

Trades:

Acquired Delon Wright from the Kings in a three-team trade in exchange for Kris Dunn, Bruno Fernando, and the Trail Blazers’ 2023 second-round pick (all sent to Celtics).

Draft picks:

1-20: Jalen Johnson
- Signed to rookie scale contract (four years, $12,888,585).
2-48: Sharife Cooper
- Signed to two-way contract.

Contract extensions:

Trae Young: Five years, maximum salary. Projected value of $172,500,000. Projected value can increase to $207,060,000 if Young earns All-NBA honors in 2022. Includes fifth-year player option and 15% trade kicker. Starts in 2022/23.
Clint Capela: Two years, $42,881,280 (base value). Includes $4MM in incentives. Starts in 2023/24.

Departing players:

Other offseason news:

Retained Nate McMillan as their permanent head coach.
Onyeka Okongwu underwent shoulder surgery and will miss the start of the 2021/22 season.
Added Joe Prunty, Jamelle McMillan, and Nick Van Exel to coaching staff; Melvin Hunt and Marlon Garnett departed coaching staff.

Salary cap situation:

Remained over the cap and below the tax line.
Carrying approximately $133.1MM in salary.
$5,536,000 of non-taxpayer mid-level exception still available ($4MM used on Gorgui Dieng).
Full bi-annual exception ($3,732,000) still available.
One traded player exception ($1,782,621) available.

Lingering preseason issues:

The Hawks have 14 players on guaranteed contracts, so they could still add a 15th man.
Kevin Huerter is eligible for a rookie scale contract extension until October 18.
Delon Wright is eligible for a veteran contract extension all season (extend-and-trade limitations are in place until December).

The Hawks’ offseason:

A year ago, the Hawks’ offseason priority was using their significant cap room to add veteran players capable of complementing the team’s young core. Not all of those signings were successful (Kris Dunn and Rajon Rondo didn’t last long in Atlanta), but the approach paid off as a whole, as the team made a surprise run to the Eastern Conference Finals.

This time around, the Hawks’ offseason focus wasn’t on continuing to add outside talent to the roster, but rather on retaining the franchise’s most important pieces for the long term.

First and foremost, this meant locking up leading scorer Trae Young to a rookie scale extension. The Hawks offered Young a five-year, maximum-salary deal as soon as they were allowed to do so, and now have the former No. 5 overall pick under team control through at least 2026.

Shortly after reaching a deal with Young, Atlanta agreed to terms with John Collins on a five-year deal. That negotiation was trickier — Young was still a year away from free agency, but Collins became a restricted free agent this summer, meaning he could’ve sought an offer sheet from a rival suitor. And while the negotiations with Young essentially amounted to handing over a blank check, the Collins talks revolved around finding a number below the maximum that satisfied both sides.

That number ended up being $25MM per year, which looks like a fair price for a versatile frontcourt player who is a force on offense and still has room to grow on defense. The Hawks left those negotiations happy that they locked in Collins for less than the max, while the fifth-year player option in his new contract will allow the big man to hit the open market again at age 27, when he could be in line for an even bigger payday.

Having secured Young and Collins to long-term deals near the start of free agency, the Hawks waited a few weeks before working out an extension with big man Clint Capela as well. Teams around the NBA aren’t investing in the center position like they used to, but some players are still worthy of big-money commitments, and Capela showed in 2020/21 that he fits that bill — he anchored Atlanta’s defense and finished sixth in Defensive Player of the Year voting.

Tacking on two more years to the two left on Capela’s current contract was a good bit of business for the Hawks, who now have the center on the books for about $83.7MM over the next four years (various incentives could slightly shift that total in one direction or the other).

The Hawks’ final key retention wasn’t a player at all — it was head coach Nate McMillan. The team’s trajectory changed significantly midway through the 2020/21 season when McMillan replaced Lloyd Pierce on the sidelines. The veteran coach led Atlanta to a 27-11 record the rest of the way and won two playoff series, showing that his lack of postseason success in four years in Indiana didn’t mean he couldn’t win in the playoffs.

There was never any doubt that the Hawks would offer McMillan the permanent job at season’s end — luckily for the franchise, he accepted that offer rather than exploring the open market, where he surely would’ve received plenty of interest from a few of the seven teams seeking new coaches.

While re-signing and extending their in-house talent was the primary focus of the Hawks’ offseason, their work around the edges of the roster shouldn’t be overlooked. Atlanta is hoping Delon Wright can give the team the kind of backcourt production that Rondo and Dunn didn’t — Wright is a versatile defender who is capable of getting to the basket and taking some ball-handling pressure off of Young.

The free agent addition of Gorgui Dieng was another solid move by president of basketball operations Travis Schlenk and his front office. Dieng wasn’t a great value on his previous contract (four years, $63MM), but at one year and $4MM, he should provide a solid return on investment — especially with Onyeka Okongwu expected to miss the start of the season while he recovers from shoulder surgery.

The Hawks’ upcoming season:

Expecting the Hawks to return to the Eastern Conference Finals may be overly optimistic. Milwaukee and Brooklyn are probably the two best teams in the East, while Miami, Boston, Indiana, New York, and others will be looking to claim places in the upper tier.

Still, even if the Hawks don’t make another deep playoff run in 2022, we shouldn’t necessarily count on a significant amount of regression. Atlanta was successful in 2020/21 despite missing key players like De’Andre Hunter and Cam Reddish for virtually all of the second half of the season, and Bogdan Bogdanovic for a big chunk of the first half. Young and Collins have room to continue improving, and this will be the team’s first full season under McMillan.

I think the Hawks are still one move away from legitimate title contention, but this is a deep, talented team capable of competing for a top-four seed in the East and making some noise in the postseason again.

Salary information from Basketball Insiders and Spotrac was used in the creation of this post.

2019 Offseason In Review: Toronto Raptors

November 7th, 2019 at 2:48pm CST by Luke Adams

Hoops Rumors is breaking down the 2019 offseason for all 30 NBA teams, revisiting the summer’s free agent signings, trades, draft picks, departures, and more. We’ll evaluate each team’s moves from the last several months and look ahead to what the 2019/20 season holds for all 30 franchises. Today, we’re focusing on the Toronto Raptors.

Signings:

Standard contracts:
- Patrick McCaw: Two years, $8MM. Re-signed using mid-level exception.
- Stanley Johnson: Two years, $7.43MM. Signed using bi-annual exception.
- Rondae Hollis-Jefferson: One year, $2.5MM. Signed using mid-level exception.
- Matt Thomas: Three years, minimum salary. Second year partially guaranteed ($725K). Third year non-guaranteed. Signed using mid-level exception.
- Terence Davis: Two years, minimum salary. Second year non-guaranteed. Signed using minimum salary exception.
- Cameron Payne: Two years, minimum salary. First year partially guaranteed ($150K). Second year non-guaranteed. Signed using minimum salary exception. (Waived)
- Isaiah Taylor: Two years, minimum salary. First year partially guaranteed ($50K). Second year non-guaranteed. Signed using minimum salary exception. (Waived)
Two-way contracts:
- Shamorie Ponds
Non-guaranteed camp contracts:
- Oshae Brissett: One year, minimum salary (Converted to two-way contract).
- Tyler Ennis: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Sagaba Konate: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Devin Robinson: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Matt Morgan: One year, minimum salary (Waived).

Trades:

None

Draft picks:

2-59: Dewan Hernandez — Signed to three-year, minimum-salary contract. First year partially guaranteed ($500K). Second and third years non-guaranteed. Signed using mid-level exception.

Contract extensions:

Pascal Siakam: Four years, 25% maximum salary. Projected value of $129,920,000. Starting salary can be worth between 28-30% of the cap if Siakam earns All-NBA or MVP honors in 2020 (full details). Starts in 2020/21; runs through 2023/24.
Kyle Lowry: One year, $30MM. Includes $500K All-Star bonus. Starts in 2020/21; runs through 2020/21.

Departing players:

Other offseason news:

Named Brittni Donaldson, Jon Goodwillie as assistant coaches.
Kyle Lowry underwent left thumb procedure to repair tendon injury.
Exercised 2020/21 rookie scale option on OG Anunoby.

Salary cap situation:

Remained over the cap.
Hard-capped.
Carrying approximately $125.15MM in salary.
$961K of mid-level exception still available (used $8.3MM on Patrick McCaw, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Matt Thomas, and Dewan Hernandez).
Three traded player exceptions available; largest TPE ($2.54MM) expires 2/7/20.

Story of the summer:

Generally speaking, the Raptors received high grades at the time for the 2018 blockbuster that saw them acquire Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green from the Spurs without surrendering young building blocks like Pascal Siakam or OG Anunoby.

However, some skeptics questioned the wisdom of giving up a perennial All-Star like DeMar DeRozan for Leonard, who was on an expiring contract and didn’t even want to be in Toronto. Kawhi had also been limited to just nine games the year before due to a quad injury, creating further uncertainty about what exactly the Raptors were getting in that deal.

The concern that Leonard would be a one-year rental was real, even if early speculation that he wouldn’t even report to Toronto was invented. But after years of disappointing playoff runs, the Raptors had determined it was time for a change. To president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri, the risk of Leonard being one-and-done was worth it, since a healthy Kawhi would give the club a legit chance to make the NBA Finals.

Ujiri’s bet paid off in a big way, as Leonard didn’t just give the Raptors a chance at a title — he led the way as the franchise secured its first-ever championship. It took some good luck along the way – including a fortunate roll on Leonard’s series-ending buzzer beater against the Sixers and a Finals matchup against a Warriors team missing Kevin Durant – but Toronto was one of the NBA’s best teams all season long, and peaked at exactly the right time.

While Ujiri was ultimately right to make that move for Leonard, the skeptics who were concerned about the star forward being a rental were proven right too. Once free agency rolled around, the Los Angeles native decided to head home, joining the Clippers just three weeks after winning a Finals MVP award with the Raptors.

Leonard’s departure stung in Toronto. After all, the hangover from the championship celebration had barely worn off by the time fans found out the team’s best player wouldn’t be back. Still, having that title under their belts made it a whole lot easier for the Raptors and their fans to move on.

Unlike when the Cavaliers lost LeBron James in 2018, losing their star player won’t immediately force the Raptors into rebuilding mode. The team’s cap sheet is relatively clean going forward, and Siakam, Anunoby, and Fred VanVleet give Toronto a few intriguing pieces to build around, with accomplished veterans like Kyle Lowry, Marc Gasol, and Serge Ibaka still poised to play major roles in the short term.

Key offseason losses:

There will be no way for the Raptors to adequately replace Leonard, a two-way superstar who ranked sixth in the NBA in scoring and earned All-Defensive honors during the regular season before taking his game to another level in the playoffs.

Leonard nearly singlehandedly dragged the Raptors past Philadelphia in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. He then helped flip the script after the Raptors fell behind the Bucks 2-0 in the Eastern Finals when he became the primary defender on Giannis Antetokounmpo. He topped off his historic run by being named the Finals MVP against Golden State and finishing the postseason with 732 total points, the third-best mark in league history.

Of course, while Leonard’s departure rightly got all the headlines during that first weekend in July, the loss of Green shouldn’t be overlooked. The veteran sharpshooter nearly earned All-Defensive honors himself and made a career-best 45.5% of his three-point attempts, providing positive value on both ends of the floor.

Green struggled with his shot during the club’s playoff run, but Toronto wouldn’t have gotten as far as it did without him. And while replacing Green’s production is a little more realistic than replacing Leonard’s, the Raptors won’t be able to simply plug in a player who’s capable of shooting like Green while playing the same kind of suffocating defense.

