It’s been a busy week in free agency, and last year’s lottery teams have been extremely active.
Cleveland Cavaliers
While the big news in the rumor mill are the Cavs have reportedly made Andrew Wiggins available in trade talks to acquire Kevin Love, and that LeBron has reached out to Love regarding his desire to play with him in Cleveland—the Cavs signed a couple veteran 3-point threats this week in Mike Miller (two years, $5.5 million) and James Jones (one year, minimum deal) who have experience playing alongside LeBron, and were on his wish list during the free-agent shopping season. It’s unclear how significant of a role either player will have in 2014-15, but they’ll likely be called upon fairly often in a reserve role (Miller more-so than Jones) to provide veteran leadership and floor spacing. It’s unclear whether Ray Allen will opt to join LBJ in Cleveland, retire, or take his stroke elsewhere, but Clevleand made sure to grab two shooters at a discount rate while they could.
Utah Jazz
The Jazz made an effort to shore up their frontcourt, signing former Washington Wizard Trevor Booker to a two-year, $10 million deal. Booker will back up Derrick Favors, and it’s possible this could be a sneaky good signing for the Jazz if the young big can continue to improve. Utah had a little bit of cash to spend, and they could have done much worse than bringing in Booker, who averaged 6.8 points (55.1 field goal percentage) and 5.3 rebounds per game off the bench in 2013-14.
Detroit Pistons
After seemingly slipping into irrelevance for a couple of years, DJ Augustin re-emerged for the Chicago Bulls last year as a quality backup point guard. That helped him find a home with the Pistons as Brandon Jennings’ new apparent backup on a two year, $6 million deal. Augustin is solid in the pick and roll, and is coming off a season in which he shot 40.1 percent from downtown. Detroit also signed veteran Caron Butler, who’s coming off a season in which he shot 39.4 percent from beyond the arc. The Pistons already signed sharpshooters in Jodie Meeks and Cartier Martin, but Detroit was the worst perimeter shooting team in the league last year, and adding Augustin and Butler was another set of solid moves from Stan the man to bolster the team’s most glaring weakness. The Greg Monroe question still persists, and that seems like the next order of business for SVG, but so far it’s been a solid offseason for the Pistons.
New Orleans Pelicans
With the Pelicans shoring up the defense with the acquisition of Omer Asik from Houston, they’ve turned their attention to adding shooters in free agency. After watching Anthony Morrow sign with the Thunder, New Orleans agreed to terms with John Salmons (one year, $2 million) and Jimmer Fredette (one year, minimum). Salmons is a grizzled vet who shot 42.6 percent on catch-and-shoot 3’s last season, and Jimmer has been an effective (though heavily scrutinized) bomber since his days at BYU. The Pelicans also re-signed small forward Darius Miller and locked up their second-round pick, Russ Smith, who’s been impressive in the summer league, to a multi-year deal. Rookie bruising big man Patric Young has also been solid in the summer league, and there’s a chance he’ll be the final player they’ll sign this offseason.
Milwaukee Bucks
The Bucks are reportedly closing in on a two-year, 6.5 million deal with Jerryd Bayless. It’s doubtful that he’ll have anything more than the backup role he’s had during his years with the Grizzlies and during his brief stint in Boston, but the Bucks have some cash to throw around, as they are in rebuilding mode as they wait for OJ Mayo and Ersan Ilyasova’s contracts to expire, so we can’t fault them for not signing any premier free-agents, though they have been linked with Eric Bledsoe.
New York Knicks
The Knicks added veteran big man Jason Smith on a one-year, $3.3 million deal. Smith missed much of last season for the Pelicans with injuries, but he’s a big man who has a decent mid-range shot, and he’ll work hard for a Knicks team that severely lacked the necessary hustle in 2013-14. He’s not going to get any All-Defensive votes nor will he shoot the lights out, but the Knicks could’ve done worse with their taxpayer mid-level exception. If he can stay healthy it’ll be a nice bargain deal for New York, who absolutely needed to add some depth in the frontcourt.
Phoenix Suns
The Suns brought in another big with range in Anthony Tolliver (two years, $6 million) after watching Channing Frye sign with Orlando, and while Tolliver is a poor man’s Frye at best, they didn’t break the bank to get him. The big story in Phoenix is their current state of negotiations with restricted free-agent Eric Bledsoe, who reportedly turned down a four-year, $48 million deal. It’d be a shocker to see someone give a point guard who’s played fewer games than Brandon Roy through the end of his first several seasons a max contract, but I’d also be stunned if he settles for much less than Gordon Hayward (four years, $63 million) and Chandler Parsons (three years, $46 million), who are sleeping on king-sized money beds as we speak.
Orlando Magic
The Magic finally signed another point guard in Luke Ridnour (two years, $5.5 million) after waiving Jameer Nelson. Ridnour will provide veteran leadership and be a solid mentor to rookie point guard Elfrid Payton, who struggled to start the summer league but was flourishing by the end. Cool-hand Luke probably won’t play a huge role barring injury, but he should be the first point guard off the bench for an up and coming Orlando team that I believe is a dark-horse to earn the eighth and final playoff spot in the East—Miami, Cleveland, Washington, Toronto, Chicago, Indiana, Charlotte, and Atlanta are my current favorite’s to make the Eastern playoffs, with the Knicks, Magic, and Pistons emerging as sleepers if one of the projected top-8 were to fall.
Los Angeles Lakers
What a long, strange week it’s been in L.A. After re-signing Jordan Hill and Nick Young last week, the Lakers re-signed Wesley Johnson (one-year, $1 million), Xavier Henry (one-year, $1 million) and Ryan Kelly (two-year deal) while adding Ed Davis (two years, $2 million). They also won the bidding for Carlos Boozer ($3.3 million bid) after the Chicago Bulls amnestied him in order to create cap space for former Laker Pau Gasol. If you’re a Lakers fan, I feel for you. It’s not that Boozer is terrible or that any of these signings were that bad, it’s the fact that the Lakers whiffed big time in free agency and will now enter training camp with more power forwards than capable defenders. This team is going to be an absolute circus in 2014-15, and it’ll be a minor miracle every time they hold a team under the century mark.
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