80 replies to this topic

[Johnny Rocket]

As we wait for Howard's decision, I wonder what folks make of the very significant free agency moves that other teams in the Western Conference have made.  Here's my take on some of the signings thus far:

 

1) Timberwolves: Re-signing C-Bud and signing Martin really helps the offense, which will be one of the best in the league.  But the defense will be terrible, and I don't see how they win a playoff series if they get that far.

 

2) Thunder:  Losing Martin off the bench really, really hurts.  It means, for one, that all they got for Harden was one year of Martin, Lamb, and a couple of middling draft picks.  More importantly, I don't see them having the offensive punch to be a truly elite team.  They seem overly dependent on Westbrook and Durant.  I wonder if they think that Jackson will improve significantly?

 

3) Clips:  They will be really good, but I don't think they are an elite defensive team and thus still vulnerable to Memphis and San Antonio (and quite possibly Houston).  Maybe Rivers will push them over the top in that regard.  The bench is a real area of concern as well.

 

4)  Spurs:  Is it just me, or did they way overpay for Splitter? Maybe that's just going rate for a good but not great center these days.

 

5) New Orleans:  They'll be a lot better with Holiday, but they don't seem like a playoff team to me, especially without a center and with Gordon performing well below expectations. How do they improve from here?

[Mario Peña]

With regards to OKC I wonder where all the Presti believers on this board are. That Harden trade has to be one of the worst trades in NBA history. The Jeff Green trade also gets worse by the year, he should have had patience in finding a big who could defend.

[Rahat Huq]

Thanks for creating this - have stickied it. 

[cjuice28]

Really surprised that Memphis decided to go with Tony Allen after he was basically unplayable against the spurs, especially when Webster, Bud, D. Wright are available. On top of it, it's a 4 year deal with all 4 years fully guaranteed, and he's 31!

 

What made the Harden trade worse, IMO was giving Fisher so many minutes last year. You could have been developing Lamb with those minutes, but Brooks thought short-term. K-Mart only signed a $7M/yr deal, so they would only pay $3-4M in luxury tax. OKC is basically saying they will never ever pay the tax no matter what.

 

Spurs did what I expected them to. Thought they should go after Mayo though.

 

I'd be very frustrated if I was a fan of the Hornets/Pelicans. Basically you're signing up for mediocrity. For the same reasons, Detroit's pursuit of J. Smith and Kings going for Iggy is strange.

[Mario Peña]

To me there is a reason Doc met with Mayo and he is not a Clipper and the Spurs not pursuing Mayo tells us all we need to know about him, he is not ready to be part of a team. Maybe Mayo matures in a couple seasons. I am not going be quick to judge the Pelicans' moves because they have some smart people in that organization. I think Evans is probably undervalued since he was on the Kings. I would wait and see what Monty Williams can get him to buy into.

[sircharles]

clips adding jj reddick and dudley makes that teams wings 100x better than last years wings.

 

the kings pulling the igoudala offer was a really bad move on there part, makes them look like a shitty ran organization, not that was ever in question though.

 

totally agree with splitter, dont understand how they paid him that much when he was unplayable against the heat. he isnt as bad as asik when it comes to scoring in the paint but he is awful if its not a dunk.

 

thunder could add ellis if he was willing to take some sort of a pay cut and would be willing to come off the bench, same goes for mayo.

[timetodienow1234567]

It was the right call for sac town. The essentially made an offer for 14 mil per year and he said ill consider it. As a franchise you can't put your franchise on hold for a role player. Iggy is not a superstar like Howard/Paul. Great move by Sac, but it could have been handled more tactfully. Iggy's tweets afterward were petulant.

Edited by timetodienow1234567, 03 July 2013 - 06:44 PM.

[sircharles]

they gave him like 5 hours to respond? thats a bit ridiculous.

[sircharles]

interested to see what the suns are going to do with having bledose and dragic. bledsoe needs to be starting if they want to get better

[timetodienow1234567]

They could go after Aflalo

[Sir Thursday]

With regards to OKC I wonder where all the Presti believers on this board are. That Harden trade has to be one of the worst trades in NBA history. The Jeff Green trade also gets worse by the year, he should have had patience in finding a big who could defend.

 

I don't think we can judge that trade fully yet. It all depends on how Lamb turns out. You remember how good he looked when he was in Rockets red, right? I still believe he can turn into a very good player for the Thunder. Will he be James Harden level? Perhaps not, but James
Harden is not what the Thunder need. What they need a more consistent version of Kevin Martin, and that's something that Lamb can be.

 

I also feel like the Perkins trade made sense at the time (back when the deal was done there was a strong argument to be made that Boston  had gotten fleeced, IIRC), but it has gone south as Perkins has faltered. Presti's mistake was not the initial deal, but rather holding on to Perkins for as long as he did - he should have looked to move him earlier for someone who could be more useful once it looked like Perkins was on the decline.

