Free Agency Part 4 - Northwest Division

It’s time for part 4 of 6 where I will begin to grade the offseason performances of the Western Conference teams. The first stop is the northwest division, and perhaps what was the conference’s toughest division a few years back may not be any more with the worsening of the Jazz and Nuggets. Let’s dive in.

Oklahoma City Thunder

Key Additions: Steven Adams, Andre Roberson

Key Subtractions: Kevin Martin, Ronnie Brewer

To be honest, when 2 of the best 10 players in the world are on your books for the next 3 years, there’s really not much else to be constructed, especially when you’re sitting around $10 million above the salary cap. But is there anyway the Thunder could have performed better over the offseason than this?

Well, not really, at least with Kendrick Perkins' massive contract on the books for the next two years. The Thunder will dump over $17 million on Perkins overthe next two seasons, and given OKC’s cheapskate attitude and Sam Presti’s unexplainable love for Perkins, it’s unlikely that he’s ever waived through the use of the amnesty provision. The Perkins amnesty situation been covered by multiple sources, but I’ll try to explain it the best I can if you haven’t been able to understand it before now:

-          As of right now, OKC sits a hair below the luxury tax line. The tax comes into effect for teams with a payroll exceeding $71.7 million, and the Thunder are currently around $70 million (and will go to the most extreme measures to duck the tax).

-          The amnesty of Perkins would remove him from their payroll, which would settle to around $61 million, but this number is still above the salary cap value set at $58 million this season.

-          So the only way the Thunder could have signed a player to replace Perkins would have been through the use of the midlevel exception which is about $5 million per year.

-          Also remember, they would have had to still pay Perkins his original salary, so by shelling out the midlevel exception in addition to Perkins' original salary, OKC is tossing away about $14 million per year ($9 mil for Perk's salary and $5 for the midlevel) to replace Perkins with a 'decent' player.

Granted, I still would have liked to see the Thunder replace Perkins with someone like Zaza Pachulia (just signed a 3 year $15.6 million contract with the Bucks), or Kosta Koufos (2 yr $6 million contract with the Grizzlies), but as pointed out before, Presti is banking on Perkins’ “leadership” and “locker room presence”, and the likelihood that Perk can redeem himself of his spectacularly awful performance in last year’s playoffs. Plus there’s no way Clay Bennett wants to dump almost $30 million for mid-tier center over two years, and so Perkins it is. This isn’t terrible news for Thunder fans; I still believe Perkins has potential to be somewhat of a defensive anchor despite his deficiencies last year simply because of his experience and basketball IQ.

But the Thunder will need more help offensively, especially in the way of spacing, considering Perkins is such a minus he can’t even really finish shots at the rim: the one offensive skill a big should possess over anything else. Westbrook and Durant will still carry this offense as usual, but if either misses significant time it will restrict this otherwise very good offense. The failure to sign Mike Miller was very frustrating for the Thunder front office as well, as he would have brought  much needed shooting and depth to an OKC bench for a dirt cheap price.

Still, it would be foolish to say that this team isn’t in a place to compete: they absolutely are. Having two of the best players in the world on your roster will win you games in the NBA, and barring significant injury OKC will be good, perhaps 60 win good, once again. But to put them over the top they will need rapid improvement from Jeremy Lamb and Kendrick Perkins, and given their offseason inactivity, that seems to have been the idea Oklahoma City’s front office has been banking on all along.

Grade: B-

Denver Nuggets

Key additions: Nate Robinson, J.J. Hickson, Darrell Arthur

Key subtractions: Andre Iguodala, Kosta Koufos, Corey Brewer

The Nuggets underwent a head scratching makeover this offseason to say the least. After last year’s aggressive free agency period involving the acquisition of Andre Iguodala and later their ascension to 3^rd place in the conference, Denver gave away its best player, failed to resign George Karl (the 2013 coach of the year), and let one of the league’s most respected GMs flee for Toronto. After recording the league’s 5^th best offense in 2012-13, the Nuggets, despite having significant leverage to retain Iguodala because of his bird rights, failed to sign him to an extension. Iguodala, the catalyst in last year's up-tempo offense and defensive anchor to a defense that failed miserably when he was off the court, walked for practically nothing in return. The same is true for the coach and GM positions as well; George Karl has been consistently respected and recognized as one of the best coaches in the league, and former GM Masai Ujiri is one of the brightest league minds.