Besides those two former Spurs, Toronto also lost Jeremy Lin, Jodie Meeks, and Eric Moreland, all of whom were in and out of the club’s rotation after coming aboard during the season. All three players have had better years than they did in 2018/19 for the Raptors, so the front office won’t lose any sleep about having to replace them.

Key offseason additions:

Recognizing that they weren’t going to be able to sign a player of Leonard’s or Green’s caliber with the mid-level exception, the Raptors used part of their mid-level and the full bi-annual exception to sign a pair of free agents who at least might be capable of approximating their impact on the defensive end.

Former first-round picks Stanley Johnson and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson each signed short-term contracts with the team in the hopes of filling one of those newly-opened spots in the starting lineup or at least earning a regular role in the frontcourt rotation.

There’s reason to believe the Raptors, who have done strong developmental work with players like Siakam and VanVleet in recent years, could unlock some untapped potential in Johnson and/or Hollis-Jefferson, but it hasn’t worked out that way so far. A week before the regular season began, head coach Nick Nurse publicly called out Toronto’s new veterans for not playing with the kind of effort the team expects. Neither Johnson nor RHJ has logged many minutes for the club since the season began, though there’s still plenty of time for them to get out of the doghouse.

The Raptors have been a little more impressed in the early going with a pair of undrafted rookies who signed guaranteed minimum-salary contracts over the summer. Terence Davis, a guard who went undrafted out of Ole Miss this June, has drawn comparisons to VanVleet and played well enough in the preseason to warrant a look in the rotation.

Matt Thomas, meanwhile, spent his first two professional seasons in Europe after going undrafted in 2017. The former Iowa State standout was one of the top three-point shooters in Spain last season, and while he stills needs to work on his defense, it looks like that outside shot is a transferable skill — he knocked down 7-of-15 threes in the preseason, and 5-of-8 so far in the regular season.

Dewan Hernandez, the Raptors’ lone pick in this year’s draft, is more of a developmental project and figures to spend plenty of time in the G League as a rookie.

Outlook for 2019/20:

It’s a safe bet that the Raptors won’t repeat as NBA champions in 2019/20. However, this team won’t fall off the map after losing its superstar.

Lowry, a five-time All-Star, is still capable of being the most impactful player in a game, whether or not that impact shows up on the stat sheet. Siakam is morphing into the kind of player who could become a perennial All-Star himself. That duo – extended this offseason – is complemented by a handful of quality role players and another young breakout candidate in Anunoby, which is more than enough to claim a playoff spot in the East.

The Raptors’ ceiling will hinge in part on what Siakam, Anunoby, and VanVleet are capable of, and partly on whether the team’s lack of reliable depth will become an issue. But it wouldn’t be at all surprising to see Toronto claim a top-four seed and win a playoff series this spring.

Salary information from Basketball Insiders was used in the creation of this post. Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

2019 Offseason In Review: Golden State Warriors

November 6th, 2019 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

Signings:

Standard contracts:
- Klay Thompson: Five years, maximum salary ($189.9MM). Re-signed using Bird rights.
- D’Angelo Russell: Four years, maximum salary ($117.33MM). Acquired via sign-and-trade.
- Kevon Looney: Three years, $14.46MM. Third-year player option. Re-signed using Bird rights.
- Willie Cauley-Stein: Two years, $4.46MM. Second-year player option. Signed using mid-level exception.
- Alec Burks: One year, minimum salary. Signed using minimum salary exception.
- Glenn Robinson III: One year, minimum salary. Signed using minimum salary exception.
Two-way contracts:
- Ky Bowman
- Damion Lee
Non-guaranteed camp contracts:
- Marquese Chriss: One year, minimum salary.
- Jared Cunningham: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Andrew Harrison: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Devyn Marble: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Kavion Pippen: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Juan Toscano-Anderson: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Nick Zeisloft: One year, minimum salary (Waived).

Trades:

Acquired the No. 41 pick in 2019 draft (used to select Eric Paschall) from the Hawks in exchange for the Warriors’ 2024 second-round pick and cash ($1.3MM).
Acquired the draft rights to Alen Smailagic (No. 39 pick) from the Pelicans in exchange for the Warriors’ 2021 second-round pick, the Warriors’ 2023 second-round pick, and cash ($1MM).
Acquired cash ($2MM) from the Jazz in exchange for the draft rights to Miye Oni (No. 58 pick).
Acquired Julian Washburn (two-way) from the Grizzlies in exchange for Andre Iguodala, the Warriors’ 2024 first-round pick (top-four protected), and cash ($2MM).
- Note: Washburn was later waived.
Acquired D’Angelo Russell (sign-and-trade), Treveon Graham, and Shabazz Napier from the Nets in exchange for Kevin Durant (sign-and-trade) and the Warriors’ 2020 first-round pick (top-20 protected).
- Note: If Warriors’ 2020 first-round pick lands in top 20, Nets will instead receive Warriors’ 2025 second-round pick.
Acquired Omari Spellman from the Hawks in exchange for Damian Jones and the Warriors’ 2026 second-round pick.
Acquired the draft rights to Lior Eliyahu from the Timberwolves in exchange for Treveon Graham, Shabazz Napier, and cash ($3.6MM).

Draft picks:

1-28: Jordan Poole — Signed to rookie contract.
2-39: Alen Smailagic — Signed to four-year, minimum-salary contract. Third and fourth years non-guaranteed. Signed using mid-level exception.
2-41: Eric Paschall — Signed to three-year, minimum-salary contract. Signed using mid-level exception.

Contract extensions:

Draymond Green: Four years, $99.67MM. Fourth-year player option. Includes 15% trade kicker. Starts in 2020/21; runs through 2023/24 (with 2023 opt-out).

Departing players:

Jordan Bell
Andrew Bogut
Quinn Cook
DeMarcus Cousins
Marcus Derrickson (two-way)
Kevin Durant
Andre Iguodala
Jonas Jerebko
Damian Jones
Shaun Livingston (retired after being waived)
Alfonzo McKinnie (waived)

Other offseason news:

Moved From Oracle Arena in Oakland to Chase Center in San Francisco.
Klay Thompson out until at least All-Star break after undergoing ACL surgery.
Signed president of basketball operations Bob Myers to a contract extension; signed president and COO Rick Welts to a contract extension.
Hired Zaza Pachulia as consultant.
Named Ryan Atkinson general manager of G League affiliate (Santa Cruz Warriors).
Exercised 2020/21 rookie scale options on Jacob Evans, Omari Spellman.

Salary cap situation:

Remained over the cap.
Hard-capped; approximately $375K below hard cap.
Carrying approximately $138.55MM in salary.
Approximately $5.93MM over the tax line.
$5.28MM of mid-level exception still available (used $3.97MM on Willie Cauley-Stein, Alen Smailagic, and Eric Paschall).
Full bi-annual exception ($3.62MM) still available.
- Note: Due to hard cap, the Warriors would have to reduce salary elsewhere in order to use full MLE and/or BAE.
Five traded player exceptions available; largest TPE ($17.19MM) expires 7/7/20.

Story of the summer:

No NBA team had a wilder, more up-and-down offseason than the Warriors, whose run of five consecutive appearances in the Finals was capped by a torn Achilles for Kevin Durant and a torn ACL for Klay Thompson, both of whom were about to become unrestricted free agents.

As the Warriors prepared to move across the bay from Oakland to San Francisco, they had to figure out whether they’d be able to re-sign two stars with multiple All-NBA nods under their belts, and how they’d replace those players if they didn’t return.

Fortunately, Thompson never seriously considered signing elsewhere and was locked up quickly once free agency opened. But Durant didn’t follow suit. After being linked to New York all year long, KD made his expected cross-country move, joining the Nets rather than the Knicks.

While losing Durant would seriously compromise the Warriors’ ability to maintain their dynasty, the team had shown over the years – and as recently as this spring – that it was a force to be reckoned with even without the two-time Finals MVP in its lineup. His departure would hardly launch a full-fledged rebuild in Golden State. It was simply a matter of deciding how to reload, with two paths potentially available to the Dubs.

Path one would have involved allowing Durant to walk outright. Without having to account for a maximum-salary contract for KD, the Warriors would have had the flexibility to bring back veteran contributors like Andre Iguodala and use their mid-level exception (taxpayer or non-taxpayer) to add another rotation player or two.

Instead, the Warriors chose path two. Recognizing that Durant’s departure may be their best – and only – opportunity to add a young star to their roster anytime soon, they worked out a sign-and-trade deal with Brooklyn that allowed them to acquire D’Angelo Russell in return.

While the idea of landing a young All-Star like Russell rather than losing Durant for “nothing” seems like a no-brainer on the surface, acquiring D-Lo came at a cost. By the time the dust had settled, the Warriors had to surrender Iguodala, Shaun Livingston, two future first-round picks (one heavily protected), and all their available trade cash for the league year ($5.6MM) in order to make the acquisition of Russell work.

That move also imposed a hard cap on the Warriors that will make it virtually impossible for the team to make any in-season roster changes or to even carry a full 15-man roster for most of the year. With Thompson already expected to spend most or all of the season on the shelf, Golden State essentially had to start the season down two roster spots, leaving little margin for error.

All those drawbacks don’t mean that acquiring Russell was the wrong move. But it put a lot of pressure on him, Stephen Curry, and Draymond Green to make up for the depth the Warriors sacrificed in the process.

Key offseason losses:

Although Curry remained the heart of the Warriors and the fan favorite throughout Durant’s stint with the team, it’s hard to argue that KD wasn’t the team’s best two-way player during that stretch. He transformed into a legit rim protector as a Warrior and posted the three best shooting percentages of his career in his three years in Oakland. While Curry and Thompson are two of the NBA’s best shooters of all time, Durant’s ability to simply elevate and shoot over a defender opened up new possibilities for the offense that the Warriors will have a hard time replacing.

Of course, Durant wasn’t the only Finals MVP the Warriors lost this summer. Iguodala will turn 36 in January and has become far more valuable in the postseason than he is during the regular season. But for a Warriors team experiencing so much turnover and missing a top perimeter defender like Thompson, Iguodala would have been a valuable asset to have for all 82 games in 2019/20. He’ll become eligible to rejoin the Warriors next July, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see a one-year reunion at that point before Iguodala calls it a career.

Speaking of retirement, Livingston announced his this summer after being released by the Warriors. It’s not clear whether he would have continued his career if Golden State had been willing to keep him on the roster, but that was never really a viable option with or without the hard cap, since the size of his cap hit ($7.7MM) was beginning to outweigh his on-court contributions.

The Warriors’ hard cap may have played a part in their willingness to rescind qualifying offers for Quinn Cook and Jordan Bell, two young players who were restricted free agents. Bell took a step backward in 2018/19 after a promising rookie season, but Cook had developed into a reliable rotation player who played big minutes in the NBA Finals.

Big men Andrew Bogut and DeMarcus Cousins are also gone. Bogut returned to Australia after essentially being loaned to the Warriors for the stretch run, while Cousins left Golden State after a somewhat disappointing season — he had hoped to rebuild his value by playing a key role for a contender, but ultimately saw his year once again derailed by health issues. In retrospect, the uproar over his 2018 deal with the Warriors was overblown.

Role players Jonas Jerebko and Alfonzo McKinnie are gone too, with McKinnie sticking around all the way up until the weekend before the regular season before being cut in favor of Marquese Chriss. McKinnie was another casualty of the Warriors’ hard cap — without it, the team could have kept both players.