 

So yeah, I still think Presti is a pretty good GM. He nailed his high draft picks, and has at least had a few successes with the late first rounders  (Ibaka and Jackson were good, Aldrich not so much, jury is still out on Perry Jones III). And he provided the blueprint for using cap-space to pick up assets by facilitating other deals (at various points he was able to pick up Maynor and Cook for free - good decisions even if ultimately they didn't turn into spectacular players). There were one or two minor trades you can quibble about (for example, he traded the rights to Eric Bledsoe for a future Clippers pick that was a throw-in in the Jeff Green deal), but overall I think he's done a good job.

 

ST

[Steven]

Sounds like the Rockets dodged a huge bullet, with Josh Smith going to Detriot.

[Sir Thursday]

Sounds like the Rockets dodged a huge bullet, with Josh Smith going to Detriot.

 

Where are you hearing this? I haven't seen anything anywhere that confirms that deal is happening...

 

ST

[sircharles]

other good replacements for martin on okc would be dorell wright, korver, richard hamilton

[Ostrow]

My friend who is a Bucks fan is REALLY annoyed with the Mayo signing.  If they bring Jennings back, that's a playoff team but really w/no upside. Not sure why the Bucks did this unless the can get AI too.

[Johnny Rocket]

I think Atlanta's signing of Kover is a big deal.  It means that the Hawks are not tanking--it is the type of contract to suggest, in fact, they are going all in THIS year.  What's their strategy?  Here's one possibility to mull.  Suppose, as almost everybody does, the Hawks do not get Howard.  A viable Plan B would be to trade Smith in a sign-and-trade to Houston for Lin and Asik.  Of course, the Rockets make that trade only if they have Howard, but let's dream a bit here.  The Rockets have a line up of Smith, Howard, Harden, Parsons, and Beverly, while the Hawks get a line up of Asik, Horford, Lin, Kover, and about $15-18 million in cap room to sign Iggy or some other big-name wing.  The Rockets become contenders in the West; the Hawks believe that they have a shut-down defense that gives them a fighting chance in the playoffs against the Heat and Pacer.

 

I don't know how realistic this scenario is, but it appears to me that the Hawks not tanking is big news around the league.

[cjuice28]

My friend who is a Bucks fan is REALLY annoyed with the Mayo signing.  If they bring Jennings back, that's a playoff team but really w/no upside. Not sure why the Bucks did this unless the can get AI too.

 

Bucks are a team that has almost a perfect track record of mediocrity. I can't recall the last time they really sucked or were really good. They should just rename the team the Milwaukee Bubbles or the Milwaukee 8th Wonders.

[Ostrow]

Yup. And he knows that's what will happen now. That team is just good enough to make the playoffs, but not good enough to win a series.

[sircharles]

hawks have louis williams as there other wing, just sayin

[RollingWave]

well, given RBF's opinion of Eric Bledsoe I think we can write the Suns into playoff contention now

 

Also, I think a lot of guys here miss a point.

 

Teams must spend 90% of their cap space every season under the new CBA, so even if your tanking, you MUST still a payroll within the range of 50m or so.

 

This is why you see things like Al Jefferson for 13m to the Bobcats, it's not that the Bobcats are idiots (ok they sort of are but still) it's also that they must spend that money anyway and given the lack of options Al Jeff for 13 isn't terrible.

 

Pelicans also pulled a big trade with Tyreke Evans going to NO, Grevies Vazquez going to the Kings and Robin Lopez and some other random dude going to Portland, while Portland give just drafted Jeff Withney to the Pelicans.

 

This is an intriguing deal, and make the whole Jrue Holiday thing more rational. Evans had been stuck in a horrible situation in Sac town and derailed by injury ,  if he can recover some he's probably an above average player so they now have a rising star in Davis and 3 average to above average guys in Anderson / Holiday / Evans around him, that would make them at least a plausible threat for the 8th seed depending on their depth, they need to get rid of Eric Gordon and his atrocious contract so very badly (in the 2 years he's been in NO, he's made 16 M and produced 1.8 win, meanwhile, Jeremy Lin had 5.4 win just last season. oh right and Gordon's set to make 14/14/15 in the next 3 years... GUARANTEED. now THAT's an impossible contract to trade.)

 

Kings get something with Vasquez though I don't see what he does that Isaiah Thomas doesn't... passing I guess, but neither plays a lick of D and quite frankly Thomas was the far superior offensive player.  Vasquez is a reminder on why assist on it's own means nothing. he lead the league in assist last year and Nola was a bottom 5 offense.

 

Portland is interesting, I can see what they're doing here, Lopez is a fairly decent center. kinda like Asik lite, I think they feel the need to finally get in the playoff to keep LMA so is trying hard to improve on the margins, can't blame them there.