Now Denver will rely on Nate Robinson for significant scoring output, half a season of Danillo Gallinari, and a Javale McGee/Timofey Mozgov duo to protect the rim. This is not a recipe for success in any sense of the word, and while Denver does have a significant home court advantage, I still think this organization is way too much disarray to succeed. I’m not sure that they've been completely  shoved out of the playoff race, but I honestly wouldn’t doubt it, as this team has gone from a legitimate playoff contender to the Bucks of the west.

The worst part about this situation is Denver’s cap position. This team recognized its potential to become a powerhouse last offseason by signing Ty Lawson to a 4 year extension, yet unexplainably underwent somewhat of a rebuilding (?) phase this offseason. However, the problem lies more in the contracts Denver added to build for the future in the previous years, including Lawson, McGee, and Gallinari. The Nuggets will sit well over the cap for the next two seasons, and won’t have much room in the third year either. This means no significant free agent signings barring a trade, and between Lawson, McGee and Gallinari, I don’t really see any tradable contracts besides maybe Gallinari. I have no idea what’s going on here.

Grade: D

Utah Jazz

Key additions: Trey Burke, Richard Jefferson, Andris Biedrins, Brandon Rush, Rudy Gobert

Key subtractions: Al Jefferson, Paul Millsap, Mo Williams

Unlike Denver, Utah actually seems to have mapped out a plan for the future of the franchise, and that plan is to enter full rebuilding mode at a very good time. The Jazz will be bad next year, very bad, but they have done a noteworthy job of amassing young talent through the draft over the past few years, and will look for said talent to lead them going forward rather than the veterans of their previous roster. Plus they could be bad enough to secure a top 5 pick next year, and the current core paired with a potential superstar from next year’s draft could become a powerhouse over the next half decade.

The decision to let Paul Milsap and Al Jefferson, two staples of the Jazz franchise over the past few years, walk in free agency was crucial here. Their backups, Enes Kanter and Derrick Favors, should have enough experience to start games, and while it won’t be the most experienced front line, they certainly have potential to develop into a very good front court going forward. And that’s exactly what this season will be: an experiment and long drag of scouting and dissecting their new, young talent. Trey Burke, Enes Kanter, Derrick Favors, Alec Burks, and Gordon Hayward will inserted into an array of lineup combinations to properly determine which players deserve contract extensions going forward.

The most noteworthy transaction Utah made over the offseason, however, was the decision to absorb the ridiculously overvalued contracts of Andris Biedrins, Richard Jefferson and Brandon Rush in exchange for multiple draft picks including Golden State’s 2014 and 2017 first rounder. This can be viewed as Utah valuing what will most likely be late 1^st round draft picks (assuming Golden State will be very good for the upcoming years) over expiring contracts of players that would otherwise not see minutes in the average NBA rotation. A lot of writers have been criticizing Utah for spending what will be more than $24 million on these contracts, but they expire after next year which will give the Jazz max cap room next summer, and it’s not like signing any better players this season would help them in the long run anyway. This is a team building for the future, and I like what’s going on here; cutting salaries, acquiring young talent, and hoarding draft picks is the way to build a team for the future, and Utah will be very bad for the first time in a while, a minor speed bump for a very supportive fan base to overcome.

Utah has good, young talent, cap space going forward, and if they can secure a top 5 pick, this will be a successful rebuilding project.

Grade: A

Portland Trail Blazers

Key additions: C.J. McCollum, Mo Williams, Robin Lopez, Thomas Robinson, Earl Watson, Dorell Wright

Key subtractions: J.J. Hickson, Eric Maynor, Luke Babbitt

This should be an interesting team to watch next season, as Portland has nicely filled in some of the gaps and deficiencies of last year’s roster with capable rotation players, and projects to make a decent run at the last two or so playoff spots in the west. Lillard and Aldridge are improving, Batum serves as a terrific “glue” guy, and C.J. McCollum has potential to aid bench units as this core grows together. Portland performed pretty poorly offensively last year, and even worse defensively, as they finished as one of the 5 worst defensive teams in terms of points per 100 possessions. But offensively this team shouldn’t struggle as much moving forward, as the 3 man lineup of Lillard, Aldridge, and Batum scored at a rate that would have ranked 6^th in the league last season, and they will continue to develop chemistry while sharing the floor as Lillard improves.