Key offseason additions:

As noted above, the Warriors’ decision to work out a sign-and-trade with the Nets that allowed them to sign Russell to a maximum-salary deal essentially set the rest of their offseason moves in motion, subsequently limiting their cap flexibility and their ability to add depth. Was Russell worth it? The Warriors think so, rightly pointing out that the opportunity to land a 23-year-old All-Star doesn’t come along often for an over-the-cap team.

I’m a little less enthusiastic about Russell’s fit alongside Curry and Thompson and about his breakout year in Brooklyn, which only happened after an ankle injury sidelined Caris LeVert. He’s certainly a promising young player, and the Warriors will be able to flip him at some point if they want to, but now that he’s on a max deal, he’s no longer a bargain. If he’s traded at some point, Golden State shouldn’t necessarily count on getting another All-Star in the deal.

Willie Cauley-Stein, Alec Burks, and Glenn Robinson III joined the Warriors on modest contracts and figure to play regular roles. Burks and Robinson have flashed some upside as three-and-D wings, but have yet to show they can be above-average contributors for a contender. I’d be surprised if that changes. I did like the addition of Cauley-Stein though — he looked like he needed a fresh start after four seasons in Sacramento, and the Warriors got him at a bargain-basement price.

In addition to signing low-cost free agents, the Warriors also kept team salary below the hard cap by signing all three of the players they drafted in June: Jordan Poole, Alen Smailagic, and Eric Paschall. I didn’t expect any of the three to play major minutes for Golden State as rookies, but early-season injuries have forced Poole and Paschall into action.

Poole, predictably, has struggled, but Paschall, the No. 41 pick in this year’s draft, already looks like a steal. He’s averaging 16.7 PPG on 60.3% shooting through seven games, improbably earning “MVP” chants in San Francisco this week when he racked up 34 points in a win over Portland. He has been a bright spot in an otherwise disastrous couple weeks for the Dubs.

Omari Spellman and Chriss round out the Warriors’ offseason roster additions, giving the team a couple more options in the frontcourt. We’ll see how much Golden State can get out of those former first-rounders after their old teams decided to move on from them.

Outlook for 2019/20:

With Durant gone and Thompson injured, this was always going to be a transition year for the Warriors. I viewed them as a borderline playoff team entering the season, picking them to claim the No. 8 seed in the West in Hoops Rumors’ preseason predictions, buoyed primarily by an MVP-caliber season from Curry.

Now that Curry is expected to miss more than half the season with a broken hand, a spot in the postseason feels like a pipe dream. Even before Curry went down, Golden State looked like a potential lottery team, with opponents scoring at will on the Dubs’ ineffective defense.

While a core of Curry, Thompson, Green, and Russell is still a strong long-term foundation, this year’s team just doesn’t have the supporting pieces necessary to contend with two of those stars out until at least February. For the first time in several years, Warriors fans will likely end up anticipating the draft lottery in May more than the Finals in June.

Salary information from Basketball Insiders was used in the creation of this post. Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

2019 Offseason In Review: Milwaukee Bucks

November 5th, 2019 at 4:01pm CST by Luke Adams

Signings:

Standard contracts:
- Khris Middleton: Five years, $177.5MM. Fifth-year player option. Re-signed using Bird rights.
- Brook Lopez: Four years, $52MM. Re-signed using cap room.
- George Hill: Three years, $28.77MM. Third year partially guaranteed ($1.28MM). Re-signed using cap room.
- Robin Lopez: Two years, $9.77MM. Second-year player option. Signed using room exception.
- Wesley Matthews: Two years, minimum salary. Second-year player option. Signed using minimum salary exception.
- Thanasis Antetokounmpo: Two years, minimum salary. Signed using minimum salary exception.
- Dragan Bender: Two years, minimum salary. Partially guaranteed ($300K). Signed using minimum salary exception.
  - Note: Partial guarantee increased to $600K on opening night.
- Kyle Korver: One year, minimum salary. Signed using minimum salary exception.
Two-way contracts:
- Cameron Reynolds
- Frank Mason
Non-guaranteed camp contracts:
- Jaylen Adams: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Jemerrio Jones: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Trevor Lacey: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Luke Maye: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Rayjon Tucker: One year, minimum salary (Waived).

Trades:

Acquired Jon Leuer from the Pistons in exchange for Tony Snell and the draft rights to Kevin Porter Jr. (No. 30 pick).
- Note: Leuer was later waived.
Acquired the Pacers’ 2020 first-round pick (top-14 protected), the Pacers’ 2021 second-round pick, and the Pacers’ 2025 second-round pick from the Pacers in exchange for Malcolm Brogdon (sign-and-trade).
- Note: The Pacers’ traded 2021 second-round pick will convey one year after the Pacers’ 2020 second-round pick (45-60 protected through 2022; unprotected in 2023) conveys.

Draft picks:

None

Departing players:

Malcolm Brogdon
Bonzie Colson (two-way)
Tim Frazier
Pau Gasol
Nikola Mirotic
Tony Snell

Other offseason news:

Signed general manager Jon Horst to contract extension.
Lost assistant coach Taylor Jenkins to Grizzlies.
Hired Chad Forcier as assistant coach.
Fined $50K by NBA for publicly vowing to offer Giannis Antetokounmpo super-max deal in 2020.
Exercised 2020/21 rookie scale team options on D.J. Wilson, Donte DiVincenzo.

Salary cap situation:

Used cap space; now over the cap.
Carrying approximately $129.63MM in salary.
No cap exceptions available.

Story of the summer:

The Bucks were one of the NBA’s most improved teams in 2018/19, winning a league-high 60 regular season games and 10 of their first 11 playoff contests before losing four straight to the eventual champion Raptors.

While that four-game losing streak to end the season – the first time the Bucks had lost more than two in a row all year – was discouraging, it was hard not to focus on the positives as the offseason began. Kawhi Leonard‘s looming departure meant that the Bucks would probably have the upper hand in their next matchup with the Raptors. It also meant Milwaukee would have the Eastern Conference’s best player in Giannis Antetokounmpo, last season’s MVP. Now it was just a matter of bringing back his supporting cast.

That last part would be a challenge. Of the seven non-Giannis Bucks who played the most minutes in the postseason, only two were under contract beyond 2018/19, and one of those two was Eric Bledsoe, who played poorly during the club’s postseason series vs. Toronto.

While Antetokounmpo was the player most responsible for the Bucks’ 60-win season, he didn’t do it by himself. An offseason exodus of talent would hurt Milwaukee’s chances of making another deep playoff run and might negatively impact the organization’s chances of keeping the reigning MVP around beyond his current contract.

So general manager Jon Horst and the Bucks’ front office got creative as they looked to retain as much talent as possible. They dipped below the cap to offer Brook Lopez a bigger contract than his Non-Bird rights would allow, while retaining Khris Middleton‘s full Bird rights in order to eventually go back over the cap when they re-signed him. George Hill, meanwhile, was waived and then re-signed to a longer, more cap-friendly deal.

Milwaukee didn’t retain everyone though. Nikola Mirotic, who opted to return to his home country to play for Barcelona, almost certainly would’ve landed with a new team even if he had remained in the NBA. Malcolm Brogdon, on the other hand, looked like a strong candidate to be brought back by the Bucks, but they ultimately sent him to Indiana in a sign-and-trade in exchange for multiple draft picks, including a first-rounder.

At times last season – particularly after he returned in the playoffs – Brogdon looked like the Bucks’ second-best player, but a handful of factors contributed to his exit. Among the most notable factors? Bledsoe’s $70MM extension, signed in March, and an apparent reluctance by Bucks ownership to go into tax territory.

There were no real cap limitations stopping Milwaukee from re-signing Brogdon with or without Bledsoe’s deal on the books, but if the team was looking to avoid substantial tax penalties, it essentially had to keep one point guard or the other. It’ll be fascinating to see whether choosing Bledsoe in the winter before he struggled in the postseason for a second consecutive spring will come back to haunt the Bucks.

Key offseason losses:

Brogdon’s ability to handle the ball, make shots, and play strong perimeter defense made him a valuable asset for the Bucks. His .505/.426/.928 shooting line was one of the best in the NBA in 2018/19, and despite playing plenty of point guard, he didn’t dominate the ball at all, often deferring to Antetokounmpo and Bledsoe.

The Bucks haven’t said a whole lot about Brogdon’s departure, so it’s not clear just how significant a factor the tax concerns were in the decision to let him go. A June report suggested that the team had a “walk-away” number it was unwilling to exceed on Brogdon, so if the Pacers’ offer was higher than that number, Milwaukee did well to get some draft picks out of the situation.

It’s also worth noting that Brogdon was red-flagged prior to the 2016 draft due to foot surgery, and once again battled foot issues in ’18/19. If the Bucks were worried about those foot issues continuing to re-surface in future seasons, that could be another reason why the team was unwilling to match the Pacers’ four-year, $85MM offer.

Mirotic was the other key loss for the Bucks, though he was another player – like Bledsoe – who stumbled in the playoffs, making just 28.9% of his postseason three-point attempts, including 6-of-31 (19.4%) vs. Toronto. Mirotic’s floor-spacing abilities as a big man helped open up Milwaukee’s offense and create driving lanes for Antetokounmpo and others, but when he wasn’t making those shots, he was essentially unplayable — he didn’t log a single minute in Game 6 vs. the Raptors, the final game of the Bucks’ season.

Tony Snell had been a starter for Milwaukee during the previous two seasons, but came off the bench in 2018/19 and saw his role cut back — his 17.6 minutes per game represented his lowest mark since his rookie year. He remained a solid contributor, knocking down 39.7% of his three-pointers, but it became untenable for the team to carry his multiyear contract and his eight-figure annual salary as core players became more expensive. He was moved to Detroit in a salary-dump deal.

Tim Frazier and Pau Gasol also departed this summer, though neither loss should have a major impact on the Bucks’ rotation. Frazier played extremely limited minutes in the playoffs, while ankle and foot injuries limited Gasol to just three games in total during his brief stint in Milwaukee.

Key offseason additions:

Rather than signing another point guard to provide depth behind Bledsoe and Hill, the Bucks tabbed Wesley Matthews to help fill the void created by Brogdon’s departure. At age 33, Matthews isn’t the same sort of high-quality three-and-D player he once was, but he can still provide enough value at both ends of the court to easily outperform his minimum-salary contract. In 69 games for three teams last season, he knocked down 37.2% of 5.8 three-point attempts per game.

With Mirotic and Gasol on the way out, the Bucks replenished their frontcourt depth by signing Robin Lopez and Dragan Bender in free agency. The former signing pairs the Lopez twins up front, and while I doubt we’ll see them playing alongside one another too often, Robin brings a much different skill set than Brook does.

Brook is a talented low-post scorer who added a reliable three-point shot to his game in recent years and helped protect the rim for the Bucks in 2018/19. Robin isn’t as dynamic an offensive player and probably won’t give the team much from beyond the arc, despite his uptick in three-point attempts in the early going this season. However, he’s a fundamentally sound, high-IQ contributor who plays excellent team defense and has mastered the art of the box-out. He’ll be an important part of Milwaukee’s rotation when the club goes up against top Eastern Conference centers like Joel Embiid and Marc Gasol.

Bender, on the other hand, is a developmental piece who probably won’t play much unless injuries force the Bucks’ hand. The same can be said of Thanasis Antetokounmpo, one of the offseason’s most improbable recipients of a multiyear guaranteed contract. It’s probably safe to say he wouldn’t be on Milwaukee’s roster if his last name were Smith.

