Comprehensive Review: Every NBA Team’s Free Agency Status

Taking the plunge

• Denver –

Yikes. Has there ever been a roster that won 57+ games that has been deconstructed this fast? The loss of Iggy is a body blow to a team who’s stability was once one of its most attractive virtues. Now with a first year coach and GM, a roster with just two competent, healthy defenders (neither of whom are likely starting), and questions abound with the roster, things look far from stable. The Nuggets at least tried to make the lateral move following an almost complete nuking of the internal infrastructure but not even a bigger contract could entice Iguodala to stay in a place he clearly saw as a rebuilding project waiting to happen.

Denver is now probably looking to make Mozgov a priority, which makes the supposed safety net for a JaVale flame out just as risky an option. Shooting was something sorely missing from the team last year, but the market for them has so far exceeded what Denver could spend and the market on the two way guys is dwindling fast. The Nuggets may turn to their much-neglected bench as salvation for their limited cap space, and as a way to see if they may have any more hidden gems.

• Boston –

The Celtics are at least getting bad at the right time. They have loaded themselves with draft picks over the next several years and are aiming for quite a high one in this upcoming draft. The talk of their free agency is the potential shopping of Rondo, but I think it takes a pretty weighty offer for them to part ways with their mercurial point (most likely including a high, unprotected 2014 draft pick). Barring that there isn’t any real reason for them to move him. For all his flaws he is still extremely talented, on a great contract, and young enough to remain a centerpiece once the Celtics hypothetically start getting good again.

• Sacramento –

Sacramento went from the exciting future with Ben McLemore and new management, to losing Tyreke Evans to an insane offer sheet by the Pelicans, to deciding to match, to offering Iguodala a contract he’ll be hard pressed to top anywhere else, to yanking the offer, to not matching for Reke, and back to the exciting future with Ben McLemore and new management. By the time the team got back to the place they started, we were a little more soured by all the prospects of what seemed like a better direction. But were they?

It’s clear now that Tyreke’s rookie year was a mirage, but with this past season he has shown real evidence that he can still be a really good player in the league. That said, $11 million a year is insane for him and a front office that has no ties to him as a player or his development thus far can’t be blamed for balking at that. Iguodala was another overpay, although one that was probably required to lure a player of his stature to Sacramento, and the way they yanked the offer was not a good look for a freshman GM. Still, if you think you’ve made a mistake it’s better to live with the embarrassment now then have to live with the regret for four years.

This leaves Sacramento still with a ton of questions and holes to fill, but with a reputation of being much more cautious than the previous regime. All in all the “blowing up” (as much as it can be called that) of a 26-win team is not something that should merit this much surprise or vitriol.

• Milwaukee –

The Bucks concluded a series of rather depressing moves by shipping out JJ Redick, leaving them sadly holding two second round pick as both their half-year rental that helped them secure an irrelevant eight seed and Tobias Harris walked out the door. The Monta-Jennings backcourt idea has failed and no amount of tinkering is going to salvage it. So the Bucks decided to pick one of them, picked wrong, and thankfully (for them) Monta somewhat stupidly spurned them for the sake of a better deal in the open market (where he is going to be sorely disappointed). Now they have shifted their sights to OJ Mayo in a deal that looks to be worth three years, $24 million.

The Bucks complete aversion to tanking is admirable (if not a little misguided) but their inability to fully commit to rebuilding is just frustrating. Mayo could be salvageable in a ball dominant role on the right team but even if that happens to be the Bucks all that accomplishes is another eight seed. This team remains directionless, despite its good intentions and I don’t really see a fast way out.

• New Orleans –

It’s looking like the Pelicans will be moving forward with a core of Anthony Davis, Jrue Holiday, Eric Gordon, Tyreke Evans, and Ryan Anderson. And only two of those guys are massively overpaid! Still, it’s a fun and young if not oddly put together core that has the potential to grow into something special. I’m not sure I am in favor of having Davis play center full time, or how it looks like Reke will be relegated to a bench role as opposed to playing his more natural position at the three but these are things young teams take time in ironing out. Much like their newly christened name, this team is fresh, weird, and extremely exciting.

• Phoenix –

Well the dream of a Monta-JR-Beasley big three is dead but I guess Eric Bledsoe is a fun enough replacement. I’ve always liked Bledsoe more as an asset than a franchise cornerstone but Phoenix got him for next to nothing (Dudley, a nice player who wasn’t taking them anywhere and an always difficult to value second round pick) and they have at least a season to figure out what he can do before faced with the extension question. This also gives them a year to see if a Dragic-Bledsoe backcourt works or if they need to shop one, for what will likely garner even more nice assets. While it ultimately depends on how Bledsoe preforms to gauge how big it is, this is at least a step in the right direction after many, many steps backwards.

• Detroit

Watching Joe Dumars operate with cap space is like giving the arsonist downstairs lighter fluid for his birthday. You go to bed every night thinking “why the hell did I do that”, waiting for the day you wake up on fire. Safe to say his offer to take Rudy Gay for Rodney Stuckey and Charlie Villanueva (a remnant from the last torched building) was a match’s flame licking at flammable fumes. Toronto’s decline saved Detroit from catastrophe but their reported interest in the likes of Josh Smith (fast becoming the last of his tier not to get paid yet) may throw them back in.

Smith is a very good player who’s youth makes a long term deal all the more attractive but his flaws are prominent and seemingly permanent and he would help create a spacing nightmare with Monroe and Drummond. Dumars needs to fight his instinctual urges and use the money on guys to bolster the backcourt and help develop the numerous youths on the team, not in some ill fated attempt to build a bizarro super team.

• Utah –

With Jefferson and Millsap gone, Utah has nothing standing in the way of their Favors-Kanter front court future.Their biggest need, point guard, was filled when Utah drafted Trey Burke but it is unclear how ready to play he is and the backcourt depth is still rather shallow. Mo Williams would be a nice backup but he has expressed a firm desire to start, and if that is the case Utah should more than welcome him to look at other teams. Thats the positives.

The negatives are both Jefferson and Millsap left for nothing (both could have been easily shopped at the trade deadline) and Utah’s cap space is now almost entirely eaten by the $24 million unloading of toxic assets they so graciously took from the Warriors. They get Golden State’s unprotected 2014 first round pick (whoop-dee-doo), their unprotected 2017 first rounder (who knows maybe they’ll suck by then) and a boatload of cap space to play with next year. But as for now the Jazz seem content to let their front court ride off with nary an asset to give back and a season full of a lot of losses. But hey, at least we get to see Kanter play more. That should be fun.