NBA Offseason Roundup: Part I

Lebron James and Chris Bosh went to Miami. The Heat won a championship.

Three of the top ten players in the NBA have changed teams in the last three free agency periods. LeBron took his talents to South Beach, Chris Paul helped construct Lob City, and Dwight Howard maneuvered his way out of Orlando. These three players exemplify how free agency can allow a team to dramatically alter the course of its franchise. In the upcoming weeks, I am going to examine the positives and negatives of the offseasons of all thirty NBA franchises and how each team has either improved or worsened their ability to contend in the upcoming seasons. I will begin with the teams that made the least noise this offseason and they will be divided into three categories.

The worst place to be for an NBA franchise is the middle of the pack because it is the place where not only can you not build through the draft, but you are also not competing for a championship.

Veteran teams that suffer first round playoff exits or finish just outside of the playoffs can be stuck in that dreadful position for a long time. “Bottoming out,” or having a few really bad seasons and acquiring talented rookies with high draft picks, has proven to be an effective (but also risky) way for a team to rapidly improve its roster. And then, of course, there are some teams that seem to have no direction in their front office at all. So let’s classify ten teams who made the least dramatic moves this offseason into three groups: the “dreaded middle,” the “clueless,” and the “bottoming out" groups. 

Dreaded Middle

Golden State Warriors

It seems that, for the past few seasons, Golden State emerges as a potential sleeper team before the year begins. Unfortunately, they have failed to live up to expectations. Last season, they mysteriously traded Stephen Jackson for Richard Jefferson, which was a move that only seemed to add $11 million of limited production to their cap for next season. Andris Biedrins and David Lee both have bloated contracts, and only one of them will be able to start alongside the newly acquired Andrew Bogut this season. The Warriors have some good young players, such as Harrison Barnes, Klay Thompson, and Stephen Curry, but this roster is good enough to finish in the 7-10 zone in the West and that’s about it. Not an ideal situation for a roster that has four players who are being paid around $10 million annually.

Milwaukee Bucks

The Bucks most notable move was resigning forward Ersan Ilyasova to a four-year deal worth about $32 million. That’s a lot of money for a guy who’s averaged ten points and six rebounds a game over his four-year career. The Bucks did make a sneaky good signing by picking up Samuel Dalembert to fill in their gap at center that has been a problem since Andrew Bogut was traded away. The Bucks’s main problem is their lack of star power and that will doom them to either a very low playoff seed or a spot just outside looking in, which could make it difficult for them to overhaul their roster any time soon.

Portland Trail Blazers

The 2011-2012 season was one of the worst in many years for Portland. Last season, Portland saw their franchise player (Brandon Roy) retire because of a bothersome knee and their longtime coach (Nate McMillan) get fired. This offseason, they unsuccessfully courted center Roy Hibbert and signed swingman Nicolas Batum to an outrageous four year, $45 million deal. The Blazers are stuck with Batum and Wesley Matthews, who take up about $18 million of their cap per year for the next three seasons, which could be an issue considering both guys haven’t even proven to be legitimate starters. Led by improving big man LaMarcus Aldridge, the Blazers have enough talent to avoid the cellar of the Western Conference, but not enough to make any sort of run in the playoffs.

Washington Wizards

The Wizards made the first big acquisition of the 2012 offseason when they sacrificed cap room to acquire center Emeka Okafor and swingman Trevor Ariza. The acquisition of Okafor and Ariza, along with big man Nene last season, demonstrates Washington’s intent on building a winning team around franchise point guard John Wall. The only problem is that the Wizards are not anywhere close to the level of the elite teams in the East. In fact, unless John Wall undergoes a significant improvement in his third season, the Wizards may not even make the playoffs. If the Wizards fail to make the playoffs for the sixth season in a row, they would be a major disappointment considering that they just traded valuable cap space in order to improve their roster right now.