The other new addition to the Bucks’ rotation this season is Kyle Korver, who signed a minimum-salary contract after being bought out by Phoenix. Even at age 38, Korver looks capable of making 40% of his three-pointers in his sleep. His marksmanship could come in handy for Milwaukee, though he’ll have to prove he’s not a liability on defense in order to hang onto his spot in the rotation all season and into the playoffs.

Outlook for 2019/20:

Bucks players and coaches probably lost some sleep during the summer thinking about the overtime period of Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals. If the Bucks had won that game, it would’ve given them a 3-0 lead over Toronto and perhaps put them in the driver’s seat to win a championship.

This year’s Bucks team might not be quite as talented as last year’s squad, but it also might not need to be. Milwaukee’s top competitors each lost key players, with Leonard leaving Toronto and Jimmy Butler leaving Philadelphia. Both teams still have extremely talented rosters, and clubs like the Celtics and Heat are threatening to move into the top tier of Eastern Conference contenders, but there’s a reason oddsmakers’ forecasts during the preseason viewed the Bucks as the team to beat.

This season could go a long way toward convincing Giannis one way or the other whether he wants a long-term future in Milwaukee, so the Bucks will do all they can this year to push for a title. Anything less than a return trip to the Eastern Finals will be considered a disappointment.

Salary information from Basketball Insiders was used in the creation of this post. Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

2019 Offseason In Review: Houston Rockets

November 2nd, 2019 at 3:55pm CST by Luke Adams

Signings:

Standard contracts:
- Nene: Two years, $20MM. Second-year non-guaranteed. Minimum base salaries; significant likely incentives. Re-signed using Bird rights.
- Danuel House: Three years, $11.1MM. Re-signed using taxpayer mid-level exception.
- Austin Rivers: Two years, minimum salary. Second-year player option. Re-signed using minimum salary exception.
- Ben McLemore: Two years, minimum salary. Partially guaranteed ($50K; increased to $500K on opening night). Signed using minimum salary exception.
- Tyson Chandler: One year, minimum salary. Signed using minimum salary exception.
- Gerald Green: One year, minimum salary. Re-signed using minimum salary exception.
- Thabo Sefolosha: One year, minimum salary. Signed using minimum salary exception.
- Ryan Anderson: One year, minimum salary. Partially guaranteed ($250K; increased to $500K on opening night). Signed using minimum salary exception.
Two-way contracts:
- Michael Frazier
- Ronshad Shabazz (Waived)
Non-guaranteed camp contracts:
- Chris Clemons: One year, minimum salary (Converted to two-way contract).
- Anthony Bennett: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Jaron Blossomgame: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Matur Maker: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- William McDowell-White: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Shamorie Ponds: One year, minimum salary (Waived).

Trades:

Acquired Russell Westbrook from the Thunder in exchange for Chris Paul, the Rockets’ 2024 first-round pick (top-four protected), the Rockets’ 2026 first-round pick (top-four protected), the right to swap 2021 first-round picks (top-four protected), the right to swap 2025 first-round picks (top-10 protected), and conditional cash ($1MM).
- Note: The Rockets would only owe the Thunder $1MM (and a 2026 second-round pick) if the 2026 first-round pick lands in the top four.

Draft picks:

None

Waiver claims:

Deyonta Davis (from Hawks): Two years, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed second year. Claimed using minimum salary exception. (Later waived).
Ray Spalding (from Hawks): One year, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed. Claimed using minimum salary exception. (Later waived).

Contract extensions:

Eric Gordon: Four years, $75.57MM. Fourth year is non-guaranteed. Starts in 2020/21; runs through 2023/24.

Departing players:

Chris Chiozza (waived)
Trevon Duval (two-way)
Vince Edwards (two-way)
Kenneth Faried
Chris Paul
Iman Shumpert

Other offseason news:

Created tension between NBA, China after GM Daryl Morey tweeted support for protestors in Hong Kong.
Failed to reach extension agreement with head coach Mike D’Antoni.
Parted ways with associate head coach Jeff Bzdelik and other assistant coaches.
Hired Elston Turner as lead assistant coach.
Gerald Green underwent surgery on broken foot; expected to miss six months.
Renounced draft rights to 2013 second-round pick Marko Todorovic.

Salary cap situation:

Remained over the cap.
Carrying approximately $141.2MM in salary.
Approximately $1.3MM over the tax line after removing Nene‘s incentives.
$2.72MM of taxpayer mid-level exception still available ($3.54MM used on Danuel House).
Seven traded player exceptions available; largest TPE ($3.62MM) expires 2/7/20.

Story of the summer:

In the 2018 playoffs, an unfortunately-timed Chris Paul injury helped sink Houston in the Western Conference Finals and derailed what could have been a title run. In 2019’s rematch with the Warriors, it was Golden State dealing with a potentially devastating injury to a star, as a Kevin Durant calf strain opened the door for Houston to exact its revenge.

Even playing at home against a Durant-less Golden State team in Game 6 of the Western Semifinals though, the Rockets couldn’t pull out a victory. And after suffering yet another postseason defeat at the hands of the Warriors, Houston went soul searching.

Reports swirled early in the offseason that the relationship between James Harden and Paul was becoming increasingly untenable. Trade rumors surrounded nearly everyone Rockets player except Harden, with Clint Capela seemingly on the verge of being dealt at one point as Houston pushed to land Jimmy Butler.

However, the break-up of the Warriors at the start of the free agent period was a game changer. With Kevin Durant headed elsewhere and Klay Thompson having just undergone ACL surgery, the Western Conference suddenly looked a little more wide open.

It wouldn’t take a drastic overhaul of the Rockets’ roster to make the team a legit championship contender after all. No team besides the Warriors had defeated Houston in the postseason since 2017. With the Dubs defanged, why couldn’t the Rockets emerge as the new frontrunner in the West?

Of course, with would-be contenders in Utah, Denver, and Los Angeles loading up at the same time, simply standing pat wouldn’t necessarily put the Rockets in position to fill the power vacuum in the West. So just when it looked as if a wild week or two of player movement was winding down, general manager Daryl Morey went out and made a splash of his own, sending Paul to the Thunder in a trade for Russell Westbrook.

It’s still not clear how much the reported tension between Harden and Paul factored into the move — Morey has denied it was a factor and downplayed the notion it even existed in the first place. But at this point, the more pressing question is how the pairing of former MVPs in the Rockets’ backcourt will work. Houston faced similar questions after the acquisition of Paul in 2017 and ultimately quieted those skeptics, but Westbrook isn’t the shooter that CP3 is, and he’s one of the only players in the NBA who is as ball-dominant as Harden. It’ll make for a fascinating merger.

Of course, you could argue that the real story of the Rockets’ summer was what happened in the fall, when Morey created an international incident with a brief, quickly-deleted tweet in support of Hong Kong protestors. Houston has long been the most popular franchise in China due to Yao Ming‘s stint with the team, but Morey’s well-meaning message in support of human rights may changed that in one fell swoop.

It could be months or years before we have a real idea of how that one tweet impacted the Rockets and the NBA financially, but for now Morey and the team have gone mum on the issue, hoping to shift fans’ focus to what’s happening on the court.

Key offseason losses:

Although many of their role players hit free agency this summer, the Rockets only ended up losing a couple of them, since most re-signed.

Iman Shumpert, acquired at last year’s trade deadline, was one of the two to walk, despite Houston’s efforts to bring him back. Shumpert is the kind of tough perimeter defender who fits in well with the Rockets, but his three-point shot wasn’t reliable after he left Sacramento, where he shot 36.6% from beyond the arc. He made fewer than 30% of his three-point attempts down the stretch for Houston.

Kenneth Faried, who was working on developing a three-point shot of his own, mostly occupied the kind of rim-running role that Capela typically plays, and did well in that role, averaging 12.9 PPG and 8.2 RPG in 24.4 minutes per contest. However, he was in and out of the rotation in the second half and barely played at all in the postseason.

The most impactful offseason loss for the Rockets will be Paul, who was still playing well even as injuries limited him to just 58 regular season appearances in each of two seasons in Houston. He was particularly effective in 2018/19 when Harden was on the bench — CP3 posted a net rating of +10.4 with Harden sitting, compared to a +7.4 net rating when the two guards shared the court.

Still, Paul will turn 35 next May and his contract was one of the least team-friendly deals in the NBA, increasing to $44MM+ in 2021/22, his age-36 season. Westbrook’s deal has the same cap hits as CP3’s and runs for an extra year, but he’ll only be 34 years old by the time it expires, so the Rockets are hoping to get better value out of his remaining prime years.

Key offseason additions:

Westbrook has never been a particularly strong shooter, but his .428/.290/.656 line in 2018/19 was among the worst of his career. Fortunately, he made up for it by averaging a triple-double (11.1 RPG, 10.7 APG) for a third consecutive season and by putting relentless pressure on opposing defenses.

While the Rockets will try to convince Westbrook to cut back a little on his mid-range shot attempts, the team is intrigued by his ability to push the pace, something Houston didn’t do a whole lot last season. Westbrook is among the best passers in the NBA, and could help create a few extra transition looks for his new teammates.

Even though Westbrook’s contract is a little more favorable than Paul’s, it doesn’t take much of a drop-off for the value of those super-max deals to dip. With four years still left on Westbrook’s contract, a major injury or decline in productivity would leave Houston stuck with a bad asset. Keeping that in mind, it will be interesting to see just how long the Rockets give the Harden/Westbrook partnership to succeed. In this era of constant player movement, it would actually be a bit surprising if both players are still on the roster by the time their contracts expire in 2023.

The Rockets’ other roster additions this summer were minimum-salary free agent signings — Tyson Chandler and Ryan Anderson join the frontcourt, with Ben McLemore and Thabo Sefolosha on the wing.

Chandler and Anderson offer significantly different skill sets, but neither player should have a problem acclimating to the Rockets’ style of play. Anderson, a floor-spacing stretch four, previously spent two years with the club, while Chandler is an 18-year veteran who knows by this point what role teams will ask him to play — he’s in Houston for his defense, rim protection, and rebounding, and won’t be expected to contribute much on the other end of the floor.

McLemore – whose salary for 2019/20 still isn’t fully guaranteed – and Sefolosha are low-risk acquisitions who don’t figure to play major roles unless they force the issue and prove they deserve regular minutes. Of the two, Sefolosha has the stronger track record, having shown in the past that he can be a three-and-D contributor for playoff teams. We’ll see if he’s still capable of doing so at age 35.

Outlook for 2019/20:

The Rockets won 118 games over the last two years. During that time, they came closer than any team besides the 2019 champion Raptors to ending the Warriors’ dynasty. With that Warriors’ dynasty at least on hiatus, if not over altogether, Houston is bringing back a roster featuring most of the same key pieces, with Westbrook replacing Paul in what should be considered an upgrade. There’s no reason Houston shouldn’t be among the handful of teams capable of winning a championship in 2020.

Still, there are some worrisome storylines. This is the oldest roster in the NBA. Mike D’Antoni‘s lame-duck status is odd, as is Tilman Fertitta‘s apparent aversion to the luxury tax. And the franchise’s suddenly-frosty relationship with its Chinese partners could become a distracting ongoing saga.

In a competitive Western Conference, it wouldn’t be a total shock if the Rockets finish outside the top four and are eliminated in the first round, but that’s probably a worst-case scenario. If everything breaks right, this is still a team with championship upside.