Defensively, the Robin Lopez signing should significantly upgrade their defense in terms of rim protection, especially considering he’s replacing Meyers Leonard (a rookie last year), and J.J. Hickson (not a rim protector at all), and Lopez can also score and doesn’t turn the ball over. He’s probably not their center of the future, but he’s a capable starter and comes at a very cheap price ($12 million for 2 years). It should also serve as a double victory for Portland, as Meyers Leonard, a lottery pick last year, should be able to develop under Lopez while playing bench minutes. Portland also acquired Dorell Wright and Thomas Robinson to beef up perhaps what was the league’s worst bench last year (although Indiana has a strong case as well).

But you have to wonder exactly how high this team’s ceiling is going forward; Portland has some good talent, but even Lopez’s signing may only improve this team to a top 20 defensive unit, Aldridge hasn’t really proved himself as an elite power forward, and Damian Lillard is ‘already’ 23 years old. I’m not sure Portland has enough young talent to succeed going forward, and if things don’t change within the next couple years, they may have to trade some of their assets (Aldridge certainly comes to mind here). The Blazers are also capped out for the next two seasons, but that’s not a huge problem as big names aren’t exactly clamoring to come to play in Portland. However, they still need a player who can lead this roster for years to come, and unless Lillard is the guy (kinda doubt it) I’m not sure they have that.

Still, Portland did fill the holes in their roster, and they certainly have a shot at a playoff spot next year which is what they wanted.

Grade: B-

Minnesota Timberwolves

Key additions: Corey Brewer, Kevin Martin, Shabazz Muhammad, Ronny Turiaf, Gorgui Dieng

Key subtractions: Andrei Kirilenko, Greg Steimsma, Luke Ridnour

Minnesota somewhat quietly shelled out some serious dollars this offseason, and with the signings of Kevin Martin, Corey Brewer, and the resigning of Chase Budinger should make this one of the best offenses in the league provided everyone stays healthy. The lineup of Rubio, Martin, Budinger, Love, and Pekovic could work as an offensive coach’s dream; Budinger and Martin spreading the floor, Love and Rubio passing, and Pekovic’s inside scoring can kill defenses in numerous ways, and brings an invaluable characteristic to Minnesota basketball that has been missing for ages: watchability.

Minnesota’s front office management knows that this season has potential to be a healthy one, at least with Rubio and Love (Rubio almost a whole year removed from returning from ACL surgery, and Love should be healed from his broken hand), and has surrounded them with some very talented players on the wings. What's questionable, however, is the value of these contracts. Kevin Martin comes on board with a 4 year, $27 million contract, Budinger with a 3 year, $15 million contract, and Brewer with a 3 year, $14 million contract. Budinger seems to be the only player listed who signed at a reasonable price; Kevin Martin’s possesses not nearly enough defensive talent to be paid as a starter, and Corey Brewer, while a decent defender, is a high volume 3 point shooter who fails to shoot 30% from deep.

Now, the Wolves’ front office has had a notorious reputation for making spectacularly bad offseason decisions, yet none of these moves are the worst decisions in the world. Minnesota still has around $5 million in cap room remaining for this offseason, and should have a good chunk available for next offseason. But the problem lies in the bigger decisions upcoming for this team: Rubio will be due for an extension next year, Pekovic is currently in negotiations with this team for an extension as he is a restricted free agent this summer, and Love will be due for one soon as well. It may prove difficult for the Wolves to retain these players in the future (Love, Rubio, and Pekovic considered by many to be the core of this team going forward) simply because of the amount of money shelled out to the role players during this offseason.

Rubio and Love will most likely seek a max extension, and assuming both do deserve it (I think they do/will), the ongoing contract negotiations with Pekovic this summer will be a crucial development going forward. Signing Pek for around $12 million per year might give the Wolves a chance to keep Rubio and Love, but if Minnesota’s front office concedes to Pekovic’s request for $15 million per year it probably won’t be feasible going forward unless someone takes a significant pay cut.

I want to give Minny the benefit of the doubt here, mainly because a healthy group this year should be an exciting playoff team, a healthy development for a starved fanbase. But I fear that the front office gave up a few too many bills for some of these players, and it may obstruct them from achieving their long term goal of locking up the trio of Love, Rubio, and Pekovic together.

Grade: C+