Free Agency
Review – Atlantic Division
This is the
first part of a 6 part series that will grade each team’s performance in this
year’s free agency market. The Atlantic Division will be the first to be
dissected, and although most teams haven’t filled out their rosters entirely,
they will soon enough, especially by the time I finish breaking down all 30
teams. The first is the Atlantic Division, let’s go.
New York Knicks
Key additions:
Andrea Bargnani, Metta World Peace, J.R. Smith (resigned), Pablo Prigioni
(resigned), Tim Hardaway Jr.
Key
subtractions: Chris Copeland, Marcus Camby, Steve Novak
In the first
major trade of the offseason, New York bewilderingly tossed in assets such as
Steve Novak, Marcus Camby and even 3 picks (1 first round and 2 second round)
for Andrea Bargnani, an underwhelming stretch big man with lousy defensive and
rebounding skill. Bargnani should improve New York’s offense very marginally,
especially since Steve Novak did basically the same thing at a much lower
price. However, Bargnani can provide much more offensive output than Novak, while
simultaneously relieving the likes of Carmelo Anthony, Raymond Felton and J.R.
Smith.
But offense
wasn’t really the problem last season. In fact, during the regular season, the
Knicks ranked 3rd in the league in offensive points per 100
possessions, trailing only Miami and Oklahoma City. In fact, when Felton,
Chandler, and Anthony shared the floor last season, New York scored at a rate
that would have lead the league. Defense was the main problem for the Knicks
last year, as they ranked 17th in the league in defensive points per
possession. Part of this was due to Tyson Chandler’s injuries; Chandler played
only 65 games last season, and was clearly in pain for a good amount of time he
was actually on the floor. In previous years, lineups with Chandler as the
defensive Anchor have stymied opposing offenses, but last year Chandler’s on
court/off court stats were nearly identical. Presuming Chandler returns to full
strength the Knicks should return to a top 10 defensive team. Metta World Peace
will aid to the effort to create somewhat of a defensive identity in New York,
something that has been missing for quite some time. A lineup of Felton,
Shumpert, World Peace, Anthony and Chandler is quite intriguing due to its
two-way versatility, and linups with Anthony at the 4 are almost certainly the
way to play to maximize his effectiveness.
New York
seemed to have solved most of its issues in the backcourt, as Prigioni and
Smith will work to provide some depth for Felton and Shumpert. However, there’s
somewhat of a logjam in the frontcourt as of right now, as Stoudemire and
Bargnani don’t really seem to complement each other well, at least on paper.
Working them into small linups with either big at the 5 could work in
stretches, but having both of them share the floor would cause problems
defensively. Even more concerning for Knicks fans is the outlook of this team
going forward; these two players will soak up more than $32 million combined in
2013-2014, and New York will be capped out until at least the summer of 2015. Not
to mention they also traded away the maximum number of first round draft picks
they were allowed to until 2017, so they won’t be restocking fresh talent
anytime soon. 1 So
yeah, way to go Knicks’ management.
Grade: C
Brooklyn Nets
Key additions:
Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Jason Terry, Andrei Kirilenko, Shaun Livingston,
Mason Plumlee
Key subtractions:
Keith Bogans, Gerald Wallace, Kris Humphries, MarShon Brooks
With nearly
nothing to lose (considering his now +$100 million payroll only scrapes the
surface of his overall net worth), Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov signed off on
the most newsworthy transaction of the offseason, one that solidifies Boston’s
desire to tank and will hopefully give the Nets the edge to win the division
and perhaps even the eastern conference. I’ve already written about this here,
so I won’t go into full detail, but more news has surfaced around this team
regarding Kirilenko and Livingston which I’ll dive into.
The starting
five is basically a given with Williams, Johnson, Pierce, Garnett, and Lopez,
however, the new additions to this bench makes Brooklyn a potential threat to
contend in my mind. Kirilenko was one of the most undervalued free agents in
the league this year, and is perhaps one of the most underestimated players in
the entire league. He can do nearly everything you ask of him on the floor, and
while his outside shot isn’t that great, he more than makes up for it with a
great understanding of spacing and ball movement. Andrei is also a lockdown
defender who can service as a small ball 4 for some stretches, and this gives
Brooklyn incredible versatility with their bench units.
Perhaps just
as promising will be Reggie Evans’ reduced role. Remember, Evans started 57
games for Brooklyn last year, WAY too many for a player with only one skill.
Evans competes defensively, but should come off the bench for something under
20 minutes per game, a number very appropriate for someone of his skill level.
Jason Terry will also provide a nice spark off the bench, and if Shaun
Livingston can stay decently healthy, he could serve as a serviceable reserve
for the Nets.
Again, I’m
hesitant to call them a legitimate contender with a first year coach who was a
player just last year, but Brooklyn has made all the right moves to fill out a
balanced, deep, two-way roster. The bank may hurt for a couple years, but it’s
clear that winning is the first thing on Prokhorov’s mind and he’s willing to
overload to do it. 2 Dumping future first round picks certainly shrinks this team’s championship
window, but the Nets certainly have the talent to win lots of games at least
this year.
Grade: B+
Boston WELPtics 3
Key additions: MarShon Brooks, Kris
Humphries, Gerald Wallace, Keith Bogans, Kelly Olynyk
Key subtractions: Kevin Garnett, Paul
Pierce, Jason Terry
Danny Ainge’s
demolition of Boston’s roster assures the intention to completely rebuild, and
given their former age and lack of durability, that seems to be the right idea.