Salary information from Basketball Insiders was used in the creation of this post. Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

2019 Offseason In Review: Portland Trail Blazers

October 31st, 2019 at 3:48pm CST by Luke Adams

Signings:

Standard contracts:
- Rodney Hood: Two years, $11.72MM. Second-year player option. Re-signed using taxpayer mid-level exception.
- Mario Hezonja: Two years, $3.71MM. Second-year player option. Signed using minimum salary exception.
- Pau Gasol: One year, minimum salary. Signed using minimum salary exception.
- Anthony Tolliver: One year, minimum salary. Signed using minimum salary exception.
Two-way contracts:
- Jaylen Hoard
Non-guaranteed camp contracts:
- Moses Brown: One year, minimum salary (Converted to two-way contract).
- Keljin Blevins: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Troy Caupain: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- London Perrantes: One year, minimum salary (Waived).

Trades:

Acquired Kent Bazemore from the Hawks in exchange for Evan Turner.
Acquired Hassan Whiteside in a three-team trade with the Heat, Sixers, and Clippers in exchange for Meyers Leonard (to Heat) and Maurice Harkless (to Clippers).
Acquired the draft rights to Bojan Dubljevic from the Timberwolves in exchange for Jake Layman (sign-and-trade).

Draft picks:

1-25: Nassir Little — Signed to rookie contract.

Contract extensions:

Damian Lillard: Four years, 35% maximum salary (super-max). Projected value of $196MM. Designated veteran extension. Starts in 2021/22; runs through 2024/25.
CJ McCollum: Three years, $100MM. Starts in 2021/22; runs through 2023/24.

Departing players:

Al-Farouq Aminu
Seth Curry
Maurice Harkless
Enes Kanter
Jake Layman
Meyers Leonard
Evan Turner

Other offseason news:

Signed head coach Terry Stotts to a contract extension through 2021/22.
Signed president of basketball operations Neil Olshey to a contract extension through 2024.
Lost associate head coach David Vanterpool to Timberwolves; promoted Nate Tibbetts to associate head coach.
Exercised 2020/21 rookie scale options on Zach Collins, Anfernee Simons.

Salary cap situation:

Remained over the cap.
Over the tax line by approximately $12.38MM; projected tax bill of about $22.2MM.
Carrying approximately $145.01MM in salary.
Two traded player exceptions available; largest TPE ($1.79MM) expires 7/8/20.

Story of the summer:

The Trail Blazers exceeded expectations in a big way in 2018/19, winning 53 games and making the Western Conference Finals after oddsmakers gave them a preseason over/under forecast of 42.5 wins.

Still, while Portland’s two playoff series victories produced some memorable moments, including a Damian Lillard dagger that will show up in highlight packages for years, the team’s season eventually ended the same way it did in 2018, on the wrong end of a frustrating four-game sweep by a conference rival.

That run to the Western Conference Finals at least quieted chatter about whether Lillard and CJ McCollum have to be split up. The Blazers further quieted that speculation by signing both star guards to massive new contract extensions during the offseason, locking up McCollum through 2024 and Lillard through 2025.

Even though the Blazers were willing to double down on their backcourt duo, it still seemed as if this roster was missing the piece that would help get it over the top and get it into the NBA Finals. Unfortunately, the Portland entered the offseason projected to be a taxpaying team and lacking the resources necessary to bring back all the team’s key free agents, forcing president of basketball operations Neil Olshey to get creative.

Olshey and the front office managed to bring back Rodney Hood, but lost several other notable free agents, including Al-Farouq Aminu, Seth Curry, Jake Layman, and Enes Kanter. Needing a big man to replace Kanter and injured center Jusuf Nurkic in the middle, Olshey surrendered two more players from last year’s roster – Maurice Harkless and Meyers Leonard – in a trade for Hassan Whiteside.

After a few more low-cost free agent signings and trades, the Blazers had set their roster, but questions remain. Besides Lillard and McCollum, six of Portland’s next eight most-used players from last year’s team are gone, and one of the two that’s still around – Nurkic – probably won’t play until sometime in 2020. In addition to to all that roster turnover, the Blazers sacrificed much of their depth on their wing when they lost Aminu, Curry, Harkless, Layman, and Evan Turner.

The Blazers have a strong culture and may be evolving into one of those teams like San Antonio that becomes perennially underrated. But at this point, this year’s squad doesn’t look like an upgrade over last year’s.

Key offseason losses:

Aminu and Harkless rarely filled up the box score, and Harkless in particular was inconsistent in 2018/19, making just 27.5% of his three-point attempts. But both veteran forwards were strong defenders who fit pretty well alongside Lillard and McCollum because they didn’t need the ball to be effective. The Blazers won’t have as many players who fit that bill in 2019/20.

While Curry and Layman weren’t as versatile defensively as Aminu and Harkless, Curry was among the NBA’s most accurate three-point shooters last season, knocking down 45.0% of his tries from beyond the arc, a mark that wasn’t far off from his career rate of 43.8%. Portland will miss his shooting.

Layman’s 32.6% three-point rate wasn’t in the same ballpark as Curry’s, but he was improving from outside and emerging as a potential stretch four. Despite his restricted free agent status, the Blazers ended up letting him go for essentially nothing, since re-signing him would have cost the organization exponentially more in tax penalties.

The Blazers opted to move on from Turner, who served as the backup point guard last season, because they felt that Anfernee Simons was ready to take on a larger role. Assuming they’re right about Simons, acquiring a wing (Kent Bazemore) in exchange for Turner was a savvy move.

Finally, the frontcourt duo of Kanter and Leonard performed pretty well after Nurkic broke his leg last season, but relying on them for a full season might have been unsustainable. The Blazers reportedly tried to bring Kanter back with their taxpayer mid-level exception but ultimately used that MLE on Hood when they didn’t get an answer from Kanter right away.

Key offseason additions:

Whiteside was an interesting addition for the Blazers, who view the big man as the sort of rebounder and rim protector who will help stabilize the frontcourt until Nurkic returns.

Whiteside expressed displeasure with his dwindling role in Miami more than once and has faced some questions about his effort level over the years, but the Blazers showed by trading for him that they were willing to bet on their culture – and perhaps on a contract-year bump for Whiteside – by acquiring his pricey expiring contract.

The Blazers took another another distressed asset on an expiring contract when they landed Bazemore in a deal with the Hawks. Once considered a strong three-and-D contributor, Bazemore had a down year in Atlanta and admitted to being frustrated by being caught in the midst of a rebuild there. If he’s rejuvenated in Portland, he could become a crucial piece for the Blazers, who badly need forwards who can space the floor and guard opposing scorers.

Mario Hezonja, Anthony Tolliver, and Pau Gasol all signed minimum-salary contracts, which the Blazers will hope they can outperform. Hezonja and Tolliver, in particular, look like candidates for regular minutes off the bench — anything Portland gets out of the injury-plagued Gasol might be a bonus.

A former No. 5 overall pick, Hezonja is still just 24 years old, so maybe Portland believes he still has untapped potential, but he didn’t show a lot in Orlando and New York during his first four NBA seasons. Tolliver, a stretch four who can hold his own on defense, should be a more consistent contributor, though he’s in his age-34 season and will lose a step soon, if he hasn’t already.

Finally, the Blazers believe they got a steal when they draft Nassir Little 25th overall in June. A former five-star recruit, Little was up and down during his freshman year at UNC, but could develop into a versatile multi-positional defender at the NBA level. His 77.0% free-throw rate also suggests that there’s room for improvement on his three-point shot.

Outlook for 2019/20:

I’m not a big believer in Whiteside, and I think the Blazers will miss role players like Aminu, Harkless, and Curry. Having said that, I have enough faith in Lillard, McCollum, and head coach Terry Stotts that I have a pretty hard time imagining Portland falling out of the playoff picture, even in a competitive Western Conference.

Still, the roster as currently constructed has limited upside unless young players like Collins and/or Simons take massive steps forward. With big expiring contracts on hand, along with a few intriguing prospects and all their future first-round picks, the Blazers have the ammo to make a major in-season addition.

If Olshey and the front office stand pat, I’d be surprised to see the club make another deep playoff run next spring, but at least in that scenario, those big expiring contracts would allow the team to revamp its supporting cast next summer.

Salary information from Basketball Insiders was used in the creation of this post. Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

2019 Offseason In Review: Philadelphia 76ers

October 30th, 2019 at 5:01pm CST by Luke Adams

Signings:

Standard contracts:
- Tobias Harris: Five years, $180MM. Includes trade kicker of 5% or $5MM (whichever is lesser). Re-signed using Bird rights.
- Al Horford: Four years, $109MM. Fourth year partially guaranteed ($14.5MM). Signed using cap room.
  - Note: Horford’s fourth-year partial guarantee can increase to $19.5MM (if Sixers make Finals in 2020, 2021, or 2022) or can fully guarantee to $26.5MM (if Sixers win Finals in 2020, 2021, or 2022).
- Mike Scott: Two years, $9.77MM. Signed using room exception.
- Shake Milton: Four years, minimum salary. Fourth-year team option. Converted from two-way contract to standard contract using cap room.
- James Ennis: Two years, minimum salary. Second-year player option. Re-signed using minimum salary exception.
- Furkan Korkmaz: Two years, minimum salary. Second year non-guaranteed. Re-signed using minimum salary exception.
- Raul Neto: One year, minimum salary. Signed using minimum salary exception.
- Kyle O’Quinn: One year, minimum salary. Signed using minimum salary exception.
- Trey Burke: One year, minimum salary. Partially guaranteed ($405K). Signed using minimum salary exception.
  - Note: Guarantee increased to $810K at start of regular season.
Two-way contracts:
- Norvel Pelle
- Marial Shayok
Non-guaranteed camp contracts:
- Shizz Alston Jr.: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Jared Brownridge: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Terry Harris: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Haywood Highsmith: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Christ Koumadje: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Isaiah Miles: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Xavier Munford: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Julian Washburn: One year, minimum salary (Waived).

Trades:

Acquired the draft rights to Matisse Thybulle (No. 20 pick) from the Celtics in exchange for the draft rights to Ty Jerome (No. 24 pick) and Carsen Edwards (No. 33 pick).
Acquired cash ($2MM) from the Wizards in exchange for Jonathon Simmons and the draft rights to Admiral Schofield (No. 42 pick).
Acquired Josh Richardson in a four-team trade with the Heat, Clippers, and Trail Blazers in exchange for Jimmy Butler (sign-and-trade; to Heat) and the draft rights to Mathias Lessort (to Clippers).
Acquired the draft rights to Jordan Bone (No. 57 pick), the Hawks’ 2020 second-round pick (56-60 protected), and either the Hawks’, Hornets’, or Nets’ 2023 second-round pick (whichever is most favorable) from the Hawks in exchange for the draft rights to Bruno Fernando (No. 34 pick).
Acquired the Heat’s 2024 second-round pick (top-55 protected) and cash ($2MM) from the Pistons in exchange for the draft rights to Jordan Bone (No. 57 pick).

Draft picks:

1-20: Matisse Thybulle — Signed to rookie contract.
2-54: Marial Shayok — Signed to two-way contract.

Contract extensions:

Ben Simmons: Five years, 25% maximum salary. Projected value of $168,200,000. Starting salary can be worth up to 30% of the cap if Simmons earns All-NBA honors in 2020 (full details). Includes 15% trade kicker. Starts in 2020/21; runs through 2024/25.

