NBA Free Agency Thread

[Eielson]

I named four. Russ. Kd. Harde.n. Serge.
You could throw in cole Aldrich as a fifth and it would still trump what the bucks are throwing out.

I'm not saying they have the best lineup ever. Give me Shaq and Kobe any day, and I won't care about depth. I'm saying their youth and talent/potential at every position is incredible. Cole Aldrich was never an impressive pro prospect.

Regardless the Thunder fielded a historically good young roster. Even if Aldrich was better than terrible, it doesn't exempt the Bucks from being one of the best roster I've seen in terms of being deep with talented young guys. You've been arguing for several posts and only named one team.

 

[SoopaSooner]

To some extent, I'm in agreement. I don't think the cap jump is going to be large enough to make Carroll at 15M look good, though.

:ez-roll:

I agree!

 

[KCRuf/Nek]

Ed Davis is getting a twenty million dollar contract. Let that sink in. Ed Davis. Twenty million dollars.

You're not alone.

I don't follow the league religiously like I did when the Sonics were around, but I still keep pretty close tabs. There are guys getting contracts worth 10 million per and I know NOTHING about them. Why is Ed Davis getting paid? Because he's left-handed?

Someone is going to pay DeAndre Jordan, and they're going to be up late with cold sweats for months afterward. Buyer's remorse to the maximum power. I wouldn't give a sack of magic beans for that guy.

I don't follow as closely either. 20 mil seems to be no big deal. And DJ gets 4/80. Absurd. He's an offensive black hole and unless they change the rules he's a liability to the flow of the team. Watching some of the games where he was at the line all day were worse than paint drying. IMO LAC will be better without him. They'll plug someone down low and will make the part of the flow.

 

[Eielson]

DJ has absolutely no touch whatsoever in the low-post, and I get not wanting to give him a max deal, but he's worth it. He just had a historically good rebounding season, and was the defensive captain of the Clippers. In the NBA right now, there are a handful of big guys that have offensive skills, but most of them need a rim protector like Jordan behind them to compensate defensively (ex: Dirk, Blake, Love). There are a ton of athletic perimeter defenders that can be found, but not nearly as many in the post.

Jordan isn't completely inept on offense, though. Blake and CP3 often throw it up at the rim, and he goes and gets it. You may not realize the importance of this until you see Glen Davis in there trying to catch those lobs.

:ez-roll:

This expanded role crap he believed in Dallas was a bunch of BS, though. He's dumber than I thought if he fell for it. He's a great fit alongside Dirk if he's willing to rebound and block shots the way he did in LA, and well worth the money, but they're not going to post him up and let him go to work.

 

[Eielson]

Aldridge is officially a Spur. I'm still interested to see how they pull this off financially, but they should be a darn good team. I don't think the Rockets can compete, and the Clippers have fallen out of contention. I would love to see the Spurs and Warriors match up in the WCF.

 

[Sooner04]

The only thing left to find out is if Aldridge is a winner.

Or if he's just a bunch of stats.

 

[bocabull]

Pacers really want rid of Hibbert for whatever reason. His contract is an expiring $15 million. Hopefully the Lakers can pull a deal to pay him for a year in exchange for a pick like they did with Lin last year.

 

[Eielson]

Pacers really want rid of Hibbert for whatever reason. His contract is an expiring $15 million. Hopefully the Lakers can pull a deal to pay him for a year in exchange for a pick like they did with Lin last year.

The Lin trade looked great when it happened. As it turned out, though, they took Lin's terrible contract and that pick ended up being Larry Nance, Jr. Not impressive.

It sounds like this Hibbert deal is likely. I doubt the Lakers get anything more than a 2nd round pick, or perhaps the opportunity to dump a contract like Young's (if they want to, and they might not). Hibbert has the potential to actually be a good partner alongside Randle, so I think that would be the primary motivation. If we actually get Hibbert for nothing, I actually like this more than signing Monroe or Lopez to longer deals. Hopefully he's not as awful as Lin.

 

[Eielson]

Hibbert has been informed he's a Laker. Waiting to hear the terms now.

 

[bocabull]

We'll see on Nance. Way too early to say he's not impressive. I have a buddy that's a CSU donor and knows everything about the mountain west. He says when healthy Nance is a monster. He also tested off the charts athletically in his private Lakers workout.

Hibbert gives them a rim protector. The Warriors just won the title with Bogut. Is he any better than Hibbert? Nope. Their production is virtually identical with a slight edge to RH.

For all the hoopla none of the free agents this year are anything more than complimentary pieces. At the end of the day Hibbert might be the perfect piece in that he won't take shots away from anybody. The chances of landing Durant increase without Aldridge needing the ball or Jordan destroying offensive flow but the hack-a strategy.

 

[Eielson]

Nothing official, but sounds like Lakers are only getting Hibbert, and sending some combination of 2nd round picks and international rights.

 

[WTSooner]

So I guess the SA plan is to start Duncan and LMA next to each other? Be interesting to see how they play off of each other, and who matches up against who on D.

 

[bocabull]

So I guess the SA plan is to start Duncan and LMA next to each other? Be interesting to see how they play off of each other, and who matches up against who on D.

Aldridge setting himself up for a lot of blame. Who wants to fill the shoes of TD? lol that's not gonna happen. We're about to see how good Leonard and Green really are too. Remember how brilliant Diaw was?

 

[bocabull]

Kings sign Koufas and draft WCS. I guess they plan on moving Cousins to PF. If there's anybody in the league who could replace TD it's DC.

 

[SoopaSooner]

What are the Lakers doing? Lou Williams 3 years $21 million?

 

[NickZepp]

I like that signing. And I'm a guy that has ripped the Lakers a lot the last few years.

 

[NickZepp]

Lou Williams was the 6th man of the year last year. And he will probably serve a similar bench option this year. But also this makes Nick Young have a different role too as depth at guard instead of having to come in and be a main guy like he has.

The Lakers have a seemingly promising young PG in Clarkson. A solid pick with Russell as a wing player possibly could be the next big Laker if he lives up to the hype. And right now Kobe Bryant a future hall of famer. While he's at the end of his career he's still a hall of famer. The post game is still a bit of a question mark for the Lakers though. Hibbert is tall that's really about it. And we'll see how good Randle is as a rookie essentially.

I won't say the Lakers are back. They probably still struggle to win 40 games this year. But they are seemingly building around the young core group of guys instead of trying to win now and creating an unbalanced roster.

 

[SoopaSooner]

If Lou Williams was that good you'd think he would have gotten a better offer from a contender. Not a fan of players like him. He's going to shoot shoot shoot until the cows come home.

 

[Eielson]

Lou Williams was the 6th man of the year last year. And he will probably serve a similar bench option this year. But also this makes Nick Young have a different role too as depth at guard instead of having to come in and be a main guy like he has.

With the signing of Williams, my guess is that Young is on his way out. I'm not positive on that, though.

I'm going to have to wait and see what other moves the Lakers make before I say too much about this. I'm just really not sure about bringing Young AND Williams off the bench. I'm not sure how the cap works out, either. I'd imagine something else is in the works.

 

[Eielson]

Lakers are busy at work today. Agreed to terms with Brandon Bass as well, and are, as I think was already mentioned here, pursuing a sign and trade with Mavs sending them Lin. Still waiting to see, but Kupchak might salvage a semi-respectable offseason.

I'm almost positive at this point that Swaggy P will be playing elsewhere next season. Good chance Ryan Kelly is moved as well.