Bottoming Out

Charlotte Bobcats

The Bobcats tanked their way through the 2011-2012 campaign in order to give themselves the best shot at acquiring Anthony Davis, a legitimate franchise changing center. They ended up falling just short, as the New Orleans Hornets leapfrogged them for the #1 pick and the Bobcats instead ended up with Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. Kidd-Gilchrist is known for his gritty style of play and his athleticism, but he will not have the same impact that Davis would have had. The Bobcats traded Corey Maggette for Ben Gordon and they signed Ramon Sessions to a two year, 10 million dollar deal. Gordon and Sessions will bolster the Bobcats offense but both guys are lackluster defenders and they will take up $18 million of cap room in 2013-2014. The Bobcats have a long way to go to become a winning team, but they should have several top lottery picks coming their way in the next few drafts.

Cleveland Cavaliers

The Cavs are slowly returning to relevance and they are doing it through the draft and not free agency. The Cavs have three top-four picks from the last two years. One of those picks was Kyrie Irving, the 2011 Rookie of the Year, who has as bright a future as anyone in the league. On the other hand, Tristan Thompson and Dion Waiters are very much question marks and if they don’t pan out, the Cavs could become a case study about the risky nature of building through the draft. Look for the Cavs to return to the lottery in 2013 and they will also have enough cap space to potentially make a significant move in free agency.

Detroit Pistons

The Pistons are managing their situation similarly to the Cavs because they are building through the draft and avoiding shelling out big and unnecessary contracts in free agency. Andre Drummond, Brandon Knight, and Greg Monroe are the Pistons’ last three lottery picks, and Monroe has already blossomed into a very effective big man through two seasons. The Pistons also made a shrewd transaction when they traded Ben Gordon for Corey Maggette, which will clear up about $12 million in cap room next summer. Like the Cavs, the Pistons should have a high draft pick and cap space next summer, which leaves them in a good rebuilding position.

Toronto Raptors

The Raptors have struggled ever since losing Chris Bosh two years ago, but they brought in four, potentially important, newcomers this season. Lithuanian big man Jonas Valanciunas, the fifth pick in the 2011 draft, will make his debut after sitting out last season, and the Raps got a nice pickup at point guard when they acquired Kyle Lowry. Their most questionable move was signing Landry Fields to a three-year $19 million contract. Fields has the reputation as being the “glue guy” for the Knicks over the past two seasons, but career averages of nine points and five rebounds per game should not get you that kind of money. The Raptors key players are youthful and inexpensive and drafting a few more good young players will put them in a good position going forward.

Clueless

Phoenix Suns

Parting ways with the face of the franchise (Steve Nash) was supposed to signal the start of a rebuilding period in Phoenix. Instead, they spent their offseason signing veteran players to multi-year contracts. Goran Dragic is solid but he’s never been a full-time starter at any point in his career and the Suns gave him a four-year $30 million deal. The Suns also acquired Michael Beasley and Wesley Johnson, two former top five picks who have underachieved throughout their careers. The Suns have a flawed roster, and they have committed too many dollars to veteran rotation players such as Dragic, Marcin Gortat, and Channing Frye. Of course, the Suns then decided that they needed another veteran rotation player, so they signed 32-year old Luis Scola. Phoenix should have acquired young talent and valuable draft picks for Nash and saved cap space for the future. Instead, they got little in return for Nash and acquired four players who might help them win just enough games to prevent them from obtaining a high pick in next year’s draft.

Sacramento Kings

It’s been difficult to decipher Sacramento’s strategy given their recent transactions. After drafting Thomas Robinson to play in the frontcourt alongside Demarcus Cousins, they proceeded to resign Jason Thompson to a five-year, $30 million deal. Thompson averages ten points and seven rebounds in his career, and the signing makes even less sense considering that the Kings signed Chuck Hayes (another frontcourt rotation player) to a similar deal last year. The Kings hodgepodge of shoot-first guards grew even larger when they signed Aaron Brooks to a two-year $6 million deal. The Kings don’t have any sort of cap space because they have been giving out ill-advised contracts the past few years. Sacramento needs to be focused on trading some of their young players for a major star. Otherwise, they’ll be making an annual visit to the lottery for many years to come.
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Stay tuned for Part II of the Roundup in the coming weeks!