Departing players:

Jimmy Butler
Haywood Highsmith (two-way; waived)
Amir Johnson
Boban Marjanovic
T.J. McConnell
Greg Monroe
J.J. Redick
Jonathon Simmons

Other offseason news:

Lost lead assistant coach Monty Williams to Suns; hired Ime Udoka as lead assistant coach.
Hired Roy Hibbert as player development coach.
Renounced 2017 first-round pick Anzejs Pasecniks.
Minority stakeholder David Heller no longer part of ownership group.
Exercised 2020/21 rookie scale option on Zhaire Smith.

Salary cap situation:

Used cap space; now over the cap.
Carrying approximately $128.39MM in salary.
No cap exceptions available.

Story of the summer:

No team had a more crushing end to its 2018/19 campaign than the Sixers, who would have forced overtime and been in position to eke out a second-round series win over the Raptors if Kawhi Leonard‘s miracle Game 7 buzzer-beater hadn’t dropped in after bouncing four times on the rim.

As heartbreaking as that finish was for Philadelphia, the team had to be encouraged by the Raptors’ subsequent wins over the Bucks in the Eastern Finals and the Warriors in the NBA Finals. Neither of those teams forced Toronto to a seventh game, meaning it was Philadelphia that actually gave the eventual champs their biggest scare.

The Sixers appeared to take that silver lining to heart. Rather than buying into theories that the Ben Simmons/Joel Embiid pairing might not work in the long run, the team doubled down on that duo, signing Simmons to a five-year, maximum-salary contract extension. And despite some disappointing postseason showings from Tobias Harris, the 76ers heavily invested in the veteran forward, re-signing him to a five-year, $180MM deal.

Philadelphia likely would’ve been willing to run it back to an even greater degree by retaining Jimmy Butler, but he decided he wanted to head to South Beach, choosing the Heat in free agency. Fortunately for the Sixers, Miami didn’t have the cap room necessary to sign Butler outright and had to cooperate on a sign-and-trade, giving the 76ers the leverage to acquire Josh Richardson in the process.

Then, rather than bringing back sharpshooter and floor-spacer J.J. Redick, the Sixers opted to use their newly-opened cap room to bring aboard Al Horford, a veteran capable of either playing alongside Embiid or stabilizing the team’s defense when the All-NBA center is off the floor.

With Richardson and Horford replacing Butler and Redick in the starting lineup, the 76ers lost a little outside shooting and play-making, but potentially made a strong defense even stronger.

Philadelphia’s size flummoxed just about every Raptors player not named Kawhi Leonard during the Eastern Conference Semifinals, and this year’s starting five – Simmons, Richardson, Harris, Horford, and Embiid – is even bigger. After just missing out on a deep postseason run in 2018/19, the Sixers have gone all-in on their biggest strength for 2019/20.

Key offseason losses:

Butler’s 18.2 PPG during his 55 regular season games in Philadelphia would have been his lowest mark since the 2013/14 season. However, that was more a result of sharing the floor with so many other talented scorers than a sign of declining effectiveness. When both teams’ offenses bogged down in that playoff series against Toronto, Butler was one of the few players on the court capable of creating shots and making plays, a skill set the Sixers will miss.

Redick’s reliable outside shooting will also be missed. A 41.2% career shooter from beyond the arc, Redick made a career-best 3.2 threes per game in 2018/19, forcing opposing defenders to chase him all over the floor to avoid letting him get free for even a second.

Still, while the 76ers may struggle to replace his three-point shooting, Redick was perhaps the only member of the starting group who didn’t have the size and length necessary to create nightmares for opposing scorers. Although his departure removes an offensive threat, it could give the club some extra switching options on defense.

The other departing Sixers were bench players, though McConnell deserves to be singled out for his four seasons with the franchise. He endured a couple ugly years during the rebuild before evolving into a reliable backup point guard for a contender.

Big men Boban Marjanovic, Amir Johnson, and Greg Monroe thrived in certain matchups, but the Sixers had to pick their spots in order to avoid asking them to do too much. Jonathon Simmons, part of the return in the Markelle Fultz trade, was decent down the stretch but fell out of the rotation in the postseason.

Key offseason additions:

The Sixers’ signing of Horford made sense for both the team and the player. For Horford, joining the 76ers represented a chance to contend for a title, maximize his earnings, and see more time at power forward, his preferred position. For Philadelphia, it meant securing an insurance policy for Embiid.

Even if Embiid manages to stay healthy all season – which certainly isn’t a sure thing – the Sixers struggled when he went to the bench, posting a -3.5 net rating during the regular season. Those numbers got even worse during the playoffs — and became downright comical vs. the Raptors in round two. Philadelphia had a +18.6 net rating in the 237 minutes Embiid played against Toronto and a -52.5 net rating in the 99 minutes he sat. That was the season right there.

In Horford, the Sixers get a two-way difference-maker who will make the right play on offense and won’t let the defense fall apart when Embiid isn’t out there.

Richardson is the other new starter and was a nice get for the Sixers, as he’ll be under contract for at least two more seasons at a reasonable price. It was just a year ago that the Heat balked at including him in a deal for Butler. They changed their stance this summer after Richardson’s shooting efficiency slipped in 2018/19, but as a secondary play-maker and scorer in Philadelphia, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Richardson get those numbers back closer to where they were in 2017/18 (.451/.378/.845). And while he might not be the defender Butler is, the drop-off isn’t substantial.

The Sixers’ offseason focus on defense was also reflected in their first-round draft pick, Matisse Thybulle. The two-time Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year posted eye-popping numbers during his final year at Washington, averaging 3.5 steals per game to go along with 2.3 blocks. Although he probably won’t match those numbers at the NBA level, the viral clips of Thybulle’s defensive highlights early in his rookie season suggest he’s going to be just fine going up against the best scorers in the world.

The Sixers also added Trey Burke, Raul Neto, and Kyle O’Quinn on minimum-salary deals for depth purposes. They likely won’t see major minutes if the team’s primary rotation players stay healthy.

Outlook for 2019/20:

Depending on how you feel about Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s supporting cast in Milwaukee, you could make a strong case that the Sixers have the best starting lineup and rotation in the East.

While it might take a couple in-season tweaks – including adding a shooter – for Philadelphia to maximize its ceiling, it’s hard to imagine this team not finishing at or near the top of the conference and winning a couple playoff series in the East. If it all comes together and the 76ers have some good health luck, an appearance in the NBA Finals may even be in the cards.

Salary information from Basketball Insiders was used in the creation of this post. Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

2019 Offseason In Review: Los Angeles Clippers

October 29th, 2019 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

Signings:

Standard contracts:
- Kawhi Leonard: Three years, maximum salary ($103.14MM). Third-year player option. Signed using cap room.
- Patrick Beverley: Three years, $40MM. Re-signed using Bird rights.
- Ivica Zubac: Four years, $28.52MM. Fourth-year team option. Re-signed using Bird rights.
- Rodney McGruder: Three years, $15MM. Third year non-guaranteed. Re-signed using Bird rights.
- JaMychal Green: Two years, $9.77MM. Re-signed using room exception.
- Patrick Patterson: One year, minimum salary. Signed using minimum salary exception.
Two-way contracts:
- Amir Coffey
- Johnathan Motley
Non-guaranteed camp contracts:
- Derrick Walton: One year, minimum salary.
- Donte Grantham: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Terry Larrier: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- James Palmer: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- B.J. Taylor: One year, minimum salary (Waived).

Trades:

Acquired the draft rights to Mfiondu Kabengele (No. 27 pick) from the Nets in exchange for the Sixers’ 2020 first-round pick (top-14 protected) and the draft rights to Jaylen Hands (No. 56 pick).
Acquired Maurice Harkless, the Heat’s 2023 first-round pick (top-14 protected), and the draft rights to Mathias Lessort in a four-team trade with the Heat, Trail Blazers, and Sixers in exchange for cash ($110K; to Heat).
Acquired Paul George from the Thunder in exchange for Danilo Gallinari, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the Heat’s 2021 first-round pick (unprotected), the Clippers’ 2022 first-round pick (unprotected), the Heat’s 2023 first round pick (top-14 protected), the Clippers’ 2024 first-round pick (unprotected), the Clippers’ 2026 first-round pick (unprotected), and the right to swap first-round picks with the Clippers in both 2023 and 2025.

Draft picks:

1-27: Mfiondu Kabengele — Signed to rookie contract.
2-48: Terance Mann — Signed to four-year, $6.2MM contract. Third year non-guaranteed. Fourth-year team option. Signed using cap room.

Departing players:

Wilson Chandler
Angel Delgado (two-way)
Danilo Gallinari
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Garrett Temple
Sindarius Thornwell (waived)
Tyrone Wallace (waived)

Other offseason news:

Signed head coach Doc Rivers to contract extension.
Hired Tyronn Lue as lead assistant coach.
Retained consultant Jerry West.
Added Ryan West in scouting role.
Lost director of pro player personnel Johnny Rogers to Wizards.
Guaranteed Lou Williams‘ 2020/21 salary.
Paul George underwent surgery on both shoulders.
Fined $50K for tampering on Kawhi Leonard.
Unveiled tentative plans for Inglewood arena.

Salary cap situation:

Used cap space; now over the cap.
Carrying approximately $129.32MM in salary.
No cap exceptions available.

Story of the summer:

It’s easy to forget now, but during the week leading up to Kawhi Leonard‘s free agency decision, the Clippers were increasingly viewed as the most unlikely landing spot among the star forward’s top three options.

Leonard had just won a championship in Toronto and no reigning Finals MVP had ever chosen to change teams, so the Raptors were considered a strong option. And there was plenty of speculation that the opportunity to join forces with LeBron James and Anthony Davis while returning home to Los Angeles might ultimately be too appealing to pass up.

On the morning of July 5, we published a poll asking which team Kawhi would choose. Approximately 54% of respondents chose the Raptors. Nearly 37% chose the Lakers. Just over 9% picked the Clippers.

About 15 hours later, in the early-morning hours of July 6, Leonard turned the basketball world upside down when word leaked that he had chosen the Clippers — and that he was bringing Paul George with him.

The Clippers’ inability to lure a second star free agent to L.A. early in the free agent process was believed to have negatively impacted their chances of landing Leonard, since it was unclear whether he’d be willing to sign with the team on his own. As it turns out, the notion that Kawhi likely wouldn’t come by himself was accurate — we just didn’t know what he had up his sleeve.

As it turns out, while he was weighing his own decision, Leonard had sold George on the idea of an L.A. homecoming, convincing him to ask the Thunder to trade him to the Clippers. Although the cost to acquire George was exorbitant, the Clippers eventually relented, recognizing that completing that deal would be the difference between landing two stars or potentially ending up with none.

When the dust settled, Leonard’s decision had directly – and drastically – altered the direction of at least four franchises — the Raptors’ title defense would be defanged, the Thunder were suddenly a rebuilding franchise, the Lakers wouldn’t enter the season as the overwhelming title favorites, and the Clippers had put together perhaps the most talented roster in team history.

Indirectly, the rest of the NBA was impacted too. If Leonard had signed with the Lakers, it would’ve represented an extension of the league’s era of “Big Three” superstar team-ups. And we would’ve entered yet another season with a pretty good idea of which team would win the championship in the spring.

Leonard’s decision left several teams unhappy, but it might have been the best move for the NBA in general, since it created a landscape featuring six or eight legit title contenders. Atop that list? The Clippers, who were given the best title odds for professional bookmakers during the preseason.