Again, I wrote about the implications of this trade for Boston here
when I dissected this trade, but I’ll go ahead and give a little bit more
detail in my reflection.
Boston will
once again top the salary cap, this year by about $7 million. However, they
will avoid paying the tax penalty which sets in around $70 million, since their
cap figure as of right now is about $65 million. This is about the only good
news as of right now for the Celtics, as the highest paid players on their
roster are Rajon Rondo, Kris Humphries, and Gerald Wallace. The last two names
most likely won’t get too much playing time this season anyway, especially as
Danny Ainge waits for their contracts to expire. This will most likely be a
test season for Boston, as recent first round draft picks Jared Sullinger,
Kelly Olynyk, MarShon Brooks and Fab Melo will go through some growing pains to
adjust to the pace of the NBA.
And that’s
just fine. Boston will go through a major overhaul with a new roster and a new
coach, and after what looks like a 25-or-so-win season, they will try to snag a
top draft pick to lead them back to the top of the league.
Grade: B-
Philadelphia 76ers
Key additions: Nerlens Noel, Royce
White, Michael Carter-Williams
Key subtractions: Jrue Holiday, Andrew
Bynum, Dorell Wright
Philadelphia
has a similar idea as Boston, and their approach is even more dramatic. The new
CBA has placed a stronger emphasis on the value of having cap space and draft
picks, as acquiring cheap, young talent has proved to be the most effective and
efficient way to assemble a championship team, even if it takes a few years for
said talent to develop.
And this is
the exact route Philly’s new GM Sam Hinkie is taking. A draft day exchange of
Jrue Holiday for Nerlens Noel the 6th pick, and New Orleans’ 2014
first rounder depicts Hinkie’s perception that developing a raw, athletic
talent such as Noel into what will hopefully become something along the lines
of Tyson Chandler brings less risk than holding Jrue Holiday to be the savior
of the franchise. The 2014 pick received from New Orleans is top 5 protected,
meaning that if New Orleans receives one of the top 5 picks in the draft
lottery next year, they will keep the pick rather than trading it to
Philadelphia. However, most NBA experts including Hinkie are expecting New
Orleans to well outperform a top 5 pick next year, and Philadelphia will take a
few years to hoard a bunch of top first round picks (remember they have NOLA’s
pick as well as their own pick next year which projects to be very high) and
form their core this way.
This projects
to be the most intriguing trade going forward: is trading Jrue Holiday, a very
good point guard in my mind, for two high first round picks a more effective
way to assemble a championship team? Or should Philly have kept Holiday and
played the field for the next few years by hiring a coach to build around him?
Only time will tell.
As of right
now though, Philadelphia will be terrible next season, but they should have
plenty of time to develop their young talent, and assess which pieces of the roster
they should retain going forward. Nerlens Noel oozes potential as a defensive
anchor, and Michael Carter Williams should at the very least become a
productive role player, and in the best case an effective replacement of Jrue
Holiday. The 76ers’ projected cap is just short of $37 million, which means
they will have to add some contracts to reach the salary floor which is around
$50 million.
Grade: B
Toronto Raptors
Key additions: Steve Novak, Tyler
Hansbrough
Key subtractions: Andrea Bargnani,
Linas Kleiza
The new wave
of smart spending and overly analytic GMs is upon us, and perhaps one of the
brightest young minds in the game is former Denver, now Toronto general manager
Masai Ujiri. Ujiri will attempt to renovate a roster loaded with
underperforming talent signed to bogus, head-scratching contracts. Rudy Gay
($18 million this season), Demar Derozan ($9.5 million this season), and Landry
Fields ($5.225 million this season, $8.5 million the next) are 3 players signed
by former GM Bryan Colangelo who unintentionally set this roster up for
failure. It now appears that nearly everything on this roster could be expendable,
especially the three names listed above. Toronto has already chipped away at
their cap by ridding themselves of Andrea Bargnani through trade as well as
Linas Kleiza through amnesty.
The Raptors
certainly have some promising young talent on the roster, and Ujiri will
carefully monitor the performances of Jonas Valanciunas, Terrence Ross, and
even Kyle Lowry (a serviceable point guard on a dirt-cheap contract), to
determine if they are pieces worth holding on to moving forward.
And after
foolishly giving away their first round draft pick this year, Toronto will most
likely look to hoard as many picks as possible in the upcoming years to build
their roster around. The fate of Rudy Gay projects to be the most intriguing
storyline in Toronto next year, as I would suspect that Ujiri would be more
than willing to dump his huge contract and underperforming talent to a team
with a big spending owner for future draft picks. Gay is a good small forward,
but not a great one, and it’s not a coincidence that Memphis had their best
year ever after pawning him off on Toronto.
It would be
huge if Toronto could somehow dump Gay’s salary simply because it would allot them
max cap room as soon as next summer. NBA free agents aren’t exactly clamoring
to play basketball for the Raptors, but cap space is very valuable to save
organization money while simultaneously giving them opportunity to fine-tune
their roster and settle into a position to win. Toronto may not be good anytime
soon, but they will slowly slide into a position to win with cap space, draft
picks, and Ujiri at the helm.
Grade B
1 The new CBA allows teams to only trade away their first round draft picks for every other year. For instance, New York has traded its 2014 and 2016 first rounders, and by the CBA rules they cannot trade their 2015 or 2017 picks. ↩
2 This is terrific news for Nets fans; it’s extremely rare for an owner to prioritize team success over profit margins, and Prokhorov seems to be doing just that. Way to go.↩
3 Yep, I went there↩
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