Key offseason losses:

In addition to surrendering a pile of first-round picks to get George, the Clippers also had to part with two key pieces of last season’s 48-win team: Danilo Gallinari and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

Gallinari was on a $22MM expiring contract and wasn’t likely to become a part of the Clippers’ long-term future, so the organization likely wasn’t devastated to part with him, but you could make a case that he was the team’s best player in 2018/19. He averaged a career-high 19.8 PPG and 6.1 RPG with a .433 3PT% and, most importantly, appeared in 68 games, his highest total since 2012/13.

Gilgeous-Alexander’s numbers weren’t as gaudy, but his trade value was higher, since he still has three years left on his inexpensive rookie scale contract. The former Kentucky standout started 73 games for a Western Conference playoff team, scoring efficiently and playing strong perimeter defense. And he did it all as a 20-year-old rookie.

As I noted when I reviewed the Thunder’s offseason, it’s very possible – even likely – that Gilgeous-Alexander will enjoy a more successful career than any of the players drafted with the first-rounders sent to OKC in the George blockbuster. The Clippers really nailed that SGA pick last spring and will miss him in their backcourt, but that’s the cost of acquiring an All-NBA player.

The Clippers’ other offseason losses shouldn’t have as significant impact. Garrett Temple and Wilson Chandler were solid veteran glue guys who could fill out a rotation, but they were replaceable. Both signed with the Nets.

In theory, the Clips had the means to bring back either player – or both – since Temple signed for the Brooklyn’s room exception while Chandler got a minimum-salary deal. However, L.A. used its room exception to bring back JaMychal Green, and prioritized re-signing other free agents such as Patrick Beverley, Rodney McGruder, and Ivica Zubac.

Key offseason additions:

George had been a five-time All-Star prior to 2018/19, but his sixth All-Star season was probably his best yet. He finished third in MVP voting after averaging a career-high 28.0 PPG to go along with 8.2 RPG, 4.1 APG, and a league-leading 2.2 SPG. As Russell Westbrook struggled with his shot-making over the course of the season, George was the one making the biggest buckets on offense for the Thunder while handling the toughest assignments on defense.

George will miss the start of the 2019/20 season after undergoing surgery on both shoulders in the spring, which is somewhat worrisome for the Clippers. But the expectation is that he’ll make a full recovery, and the team will give him all the time he needs to do so.

Of course, if Leonard had played in back-to-backs last season, it likely would have been him – not George – who joined Giannis Antetokounmpo and James Harden as MVP finalists. Because he had his load managed and appeared in just 60 games for the Raptors, Kawhi didn’t receive serious MVP consideration, but his per-game numbers for a 58-win team certainly warranted it — he put up 26.6 PPG on .496/.371/.854 shooting and – like his new teammate – was one of the NBA’s best wing defenders.

There are at least a couple other NBA teams with superstar duos who could give Leonard and George a run for their money, but the Clippers have a strong case for the league’s top twosome. Kawhi proved in last year’s postseason that he’s in the conversation for best player in the world, and there may not be an NBA player more valuable than a big combo forward who can lock down opposing scorers and score in a variety of ways himself. Leonard and George both fit that bill.

Among the Clippers’ other additions, Patrick Patterson is a stretch four who figures to see his playing time dialed back when George is ready to go. Draftees Mfiondu Kabengele and Terance Mann probably won’t play a whole lot, though Doc Rivers showed last season with SGA and Landry Shamet that he’s willing to play rookies if they show they’re deserving of minutes.

Finally, it’s worth mentioning Maurice Harkless, whom the Clippers stole in one of the best trades of the summer. With the Heat and Sixers looking for a way to make their Jimmy Butler/Josh Richardson trade work, and the Trail Blazers joining the fray to nab Hassan Whiteside, the Clips stepped in to acquire Harkless, a future lottery-protected first-round pick, and a draft-and-stash player (Mathias Lessort) in exchange for $110K in cash in the four-team trade.

While it’s not uncommon for teams taking on salary to receive a first-round pick for their troubles, it’s not as if Harkless was a distressed asset. He had a down year in 2018/19, but he has historically been a decent three-and-D player off the bench, and he had just one year and $11MM left on his contract.

Taking him on and getting a first-round pick would have been an ideal move for a rebuilding team like the Knicks. The fact that a contender like the Clippers pulled it off was masterful. That first-round pick acquired in the Harkless deal was one of the picks the team later included to secure George.

Outlook for 2019/20:

The biggest question mark for the 2019/20 Clippers is health. Leonard has only played 69 regular season games in the last two seasons, and George dealt with injuries in both shoulders last year. If one or both of those stars misses significant time or isn’t healthy for the postseason, that could be big trouble for L.A.

Still, this is a deep, talented team that’s capable of earning a playoff spot even if both of its stars have to miss time due to injuries or load management. As long as Leonard and George are good to go once the postseason begins, the Clippers have championship upside.

Salary information from Basketball Insiders was used in the creation of this post. Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

2019 Offseason In Review: Boston Celtics

October 28th, 2019 at 4:01pm CST by Luke Adams

Signings:

Standard contracts:
- Kemba Walker: Four years, maximum salary ($140.79MM). Fourth-year player option. Signed using cap room.
- Daniel Theis: Two years, $10MM. Second year non-guaranteed. Re-signed using Early Bird rights.
- Enes Kanter: Two years, $9.77MM. Second-year player option. Signed using room exception.
- Vincent Poirier: Two years, $5.13MM. Signed using cap room.
- Javonte Green: Two years, minimum salary. First year partially guaranteed ($100K). Signed using minimum salary exception.
- Brad Wanamaker: One year, minimum salary. Re-signed using minimum salary exception.
Two-way contracts:
- Tremont Waters
- Max Strus (Converted to standard contract; waived)
Non-guaranteed camp contracts:
- Tacko Fall: One year, minimum salary (Converted to two-way contract).
- Justin Bibbs: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- John Bohannon: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Bryce Brown: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Kaiser Gates: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Yante Maten: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Dorian Pickens: One year, minimum salary (Waived).

Trades:

Acquired the draft rights to Ty Jerome (No. 24 pick) and Carsen Edwards (No. 33 pick) from the Sixers in exchange for the draft rights to Matisse Thybulle (No. 20 pick).
Acquired the Bucks’ 2020 first-round pick (top-7 protected) from the Suns in exchange for Aron Baynes and the draft rights to Ty Jerome (No. 24 pick).
Acquired Kemba Walker (sign-and-trade) and either the Nets’ or Knicks’ 2020 second-round pick (whichever is less favorable) from the Hornets in exchange for Terry Rozier (sign-and-trade) and the Celtics’ 2020 second-round pick (top-53 protected).

Draft picks:

1-14: Romeo Langford — Signed to rookie contract.
1-22: Grant Williams — Signed to rookie contract.
2-33: Carsen Edwards — Signed to four-year, $6.46MM contract. Fourth-year team option. Signed using cap room.
2-51: Tremont Waters — Signed to two-way contract.

Contract extensions:

Jaylen Brown: Four years, $103MM. Includes $12MM in incentives. Starts in 2020/21; runs through 2023/24.

Departing players:

Aron Baynes
P.J. Dozier (two-way)
Jonathan Gibson
Al Horford
R.J. Hunter (two-way)
Kyrie Irving
Marcus Morris
Terry Rozier
Guerschon Yabusele (waived)

Other offseason news:

Purchased their G League affiliate (Maine Red Claws).
President of basketball operations Danny Ainge suffered mild heart attack.
Hired Kara Lawson as assistant coach.
Exercised 2020/21 rookie scale options on Jayson Tatum, Robert Williams.

Salary cap situation:

Used cap space; now over the cap.
Hard-capped.
Carrying approximately $119.15MM in salary.
No cap exceptions available.

Story of the summer:

When the offseason began, there was no doubt that changes were coming in Boston. A 49-win season and an appearance in the Eastern Conference Semifinals might have been considered a success for some franchises, but the Celtics were widely viewed as the favorites to win the East entering the 2018/19 campaign. Chemistry issues plagued the team all season, ultimately resulting in a disappointing second-round exit.

Fairly or not, Kyrie Irving bore the brunt of the criticism for the Celtics’ struggles. While he enjoyed one of the best seasons of his career on the stat sheet, his leadership was questioned and he didn’t look good in the team’s second-round series against Milwaukee. Throughout the spring, Danny Ainge and the Celtics’ front office were still paying lip service to the idea of retaining Irving in free agency, but there was little doubt the star point guard would end up elsewhere.

The more surprising development? Irving wasn’t the only All-Star to leave the Celtics this summer. Al Horford, who was considered likely to either pick up his player option or to opt out to negotiate a new deal with Boston, declined that option, then headed to the rival Sixers. Suddenly, the Celtics found themselves not just tweaking their roster but overhauling it.

Re-signing Irving and Horford and bringing back other key role players like Marcus Morris, Aron Baynes, and Terry Rozier would’ve pushed the Celtics well into luxury-tax territory. Instead, the team was able to open up enough room below the cap to add a new maximum-salary player, which created some intriguing opportunities. Ainge and company took full advantage of their changing circumstances by pursuing and landing another All-NBA guard: Kemba Walker.

Even with Walker on board, this Celtics roster isn’t as talented as last season’s. But after what happened last year, the club seemed to prioritize chemistry over talent to some extent this summer. Boston filled out its roster with high-character rookies in the draft, and then saw four of the club’s most important players – Walker, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, and Marcus Smart – get the opportunity to do some preseason bonding in China as part of Team USA in the 2019 World Cup.

Heading into the fall, this was certainly a much happier team than last year’s, even if its ceiling is lower.

Key offseason losses:

In Irving, Horford, Baynes, Rozier, and Morris, the Celtics lost a group of five players that could probably start for an Eastern Conference playoff team.

While Irving, who averaged a career-high 6.9 APG last season to go along with 23.8 PPG on strong shooting numbers, is the most talented player who departed Boston this offseason, the team at least managed to add another star player to replace him at the point. That wasn’t the case up front, where the Celtics will badly miss the stalwart defense provided by Horford and Baynes.

Though he wasn’t at his best in 2018/19, Horford is someone whose value has always exceeded his per-game averages. He’s one of the only NBA players who can hold his own against big men in the post while also matching up with a star like Giannis Antetokounmpo. And he knows exactly where to be on offense, with his ability to set screens and make shots opening up opportunities for teammates.

Baynes isn’t nearly the player that Horford is, but his size and toughness gave the Celtics options in the frontcourt against bigger lineups.

Rozier’s breakout performance in the 2018 postseason was a promising sign, but he struggled when he returned to the bench last season, making just 38.7% of his field goal attempts in the regular season and 32.2% in the playoffs. He wanted to be a starter, but based on last year’s showing, it would have been a major risk for Boston to pay him like one. The Hornets were willing to take that risk, which helped grease the wheels for a Walker sign-and-trade.

As for Morris, it was a tale of two seasons for him in 2018/19. In his first 38 games, he was one of the Celtics’ best players, averaging 15.6 PPG on .501/.452/.866 shooting. In the next 37, he recorded 12.3 PPG on a far less efficient .393/.297/.816 shooting line. Overall, he had a solid season, but the Celtics may not mind seeing Brown, Tatum, and Gordon Hayward getting many of the shot attempts that might have gone to Morris.

Guerschon Yabusele was the other notable loss for Boston this summer. The 16th overall pick in the 2016 draft, the French big man didn’t develop like the Celtics had hoped.

Key offseason additions:

In terms of pure talent, Walker is probably a downgrade from Irving, but there are reasons to believe he could be a better fit for this Celtics squad. With multiple talented play-makers in Boston’s lineup, the team doesn’t necessarily need its point guard to dominate the ball.

Walker was forced to do that in Charlotte because the Hornets didn’t have many other options, but he seems eager to share the burden on his new team. Last season, Walker finished the season with a usage rate of 31.5 compared to Irving’s 29.6. It seems like a safe bet that Kyrie is in line for a bump while Kemba’s number will fall — in the very early going this season, Walker’s usage rate is down to 26.6 while Irving’s is up to 37.9.

After using up their cap space, the Celtics used the room exception to sign Enes Kanter. Ideally, the C’s probably would’ve liked to acquire a player who could come close to matching Horford’s or Baynes’ defensive prowess. While Kanter won’t do that, he gives the team a non-perimeter scoring threat, which will be important. The move made sense, given Boston’s hole in the frontcourt and the team’s lack of spending power.

The other five new additions to the Celtics’ standard roster are rookies, and not all of them will be ready to contribute much right away. I don’t expect we’ll see Javonte Green or French import Vincent Poirier play major minutes, and Romeo Langford is still recovering from a knee injury.

That leaves Carsen Edwards and Grant Williams as the rookies most likely to have an impact. Edwards will be out there for his shooting, as his outburst of eight three-pointers in a single quarter during the preseason showed.

Williams, meanwhile, might not have played much for last year’s Boston squad, but there are minutes available in this frontcourt, and he has shown a maturity beyond his age (20) in the early going. He’s a high-IQ player who’s capable of keeping the rookie mistakes to a minimum.

Of course, we can’t move on from this section without mentioning Tacko Fall, who immediately became a fan favorite upon appearing in his first Summer League game in July. The 7’6″ center is on a two-way contract and is extremely raw, so we won’t see much of him as a rookie. Still, you can bet that Celtics fans will be rooting for blowouts when he’s on the active roster, so that he can earn some garbage-time minutes.

Outlook for 2019/20:

The Celtics probably don’t have the championship upside this season that we thought they did a year ago, but in many ways this roster looks more like the ones that Brad Stevens thrived with in his earlier years in Boston. Stevens has seemed more adept at getting the most out of limited rosters rather than managing a loaded one, so it will be interesting to see what he can do with this collection of talent.

Walker showed last season that he’s nearly capable of single-handedly carrying a team to the playoffs in the East, and he has a stronger supporting cast this time around. That makes Boston a safe bet for the postseason. If everything clicks, it won’t be at all surprising to see the team once again secure a top-four seed in the East.

Salary information from Basketball Insiders was used in the creation of this post. Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

2019 Offseason In Review: Utah Jazz

October 26th, 2019 at 3:01pm CST by Luke Adams

Signings:

Standard contracts:
- Bojan Bogdanovic: Four years, $73.1MM. Signed using cap room.
- Ed Davis: Two years, $9.77MM. Signed using room exception.
- Jeff Green: One year, minimum salary. Signed using minimum salary exception.
- Emmanuel Mudiay: One year, minimum salary. Signed using minimum salary exception.
- Stanton Kidd: Three years, minimum salary. First year partially guaranteed ($250K). Second and third years non-guaranteed. Signed using cap room.
- William Howard: Three years, minimum salary. First year partially guaranteed ($50K). Second and third years non-guaranteed. Signed using cap room. (Waived)
Two-way contracts:
- Jarrell Brantley
- Justin Wright-Foreman
Non-guaranteed camp contracts:
- Trevon Bluiett: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Kyle Collinsworth: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Isaac Haas: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Anthony Lawrence: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Juwan Morgan: One year, minimum salary (Waived).
- Mike Scott: One year, minimum salary (Waived).

Trades:

Acquired the draft rights to Jarrell Brantley (No. 50 pick) from the Pacers in exchange for the Jazz’s 2021 second-round pick and cash ($1MM).
Acquired the draft rights to Miye Oni (No. 58 pick) from the Warriors in exchange for cash ($2MM).
Acquired Mike Conley from the Grizzlies in exchange for Jae Crowder, Kyle Korver, Grayson Allen, the draft rights to Darius Bazley (No. 23 pick), and the Jazz’s 2020 first-round pick (1-7 and 15-30 protected).
Acquired the Warriors’ 2021 second-round pick and the Warriors’ 2023 second-round pick from the Pelicans in exchange for Derrick Favors.

Draft picks:

2-50: Jarrell Brantley — Signed to two-way contract.
2-53: Justin Wright-Foreman — Signed to two-way contract.
2-58: Miye Oni — Signed to three-year, minimum-salary contract. Second and third years non-guaranteed. Signed using cap room.

Draft-and-stash signings:

Nigel Williams-Goss (2017 draft; No. 55 pick) — Signed to three-year, $4.8MM contract. Second and third years non-guaranteed. Signed using cap room.

Contract extensions:

Joe Ingles: One year, $12,436,364. Includes $1.2MM in incentives. Starts in 2021/22.

Departing players:

Grayson Allen
Tyler Cavanaugh (two-way)
Jae Crowder
Derrick Favors
Kyle Korver
Naz Mitrou-Long (two-way)
Raul Neto (waived)
Ricky Rubio
Thabo Sefolosha
Ekpe Udoh

Other offseason news:

Promoted Dennis Lindsey to VP of basketball operations; promoted Justin Zanik to general manager.
Agreed to long-term extension with head coach Quin Snyder.
Named Jim Olson as team president.
Lost assistant coaches Fotis Katsikaris, Antonio Lang; named Bryan Bailey assistant coach.
Exercised 2020/21 rookie scale team options on Donovan Mitchell, Tony Bradley.
Will host 2023 NBA All-Star Game.

Salary cap situation:

Used cap space; now over the cap.
Carrying approximately $116.29MM in salary.
No cap exceptions available.

Story of the summer:

For a third straight season, a top-five defense helped buoy the Jazz and their middle-of-the-pack offense to one of the best records in the Western Conference. However, Utah’s 15th-ranked offense looked even more pedestrian in the postseason than it did in the regular season, as the team fell to Houston in five games in the first round.

Of the 16 teams that made the playoffs last spring, only three – the Pistons, Magic, and Pacers – had postseason offensive ratings worse than Utah’s. With Donovan Mitchell struggling to score efficiently, the Jazz had few other play-makers to turn to as they tried to keep pace with James Harden and the Rockets.

It was a pressing issue that needed to be addressed for the franchise this offseason, and the Jazz did just that, pulling off a trade for point guard Mike Conley and signing sharpshooting forward Bojan Bogdanovic in free agency.

Neither Conley nor Bogdanovic has ever made an All-Star team, and neither is the type of volume scorer who will pour in 40 points on a given night (though each player has reached that mark once in his career). But they’re reliable veterans who can be counted on to make Utah’s offense a little more versatile, taking some of the shot-creating pressure off Mitchell and giving the team a couple more players who can share ball-handling duties.

As long as two-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert is patrolling the paint and protecting the rim, the Jazz can reasonably expect to be above average on that end of the court. The club’s offensive limitations have stood in the way of a deep playoff run in recent years, but with a pair of intriguing new weapons at their disposal, the Jazz are hoping that will change in 2019/20.

Key offseason losses:

A handful of rotation players from last year’s Jazz squad had to be traded in order to secure Conley and Bogdanovic, including Derrick Favors, who had been Utah’s longest-tenured player. Acquired in 2011’s Deron Williams blockbuster, Favors spent eight-and-a-half years with the organization, appearing in 576 regular season contests and another 31 playoff games during that time.

Favors was never quite an ideal fit besides Gobert due to floor-spacing issues, but the Jazz managed to mostly make it work for several years with Favors playing at the four alongside Gobert and spelling him at the five. It’s a testament to his value that the Jazz were able to move Favors’ $17.65MM expiring contract to open up cap space for Bogdanovic and managed to get a pair of second-round picks in return, rather than having to attach an asset to dump him.

Jae Crowder, Kyle Korver, and Grayson Allen were attached to a pair of draft picks in the deal to land Conley.

At age 38, Korver is an increasingly one-dimensional shooter and may not have been retained anyway at his $7.5MM salary, since it was only partially guaranteed. However, Crowder was a valuable – and inexpensive – part of Utah’s lineup due to his three-and-D abilities and would’ve had a role on this team if he hadn’t had to be included in that trade. As for Allen, he appeared in just 38 games as a rookie, but still has the potential to develop into a more reliable performer.

Besides Favors, the Jazz’s most noteworthy loss was probably Ricky Rubio, who wasn’t technically part of the Conley trade, but whose departure was all but assured when that agreement with Memphis was reached. The former No. 5 overall pick was Utah’s starting point guard for the last two seasons, and while his jump shot was still inconsistent, he has always been elite at setting up teammates on offense and has more than held his own on defense. Conley will be an upgrade, but Rubio was a solid starter.

Raul Neto and Ekpe Udoh were third-stringers at their respective positions, so the Jazz won’t badly miss either player. Thabo Sefolosha can still be a useful contributor at age 35, but some nagging injuries limited his effectiveness in 2018/19.

Key offseason additions:

We’ve already discussed Conley and Bogdanovic at length, but it’s worth reiterating what they can bring to this Jazz team.

Conley averaged a career-high 21.1 PPG last season for the Grizzlies, averaging 6.4 APG while turning the ball over just 1.9 times per game. Despite the fact that Memphis finished the season with a 33-49 record, the team had a +0.7 net rating when Conley was on the court. The 32-year-old is an underrated play-maker who could be just the backcourt partner that Mitchell needs to make a big third-year leap.

Bogdanovic, meanwhile, was overextended as the Pacers’ primary play-maker after Victor Oladipo went down last season. But just the fact that he was the next man up in that role was a positive sign for how much he has expanded his game in recent years. Once considered more of a catch-and-shoot specialist, Bogdanovic showed major improvements as a ball-handler in 2018/19, even as he posted a career-high .425 3PT%.

The Jazz had reportedly set their sights on Nikola Mirotic before the Spaniard decided to return to his home country to play for Barcelona, but Bogdanovic is a more dynamic, versatile player who will help Utah create shots and spread the floor without being a liability on defense.

With Favors and Udoh gone, the Jazz needed to address the backup center spot behind Gobert, and did so by signing Ed Davis using the room exception. A quality defender and rebounder, Davis may struggle against some of the game’s biggest centers, but Gobert should get the brunt of those assignments anyway.

Jeff Green signed in Utah on a minimum-salary deal to play a role similar to the one occupied by Crowder. He’ll contribute a little on offense and play a part in trying to lock up the top wing scorers on opposing teams.

Finally, Emmanuel Mudiay replaces Neto on the point guard depth chart, giving the Jazz more of a score-first ball-handler off the bench.

Outlook for 2019/20:

This year’s Jazz roster looks like the most talented group the franchise has had since Gordon Hayward‘s departure in 2017. In fact, this team’s ceiling is likely higher than that of the Hayward-led squads, particularly with the Western Conference race looking more wide open this season.

Gobert isn’t a typical NBA superstar, Mitchell isn’t at that level (yet, at least), and Conley isn’t that player either. Put all the pieces together though, and Utah has the potential to be an extremely tough out in the playoffs. While I don’t necessarily expect the Jazz to represent the West in the NBA Finals or even to make the Conference Finals, it certainly won’t be a shock if the club wins multiple postseason series.

Salary information from Basketball Insiders was used in the creation of this post. Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Load More Posts